Obtaining Peace: Creation

 

Peace 10

 

          In this section of our blog series on peace we are examining eight different ways the Bible tells us we can obtain peace. With this post we come to one that has ministered to me most deeply, the beauty of God’s creation. The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness (Psalm 72.3). It may well be that there is in this passage some prophetic connection with the Millennial reign of Christ on Mount Zion. I can see signs of that. But I do not think it takes away from my point here. God’s creation pours peace into the battered soul.
          When God made man He did not place him in a city; He placed him in a garden. It was man that built the first city, specifically Cain. It is almost as if having lost so much of what God had originally designed with his father Adam and his brother Abel, he decided to reinvent things. Ergo, lets thrust man on top of each other and call it good.

          I do not believe cities are intrinsically evil. God Himself loves the city of Jerusalem, and will create a New Jerusalem in the end. But I do know from long experience that cities produce frantic schedules, crowded sidewalks, clogged intersections, a haste for riches, and endless miles of asphalt, concrete, brick, and glass. The stores are open twenty-four hours in the cities. Industry runs full bore in the cities. Music thumps from passing cars loud enough to rattle the dishes. There is endless hustle and bustle, running to and fro. Rudeness multiplies in the city. 

          Some of my perspective here is perhaps colored for me by Meniere’s disease and its side effects, and how difficult it became for me toward the end in Chicago. But some of it is just fact. It is not impossible to live in peace in a city for peace is largely a matter of the heart, but it is more difficult. The psalmist said, Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46.10). There is precious little opportunity to be still in the city, to be quiet. There is almost no chance of serene contemplation. You can cultivate a spirit of inner stillness but it is not the same. At the least it is not near as simple.

          I am a deep believer in setting your eyes upon something God made. It causes us to reflect upon His majesty and sovereignty. It reminds us of how big He is, of how powerful He is, of how eternal He is. It reminds us that when all is said and done the kerfuffle of events will fade and He will still be. Thou remainest (Hebrews 1.11).

          God has been good to bring me deep peace in such ways. I have laid in the black night on the greensward, with nary an electric light in miles, and feasted my eyes on the prodigal jewels of Heaven we call the stars. I have felt the ocean mist on the morning breeze, and heard the surf break on both sides of the continent. I have breathed deep of the scented pines of the northwest. I have craned my eyes skyward beholding the behemoths of the Rockies. I have been surprised by sudden waterfalls springing out of the jungle as the remnants of a hurricane passed through. I have watched the sun come up over the Great Lakes with my young son sitting beside me. I have stood in the desert as the dry wind sucked the moisture out of my lungs, and watched the tumbleweeds whirl by. I have seen some of what God has made and it is good.

          In God’s great goodness, he has brought me at last to live in what is truly one of the beautiful places in our country. Eagles and hummingbirds and turkeys and deer vie for my attention from my deck. Old Man River, the mighty Mississippi rolls merrily on just a few hundred feet from my home. Scores of miles of trails crisscross the county. Rainbows, produced by the rise of vapor up the bluffs along the river, grace the evening sky often. I live in what God has made and it is good. I weep, I praise Him, and I am at peace.

          Do you long for sweet peace? Is your soul a tumbling tumult of noise and uproar? Find something God made, where nothing of man intrudes. Stand there or sit there or lie there or walk there. Stay a good long while. Put your phone away. Listen to the wind, the birds, the creak of the trees and the rustle of their leaves, the play of the brook over the smooth stones. Drink deep of God’s creation, and be at peace.

Obtaining Peace: Fellowship

 

Peace 9

 

          God does not command us to live in peace without giving us the wherewithal to do so. He gives us the strength and grace to do so, yes, but He also tells us how to do so all through the Scriptures. So far in this series we have looked at three of them. We obtain peace by asking Him. We obtain peace by knowing Him. We obtain peace by trusting Him. In today’s post, we will discover that we can also obtain peace by fellowship with His people.

          The sweet psalmist of Israel went through several seasons of deep suffering. One of those periods he endured as an older, mature king. His son, Absalom, rebelled against his rule, subverted his chief counsellors, stole the hearts of his followers, and led the nation to into perversity and revolt. Through the support of a gracious God, and the loyalty of a few reliable retainers, David was restored to his throne. Betrayed by so many of his friends, attacked by his enemies, bereft of his son, a heartbroken but triumphant David penned Psalm 55. Amongst other gems, he gives us this precious statement of thanksgiving. He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there were many with me (Psalm 55.18).

          I am a huge believer in spending time with God’s people. It is both commanded and exemplified all over the New Testament. While I maintain active and purposeful relationships with numbers of lost people, all of my friends are drawn from the brethren. I sit with them. I talk with them. I eat with them. I go to church with them. I laugh with them. I host them at Saint’s Rest. It is not wrong to say that I live my life among the community of the saints.

          I find many things in such community. I find accountability. If I am struggling, the people who know me well will both notice and call me on it. I find encouragement. The world is not our friend. It pushes against everything we hold dear and promotes that which we find abhorrent. It is often a lonely task indeed to be a Christian. Or it would be, if it were not for the assembly of God’s people. I find modeling and mentoring here too, living, breathing lessons of what I ought to be and can be as I follow on to know the Lord.

