Fruit of the Spirit: Peace
Notes
Transcript
Peace
Peace
We all desire peace in life...
We want to live in peace, we desire to be at peace with others and we desperately need the peace of God to walk through many of the difficult days of life.
So this evening we will talk about the last of the fruits of the Spirit that I am teaching on, and I suddenly understand why peace is last on my list ---- not on the list from Scripture.
Monday I was with a family and as they said temporary good byes to a loved one, there was peace, there was a holy peace knowing that God was in our midst. The Holy Spirit was there comforting but also reminding us that death is not the end. It is the transition to His presence, into His Kingdom, we refer to it as heaven...
The English word “heaven” is derived from the Greek word, Paradisos… paradise.
And in paradise, in heaven, in His presence there is peace.
So lets take some time and consider the word peace…
Lets look back at our text....
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
So what is peace...
The Dictionary says: freedom from disturbance; tranquility.
And the Bible teaches us that “peace” is only found in God, but people try to find it in other things.
People go on vacation, they testify that it is so peaceful and they are true, but it is momentary, you have to go home, to work, to what you were fleeing from temporarily.
True peace cannot be gauged by the absence of unpleasant circumstances, so neither can peace be defined in terms of the cessation of violence, war, and strife.
People search for peace in material things, possessions.
I am not saying possessions are wrong or that money is wrong.. what I am saying is this… they alone cannot bring true peace.
8 one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.
So even people who have “seemingly everything” are unhappy, unsatisfied, without peace.
So peace cannot be found in possessions, in the wealth that is here today and gone tomorrow...
So we can come to the conclusion that people want and desire to have peace in their life...
But they cannot have it a part from God.
The Old Testament word Shalom has a much better concept of what peace really means… it isn’t just a greeting or something of that nature. it is much more positive than that...
It refers to a condition of wholeness and well-being that includes but a right relationship with God and loving harmony with those around you.
Paul spoke of this.. He spoke about being at peace with God, being justified by Faith and the peace of God that transcends all human understanding.
Let me share Romans 5:1
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who have faced their faith in God, they can rest assured that their faith as been credited to them as Righteousness..
24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,
Our confidence is based on the fact, the truth that Christ was put to death for our sins and raised again that they might be declared just, right before God.
Since we have put our faith in Christ and we have been justified… we have peace.
The right standing before God.
That truth is for all who are in Christ Jesus..... Because of that we can not enjoy the relationship that is at peace. We can talk, pray, lean on, hold too and so much more all because we are saved and at peace with God.
That my friends has a rich, rich meaning for us...
Listen to Col 1:21-22
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
And let me share Eph 2:14-15
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
Do you see the richness of being at peace with God. No longer held in sin and strife, but free...
That is wonderful my friends, very wonderful.
But then there is the other portion of peace.
Listen to Phil 4:7
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
This peace is the second portion of that Paul means when he speaks of peace...
An early church father once said...
When the peace of God has come upon us, we shall understand God. There will be no discord, no disagreement, no quarrelsome arguments, nothing subject to question.
So here Paul is making three statements about the peace of God..
First, it is divine peace. This peace was a characteristic of God which invaded the Christian.
Paul knew that God’s presence and power were always there at work.
Second, it “transcends all understanding.” “Transcends” translates the word hyperechousa (“excellent”). Paul contrasted knowledge and peace at one point: Peace excels over knowledge.
No doubt he had in mind situations where knowledge is insufficient. Sometimes it cannot explain, and sometimes explanations do not help.
Peace, however, is always appropriate and meets the need of the heart.
Finally, this peace will “guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” “Guard” is a military term, implying that peace stands on duty to keep out anything that brings care and anxiety.
For these reasons, prayerful people are peaceful people.
So it is the peace of God that move us along and keep is at rest, mentally, physically even when we cannot describe it all...
We are in a world that has fallen short of the idea God has in store, but being jusfiifed and filled with HIs Spirit we have the joy of moving toward the goall He had in mind all along,
A people at peace in His presence and and with all things...
Are you at peace today?
What keeps you from being at peace?