A Diet of Peace

Read Romans 14

Read Racing Through Romans

We find ourselves well into the book of Romans, sometimes dubbed the Gospel According to Paul.  This is a good moniker to place on this book.  It simply means that it is jammed packed with Christ’s theology. 

Paul the oddball Apostle if you will, he was not selected like the rest, wrote this very comprehensive letter to a church that he hoped to visit one day, but at the time he wrote the letter he had not yet made it to Rome.  He would get there but for now, he had to put everything he thought essential into this letter.

He started by telling the Romans that by the evidence of creation itself, you should have figured out that there is a God.  You might need some help from those who bring good news explaining this name you have heard by now—Jesus—but you are without excuse to think there is no God.

He moves quickly to reminding his readers that all have sinned.  We have all missed the mark and thereby fall short of God’s glory. 

Paul moves to the topic of faith and a critical figure in Hebrew history—Abraham.  Paul is inserting this critical patriarch into his discussion of faith as he writes to a church where few know this story.  Because of the diaspora—the scattering of the Jews over the centuries because of foreign armies that God permitted to pressure and eventually sack Jerusalem—there were some Jews in almost every major city of the world.

Here is a short rabbit trail that you might want to tuck away for future New Testament Studies.  The diaspora put Jews all over the world.  They should have been there already as they were blessed to be a blessing to the world, but they fell short on their own. 

Next consider the Romans.  Yes, they nailed a lot of people to crosses, including our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.  Had the Romans not be in power, the Hebrew method of killing Jesus would have been stoning, and that would have broken a few bones that scripture said would not be broken.

Here’s the real thing that I ask you to file away for future studies.  The Romans build not only fantastic aqueducts, but great roads.  The idiom that we use today, All roads lead to Rome, originated with the fact that the Romans were great road builders.  Roads increased the speed at which military forces could move and commerce would advance.

Good roads across a global empire also provided smooth ways for the gospel to move across that known world.  The fact that many Jews and their faith had been dispersed throughout the world and the fact that this was the first time in history that the road system went world-wide enabled the gospel to spread quickly in this first Century.  God is a very sound logistician.

Back to the letter.  Paul talks about faith and joy and peace.  Peace is our topic, but we won’t dwell long on his early comments. 

Paul writes about death coming to the world in one man—Adam.  He proceeds to telling us that life came through one man—Jesus.  We should be dead to sin and alive in Christ.

We should not be slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness.  Paul used examples from marriage and begins a discourse on the law, noting that he did not know what sin was before the law said, thou shalt not…

Then we come to some of the most powerful words that we know.  There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  This 8^th chapter is back full of powerful words for us.

Paul brings life in the Spirit into the discussion.  He tells us that whatever suffering we have now will be nothing compared to what is in store for us.

The whole creation groans inwardly for what has come by the grace of God.  God’s own Spirit works within us even when we can’t figure out what to say.

Paul states that God takes everything that happens to those of us who are called by him for his purpose and he takes everything and works it for the good.  This is just for those who have surrendered to Jesus as Lord.  He is Lord!  God takes our every circumstance and works it for the good.

Everything that’s happening all around us could seem overwhelming, but we are more than conquerors.  We are not victims.  We are overcomers.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul continued in an extended discourse of God’s sovereignty and patience and how his wrath was withheld.  He noted that Israel was not lost but when the full number of Gentiles had come to receive this gift of grace, the original branch would be grafted back in.  That’s a whole study unto itself, but it brings us to the 12^th chapter and what today we might call consecration theology.  Our entire lives are given sacrificially to God.  We are set apart for his purpose.

We are a living sacrifice.  That term is what I call a paradoxymoron.  Google it.

Paul spoke of being transformed from what the world has done to us to having to what he would refer to elsewhere as the mind of Christ.  We must make new our minds.  Out with the old—the worldly.  In with the godly.  We see parallels elsewhere in his writings.

What should we think on?  The things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy, or other good examples that Paul had provided. 

The mind is where turning away from the world begins.  We take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.  No infiltrators will survive.
 

So when Paul wrote to be conformed to the patterns of the world no longer he met people where they were.  The world had not only infiltrated our minds.  It was in control.  A total reversal of our thinking was needed.

We are to be transformed from our worldly model to Christ’s model by the renewing of our minds.  We have discussed this before. I gave you three big steps to take.

First, put you nose in the Bible.  Read it.  Study it.  Meditate upon it.  Study it with other believers.  As iron sharpens iron, so we sharpen each other.

