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Believe the Story: Peace chapter 23
Reinbeck UMC
September 24, 2017
Sing with
me, “I’ve got peace like a river/ I’ve got peace like a river //I’ve got peace
like a river in my soul// I’ve got peace like a river// I’ve got peace like a
river //I’ve got peace like a river in my soul”
Do you? Does
peace run like a river in your life?
According to USA today the top 10 worries in the US
are
• Government
corruption — 60.6%
• Terrorist
attacks — 41%
• Not
having enough money— 39.9%
• Being
a victim of crime — 38.5%
• Government
interference in life— 38.5%
• People
we love dying — 38.1%
• Economic
or financial collapse — 37.5%
• Identity
theft — 37.1%
• People
we love becoming seriously ill — 35.9%
• Healthcare—
35.5%
Look how much we have to worry about… Where’s the
peace?
If you do some research, you will find people
telling you that if you want peace, “seek silence, remove distractions, relax
your body, concentrate on stillness, and move beyond the present moment.”
Really? If we could do those things, we wouldn’t be looking for peace!
It is clear to me that everyone- no matter who you
are- EVERYONE needs a little peace and the world has no answers. That’s OK. God
has an answer. Actually God and God’s peace is the answer.
This is our third week talking about Christian
heart-qualities. These are basically the Fruit of The Spirit from Galatians 5.
First, we talked about love. Last week we talked about joy. This week we come
to that elusive quality of peace.
Peace is used
429 times in the Bible. The New Testament concept of peace closely follows the
Old Testament concept of Shalom. Shalom is “completion” or “Wholeness.” It
carries nuances of fulfillment, completion, maturity, soundness, wholeness,
harmony, tranquility, security, well being, welfare, friendship, agreement,
success, and prosperity.
The Kekchi Indians of Guatemala call it "quiet
goodness." Quiet goodness. I like that.
• Peace
is a quiet sense of goodness in our heart, no matter what is happening outside.
• Peace
is a quiet feeling of goodness in our heart, no matter what the future may
bring.
• Peace
is a quiet assurance that God is good, no matter what.
Peace is a
gift from God. Specifically it is a gift from Jesus. In John 14:27 (Page 109 in
your pew Bibles if you want to follow along.) Jesus promises the disciples and
all of us, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to
you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them
be afraid.”
Notice Jesus does not say, “I will give you generic
peace.” He says MY PEACE I GIVE TO YOU. That is because peace in this life is
rare, but this is truly a gift from our loving and gracious savior because he
knew what we needed.
Further he says, “I do not give to you as the world
gives.” What is the world’s peace? It is conditional. It is fleeting. It is
fragile. It is only available when life is going well. Jesus peace is deeper,
unconditional, lasting, and strong. It stays with us whether life is good or
life is hard. It is the river that flows in our hearts, even when life around
us is dry and lifeless.
Jesus knew that peace is a rare commodity for us.
His whole farewell discourse, in the gospel of John, says in a hundred different
ways, “do not be troubled, do not be afraid, do not worry.” Remember John was
written toward the end of the first century when the church faced terrible
persecution. Jesus knew, whether we were facing persecution, or a grumpy
teenager, or financial stress, big decision; He knew that we would worry,
obsess, get anxious, feel afraid, and lose sleep. He knew that one of the
greatest gifts he could give us is peace. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I
give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be
troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
Peace is
available to us. Our problem is holding on to it. Other things keep getting in
the way. Turning to our main scripture for the morning from Philippians chapter
4, which you can find on page 198 in the back of your pew bible, let’s look at
three things we can do to help us hold on to God’s peace.
We start reading: “Therefore, my brothers and
sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in
this way, my beloved. I urge Euodia (ee- OO -da) and I urge Syntyche to be of
the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help
these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel,
together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the
book of life.
You can tell Philippi was one of Paul’s favorite
churches because he knew the people very well. Well enough o call two of the
prominent women on the carpet.
These women
were presidents of the Euodia circle and the Syntyche circles of the Philippian
UMW. Well something like that… at any rate, they were prominent enough to get
Paul’s attention. They had a difference of opinion that must have infected the
whole congregation or Paul would not have addressed it. We have no idea why
they argued. But isn’t that the way it is sometimes? After a while like the
Hatfields and the McCoys we can’t even remember what started the feud.
If you live near people, you know what it is to have
conflict. They might be the in laws, a coworker, a neighbor, or a pastor.
I remember when Jeff signed up for the mission trip.
He was a year younger than I was. I just did not like him. He rubbed me the
wrong way and I figured I didn’t want to spend a week with him, so I almost
didn’t go on that mission trip. To make a long story short, I decided I was NOT
going to let JEFF keep me from the mission trip. I couldn’t believe that we
were assigned to work together that week. (Do you suppose that was an
accident?) It was a long week, but do you know what? We returned home friends.
