Getting to Know God – Jehovah Shalom – The Lord is Peace
I want to take a survey this evening. I have several pictures here. I want to find out which of these you most relate to when I mention the word peace - P-E-A-C-E. I’ve got a picture of
• a guy asleep on a couch
• a soldier waving the white flag of surrender
• a rippling brook through a cool valley
• a couple of hippies
• a stack of money
• a couple of friends
• or a slice of cake?
Tonight, I want us to look at another name of God – The Lord of Peace. So lets just pause and pray before we launch into it
Pray
Meaning of the Word
Peace is an interesting thing isn’t it – We all want it, yet it is means something different to each of us. Therefore it is fairly difficult to define.
In the Bible, the word also has many meanings – in fact, there are several words which are translated Peace, but the main one and the one we are going to focus on today is the word that comes from the Hebrew word shalom. I’m sure you have heard this word before – it is probably the most commonly used word in the Hebrew language today. People of Israel still use it as a greeting and a farewell. They will ask mah shlomka “what is your peace” or in our language “how are you doing”. They may also ask about the peace (or well-being) of your family.
Well this word shalom comes from a Hebrew root shalam which means to be safe and had connotations of mental safety, physical safety and healthy. The Word Shalom in its different usages in the Bible could then refer to
1. the state of an individual person. In this context it means to be complete, whole or sound – by implications this means to be healthy, well or happy. When Joseph encountered his brothers in Egypt after all those years, he asked how their welfare - literally was their peace (Gen 43:27) “And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well … And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health.”
2. the state of a relationship between 2 parties. And this is the interesting meaning. It could refer to peace in a relationship between 2 men - friendship if you like (1 Sam 20:24 - Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship”). It could be peace between 2 nations (1 Sam 7:14) which essentially meant that there were no wars – so when Israel was at peace with their neighbours, they had a good relationship. Or thirdly it could be peace between God and man (Rom 5:1). So in this context of a relationshi9p, if someone had peace with another person, it meant they had a good relationship. The absence of peace, was an absence of a healthy reationship.
God’s Peace
It is interesting that Peace is one of God’s fundamental characteristics. He is the “God of Peace” – the Name we are studying tonight. Considering our first meaning then, He is a healthy and whole being, complete and perfect in Himself. And in the context of our second meaning, he is the source of good relationships. He can literally heal relationships as we will see shortly.
In fact, the Bible states that not only is God the God of Peace, but he is also is the source of all peace …
We read in Numbers, that God gave the priests a special blessing they were to use to bless the people Num 6:24ff - ‘The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’ What a blessing that is.
Jesus also talked about giving peace - just before he was killed he said to his disciples – John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
It is also listed as one of the fruit of the spirit that the HS will bring to us – Gal 5:22, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Peace in the OT, then is seen to be something which is God given. If a person was ill or sick, they needed the peace available from God. When they were at war, they needed the peace that came only from God. Peace was a gift from God – the God of Peace - and it was recognised that God could give it or take it away. Peace was actually closely associated with the covenant. If the people obeyed God, they would have peace. Peace in this context meant 2 things …
1) that there were no wars in the land, and
2) more importantly, the relationship with God was healthy.
If there were wars, it was physical evidence that the relationship with God was damaged and that peace was absent. This was usually because of the people’s disobedience.
This is nowhere more apparent than in the book of Judges. The whole book describes a deadly cycle that the people fell into where they had God’s peace and then lost it … They regained God’s peace and then lost it again. It was a miserable cycle that looked a bit like …. The people began with peace – a wonderful relationship with their creator and sustainer. But they became complacent and so the downward movement began. They took their relationship with God for granted and began to do their own thing – i.e. they began to chose their way instead of God’s way – in short they disobeyed God and began to walk away from him. When this occurred, their peace (or relationship) with God was damaged. When they walked out from under God’s protection, the people were vulnerable to all sorts of invaders who came to conquer and enslave. It wasn’t long before Bondage and misery became the order of the day. The People continued suffering until they came to their senses and cried out in repentance to God, asking for deliverance. This came in the form of a judge who led the armies of Israel in the defeat of the oppressor. They re-established worship of the God of peace and in so restored the relationship and there was peace in the land again.
The book of Judges is essentially this cycle again and again and again. Here is a graphical outline of the book. It starts with the causes of failure which led to defeat. Then there are a series of stories which tell of the cycle of misery the people go through. In each, there is an oppressor and a judge who rescues the people.
Again and again, the people had peace with God, but sacrificed it by disobeying him. Everytime they took their eyes off him and thought they knew better, they ended up losing their peace and ending up in bondage and misery.
Interesting isn’t it that the peace in the nation of Israel was linked directly to the peace in the people’s relationship to God. If the people weren’t at peace with God, they could not be at peace with their neighbours. The peace in their society depended solely on their ability to maintain peace in their relationship with God.
So often we get the order around the wrong way. We try to find the solution to world peace, hoping that this will somehow make people better. But God knows that the way to world peace is through changing individual people first. I read of a bumper sticker that read “Forget World Peace -- Visualize Turning Off Your Turn Signal!” This is what we need to do. Focus on our problems and fix them up, before we try to solve the world’s problems.
One Sunday morning, a man woke up early to read the morning paper. – Glad to have some time to himself, he brewed the coffee and began to read. Three sentences into the first article, he saw his five-year-old daughter descending the stairs. “Honey, go back to bed”
“But I’m not sleepy” she insisted.