Next, we pray.  Pray early and often.  In fact, keep the conversation alive all day.  And remember that God knows more than we do, so dedicate most of your prayer time to listening.

Third, put his words into practice.  We are not all just members of the same philosophy class.  We build houses upon solid rock.  We put his words into practice.  We learn.  We grow in grace and we go back to step one.  Read the Bible.  Then pray.  Then practice.

We are turning away from the world.  Salvation came all at once.  Turning away from the world requires daily effort.  Seeking God first is ongoing.  Seeking his kingdom and his righteousness is a way of life.  This part takes work.

Paul continued to humility, Spiritual Gifts, and of course, love.  Love must be sincere.  He called believers to clothe themselves with the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Realize that we have come quickly to this point.  Visualize the graphic of the iceberg.  What is on top seems huge but what lies beneath the water is enormous.  We have just grazed the tip of these chapter icebergs to bring us to this point.

Paul after 13 fantastic chapters hits his readers with this.  There are some things on which you and other believers will not agree.  There are disputable matters.  The word dispute comes from a root word meaning back and forth reasoning.  Both sides have their reasons for believing what they believe.

One of the big first century issues was meat sacrificed to idols.  This was one of the findings of the Jerusalem Council where Paul came to argue against requiring the new believers who had not grown up as Jews to be circumcised.

The council found that they did not need to put all of Judaism on these believers who came out of the pagan world.  Circumcision was not a requirement to receive Jesus.  That would be the topic of other letters from Paul, but at this point we focus on meat sacrificed to idols.

The council said that these non-Jewish believers did not have to be circumcised but they should abstain from sexual immorality and from eating meat with blood in it or sacrificed to idols.

Paul, when he wrote to Rome, considered the council’s findings as legalistic—working from the outside-in, much like the Law of Moses.  He noted that it’s less about the food and more about the believer.  He did not reject what the council had done in trying to work out the logistics of believers who used to be pagans.  He just went directly to the heart of the matter.

The meat was not affected in any way by the fact that someone said some words before a god that they had purchased down the road at GODZ R US.  The wooden or metal icon had no real power and couldn’t make your ribeye any better or worse.

But, some believers are more mature in their faith than others.  Some are just beginning.  Some are wrestling with old ways.  So, what should we do?

We should seek a diet of peace.  We want the things that promote peace and harmony, joy and exhilaration, love and mercy among believers.  That means that I might change my diet for my physical needs if it slows the growth of another believer.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.

We want to please God.  I would really like a little brisket today, but I am going out with a bunch of new believers.  I don’t want to make them stumble.  We will speak the truth about the fact that these fake gods that used to be important don’t have any say in our salvation.

Now, if someone is making a big deal about their meat having a claim of any kind because it was sacrificed to an idol, we just walk on by.  We don’t give approval, even tacit approval, to such practices of ignorance.  If it’s just meat on display in the butcher shop with no signage with an affinity for a false god, then let’s haggle on the price and break out the grill.

We will speak the truth, but for the sake of the less mature believer, today we won’t eat at Apollo’s Rib Joint.  This choice is about my maturity.  I can set aside my own personal, physical, worldly desires to help another believer.

I won’t not eat there because I think the false god holds any power.  I know better.  But I’ll pass on the three-meat special because helping other believers is more important.

Paul counseled us not to pass judgment—to condemn other believers—for where they were as far as growing in God’s grace goes.  There are some things that we won’t agree on.  We might agree later, but for now the more mature believer takes the lead and has eyes to see things that might be a stumbling block to another believer.

In 2018, meat sacrificed to idols is not a big issue.  What is at issue is our faith and peace.  Am I living out of faith or trying to conform myself to some worldly standard.

Make no mistake, the church has ventured into the area of worldly standards.

How about our giving?  Do I give out of worldly expectation or desire for recognition or cheerfully and obediently to God?  Do I wonder how much that guy who looks well off gave?  Do I wonder if the guy in the worn clothes gave anything?

How about our attire?  Do I put on my best set of clothes to come worship because the world expects that or is it more important that I come humbly before God in worship and approach his throne of grace with confidence? 

Am I more concerned about others worshiping according to my standards?

We have things that are just between God and us.  We are confident that God is good with the path we are on.  If that were the end of the story, life as a Christian would seem fairly simple.

But we are examples not only to the unbelieving world, but to other believers.  There are some things that we don’t agree on, at least at this point in time.  Somewhere down the road, we may come into one accord on these matters, but for now they remain disputable.  We each have our reasons.

But these matters and our reasons must not slow the growth of other believers.

