3 Spheres of Biblical Peace
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Children’s Message:
Review: What does Advent mean? Coming.
Whose coming in particular? Jesus
Did you know that Jesus said He is coming again?
So Advent is a reminder of His first coming and a looking ahead to His second coming.
What was last week’s candle? Hope
Do you know what this week’s candle is? Peace
How would you describe peace?
Definition of Peace - Calmness of the soul.
Do any of you like to put together puzzles?
Piece of peace. Puzzle. (with the emphasis on wholeness, completeness and satisfaction).
When all the pieces are put together, then there is peace: Wholeness, Contentment, Satisfaction, and Pleasure.
Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.
We need God to put all the scattered pieces together and when He does, there is a beautiful picture and one feels a sense of satisfaction, contentment and wholeness. That is peace.
Child lights candle
Introduction:
Today is not exhaustive, but illustrative.
Read Luke 2:8-14
3 Spheres Of Biblical Peace
3 Spheres Of Biblical Peace
“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God.
Thomas Merton (Trappist Monk and Writer)
Definition of Peace
The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament 1515. εἰρήνη eirḗnē
peace acquires the technical meaning of the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, fearing nothing from God and consequently content with its earthly lot, whatever it is.
Tranquil state of the soul: wholeness, prosperity, blessing, contentment, and favor.
Assurance of salvation through Christ - Peace with God
Fearing nothing from God - Peace with ourselves
Contentment with one’s earthly lot, whatever it is. Peace with Others - Outside circumstances. (Patience and Perseverance)
“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
Glory To God
Glory To God
The point of all of this is to bring glory to God!
Glorying in God. Make much of Him.
If we glory in or give glory to anything that’s not of God, we will end up dissatisfied and not be at peace.
Only glorying in God is what brings us peace.
Our giving glory to God is what brings us peace.
Peace truly comes when we understand the three spheres of peace and how to glory in and give glory to God in each area revealed in this short declaration from the angels.
Peace on earth / Contentment with one’s earthly lot: circumstances and people (peace with others)
Peace among men / Assurance of salvation (peace with God)
Peace to those with whom God is pleased / Fearing nothing from God (peace with ourselves)
Wholeness and Assurance - Peace IN Men
Wholeness and Assurance - Peace IN Men
Peace Among Men - Peace having come and resting IN (ev) - so it could be translated Peace In Men
Assurance of Salvation - Peace with God
Peace is the smile of God reflected in the soul of the believer.
William Hendriksen
Peace is not and cannot be obtained apart from God. We can only find our peace with Jesus Christ.
Peace is not arbitrary. It must be based upon definite facts. God has all the facts on his side; the world does not. Therefore God, and not the world, can give peace.
Billy Graham
Since God is truth, He is perfect truth and is the only truth that will satisfy the craving for truth in our hearts and if we glory in anything other than God’s truth we are left wanting.
The same is true of any other aspect of God’s character.
Love, Goodness, Justice (anything less than God’s justice is injustice), Kindness, Mercy.
Because each of these are immutable. They won’t change.
They are perfect. So there is no improving on them.
What truth or aspect of God are we glorifying? What truth are we making much of? Are we glorifying the truth, justice, goodness, or mercy of the world, or of God?
Because what the world says is good, or true, or just, may not in fact be so.
Glorying in God’s truth allows that truth to live in me.
And of course the ultimate truth as it pertains to today is Jesus.
He is the way the truth and the life.
It is in Jesus that we glory, it is in Jesus that we make much of God. And it is through that that God is glorified.
That truth , which is Jesus living in me, brings me wholeness and assurance of salvation.
Jesus living in me brings me peace with God.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Is Jesus living IN you?
Have you accepted Him into your life as Lord and Savior?
Have you made Jesus your truth in which you glory and to whom you give glory?
Contentment - Peace On Earth
Contentment - Peace On Earth
Peace having come and resting UPON (epi) - so it could be translated “And upon earth peace...”
That is, peace coming to rest upon the earth and by implication, impacting everything it touches.
Fact: A characteristic of the NT is the view of peace as the present possession of the believer.
But that peace must start with the peace that is within that we just talked about. Because:
It is a peace that is not dependent on outside conditions.
It is acknowledging that true peace is not the absence of trials and adversity, either.
That peace from within leads us to learn contentment with one’s earthly lot (circumstances and people).
Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
This is what is meant by peace upon the earth.
What means of peace do we find our glory in? What means of peace are we trying to find our contentment in? God’s or man’s?
We often substitute God’s means with other things, we glory in other things thinking that they will bring us peace.
Alcohol, social media, relationships, sports, etc.
Often those substitutions lead to sinful behavior because we’re still trying to fill the void that only God can fill or trying to do them in ways that God has not approved.
“There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
The struggle is that even after we come to Christ and are filled with His peace, we revert back to trying to find our peace elsewhere instead of glorying in God.
If we as believers find ourselves in a non-peaceful situation, we need to reevaluate and examine ourselves and see if we are glorying in something else.
