A couple of months ago, my friend Todd said to me while we were out witnessing, “have you noticed that the peace sign seems to be making a come
Farmers Market
back?” As we stood on a college campus witnessing there must have been 5-10 kids walk by within an hour with peace t-shirts. In the coming days after that, peace signs were seemingly everywhere. T-shirts, bumper stickers and even signs on the side of the road. A google images search for “peace t-shirt” yields nearly 8.5 MILLION responses. Even when I went to the Farmers Market with my wife, there were people there selling items with peace signs on them.
As Todd and I continued to discuss this, I suggested that he write something up and then we would turn it into a tract. Here is what he sent me:
Have you noticed lately that the peace sign is making a comeback? I really don’t know the history on how that sign became a symbol for peace but I can tell you that it is representative of no peace at all. I would assume that it is man’s idea of peace. However, man in and of himself does not possess the capacity for peace because we are inherently not peace makers, neither do we inherently have peace with God. To the contrary we are born as enemies to God. Romans 5:10, Colossians 1:21. We have inherited the sin of Adam (Romans 5:12). Therefore, we are readily equipped for everything but peace. We are naturally equipped for the out-workings of our normal and familiar tendencies. Iniquity, transgression, sin. Jn: 2:24,25 “But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and He had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. ” What was it that He knew of men? He knows how utterly corrupted that we are. The passages on this subject are endless from scripture. Here are a few Genesis 6:5, Jeremiah 17:9,10, Romans 3:10, Isaiah 48:8. Our hearts are utterly corrupted without Christ!
I made another observation about the peace sign. It appears to be an altered cross. It has a vertical component to it, but what would represent the horizontal beam on a cross has been shifted and angled downward on each side. Maybe this is symbolic of the fact that man has always attempted to side-step the cross of Christ and deceived himself with the notion that he could manufacture his own peace. This idea is utter nonsense and an impossibility. In our sinfulness, we truly do not want to acknowledge the cross of Christ. We would do anything to avoid the real significance of it as it pertains to God in regards to His plan for the redemption of mankind. Now, many people may wear a cross or decorate their homes with crosses, etc.. But this typically means nothing. However, when we really understand the importance of the cross as it relates to God’s sacrificial Lamb, Jesus – then we must come to terms with the Christ of the cross and we cannot remain neutral. I am convinced that mankind is keenly aware that the cross forces us to come to terms with the Christ of the cross. We know that if we acknowledge the Christ of the cross, then we will have to forsake our sin and submit our lives to Him. This idea is in total opposition to our sinful humanity. See: 1st Corinthians 1:18, John 3:16-21.
Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord in repentance & faith, the cross that was once so offensive becomes the most beautiful of instruments in the hands of our sovereign God! The cross was God’s perfect altar where God’s perfect sacrifice, (Jesus) made our peace with God possible. It was the most crude & vile instrument of torture and death known to man. And yet, it was the instrument that God chose to reconcile man unto himself. When I think of Christ Jesus on the cross, I think of the vertical beam reaching up to heaven where Jesus became the Father’s peace offering on our behalf. As I think about the Lord’s hands outstretched on the horizontal plane, I think of Jesus’ arms wide open to any man or woman who would receive the peace(reconciliation) that He has provided on our behalf so that we can be made at peace with God. What a beautiful picture. He is the only means for our peace with God and the peace that we now experience as believer’s is the by-product of our peace or reconciliation with God. (A) Colossians 1:20, 21 having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled.” (B) “These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.” Thus (A) Peace with God = (B) personal peace for those who are in Christ. This gives real meaning to that slogan. “No God, no peace – know God, know peace”
We took this article and then edited it down to fit the gist of the message on the back of a business card. Yes! Obviously, we had to remove a lot of text!
The Got Peace tract has been shipped with the May (2011) mailing of the Bezeugen Tract Club. I’ve had the opportunity to hand them out for the last couple of months now. Here are some ideas on how to hand them out and some examples of what happened:
- See someone in a peace t-shirt and hand them one of these tracts. You can say something like, “here is an explanation of peace”
- Just ask people “got peace”
- Or hand them the tract and say “here is some peace”
- When I see someone in a peace shirt I’ll say something like, “everyone with a peace t-shirt gets one of these”
Most people that I’ve handed these tract too, have no idea of the real meaning of peace that comes from Christ’s blood shed on the cross. But, I did have an encouraging exchange this week when I Handed the tract to a gal and asked, “got peace?”
She replied, “yep.”
“Where did you get it”, I asked.
“From God!”
We had a brief conversation and I found she is a believer in Jesus!
Above all, when handing the tract, don’t deceive people. If they ask what it is, simply tell them it is a Gospel tract. We pray that this tract will be used to share the Gospel with many people and that people will come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. If you need more of these tracts, they can be ordered in quantities of 250 or more.
