Peace Today, Peace Tomorrow

Leviticus 26:6 NIV

I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid.

How Good Is Peace?

Years ago when I was a kid, I got a job delivering weekly advertisers to homes.  I had over two-hundred and fifty papers to deliver and it was very hard riding my bike with so many papers hanging from the back of my bike.  I had to roll all the papers myself and put rubber bands around them.  My route brought me far down the road from my house and it took a few hours to finish the route.  At the far end of my route I discovered that at one of the homes lived a set of brothers known for fighting and picking on younger kids. One day as was riding past their home, one of the brothers threatened to pull me off my bike if I came by his house again.  Each week my knuckles turned white and my stomach churned as I made my dreaded pass by their house, hoping I would not see ever see again the brothers as I pitched the paper as quickly as possible toward their porch and sped away down the street.  I dreaded so badly my trips by their house that I quit after a year because I could not take it anymore.

What price would you pay to have peace?  Perhaps you have it most of the time.  You have very few worries and rarely are disturbed by difficulties.  Maybe you never suffer from anxiety and don’t fret when troubles hit you.  Or it might be you are like the vast majority of people who do worry because some things are just too big to handle.  You fret over your children, ruminate about health issues, worry about relationships you have.  Maybe you do pray about these issues you face but after you pray, then what?  What do you do after praying?  Aren’t you supposed to do something, remind someone, give advice, recommend, make a change, work harder, strategize? 

When you read in the Bible that God promises you peace, it seems a bit esoteric, like something normal people don’t ever get.  What sort of peace can you have with God?  Is real peace in you even possible?  Jesus made a sweeping universal promise that must be noted first.  He said, “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.”  (John 14:27 NIV)  Several points need to be made here.  First, this is not normal peace God is pledging.   He says it is not “as the world gives.”  The term world in this verse of course does not refer to a collection of people but only the order of life in a sin broken universe and whatever peace that comes “from the world” is just what is grabbed through circumstances and personality traits.  In other words, most of the time, the peace that comes out of the world is determined by how well things are going.  If everything is working out for you, then you feel pretty good but there is no guarantee you will have real peace when things start to fall apart. The world may have peace for you when you get a pay raise or the cancer test comes back negative or your neighbor finds your dog wandering down the next block but what sort of peace can the world give you when your son suffers brain damage in a car wreck or you are really going to lose your house or your retirement fund gets demolished by the recession?

The other day I was merging onto the freeway and just as I was moving into the second lane, suddenly a huge red pickup truck came speeding down in that lane and I had to swerve back into the lane on my right to avoid getting hit.  Of course I had the normal adrenal rush such a close call elicits and with my face flushed with anger, I stared into the side mirror of the driver and he looked back at me.  All of a sudden the driver slowed way down and pulled alongside me and with his window rolled down, gestured wildly with his hands and clearly was yelling at me although my window was rolled up and I could not hear anything he was shouting at me.  I stared back at him as we went side by side down the freeway.  Finally he pulled ahead of me and looked back at me in his side mirror as I looked back at him.  We glared at each other and then he slowed down again and pulled along-side me on my right and once more with his window down gesticulated crazily with his hand at me and loudly screamed at my rolled up window.  I stared back at him and began to size up the wild man.  He looked short and very skinny and probably on meth.  If there was a fight between his giant truck and my tiny Honda, I would lose.  But if the two of us fought, I would probably have taken him.  With my cross dangling from my rear view mirror and my mind being pulled into Christ, I just looked away and slowed down even more so I could move behind the guy and prayed.  He made one more wild motion at me and off he shot.  It was funny how much peace I had as this was happening and I must say, it was not a peace that the world gives. The world’s peace is driving along without a care listening to my favorite music.  There was a different sort of peace I needed though when the driver of the truck started screaming at me…a supernatural peace.

