"No man had more reason to be miserable than this one – yet no man was more joyful.
His first home was a palace. Servants were at his fingertips. The snap of his fingers changed the course of history. His name was known and loved. He had everything – wealth, power, respect. And then he had nothing.
Students of the event still ponder it. Historians stumble as they attempt to explain it. How could a king lose everything in one instant? One moment he was royalty; the next he was in poverty.
His bed became, at best, a borrowed pallet – and usually the hard earth. He never owned even the most basic mode of transportation and was dependent upon handouts for his income. He was sometimes so hungry he would eat raw grain or pick fruit off a tree. He knew what it was like to be rained on, to be cold. He knew what it meant to have no home.
His palace grounds had been spotless; now he was exposed to filth. He had never known disease, but was now surrounded by illness.
In his kingdom he had been revered; now he was ridiculed. His neighbors tried to lynch him. Some called him a lunatic. His family tried to confine him to their house.
Those who didn’t ridicule him tried to use him. They wanted favors. They wanted tricks. He was a novelty. They wanted to be seen with him – that is, until being with him was out of fashion. THEN they wanted to kill him.
He was accused of a crime he never committed. Witnesses were hired to lie. The jury was rigged. No lawyer was assigned to his defense. A Judge swayed by politics handed down the death penalty. They killed him.
He left as he came – penniless. He was buried in a borrowed grave, his funeral financed by compassionate friends. Though he once had everything, he died with nothing.
He should have been miserable. He should have been bitter. He had every right to be a pot of boiling anger. But he wasn’t.
He was joyful…He was joyful when he was poor . He was joyful when he was abandoned. He was joyful when he was betrayed. He was even joyful as he hung on a tool of torture, his hands pierced with 6 inch Roman spikes …
He embodied a stubborn joy. A joy that refused to bend in the wind of hard times. A Joy that held it’s ground against pain…."
Max Lucado.
Peace. We all seek it. We often struggle to keep it. Absence of peace often leads to frustrations, stress, and anger. How many times have you said;
I am ready to throw in the towel.
I am at the end of my rope.
I am just a bundle of nerves.
I am at my wits’ end.
I feel like resigning from the human race.
My life is falling apart.
We all battle the desire to find peace in our lives and peaceful solutions for our problems. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 14:30 “A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body. ---” The lack of peace in your life will lead to stress. This can manifest itself as depression, stomach ulcers, weakened immune systems leading to colds and flu, cancer, heart disease, worsening asthma, and even skin disorders. But in order to have a peaceful heart we must begin with having peace with God.
Romans 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”
We cannot have peace with ourselves or others without first experiencing peace with God. Jesus died on the cross at Calvary and rose again from the dead so that we could have peace with God. A person must, through faith, accept Jesus as their savior. In doing so they are found righteous before God. This means they are in right standing with him. God finds no fault in them. If you have not taken this first step then you will never find true peace.
Once we have established this spiritual peace with God then we can find the spiritual peace within.
Colossians 3:15 “And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.”
The peace spoken of here is the spiritual peace we just discovered. It is the peace that comes from our relationship with God in whom we have right standing. We are to let this peace
rule in our hearts.
The Greek word for this type of rule is used only this one time in scripture. It is not like the way a king rules or a shepherd cares for his sheep. This word relates to an official who insures that the rules of the game are followed.
In other words we are to let the spiritual peace of God be the referee in our lives. A referee is charged with being sure the game is played in an orderly, smooth, and peaceful manner. God wants his spiritual peace to act upon us in this same manner. He wants us to be at peace when everything else is chaotic.
We often try to find this inner peace by fleeing our situations. We may try to flee from it by taking a vacation for example. But have you noticed that you really cannot get far enough away to escape that inner turmoil when you have no peace. It is always with you. That is why we need to allow the true inner peace offered only by Jesus to referee our heart and give us emotional peace. And when you achieve this peace you should always be thankful.
So we have peace with God and peace within ourselves, we are now to establish peace with others.
Romans 12:18 “Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.”
In reality peace is hard to come by at times. In the 3100 years of recorded history the world has been at peace for a total of 286 years. Over 8000 peace treaties have been made and broken. In the past 3100 years there have been 14,531 wars accounting for the loss of 3 trillion 640 million lives.
In a survey where several options were listed, Americans were asked if they could have their wildest dreams come true what would it be. 38% would choose to win the lottery; 1% would choose world peace.
We live in a society that does not seem to allow God’s peace to rule in their heart. Having a relational peace with God and allowing that peace to rule requires them to make every attempt to live at peace with everyone. This can be very difficult, sometimes almost impossible.
However Jesus said in John 14:27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.