          I also find peace.

          As a pastor for twenty-four years, it has fallen to me to perform many funerals. Some of those funerals have been for people I did not know at all, people who died without a church and without a pastor, sometimes even without the Lord. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I have also performed many funerals for people who not only knew Him, but loved Him and loved His people down here on Earth.

The difference between those funerals is stark. At the former, there is a strained effort to hold back despair, closed faces afraid of contemplating their own mortality and what it means. The atmosphere is cold and lifeless, and the moment the ceremony is over people flee for the supposed sanctuary of their secure little world.

          The Christian funerals of those who loved God and His church are a complete and utter contrast. There is joy. There are tears, yes, but they are sweet tears. There is emotional support. There is laughing as we recall precious memory after precious memory. There is the sheer delight of looking forward to Heaven. Such events are more rightly named a celebration than a funeral, a celebration of a life well lived, a celebration of the present Heaven, and a celebration of the reunion to come on that great day.

          The former had precious little if any fellowship with God’s people. Not surprisingly, there is precious little if any peace at their funeral.

          Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the 20^th century’s premier British preacher, referred to his church once as a preaching station. He bemoaned the numbers who flooded in to hear him orate, but refused to become an integral part of the actual church assembled there. I share that frustration with him as the technology and events of our day have only exacerbated the problem. I am weary of God’s people feeding their desire for God’s Word on YouTube preachers. I am indescribably frustrated with couch church, so much so that I stopped our church’s internet stream whole cloth, pandemic or no pandemic. 

          God did not design the Christian life to be lived in isolation; He designed it to be lived in community. He designed us to be together, to assemble. So get off the couch and go. Go early. Stay late. Force yourself to stick around and fellowship with God’s people. Open your heart and life to those around you. Laugh with them. Weep with them. Put your shoulder to the wheel with them. Love them. Serve them. Allow them, in turn, to minister to you.

          Like David, you will be in a battle someday. Like David, you will discover who your real friends are. I am convinced that when/if that battle comes to my life I will find hundreds and hundreds of sincere people at my side, ministering grace and comfort and counsel and support. I have built those relationships over time, with time. I have refused the alluring ease of isolation. Consequently, I am not alone. I am rich in relationships. And amongst all the other blessings that come here, there is a wealth of peace. 

Drink deep and long and often from the well of fellowship. And you will find peace. 

Obtaining Peace: Trust Him

 

Peace 8

 

          If you are looking for peace you came to the right place. No, I do not mean my blog. I mean the Word of God. It gives us numerous ways or means or avenues to obtain peace. Two weeks ago, we saw that we can obtain peace by asking God for it. Last week, we found that we can obtain peace by knowing Him. Today, we will see that we can find peace by trusting Him. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on thee: Because he trusteth in thee (Isaiah 26.3).

          Peace is a precious commodity. It keeps our hearts and souls unruffled during times of uncertainty, confusion, doubt, struggle, and conflict. Peace does not change the external circumstances that swirl around us but it does change how we view those circumstances. When peace rules in our heart our perspective on the events of the day and of our lives is calm even when these events are not calm.

In Mark 4 we find one of the stories that combines faith and peace. Jesus, weary from His work, falls asleep in a ship on the Sea of Galilee. Storms rise quickly on that shallow sea as cold air flows down suddenly across its surface from the mountains along the northern edge. Such a storm arose that mightily disturbed the Apostles but disturbed Jesus not at all. In frantic desperation, they finally wake Him up, shouting at Him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? His answer is classic. Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? This kind of peace is a byproduct of faith. Peace is not achieved by pursuing peace; it is attained by trusting in our Heavenly Father. This is precisely what Isaiah is saying as well. Let me give you a brief explanation of the context, followed by two thoughts of application.

          When Isaiah 26 opens the prophet is referencing a future deliverance from Babylon. He has just been discussing this in the previous chapter, Isaiah 25. In that day [of deliverance from Babylon] shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks (Isaiah 26.1). Centuries later, both Jeremiah and Zechariah would point to Isaiah’s prophecy here in reference to Babylon.

          Open ye the gates [the gates of Jerusalem, opened up now for the people of the city to return after their deliverance from Babylon by Jehovah] That the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on thee: Because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength: For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; The lofty city, he layeth low; [Babylon] even to the ground; He bringeth it even to the dust (Isaiah 26.2-5).

          I see here two works – our work and His work. What is our work? To rest our mind on Him, whose mind is stayed on thee, stayed here meaning lean, rest, or support. When a weary Moses could no longer hold the rod of God aloft in His hands God’s people began to lose the battle. Tragedy would have resulted had not Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun (Exodus 17.12). Moses was supported by and rested on Aaron and Hur.

Implicit in the idea of the word stayed is dependence upon something or someone else. As I write this on Sunday afternoon, I am sitting on a chair at my dining room table. My weight is comfortably settled in the chair. Solidly constructed from oak, Mandy and I purchased this table and chairs twenty years ago. I know by long experience I can depend on this chair. That is faith. Whose mind is stayed on thee: Because he trusteth in thee.    