When Jesus says that He leaves us peace, He uses the same Greek word that is often translated “forgive”.  The idea behind forgive is that the sin is cast away, sent off so you don’t carry it with you anymore.  Jesus promises to continually cast off to you peace.  To be certain you get the gist of what He is saying, Jesus reiterates by adding, “I continually give my peace.”  If you are at the store, I give you my peace.  If you are in the dentist’s chair, I give you my peace.  If you have someone breaking into your house, even then, I give you my peace.  Wherever you go, in Iceland or South Africa or in your car driving to work, I give you my peace.  It is important that Jesus identifies for you what sort of peace He promises to continually give you.  It is His peace, the peace Jesus possesses Himself that He puts into you all the time.  The same peace Jesus had when He responded to Pontius Pilate as He in His beaten state faced crucifixion is the very peace Christ gives you today, tonight, tomorrow and tomorrow evening.  This is not a peace you have to develop but the mature peace Christ has even now.  But there is something we must make clear.  To experience God’s peace, you must give it room to operate in you.

So how do you do that?  You must decide at each turn of your life and in every circumstance you face that God is in charge of what is happening and He will make it be good for you.  Of course that is a monumental determination to make but that is the foundation of the peace Christ has.  He always kept His mind on the Father and whether Jesus was in a storm or the Garden of Gethsemane waiting to be arrested, Jesus was certain that the Father was good and in charge of what was happening to Him.  You can easily lose sight of this when something really difficult or even painful is occurring.  The moment you do, the peace of Christ stops operating in you.  The peace of Christ is still there, still available to you;, it is strong and it can carry you but you shut it down when you lose your grip on God being with you and being good to you.

To give you an idea how easy it is to forget that God is in charge of everything happening and He is good to you, consider the account of Saul as a young king of the united nation of Israel.  Almost immediately after being given by God the kingdom, Saul faced a crisis.  The warring nation of Philistia came out to attack Israel.  God told Saul to not do anything until the prophet Samuel came to offer a sacrifice.  He was to wait seven days and then the prophet would come to the front lines to make the sacrifice and call out in prayer for God’s help.  The seventh day came and Saul had no peace.  The Philistine army was ready to attack and as he saw it, Saul had no guarantee the Lord was with him at that point.  His soldiers were scared and he was too.  His rule would be awfully short if he didn’t do something.  On his own, without the prophet Samuel there, Saul offered the sacrifice himself.  As he was finishing, Samuel arrived.  Just as he finished making the offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to greet him.  "What have you done?" asked Samuel.  Saul replied, "When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord's favor.' So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering."  "You acted foolishly," Samuel said. "You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the Lord's command." (1 Samuel 13:10-14 NIV)

Even after this Saul could have had God’s peace if he would have realized that God was in charge and that with this change God was being good to him.  The peace of God is available day and night in any circumstance we face but when we panic and do not trust God to carry us through, we don’t enjoy His peace, it slips from us.  Yet as soon as we turn back to God and ask for His peace, our Lord is as generous as always and gives us His peace freely.  When Peter told Jesus that it could never be that He would die at the hands of the Jews and Romans, he could not have Christ’s peace and he did not have it.  He fell into a panic when he saw Jesus being arrested and then beaten.  His worry was so great and His peace so shallow that when Peter was confronted three different times by servants and others who said he was one of Jesus’ followers, Peter could not admit to it.  He did not believe this could be God’s plan and so he lost his peace.  It was only later when Jesus rose again and met with His Apostles in the upper room that Peter regained it.  We must be very careful that we do nothing to interrupt the peace Christ has for us.

