The Peace of Christ

Peace of Christ

Introduction

Peace is fundamental to our relationship with God. The Epistles often open with a salutation of peace such as “grace and peace to you”.

What is God's peace and why is it so important? How do we avail ourselves of it?

No Longer at War

The whole premise of Gospel peace is wrapped up and tied up in the cross. Because of sin, man and God are at war. Or put more correctly, mankind shows its hatred of God through its love of sin, and this offends the Almighty.

Genesis 6:5-6,11-12 (ESV)

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

The men of Noah's generation were utterly depraved. The light of God within them was extinguished. They loved sin and hated God, so God destroyed that generation with a worldwide flood. Every living thing that didn't live in water perished. God wiped out humanity except for Noah and his family.

2 Peter 2:5 (NLT)

5 And God did not spare the ancient world—except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood.

Now we know that God is patient and long suffering. We know that Noah preached to his generation while building the ark. Some Bible teachers believe that Noah may have been a witness to the generation for as long as 75 years. Before Noah there was the witness of Methuselah, and before him, the witness of Enoch. Think of it, this degenerate generation had much space to repent and did not.

The generation of Noah is an example of how dramatically sin cursed humanity. Man went from human perfection and beauty in the garden to utter depravity.

I've lingered on this topic of sin because we must remember from whence, we came. We were all depraved sinners and enemies of God. All of us hated God and were at war with God through our love of sin. We deserved the wrath of God. The story of Noah reminds us that God’s wrath is swift and terrifying.

However, although we were Gods enemies and deserved sin, God loved the world.

John 3:16 English Standard Version (ESV)

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

From the foundation of the world, God created a way for man to be saved from judgment and become children of God. The Bible describes this new relationship with God as having peace with God.

Romans 5:1-2 (ESV)

5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 5:8-10 (ESV)

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

When we consider all these Scriptures together, we understand that having peace with God is:

· to be saved from God’s wrath and his judgment, and

· to become a child of God.

The peace of God that comes because of justification is the granddaddy of all peace. If you don’t have peace with the Father through Christ, then you don’t have real peace and you won’t be able to access any other peace.

The end of the war between God and man is the foundation of all peace that comes to us both now and throughout eternity and believing on Jesus is the beginning of having Gospel peace in your life.

Work for Peace

James 3:13-18 (ESV)

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Ephesians 4:1-3 English Standard Version (ESV)

4 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Romans 8:5-8 English Standard Version (ESV)

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

These Scriptures exhort us to walk in spiritual peace, to labor to keep peace, and to understand where God’s peace comes from.

Even though God has given us peace, there is something we must do to walk in divine peace. Daily we receive God’s peace by faith, and there are corresponding actions that we must employ to receive the peace God wants us to have in every moment of our lives.

Philippians 4:5-9 (ESV)

5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

To walk in peace, Paul is telling us to do three things:

· to pray about the things that bother us.

· to control our thought life; and

· to imitate him.

The Admonition to Pray

We should not breeze over Paul’s prayer instruction here. Paul is not telling us to pray, he is telling us to pray about everything that makes us anxious and that bothers us, AND he is telling us to pray with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.

The phrase, “prayer and supplication with thanksgiving” means to exercise 3 disciplines of prayer.

· First is the discipline of continued, consistent praying.

· Second is the discipline of earnest and heartfelt praying, that is, praying with groans and utterances that are too deep for words.

· Third is the discipline of thanking God for the victory. Which means, we pray thanking God that he hears and answers our prayer.

Therefore, if you want to keep God’s peace in your life, if you want God’s peace to guard your heart and mind, you must develop in these disciplines.

The Admonition to Control our Thought Life

Paul’s second admonition is to disciplines our minds to think the positive of God’s word and not the negative of a demanding situation. To do this successfully, we must filter out negative influences that will turn our thoughts from light to darkness.

Create a Reserve of the Word

To do this we have to spend adequate time meditating in the Word of God to build up a reserve of material to draw upon during the day. The more Word that we have in our hearts, the more Word our minds will have to draw upon during a crisis.

Flee Bad Company

Also, we must keep ourselves from bad company.

