Chico Alliance Church
“Super Umpire Pt 2”
Supplementary Notes
Revised Definition of Peace
Peace is the inner calm confidence resulting from a resounding realization that God works everything together for His glorious purpose and our ultimate good.
Peace is the calm confidence that everything has a purpose and will, in the eternal scheme of things, be OK! Whether it has to do with other people, God, circumstances, difficulties, family, health, personal struggles or God, we can enjoy the peace, that calm confidence and resounding realization that through Christ everything will be used to serve God’s eter-nal purpose. Peace results from the realization that the God who exists in the eternal NOW will work all things in time and space together for his glorious purpose and the ultimate good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. It is this peace that has been the experience of multitudes throughout history. On the basis of God’s wonderful work in us and through us and our supernatural union with Christ’s death and resurrection and our citizenship in the new kingdom, Paul urges us to live the new kingdom life.
God instructs His people to continually let the peace of Christ rule, arbitrate or umpire in their hearts. The core concept of God’s peace is not the absence of struggle but a sense of completeness or wholeness or calm even in the midst of struggle. Peace emerges from the realization that because of the person, power and purpose of Christ, I have nothing to prove to anyone and nothing of eternal consequence to loose to anyone. As a child of the ever present King, I can be confident that, in spite of everything, He really does work ALL things together for His eternal purposes and my ultimate good. Peace comes as I entrust the welfare of my soul into the everlasting arms of the one who sees all, knows all and accom-plishes everything He sets out to do. The things He sets to do are good and for our good and His glory and His pleasure. When He is pleased and His glory accomplished, we find our deepest fulfillment and ultimate pleasure.
Peace becomes an issue then of who I trust with the welfare of my soul.
Is God good? Are his purposes good? Will he be there? Will he really take care of the deepest longings of my soul? If God is the object of my trust there is peace. If I, someone or something else becomes the object of my trust, there is anxiety and inner turmoil. When we rest in the arms of our loving Heaven Father we can experience a peace in every aspect of life that goes beyond all human explanation.
Paul instructs us to let this peace of Christ, this calm confidence in the person and purposes of God to be the decision making authority in our heart. When the heart is confused due to circumstances or other people or the conflicting screams of the flesh, each one must allow the inner calm confidence in the eternal purpose and loving character of God to determine the thoughts and actions in the heart.
Application
Someone hurts you by their words or actions. The event initiates a series of emotions and thoughts within the soul. Who dictates the eventual response out of our heart? Will I con-tinue to love? Will I retaliate? Will I forgive? Will I go silent? Will I withdraw? Will I move toward? Will I confront? Will I seek think about their good? Will I bless or curse? Will I pray or pout? Will I give thanks or complain? These are all options bouncing around in the soul like a debate. Paul instructs us to allow the peace of Christ to umpire the soul. Let the peace of Christ be the determining factor that dictates the activity in the soul.
How does it work?
If I am settled as to who cares for my soul I am free to hear God’s direction rather than launch out into a course of action or thinking intended to promote or protect me rather than serve others.
When Christ’s peace rules the heart…
When Christ’s peace is allowed to determine the activity within the soul…
When Christ’s peace is allowed to umpire the conflicting signals within the soul…
Then the resident life of Christ indwelling the spirit is released into and flows out of the soul to touch and connect with others in ways that reflect the connection with in the Trini-ty. What we need in the body of Christ are those who drink deeply from the wells of His love and flow meaningfully into the lives of others encouraging them to drink as deeply. When the peace of Christ rules the soul that resident life of Christ, though sometimes hid-den in the spirit, is allowed to flow into the heart for others to see and be drawn to the source of life. Paul commands the body of Christ to submit to the arbitration and control of the super ump, the peace of Christ.
THE PEACE OF CHRIST (See previous notes for more detail)
PEACE WITH OTHERS
When two or more people allow the peace of Christ to umpire in the soul, a calmness of heart emerges that deepens genuine fellowship and encourages life-changing connection. This confidence in the plan of our loving father keeps us from pursuing out agenda and embracing God’s agenda. The more widespread this kind of surrender to the purposes of the kingdom in a group of God’s people, the greater the sense of calmness and the more effective the ministry and fellowship and community impact.
• God instructs us to live in peace.
• God calls us to encourage others to live in peace.
• God urges us to pursue the whatever encourages peace and builds up believers.
• God urges us to preserve unity in the bond of peace
• God commands us to allow the Peace of Christ to rule our hearts
• Reciprocal relational peace is not always possible
We will not experience peace with every person. Even in the face of seemingly irreconcila-ble differences however, Christ’s peace can rule the heart. Christ’s peace can dictate our responses and our thoughts and actions in such a way as to experience His calm confidence that even difficult relationships will be carefully incorporated into His purposes and that in heaven perfect fellowship will be restored and deep connection with all saints such as ex-ists in the Trinity will be forever experienced.
In the individual, there can be a calm confidence that through the working of Christ, our head, everything will turn out for His glory and our good.
• It is this calm confidence that allows us to honestly explore our own heart motives.
• It is this calm confidence that prevents us from running ahead of God but continually entrust our souls to the Faithful Creator even in the face of hurt and disappointment.
• It is the calm confidence that allows me to renew my commitment to God’s agenda not mine and eliminate the greatest catalyst for conflict and unrest between others.
PEACE WITH GOD
Romans makes it very clear that having been justified by faith, we HAVE peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Since the fall man is born in enmity. Sin drives a wedge between us and a Holy God.
There cannot be peace. Romans indicates that there is a hostility and an inability to please God. Yet within every heart is a longing to relate to God. Without a peace with God there cannot be lasting peace with people or life. Peace with God is the foundation of all peace.