Jesus stated that the peace He offers is a gift. We can’t earn it. We can’t buy it. We can’t use our willpower to find it. It is a gift. But as with any gift it is useless if not opened. His gift is so desirable that it is wrapped in five layers. So let’s unwrap the five layers to get to this marvelous gift.
The first layer is obeying God’s instructions.
Psalm 119:165 “Those who love your instructions have great peace and do not stumble.”
We just bought a new car. We were given an owner’s manual to go with it. This manual told us about all the buttons and knobs; and what they control. It also informed us about recommended maintenance. If we read the manual and apply the principals listed our car will last longer and run smoother.
God’s Word is the instruction manual for life. He designed us. He knows all about out buttons and knobs. He knows what it takes for our lives to run smoother. And He has placed it in his Word for our information.
If we ignore the owner’s manual for our car we run the risk of doing damage and creating problems. If you ignore God’s Word you run that same risk for your life. If you are struggling with peace be sure that you are following his instructions. That responsibility is on you.
The next layer is accepting God’s pardon.
Micah 7:18 “Where is another God like you, who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of his special people? You will not stay angry with your people forever,
because you delight in showing unfailing love. Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!”
In the Hebrew the word pardon meant to be lifted up and carried off. Our guilt was lifted up at the cross when Jesus became our sins. Our guilt was carried off and thrown into the sea of forgetfulness. God has chosen to forgive our failings. We must learn to forgive ourselves.
We will never find the gift of peace if we do not pardon ourselves for our past mistakes. We cannot change the past but we can change the future. God’s word says He delights in showing unfailing love. He delights in forgiving us. We need to find delight in forgiving yourself.
Now the layer of trusting in God.
Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!”
Years ago I ran a paper route. I had a pick-up truck to drive on my route. I did not do the required maintenance on this truck. For example, I never got the oil changed. The sludge build-up was so bad that when I added oil it would take a few minutes for the oil to work its way into the engine. The oil pressure light was on constantly. My mechanic advised against doing an oil change to prevent the sludge from locking up the engine. Also he advised that I trade it. I could not afford a payment so I covered the oil pressure light with a sticker so I would not concentrate on the problem. And I began each day with a prayer of trust that God would allow me to drive this truck one more day. I drove this truck for several months until I could afford a newer one.
Please don’t misunderstand. I am not advocating stumbling along with a blind faith that God will handle everything and nothing will go wrong. I do believe that God, at times, will help us through our stupidity. We are still responsible for our spiritual maintenance. We should not ignore when our spiritual warning light comes on. And that warning light is stress due to loss of peace.
When you allow stress to dictate your life, you have loss the peace that comes from trusting God. In the midst of stressful situations we are to fix our thoughts on God. We are to trust that He is in control.
When Jesus was in the garden, He was under so much stress that He began to sweat drops of blood. He asked God to provide another way for man’s atonement. His thoughts were fixed on his death. But when He fixed his thoughts on God’s will He became filled with peace.
Psalm 46:10 says “Be still and know that I am God.” The Hebrew word for be still meant “to hang limp, be feeble.” We are to rest in the midst of our situations. We are to recognize that some situations are out of our control and learn to trust God.
The next layer is seeking God’s will.
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”
The writer of Proverbs gives us three commands and a promise.
We are to trust in God. We are to put confidence in him and his choices for our life.
We are not to try and figure out circumstances. We are not to rely upon our own understanding. We do not have the mind of God or his ways.
We are to seek his will. We are to recognize that God is in complete control of all the situations that occur in our lives. Nothing occurs that He does not allow for his purpose.
When we quit trying to manipulate our circumstances but instead trust God and seek his will, we have the promise of peace. When we have this spiritual peace then God begins to show us the direction He desires for us to travel.
Jesus was able to sleep in the midst of a storm. Peter was able to sleep on the night before his execution. They trusted God, did not attempt to understand God’s entire plan, and sought his will.
The last layer is prayer.
Philippians 4:6-7 “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
What are you worrying about? Have you prayed about it? Nothing is too insignificant to God. What ever we worry about we should pray about.
We are to pray about everything. We are to share our most intimate needs with God followed by thanksgiving for the times that He has shown himself faithful.
When we quit worrying and allow God to interact with us through prayer, things will begin to change. When we off-set our list of needs with worship for what He has already accomplished, we will begin to experience a peace we cannot begin to understand. It’s the type of peace that comes in the midst of a tragedy in life that assures us that we will survive through this pain.
This peace will act as a filter to our hearts and minds. We will discover that adversity has actually made us stronger.
There is a prayer that I am sure many of you have heard. It is,
“God, grant me the peace to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Let this be our prayer today.
