The Shalom of God

We have just passed the Peace with one another, and now we are sitting down at the meal of peace. This is the victory meal of the Lamb, the feast that celebrates the end of enmity, the end of warfare, the end of conflict. And we symbolize that by greeting one another in peace just before coming here. Paul condemned the Corinthians for having divisions in the body at the Lord’s Table, and by greeting one another we are displaying that there are no divisions. We are in communion as we celebrate communion. You see, we cannot eat here if there are divisions out there. This would be like taking your wife out for an anniversary dinner and inviting another woman to join you. The kind of sick feeling that image should conjure up is the very kind of feeling you should have at the thought of being out of fellowship with a fellow believer and then coming here. Adultery, spiritual unfaithfulness is not accepted here. It doesn’t fit; it’s sickening; and Paul says that it eventually leads to death. But this is a meal of peace; it is the fulfillment of the Peace Offering of the Old Covenant. It is the Shalom of God. And the glory of it is that as we declare this peace through this meal, God is actually enacting this peace out in the world. The declaration of Christ’s death is the declaration of peace to the world. So come eat, come drink, this is your peace with one another, this is your peace with God, this is your peace that passes all understanding. It is Jesus declaring Peace to you because Jesus gives Himself to you.