Peace

You know I once heard a man talking about a fight he got into with his wife

It was around Christmas time so there was a little extra stress because things were financially a little more tighter then usual.

And the reason for this was that the man the day before actually decided to buy this beautiful 70 inch TV for his man cave as an early Christmas present for himself.

and because of this the wife actually had to pick up some extra hours at work right before Christmas.

And not only that but she had to pick up extra hours the day that they usually throw a huge Christmas party for the neighborhood.

So as you can imagine the wife was begging the husband to clean the house while she was at work.

And the husband said of course. However as soon as the wife left instead of cleaning the husband sat on his recliner to rewatch an old football game and said finally some peace and quite.

You can probably imagine this but this story did not end well for the husband.

Because he thought he had peace but he was actually far from it.

And I will be honest I made up that story, but the husband had a very false sense of peace, some husbands watching have probably been there.

But you know it really does beg this question of what does true peace look like and how do we experience peace in Christ?

Because some would say peace is living an easy life, others would say peace is not worrying, and today we are going to look at how can we experiance peace in Christ.

So I want to invite you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Peter 3:8-15

Because the truth is the peace we experiance in Christ does not have to do with circumstance, or even our just having little stress, but Peace in Christ is somthing where even when everything is falling apart we can hold on to Him.

So once again we are in 2 Peter 3:8-15 and we will just be starting in the first couple verses. It says:

2 Peter 3:8–9 NIV

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

You know in the time where this letter was written it was like a lot of other letters that were written in the early church where the church faced persecution.

And the people in the early church are facing all of these terrible things but they have also been told that Christ is coming and they are almost caught in this middle area where we are still in today: where they know Christ will return but until He does their is injustice, pain, and heartache

And they are coming to God saying where are you God? Why have you not come and made all things right?

And out of this Peter who was one of the disciples writes them this passage basically letting them know how they can experience peace while they are waiting.

And basically the first thing Peter tells them and if you are taking notes this would be a good point to write, but he says look the first thing to experience peace is to trust God over ourselves. (which is easier said then done right?)

Because we are impatient people arn’t we? and when things start to look rough we get upset

I mean is anyone here a really impatient grocery shopper? I am and when I go the grocery store and I get in a line that looks short but then it ends up taking a long time I get a little impatient!

When a person is moving slowly in front of me and I cant pass them I get impatient

And if we get impatient with something like that then we get really bad when its something that is actually important.

And Peter recognizes that people are impatient so He says look God is not slow. He is not just sitting in heaven backed up on prayer request.

But He says we are actually the slow ones because God is patient with us.

And really Peter is saying we need to trust God because His timing is perfect. He is eternal

He knows exactly what is going on in our world right now, in the past and in the future.

And Peter is saying we might be praying for God to heal something, to fix something or help us in someway and we are going God why are you not helping here, but God’s timing is perfect.

If our lives were a puzzle some of us would probably say my life looks like the pieces are thrown everywhere, but God knows where every piece goes and when we trust Him we get to see the puzzle pieces put together in a way that only the God of the universe can do.

and it is beautiful.

Trust God over your own understanding.

Well look at the second half of this passage because Peter continues and He says this:

2 Peter 3:10–15 NIV

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. 14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.

You know this second half talks of the letter sounds really aggressive doesn’t it?

But Peter is saying look you might be in this pain now but their is a day coming where Christ will return and all will be made right.

And he is saying right now you might be in a painful place in life, but you can have peace because God is making everything right.

Because there will be a day where there will be no more pain, no more sorrow, but we will all be in the presence of God.

and it will be amazing.

but what I love about this passage is Peter uses a lot of imagery of fire which we associate destruction with fire, but in biblical days they would understand fire as refining.

So in a way Peter is saying even right now you are experiencing some of this because when you accept God into your life God is shaping you into who He has called you to be.

And whats amazing is when we are able to understand this we are able to have peace now because even though we are facing issues now, they are nothing compared to the eternity we have with God.

Its almost like this. A lot of you know I grew up in Maryland which was about 13 hours away from where I went to college so when I would drive home for breaks I absolutly hated it.

Because almost everytime there would be somthing that would slow me down, wether it was traffic or getting pulled over for speeding,

But I would still make the drive home. Why? Because I loved being able to go home!

And even when there was traffic or whatever the small amount of traffic is not bad when you are able to be with your family for the week.

And you know like I said in our life their are bumbs in the road (and I never want to minimize whats happening in your life) but when we compare this pain to an eternity with God where all will be made right

it gives you peace.

Well look at my last point because whats amazing is when we accept God in our life and He begins to refine us we actually get as taste of what that day will be like when God makes everything right.

And what I want you to get is: when we get a taste of heaven how can you not want more.

Its almost like how I absolutely love Costco because pre-pandemic, they would give you samples of the best food they had so you would try and almost always you would want more.

That why when I go to Costco for Paper towels I come out with a million other things,

I mean it is a dangerous game because I will get way to much.

But you know some of us have come to Christ for different reasons.

Some of us grew up in a Christian household, others of us may have had a need that drove us to Christ, some of us may have felt alone, maybe we were scared of death and that drove us to Christ, maybe we needed hope.

But whats amazing is once we get a taste of what God does in our life we want more

We want to see God’s full peace in our lives

We want to see our friends lives changing

We want to see our neighborhood transformed.

Because we have experienced something amazing and we want to experience more of it in our lives personally and in the world we live in.

And I imagine some of us are in need of a taste of hope in this season of life, some of us are in need of a taste of peace.

But whats amazing is once we get this taste of God in our live we should want more.

Thats why peter says at the beginning of verses 11 and 14 that because of this you are to live this way.

Because can I just say when we get a taste of the kingdom of God and want more that is when the church becomes dangerous.

Because that is where the church will do whatever it can to reach the lost

Where the church will do whatever it can to stop injustice

Where the church will do whatever it can to love on their neighbor.

I church what would it look like if we truly tasted God this morning?

Because I do not think your life would be the only one changed, but I believe our community would be changed and not just that but the world would be changed because of the taste of heaven we recieved.

Will you pray with me?