MY PEACE I GIVE TO YOU
Reading: John 14:23-31
We live in a world that promises so much, yet in reality, all too often fails to come up with the goods. When electricity was first becoming nationally available there was the promise of it being "free", when nuclear power stations were first being built, they were going to produce it so cheaply, they would in effect be giving it way. Natural gas, when it was first muted to be coming on line was hailed in similar mode. In the 1960’s and early 70’s, psychologist, in particular child psychologists, advocated the "freedom of expression, without the damaging age old corrections and disciplines." This has left entire generations destitute and without purpose, as this is being passed on to further generations. So we could name many different things, all started out with noble and good intentions, many of the founders of such things did it with all integrity and good intent, but as the basic material of man is defective and morally depraved. The end result is all too often far from the ideal that was first intended. The home fit for heroes has become a desolate waste land of despair and growing tension, and the two wars to end all wars, produced many dead and suffering, and still there are well over thirty wars of various degrees going on in the world today.
Man has with all his best efforts tried to give fellow man "Peace". This peace however has been conditional upon you not infringing certain things. Be they physical borders, economic considerations, and political systems and traded, etc. If you even contemplate any small infringement upon the sacred cow, then so help you. This even goes right down to the local and personal level; you infringe someone else’s road traffic "right", and see what happens. At best you will have a few bad thoughts thought about you, you might even have a string of abuse that you cannot here, said about you, even the horn sounded. In some cases "road rage" is becoming more common.
Mans conception of peace and the way that he outworks it, is seen in the scripture to be totally out of step with God’s plan and conception of peace. Man all too often talks about peace being a state of non-aggression, a state of Detente, of begrudging acceptance of the others existence, yet by subterfuge seeks to bring about the down fall the other system. Yet the bible sees "PEACE" as being something totally different, biblical peace, which as the bible is God’s word, therefore bible peace is God’s peace. This biblical peace is were two come into a state of being at one. One in purpose, one in intent, one in being in perfect and complete harmony. This is not something that the natural man can work at; this is something, which requires a total change of our nature in-order that we might become people of peace, people at peace with fellow man, with ourselves and with God. This peace is a gift of God to all who will respond to the call of Jesus to follow him. Jesus said: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you." How does the world give, it gives in such away that it might exploit that gift at a later date, Yet all gifts from Jesus Christ are to being us into a full and complete relationship with His Father, His gifts are to make us complete people who are whole and no divided by the exploitation of the world. People who are able to hold our heads up, as people who have become children of the living God, co-heirs with Christ, partakers of the divine nature, people who are able to approach the living Lord God without fear, people who are able to come in the presence of the Holy, Pure and Spotless majestic King of kings and Lord of lords, without the crushing condemnation that our past sins and wrong doings would press upon us.
Jesus wants to give you the peace, which defies any world system a peace that passes all understanding. How many times have you come to a place where you can see the light at the end of a very dark tunnel, you are just starting to rise above the crushing bad conscience, when that state of non-peace returns with full vengeance. Your passed is dragged before you in full colour, you stand condemned, every time you start to rise, and you are smacked down. The callousness of the world, the cutting tongue of people who should know better, that rebuff from someone whom you love and want to be loved by. You are not at peace within your self your conscience cries loud and clear, how many sleepless night have you suffered, simply because you are not at peace, you long for the days when you could easily go to sleep, yet now you have difficulty. Jesus wants to give you His peace. Not some peace that is little more than a cessation of hostilities, the peace that Jesus brings is more than two parties grudgingly agreeing not to fight any more. Jesus brings us to the place where we are made to be in complete harmony with God the Father.
The very cause the hostilities are removed and His peace take its place. We are told in Acts 18, that Peter was preaching the "good news of peace...", in Ephesians 2:27 we find Paul sayings about Jesus Christ "...he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near..." In the verse before Paul spells what Jesus has done in reconciling us to God, he brought ".. the hostility to an end." Note the word reconciled. Jesus has brought complete and relationships between God and man. Flowing from this relationships that Jesus wants to bring us into, is the sense of rest and contentment that Jesus has promised to all who follow and serve Him. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you..."
The nature of this peace is seen very clearly in the relationship between Jesus and the other. Jesus said " I and the Father are one. " (John.18:38) Notice that Jesus moved and did totally the bidding of the Father. His whole way of life, his whole being was in such accord with that of His Heavenly Father, that there was no point of conflict or tension. Jesus had the mind of the Father so that His life was the natural extension of the Father. His whole personality and being was in loving willful submission because Jesus knew that all the Father intended was right, just and loving. We never see in the life and ministry a time when Jesus was out of touch with His Father, and so we never see a time when Jesus had anything but peace. There were many attempts to disrupt His relationship with the Father, but Jesus never permitted it to happen. What is remarkable is that we too can have just such a relationship with God. When you move out of the dimension of the flesh and death, and start to move into the dimension of the Spirit and life. God is Spirit, Jesus emphatically tells, and we are to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. The perfect union of like with like in the dimension of God’s order, is only to be found when you are born again, when your spirit is brought alive by the Holy Spirit, then and only then is there able to be the like with like union, ie spirit with Spirit. The spirit of man in true and perfect harmonious union. In that relationship is peace to be found. That peace comes simply because the relationship with the creator has been put right, and we are then entering into the level of relationship that Gods wants for each and everyone of us.
You are at peace simply because the causes of your disturbance no longer exists. You become a person who is forgiven, who’s past has been concealed out and is now accounted as if you had never sinned and transgressed God’s law.
The bible says;
John 8:36; " 36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed ."
