Peace Between Us

We have been looking at the topic of peace over the last two Sundays.  The first week we looked at the peace that Jesus gives to those who believe on him.  Last week we looked at the lack of peace that the world has.  Today we are going to deal with relationships between believers.  Why do believers sometimes not get along? 

This is the question that James dealt with in Chapter 4.  Although he is writing to Jewish believers who had been scattered abroad, it is a good word for all believers who find themselves in the midst of conflict or worse fights.  A conflict is not a fight necessarily, but it can become one quick if our hearts are not in the right place.  This seems to be the case in James 4.  These believers are not just having basic conflicts; they are having all out wars.  What that looked like is not spelled out.  But the words that are used to describe it imply it was pretty bad.  Let’s look at what James has to say.

The Source Of Strife Between Believers Is Within Me

James starts out by asking what the source of the quarrels is.  However, it is a rhetorical question.  James knows full well and expects that the believers should know as well.  Notice the words he uses to describe their conflicts: wars, fights, murder, and covet.  It seems hard to believe that they actually had wars and murders.  So I suspect that these are being used to describe the ugliness of what was going on and the spiritual damage it was doing.  The carnage of a war and murder in the natural was the best description that James could use to picture what was happening spiritually with them.

Surprise, surprise, surprise!  The source is conflicting desires in my heart.  The same is true for the other person, but you will notice in this passage that James focuses on the problem not “the other person.”  When there is fighting, I need to fix me not the other person.

So what are these conflicting desires or lusts that are at war inside of me?  These are the desires of your flesh.  Your mind wants to be noticed, right all the time, and preeminent.   Your mouth wants to talk, and eat good food.  We also have sexual desires, relational desires, etc…  All of these strong desires cannot be satisfied all the time and at once.  Thus they are continually at war to be on top.  That is, if we let it become like that.  We can bring those desires under control and have peace inside.  But when we fail to do so the inner war eventually erupts into war with others.

James points out that, instead of looking to God for their desires, they try to obtain them from others through force.  This spirit is not of Jesus.  He did not act this way.  He trusted God.  Yet, in verse 3 we see that even when one of them per chance prayed, their prayers were self-centered and pleasure focused.   In fact, literally James says that their prayers were sick, ill, and wrong.  The New King James Version translates it as “asking amiss.”  But the point is stronger than this.  Can I be honest with myself and recognize that my inner life can be a seething cauldron of conflicting lusts if I let it? 

This Strife Is Serious

Verses 4-6 lay out the seriousness of this situation.  It is not just a little problem.  James uses two word pictures to show this.  The first word picture is that of marriage.  Believers are wed to Christ and are called his bride.  However, when we fight with each other over the desires of our flesh then we are being unfaithful to Jesus.  James calls it adultery.  If you were guarding a faithful love towards Jesus then you wouldn’t be having such ugly conflicts.  Sure you will still have conflicts, but you would work them out without spiritually murdering each other.

The second picture is that of war.  In any war, you are on one side or the other.  Thus the unfaithfulness is demonstrated in a measure similar to Judas.  You may be with Jesus and be called one of his disciples.  But, have you become a betrayer and an enemy of God?  To be in love with the world more than in love with God puts us on the wrong side.  God is coming to judge the world that gives itself to self-pleasure and gives no thought for him.  No matter how religious our life looks like a love for the world will destroy us spiritually and make us enemies of God.

In verse 5, James reminds them that just as they have strong desires for fleshly things, God has strong desires too.  God strongly desires to have intimacy with both parties in the battle.  When we “shoot to kill” in conflict we step on God’s toes and put our finger in his eye.  Will he not deal with us?  Thus we need to drop pride and embrace humility.  If we don’t humble ourselves God will.  Isn’t it easier to humble yourself and receive God’s grace, rather than to persist in pride and get whacked?

The Submission Needed To End The Strife

In today’s world submission is worse than a 4-letter word.  James tells them they need to submit to God.  The word “submit” is the picture of a soldier who is not in formation or even AWOL.  Instead of doing what they are supposed to be doing, they are doing their own thing.  Submission is when we put our self back under the direction of another.  When we fight with each other we are rebelling against God and doing our own thing.  Instead of “resisting” (fighting) the devil, we fight against each other.  God has not called us to fight flesh and blood, but rather to take our stand against the devil and his schemes.

