There is no peace for the wicked

Read Isaiah 57

We have spent most of the year talking about love, love and action, and now love and peace.  I think that we understand that peace is an incredible gift from God, who is in his very essence Love.

God is love.  God loves us.  God has given us this fantastic gift of peace.

Jesus said that he gave us his peace.  It’s not the same peace that the world promises.  It is a gift from God that does not depend upon our circumstances.

Jesus promised us that the world is full of trouble and that won’t change for the better until he comes again.  In fact, we should expect the ways of the world to get worse.  But we are to receive the peace that Jesus offers and live by courage.  By his stripes we are healed.  He has overcome the world.  Sin and death are defeated.

We are counseled by the apostle Paul to be anxious for nothing.  Do not be anxious—worrisome—about anything.  Instead we go God with everything, coming to him first with thanksgiving, but turning everything over to him; and we are told that the peace of God that goes beyond anything we can actually understand will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

The peace of God that transcends our human understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Amen. Hallelujah!  We should just march right into the fellowship meal right now in a victory march, singing Victory in Jesus. 

If somebody asked you if Tom ever challenges you with his messages, I think most would say, “When doesn’t he?”

I have challenged you to connect the disconnected, reach out to the lost, love one another, love your neighbor, love the alien in the land, love your enemy, do the work of an evangelist, press on towards the goal, confess and get back in your race, aim and flush, and you could probably add to that list.

But in recent weeks, I have challenged you in a different way.  I have challenged you to receive the Lord’s peace.  I have challenged you to kick fear to the curb and receive the Lord’s peace.  It is his gift to us and it comes without strings attached to our circumstances.

I have also challenged you to disturb the peace people have made with the world.  I have suggested to you that if you have truly professed Jesus as Lord and Savior and are really working to be his disciple and you do not have peace, to look in the mirror and see if fear has crept into your life.

God told us that there are two models here.  Fear the Lord or fear the world.  Fear the Lord is the correct choice.  So, while you are looking in the mirror, if you see fear creeping into your life, kick it to the curb.  It is not a gift of God.  It is a tool of the enemy.  The only fear that you should have is the fear of the Lord and know that this fear is the starting point for doing things God’s way.

Your destination is perfect loves which casts out fear!

We have two modes to live by:  Courage or fear.  The correct mode—the mode being that which occurs most often in our life—is courage.  Yes, fear may sneak in every once in a while, but when we realize it’s there, it’s got to go.  Courage is how we are to live.

All the men need to go home and watch the movie Courageous again to get pumped up about this courage thing.

My messages have consistently reminded us that if we are doing what God has called us to do, and pouring ourselves into that purpose, we will have peace.

My challenge to you is to receive the Lord’s peace.  It is a really great gift!

But this morning I want you to understand that God’s peace is not for everybody.  We are blessed that God grants us his peace so readily.

But there is no peace for the wicked!  Those who continue to reject God will have no peace.  Let’s add what the Bible calls fools to that group.  The fool says in his heart that there is no God.

The wicked are consigned to their circumstances.  The only peace that they will know is what they wrestle from their circumstances in this life.  They will not know God’s peace, but we do, now and forever.

The wicked do not wish you well, especially if you have come to disrupt their peace with the world.  They have contempt for what you have.  They do not hunger for God’s peace, but they are not happy that you have something that they don’t.  it’s quite a conundrum.

They want their efforts at worshiping the idols of this world, seeking the things of this world first, and singing in their best Frank Sinatra voice, I did it my way to get them rewards.  They ignore the word of God.  For century after century, they have ignored God’s prophets. 

Today, in the western world, almost anything that stands out against God and goodness and faithfulness is elevated to the level of something to be worshiped.  And God’s word says THAT DOG DON’T HUNT!

There is no peace for the wicked!

Now, for the faithful, we sometimes think it’s the other way around.  We see people getting away ungodliness time and time again.  Actually, we see a glimpse of a time when they get away with things.  Nothing is hidden from God. 

God will judge the living and the dead.  We will all stand in judgment.  For the wicked, this will not be a good day.  They cannot withstand the coming judgment.

Our human hearts want to say, “Good!  They will get what they deserve!”  And as much as God desires none to perish, it seems that somehow, someway, people set their hearts and minds against God. 