          God is in the dependence business. He is constantly seeking to encourage and build our dependence upon Him. I began that process when I first depended upon Him for my salvation. Not coincidentally, I got my first dose of peace then. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5.1). Mary Magdalene is a precious example of this. Tormented by the townspeople, tormented by her conscience, she found her first peace when she found faith in and dependence on Christ. And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace (Luke 7.50).

          Since there is then this direct correlation between faith and peace the more I rest in Him the more peace I possess. Put another way round, show me a lack of peace in a heart and mind and I will show you a lack of faith somewhere.

          It is not my job to produce the peace in my heart. It is not even my job to pursue peace in my heart. It is my job to pursue dependence and faith. That is my work. As I lead my family, as I pursue my vocation, as I play, as I rest, in the grind of my day to day life I must keep my mind stayed on Him. In financial pressure, in relationship difficulty, in ill health, in seasons of distress and grief, in the trials of life I must keep my mind stayed on Him. That is my work.

          What is His work? Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace. As I write this, President Biden occupies the Oval Office. His work is the administration of the country. The Secret Service’s work is to keep the president safe. Keep means to watch or guard. I do not do the watching and guarding of my peace; He does. I do the staying of my mind on Him, depending on Him in faith. His work is to watch over me.

          There is great peace in knowing I am in His keeping. When my children were little, how precious it was to put them to bed. To dress them in their warm pajamas, snuggle them under the covers, play a silly game or two with them, sing them the family lullaby, pray with them, turn their music on, shut the light off, walk out of the room, and listen as their even breathing signaled how fast they fell asleep. Is that not the child’s prayer? “Now I lay me down to sleep; I pray the Lord my soul to keep.”

          A lamb needs to gain a pound a day the first hundred days of its life. The only way it can do that is if it has access to quiet/clear water, good pasturage, and extensive time to browse. Does the lamb protect itself? No, the shepherd does – and when the lamb is convinced it has nothing to fear from wolves, hawks, or even annoying pests it grows. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters (Psalm 23.1-2).

          I want to be that lamb. I want to grow. I want the peace that passeth all understanding to keep my heart and mind. But that peace is His work. I cannot chase that peace. What I can chase, what I can pursue, what I can work on is trusting God.

          How can you obtain peace? Stay your mind on Him, trust in Him, this is your work. He will deliver the peace.  

Obtaining Peace: Knowing Him

 

Peace 7

 

          Last week, we looked at the first means of obtaining peace, namely, asking God for it. Today, I offer you another thought. The peace of God comes when we get to know God. Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace (Job 22.21). Eliphaz was wrong about much of what he told Job but he was not wrong about this. There is a direct link between God and peace. If I know Him, I have some measure of peace. If I get to know Him better, I will have a greater measure of peace. The more I acquaint myself with Him the more I will be at peace.

          This is not just a mystical/ethereal idea either. The word “acquaint” in this passage in the original language means to run into danger with. It carries the idea behind it that I know this person so well I am comfortable or confident facing battle with them. They are capable. They are loyal. They are dependable. If you have ever watched Band of Brothers you will understand what I am talking about. By the end of the war, they had been through training, D-Day, Market Garden, and the Battle of the Bulge together. They had crossed the Rhine and taken Berchtesgaden. Their trust in each other was founded on months of ferocious combat, in all kinds of terrain, in all kinds of weather, in all kinds of situations. They knew what each man in Easy Company was capable of. They knew their captain was the epitome of a good leader. And there was great peace of mind in that.

          Paul gave us a similar idea in Philippians 3.10. That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection. To know God is to have confidence in Him. The better I know Him the more confidence I will have in Him. And the more confidence I have in Him the more peace I will have as well.

          God does not scatter peace willy-nilly like lightning bolts out of the blue. He tells us in Scripture how to obtain it.

First, ask Him for it.

Second, get to know Him.

Obtaining Peace: Ask Him

 Peace 6

          The world is not at peace. War, crime, strife, anxiety, worry, and confusion abound. To this problem/s, the world offers several bad solutions. It tells you to blame someone else (psychiatry). It offers to let you drown the unease of your soul in chemicals (alcohol/drugs). The smart ones do this via medication rather than illegal drugs but the aim/effect is eerily similar. Timothy Leary, the 60s counterculture apostle of LSD infamously said, “Turn on, tune in, and drop out.”  In other words, peace comes when you purposely allow your mind to drift into an altered state of consciousness. Still others practically practice hoarding, convinced that their survival skills and supplies will see them through whatever zombie apocalypse arrives. Some prefer to buy guns, the larger and more powerful the better. The world’s “solutions” for peace are as many and as varied as the devil can possibly provide.

          None of this should surprise any of us. After all, the lost world is going to act like unsaved people act and think like they think, by definition. What concerns me more is Christians who do not have peace. As God’s people we are called to it. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body (Colossians 3.15).  Everything I know about God tells me He is a just God. If He commands He explains how to obey and makes available to us whatever we need in order to fulfil that command. If we are called to let His peace rule in our hearts then how can we? What provision has He made? I do not mean the counterfeits offered by the world; I mean the actual provision of the genuine article by our Father. How can we obtain the peace of God?

          Over the next eight weeks on this blog I intend to answer that question. Today, let me offer you one simple idea: the peace of God comes when God gives it to us. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14.27). The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace (Numbers 6.26).

