The Peace of Jesus
Peace. The world longs for it. Nations pray for it. Demonstrators march for it. Activists ironically become violent to gain it. Governments stockpile weapons to secure it. Wars are fought to maintain it.
People desperately search for inner peace through all manner of ways and activities from pills and pot, counseling and psychoanalysis, extreme thrills and adventure, to yoga and weird religions. Some people are so desperate to find peace that they resort to anything to exorcise their inner turmoil and agitation.
In fact Jesus said as recorded in 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.” The peace the world powers give is an unstable peace at best—a peace built on mutual fear and mutual distrust among. It is a peace that comes through force and power and might. As you well know this kind of peace is fragile, broken with the slightest of bumps.
This is the peace the world offers, but the Bible says that Jesus came to bring us peace that is not like the world’s peace. The prophet Isaiah before His birth called Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Perhaps you have seen the painting of Jesus towering over the UN building knocking and trying to get in. The southern gospel song says, “There will be no peace until Jesus is seated at the conference table.” Note that the peace Jesus gives is set in the context of love and obedience to Him as Lord and to the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
The connection between the peace that Jesus gives and our love and obedience to Him is this: if we love Jesus we will obey [obeying] His word and the result will be peace. The source of our peace then is to love Jesus and obey His word, living as He told us to live. When we do that then we will experience the peace that Jesus brings. This is both cause and effect. You don’t get peace in a vacuum. It is not a gift that is simply handed to you. If you want peace then there are conditions to be met to gain that peace. Being in right relationship with Christ and then living our lives in the manner that Jesus would have us live results in inner peace. It may not be outer peace and the world around us may be in turmoil but there is peace deep within. There was no peace on the Gulf waters beneath Hurricane Gustav, but deep beneath those tumultuous waves, the creatures of the sea lived in calm and peaceful waters. Our personal peace is not dependant on our outer circumstances but on our inner relationship with Jesus.
That is why when the world about us is threatening to blow up, we can have peace. When our personal world around us is rocked, crumbling and collapsing we can have peace, not the kind of peace the world gives because the source of that peace are the very circumstances that are collapsing. Rather our peace is the kind that Jesus gives which is above and beyond and supercedes the world’s peace because it is NOT connected to outward circumstances and situations. The source of our strength is supernatural. It comes from God’s Spirit.
Sometimes though we have no peace because we have walked away from Jesus and are living in disobedience and in sin. Sin always brings brokenness and turmoil into our hearts and lives. Sin unplugs the light in our lives and relationships and there is darkness. Again there is the cause and effect correlation between no peace and sin. Disobedience and sin always brings turmoil and darkness. In fact the world around us may be at peace, but we will have no peace.
The peace of Jesus is based on our love for Him and our obedience to His ways. The result is this: “the peace of Jesus that passes all understanding will keep our hearts and minds in Him.” The prophet Isaiah brings all this to a focal point (26:3), “Thou wilt keep Him imperfect peace whose mind is staid [fixed] on thee.”
As we commune with Jesus this morning let us not look to the right nor to the left, nor to any other person, but let our minds be focused on Jesus. Some of us have some sin lurking within that is stealing our peace; we need to confess it to Jesus. Some of us are at odds with someone, and we need to get that reconciled before we will have peace. Some of us are trying to make it through difficult situations by our own grit and determination; we need to surrender that to Jesus.
Whatever it is, come to Jesus and let His peace fill our hearts and minds. May the floodtides of His presence overflow you with His peace even in the midst of this world’s garbage.