Peace in Troubled Times!

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.” (2 Thessalonians 3:16)

The Psalmist in Psalm 31 says, “There is terror on every side!’” (Psalm 31:13). During this current Coronavirus pandemic many can identify with the psalmist. In fearful moments we can think of Covid 19 infection as conspiring against us with a “plot to take my life.” We have been warned that the Winter will be tought because of the millions of viruses scattered by coughs and sneezes. It is tempting to think of these as the “enemies..who pursue me”(Psalm 31:15). What’s the answer to such fear? What’s our protection agains such enemies? “I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me. Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love. Let me not be put to shame, O Lord. for I have cried out to you.” (Psalm 31:15-17).

The coronavirus may be viewed as an eneemy but so is the fear that causes us to lose sight of our God and forgetting that our “times are in your hands.” “ “The the enemy” is how the Chinese people from the early stages of the Wuhan epidemic have united their efforts, and an ancient Chinese saying explains the key to victory against any enemy: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” To know our enemy, and to know ourselves as Christians: with the two together, we can respond intelligently and appropriately as Christians.” (Fear not, sneer not: A healthy Christian response to COVID-19. Mirjam Schilling, Joel Gamble and Nathan Gamble).

How should Christians respond to the this and other kind of threats that shake our faith and fill us with fear? The aricle I referred to cited the example of Martin Luther. A deadly plague struck Wittenburg in 1527, at a time when Vivian Nutton, historian of medicine, caluclated that, “A town would experience an epidemic of plague approximately every decade, and a serious devastation once in every generation.” Disease outbreaks were part of the rhythm of life for Centuries, with outbreaks caused by bubonic plague having a fatality rate of 60–90 percent (for SARS-COV2 is between 1–3 percent). Luther considered what the reaction of Christians should be at such times. Luther regarded the epidemic as a temptation that tests and proves our faith and love: “our faith in that we may see and experience how we should act toward God; our love in that we may recognise how we should act toward our neighbour...We must give hospital care and be nurses for one another in any extremity or risk the loss of salvation and the grace of God.” Through faith in God and out of love for neighbour, Christians must think first how to contribute to the physical and spiritual care of those who are vulnerable, self-isolated, sick, or dying. With lives at risk, Luther encourages Christians to find solace in the promises of God. The devil tempts us to “horror and repugnance in the presence of a sick person.” But striking a “blow against the devil is God’s mighty promise by which he encourages those who minister to the needy. He says in Psalm 41, ‘Blessed is he who considers the poor. The Lord will deliver him in the day of trouble’.” Therefore, “whoever serves the sick for the sake of God’s gracious promise … has the great assurance that he shall in turn be cared for. God himself shall be his attendant and his physician, too. What an attendant he is! What a physician!”

All 3 authors are Theology students, one of the authors, Dr Miriam Schilling, a virologiss at Oxford University and Nathan Gamble, MD MA, is a bioethicist and internal medicine resident at the University of Alberta, and he is studying Clinical Trials at the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.: “Many of us in healthcare have taken oaths: “The health of our patients shall be our first consideration.” It is easy to take valiant oaths in times of tranquillity and bliss. Hardship does not nullify these oaths, but rather emphasises their sacred, inviolable nature. For Christians, there is a special duty to fulfil them, since we have been told, “let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’.” For those of us who do not have special training to participate on the medical front lines, we are called to responsibly play our part in society: in our jobs that help keep our economy going; in our families as parents, children or siblings; in the way we communicate, listen and respond to news; in the way we care for our neighbours, cities and communities. Above all, we are called to pray for and do our best to support good journalism, research and medical care. For Christians, truth is distinctly important. Every Christian has the responsibility to find and rely on accurate sources of information, having nothing to do with either sensationalisers or scoffers...We listen to and respect our public health officials, with the expectation that their recommendations will inevitably be imperfect. Rather than criticising them, we ought to pray for them daily.”

We take on board the exhortation of Augustine of Hippo who said: “As ‘we are saved by hope’, so we are made happy by hope. Neither our salvation nor our beatitude is here present, but ‘we wait for it’ in the future, and we wait ‘with patience’, precisely because we are surrounded by evils which patience must endure until we come to where all good things are sources of inexpressible happiness and where there will be no longer anything to endure. Such is to be our salvation in the hereafter, such our final blessedness.”

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.” (2 Thessalonians 3:16)

Duke University did a study on "peace of mind." Factors found to contribute greatly to emotional and mental stability are:

1) the absence of suspicion and resentment. Nursing a grudge was a major factor in unhappiness.

2) Not living in the past. An unwholesome preoccupation with old mistakes and failures leads to depression.

3) Not wasting time and energy fighting conditions you cannot change. Cooperate with life, instead of trying to run away from it.

4) Force yourself to stay involved with the living world. Resist the temptation to withdraw and become reclusive during periods of emotional stress.

5) Refuse to indulge in self-pity when life hands you a raw deal. Accept the fact that nobody gets through life without some sorrow and misfortune.

6) Cultivate the old-fashioned virtues--love, humor, compassion and loyalty.