Philippians 3:17-19 (ESV)

17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things

Paul describes a certain kind of person, a believer, who has strayed from the path of walking in the spirit, and is now, walking in the flesh. Paul is saying these individuals are so far down the path of the flesh, that they have lost touch with spiritual reality.

That is what the phrase, “they glory in their shame” means. A Christian who glories in shame is a believer who in completely indifferent to sowing seeds of strife and rebellion. Not only is their conscience not pricked, but they also actually believe they are doing God a service.

However, Paul is saying that the only god they are serving is the flesh, and that the end of their story will not be pleasant. Therefore, Paul instructs the believers in Philippi to not follow those people, but to follow him!

We do not have the benefit of having the Apostle Paul with us in the flesh to imitate. But in addition to the example of Jesus and the Apostles in the word, we do have the example of godly believers. If we desire this, God will give us true believers who are demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit in their lives to follow! You need only to ask God for this!

My Friend, Pastor Bannister

Last night, I shared a meal with a prominent Church of God minister. This is a man who is not only a successful husband and father, but was a successful pastor, who currently, he travels the world building the body of Christ. I consider him a role model.

Anyway, he graciously arranged a time for us to meet and fellowship. We had started talking about its months ago, and finally time opened in his schedule. When he asked to meet, I jumped at the chance. Why? I value the opportunity to be around men of God that are worthy of imitation. I love being around positive people.

Our meeting had no agenda. We were just fellowshipping, and in fact, he did 95% of the talking, which is the way it should be when you are looking to learn from people. In case you are wondering he did ask about how the church work at BWCC was going. I told him God had blessed me with a great congregation that has been so good to me and my family. I mentioned that we have our “usual problems” but that was par for the course, and that God was blessing me us. I didn’t dwell on the negative, rather, I chose to give God the glory for the positive.

Keep the Peace

Young people, I want to share something that I have learned. Sometimes Christians get to a point in their lives when they think they are entitled to say whatever they want. They have this attitude, “I’m a grown-A man.” They feel like, it’s perfectly fine to pop up in a meeting and just spiritually vomit all over the meeting in the name of being a straight shooter or having their say because they are an adult.

The truth is, as believers, we always must crucify the sin nature that lurks in our members such our tongues. Because no man can tame the tongue, we always must think before we speak and be slow to anger. We never get to the point where we are permitted to walk outside the boundaries of divine love.

Therefore, I don’t have any right to complain, retaliate or otherwise yield to my flesh nature in dealing with God’s people. But I do have a right to identify and separate myself from troublemakers and turn them over to the Lord for divine discipline if they fail to repent after being warned.

Similarly, young people, you do not have a right to speak against anyone in the local church. Jesus has commanded all of us to respect our elders, be it natural elders or your spiritual elders.

Further, Jesus has commanded all of us to respect the divine authority he has established in the local church. We must obey our leaders:

Hebrews 13:17 (ESV)

17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Young people, there will always be those body-ruled Christians who resent authority and refuse to obey this divine truth. Don’t criticize the—that’s not your job. However, you do have a right to mark those who cause division and separate yourself. Not being rude, not fueling strife, but keeping polite distance to protect the peace of God in your life, and the peace of God in local body of Christ. You don’t have to switch churches to do that. God wants you to stand and walk in his divine peace and love right where you are.

Young people, you are the future of this church, and any church the Lord sends you to. Realize then, that once peace is broken in in a church, it is extremely hard to get it back. You must commit to be a peacemaker and to watch out for the peace breakers.

Conclusion

Through the finish work of Christ Jesus on the cross, you and I are no longer warring against God. God has reconciled to himself, pardoned our sins, and made us his children. All of us who believe are new creatures in Christ blessed with peace with God, and peace from God to walk in every day of our lives.

However, we walk by faith not by sight. Therefore, you and I must labor to receive the peace of God that God has freely given us in Christ. We do this by:

· Praying heartfelt, earnest prayers consistently with thanksgiving

· Controlling our thought life

· Politely separating yourself from negative, carnal believers

· Imitating Christians who are mature and have spiritual fruit in their lives

· Laboring to be a peacemaker and not a peace breaker

Do these things and the God of Peace will be with you!

In the name of God, Amen