The Peace of God

INTRODUCTION

Great to see everyone tonight!  It's really great to be here tonight and to have a chance to speak with you. I appreciate everyone who's here, and everyone who is tuning in via Facebook.

Tonight I want to talk with you a bit about a subject that affects every one of us. We’re going to discuss a topic that whether we know it or not, has a great bearing on how we live our lives, on a moment-by moment basis. What we’re going to discuss tonight is a built-in desire that is hard-wired in the hearts of every human being who has ever lived. This is a desire that’s buried deep in the inner recesses of the human heart… and we often don’t recognize it. But this desire governs so much of how we conduct our lives. This desire I’m talking about is in the heart of every human being - all 8 billion souls whose current address is Planet Earth — whether saved or lost, rich or poor, old or young. And we are acting on this desire daily.

The desire that I’m talking about is the human being’s desire for PEACE. P-E-A-C-E. Peace.

We’re approaching the holiday season, and we tend to hear this word PEACE bandied about a good bit. It’s in lots of the Christmas songs we sing. But what IS peace?

Miriam Webster defines peace this way: peace is “a state of tranquility or quietness”. Tranquility or quietness. What does it mean to be tranquil? Well not to make it too simple, but it basically means that we’re not disturbed by things going on around us. When we are tranquil, we aren’t bothered by events, we’re not perplexed by circumstances, we’re not worried by happenings around us. We are at ease in our minds and in our hearts. To be at peace means to have a sense of restfulness. When we are at peace, the affairs and worries of this life have minimal impact on us.

It's built into our souls that we want this. Ever since the garden of Eden, we have longed to experience that state of tranquility in our souls. That's what Adam and Eve had when they were walking with God before they fell. They had no cares or worries about the things of the world because God was with them and walking with them. But when man fell in the Garden, that had the effect of disrupting the peace that mankind feels in his soul. But the desire for it is still there. And it governs everything we do. Whether we know it or not, we are motivated by a desire to return to a state of peacefulness and tranquility in our souls.

As human beings, we are hardwired to desire the peace of God.  God left us in this condition after we fell in the garden of Eden. He left us with the innate subconscious desire for peace.

And whether we know it or not, this great desire for peace — this deep YEARNING for tranquility in our souls — affects a lot of the things we do throughout the course of the day.  Think about it for a second.   how much of our day is made up of small actions and decisions. And whether we know it or not, deep down in the deepest subconscious areas of our minds, we are hoping that every little action we take will bring us a sense of peace and tranquility in our souls.  

We’re going to talk about peace tonight. And you know, before we go any further, let me just go ahead and state the obvious: True peace can only come from God. God is the only source of true peace, and Jesus Christ is the only conduit of true peace. True peace comes from God only, and through God only. Jesus is called what? THE PRINCE OF PEACE. This message is about “The Peace of God”, or put differently, “the peace that CAN ONLY COME FROM GOD”. So let’s just put that out there big plain and simple from the get-go. No sense creating any leadup or buildup to that.

So we’re going to talk about the Peace of God tonight. I think we all want to experience that peace in our daily lives.

And in talking about peace, I want us to look at a Scripture that I’m guessing we’ve encountered before. It’s found the 4th chapter of Philippians. Philippians chapter four, starting at verse 6. Philippians 4:6, and I’m reading from the New King James version. Paul writes:

[Phl 4:6-7 NKJV] 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

(VERSE SEVEN)

7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Fairly well-known Scripture about peace right? I’m guessing we’ve encountered this before? This passage describes a peace that is so wonderful, so awesome, so magnificent, that not only can it not be explained by human words, it can’t even be understood by the human mind. It’s that amazing.

Obviously something so wonderful that can’t be explained or even understood, is something we should want to experience.

Now I want to point something else out about this passage though that’s very important, and might be overlooked if we’re not careful. And that’s what the passage DOES NOT say. Philippians 4:6-7 DOES NOT SAY that peace is automatically going to be perpetually present in the life of a born-again believer, 100% of the time, no matter what happens. The passage makes it very clear that our enjoyment of the Peace of God IS CONDITIONED on us in some way. Look again at verse 7 in Philippians 6. What’s the first word in that verse? The word “AND”. That word AND links verses 6 and 7. Those two verses are meant to be taken together. In this cause, there is a cause and effect relationship between verses 6 and 7 We know about cause-and-effect relationships. Parents may tell their children, “Do your homework AND you can spend some time playing outside.”

IF you do the first part, THEN AND ONLY THEN does the second part apply.

In the context of this Scripture, the way this cause-and-effect relationship plays out is this way:

If you are for anxious for nothing, and make your requests known to God by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, THEN the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

So the charge to us is very simple. DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING. Very simple. Not complicated. But as simple as that is, we still seem to get tripped up on this issue of not being anxious. Isn’t that right?

So the question that we all need to be asking ourselves is this: “HOW are we to not be anxious about anything?” With all the cares and troubles of this world, how do we do that?

As so often the case, questions about one Bible verse can be answered by another verse found elsewhere in the Bible. Let’s look at 1 Peter Chapter 5 verse 7.