          Too often, we underestimate the simple method of asking God for peace. Thinking there must be some deeper or wider answer, like the alchemists of former ages, we pursue some magic formula, we search for some holy grail, we seek for some distant city of gold. In the next two months we will find many keys to obtaining the peace of God in Scripture, but surely the simplest and most basic one is to simply pray for it. Ye have not, because ye ask not (James 4.2).

          To be sure, you cannot violate biblical principle and obtain the peace of God. Understanding that, if we lack peace, beseeching the Lord for it ought to be our first and constant resort. John R. Rice, the twentieth century’s mightiest pen, said, “All of our failures are prayer failures.” I will take John Rice over Timothy Leary every day of the week.

          Are you harboring iniquity? Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me (Psalm 139.23-24). No? Then may I ask, how much time have you spent lately asking the Lord to give you His peace? Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning (James 1.17). Peace of mind and heart, the peace of God, is certainly a good thing, is it not?

          …so ask Him for it.

He is Our Peace

Peace 5

 

          Paul loved peace. He loved when the Lord brought it to him and when the Lord used him to bring it to others. He knew its blessings inside and out, and he desired such blessings for all of God’s people. In his peerless epistle to the Ephesian church he opens with it and closes with it. Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1.2, 6.23). He also dwells on it extensively in between.

          In his day, there was tremendous discord between the Jews and the Gentiles. This was caused by the anti-Semitism of the Gentiles and the racial/religious superiority of the Jews. This racial tension is repeatedly illustrated in the Gospels, and nearly destroyed the Early Church. When Paul would go into a city to start a church he would go first to the synagogue. If he could convert men to Christ there he could be way ahead in the church planting game. Such men knew the Bible, were loyal to it, and generally lived lives of charactered accomplishment. The problem, in this context, is that all those men were Jewish. And Paul was not about to limit his church plant to Jewish converts. Ergo, as he reached Gentiles and brought them into the new church too fireworks would ensue.

          So how does Paul address it?

For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh (Ephesians 2:14–17).

          What is the solution to a racially motivated church split? Get both sides to Christ as fast as possible for He is their peace.

          If I have a piano that is in tune with a pitch pipe, and an organ in tune with the same pitch pipe, then the piano and organ will be in tune with each other. The same thing is true of a marriage, of a friendship, of the parent/child relationship, of the pastor/people relationship, of every relationship. If both sides would get in tune with Christ they would be in tune with each other. They would be at peace.

          The problem that inevitably comes in at this point is this: it is impossible for me to ensure that the other party in a fuss will come to Christ. I can come, but I cannot make them come. They can come, but they cannot make me come. Relationships are peaceful ones when both sides are rightly related to Christ. He is our peace. But what do you do when one side of the relationship is not rightly related to Him?

          I propose to you the answer is still the same – He is our peace.

          Allow me to illustrate.

          Music, especially classical music, is peaceful to me. I listen to a lot of it. Violins play a large part in most classical music, and the most expensive violins come from the little town of Cremona, Italy. There, in the early 1600s, a man named Nicolo Amati, who came from a long line of distinguished violin makers, took on two apprentices. Those apprentices, Andrea Guarneri and Antonio Stradivari, would eventually establish the best violin making shops in the world.

          In 1791, a German nobleman, Count Trauttmansdorf, who had heard music played upon one of these famous Cremona violins, sought to buy one but was rebuffed. Although he offered fabulous sums, he could not find one for sale anywhere. Some weeks later, an unknown man carrying a rather worn and shabby violin case appeared at the count’s castle, seeking admittance. When the servants refused him he said, “Tell your master that heaven’s music is waiting at his door.” The count agreed to receive him.

Upon entering the count’s presence, the old man took from his case a gracefully aged violin. It had been made in the early 1600s by Jacob Stainer, also a student of Nicolo Amati, and a peer of Guarneri and Stradivari. Picking up the bow, the old man played so beautifully Count Trauttmansdorf offered to purchase the Stainer violin on the spot. The old man countered with a curious offer. He agreed to sell the violin but only if the count agreed to let him play it once a day for the rest of his life.

Over the next two weeks, they hammered out a deal. The count agreed to pay the nominal sum of $150 at once, shelter for life, free light and wood, one new suit of clothes and two barrels of beer a year, a half-bushel of wheat and three dollars every month, a measure of wine daily, and all the rabbits the old man could eat. In exchange, the old man played that Italian Stainer violin every day for the count and continued to do so for twenty years until his death in 1811.

When Christ comes in, He brings with Him Heaven’s music. No, I may not now or ever be at peace with someone on the other side of a relationship. But with Christ in me, the hope of glory, I contain peace for He is my peace.

If you have Him you have peace. Around you? Not necessarily. Between you and someone else? Hopefully, if you both walk in tune with Him. In you? Absolutely.

Regardless of what is going on around you, bid Him speak peace to your soul. Most assuredly, He will.

You Will Never Have Peace

 Peace 4

          Thus far, in our blog series on peace, we have defined it eight ways. Peace is organization and order. Peace is the absence of armed conflict. Peace is the absence of noise, the presence of calm and quiet. Peace is the absence of worry. Peace is harmony in our personal relationships. Peace is freedom from unsettling thoughts or emotions. Peace is a quiet confidence that God will take care of you. Peace is our final rest in Heaven.