7) Do not expect too much of yourself. When there is too wide a gap between self-expectation and your ability to meet the goals you have set, feelings of inadequacy are inevitable.

8) Find something bigger than yourself to believe in. Self-centered egotistical people score lowest in any test for measuring happiness - “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.” (2 Thessalonians 3:16)

Background & Context:

The author is the Apostle Paul, even if he used an amanuensis to scribe it - "I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write." (2 Thes 3:17).

It appears that it was written shortly after his first letter to them and was intended to clear up confusion about the future and in particular the date of the Second Coming of Christ.

Growing persecution was putting the church under considerable pressure. Paul had been driven from Thessalonica by persecution organized by jealous Jews (Acts 17:5). A mob attacked several of the brothers, and a riot ensued. Paul was forced to leave the city that very night. Despite the fact that a number of Greeks and a few prominent women were members of the new congregation, the mob actions had apparently stirred up considerable opposition. In this second letter Paul wrote movingly about “all the persecutions and trials you are enduring” (v. 4). The Greek word, thlipsis, is a strong one, and suggests great emotional and spiritual stress caused by these external pressures. The Thessalonians wondered: how could this God who loved them permit them to experience such suffering? How does this relate to Jesus’ deliverance of believers “from the coming wrath”? (1 Thes. 1:10) Aren’t troubles here an evidence of divine judgment? - Paul's answer in 2 Thes 1:6-10

However there were internal pressures as well. These arose through disputes over Paul’s teaching (2 Thes 2:2) regarding the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It appears that there were factions around whether or not the “Day of the Lord” had arrived and that somehow they had missed it, meaning their loved ones who had died, trusting Christ would not be resurrected. Paul addresses this in his first leter, teaching the believers that death had not cut their loved ones off from the hope of glory to come. Both those who live at Christ’s return, and those who have died, will be caught up together! 1 Thes 4:13-18. However, there were other believers in the Church who said that because Jesus was going to return imminently, then there was no need to work or plan for the future as soon everything would be over and so all that was left was to waith for His return. They gave up working as a result. They let other Christians feed them, and sat around gossiping their lives away. - 2 Thes 3:7-13

Paul wrote to correct these misunderstandings, to heal the rift and to teach them how to live under persecution as well as what they needed to do to get the idle believers among them back to work!

Understanding how painful their persecution was, Paul asked that the Lord “who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, [would] encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word” (vv. 16–17).

So what can we learn from this text today?

1. Jesus is our SOURCE of Peace

In one Peanuts cartoon by Charles Shultz, Lucy says 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.”

Paul describes the Thessalonians as eagerly waiting “for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath” (1 Thes. 1:10).

They had caught something of Paul’s own attitude, for he had fixed his hope, “in the presence of our Lord Jesus when He comes” (2:19).

They were motivated to “be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones [angels]” (3:13).

They had “inner peace” but sadly they sometimes had “outer obnoxiousness”

However as we have already noted, these believers were struggling under the pressure of persecution and deeived by false teachings around the Second Coming of Christ, which has led to factional disputes among the believers.

Paul addressed this, putting them straight in terms of teaching that would satisfy their intellect, but in itself could not deliver their peace which has been shaken. God alone could do this! The Lord alone can give them peace!

“Peace” is a comprehensive term for the prosperity of the whole person

The Greek word eirēnē, is the equivalent of the Hebrew šālôm which is concerned with ‘wholeness’, ‘soundness’, and signifies prosperity in the widest sense, especially prosperity in spiritual things. šālôm encapsulates this broad concept of the prosperity of the whole person, including end especially the spiritual prosperity of the individual. It is not as the Amplified Bible suggests limited to "peace of heart." (Amplified Bible).

“By peace we may understand all manner of prosperity; here it may signify, in particular, peace with God, peace in their own minds and consciences, peace among themselves, and peace with all men.” (Matthew Henry)

Paul frequently couples together the concepts of "grace and peace”(see 1 Thes 1:1). This is a reminder to us that there can be no true peace until the grace of God has dealt with sin. True peace in the deepest sense comes only as God’s free gift to us in our Lord Jesus Christ. We can never achieve or arive at it by our own efforts. That’s why Paul links it to its supernatural source, “the Lord of peace.”

And so he says “may the Lord of peace”, come into this situation and settle you down!

Paul has spoken to them of ‘the Lord of peace’ before. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 he wrote, ‘may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely’.

The same title is given to Jesus, as to the Father, “the God of peace” (Ro 15:33; 16:20; 2 Co 13:11). And this has important echoes of the first OT ascription, which occurs in Judges 8:24, where Gideon has an encounter with the Angel of the Lord and is terrified and "When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he exclaimed, “Ah, Sovereign Lord! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!” But the Lord said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.” So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it The Lord is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites." God reveals Himself as “Yahweh Shalom”, the Lord our Peace!

And this has Trinitarian significance, for in referring to Jesus as “Lord of peace”, Paul is affirming the deity of Christ, that He is fully God and fully Man.

The blessing of Christian peace is not independent of Christ and is also a gift of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22). Thus it is Trinitarian in its source.