Church denominations and congregations have different ways of baptizing, offering the Lord’s Supper, using music in worship, and governing their respective bodies; but none of these should get in the way of the work of the church.  None of these unique perspectives should stand between the believer and his growth in grace.

None should rob a believer of peace.  Our back and forth discussion may continue but we must not get in the way of the growth of another believer.

How do we do this? Faith.  Faith is the key. 

What we do out of worldly expectation is perfunctory and not pleasing to God.  What we do out of faith is always pleasing to God.  Faith rules.  Faith gives us peace in disputable matters. 

What we do out of anything other than faith is our sin. 

Love from God has rescued us.

God’s own Spirit lives with us.

We are forgiven!

We are free to live lives of faith.  Let us give all due consideration to our choices, but let faith in the promises of God, the love of God, and the peace of God govern us.

What we do out of anything other than faith is our sin.  When we sacrifice something out of faith for the growth of another believer, we should hear God saying, “I’ve got something better in store for you than whatever it is that you gave up.”

We are talking about faith, growing in grace, and peace.  This is not about tolerating evil, rebellion against God, or unrighteousness.

We are strangers in this world.  The world does not know us.  The world doesn’t like us.  We will have trouble in this world.

We are talking about relationships between and among believers.  Not everyone is going at our pace.  Some may be faster or slower.  We may think that they don’t get it because they don’t move at our pace.

Paul counsels us to allow for some disputable matters.  A little back and forth is ok.  We accept other believers as Christ has accepted us.

A little back and forth is ok.  A little personal sacrifice for the sake of another believer is a good thing.  A lot of faith that our choices are those that please God will grant us peace.

Trust your faith.  Grow in grace.  Enjoy the peace of the Lord.

Enjoy a diet of peace.

Amen!

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.

Peace and Fear: Empathizing with the Servants in the Parable of the Talents

 Read Matthew 25:14-30

In August and September each year, I do my annual sermon planning.  I search the scriptures, listen for God’s leading, and draft a plan for what I will preach for the next year.  It is, of course, subject to change. 

For the past 12 years, I have preached the Parable of the Talents at least once each year.  Usually, I work it in more than once.  When I set forth my plan for this year, I did not include the Parable of the Talents, but thought, it will come up somewhere.

It did.  As I looked at where we had been with love and love and action, and where we were with peace, I thought, “How on God’s green earth did I leave the Parable of the Talents out of this discourse on peace?”  I have mentioned peace in passing but never focused on it with regard to this parable.  We will fix that today.

The parable mentions many things put does not address peace directly, so we will have to empathize with the 3 servants.  The first two took their master’s money and put it to work at once.  They were prepared to be trusted with more.

They put their master’s money to work with urgency.  Was there risk?  If they wanted to make more money, there was some risk.  In fact, there was risk in doing nothing.

Did they have to deal with fear?  Everyone must deal with fear.  They just did not let fear debilitate them.  They might have even had the savvy to turn it to their own motivational advantage.  In any case, fear did not govern them.

They acted with urgency and therefore I contend that they had purpose.  Urgency comes with purpose, otherwise it’s just busyness.

In their urgency, I proffer that they had peace.  When you know your purpose and know what you are to do, and you are doing it, peace happens!

I might get me some shirts made with a smiley face and the words PEACE HAPPENS.

If you know what to do and do what you know to do, peace happens.  It’s hard to explain but you get in a zone, in a rhythm, in sync with everything good. 

If you are just busy but not purposeful, peace doesn’t visit too often.  Inactivity is not peace.

We know what happened in this parable.  The master returned.  The first two servants were excited about the return on investment they had to show their master.

The master responded with words anyone would want to hear: 

Well done! 

Good and Faithful Servant

You did great with what I gave you.  Now, I am putting you in charge of more.

Come and share your master’s happiness.

Who would not have joy at getting all these accolades, a promotion, and treated as family by your boss?  But I don’t think that either of these first two servants was surprised. 

Remember, each was given money in accordance with his ability.  The master knew what each could handle.  They had surely been in charge of smaller trusts before and did very well.  They knew if they did what they knew to do and did it to the best of their ability, they would produce a good return.

I doubt that these two had doubts about what to do.

I believe that they had peace while they put their talents to work.  They had joy upon their master’s return, but I put before you that they had peace while he was away.

The third servant was a different story.  He buried the talent trusted to him in the ground.  He dug a hole and buried it. 

Many speculate that it might have been in the floor of his own house.  Some houses had dirt floors. 

It could have been out in a nearby field, surely in a place that was not cultivated.  Either way, you must have some system of checking on it.