The universe that Christ has created is built upon the foundation of trusting Him.  Without our trust in Christ we lose one of the most precious gifts that being in Him provides.  Do not trust Christ and His peace slips away from you.  Turn back to Him and His peace is there waiting for you.  The reason the world cannot have Christ’s peace is because the world does not believe Christ is in charge and no longer believes that Christ will make life good for them.  But you can and you do.  You do believe Christ is in charge of everything that happens to you and that He will make everything turn out well for you.  The perfect love of Christ controls and protects you each and every day.  To have His peace poured into you, you must let Him do it.  You are in charge of the peace you gain.  At the end of John 14: 27, as Jesus is promising you His peace, he finishes by commanding you not to let your heart be troubled.  The word translated “troubled” is the same Greek word that describes the stirring up of water in a pot as it is boiling or the raging of the sea during a typhoon.  You are in charge of not letting your heart become a storm.  God won’t do that for you.  You must do it yourself.  If you want your heart to be a boiling pot of turmoil, then you can and God won’t stop you.  But if you want the peace that Jesus has, you must decide Christ is in charge of what is happening and He is being good to you.  Then you will have the determination to ask and receive the peace that Christ has in Himself and you will become calm and serene, as peaceful as Jesus sitting in a boat during a storm.

How Salvation Looks

2 Kings 2: 9 NIV

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”  “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied. 

Do You Have The Salvation of Jesus?

I have several times been stunned by what people of various ages and backgrounds don’t know.  What seems to me to be common knowledge is not always.  Perhaps you too have been surprised by someone’s lack of familiarity with what you thought everyone understood.   Maybe you spoke with someone who did not know why Christmas is celebrated or where the oil should be put in a car or what a trapezoid is or how many days there are in June.  None of us know everything and you don’t either but sometimes we can be caught by surprise when an intelligent and normal person has never considered what something was that you thought everyone understood.

Salvation is one of the most common terms used in Christian conversations and yet it is not really understood by many of us.  How does salvation look?  What is salvation for you now?  Can salvation be recognized when you see it?  Would someone who spent time with you be able to tell that you have salvation?  What characterizes salvation?

A good place to begin this discussion is by considering someone that Jesus Himself said had salvation.  Zacchaeus may be the most famous tax collector of all time.  He of course climbed a tree to be able to see Jesus over the crowd surrounding the Lord as He passed through Zacchaeus’s town.  Spotting the diminutive Zacchaeus, the Lord warmly called for Zacchaeus to come down from the tree and take him home for lunch.  Some would call Jesus audacious for making such a demand but Zacchaeus was thrilled.  Instantly Zacchaeus announced to Jesus and the crowd standing about that he was giving half his possessions to the poor and to all who claimed Zacchaeus cheated them by charging too much for taxes he promised to pay them back four times the amount he had taken.  Our familiarity with this account drains off much of the electricity it generated when first witnessed by the original onlookers.  Immediately after Zacchaeus made his proclamation of his new way of life, Jesus announced, “Today salvation has come to this house because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.”  (Luke 19: 9 NIV)

In Jesus’ declaration we have the assertion of God that at least in this instance, salvation had a decided look to it. We can see two distinct manifestations of salvation in Zacchaeus.  He threw himself upon God to bring him happiness and contentment.  He did not need all the wealth he had accumulated nor the perks it brought him.  Zacchaeus was happy just having Jesus in his life.  We have in scripture numerous examples of “anti-salvation” too.  Consider the reaction of the elder brother in Jesus’ parable of the Father who welcomed home his young profligate son.  The older brother became furious that his father received his brother back with such enthusiasm and extravagance.  His chief complaint was that for years he had been loyal to his father and never was thrown a party, never given precious gifts.  The father must have been devastated by his older son’s blatant lack of satisfaction with him. Clearly his dad picked up on this part of the son’s complaint when he pleaded with his son to welcome back his brother.  “”My son,” his father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.”  (Luke 15: 31)

Salvation, at least for Zacchaeus, made him happy just to be with Jesus.  He stopped caring so much for whatever else he had or didn’t have.  The older brother, on the other hand cared very much what he had or didn’t have and was not too interested in his father at all.  The father had to point out to the older son, “you have me”, as if the older son either did not know that or care.  Jesus did not have to point out to Zacchaeus that Zacchaeus had Him;  having Jesus was all that mattered to him.  Zacchaeus was well aware of his life with Christ and was thrilled to have Jesus regardless of anything else coming or going from his life.  Does your salvation look like that?