Determined to read his paper, he again urged her to go back to bed. Again, she told him she was not tired. Looking at the newspaper, he conceived a plan. In the paper was a picture of the world, which he cut into pieces. Handing his daughter some scotch tape, he told her “Go sit at the dining room table and see if you can put the world back together.”
He daughter accepted the challenge, and he went back to finish his coffee and paper. After only a few minutes, though, his daughter came bounding into the kitchen. “Here, Daddy, I’m finished!” she said , showing him the picture of the world put back together.
Amazed, he asked, “Sweetie, how did you od that so fast?”
She replied, “It was easy. On the back side of the page was a picture of a man. When you make the man right, you can make the world right”
When you make the man right, you can make the world right. So the question that remains to be answered, is how can we make a man right? Or put it another way, how can we bring you peace. I want to suggest that the way to bring you peace involves a healthy relationship with God.
Okay - What does a healthy relationship with God involve?
1) It involves being forgiven. Without forgiveness we, can not have a relationship with a holy and perfect God. We are just to evil as we are. We need to be forgiven to have a relationship.
2) It involves a relationship with Jesus Christ his son – the Prince of Peace.
3) It involves faith.
How do I know that? Because I read it in Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.
As we close, let’s quickly look at these three things …
1) Forgiveness
To have a healthy relationship with a perfect God, we need to be perfect. God standard is perfection and if he were to accept any of us as we are, he would be compromising this standard. This leaves us in a dilemma because to be perfect, we either have to live a perfect life or we accept that we sin and find a way to clean the slate.
- The first option is impossible for us human beings. We are like a lawn bowl – we have an inbuilt bias which means that no matter how hard we try, we can’t keep on a straight line. Sooner or later, we will end up off track, doing the wrong thing.
- So it looks like the second option is the only option – wiping the slate clean, being forgiven. Thankfully, God has made this possible by sending his son Jesus and this is the second of the 3 things needed for peace.
2) A Relationship with Jesus Christ.
The OT prophets saw a time coming when the Prince of Peace would come and bring peace to the world. This one who was destined to save the world was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to bring peace between God and Man by enabling us to be reconciled to God through forgiveness.
Someone had to pay the penalty for our sin and Jesus died on the cross to do just that. By dying for us, he paid the penalty for our sins and because it has already been paid, it would be wrong for God to demand us pay it again. So we can be forgiven because of what Jesus has already done.
Now we don’t have to accept what Jesus has done. We can say – “Look, thanks for the offer, but I think I can handle this one on my own. I think I know a better way to make things right – so meet you there later”. Doing this is a big mistake, because by putting the onus back onto us, we have to pay the penalty ourselves (i.e. die spiritually) or live a perfect life.
To have a healthy relationship with God, we need to have a relationship with his son Jesus Christ and accept what he has already done for us. To try to do it yourself is just plain stupidity when there is a free gift available.
3) Faith
The last element to having a relationship with God and therefore having peace is faith. Paul writes that we are “justified through faith”. Here he is contrasting 2 ways people try to be justified (made right before God.
- Some people try to earn their way into heaven by keeping the law – this is the first option we talked about before– it is by trying to be perfect – and we all know that is impossible. So then people rationalise things by saying that if I do enough good things (you know, giving to charities, going to church, volunteering for this and that) this will compensate for all the bad things I do. Imagine if you can that you are God and you can see into our hearts. What would you see … You’d probably see a lot of bad things, but also some good things also. No matter how many good things we wrote on there, there would still be the bad things visible. The problem is that God doesn’t cancel the bad things when we do good things. He still sees them all. He sees our imperfection
- The other way Paul sees is by relying on what Jesus Christ has done. It is the wiping the slate clean option. And we can only achieve this through faith – believing it has happened, even though we can’t see it. But God can see it. Our heart may contain both good and bad things, but when we have faith in what Jesus Christ has done and ask him for his forgiveness. God views us through the shed blood of Jesus and all he sees is the good things. Believing that this is the case – is faith. So forgiveness comes not by being good, but it comes by believing that it can come and will come through the work of Jesus Christ
So peace in this life and the next comes from having a right relationship with God which involves forgiveness, accepting what Jesus has done and faith. They are all connected really.
Did you notice the tense of the peace Paul writes about in Romans. Is it something for the future, is it something in the past or in the present. Let me read it again.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.
What is the tense – it is present. We have peace now and we’ve had it since the time we were justified. If you have a relationship with God. Peace is your promise, it is your right. Paul writes in Phil 4:6
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
A relationship with God – a relationship of peace is available for each one of us who know him. Peace is there for the taking. Nothing can rob you of your peace, because it is based on what Jesus has already done, not on who we are or what we have done, or the circumstances we find ourselves in. Be confident in the fact that God is all powerful and he is in control. You don’t have to worry about any of life’s little problems, because God has given you peace – a relationship with him that will be eternal.
Do you have peace today? Do you want peace today? I urge you to examine your relationship with God – the God of Peace. This is where true peace comes from.
Make your relationship with God a priority and let him be a part of every part of your life. Remember the cycle of Misery in Judges and Guard you relationship with God jealously. You can be sure that as soon as you take your eyes of God and start to do things your own way, you will lose your peace and end up in bondage and misery.