          Wicked people will have none of that wonderful list. None. There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked (Isaiah 48.22).

          This is not because God does not long to bring them peace. It is not that God is incapable of bringing them peace. Rather, it is that they will not follow the simple commandments through which God brings peace to men. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! Then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea (Isaiah 47.18). A river flows continuously, through all kinds of terrain, through all kinds of weather, day after day, week after week, month after month, assuming it is constantly being fed by springs or rain. That is what the saint’s peace is like – continuous, quiet, through all kinds of weather, assuming he is walking with the Lord and obeying Him. But if you do not obey His commandments, if, instead, you embrace a wicked lifestyle, you will have no peace.

          How does this happen? What robs the wicked man of any hope of peace?

          The first reason is that their conscience bothers them and the Holy Spirit convicts them. Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another (Romans 2.15). Our conscience is the God-placed innate sense within each of us that there is right and wrong. When we behave wickedly this conscience gets uncomfortable. It begins to hassle us. Quietly at first, but with gradually growing ferocity, it attacks our peace of mind and heart.

          We understand, scripturally and practically, that the conscience can be strengthened or weakened, corrupted or purified. But when the wicked weaken, corrupt, or sear their conscience in an effort to get some internal peace the Holy Spirit picks up the slack. When he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16.8). The wicked person lives in an internal uproar that will not be stilled, stirred up by his conscience and the Holy Spirit.

          The second reason the wicked man has no peace is he imagines pursuit where there is none. The wicked flee when no man pursueth (Proverbs 28.1).

          Regardless of how the wicked man attempts to justify his wickedness, to find some rational reason to assert that it is not wickedness, he knows better. His conscience and the Holy Spirit tell him the truth. Deep on the inside, he knows he is guilty. When you are guilty, you are conscious at all times that justice just might catch up with you.

          The fight-or-flight response, first identified in the 1920s, teaches us that our bodies respond to stress by secreting certain hormones. These hormones enable us to better fight our way out of danger or run away from danger. I believe wicked people live with constant stress. They are always conscious that they may be attacked at any moment. They need to be ready to fight at any moment. They need to be ready to run away at any moment. No matter how much alcohol they ingest or illegal drugs they consume, they cannot rest. No matter how many guards they have, or how many layers of protection they think they have incorporated between themselves and being found out, they cannot relax. It is not that they are found out and must deal with it; it is that they are constantly worried about being found out.

          There is no peace here.

          The third reason the wicked have no peace is they are not doing what they were made to do. Paul tells us in I Corinthians 1 that he was called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. He says this is the will of God for his life. I believe for each of us, God has a specific, ongoing path He wills for us to walk. When we refuse to walk in that path we will not be at peace for we are violating the intent for which we were created.

          In my decades as a soul winner I have knocked on thousands of doors. It is quite common for a dog to begin to bark immediately and continue through all attempts of his owner to shush him. Why? That is his nature. He was made to warn. He was built to bark. If you try to quiet him, to muzzle him, to channel his nature in a way he was not built to go everybody will be frustrated. Can you train a dog to be quiet? Sure. But on the inside, he will still be barking. He will quiver and shake, even if he holds himself perfectly still. He is violating his nature and there is no peace inside of him.

          Every time I come face to face, personally, with an out-and-out homosexual or transgendered person I think of this. I hurt for them. In following their deceitful heart into sin they have twisted their nature or attempted to twist their nature into one impossible bend after another. There is always an air of desperation about them. No matter how cool and calm and collected they seek to portray themselves, it is not hard to see through. They are unsettled in their core. Their life, their heart, and their mind are in a constant never-ending uproar. They are violently violating what God made them to do and be, and they will never be at peace.

          The last and most important reason the wicked have no peace is very simply that God is after them. He will not allow them rest. The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the Lord shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace. They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the Lord (Jeremiah 12.12-13).

          In our current state of cultural declension the police departments of America have a target on their back. Literally. More than at any other time in history, criminals are emboldened to assassinate police officers. Yet even this illustrates the point. When a police officer is wounded or killed, no rest is taken until he/she who committed the crime has been tracked down. Such fools purchase to themselves the open, active hostility of entire police departments. They picked a fight with the wrong enemy.

          The parallels are obvious, are they not?

          The verse I opened the post with is one of the rare verses in the Bible that is repeated, word for word, elsewhere. Why? Because God intends to emphasize the point – there is no peace for the wicked. It does not matter what you do, what you buy, what you scheme, what you invent, what you decide – if you live a wicked life you cannot and will not be at peace.

For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, And he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; And I will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled sea, When it cannot rest, Whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. (Isaiah 57:17–21)

Peace and the Sovereignty of God

Peace 3

          God is sovereign. God does what He wills with whomever He wills. Doctrinally, this concept is birthed in the omnipotence of God. God is all-powerful. There is nothing He cannot do and no one who can restrain Him. Ergo, He is sovereign.

          How does this relate to peace?

          There are two underlying causes for the lack of a peace in a person’s life, inward causes and external causes. The latter, the external, consists of circumstances outside of us, things entirely beyond our control.