We must not set our hearts and minds against those who are against God.  Understand that we don’t hang out with them as friends.  Bad company corrupts good character.  When we deal with the wicked and foolish, our hearts and minds are 100% in mission mode.

We don’t judge or condemn is the better word.  Jesus dined with sinners, but he did not adopt their ways.  We don’t walk on the other side of the road, but we don’t join the party either.

We are Christ’s ambassadors.  We venture into foreign territory, but we don’t go native. 

We bring a message:  Repent and believe the good news!  There is salvation, hope, and peace for those who will turn away from the world and seek God first.  We know God through his divine Message that we call Jesus, Yeshua, or the Christ.

And the fact that the wicked will not know peace is our best tool.  The wicked, the foolish, and all those set against the one true God will not know peace, but we do.

Those living in rebellion against God will never know peace.  They will try everything the world throws at them to get what we have but what we have is a gift from God to his children.

The wicked can’t get here from there.  They can’t have the peace that we know so long as they rebel against God.  We could leave that as the end of the story, but we know all too well that it is not.  God not only wants them to turn away from the wickedness that they seek, but he is also working on us as well.

God is shaping our human heart to be just like his divine heart, and that heart desires that none perish.  That divine heart desires that all come to repent and know salvation in God and he made a way through Christ Jesus for that to take place.  God made a way!  God did not make any eternal reprobates.  He didn’t make any shills.  He didn’t make anyone to be thrown away.  Their predestination is to be with him.

Some have chosen wickedness.  They want to take God’s love story and turn it into a personal tragedy. 

They continue to deny the gift of love and life and peace offered to all humankind.  And our heart which is being shaped into one just like God’s tells us, let me talk with them one more time.  Let me do one more act of kindness.  Let me be God’s light one more time.

Lord, let me be so salty this time that even the wicked will taste your goodness and turn away from evil.

But understand that when we venture into these mission areas, we must be in mission mode.  

Understand that we are sent not invited into the world that does not know God.

In a very short time, we will sit down and enjoy a meal, and fellowship, and peace as only believers can enjoy.  Enjoy this time.  Enjoy each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.  Just know God’s peace because you are his children.

But sometime in the next few days, you will encounter someone who has rejected God and worships so many things of this world.  They will not have peace and they will not like the fact that you do.

We could just walk on by.  We could say, “Tough luck, buddy.”  We could think, “Dude, you are going to get exactly what you deserve.”

Or we could remember that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  That verse so messes up the walk on by thing.

Here’s the thing.  We are his disciples.  We do the work he gave us.  It is not a burden.  That doesn’t mean that we are walking the primrose path.  It means that we know to do exactly what he has purposed us to do.  

When I am doing exactly what I know God has designed me to do, it’s never that difficult.  There’s stuff that you have to deal with, but it just not that hard when you think about it.

But you have to be in mission mode.  In fact, I suggest that before you venture into ministering to the ungodly, you say these words to yourself:  I’M ON A MISSION FROM GOD!

Here’s the thing.  You might be a little nervous the first time or two that you do this, but God’s peace will not abandon you. 

You might be treated unkindly.  You might be called names.  In this country, your life is normally not at risk.  People might say mean things about you on Facebook, but God’s peace will be with you.

The wicked cannot know his peace, but we do.

One day, we will stand before Jesus, not to account for our sins.  He has taken care of every one of them.  God tells us that he will not only forgive but forget.  To me that’s cool beans.

It’s great to be forgiven, but even a forgiven soul doesn’t need to be reminded every 10,000 years or so about the time he spit in the grits back in 1972.  God forgives and forgets.  It is as if we were given an entirely new history.

But we will all stand before God and be judged for what we have done after he took our sins away.  These are things I don’t want to hear:

Didn’t love your enemies, huh?

Didn’t want to share salvation and my peace with those folks, hmmm?

Didn’t think they were worthy of salvation?

What do I want to hear?  Let’s go with, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

Understand that living in God’s peace—knowing this wonderful gift daily—does not make us content with the so many who continue to reject God.

We are at peace in the middle of a world of trouble but we are not content that so many continue to reject God.  We are not at the point where we can examine our commission and say:  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

The wicked will not know peace.  God said, there is no peace for the wicked.  Will we take that as their just reward or is it a mission statement for us, perhaps just one more time, to speak words of salvation and hope and peace.

Be his light and love, be the salt of the earth, and speak his words of life, hope, and peace once more.  Just one more time to those who do not know God’s peace.

