Peace

John 14:27 - Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Our message title today is simply— Peace.

This past week we lost two great men who were the epitome of peaceful protests and icons of the Civil Rights Movement. US Representative Rev. Dr. John Lewis and my cousin Rev. Dr. Cordy Tindell Vivian. Both of these men marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, they both received the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barak Obama for their work in the Civil Rights Movement of the 60’s.

With their participation in peaceful protests, demanding the right to vote, the sit ins at lunch counters, Bloody Sunday and the Freedom Rides, they fought for freedom, they fought for equality, they fought for basic human rights.

Dr. John Lewis was the longest serving member of the Congressional Black Caucus. At age 23 he was a keynote speaker at the historic 1963 March on Washington and the US Representative, of our very own, Georgia's 5th Congressional District for more than three decades. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.

Dr. Vivian, was also a part of the marches, peaceful protests, sit ins, Bloody Sunday, the Freedom Rides and in one particular incident, he was severely beaten by a local sheriff, for leading a group of blacks to register to vote, because it was their right to do so. That beating resulting in him needing stitches and it happened with cameras rolling, that scene galvanized support for change. Unfortunately, these are still the images people must see today, to believe that change is necessary.

Dr. Vivian was the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and along with other ministers, he created the Nashville Christian Leadership Conference, an affiliate of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He created a college readiness program for kids who were kicked out of school for protesting and his program was the guide used to form the Upward Bound program. And finally, while these are just brief snapshots of his 95-years, he also founded an anti-racism organization that focused on monitoring the Ku Klux Klan.

Dr. Vivian was awarded his Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.

I had the opportunity to meet and spend a little time with Dr. Vivian, tracing our family connection. At the time we met him, he was in his late 80’s. My husband and I picked him up from his office, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference office in downtown Atlanta and drove him home.

Hearing him speak was a history lesson I’ll never forget. The words coming from someone who was actually there and hearing stories you’ll never see written in a history book. His home was like a museum, filled with walls of books, that overflowed to his desk and on to the floor. In another room the walls were filled with pictures that marked times in his life. There were gifts and keepsakes and souvenirs from his extensive travel and more pictures in frames on the tables. The smile on his face as he recanted the stories said it all, as difficult as it may have been, it was worth it.

These two greats, were young men who saw injustice and dared to challenge those who refused to change, who refused to acknowledge the rights of a race of people, the rights of Black people, they challenged those who refused to recognize the fundamental rights every human being should have. These men just wanted to stand and be treated as men. For those marching today, take a look back at these two men for a guide to how peaceful protest is done.

It may seem sad that 60 years later, we are still having to march in the streets, we’re still having to protest, peaceful or otherwise, there is still burning and destruction and looting and tear gas and rubber bullets, but it should not be surprising.

The question may be asked, what do we want? I believe the ultimate answer is peace. But here’s the problem, we’re looking to man to give us that peace. It’s sad to say, but man is incapable of giving us the peace we’re looking for, the peace we want, the peace we need. I’m not saying don’t fight, don’t march or don’t protest; because we need to fight and march and protest, until there is equality and liberty and justice and fair policing and an end to voter suppression, and manipulation and greed and policies, programs and practices that allow the rich to get richer and schemes, strategies and systems put in place to make the poor poorer.

There are cities across America that are finally having the conversation about slavery, discrimination and the oppressive laws and policies designed solely to keep Black Americans at a disadvantage. The word reparations is coming up more and more.

But again, we are looking to man to fix the problem, we’re looking at man to give us peace, when the Word of God tells us where we ought to be looking to find peace.

Church, if the world doesn’t know where to find the peace they seek, it’s because we have not been doing what God called us to do. We got comfortable in our buildings and forgot that the church is the people, not the building.

This pandemic has caused us to stop doing church as usual, waiting for the people to come to us, when we were never instructed to go into a building and wait for the people to come. Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This pandemic has caused us to rethink how we “do church”, to rethink how we get the message out, and to rethink even, how the message is presented. Those preachers that needed the amen’s of the crowd and the chords of the organ are finding it difficult to deliver the meat of the message the world needs, rather than the feel good hype of the hoop that leaves the hearer empty and unprepared when it’s time for them to leave the sanctuary and engage in the battle that lies before them, the battle that’s sometimes waiting for them in the parking lot of the church grounds, it may even be escorting them out the church doors.