If it’s out in a field, you must find a way to nonchalantly stroll by and glance at the ground to make sure that it has not been disturbed.  Of course, if it has been disturbed, it’s probably game over.

If you go by too frequently, people wonder why is this guy hanging out there so much?  If you don’t, you wonder if your money is still where you put it.

If you buried it in the floor of your house, you likely felt like you were on house arrest.  Every time you left your house, your mind was on someone breaking in and finding your cache.

How much peace can you have when you are worried about what has been entrusted to you?

The first two servants were glad to see their master return.  They wanted him to see what they had done with the money entrusted to them.  The third servant was glad to see his master return.  He could finally get rid of this burden given to him.

The third servant was afraid.  If he invested the money, he might fail.  If he invested the money, he might succeed, and then more might be expected of him.

If he had put the money in the bank, it would have been safer than anything else he came up with, and it would have earned a little interest.  It would have been better than burying it in the ground.  It would have taken less effort than burying it in the ground.  He would have had some peace.

But fear ruled in this servant.  Fear ruled, and I suggest to you that this man had no peace.

Fear and peace don’t play well together.  In fact, fear is something of a bully.  Now, they won’t let you teach this in school these days, but the best way to deal with a bully is to punch him in the nose.  I don’t know how that works with cyberbullying, but here is how it works with fear.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.  Here’s the thing.  You must choose whom you will fear.  You can’t be afraid of everything.  If you fear the world and its ways, you don’t fear God.  That makes you what the Bible calls a fool.  You have chosen to deny the truth.

If you fear God, you will not fear anything else.  God grants you wisdom and provides instruction and disciplines you when you get off course.  Remember that God disciplines—this is not punishment—those he loves.

How do we deal with fear and function fully in this life?  We choose to fear only the Lord.  But there is more.

We are told that God did not give us a spirit of fear.  So, when fear comes upon us, we recognize that this is not a good gift.  All good gifts are from above.

Fear has to do with punishment and we are not people subject to wrath.  We live in the Lord’s favor.  God grants us power, love, and a sound mind. 

When we act out of fear we feel powerless, unloved, and feeble minded.  This verse from Paul’s second letter to Timothy proffers a dichotomy.  It’s either fear or power, love, and a sound mind. 

Think of the Lord’s words to Joshua.

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.

These words were important enough that Joshua heard them again two verses later.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Here is another dichotomy.  Be strong and courageous or be afraid and discouraged.  This dichotomy comes with the promise that God is with us. 

So here is our choice as we deal with the fear bully.  Trust God or give in to fear. 

Trust God and know peace or fear the things of this world have no peace. 

We will have trouble in this world.  There is risk.  Fear is a real thing.  We will have storms, but will we have peace in those storms?

Two servants in this parable took what their master had given them and put it to work at once.  They were ready to be trusted more by their master.  They anticipated greater trust.  They wanted to please their master so much, they could not delay in putting his money to work.

I think that they worked as hard as they had in their entire lives, but I also believe they lived in the perfect peace of the Lord.  How could they not?  They were doing exactly what they knew to do.  The words, Well done good and faithful servant, were of greater value than any of the money they would produce as a return on their investment. 

Their daily return on investment was peace in knowing what they were doing would please their master.

And one servant—one who gets the label wicked and lazy—was governed by fear not by the desire to please his master.  Fear ruled in his life.  Fear is real but must not be given command.  It must not be in charge.

Our return on investment when our mind is governed by fear is that we will have no peace.  I will add that is a good thing.  Remember my recent message on Disturbing the Peace?

If we who know God and say we are following Jesus do not have peace in the decisions that we are making and the life that we are living, we need to inventory the things that govern our lives.  If we find fear among them, kick fear to the curb.

The only fear that belongs in our lives is the fear of the Lord, and remember, that is the starting point.  Our destination is perfect love which casts out fear because fear has to do with punishment.  We will not know God’s wrath.  We live in his favor.

We discard fear and receive power, love, and a sound mind.  Within those three we know peace.

We know peace.  We often look at the Parable of the Talents as a what happens at the end sort of lesson.  It is, but I challenge us to consider that during the long time when the master was away, two of these servants enjoyed peace because they poured themselves into doing exactly what they knew would please their master.

Are we ready to do what pleases our Master and enjoy his peace while we do it?

Are we ready to kick the fear of the world to the curb?

Are we ready to be faithful in the things appointed to us now?

Are we ready to live bringing glory to God and enjoying his peace?

I say that we are!  Let’s bring glory to God and enjoy his peace!

Amen.