Fruit or Flesh: Peace
Flesh or Fruit • Sermon • Submitted
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Intro:
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
We are in a series on the Fruit of the Spirit entitled, [Flesh or Fruit]. The subject of today’s message is [Peace].
When I think of the word peace, my mind goes to various places. I go from big to small. For instance, if we survey our nation’s history over the past century, there is much discussion on WORLD peace.
Beginning 101 years ago, at the end of WWI, President Woodrow Wilson declared the allied powers fought and won the war to end all wars.
He then worked feverishly to establish the League of Nations, with the idea that countries could work out their differences peaceably. He died before his dream came to pass.
Over two decades later war broke out in the world again. It seems same people joined the same sides and millions of people lost their lives in WWII.
When the war neared the end President Franklin Roosevelt and President Harry Truman helped found the United Nations. The plan was the UN would help aleviate war and bring world peace.
With every successive war we have fought, the message is the same, after this war, we will have peace. One person observed, “Washington D.C. has a large assortment of peace monuments, we build on after each war.”
World peace is the promise of many politicians, but what about personal peace? People desire to have a peaceful life. They attempt to accomplish this through many venues, yet people still seem to lack peace.
People lament the lack of peace in the home, on the job, in their marriage, with their children, or in their hearts.
How then do we obtain peace?
First, we need to look at the difference between the English word for peace and the Biblical words for peace.
English- freedom from disturbance; tranquility, silence, agreement, or the absence of hostility.
Hebrew- to be whole, safe, or sound. It focuses on the total well-being of the person and the community.
Greek- to join together. Think of a picture of two opposing sides that have been separated now being reconciled.
Greek- to join together. Think of a picture of two opposing sides that have been separated now being reconciled.
As our worlds seeks “world peace” what it desires is a time where there are no wars. People often assume if conflict in their life is to a minimum then they have “peace.”
But as we see in our study on the fruit of the Spirit, peace is like joy. True peace comes form the inside out, not the outside in. True peace comes from the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
It is God’s desire that His people be at peace! He wants us to be whole, safe, and joined together with Him. He wants us to have an undercurrent of supernatural power that keeps us at peace, even when disturbances surround us.
God wants us to have peace, let’s ask this question, who wants to have peace? Who wants to be at peace in our hearts and our surroundings?
27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
We see God wants us to have peace, let’s ask this question, who wants to have peace? Who wants to be at peace in our hearts and our surroundings?
How then do we obtain peace? As I study the fruit of the Spirit, my goal is to see how the Fruit of the Spirit operate in the life of Jesus.
One of my favorite scriptures about the Lord is:
15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
Jesus is God in the Flesh and He shows us how to walk in the Fruit of the Spirit. Knowing the fruit of the Spirit operated in the life of Christ, we have hope that the fruit of the Spirit will operate in us.
As I think of stories to describe the fruit of Peace in the Lord’s life, I remember Jesus calming the storm.
I want to look at two aspects of this story: [Jesus Has Peace] and [Jesus Speaks Peace].
Let’s begin
1. Jesus Has Peace
1. Jesus Has Peace
35 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
35 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.
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There are some stories in scripture that are so familiar if we are not careful we can miss the depth of what God wants to say to us. The story of Jesus calming the storm is one of these stories.
As I reread this short story in preparation for this message, I noticed two stroies, one of Jesus and the other of the disciples. Matthew, Mark, and Luke share both perspectives of the story.
These stories worked simultaneously, it begins with Jesus and winds with the disciples. While we often notice the storm and the peace that followed, whose idea was it to get in the boat?
Jesus is the one who tells the disciples, get in the boat, we need to cross the sea to get to the other side. The crowds fade as the get farther from the shore.
When it was too far to return, the breeze turns into a strong wind. The waves begin to crash against the side of the boat, then into the boat.
As the boat nearly capsized where is Jesus? Asleep on a pillow! How could Jesus possess such peace?
Remember the greek meaning peace- to join together. Jesus was joined together with His Father in heaven. Everywhere He went, He was on assignment.