But, church; preachers; pastors; evangelists; teachers, Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you” In the NLT Jesus said he was leaving us with a gift. How many like gifts? Amen, but the gift Jesus is leaving us with, will never get old, go out of style, break and most importantly it will never lose its power. The gift he left us with is his peace, peace of heart and peace of mind.

When you have peace of heart and peace of mind,

• it’s not to say that all will be right around you

• it’s not to say that there will be no struggle

• it’s not to say everyone will respect you, or treat you fairly

But it is to say, the peace that Jesus gives covers all of those things, the peace that Jesus gives allows you

• to smile when everyone around you is crying

• to be silent when everyone around you is raging

• to be calm when everyone around you is in chaos

He goes on to say, “…not as the world giveth, give I unto you”. So stop looking for the world, stop looking for man to make it all better, because the fact of the matter is,

• As long as there are people sitting in the back of a pickup truck, waving Confederate flags and screaming at peaceful protesters, “I’m going to teach my grandchildren to hate all you people”… the world will never be able to give you peace.

• As long as those elected officials who are supposed to represent all the people in their districts or states or counties or cities or towns continue to make insensitive racists comments only to offer an obligatory “I’m sorry” afterwards…the world will never be able to give you peace.

• As long as there are Ku Klux Klan and White Supremacists who continue to teach hate to their next generation…the world will never be able to give you peace.

• As long as media, whether it be social media, broadcast media, news media who contribute to hate speech…the world will never be able to give you peace.

• As long as there are those in power who utter the words, “there were fine people on both sides” when a person drives their car through a crowd of peaceful protesters and the driver’s only regret was they didn’t kill more of them…the world will never be able to give you peace.

• As long as the police continue to profile and mistreat and fear and kill Black people, for no other reason than the color of their skin…the world will never be able to give you peace.

• As long as the justice system erroneously prosecutes and unfairly sentences Black people…the world will never be able to give you peace.

• As long as Brown children are separated from their parents and locked in cages like animals…the world will never be able to give you peace.

Jesus ends that verse by reassuring us and letting us know, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

• Yes, continue to march…but don’t let your heart be troubled or afraid.

• Yes, continue to peacefully protest…but don’t let your heart be troubled or afraid.

• Yes, continue to fight for equality and justice for all…but don’t let your heart be troubled or afraid.

• Yes, continue to speak out against voter suppression and gerrymandering…but don’t let your heart be troubled or afraid.

• Get in the fight, get in the race, get in your lane, whatever your lane is and fight your fight and run your race to the best of your ability and remember, the race is not given to the swift, nor to the strong, but to he who endures to the end.

In John 16:33 Jesus told them, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.” What things, well we’d start back in John 14 and here are just some of the things Jesus told them

• He started with let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

• He’s prepared a place for you in his Father’s house

• He’s coming back to get you

• He is the way, the truth, and the life, no one can come to the Father except through him

• If you love him, keep his commandments

• He sent us a Comforter when he left, He sent the Holy Spirit

• The Holy Spirit teaches us all things and brings all things to our remembrance

Jesus told us

• He is the true vine; his Father is the gardener, he cuts off every branch that doesn’t bear fruit and he prunes the others so they can bear more fruit. Stay connected to the vine

• If you love him, keep his commandments, I know, I already said that one, but it’s repeated so it must be important

• Keep his commandments—I know, I already said that one too, but it’s repeated so it must be important

• He chose you

• You will be persecuted, just like he was

“In the world ye shall have tribulation”, so

• don’t let it take you by surprise,

• don’t let it overwhelm you

• don’t let it discourage you

• don’t let it stop you

• don’t let it get you down

In fact, Jesus said

“…but be of good cheer; [Why?] I have overcome the world”.

Jesus has already, been there and done that,

• he suffered for us

• he paid the price of our sins for us

• he was rejected for us

• he was falsely accused for us

• he was tortured and beaten for us

• he died for us

But praise be to God

• Jesus rose for us

• He ascended to heaven for us

• And he is interceding to the Father with prayers for us

When Jesus said, “I have overcome the world”, he didn’t just do it before us, he did it for us.

Stop looking for the world to give you a peace it doesn’t have, and isn’t able to give. Look to God, the author and finisher of your faith, knowing that

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple…I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

True peace, comes from the one and only true and living God. This peace that I have, the world didn’t give to me, the world didn’t give it and the world can’t take it away.