Jesus then is the SOURCE of our Peace!

It is through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that we find grace and hope and as a consequence find “peace with God” (Rom 5:1)

To have peace with God and enjoy the presence of God, for he has made those nigh that were afar off. (see Eph 2:11-18).

On the afternoon of May 24, 1738, John Wesley attended St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The anthem was Psalm 130, “out of the depths have I cried unto thee O Lord, hear my voice.”

That evening in a society meeting at Aldersgate Street, Wesley’s heart was strangely warmed as he heard a reading of Luther’s preface to his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. Like Luther, John Wesley described the change which overtook him. “I was striving, yea, fighting with all my might under the law, as well as under grace. But then I was sometimes, if not often, conquered; now, I am always conqueror.”

2. Jesus is the GIVER of Peace

It is a given peace, and is promised as a permanent peace, felt always and in every way.

When Jesus was reassuring his disciples on the eve of the crucifixion he said: ‘Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you’ (John 14:27).

This gift of peace from the Lord of the church is directed to the heart: ‘Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid’ (John 14:27).

This peace comes independently of outward circumstances and reigns in the hearts of all who trust God’s grace as faith is exercised (Ps. 46:10–11).

The source of this present and constant peace is the ‘Lord’ himself, so it is necessary to abide in him by faith (John 15:4) in order to benefit fully from daily union with the Saviour.

The fruit of the Holy Spirit includes peace, thus our peace is also dependent on ‘walking in the Spirit’ (Gal. 5:16).

We need to pray on for that “peace of God which passes all understanding (Phil 4:6-7)

Isaiah says, “You will kep in PERFECT peace those whose minds are stayed on you, because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, the Lord is your Rock eternal” (Isa 26:3-4).

In 1555, Dr. Nicholas Ridley was sentenced to be burned at the stake in England because of his witness for Christ. On the night before Ridley’s execution, his brother offered to remain with him in the prison chamber to be of assistance and comfort. Ridley declined the offer saying, “I intend (God willing) to go to bed, and sleep as quietly tonight, as ever I did.” Because he knew the peace of God, he could rest in the strength of the everlasting arms of his Lord to meet his need.

Most of us will never face a trial of our faith that is quite that severe, yet all of us go through difficult times. During those times, we have the opportunity to fix our minds on God and receive His peace.

3. Jesus’ Presence is the GUARANTOR of Peace

When Paul says “The Lord be with all of you” it is not a separate prayer but a continuation of the same prayer, in effect he is saying “May the Lord bless you not only with peace, but also with His presence.”

And it is an inclusive prayer in that the words “all of you” include those who have deviated either theologically or those who have become idle. (see 2 Th 3:15, “a brother”).

Paul’s hope is that they will know the continual calmness of spiritual peace, whether in persecution or suffering, and with every turning life demands. He prays for their peace in all times (“always”) and places. - "At all times" - Grk: dia pantos carries the idea of a peace that remains constant and unbroken no matter what the trials.

How will this be possible? - "The Lord be with you all”

"The Lord be with you" - Grk: kyrios - used in LXX as the translation of the divine name and it was commonly used of deity in other religions (as well as having less significant uses). It points to a very high place and can be translated Lord or Master. There is no one greater; no one higher; no one mighteir than Jesus - “If God is for us who can be against us!”(Rom 8:35f).

The peace that Jesus gives is not the absence of trouble, but is rather the confidence that He is there with you always.

"The Lord be with you" is also a reminder that the “peace the Christian enjoys has no existence in its own right; it is possible only because of the presence of the Lord. “ (Morris) “The Lord himself” - The emphatic autos de with which the verse opens turns their thoughts away from their own efforts to the Lord … himself. The Roman Empire used the phrase “peace and safety” in its propaganda to promote the idea of Roman Peace (Pax Romana). This however is a reminder that whatever they seek to achieve for God is not possible in mere human strength - see 1 Thes 5:23.

“It is because we know that the Lord is with us and that he will never forsake those whose trust is in him (cf. Heb. 13:5) that our peace remains unbroken (John 14:27). The peace of the Christian is the presence of the Lord.” (Leon Morris).

We are frail and sinful human beings. We live in a hostile world which offers us no ultimate spiritual satisfaction.

Our text teaches us clearlt that our deep seated need for peace can only be found in Jesus.

"We need nothing more to make us safe and happy, nor can we desire any thing better for ourselves and our friends, than to have God’s gracious presence with us and them. This will be a guide and guard in every way that we may go, and our comfort in every condition we may be in. It is the presence of God that makes heaven to be heaven, and this will make this earth to be like heaven. No matter where we are if God be with us, nor who is absent if God be with us, nor who is absent if God be present with us." (Matthew Henry)

The Lord the Thessalonian believers serve is “the Lord of peace” and, whatever their lot in this fallen world, they are to receive ‘the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding’, which will guard their hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:7).

Paul prays for such peace to be known experientially by all the believers in Thessalonica.

Jesus is our SOURCE of Peace; the GIVER of Peace and His Presence is the GUARANTOR of Peace