Therefore, Jesus had inner peace knowing He was in the center of His Father’s will.
John 5:
19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.
19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
Jesus possessed supernatural peace because He followed the plan His Father had for His life! How did Jesus get in this type of relationship with God?
Our first reaction might be, “well He is God’s Son, surely He knows the Father.” While this is part of the truth, remember, Jesus came to this earth and walked as a Man under the anointing of the Spirit.
He was fully God and fully Man. The fully God part saved us from our sins, the full Man part understood the importance of communication with God through prayer.
Part of the secret to Jesus’ peace is He was faithful to spend time with God in prayer. The gospel writers meticulously details how often He withdrew to pray:
35 Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.
46 And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray.
13 And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him.
45 However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.
31 And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 32 So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.
12 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:
12 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
27 Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, “Who do men say that I am?”
18 And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”
1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples;
32 Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”
Jesus never underestimated or devalued prayer. He understood as He prayed, the Father poured out His Spirit upon Jesus, enabling Him to walk in His assignment.
No wonder He slept in the boat. He was in constant communication with the creator of heaven and earth! He had peace, but the disciples did not.
The Sea of Galilee is prone to storms, this one was so terrible Jesus disciples panicked. Imagine, some of them being professional fisherman, racked with fear from the storm.
Does the disciple’s fear mean they were bad people? No, it means Jesus wanted them to understand how the peace of God can work in their lives regardless of their surroundings.
Notice the two storylines, Jesus is at peace, the disciples are in a panic...
2. Jesus Speaks Peace
2. Jesus Speaks Peace
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After being rudely awakened with a fearful comment from the discip
39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
The disciples woke Jesus with an accusation, you do not care about us, if you did, you wouldn’t be asleep while we are about to die.
Jesus stood, rebuked the storm, and immediately the winds ceased and calm fell on the sea. Notice, it did not take a while for the boat to stop rocking and the storm to leave.
It is not as though the storm left gradually. It was immediate, instantaneous. The inner peace Jesus possessed now changed the atmosphere in the circumstances of the disciples.
After handling the storm, Jesus looked to the disciples and asked, “why are you afraid, where is your faith?”
What is Jesus’ point? The disciples needed to get to the point where they could do what Jesus did. He wanted to replace their fear with supernatural faith.
Then they asked, what kind of Man is Jesus? We’ve never known someone to cause a storm to cease.
How did Jesus do what He did? He knew the storm was not an accident. He had Spiritual insight that came from His consistent communication with the Father.
Look at what happened next.
1 Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him.
1 Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
Could it be that Jesus knew what God prepared for Him on the other side of the sea? Could it be that Jesus knew the storm was Satan’s attempt to intimidate and stop God’s plan?
Absolutely! As Jesus displayed the Fruit of the Spirit, specifically peace, God worked in Him to operate in the Gifts of the Spirit.
11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant:
Look at this progression:
Jesus spent time with the Father through prayer
The Holy Spirit empowered Jesus
The fruit of the Spirit was evident in His life
Now the Holy Spirit distributed His gifts as He willed!
What gifts of the Spirit worked in this scenario?
Jesus discerned the spirits. He knew the storm did not come by chance, it was a spiritual attack from the enemy to stop Him on His assignment.
Jesus operated in the gift of faith. As the storm blew supernatural faith rose in Jesus’ heart as to speak to the storm.
Jesus worked a miracle. The fact that the storm stopped is miraculous in itself.
Then when Jesus got to the other side, He faced a man who was possessed by 6,000 demons. Was Jesus afraid? No! He was at peace.
How could Jesus have peace in a situation that was not peaceful? The storm was not peaceful, the disciples attitude as not peaceful, the demon possessed man was definitely not peaceful, but none of this detoured Jesus.
Why? Because He was a man who walked in the fruit of the Spirit, giving God an opportunity to manifest the gifts of the Spirit through Him.
The disciples never met a person like this:
25 But He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”
Lukle 8:25
What they did not realize at the time was Jesus allowed them to learn from His life. He modeled for them how they would soon live.