For example, two weeks ago our church scheduled a Sunday evening service at Washington Square Park downtown. We wanted to use it as an outreach event. While the park does have a gazebo it does not have a shelter to rent. You can, however, rent the entire park. So we did. And spent hours working on permits and insurance and bad weather evacuation plans, etc. As the day drew nearer, the weather forecast got increasingly problematic. In actuality, the rain became a line of thunderstorms that birthed at least one tornado that touched down in Dubuque County that night. Obviously, we canceled the event downtown and met in our normal location indoors instead.

I am at peace with that cancellation. Yes, it was disappointing to our church, but the weather is entirely and only within the control of God. We could do nothing about it. It was only in the control of God. He chose to allow severe summer weather for His purposes. I rest in knowing that.

Before we go any further, let me stress this peace that comes by way of an understanding of the sovereignty of God is not fatalism. Fatalism says, “Well, there is nothing I can do about it so I might as well not worry about it.” Christianity is not a fatalistic religion, even though we have a God who can do anything He wills. Why? Because God is perfectly willing to be moved, and to move others, on the basis of our prayers.

The weather is an example of external circumstances entirely beyond our control, but a better example is the authority figures in our lives that often make life difficult. We cannot change another person’s heart, especially one that holds power and influence and one that harbors hostility toward us. But we can ask God to change it. He has that capability. The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it withersoever he will (Proverbs 21.1). I am not sovereign. I am powerless to change the heart of authorities set against me. But God can change any authority figure’s mind and heart He wishes to. And He often does as a result of our prayer.

We see this from one end of the Bible to the other. For example, Psalm 106 opens with a long litany of the crimes Israel had committed against God. They did not understand Him. They did not remember Him. They provoked Him. They forgot Him. Their lives were filled with envy and lust. They rebelled against their God-appointed rulers. They worshipped idols. They despised the land He gave them. They complained. They obeyed incompletely. They intermarried with the heathen around them. Their sacrificed their children. Consequently, God poured out His judgment upon them using the nations around them.

Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, Insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance. And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; And they that hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them, And they were brought into subjection under their hand. Many times did he deliver them; But they provoked him with their counsel, And were brought low for their iniquity. (Psalm 106:40–43)

          Yet the same God that moved those heathen authorities to punish His people was affected by the cries of His people for mercy. And God turned right around and moved the heart of those authorities to be kind to His people.

Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, When he heard their cry: And he remembered for them his covenant, And repented according to the multitude of his mercies. He made them also to be pitied Of all those that carried them captives. (Psalm 106:44–46)

          God is sovereign. He can do whatever He wills with whomever He wills, including with the king. Often, He does so in response to a request from me. Yes, I am powerless, but I am not fatalistic. It is not that nothing can be done about my situation. To the contrary, something can always be done – by God. So if God chooses not to do so and leave me powerless in uncomfortable circumstances I accept it. I am at peace with it.

          Perhaps the finest example of this in Scripture is how God changed Nebuchadnezzar, that proud heathen monarch. When we first meet in Daniel he is egotistical, vain, and mad with power. Yet we find Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4 humbly kneeling before Israel’s God, Jehovah.

Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation. (Daniel 4:1–3)

          Nebuchadnezzar’s heart had been changed. Curious, is it not, that this life changing experience led this man of warfare to wish for peace to be multiplied? Whatever changed his life led him to peace and to value peace. So what changed him?

          Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. In that dream a great tree was unceremoniously cut down, and someone watching the tree fall made the following announcement:

Let his heart be changed from man’s, and let a beast’s heart be given unto him; and let seven times pass over him. This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. (Daniel 4:16–17)

          That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever He chooses is a perfect expression of the sovereignty of God. God does what He wills with whomever He wills, and no one can say Him nay.

          Daniel, in much astonishment, takes an hour or so to consider this dream. He then reveals to Nebuchadnezzar its meaning. The king himself is this great and proud tree, and God will cut him down to size so he will learn that God alone is sovereign.

That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity. (Daniel 4:25–27)

          Daniel begs Nebuchadnezzar to accept the sovereignty of God, and promises him that with that acceptance comes tranquility. Nebuchadnezzar refuses, and correspondingly pays the price of his refusal.

All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws. (Daniel 4:28–33)

          Finally, with his reputation gone, his mind in tatters, and his kingdom ripped from him Nebuchadnezzar bows in the dust to the sovereign God of Israel.

And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? (Daniel 4:34–35)

          I am not asking you to be fatalistic about events beyond your power. God can do anything, and He is often affected by our requests to change people and things outside our control. I am, though, asking you to rest content in the sovereignty of God. He can change it, no matter how big. He can change them, no matter how powerful. If you ask Him to and He chooses not to do so rest tranquil in the knowledge that He is in perfect control. He designed this, or at least designed for you to endure it.

          He is in control when we are not. Rest in Him and be at peace.

What Else Peace Is

 Peace 2

     

        Last week, we began an exploration of peace with four biblical definitions of peace. Peace is organization and order. Peace is the absence of armed conflict. Peace is calm. Peace is the absence of worry. In today’s post, I want to offer you four more definitions of peace. As before, we will draw these from the Word of God.

          Fifth, peace is harmony in our personal relationships. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace (Ephesians 2.15).

