Tag: Peace
We Have Found…
In Christ, we have found a great love that came down to suffer with us and die for us.
In Christ, we have found a great peace with God – a relationship we can enjoy during the darkest storms of life.
In Christ, we have found a great hope that pierces the monster of death and transcends the grave.
In Christ, we have found a great joy as we remember the great love, peace, and hope we have found.
Calm
There is no calm like the calm Christ brings when He speaks peace to your storm-tossed soul.
– Gerald M. Bilkes in Mercy Revealed
Sermon Songs: Ephesians 1:2
Behold the riches of His grace
That saves, empowers me
To serve Him as I run this race
From guilt and sin set free
Behold the wonders of His peace
Our God now to enjoy
Christ died for us that strife might cease
His love we might employ
(To the tune of the “Amazing Grace”)
We Can Have Great Peace in a World of Things
Paul tells us that he is content whether he faces plenty or hunger, abundance or need (Philippians 4:11-13). He is at peace with a lot or a little. And we too are called to be at peace whether we have a lot or a little. We too are called to be content in a world where there is always more to have. God wants us to be content with what he gives us instead of always chasing, craving, and seeking more and more.
Of course this flies in the face of our culture and our entire economy built on chasing material things. In our country money is god – it is what we trust and what we treasure. Our coins say: “In God we trust.” But for many the god they trust is the coin in their hand, and it is also what they treasure. How can we overcome? How can we find peace in a world filled with things? The answer is that we must learn to trust in and treasure something other than material things. In short, we must learn to trust in and treasure the Lord above all.
First, we must trust in the Lord. Verse 13 is essentially a statement of trust. I can be at peace in all circumstances as I look to him to give me strength. I’m not going to trust in my wealth for security. I’m not going to worry about my lack of wealth. I have a God who is mighty, who is powerful, who is strong to get me through, whether I have a lot or a little. He will give me what I need. I will trust him.
Second, we must treasure the Lord above all. This is found in the entire context of the book of Philippians. To live is Christ (1:21). Life is all about Christ. Knowing Christ is the number one priority – everything else is like rubbish (3:7-11). Christ is the greatest treasure. And if Christ is your greatest treasure than material things won’t mean so much to you. We can be at peace with a little or a lot because we already have the greatest treasure – we have Jesus.
We can have great peace in a world filled with things as we trust in the Lord and treasure him above all.
We Can Have Great Peace in a Life Filled with Trials
A lot of circumstances can lead to anxiety – that unsettled feeling in the pit of your stomach, that fear in your heart and your mind. But God calls us to peace (Philippians 4:6-7). Indeed he calls us to a peace that surpasses all understanding. He calls us to a peace that guards our hearts and minds, our feelings and thoughts. Through Christ we can have great peace in a life filled with trials. But how can we know this peace? How can we apply this peace he offers to our lives? Our passage gives us three important answers:
First, we must remember the presence of the Lord. Right before we are instructed to be anxious for nothing, we read that the Lord is at hand. We need not be anxious because the Lord is with us. We need not fear even in the valley of the shadow of death because God is with us (Psalm 23:4). We can be strong and courageous because the Lord is with us wherever we go (Joshua 1:9). God Almighty is by your side. Remember his presence.
Second, we must bring our cares to the Lord. We are to bring our requests to God (v6). We cast our cares on Him, knowing that he cares for us (I Peter 5:7). The Psalms are filled with prayers to God in the midst of trials. A regular pattern is that as the psalmists cry out to God, they come to a place of trust, of rest, of peace. Psalm 55 is a good example. The first five verses are a cry to God for help. But as the Psalmist looks to God, he finds a God who hears him (v17), sustains him (v22), and answers him (v16). And so he closes the psalm with a declaration of trust (v23). As we pray to the one who is greater than our problems, one who hears us, sustains us, and answers us, we can trust him and find peace.
Third, we must give thanks to God. In the middle of Paul’s instructions to pray, he drops the phrase “with thanksgiving.” In your trials and struggles that tempt you to worry, count your blessings. Remember the countless ways God has been and continues to be good to you. And give thanks. Our minds can get so stuck on a trial that we forget our blessings. We replay the trial over and over again in our minds like a broken record player. We dig a rut of woe and anxiety. But step out of the rut and get some perspective. The trial is real, and you bring it to the Lord. But the blessings are also real. Remember to give thanks.
We can have great peace in a life filled with trials as we remember his presence, bring our cares to him, and give thanks to him for his continuous blessings.
We Can Have Great Peace in a Church Filled with Differences
In Acts 16, we get a glimpse of the planting of the church at Philippi. The first members include a wealthy woman, a jailor, and possibly a slave girl. These are very different people – hardly people that would have associated with each other until they came to Christ. But now in spite of their differences, they are part of the same church. And Paul admonishes them to stand firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side, and again to be of the same mind, the same love, in full accord, of one mind (Philippians 1:27, 2:1-2). Paul calls the Philippians to oneness, to unity, to be at peace with one another.
Our own churches include some very different people (I hope). There are different backgrounds, different types of employment, different seasons of life, different opinions, different ideas, and on the list goes. And God calls us to stand firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving side by side. He calls us to be of the same mind, the same love, in full accord, of one mind. God calls us to oneness, to unity, to be at peace with one another.
How is this possible? How can we live in peace together in midst of all of our differences? Philippians provides us with two very important answers:
First, we must center on the gospel of the Lord (1:27). We are to strive side by side for the faith of the gospel. It is the gospel that unites us. The gospel is what brought us together. With all our differences, we became one in Christ. And we are to strive side by side for faith of the gospel. We cling to that faith together. We encourage one another in that faith. We proclaim the faith together. We live that faith together. As soon as we elevate our differences above the gospel, we have problems. As soon as we start chasing after our own pet projects, we have problems. As soon as we come to church expecting things to follow our own opinions, we have problems. The gospel brought us together and it is the gospel that will keep us together as we strive side by side for the faith of the gospel, as we keep the gospel central.
Second, we must walk in the humility of the Lord (2:3-8). There is to be no rivalry among us – it is not about getting my way. There is to be no conceit among us – thinking we are better than others. Instead we are to humbly put others first. We are to look beyond ourselves to the good of the others. It is not about you…or me. Strife is hard to have when we have this kind of attitude. We are to have the same attitude that our Lord had as he humbled himself, coming down from heaven to be born as a little baby and ultimately die on the cross. This is God we are talking about! The King of Kings humbled himself! The only one who can honestly say it is all about him chose to humble himself. And he calls us to follow.
We can have great peace in a church filled with differences as we center on the gospel of the Lord and walk in the humility of the Lord.
Quotes To Ponder: Peace
What can make those uneasy whose souls dwell at ease in God?
– Matthew Henry
That lasting peace between nations requires so much effort and attention is,
without doubt, an unmistakable sign of our fallenness as a race.
Peace, it seems, is not our natural state.
Rather, enmity is fundamental to the human condition.
– James S. Spiegel
If God has established peace by reconciling us both to God and to one another in Christ, then we must do all we can to embody visibly that unity and harmony
that are the hallmarks of our new life of peace.
– Philip Kenneson
Brian J. Mikul 