Jesus looked to the day these fearful disciples would become men of faith who were saved by the blood, filled with the Holy Spirit, walking in both His Fruit and His gifts!
One day they would be the people God used to speak peace because they have peace! It would not come through their strength or power, but through the Holy Spirit!
Close:
When we walk in the flesh, we denote a life of fear. Fear causes us to do many things, all of which are unwise. Our flesh prompts us to pull us from God’s plan and get us to walk in ways that are contrary to His plan.
There is a better way. When we get saved, Jesus wants to empower us with His Spirit that we might walk in the Fruit of the Spirit as well as manifest the Gifts of the Spirit.
However, we will never walk in the Fruit and Gifts of the Spirit until we surrender our lives to Jesus and trust Him, regardless of our circumstances.
As I study the Fruit of the Spirit in the life of Jesus, I can’t help but notice how the Fruit is to flow regardless of our circumstances. Our focus in this message is on peace.
Jesus faced many situations that were not peaceful, yet He always had peace. One of the benefits to this is we now have a model whereby we can have peace.
If you are like me, there are times in our lives where peace seems absent! But I have never faced what Jesus and He had peace. Now we must remember what one author explains, “Peace is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of Jesus.”
The disciples should have had peace knowing He was in the boat. Likewise, we should have peace knowing Jesus is in our lives!
How do we obtain this peace?
We need peace with God.
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
We will never have internal peace until we surrender our lives to Jesus and trust Him to forgive us. If we refuse to repent of our sins and try to muddle through this life in our strength and power, peace will be an illusion, one we will never obtain!
When we have peace with God, we will have peace from God!
27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Jesus wants to impart to us supernatural peace. The world views peace as silence or absence of trouble. But this false narrative of peace can disappear as soon as another conflict rises!
When we have peace with God, we will peace from God, then we will have the peace OF God.
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.
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:
What a promise! To know as we go deeper in our walk with God, we have the promise of the peace of God to guard our hearts and minds!
Can we see that we walk in the flesh, we denote a life of fear. Fear causes us to do many things, all of which are unwise. Our flesh prompts us to pull us from God’s plan and get us to walk in ways that are contrary to His plan.
There are many Christians are not peaceable because they do not have peace with God or with themselves through God.
Sadly the opposite happens. There are many Christians are not peaceable because they do not have peace!
However, When we get in His presence, we can have peace! We enter His presence through praise and prayer! Then we can live a life where we speak peace to our circumstance and to other people’s situations!
Jesus wants to empower us with His Spirit that we might walk in the Fruit of the Spirit as well as manifest the Gifts of the Spirit.
Sadly the opposite happens. There are many Christians are not peaceable because they do not have peace!
Thank God there is a better way. When we get saved, Jesus wants to empower us with His Spirit that we might walk in the Fruit of the Spirit as well as manifest the Gifts of the Spirit.
As we surrender our lives to Jesus and trust Him, regardless of our circumstances, we will walk in the Fruit and Gifts of the Spirit.
The Lord wants His Spirit to work us, knowing love, joy, and peace will follow. As we display His fruit, He will help us display His power through His gifts.
I will give an example. A while back, I was troubled in my Spirit. I was praying about something. I tried to rationalize it, reason it within myself, and work it out on my own.
It troubled me for some time, and it was not until I got in God’s presence that peace filled. Bekah and I went to the Brooklyn Tabernacle during their midweek service.
Throughout the service, the presence of God was so real and strong. I can’t quite pinpoint when it happened, but I left with a load lifted off my shoulders and peace overflowing in my heart!
—> See what happens when we come to a midweek service!
As I prepared this message, I thought of that night. Since then I have had such peace! Have my circumstances changed? NO! What then changed? I DID!
Since that time, supernatural peace has been my story! What I feel the Lord wants to do today is give each of us peace.
Our circumstances might not change, but God can change us! We can be like Jesus, we can have peace, and then we can speak peace.
God wants us to be like Jesus. We should be able to go into a storm of our own or someone else's storm and speak peace.
Sadly the opposite happens. There are many Christians are not peaceable because they do not have peace!