          In context, Paul is dealing with the roots of the religious/ethnic strife that dominated so many early churches. Christianity has its roots in Judaism, and the more observant the Jew the more racist he was. Paul’s method of starting churches was to enter a synagogue, reason with the Jews from the Old Testament that Jesus was their Messiah, persuade them to believe in Christ, and then take the resulting group of believers out of the synagogue and form a church. So far so good, but when Paul began to preach the same message to the Gentiles, and to bring believing Gentiles into the church all sorts of mayhem broke loose. Paul offers us a scriptural solution to ethnic/religious racism in Ephesians 2 by showing us that in Christ we are no longer separated; we are one. There was no longer Jew and Gentile, God’s people and the unclean. Now there was the church, God’s people, period.

          Though Paul has the ethnic squabbles of the early church in mind here the application is much broader. There can and ought to be harmony in every personal relationship we have. God and I ought to live in harmony. Parents and children ought to live in harmony (yes, even teenage children.) Husbands and wives ought to live in harmony. Brothers and sisters ought to live in harmony. Friends ought to live in harmony. Employees and employers ought to live in harmony. Neighbors ought to live in harmony. Church members and their pastor ought to live in harmony. Teachers and their students. The list could go on and on.

          Life is not what you do, where you live, how much you have, or what others think of you. Life is a matter of relationships. The Word of God is first and foremost the revelation of God, but that revelation of what God expects of us does teach us how to live in harmony one with another. And what peace there is in such harmonious relationships.

          Sixth, peace is freedom from unsettling thoughts or emotions.

          Have you ever lain awake at night, troubled by what to do? Have you ever been frustrated by the course of events? Have you ever been upset by the circumstances in which you found yourself? Then what you need is God’s peace.
          Sometimes, God brings that peace by taking away what is troubling you. In Luke 8 we find the story of a confrontation between Jesus and the woman with an issue of blood. For twelve years she had dealt with it, moving from doctor to doctor in an increasingly desperate attempt to solve an intractable physical problem. Having heard of Jesus, and of His ability to heal, she reasoned that if she could get close enough to touch Him perhaps the touch of Christ might heal her. And it did. And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace (Luke 8.48). Twelve years of emotional stress, frantic effort, and physical weakness were gone in a moment when she threw herself in simple faith at the feet of Jesus. She was freed from it all. She was at peace.

          Most of the time, however, God does not calm the storm rather He calms the child in the storm. Paul tells us we ought to let the peace of God rule in our hearts (Colossians 3.15). Where do these unsettling thoughts and emotions arise? In my heart. Then there must be a solution in my heart, not just in or even if there never is a solution in my circumstances. So often, external things contribute to my lack of peace but they are not the cause of it. The cause of it is that I have failed to learn how to let the peace of God rule in my heart. So I worry instead. I fret. I gnaw obsessively over my concerns like a dog with an old bone. In such situations I have no peace and neither does anyone else around me.

          Seventh, peace is the quiet confidence that God will take care of you. He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there were many with me (Psalm 55.18). When the Syrian army surrounded Elisha at Dothan his servant panicked. Elisha, though, was perfectly calm. Why? Elisha saw what the servant did not see, the protective angelic host encircling the city (II Kings 6.15-17). Martyn Lloyd-Jones, England’s last great preacher, defined faith as a refusal to panic. Not coincidentally, peace is the same thing or perhaps I should say the result of the same thing. It looks bad but I am at peace. Why? Because I know God will take care of me.

          Several times in my life God has granted me such peace in unusual circumstances. At nineteen, while soul winning in a particularly violent neighborhood in Chicago, a young man high on drugs pulled a gun on me. Staring at me glassy eyed over that wavering barrel, he accused me of all kinds of things. God’s peace flooded my heart and greatly enabled me to defuse the situation. At twenty-five, poor as a church mouse I was striving to get an infant church off the ground. One day, out on visitation, I wrecked my car, totaling it. I had no money. I had no credit. I had no friends. GoFundMe did not exist. I knew I needed a car to serve the Lord with, but had zero prospects to obtain one. Once again, God’s peace flooded my heart. I knew not just that He could take care of it but that He would take care of it. And He did.

          Lastly, peace is our final rest in Heaven. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age (Genesis 15.15). Rest in peace has become a graveyard cliché, but like most cliches it has its origin in truth. Someday, if the Lord tarry His coming, I will rest in peace. It will not be because I pick precisely the right spot under the shade tree in the Garden of Consolation. It will be because death is the door that opens for me on my long Home. I will lay down with finality the burdens I have carried, burdens of pastoring, parenting, mentoring, witnessing, studying, writing, encouraging, pursuing. Most of all, I will lay down the burden of my flesh. In that long Home there will be no world, no flesh, and no devil. Sin will never again rear its ugly head in my mind, my heart, my tongue, and my life. I will be with Him. I will be like Him. And I will be at peace.

          Is that what you want? You can have it, if you like. The peace of God can rule in your heart no matter your circumstances. Such a peace does not come by way of the world. It only comes by way of Christ. Peace begins with Christ, continues with Christ, and finds its ultimate expression in our lives when we are finally at Home with Christ.

O soul, are you weary and troubled?