Not buddies, but we made peace.
Paul asks these two ladies to do that. Just make
peace. Stop arguing. Stop bickering. Just stop.
This is a special kind of loving our neighbor. Just
make peace with our neighbors.
Matthew 5:23-24 says “23 So when you are offering
your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has
something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first
be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.”
Make peace with our others.
Romans 12 reads, “18 If it is possible, so far as it
depends on you, live peaceably with all.”
Live peaceably with all… Make peace with others.
That is the first this we can do to help God’s peace stick. You can’t hold on
to God’s peace if your hands are full of that grudge, those hurt feelings, or
that resentment. Robyn said last week in her sermon, “holding on to
unforgiveness is like drinking rat poison and expecting the rat to die.” There
is no peace in that. So forgive, move on, kiss and make up, start over again,
whatever you have to do to make peace with your neighbors. If we don’t make
peace with our others, we can’t receive Jesus’ gift of peace.
The second
thing that helps us hold on to Jesus’ peace is to make peace with your
circumstances.
Turning back to Philippians, Paul writes…Rejoice in
the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to
everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to
God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus
Do not worry about anything. I know, easier said
than done I’ve never been good at that. But Paul insists that whatever you are
worried about... money, relationships, a job, a medical problem, your kids,
natural disasters. Whatever you are afraid of… being embarrassed, being caught,
being shown up, being put down, being ignored… whatever worries you … whatever
scares you… take it to God in prayer. Do not worry about anything, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be
made known to God. The un-peaceful circumstances of our lives do not have to
make us un-peaceful inside. Take it to God and dump it at his feet. Let’s take
all our worries, all our concerns, all our fears, all our anxiety and lay it at
God’s feet in prayer. We can’t fix most f it anyway. Maybe God will fix it
maybe not, but either way, make peace with your circumstances by letting God
have your worry.
The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem is a great image of
that. For centuries People have been going to the one remaining temple wall to
pray. Particularly the Jews, but anyone can do it. I did it when I was there.
People have been coming for centuries to they pour out their prayers, their
concerns, their worries, their anxiety. They write their prayers on slips of
paper and stuff them in the cracks between the stones. It seems like the weight
of the worry is swallowed up by those massive stones.
However you do it… let your requests be made known
to God. …if your hands are full of worry and stress about things you can’t
control, you can’t hold on to the peace of god. So make peace with your life
and “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. “
Make peace
with others, make peace with the circumstances of your life, and the finally
Paul’s says we must make peace with ourselves. He writes, “Finally, beloved,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and
if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing
the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me.”
That’s really pretty simple. We can focus on minds
on one of two things; our problems or our joys. We can beat ourselves up over
our faults, our mistakes, our weaknesses, our failures, our fears, our flaws,
our limitations… OR we can make peace with who we are and set our minds on
whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is
pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is
anything worthy of praise.
I am not
talking about being prideful or boasting. I am talking about being realistic.
How many times do we beat ourselves up focusing on the things we do not like
about ourselves?
You know what? God made us… and “God don’t make no
junk.” God has made you a unique individual and gifted you especially for your
work in his kingdom. Don’t beat up God’s child--yourself. We have to make peace
with who we are, even when we make mistakes. We never have and never will be
able to make all people happy. We will never be perfect in our behavior. We
will never get a perfect A+ in life. But we have to accept that and focus on
what we can do.
The truth is making peace with others, and making
peace with our circumstances is easy compared to making peace with ourselves.
Let go of the guilt, the shame, the past mistakes, the shoulds, and the musts…
some won’t go away. In fact some will haunt us for the rest of our lives. Like
having ex-con tattooed on our forehead. But the more we focus on the negative,
the more power we give it. The more we focus on God and good, the closer we are
to being at peace.
If our hands are full of self criticism we can’t
hold on to God’s peace, so make peace with yourself.
The last line
of our passage is…” and the God of peace will be with you.” No qualification,
no requirements, no if’s and’s, or but's… Nothing we have to do. Just a promise
“the God of peace will be with you”. And we are back to Jesus promise “Peace I
leave with you; my peace I give to you.”
How about it? Where do you need to start?
• Making
peace with someone
• Making
peace with your circumstances
• Making
peace with yourself
• Accepting the peace of God
Where do you need to start this week?
• Peace
with someone
• Peace
with your circumstances
• Peace
with yourself
Start somewhere… start anywhere… Whatever you have
to do to let the God of peace dwell I you richly is so worth it.
Let’s be in prayer as you get the “KNOW, GROW, GO”
sheet from your bulletin and mark on it what you need to do this week to be a
better vessel for God’s peace.”
<<<>>>
Hold on to your Know, Grow, Go sheet to hang on your
refrigerator or bathroom mirror. And let’s pray the prayer for peace.
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