We have spent a few weeks on God’s peace. It is:
· A peace that goes beyond our comprehension.
· A peace that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
· A peace that comes from strength—from God’s strength so much more than our strength.
· A peace unlike the peace the world seeks and holds on to with such futility.
· A peace that is with us in times of trial and tribulation for we will have trouble in the world.
· A peace that separates us from those who seek the things of this world.
· A peace that reminds us that we are friends of God and not friends of the world.
· A peace that let’s us fail and get back in our race of faith.
· A peace that permits us to grow in God’s grace knowing that he will never leave nor forsake us.
· A peace that has nothing to do with fear. We fear only God and even then, we do not fear his punishment.
· A peace that hungers for God’s word and his instruction, and yes, even his discipline.
· A peace that is present even when we are working our tails off to please our Master.
· A peace that assures us when we live out our God-given purpose.
· A peace that the wicked cannot know for they rebel against God.
· A peace that when we come into fullness in our relationship with God will cast out all fear.
· A peace that is at home with power, love, and a sound mind because we have nothing to do with the fear of this world.
· A peace that we know comes from the Lord and is entirely different from what the world seeks.
· A peace that can only be a gift from God.
· A peace that becomes unshakable the more we trust the Lord and not our own understanding.
· A peace that is our sustaining diet.
These should sound familiar. We have touched on each over the previous weeks. You might recall a challenge that I gave you not too long ago.
If you have proclaimed Jesus as your Lord and Savior, are trying your best to be his disciple, and don’t have peace; look in the mirror. See if fear or anxiety is trying to invade your peace. If that’s the case, kick them to the curb. They are not from God!
But, sometimes we have doubts. We wonder if God’s peace can overcome what we have gotten ourselves into. Could it be that I have turned the wrong way one too many times? Am I still saved? Why can’t I let this stuff go? Why does God’s peace seem elusive?
Did God change his mind about me? I know that God is love and he loves me, but maybe I don’t deserve his peace. Maybe I deserve his anger.
But God tells us—the message was first for his chosen people—but it continues to us as disciples of his one and only Son: I’ve been through this before. It’s new to you, but I went through this with the generations up to Noah. People fall short time and again but I am faithful.
There is some broad paraphrasing there, so let’s hear God’s words directly from the scripture in this 10th verse.
“Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
The entire face of the earth might be transformed from mountains to flatlands, but two things will remain unchanged. God’s unfailing love will never be eroded in any way.
And… His covenant of peace will not be removed. We have looked at the attributes of peace, the Benefactor of peace, and those things that invade our peace; but this is the first time that we have talked about a covenant of peace.
Covenant is an interesting word. It is an agreement, but more than a normal agreement. It binds the parties together. Sometimes covenants involved meals together or the cutting of animals into halves. The Old Testament word most often used is Berit. When a covenant is given from God, it is a divine bonding.
We see God’s covenants put into effect as early as the 6th chapter of Genesis and God makes a covenant with Noah. Most of the time we think of God’s covenant with Abram who would later be called Abraham. This covenant was for the patriarch and his offspring.
In Exodus, we see the heart of God’s covenant with his people.
“‘Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”
Here we see a covenant which is contingent on the people obeying God and his laws. God did as he promised; yet the people fell short time and again.
In Jeremiah, we see the promise of a New Covenant. That covenant has been realized.
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
Through Jesus Christ, we receive this bonding with God. This is the reason we gather on Sunday mornings to worship. This is the reason that every day we go into the world as God’s light and love. This is the beginning of the good news. This is the covenant that shows the glory of Jesus as far superior to that of the law.
Forgiveness that we did not deserve—grace—is ours when we profess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead. This is the New Covenant and I’m thinking it has to be in the category of cool beans.
We did not deserve this, but we receive it not just as a fantastic gift but as a covenant of God.
God also has granted us a covenant of peace. Salvation is fantastic. Eternal life is beyond our comprehension but within our grasp as a covenant gift of God. But peace in this life, is that even possible?
It is more than possible. It is God’s promise. Understand that we are not talking about peace with the world but peace with God. Through the one-time divine sacrifice of Christ Jesus, God’s anger against us has been satisfied. His wrath does not burn against us.
We live within his covenant of peace.
We can mess up our part of a covenant, but God is always faithful. We can let worry and fear and doubt mess up what God has given so freely, but God will not take his peace away.
Do we grasp this? God is always faithful. His promise is peace to us. We will have trouble in the world, but we may enjoy God’s peace concurrently. It’s a promise.
If you are my age, not much older or younger, and you made a promise, only one word was needed: Word.
Word.
That was as strong a commitment as you could make. Word. It didn’t require a handshake or a written document. Word. Especially among Marines. The word was word.
I will be there. Word.
You won’t be left behind. Word.
I’ve got your back. Word.
I know that I’ve lost the millennials here—could be a chronic condition for them, but God’s covenants are word!
And through Jesus Christ, we have received this covenant of peace. Many of us have enjoyed God’s peace in many situations. We testify that his peace goes beyond our understanding. We affirm that his peace is different from what the world is trying to sell us.
We must know with certainty that God’s covenant of peace will not be withdrawn or removed or vacated. He is faithful, even when we are not.
“Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
Why is it important that we understand that God has given us a covenant of peace? Isn’t the fact that it is a gift from God enough?
God always provides more than enough. We not only have a gift. We have an irrevocable promise.
So, when peace is absent we must understand that God did not withdraw his peace from us. He didn’t take it away. We let something disrupt his peace. Was it worry, fear, or doubt? Was it reliance on our own understanding over trust in God. Was it seeking the kingdom of the world over the kingdom of God?
For those who seek the one true God and have eyes to see and ears to hear that we come to him through Christ Jesus, God’s anger will never rest on us. God’s wrath will not be poured out on us.
We have the promise of salvation. We also have the promise of peace. The question for us is will we trust that God’s peace is promised to us? Will we trust him?
When our peace seems disrupted, will we set aside the things of the world that we have let in and trust God? He has given us a covenant of peace.
Word!
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment