The God of Peace

Philippians 4:4–9 KJV 1900

4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. 5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

The Peace of God & The God of Peace

5 steps to peace that passes all understanding

His peace passes all understanding

We are in a troubling time. I don’t know of a time that I have felt such uncertainty. The only other time that I can recall, in my lifetime, of feeling such uncertainty was in the aftermath of 9/11 after the towers had come down.

I don’t know as much about this coronavirus. I don’t know the contagious factors surrounding it. I don’t really know the mortality rate attached to it. I don’t know if this virus is really the issue at the core of all of this or if there is something bigger driving all of this.

I don’t know if its extreme political posturing.

I don’t know if it is global positioning

or..if it truly is a sickness that has the potential to infest our world...

I don’t know the source…but I do know its impact.

I know that the economy is teetering.

I know the shelves at the grocery store are lacking

I know the things that just a week ago brought us great uncertainty…the things just a week ago, we knew that we could depend on and count on today, are so very uncertain…we don’t know what tomorrow will bring!

In 1944, a housewife named Ruth Caye Jones was concerned about the state of the world.  The country was in the middle of World War II.  Hitler, the Nazi army and the Japanese military were waging war around the globe.  Mrs. Jones was at home completing her daily household tasks.  She was burdened and stressed by the turmoil and evil in the world.  She was moved by reading the words of : "This know also that in the last days perilous times will come." As she read those words, inspiration for the song came, and she pulled a small notebook from the pocket of her apron and began to scribble these words that would become a powerful hymn:

In times like these you need a Savior

In times like these you need an anchor;

Be very sure, be very sure

Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock! 

This Rock is Jesus, Yes, He's the One;

This Rock is Jesus, the only One!

Be very sure, be very sure

Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock! 

I want to tell you today…I don’t know much about the Coronovirus. I don’t know if the stock market will be up or down tomorrow. I don’t know if there will be food on the shelves tomorrow at the grocery story…But one thing I do…He is the God of peace!

in the 4th chapter of the book of Philippians, we find Paul providing a remedy for these trying times. He provides a plan and a pathway for forfeiting the fears and the anxiety of this world and taking hold of the peace of God and the the God of peace.

He introduces this powerful, stable, unshakable foundation in Philippians chapter 4:7 when he declares:

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus

This powerful, prevailing peace…Paul proclaims…shall keep your heart and minds.

Anybody every felt like you were going to lose your mind?

the peace of God will keep your mind!

In vs. 26 Jesus spoke and said that there is coming a time when men’s hears shall fail them for fear when they see the things that are coming on this earth...

the peace of God will keep your heart!

Wether you’re losing your mind or you’re heart is failing…His peace will keep you!

The word that Paul uses for keep would have appeared to the reader of that day as a very colorful and descriptive word…it was the Greek word (froo-ray-see-eye) and it was a military word that meant to guard with whatever means necessary.

The most powerful and popular strategies of the army that Paul would have been referencing…the Roman army was the “testudo” or the tortoise...

Show image...

Their uniquely large scuta, as the Romans’ shields were called, allowed them to present a 360-degree wall of armor to opponents. Whatever they were guarding was virtually unreachable by the attacking adversary…

Imagine your heart and your mind in the middle of that formation…

This peace of God that will guard your heart and your mind passeth all understanding

In my mind…as I read this, I visualize a race taking place for the emotional condition in my life.…

the race is between the Peace of God and ALL understanding...the runner in the lead is ALL understanding…

understanding simply means reasoning…its gathering all of the facts and the logic and forming our way of thinking based upon the facts.

Notice that he didn’t say that His peace passes MY understanding…He said it passes ALL understanding.

Obviously right now the dilemma that we are all facing is the coronavirus…and if it was just MY understanding…His peace passed that a LONG time ago…because I don’t know much about it.

maybe have two people come up....give one a branch…symbolic of olive branch…give the other one a book...

In my mind…as I read this, I visualize a race taking place for the emotional condition in my life.…the runner in the lead is ALL understanding…

with the book - you are ALL understanding…you are CNN and foxnews…you are the bearers of bad news…the epidemiologists…the guys on the news telling us that somewhere between 100,000 and 4 billion people are going to die from the virus....

with the olive branch - you are the peace of God

And so here is the race for my heart and my mind. the race for my spiritual and emotional well-being.