There is another aspect to the salvation of Zacchaeus that must be noted.  His salvation could be seen in his response to his past.  Illuminated before him in his mind was the wrong he had done and the ways he had cheated people by exacting unwarranted taxes from them. Zacchaeus; when he really saw Jesus and the salvation He offered knew he was a sinner through and through and had no mind to hide any of it from God or anyone else.  Zacchaeus started his new life with God by despising his sinning and choosing to live a good and honest life.  Does your salvation look like that?

If it were not for the great spiritual insight it offers, the account of Elijah and his effort to leave behind his apprentice Elisha so he wouldn’t be present when the Lord took him is almost comical.   When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel."  But Elisha said, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel…Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here, Elisha; the Lord has sent me to Jericho."   And he replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So they went to Jericho… Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan."  And he replied, "As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you." So the two of them walked on.  (2 Kings 2:1-6 NIV)  When finally the two arrived at the Jordan River, Elijah took his cloak, struck the water of the Jordan with it and the Jordan River parted, allowing the two to cross on dry ground.  At that point, Elijah asked his apprentice what he could do for him.  When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?"  "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied.  "You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours — otherwise not." (2 Kings 2: 9-10 NIV)

What an interesting request!  Elisha wanted a double portion of Elijah’s spirit…whatever that was.  Essentially Elisha wanted lots of what Elijah was inside of himself.    He was asking for the nature and personality of Elijah to be his.  And he got it.  As soon as Elijah was taken by God up to the heavens in a fiery chariot, Elisha left and came to the Jordan River.  Elisha did the same thing he saw his master do before; he took off his cloak, struck the Jordan River with it and voila, the water parted once more and Eisha was able to walk across it on dry ground.  Elisha saw many more miracles take place, even more than we read for Elijah.  He really did receive a “double portion” of Elijah’s spirit!

The Bible tells us that like Elisha, we can have the spirit of another in us…the Spirit of God.  You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.  But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.  And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (Romans 8: 9-11 NIV)  How was Elisha to know if he was going to possess the spirit of Elijah?  If he witnessed Elijah being taken away by God, then he could know Elijah’s spirit would be his.  How do you know if the Spirit of God is in you?  If you are not controlled by the sinful nature but rather by the Spirit, then He lives in you!  Does your salvation look like that, like the Spirit of God lives in you and controls the way you live?

There is one more report in Scripture that we must consider when it comes to our salvation.  At the end of Luke is recorded a fascinating account of Jesus, after He was crucified and died, returning to life in a new resurrection body.  He suddenly appeared as two of His friends were walking from Jerusalem to the small town of Emmaus.  The disciples didn’t recognize him the entire time they walked but along the way Jesus explained how the Bible in the Old Testament told about everything that happened to Him and why.  Once they got to their home though and Jesus sat down with them to eat, the disciples made an astonishing discovery.  When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.  They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:30-32 NIV)

Jesus did two things for the disciples.  He opened their eyes so that they could see Him…not as a stranger or just another teacher but as God.  He also opened the Scriptures for them so that they could see Him there too.  How can you tell that salvation has come to you?  First, you realize by experience that Jesus Christ is real and He is Lord of all.  This is no longer a curiosity for you or an intellectual exercise of debate but a surety within; a decided matter.  Secondly, the Scriptures become a driving force for you and a fascination that skeptics and critics cannot shake loose from you.  You read the Bible and have a powerful drive to read the Bible.  You see things in it you did not notice before you had salvation.  The Bible becomes personal for you, the source of strength and wisdom you need and want.

When salvation comes to you, Jesus Christ becomes a part of you and what matters to Him matters to you and the sort of character He has gets worked into you just like it did in the Apostle Paul and Peter and John and James and Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Jesus.   It cannot be missed, your resemblance to Jesus and how He thinks when salvation comes to you.  Salvation is not a place where you go but a person you become.  The new you becomes free of sin and full of Christ living through you.  Every time you obey God, more of Him comes out of you and the world as a result, is a better place.