We know God’s peace.  Are we ready to leave this place and seek the same for others?  Are you ready to say, I’M ON A MISSION FROM GOD!

Amen.

My Peace I Leave with You

Read John 16:33

John 14:25-27

I have many favorite verses, but both of these are near the top of the list.  They serve as stand-alone affirmations.  They by themselves are sources of encouragement, but we should consider them in context.

They are great on their own, but they come with a story.  This part of John’s gospel takes us right up to the time of Jesus being betrayed and crucified.

Jesus rode into Jerusalem.  It has been labeled the triumphal or triumphant entry.   It seemed that things were looking up for these dozen men who had followed Jesus all over the Holy Land for about 3 years.  Things were finally about to happen.

They were, but not as these disciples expected.  Greeks came seeking Jesus and Jesus would not see them, not because he didn’t like Greeks or they would be excluded from salvation, but because his hour had come.  In that hour, it was as if the disciples were given an advance course of study in a very compressed time.

Drinking from a fire hose would have been an appropriate term had there been such a thing as fire hoses then.

Jesus kicked off this time by washing the feet of his disciples.  I think the sound track for this might have started with “Y’all ready for this?”  Well, they weren’t ready for this.

This caught the disciples completely off guard, but Jesus began this compressed time by modeling servanthood.  How would these men serve God when Jesus was gone?  Here was a model.

Peter was still entrenched in his own power to take care of his Master’s business.  Wash my feet?  No way!

When Jesus told Peter that if he didn’t wash his feet, he would miss out on everything, Peter wanted a full bath.  Peter also boasted that he would never deny his Lord.  Jesus told him that his machismo would not hold up to the pressure of the world and a crowing rooster would remind him of this in a very short time.

Jesus knew that he would be betrayed during this time and told his disciples as much, but they still did not understand.  He told them that he would go away for a while then be with them again, but they did not understand.

Then he gave them a command.  He called it a new command.  It sounds like the old command, but it is more.  He told them that as he had loved them—they didn’t really know how much he loved them at this point, but they would soon find out.  That as much as he loved them, they should love each other.

This would clearly mark them as his disciples. There would be no mistaking them as followers of anyone else.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

This is a very intense command.  Love God with everything you have—even to the death—and do it by loving each other.  This is an all-in command.  This is not bringing some grain and a couple goats to be sacrificed.  This is not giving ten percent of your income.  This is love one another with everything you have and all that you are.

Jesus had stopped seeing anyone for teaching and healing, he washed the feet of his disciples and challenged them do likewise in serving God, he told them he was going away, he burst Peter’s bubble as far as never denying him, and now he gives them this command about loving each other with everything that they are.

I can imagine there were 11 deer in the headlights looks.  Jesus gave these shell-shocked disciples words of comfort.  He told them to trust in God and also in him.  He said that he was going away and preparing a place for them.  He told them that they knew he spoke the truth and they knew the way to the place that he was going.

Thomas said, we don’t know where you are going so how can we know the way.

Thomas was still worldly minded.  These men had followed Jesus for a long time. They did not always know what was next or where they were headed, but they knew to follow Jesus.

Jesus answered Thomas and told his disciples then and into this age, that he was and is the Way.  Jesus told them that they knew the way.  They did.  Jesus was and is the Way.

But the disciples wanted to see the Father!  Just let us see the Father and we will be happy. 

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

He went on to explain to them that if they knew him, then they knew the Father.  Consider the men to whom Jesus was talking.  They were Jews.  The self-righteous Jews would have counted them as a lesser form of Jew because they were mostly from Galilee and not Jerusalem, but they were Jews nonetheless.

That is, they knew there was one true God and they believed that the one true God would send a Messiah one day.  They believed Jesus to be that Messiah.  They did not comprehend a triune God.  Father, Son, and Spirit in perfect harmony each doing what was required where it was needed.

Jesus explained that if you know me, then you know my Dad.  He explained that when he left to be with his Father—something that his disciples should be happy about—he would not orphan them but that the Holy Spirit would come to them.

Think, deer in the headlights.

Jesus gives the analogy of the vine and the branches.  He told them to remain in him and they would produce fruit—fruit that will last.  God himself will be working in them and through them.

Again, Jesus charged them to love one another.

Jesus reminded them that they did not choose him, but that it was the other way around.  Jesus, in whom these men knew the Father, chose them.