And I’ve got to tell you that ALL understanding is a pretty stout competitor right about now.

Obviously right now the dilemma that we are all facing is the coronavirus…and if it was just my understanding…His peace passed that a LONG time ago…because I don’t know much about it.

I mean…if it were just my understanding the peace of God will win that race pretty easily…my understanding isn’t fit to catch the pig at the county fair…let alone to win the race for my soul!

But ALL understanding! All understanding has been hitting the gym! All understanding has been working out and training. All understanding is in pretty good shape!

If you start listening to all of the smart people…all of the scientists, and medical experts…and all of the politicians…People that are smarter than I am decided to shut down the NBA, and the NHL and Major League baseball, and the Masters Golf tournament...

How can I find peace when all understanding says that I should be fearful and anxious and worried....

If this is a race for peace… “All understanding” is off to a pretty solid start!

All understanding is looking a lot like Hussein Bolt right now! All understanding has obviously been in the gym and been training!

But Paul said the peace of God passeth ALL understanding!

His peace is more speedy than the facts that I’m facing.

His peace can outpace my problem!

His peace has greater endurance than the details of my situation…

His peace can outlast my dilemma!

You are deciding which runner in this race is going to win the race for your emotional condition and well-being!

Reminds me of that game at the fair…you’ve got a squirt gun and as long as you are spraying water in the mouth of that clown, the balloon above his head inflates.…if you spray the clown next to it, his balloon is going to inflate…the balloon that pops first is the winner.

If I put my focus and my attention on “all understanding”, that balloon will pop first and when that balloon pops…it brings anxiety, worry, despair, fear.

But if I put my focus on the peace of God…that balloon will pop first and with it comes security, trust, hope, faith, joy!

This peace that passes all understanding isn’t a blanket statement…or just because you consider yourself to be a religious person…or even because you call yourself a follower of Jesus…but Paul lays out the conditions that qualify us for a peace that passes

And Paul doesn’t just leave this peace of God that passeth all understanding and Keeps my heart and mind as some abstract religious idea…He provides 5-steps to ensuring that its the peace of God that prevails in your life!!

Step 1: REJOICE

Rejoice in the Lord ALWAY: and again I say, Rejoice.

Rejoice in the Lord ALWAY: and again I say, Rejoice.

The word REJOICE means an emotion of gladness.

What? in order for me to find that place of peace, you want me start by being glad?

Glad that a plague is sweeping the land?

Glad that the economy is teetering on the brink of destruction?

There is no march madness…no college basketball…no NBA…no masters golf tournament…how am I supposed to be glad.

Thats easy for you to say Paul. There’s probably plenty of toiler paper there when you are righting this letter! You are probably writing this letter with a 8 oz. pump bottle of hand sanitizer while you are attending the chariot races.

No…actually Paul was writing this letter from a Prison in Rome.

Reminds me of that game at the fair…you’ve got a squirt gun and as long as you are spraying water on the target it moves the runner forward…if you spray the target next to it, the other runner is going to move forward.

Maybe now instead of the time that I would have spent watching 10 people I don’t know trying to win a game that doesn’t impact my life, I can spend time with the 5 people that shape my world.

If you put your focus on all understanding…that is the balloon that is going to bust…or I can rejoice…I can find things that I DO HAVE and rejoice.

I’ll tell you one thing this can do for us all…is awaken our sense of gratitude. Make us thankful for the things we often take for granted!

I can e

You can either let your circumstances define you, or you can define your circumstances.

I don’t know if things are going to get better or if they are going to get worse

I don’t know if next week life will be back to normal…or if this is the beginning of the days that will usher in the coming of the Lord!

I don’t know…but I do know that what is going to determine which runner crosses the finish line of your emotional condition…will it be all understanding…or the peace of God...

Rejoice ALWAYS!!

STEP 2: Be careful for nothing…but in everything by PRAYer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known unto God

Be careful for nothing…isn’t saying to be a daredevil…to throw caution to the wind....the word careful means…worry…Don’t allow worry to abide!

