Pipe Dream - Peace
Punctuation makes all the difference.
An English professor wrote the words, "Woman without her man is nothing," on the blackboard and directed the students to punctuate it correctly.
The men wrote: "Woman, without her man, is nothing."
The women wrote: "Woman! Without her, man is nothing."
What about the following words: . . . peace . . . on . . . earth? Is this the promise of the angels to the stunned, star struck shepherds? Was it an insignificant blessing? Does every word really count or are there some that are superfluous. The scripture indicates that God has a radical commitment to the preservation of the integrity of His Word.
Jesus was himself accused of heresy, of bringing a different or conflicting message than that contained in the Hebrew scriptures when in reality, he was committed to their fulfillment.
" “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." (Matthew 5:17-18, NIV)[1]
John in the final words of the New Testament canon, the book of Revelation concludes:
"I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." (Revelation 22:18-20, NIV) [2]
As we begin this message today, there may be some who find this sort of message to be a “splitting of hairs”. I hope that it is much more than that. Ultimately I believe that it may bring some fresh direction to your life that will result in the true, abiding peace of God ruling in your hearts.
"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:12-17, NIV) [3]
In the Christmas season, I frequently see the words “Peace on Earth”. The sense that I get is that people associate this as a Christmas promise.
In the over 3100 years of recorded world history, the world has only been at peace 8% of the time or a total of 286 years and 8000 treaties have been made and broken.
Is “peace on earth” really possible?
I've been told that a way to achieve inner peace is to finish the things I have started.
Today I finished two bags of potato chips and a chocolate cake.
I feel better already.
While desirable, it would seem that peace on this old earth is a pipe-dream.
A pipe dream is a fantastic hope that is generally regarded as being nearly impossible. The term derives from the visions or delusions induced from smoking an opium pipe [1], which was popular in Britain and America during the late 19th century and early 20th century. Some sources claim the term derives from the mescaline pipe, which was popular in the early twentieth century.
The realization of a pipe dream usually requires an unlikely succession of events or a complete reform in the dreamer's behavior. Misconceptions, obstacles unseen by the pipe dreamer, or simple ignorance of any issues involved are often disregarded. Also pipe dream is alluded to by the fantasies (a rather comical, yet popular, example of this is a banana hallucination which regularly gives the opium smoker bad advice) induced by smoking an opium pipe, but this term has been used more loosely since the 1800s.
In other words, you’d have to be on drugs to believe that we will ever see peace on an earth governed by men, regardless of how skilled or talented they might be.
Why is that?
1. Our outer world – our environment, is a reflection of our inner world. It may be different for a short period of time but before long we have to admit that we are the creators of our own environment.
First put yourself at peace, and then you may the better make others be at peace. A peaceful and patient man is of more profit to himself and to others, too, than a learned man who has no peace.
-- Thomas a Kempis in The Imitation of Christ. Christianity Today, Vol. 41, no. 12.
I saw a Peanuts cartoon with Lucy saying to Charlie Brown, "I hate everything. I hate everybody. I hate the whole wide world!"
Charlie says, "But I thought you had inner peace."
Lucy replies, "I do have inner peace. But I still have outer obnoxiousness" (from Barbara Brokhoff, New and Improved Jesus? C.S.S., 1991, p. 53).
-- W. Frank Harrington, "When You Really Want to Quit," Preaching Today, Tape No. 138.
Our world is as it is because we are as we are. We can never create an external reality that is not first an internal reality. Men and women who are not internally at peace can never create a world that is at peace. There are simply too many things that can go wrong. How in the world can a nation full of people who cannot get along with their next door neighbors over stupid things, ever hope to get along with nations of people who themselves are not at peace. We’ll sue our neighbors simply because it’s against the law to shoot them. I remember David Clark telling us about the man who some months ago shot the young boy for crossing his lawn. As a matter of fact, the first shot merely knocked him down and then he went outside and shot him a couple more times just to make sure.
“Five great enemies to peace inhabit with us: avarice, ambition, envy, anger and pride. If those enemies were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.”
-- Petrarch
The Christmas promise was not for peace on earth. Look at Luke 2:14.
"“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”" (Luke 2:14, NIV) [4]
Before there can be peace on earth, there must be peace that comes to the tribal heart of man. Peace to men is the Christmas promise. In heaven . . . Glory to God. On earth, . . . peace to men.
So what’s the problem? The problem is that we’ll have none of it. We can’t even shop at Christmas time without wars and skirmishes breaking out. I remember the videos of Black Friday, the most significant shopping day of the year in the US following, of all things, “Thanksgiving” – is that a mad house or what?
Christmas spirit makes you want to punch someone in the nose and many times it really doesn’t matter who.
Remember what Jesus said?
"“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34, NIV) [5]
You see, Jesus didn’t come to bring peace to the mass of humanity and you and I can never do that. He came to bring peace to the troubled, restless human heart.
"“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” " (John 16:33, NIV) [6]
The peace that we are promised is a peace that is to be found internally in a relationship with Christ.
And not to sound like a broken record but our experience of this holiday season is never going to be anything more than what our experience of Christ is.
2. Learning to differentiate between the storm within and the storm without is the secret to lasting peace. The one storm I can drive away from – I can create distance if I am willing. The other I take with me wherever I go so that there is no place of retreat – no calm – no quiet.
“Peace does not dwell in outward things, but within the soul; we may preserve it in the midst of the bitterest pain, if our will remains firm and submissive. Peace in this life springs from acquiescence, not in an exemption from suffering.”
-- Francis Fenelon
Did you hear that truth? Peace can be preserved in our hearts, “ . . . if our will remains firm and submissive”. That’s like saying hard a pliable at the same time. You can’t change much of what we will ex You can’t change much of what we will experience in this world but you can change the impact that external circumstances or storms have on you.
"The calm man, having learned how to govern himself, knows how to adapt himself to others. And they, in turn, reverence his spiritual strength and feel that they can learn from him and rely upon him. The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater his success, his influence, and his power for good. He is like a shade-giving tree in a thirsty land, or a sheltering rock in a storm."
- James Allen
What I understand from this perspective is that if a person is firmly convinced that God is always at work regardless of my circumstance to advance His Kingdom and consequently to bring good to my life, then I can trust Him at every turn.
Peace is the deliberate adjustment of my life to the will of God.
“Peace is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of God. “
-- J. Oswald Sanders. Today's Christian Woman, "Heart to Heart."
So let’s talk a bit about the Christmas gift of God’s peace.
"A child has been born to us; God has given a son to us. He will be responsible for leading the people. His name will be Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God, Father Who Lives Forever, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6, NCV) [7]
It is interesting that the Lord Jesus Christ is called the Prince of Peace. He is not called the Prince of Hope, though that would be appropriate. He is not called the Prince of Love, though that would fit him. He is not called the Prince of Faith, though that would not be out of place. He is called the Prince of Peace.
-- Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).
3. The absence of peace is glaringly evident in the world apart from God – when you find true peace in a man’s soul or even in an organization, it is significant and impacting because it is so rare. This unusual peace is a gift to you and through you to the world.
What God is to us, He expects us to be to others. Any goodness that you have been shown is in turn to be translated through our lives to others.
" If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose." (Philippians 2:1-2, NIV) [8]
"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:16-20, NIV) [9]
How about this verse? We quote it often in holiness circles.
"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:" (Hebrews 12:14, KJV) [10]
I think that we do the verse a disservice when we merely say that without holiness no one shall see the Lord. I think that the “and” connector indicates that following after “peace with all men” is as much a prerequisite to seeing God as holiness is. As a matter of fact, unless a person strives to create peace and to live at peace with people, I don’t think that they can rightly make a profession of holiness. For too many years, the church has accepted people’s profession of holiness without questioning their practice of holiness. If someone professes to be “saved”, we all too readily question their practice. Equity would require that the profession of an experience of sanctification should further raise the bar. In other words, a person who professes to be “sanctified” should give a greater clarity to that profession by the way that they live in relation to others. If the practice is lacking then perhaps the profession is questionable. I don’t care how clearly you can articulate a theological perspective of what this means. The practice is what matters.
Why? Because God intends that we should be the means through which He can bring peace on earth. That’s why the church alive and vibrant is potentially the most transformational force in the world today.
True peace is found by man in the depths of his own heart, the dwelling-place of God.
-- Johann Tauler (C. 1300-1361)
Remember the blessing found in the Beatitudes?
"They are blessed who work for peace, for they will be called God’s children." (Matthew 5:9, NCV) [11]
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
--St. Francis of Assisi - 13th century
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[1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[2] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[3] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[4] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[5] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[6] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[7] The Everyday Bible : New Century Version. 2005. Nashville, TN.: Thomas Nelson, Inc.
[8] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[9] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
[10] The Holy Bible : King James Version. 1995 (electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version.). Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[11] The Everyday Bible : New Century Version. 2005. Nashville, TN.: Thomas Nelson, Inc.