Because the world did not know the one true God, the world would hate them.  And oh by the way, Jesus said, I will be leaving you soon.  He not only modeled servanthood for these few men, he was about to demonstrate complete obedience to the Father—even unto death, death on a cross.

Think, jaws dropped and deer in the headlights. 

Jesus had promised them the Spirit and the Spirit would give them a very accelerated learning curve in another six weeks or so, but these men were truly overwhelmed. 

How could they deal with all of this?  The world would hate them and Jesus gave them what seemed like an impossible command. 

So, Jesus explained:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

I have quickly gone through what we would often take weeks, months, or lifetimes studying.  I have done so to bring us to consider two verses concerning peace.  One you just heard.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

The other came a couple chapters earlier.

All this I have spoken while still with you.  But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Do we understand these words?

Do not let your hearts be troubled.

My peace I give to you.

Take heart!  Take courage!

I have overcome the world.

I think we might see how the disciples did not grasp these words of assurance and peace.  I think that deer in the headlights is as good an analogy as I can find.  Things would change with the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, but these men would be dumbfounded, scattered, and afraid at the death of their Master.

I doubt that any of us could truthfully say, “Oh, I would have been steadfast for my Master.”  Ask Peter how that worked out for him.  I think we know that we would have been as dysfunctional as these disciples had we walked in their shoes.

But we don’t walk in their shoes, at least as far as their first-century experience goes.  We know the rest of the story.  We know of victory over sin and death.  We have this promise of life eternal.  We can sing Blessed Assurance without crossing our fingers.  We know the word of God to be true!

But do we accept and receive the Lord’s peace?  Jesus said: “My peace I leave with you.”  The peace of the world is grounded in the circumstances of the world.  Jesus said that his peace and the peace that the world gives you are not the same.

You have a nice home, you feel some peace.

You make a good living, you feel some peace.

Your kids get good grades, you feel some peace.

The Cowboys win, you feel some peace.

OK, the Sooners win, you feel some peace.

The severe weather alert is over, you feel some peace.

The last kid gets picked up on Wednesday night, you feel some peace.

That’s the way the world works.  Something goes your way or the way you think it should go and you have a little peace.  You have temporary peace.

You have a day full of trouble, you feel some peace.  That’s the way the Lord works.

You have a day full of joy and you have peace.

You have joy, trouble, trouble, joy, bewilderment, clarity, confusion, exhilaration, and more trouble, but you have peace.

The peace that comes from the Lord is not rooted in your circumstances.  It is a gift from him.  It is not conditional as to how your day went.  In fact, it may have been very essential to getting through the trials of your day.

But peace is peace, right?  How can there be a difference?

The kids are home safe.  You have a little peace.

Your kids are washed in the blood of the Lamb.  You have more peace.

You know the one true God through Christ Jesus.  You have real peace.

You know that God loves you with an everlasting love, not just until you goof up again.  He loves you now and forever.

His love is not contingent upon how your day went.

His love is not contingent on how the elections go.

His love is not contingent upon a conference or national championship.

His love is not contingent upon you getting that new job or promotion.

His love for you is so great that he shed his own blood for you.  By his stripes we are healed.  We are forgiven.  Our sins are not counted against us.

His love for you is so great that you will never live another day without purpose.

His love for you is so great that he gives you love to share.  He commissions you to be a part of sharing his unbelievable love.

His love for us is so great that before God laid the foundation of the world, he stored up an eternal inheritance for you.

His love for us is so great that God made courage, not fear the governing factor in how we are to live.

His love for us is so great that he is ready to listen to us any time of the day or night.

His love for us is so great that his own Spirit lives within us.

His love for us is so great that he grants us wisdom ever so generously just for the asking.

His love for us is so great that even in our worst moments, we may live in his peace.

We will have trouble in this world.  That’s a given.  Most people agree 100% with that statement.

Jesus told us to take courage.  He has overcome the world.  He gave us his peace which is not contingent on any worldly factor.  It comes from the heart of our Father in heaven who is transforming our human heart into his divine heart of love.

The peace of God that is so much more than we can understand is his gift to us in this world full of trouble.

I ask that this week, you meditate upon 2 verses that I hope are now very familiar to you.

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Take heart.  Take courage.  Do not be afraid.  Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Receive the Lord’s peace.  It is a gift of love and we are blessed to receive it!

Amen.