How long do i have to pray!?! If we are going to find the Peace of God, it needs to be less of a measure of how long and more of a measure of how much.

How much am I holding on to?

How much am I still worrying about?

The old timers used to say pray through...

You have to pray until you release the responsibility and the weight of that circumstance to the Lord!

Worried about your job?

Worried about the economy?

Be careful for nothing! Pray until you release that worry to the Lord!

You’re prayers are blowing up the balloon of the Peace of God!

Or your prayerlesness is blowing up the balloon of ALL understanding!

You can either focus on ALL understanding…or you can be careful for nothing.

STEP 3 Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, good report THINK on those things!

listen…you will not find the Peace of God that is going to guard your heart and your mind by digesting the voices...

We need to take this passage very literal…whatever things are true and honest...

well…there goes

CNN, FOX, MSNBC…If you think any of those are true and honest…I’ve got a piece of land just south of Solomon’s island that I’d like to sell you!

And even better Facebook…I didn’t know there were so many experts…people that last month were wowing the world with the fact that they could make a broom stand up by itself…and now suddenly, they are experts on the coronavirus and telling us how we should be acting...

All understanding is going to cross the finish line first if all that you listen to is ALL understanding!

If you expect for the peace of God to pass understanding then you have to put your mind on the God of peace…and not all understanding!

Step 4: ACTION!

Finally…this is what its all about…all of those Sundays that you have come to church…all of those sermons about Faith and Hope and trust…This is show time…its time to DO what you have learned, received, heard and seen…its time to put it to practice in your life!!!

Paul marks the final step of the peace of God passing ALL understanding when says...

Those things, which ye have learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, DO!!

Child of God…its easy to make church just about religion…about religious theory…we come week after week and we learn all of these really need things about Jesus..

All of these great messages of faith

About HOPE

About JOY

About the power of prayer and the power of worship!!

And in times of abundance…when the economy is good…when our jobs are secure…when our health isn’t threatened…when there’s toilet paper in the closet and we know there is food at the grocery story…its easy for those Sunday sermons and Wednesday night lessons to just be another polished rock we add to our collection...

But in times like these…its time to start DO’ing!

Its time to start putting it into action...

that series where learned to pray through the tabernacle…time to put it into action!

Those sermons about the woman who sought God with despearation

or the blind man who had to decide if he would be annoyed or anointed...

Finally…this is what its all about…all of those Sundays that you have come to church…all of those sermons about Faith and Hope and trust…This is show time…its time to DO what you have learned, received, heard and seen…its time to put it to practice in your life!!!

this is what its all about…all of those Sundays that you have come to church…all of those sermons about Faith and Hope and trust…This is show time…its time to DO what you have learned, received, heard and seen…its time to put it to practice in your life!!!

And what started in vs. 4 in the pursuit of the PEACE of God…culminates in vs. 9 with the God of peace shall be with you.

yesterday my wife and I were kind of joking about if things got really bad…at least we would still have eggs…we have 5 chickens that keep us pretty stocked up on eggs...

Then she said…if it gets really bad…and we don’t have any meat to eat…we have chickens...

but then we wouldn’t have eggs...

the peace of God is like the egg…its here right now...

The God of peace being with me…that is the chicken…its the source...

The peace of God is circumstantial…It is possible to find the peace of God in this present dilemma only to forfeit it in some future situation.

But when I come to know HIM as the God of peace…as I REJOICE always…and I PRAY all of my worries away…and I THINK on things that are true, honest and of a good report…and I put into action all that I have learned…its not going to be just circumstantial!

and make no mistake…this will not be the last dilemma!

This will not be the last time your world feels shaken...

And I feel like in this season…some of you are going to take these 4 steps in pursuit of the peace of God…and what you’re going to end up with, is learning that you get to know the God of peace…your walk with God is going to be deeper.

CLOSING

The only time in all of Romans that Satan is mentioned…and what will always defeat Satan is Peace!

The final verse of the hymn penned by an American housewife in the midst of frightening times trumpeted this confident declaration:

In times like these I have a Savior, In times like these I have an anchor; I'm very sure, I'm very sure My anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!

This Rock is Jesus, Yes He's the One, This Rock is Jesus, the only One;