It is the realization that in spite of all I have done or haven’t done, because of Christ, the purposes of God are being accomplished in my life and I have been eternally restored to genuine fellowship with a Holy God.
No peace with God…
– No peace with others
– No peace with ourselves
– No peace in life
PEACE WITH OURSELVES
If only I did better. If only I could do what others do. If only I didn’t have … I am so un-worthy. I am so clumsy. I am so disorganized. If only a had done a better job parenting.
These are all the result of seeking to arbitrate our own soul. When we learn to rest in the purpose and power of the Holy Spirit as did Jesus, the struggle to be something God didn’t ask me to do or that I can never be disappears. Remember, it is the resounding realization that God is at work both to will and to do His good pleasure that enables us the inner calm confidence that characterizes a usable vessel. If I am continually introspecting and looking for flaws, I will find them. I will never be satisfied with anything I do. It can always be done better. When I realize that It is God at work and it is God who will bring about His purposes. It is the perfect work of Christ that restores life. I can rest in Him that He will continually transform my flawed and seemingly insignificant offering into something usa-ble in His kingdom. Remember it is God at work within you both do and to will His good pleasure.
PEACE IN CIRCUMSTANCES
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your re-quests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
This is a difficult area. We live in a world that defies control. Everyone wants to control the people and events in their world and no one can. There are many mysteries we do not un-derstand. We live in a fallen world that staggers from the consequences of living outside of relationship with God for generation after generation. As a result we experience sickness, abuse, evil, disease, relational trauma that defies our control. We try to discover grand formulas that guarantee results. We reduce the truths and mysteries of God’s revelation to understandable boxes and manageable formulas that will control our own life and those around us. If you will follow these five steps you are guaranteed pain free living.
It just doesn’t work that way. People die. Disease strikes. Rain falls. Disaster descends.
How can we have an inner calm confidence in spite of chaotic circumstances and turbulent relationships? This confidence is possible for every believer. The Bible is clear about its source.
THE SOURCE OF PEACE
(For Scripture passages, see previous notes.)
• A gift from Jesus
• Knowing God and His purposes
The more we truly understand God, His glorious plan, His deep love and His eternal pres-ence, the greater the level of peace we experience. Peace comes from knowing and believ-ing the truth about God and his purposes. When we try to control the activity which hap-pens in the soul and comes out of the soul, we invite all kinds of internal anxiety and ex-ternal conflict. We lash out at others when they fail to cooperate with our demands or con-tribute to our personal agenda or disrupt our comfortable situation. When we allow the peace of Christ to dictate the activity in the heart, the character of Christ and the wonderful clothes of the kingdom emerge even amidst the attempts of the flesh to promote it self-focused agenda. This wonderful super umpire may even allow the most unlikely people to contribute to the development of Christ’s image in our life or cause us to adjust our per-spective or readjust of focus from ourselves to God. But He must be given the freedom to control the picture.
Allow the calm confidence and resounding realization that through Christ everything will work out according to His purposes and our ultimate good to dictate and rule the develop-ment of the life of Christ in the soul. Remember! We have nothing to prove because Jesus accomplished it all for me. We have nothing to lose because what Jesus provides, no one can take. This peace, this inner calm confidence comes as we become absorbed with the person and purposes of God and trust in His goodness to work all things according to His glorious purpose and our ultimate perfection.
APPLICATION
Ask yourself questions. What does God want out of this? What is God doing in me? Am I trusting God or me? Am I committed to His kingdom purposes or mine? Peace comes from trusting the person and purpose of God.
• Knowing and believing the truth.
Upper Room Seminary Course Outline -- See previous notes
• Discipline and practicing truth
• Walking by the Holy Spirit
• Talking with God.
Allowing the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our heart makes significant difference. Allow-ing an inner calm confidence in the person and purpose of God to dictate the things that go on in your soul results in a daily rest and availability to the purposes of God.
CONCLUSION
Do I want God’s peace?
Jesus offers His peace to you today.
• Realization of and resignation to the person and purpose of God.
Who have I allowed to control my heart? Is he really that good? Is He on my side? What is he doing? Am I willing to cooperated with His ultimate purposes?
• Knowing and embracing His truth and faith in His word.
What am I trying to prove or gain? What am I trying to protect? What am I afraid of los-ing? What am I trusting others to do for me that only God can do? What has He said He will do? Will I trust His word. Will I abide in Him.
• Responding to His discipline
• Walking by the Holy Spirit
• Talking everything over with Him.
Remember!
Genuine trust in the God of Peace and the continual encouragement of the Holy Spirit re-sults in an inner calm confidence in God that frees us up to actually hear God’s direction and releases His life-changing grace into our lives and the lives of others. Trust in man or the flesh results in both internal and external conflict.
• Confess trying to make life work in your own strength and trying to control your life.
• Entrust your life into the hands of a faithful creator, the God of peace.
• Let the Peace of Christ arbitrate your life and your relationships with people!
Let the calm confidence and resounding realization that God works everything together for according to his glorious purpose and our ultimate perfection rule the activity within your heart. Only then will conflicting drives and desires of the flesh be thwarted and the long-ings of the spirit find expression in the soul to affect the world around you for Christ. It is difficult to impact your world if you are continually tied up and tormented by the lack of peace in the soul. Once you settle the issue of God’s goodness, the sweet fragrance of Christ, the vibrant engaging clothes of the kingdom rule the soul through the peace of Chris
Life Change
What is God saying to you about letting the Peace of Christ rule within my soul
rather than the anxiety of the flesh and the turbulence of a fallen devil directed world?
Peace with Him
Peace with yourself
Peace in circumstances of life
Peace with others