[1Pe 5:7 NIV] 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

We are to CAST our anxieties on Jesus. That word CAST literally means to FORCEFULLY THROW our anxieties on him. The idea is we throw our cares and anxieties onto the back of Jesus, just like a person might throw a saddle on a horse. That is literally how we are to treat our anxieties. And the reason we do this? It’s right there in that same verse — BECAUSE HE CARES FOR US. He doesn’t want us weighed down with cares and anxieties. He wants them.

But even though we may know how to have peace, and even though we may know how we are supposed to deal with anxieties, many Christians still have a hard time with all this. Many Christians still struggle with anxious thoughts, and struggle to experience peace. And this is despite the fact that they know the Bible clearly says we are supposed to cast our anxious thoughts on Jesus. And to understand why this is, we have to address a much deeper issue.

Charles Spurgeon, a well-known British preacher in the 1800’s, said this: “If you idolize any earthly good, your peace will depart. Keep the world under your feet and the peace of God shall keep your heart and mind.”

Now, why are we talking about surrendering everything to God? It's not just about peace. The piece is just the way that I'm selling this to you. And yes, you will get peace. If you surrender yourselves fully to Almighty God. But there's something deeper here that's at work. It's the idea that we might be clinging to idols. What is an idol? It's really simple. Let me tell you what it's not. It's not something gold and shiny that Indiana Jones digs out of the dirt. It's not something that lost tribes in the Amazon bow down in front of. When we’re talking about an idol, it is this. An idol is anything that gets between you and Almighty God. It's anything your heart desires to serve more than it desires to serve Jesus. It's anything that you want more or that you love more than Almighty God. And at the end of the day, the idols are the last thing in the world that our hearts want to surrender to God. Which is why God comes for them first. He doesn't want anything between you and him. Not just because it has the potential to impact your relationship with him, but he also knows that it has a potential to impact your peace. And he LONGS for his children to be at peace. See in Philippians chapter 4 verses six through seven, and let's pull that up for a second and talk about it.

[Phl 4:6-7 NKJV] 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Verse seven that word and means as a result of what just happened. This is a cause and affect relationship. You refuse to be anxious about anything you pray things through give God your petitions without being anxious about anything, and as a result, the piece of God which transcends all understanding guard your hearts in your minds. But if you are holding onto an idol, you buy definition are being anxious about something - you're anxious that no one takes away your idol. So you can quote Philippians chapter 4 verses six through eight until you're blue in the face you can quote about not being anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, presenting your requests to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts in your minds in Christ Jesus. We can quote that passage 15 times a day if we want to. But if we are holding onto idols with our hearts, we're not going to have peace. It's just not going to happen. Don't believe me? Let me see if I can explain it to you. The Bible says that we are not to be anxious about anything. But if we are holding onto idols, we by definition being anxious about something. We are being anxious that someone doesn't take away our idol. Why does God tell us to take up our cross daily? Because self is the one false God that we are going to be tempted with worshiping every day. Why does God tell us to present our bodies as living sacrifices? Because the self God is the one God that keeps trying to sneak in the back door of our hearts over and over and over again. And the only way to deal with him is to kill him If any man seeks to preserve his life, he will lose it. But if any man loses his life for my sake, he will find it. This is a spiritual concept we're talking about. We're not talking about murder although that does happen sometimes. We're talking about dying to our self. Now, remember, I said that an idol was anything that gets between you and Jesus Christ? Let's be very clear. Yourself can get between you and Jesus Christ. How much of our life is spent trying to promote our self. How much of our life is spent trying to preserve our self. How much of our life is spent trying to prosper our self. How much of our life is spent trying to comfort our self. You don't deal with self by cleaning it up. Jesus did not say "take up your scrub brush and soap and follow me". No, Jesus said, take up your cross and follow me. The cross was an instrument of death. You don't deal with self by cleaning it up you deal with self by killing it. That's why we have to take up our cross daily. The cross was an instrument of death. That cross represents the instrument of death for your self. You say, well, that all may be well and good brother Bobby. But what does that look like. What does it mean for me to take up my cross. It's simple. You ask God to kill anything in you. That is between you and him. That's what surrender is. If you're surrendering something to someone else you're not going to get that thing back if the other party decides they want to take it away from you. It's gone from your life. That represents death to you. OK, but how do I do this brother Bobby? How do I surrender something to Almighty God?. Simple. Just tell him that you want him to take anything out of your life that's between you and him. And if there's something that you don't want to let go of, be honest with him and tell him about it. Tell him that you're willing to be made willing to give it up. And if you can't be made willing to give it up willingly, ask him to take it from you forcibly. Now, if you're out there hearing this, and you're thinking to yourself, this is just too hard. I can't do this. Well, I want you to know something. The Bible does not say I can do all things through my own force of Will, which gives me strength. It says I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Folks that's what Grace is. God's grace is his importation of supernatural power to do something that we are not naturally able to do on our own. Grace has nothing to do with missing out on hell. That's mercy. we've confused the to terms. Most of the time when we are talking about Grace, we are really just referring to his mercy. And God does give us mercy. But God's grace is something totally different. It is closely linked to action. It is his divine power given to us to do something supernaturally that we are not able to naturally do on our own. Translation? In your own strength, you can't let go of idols. But through his strength, he enables you somehow to let go of those things.