James gives several practical instructions.  First draw near to God.  Our unfaithfulness to God can only be fixed by turning back towards him.  Quit loving the world and start loving God again.  Don’t just say you love Jesus.  Jesus didn’t put himself first.  He submitted to his father in heaven.  Do you really love him?  Then draw near to him.

Next is Cleanse your hands.  It is parallel with the third phrase, “purify your hearts.”  However the hands are a picture of our outer life.  It represents what we do.  To cleanse our hands is to change what we are doing with them.  Quit the outer displays of fighting with your brothers and sisters.  Then start on those things in the heart that are leading to these outbursts of wars.

Next he tells them to quit laughing and start mourning and weeping.  Not laughing is evil.  But rather it has to do with the situation.  When a war is going on, you don’t sit around laughing it up.  God is weeping when we fight.  Am I weeping about that?  Or do I only weep because I didn’t get what I wanted?

The final thing is that we need to humble ourselves.  Leave your exaltation and the satisfaction of your desires to God.  Trust him and he will exalt you at the right time.  Perhaps I can’t handle exaltation in this life.  If so then God may wait till the life to come to give it to me.  Am I fine with that?  Jesus was.  It is time for us to surrender our hearts desires to the Lord and fall in love with the heart and mind of Jesus once again.

Peace Between audio

No Peace For The Wicked

Though Jesus has given his peace to his followers, this does not mean that the earth itself will experience peace.  We have to bear in mind that this is a world in rebellion against God.  Yes, Jesus provides peace.  But it is peace with those who embrace him.  Just as Israel rejected Jesus, so the nations today reject Jesus.  There is no place for Jesus in their plans and the only reason their politics make room for him is to get his the votes of his people.  This is precisely why this world cannot create a lasting peace.  When you reject the Prince of Peace then you forfeit its presence.

The believers in the Greek city of Thessalonica were concerned about the timing of the Day of the Lord.  This was a technical phrase that the prophets used to refer to a day when God comes down to judge all the nations of the world and set up his own kingdom.  Paul had taught the Thessalonians that Jesus would return a second time and when he did he would judge the nations.  However in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, Paul basically pushes past the question of when the second coming will happen and moves onto more important matters.  So here is the first main point.

The World Will Not Be Expecting It When God’s Judgment Comes

In verse one Paul quickly dismisses the timing issue.  In short we really don’t need to know what date Jesus is coming back.  However, in verse two he turns to how it will come upon the world, “like a thief in the night.”  Then in verse three he lays out more specifics of how it will come upon the world.  This world will be caught by surprise even though prophets, the church and Jesus have warned that judgment is coming.  In Matthew 24 and 25, Jesus warned over and over again that his coming would be unexpected.  In fact, it won’t just be unexpected by the world but it will also come at a time that even Christians wouldn’t think (Mt. 24:36,44).  Thus he tells his followers to watch and always be ready so that the day doesn’t take them by surprise.  It will be a surprise in the sense of the timing.  But it shouldn’t be a surprise for believers in the sense that they won’t be ready.  Are you ready?

The reason the timing is not important is because it is better for us not to know.  If we knew a time then the generations before would be lazier and the witness of the gospel would be impacted.  God’s wisdom desires that each generation live ready for the coming judgment.

Paul gives a word picture of a thief in the night.  Jesus will come like a thief in the night.  Now Jesus is not a bad thief.  However in both situations if you are not ready then you stand to lose all that you have.  This world hasn’t given a second thought about the coming of Jesus.  It has plowed on amassing wealth, power, projects and knowledge.  However, when Jesus comes back all of this will be lost and for nothing.  Thus it will be like a thief.  His coming will ruin all their hopes.

We are receiving further warnings today.  First the gospel has practically gone to all the nations.  Also, we see a growing apostasy from the truth within the church.  Also, we see a continual increase of wickedness in all nations of the world.

The World Will Claim That Peace And Safety Have Come.

Everyone claims that they have the answer for peace.  The Muslims say that they will bring peace when the West is deposed and everyone agrees with them.  The West says that it will bring peace through its philosophical reasonings.  Whether religions or nations, there are many vying philosophies that claim to be an answer for mankind.  Will such a peace ever be created?  In verse 3 Paul points to the fact that the world will say, “Peace and Safety!”  Notice it is not clear whether they are saying it has been obtained or that it is within their grasp.  Perhaps like Neville Chamberlain in WWII they have achieved peace on paper.  Regardless, this declaration of peace and safety will trigger destruction.  Think of the sadness of this predicament.  The world rejects God in order to create its own safety and peace.  However,  just when they think they have achieved it, boom!  The rug is pulled out from under them, which leads us to the last point.

