The Prize Of Peace

Introduction

Winchester mansion in San Jose, CA.

Sarah, the widow of William Winchester, manufacturer of the Winchester repeating rifle.

When he passed away in 1881, she inherited $20.5M = $550M. With $1K per day = $27K/day.

She moved to California and bought a farmhouse and immediately hired carpenters, but no architects.

She directed the work, and they worked around the clock for years.

Built up seven stories tall. And then just a conglomerate of rooms loosely connected to one another in a haphazard way.

161 rooms, including 40 bedrooms, 2 ballrooms, 47 fireplaces with 17 chimneys. Not sure how that works.

Doors and stairs that go nowhere. Windows overlooking other rooms. Stairs with oddly shaped risers.

She commissioned a window by Louis Tiffany, yes the luxury jewelry company guy, so that when the sunlight struck the prismatic crystals, it would cast a rainbow across the room and then they installed the window in a room with no light exposure, preventing the effect from every being seen.

This is often how we live our lives, just adding things together without a purpose in sight.

Our faith gives us a picture of what our lives should be like.

God’s design for your life is found in the Bible.

The Word must be spread in the world.

(vv. 1-3)

The request for prayer. Because prayer makes a difference.

Two things: The word my speed ahead and be honored.

“Run and be glorified.”

The advancement of the Kingdom of God.

How do people view the church? Blessing Bin - unexpected result.

Second: That we may be delivered.

Those whose work disregards the Gospel.

These that have influence.

Our celebrity culture that people follow. Athletes, musicians, actors, politicians.

We know more about their lives than we do about Jesus.

Which is why Paul contrasts here Jesus and those.

We consume their content more than Scripture.

Rather than making a mess of your life, Jesus establishes you and guards you.

“Where did the trailer break?”

The trailer was on a rough road because that’s where it was taken.

What you hitch yourself to matters.

We take the Gospel with us where we go, it needs to be the pure Gospel.

We need the Gospel to speed ahead! And you are taking it with you where you go, so what you follow matters.

As we take the Gospel, we must make sure that we are following the Word.

The Word must be obeyed in the church.

(vv. 4-15)

A warning of “idleness” from earlier.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 ESV

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

Dual usage:

First, as a warning against laziness.

Don’t be lazy.

3:10 “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.”

This laziness leads to ungodly behavior. For them: being a busybody.

“Some who are not busied in their own business, but are overbusied in that of others.”

A word that means to waste your energy.

Prioritize your own work above criticizing that of others.

Even in our spiritual lives, how we would rather tear others down than build them up.

Matthew 7:1–5 ESV

1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Second, a warning against spiritual laziness.

Don’t be spiritually lazy.

We have taken the grace of God for granted.

Well, I’ve been forgiven, so it doesn’t matter how I live my life!

Monopoly: A get out of jail free card.

2 Thessalonians 3:5 ESV

5 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

Direct means to make a straight line.

Plowing fields - picking a spot ahead of me. Target. This singular focus on direction creates a godly life.

The problem is that we are picking a new target every few weeks, days, or hours.

This makes our lives and our churches look erratic. It creates a confusing patter to the world!

As Christians, we should be busy about our spiritual lives.

And walking with others to grow as well -

2 Thessalonians 3:15 ESV

15 Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

again Matthew 7.

As we walk together, we create a pattern for the world to better understand Jesus.

The Word will provide blessings in you.

(vv. 16-17)

Threefold blessing:

1. Peace (in every way).

Peace is not the absence of conflict, but in the midst of conflict.

It is the image of being forever in the eye of a hurricane.

2. Presence (in all of us).

The reality that God is here. Not just in some vague way, but in a personal way.

Aware of what you need and working for your sanctification.

3. Grace (for all sin)

The power of the work of Jesus on the cross.

No sin too big. No amount of sins too numerous.

The grace of God is sufficient.

This last year, OBU had their first in-prison commencement.

Prisoners who came to know Jesus while in prison entered into this program.

And they shared with some of the faculty and representatives this very thing.

Peace. Yes, they had done horrible things. Accepted the penalty. But, had found peace in Jesus.

Presence, even while sitting in a prison cell, God was with them.

Grace. In spite of their sins, they know that the work of Jesus was sufficient even for them.

We, as the church, should live and rejoice in Peace, Presence, and Grace.

Conclusion

It’s not enough to know, we’ve got to do.

Going to the doctor and he tells you that you need to make some changes.

Diet, exercise, cut back on certain things - if not, you will face health problems or disease.

And you get home, and you read all about it. You post about it on facebook. You tell your sunday school class.

But, then you just keep living your life like nothing else matters!

You have all the information, but there is no life change.

This can be our approach to the Bible.

We can tell you the stories, maybe even give descriptions of some of its teachings, but there is no life change.

The Word makes an external difference, a horizontal difference, and an internal difference.