No light in the darkness you see?

There’s light for a look at the Saviour,

And life more abundant and free!

 

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.

-Helen Howarth Lemmel

Peace: An Introduction

Peace 1

 

          Peace. My soul craves it. Peace of mind. Peace of heart. Peace of conscience. Peace with God. Peace with man. Peace at home. Peace with my neighbors. Peace with my enemies. Peace and quiet.

          When I made the decision to come to Dubuque a year and a half ago, I set out to build a peaceful life. My sixteen years in Chicago were many things but peaceful was not one of them. So I created peaceful working spaces in the office. I bought a home in a peaceful neighborhood, and named it Saints Rest, of all things. I have sought to build a peaceful relationship with my deacons, and with my leaders and teachers and workers. I have tried to promote a peaceful relationship between our church and the community. I want to be a man of peace living a life of peace. That way lies contentment. That way lies purposeful production. That way lies quiet contemplation. That way lies soul health and spiritual growth. That way lies knowing God.

          I am quite sure I am not alone in this desire. All over the world, people are desperately searching for peace. The United Nations and the American Secretary of State pursue it ardently. The Brexit negotiators have tried to obtain it. Arbiters and life coaches, television personalities and New Age gurus of all sorts promise to bring it. Pharmaceutical companies sell it. Television commercials for cars sell it. Real estate agents sell it. False prophets sell it. Or perhaps I should say a version of it.

          I am most interested in peace, but I am not interested in the world’s version of it. I want to know what God says it is. Oprah, Dr. Phil, Ellen, Sigmund Freud, Maya Angelou, Henry David Thoreau, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle all clamor to offer us their perspective. It interests me not at all. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water (Jeremiah 2.13).

Let us, instead, begin with God. What does God say peace is? In today’s post, I will give you four answers to that question, and chase that with another four answers next week.

First, peace is organization and order. God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of  the saints (I Corinthians 14.33). The context here is directly related to the church service. God’s house is to be a peaceful place, organized, smoothly functioning. Personality conflicts ought be kept to a bare minimum. Throwing your weight around should be unheard of. Chaos is an exemplar of the devil’s realm, not our Father’s. Schedules should be known and kept. Kindness and forgiveness should rule. As our forefathers would say, a place for everything and everything in its place. Peace and anarchy cannot cohabit.

Second, peace is the absence of armed conflict. And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land (Leviticus 26.6).

Augustus Closing the Temple of Janus
Louis de Silvestre, 1757

On the Roman Forum, near the Basilica Aemilia, stood the Temple of Janus, the two-facing god. For hundreds of years, the temple was the public mark of a republic/empire at peace or at war. Inside the temple lived Discord and Fury. When Rome was at peace, the doors were shut. When Rome was at war, the doors were opened. Needless to say, the doors were almost always open, at one point for four consecutive centuries.

I have never lived through war. I have pastored men who have endured it in Afghanistan and Iraq. It haunts them, and probably will for the rest of their lives. War brings famine, disease, misery, and death on a wide scale. Let us thank God it has not come to our lives.

Third, peace is the absence of noise. It is the active presence of stillness and quiet. Peace is calm. And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm (Mark 4.39).

This kind of peace can often be found in God’s creation. Over the years, He has shown Himself to me in some beautiful places. The Blue Ridge Parkway. The Outer Banks. A desolate spot on the sand dunes of the Lake Michigan shoreline. The bluegrass horse farms of Kentucky. The rolling hills of upper New York. The long, green bayous of Louisiana. The Smokies. The aching blue of the Pacific off Malibu. The high desert of California. The pine-scented air of Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Where the Rockies meet the ocean in Vancouver. The jungle waterfalls in Puerto Rico’s interior. The vast sweep of the Mississippi mere blocks from my home.

Again and again, in Scripture, we find the Lord pointing people toward His creation. Yes, He intends it to be a source of praise, but also a source of peace. When God created the world He put man in a garden. When man created the world he put man in a city. Make no mistake, there is a difference, and that difference is not just a reflection but also a driver of the presence or absence of peace.

Fourth, peace is the absence of worry. And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them (Genesis 43.23).

How much time and mental energy do we waste worrying about money? Will we make it to the next paycheck? The end of the month? Will we have what we need for the next phase of life? Can we afford children? Will we ever be able to buy a house? What about retirement? We forget so easy God’s manifold promises of bodily provision.

I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety (Psalm 4.8). How much time and mental energy do we waste worrying about our physical safety? We have locks and chains and bolts and bats and knives and guns and security systems and panic rooms and disaster plans. What we do not have is peace. I am not advocating being imprudent, foolish, or unprepared, but I am advocating trusting the Lord for your physical safety.

Peace. It is such a wonderful word. Let it roll around in your mind today. Let it marinate in your heart today. God’s peace. ‘Tis a glorious, priceless thing, and it is available to you. For the next four months on this blog we are going to explore it. We will define it, as we have done today and will do further next week. We will discuss its relationship to God’s sovereignty. We will see what will ensure we can never have it. We will look at eight specific scriptural ways to obtain it. We will find there is peace with God, great peace.

Join me each Monday, won’t you? And may the Lord give us a richer appreciation for and apprehension of His peace along the way.