The World Will Instead Experience Ruin And Destruction

The collapse of the imagined peace will be the destruction of the nations and all their great plans.  This destruction will be a mixture of man-caused things and God-caused things.

Here Paul inserts another word picture.  A pregnant woman who begins to have labor pains has been lived and watched ever since the beginning.  Paul says that the destruction will come like labor pains upon a woman.  Thus the suddenness is more about the beginning rather than the duration.  It begins suddenly but lasts longer than a second.  Second of all, the pains increase with intensity as they decrease in the amount of time in between them.  So the pains come quicker and quicker and become harder and harder.  However, the world is not giving birth to something good.  It is giving birth to its own destruction and judgment.  Does it not seem, in this day and age, that major disasters and pains on the earth are coming quicker and quicker?  Does it not see, today, that they are also becoming worse and worse?  Isn’t it time to rebel against the rebellion before it is too late?

Isaiah 57:19-21 says, “’I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near,’ says the Lord, ‘And I will heal him.’  But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.  ‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked.’”

The message of Christ is peace, just as the angels proclaimed at his birth: “peace on earth goodwill towards men.”  However, this peace has been rejected by the world and cast aside.  Thus God offers peace to him who is near and him who is far off.  Basically that means anybody.  But to the wicked, those who reject this offer and persist in their own way, there can be no peace.

If you desire peace today then you are going to have to save yourself from this wicked generation.  You are going to have to leave the rebellion behind, walk away from the revolution, and turn back in repentance towards God.  The last words Paul gives are serious: “They shall not escape.”  Think about the futility of that statement.  No matter what this world tries it is all impotent to change the future we are headed towards.  Peace will only come when Jesus is ruling on this earth.  The fact that he isn’t here yet means that grace is still available for us and for the lost.  Do we even care?  Just know this.  Jesus cared and if we love him we will care too.

No Peace Wicked audio

Peace in Troubled Times

Historically there have always been times of fighting, whether between nations, clans, or individuals.  Even when one place is relatively peaceful, there is somewhere else where trouble has broken out.  It is important for us to also realize that the peace we may have in our little world is not guaranteed tomorrow.

In John 14 Jesus knew that he and his disciples would be going through some difficult times.  He was preparing them for the inevitable times of turmoil and trial ahead.  We really need to pay attention to what Jesus says here because it is the same thing that will enable us to make it through the difficulties of our day.

Ultimately this passage is about the peace that we can have in Jesus no matter what is going on around us.

The Peace Of Jesus Is Our Inheritance

In verse 27 Jesus says that he is leaving his peace with them.  This picture of him going away but leaving something behind is that of a death and inheritance.  When a person makes a last will and testament, they describe who gets the things that they leave behind.  Hebrews 9 makes use of this metaphor by telling us that it was necessary for Jesus to die in order for his “will” to be carried out.  We are the recipients of the riches of Christ because he has died for us.  Jesus did not die intestate.  That is, he did not die without a will.  Part of that inheritance is his peace.  However in the case of Jesus, he is alive to ensure that his will is correctly carried out.  Now it is important for us as believers to realize that the peace of Jesus is a very real thing.  He has given it to us so that we might not be troubled by this world.  If we don’t have peace then we need to look into the reasons why.  It cannot be that somehow the Holy Spirit is keeping it from us. 

Now the language used of this peace is very personal.  Jesus said “my” peace.  This was the peace that he personally experienced and enjoyed.  It was a peace that was based upon the foundation of the intimate relationship Jesus had with the Father.  Because he has loved us and drawn us into an intimate relationship with himself, we can enjoy the same peace that Jesus had.  The Father loves the Son and the Son loves us.  Therefore the Father also loves us and we should love the Father.  This is the source of our peace.  However, it is also the peace of Jesus because it is the peace that he has created.  When Jesus died for our sins, he made peace between us and the Father whom we have offended with our sins.  Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

It is also true that because we have peace with the Father and thus an emotional peace, so we can be at peace with other believers.  We have nothing to prove because we both are acceptable to the Father.  We can rest in His love and acceptance in Jesus.