And as a result we end up not contented in our lot in life.
What means of peace are we giving glory to?
The amount of time you designate to anything reveals what you are giving glory to.
And I know the farm takes up a lot of time. And the farm can be a big source of anxiety and lack of contentment.
Let God redeem it and begin to pray, “God, how can the farm bring you glory?” “How can I make much of You through the farm?”
Find your peace in God and not in the farm.
Since we have this peace from God we can go and live a life of peace.
But, the thrust of peace upon earth is not only learning contentment, but then going and being an instrument of peace all around us.
Righteousness and peace go together. Mentioned together literally and figuratively throughout Scripture.
Lovingkindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Being an instrument of peace is living a righteous life. It’s doing things God’s way.
There are two thrusts of righteousness in Scripture.
Right standing before God. Which the first point covered of God’s peace being IN us.
Right living for God. This is this second point of God’s peace working through us.
There is no peace without righteousness and there is no righteousness without peace.
For example, when you walk into a room, do people feel peace or chaos?
Now some of that is a maturity issue, but one of the aspects of the fruit of the Spirit is peace.
We should be producing peace since we have received peace.
This demonstrates that we have learned how to be at peace with circumstances and at peace with people.
Since I am at peace, I can be a producer of peace.
Secondly, do the things I say and do lead people to peace?
Or, thirdly, are the things I say and do meant to end up at a place of peace.
I may say something true and challenging and hard to accept and initially it might stir things up rather than calm things down,
But the purpose is to come to a place of submission to those hard truths and as they are God’s truth, submission to them will yield peace and righteousness.
So, again, Jesus is the means to peace. When we glory in Christ and glorify Christ, we, like Paul, learn the secret to being content. Through Jesus, I can manage all things.
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
And He helps me to not fear or be afraid.
And I can rest in Him. Rest for your soul.
And when I am in that state of rest and peace, I can go and be a peacemaker.
I can go and live righteously and let that righteous living bring peace.
Pleasure / Satisfaction - Peace Among Men With Whom God Is Pleased
Pleasure / Satisfaction - Peace Among Men With Whom God Is Pleased
To those who bring pleasure to God - eudokia - syn. of eulogia - to speak well of - bless
eudokia - an outcome of goodness.
Pleasure or to be pleasing is a virtue of goodness and beneficence (doing things for the good of another).
In other words, the natural product of Goodness is doing things for other people to benefit them. To bless others and through that blessing pleasure results.
So it was pleasing to God to give us peace, because we were pleasing to Him.
When we please God, we have nothing to fear from God (peace with ourselves)
We are pleasing to God because of what He did for us. Back to point one. Peace IN us.
We do not have to fear because of God’s love for us.
By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.
So many people live in fear.
Have I done enough to gain God’s favor?
Will I do something that will exclude me from Heaven?
But as God’s love is perfected in us, we realize we don’t need to fear.
He’s taken care of everything and there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
As He is, so are we in this world.
Again, God’s peace is for us in the present. God’s love is for us in the present. God’s joy is for us in the present.
How are we pleasing to God?
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?
and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.
The sweet aroma pleasing to Him is the knowledge of Him in every place.
So get to know God!
Delight yourself in Him!
You carry the knowledge of God everywhere you go.
How well do people get to know God by watching you?
A fragrant aroma to God is living a sacrificial life of love, just like Jesus.
God is pleased with us when we are pleased with Him.
Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.
It gives me great pleasure to see my kids pleased with what I give.
And I am pleased to give it to them, because they are pleased to be with me.
God says, ultimately, my pleasure is in providing Jesus to bring pleasure to you.
Again finding our satisfaction in Jesus, by making much of Him.
Jesus is our delight, joy, and satisfaction.
However, when I find glory in things that displease God, I do grieve the Holy Spirit.
In this context giving glory can also mean to give thanks and praise.
So, when I am not thankful for His blessings, I grieve the Holy Spirit.
When I don’t praise Him...
When I praise something else more than Him...
So when I am making much of God, praising and thanking Him continually, finding my joy, delight and pleasure in Jesus, that brings pleasure to God.
And when God is pleased, we have nothing to fear.
Because of God’s love, we have nothing to fear.
Because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, we have nothing to fear.
And when we have nothing to fear, we can be at peace with ourselves.
3 Applications of Peace
3 Applications of Peace
Receive it. (assurance - peace in man)
It is a gift.
It is something we can possess now.
Pursue it. (contentment - Peace upon earth)
Peace and righteousness working together
We pursue peace by being peacemakers.
We pursue peace by being content with our lot in life and by doing what’s right.
Give it. (pleasure - God is pleased with us - no fear)
We can bless others and help make their lives more peaceful.
Sow it. In this thought it is a blessing of peace.
As God is pleased with us, let’s go and bring pleasure to others.
The point of all of this is to bring glory to God!
Glorying in God. Making much of Him.
Giving glory to God. Thanksgiving and Praise
Let’s Pray
Closing Song:
