God of Peace – Sermon 12 October, 2014

God of Peace
Phil. 4:1-9
One of the top 5 qualities of a “successful life” is peace of mind and that is something God has promised to us.
When Jesus was born the angels declared: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:14
Jesus said: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you….” John 14:27
In Galatians 5 Paul declares peace to be one of the fruits of the spirit.
Many people believe they will experience peace of mind when they get revenge.
Many will experience peace only when their political party is in power.
Many will experience peace only when things go the way they want them to go.
Everybody wants peace – they just want that peace to be on their terms.
And that is why there is so much conflict in this world.
God’s peace is different than the kind of peace the world pursues.
God wants to give us a peace that we can have no matter what happens to us in our lives. That’s because God’s kind of peace is dependent upon His Spirit being in us, not upon the momentary difficulties that we encounter in this world.
As one man once put it “Peace is not the absence of trouble. Peace is the presence of God”.
Today’s passage Philippians 4 is one of the most powerful passages in Scripture because it tells us how we can have God’s peace.
Paul tells us that if we follow his advice “…the God of peace will be with you”.
In fact “…the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7
Here we see a couple of ladies in the church that are not happy with each other. In fact, they probably were angry with one another. These ladies were not at peace; there was a conflict between them that upset the church. It has become so obvious that news of their conflict has made its way back to Paul.
These ladies were in conflict since they wanted what they wanted – on their terms.
Paul told these ladies that they had to change their perspective. He told them that – because they were Christians – none of their conflicts were “about them” anymore. They belonged to Christ.
Therefore, since these ladies belonged to God – their objective was no longer allowed to be based upon whether they WIN.
That’s the way many people conduct themselves in such conflicts. They want to win. They want conflicts resolved in their favour. But if you belong to Jesus, you can’t do things that way anymore. If we belong to Jesus, we have to start asking ourselves the question: ‘What does God want? Not – what do I want?”
The Bible tells us to “Love one another”.
Paul wanted the entire church at Philippi to be involved in this endeavour of getting these ladies back together and settle their differences.
Why? Because when we do this, God promises us His peace.
Having God’s peace is to include God in all that we do.
Philippians 4:5-7 says: “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, with thanksgiving, by prayer and petition, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
The principle reason people don’t have peace in their lives is because they don’t include God in solving their problems.
Perhaps they think God is too busy.
Maybe they don’t want to bother Him.
Maybe they would prefer to handle it themselves.
If I want God’s peace in my life:
1st – I need to do all that I do “in the Lord” – I must live by His priorities.
2nd – In all that I do I must include God, especially in prayer.
3rd – In all that I do, I must remember what God has done before.
Paul’s telling us that – in order for us to trust God the way we need…
… to focus on what God has done in the past.
… we need to focus on God’s track record.
Paul said: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable— if anything is excellent or praiseworthy— think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me— put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
What has God done in the past?
How has God shown Himself to be faithful?
How has God shown Himself to be worthy of our trust?
The reason many people don’t trust God with their lives is because they’ve never practiced the concept.
But when we do; God’s peace is the result.
The peace that God promises us is different than the peace that this world pursues. The peace that appeals to most people is that which centres on life being kind and gentle with them. If things are good and life runs smoothly, they are comfortable and at peace. But when difficulties strike and tragedy overwhelms them, their peace disappears.
The Bible is very clear on the fact that life will be hard even for the Christian. Jesus said: “In this world you will have trouble.” Even the disciples faced repeated conflict and difficulties as they were arrested, beaten, stoned, whipped, thrown in prison and executed because of their faith.
But the peace of God “passes all understanding.” It’s a peace that makes absolutely no earthly sense, because it’s based upon God’s presence. He doesn’t remove the pain and the tragedy from our lives because this world is not our home. But while we are in this world, even when faced with death, divorce, tragedy and pain, we can experience God’s peace. A peace that will make absolutely no sense to anyone around us.
In verse 6, Paul begins by commanding – “Be anxious for nothing.” We are not to have anxiety. We are not to have worry. We are not to have fretfulness and fear. No matter what our situations, there is no need to be anxious.
Worry and fear can do much harm. When we worry we lose sight of the Lord and His providential working; we lose focus on the Lord and His revealed Will and we are tempted to handle our circumstances and situations with fleshly wisdom and fleshly strength; we lose focus and try to correct the external circumstances when, perhaps, our circumstances were meant by the Lord to correct our inner-self; we get distracted from carrying-out the Lord’s purpose and plan for our lives; we lose sight of the Lord’s goodness and our blessings and we are tempted to become negative and ungrateful; we take our eyes off the One who is the only source of true and lasting peace.
Paul tells us, in Verse 7, that “the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
We can experience perfect inward peace in the midst of the most trying circumstances and severe tribulations. The peace of God can provide that immense blessing.
Paul gives four keys to peace of mind.
1. Prayer
Paul says, in Verse 6, “In everything by prayer and supplication…let your requests be made known to God.”
We need to take everything to the Lord in prayer, however great or small. We need to tell God exactly what we want changed. If it is not an unrighteous desire, we need not be timid in stating our requests.
Once we have made our requests known in faith, we need to wait patiently for answer. God always answers prayers.
2. Thanksgiving
The second key to acquiring Divine peace is also found in verse 6. Paul says that we are to submit our requests along “with thanksgiving.” We need to thank Him for present blessings. No matter how distressing or harsh may be our current circumstances or situation;we can acknowledge that we are enjoying many Divine blessings right now.
3. Dwell on the Positive
The third key to peace of mind is partially connected to the second we need to dwell on the positive. Paul commands, in verse 8, “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.”
I tend to believe that this is the key to our having peace of mind where we fail most. Too often we allow our minds to dwell on the negatives in our lives than on the positives.
With God being with us, for us and working in our lives for our betterment, we should be the most optimistic and positive people on planet Earth.
4. Obedience to God’s Word
The last key to enjoying Divine peace of mind is striving to obey the teachings of the New Testament. Paul says, in verse 9, “The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you.”
There are three ways that obedience leads to peace.
A. If we obey God’s Word, we will avoid many difficulties in this life that bring unnecessary heartaches.
B. True peace comes when we know in our hearts and minds that we are doing all that we can to please God.
C. The more we take our focus off ourselves – our troubles, our difficulties – and focus on how we can make life brighter for someone, our minds will be liberated.
These are the four keys to inward peace presented by the Apostle Paul:
Prayer, Daily Thanks Giving, Dwelling on the Positive and Obedience to the Lord’s Commandments.
I would strongly exhort each one of us to put thought and effort into applying these four keys to our daily lives. The God of peace wants us to enjoy His peace.
“Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance.”2 Thessalonians 3:16

Krikor Youmshajekian