Seven Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know. Shalom-Peace Series

INTRODUCTION

• OCEAN WAVES VIDEO

• SLIDE #1

• Doesn’t that look inviting?

• Today we are going to dig into a word that I think we all (or most all) of us would love to enjoy.

• We live in chaotic world, we have crazy people running other countries who threat to lob bombs at us, we see places like Venezuela, a country with massive oil reserves, yet the people are starving.

• At times our lives and our families are in a state of chaos. Stresses at work, stresses at home!

• Back in the 1970’s and 1980’s there was a commercial for a product called Calgon. Calgon was a bath powder that was supposed to do something special for you.

• They would show some lady who has screaming kids, phone ringing, and finally she had enough!

• Calgon, TAKE ME AWAY! Then she would be a bath tube full of Calgon bath powder, all was calm, all was peaceful.

• Today we are going to look at a Hebrew word as we continue in our Seven Words series.

• The word for today is SHALOM, a word commonly translated in our Bibles as PEACE.

• The word is commonly used as a salutation by Jews at meeting and parting. It is one person wishing another peace.

• We are going to examine four verses today so that we can grasp the importance of the word Shalom.

• As we understand this word on a deeper level, we will have a better grasp as to why this word is important for us to incorporate into our lives.

• Let’s begin by turning to Psalm 34:14

• SLIDE #2

• Psalm 34:14 (CSB) Turn away from evil and do what is good; seek peace and pursue it.

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

??????? I. The call to seek shalom. Psalm 34:14

• The Psalmist encourages us to SEEK peace and PURSUE it!

• The question is why?

• When we know the full meaning of the word, the why is answered.

• The word SHALOM has a little deeper meaning than simply PEACE.

• The Hebrew word for peace, shalom, is derived from a root denoting wholeness or completeness, and its frame of reference throughout Jewish literature is bound up with the notion of perfection.

• SHALOM is not solely the absence of war, it goes much deeper!

• The word encompasses the idea of good health, both physically and spiritually, in the Old Testament, it expresses a profound wholeness and well-being.

• Shalom is not just a hope for one avoiding war, it deals with the inner peace, the idea of being a complete person.

• When one is complete, or whole, they will be able to experience SHALOM.

• When something is not complete, it is hard to be at peace, it is hard to experience SHALOM.

• When we are lacking in life, we are unsettled. When things are not in order, our spirits are not at peace or at rest.

• When I used to have a computer issue when I ran Windows machines, I could not sleep until I got the problem fixed.

• I would get up at 2 am to continue to work on troubleshooting the issue.

• As long as the problem existed, I could not be at peace, only when I completed the job was I able to lay down and be at peace.

• The Psalmist encourages us to make sure we are pursuing the correct things in life.

• We are called to turn away from evil, and to do what is good.

• Too many times we try to get as close to the edge of evil as possible, then we wonder why we fall into problems.

• Don’t wash your car by a big mud puddle and then get upset when someone drives by and splashes mud on your clean car.

• We need to act in such a way that is good for people. We are called to be role models of what it means to turn away from evil and do what is good.

• Verse 14 encourages us to seek and pursue peace. This implies putting in great effort into doing so.

• When confronted by evil, turn aside. Don’t do it. Doing evil makes the good life impossible, so evil must be shunned.

• At some point in life we must realize that being enamored by what is evil is incompatible with striving to live for the Lord.

• It is kind of like understanding the eating sugar all the time is incompatible with being healthy.

• SHALOM encapsulates perfection or completeness.

• When one is lacking in their relationship with God, they will never experience TRUE SHALOM.

• They will spend their life trying to fill the hole in their heart with everything under the sun to no avail.