Thus our peace is not based upon currently visible circumstances.  In that moment Jesus was being betrayed by Judas and would soon be railroaded in a kangaroo court and unjustly executed.  However, in spite of all this, it would be possible for the disciples to have peace because their acceptance by the Father hasn’t changed.  No matter what the present earthly reality is it cannot change the heavenly reality that God loves you and has adopted you into his family.  If He allows something to happen that is unpleasant then we can trust that he is working it out to a greater good.  Just as Jesus was put to death on a cross and yet great good has come out of it.

The Peace Of Jesus Is Not Of This World

Just as this peace is not based upon the circumstances of this world, so too, it is not given by this world.  No governmental army has obtained it for us and thus no governmental powers can take it away.  O, we can lose our peace, but it is not because of the circumstances.  It is because we have quit trusting and believing.  This world obtains peace through the objects of its desires: wealth, power, fame.  But all of these can be taken away in a heartbeat.  Don’t let fear rob you of your inheritance of peace.  Always remember that the things that make for your peace are not of this world and thus nothing in the world can take it away.

The Peace Of Jesus Should Affect Our Hearts

Jesus uses several terms that speak to how his peace is meant to affect our hearts.  The first word is troubled in verse 27.  Our hearts can be troubled, stirred  up, agitated by the events of this world.  Jesus knows what it is like to be troubled.  In John 13:21 Jesus was troubled as he approached his coming betrayal.  It troubled his heart that he had loved Judas and yet Judas was about to betray him.  Nevertheless, “Thy will be done.”  Jesus had peace because he was secure in his relationship with his father in heaven.  Are you secure in your relationship with Jesus and thus the Father?  Don’t let your heart be agitated and stirred up into turmoil in this area.

The second word is Fear.  Often it is fears that agitate and trouble our heart.  Fear not only steals our courage but it builds a spirit of timidity within us when trouble threatens us.  Jesus does not desire you to be ruled by fear and a troubled heart.  Instead he has far better things in mind.

The third word leaves the negative and moves to the positive, “Joy” (in verse 28).  Jesus points to our relationship with him.  If you love me you would rejoice.  Our joy is directly tied to our love of Jesus, not our accompanying Jesus.  Judas was with Jesus but he had no peace, nor joy.  The other disciples however came to know the peace and joy of Jesus.  When Jesus was resurrected it was meant to assure our hearts that we can be confident in God’s love of us.  This is a cause for great rejoicing.  Each day we can walk in the joy that the same power that resurrected Christ from the dead is working on our behalf as well.  Wow!

The fourth word, in verse 29, is faith.  Jesus told them in advance about his going away and available peace so that when it happened they would believe.  The word “believe” is the verbal form of Faith.  If agitating and troubling things come into your life then realize that God is going to use it to bring a greater joy to you.  Even death itself becomes a toothless enemy when you are loved by the Lord of Life.  Who, by the way, has personally guaranteed that he will resurrect your body in a glorified form.  Jesus said that if he went away then he would surely return so that we can be with him.  These are the things we can believe in because of the resurrection.

Let me close by pointing out four barriers to our peace.  If we are ignorant of what Jesus has done and made available for us then we can miss out on the peace he intends us to have.  However, if we do know but don’t believe then our unbelief will rob us of that peace.  Another barrier is sin. Our own sin robs us of confidence in God’s love and the sin of others often offends us.  Offended people do not like to let go of the offense.  As long as you cling to the offense you will lack peace.  Lastly the deceptive thoughts, ideas, and doctrines of the enemy can delude us and lead us away from the true peace we are meant to have in Jesus.  So be at peace in Jesus it is the inheritance that he has left for YOU!

Peace in troubled times audio

The Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, Part 3

We have seen how Matthew 16 and Matthew 18 demonstrate the Keys to the Kingdom that Jesus has given to his church.  First, the truth about God and His Son Jesus and, second, How believers and the church as a whole deal with sin.

There are no other passages that tie into the terminology of these passages to suggest other keys.  However, it is easy to see how many aspect become "key" to helping people into the Kingdom of Heaven.  Love and humility in all we do is Key.  Mercy and Grace are also Key.   But these things are the how to the above whats.  Today I want to tie together some concluding thoughts on this subject by starting in Luke 11.

The Old Testament Saints Had The Key of Knowledge

The key to the kingdom of heaven was not a new thing.  God had already given it to Israel in his Law and then reminded of it through his prophets.  The problem was that the religious leaders kept missing the point because of their sin.  In Luke 11 starting in verse 52, Jesus holds the religious "lawyers" accountable for taking away the Key of knowledge.

This knowledge that they had been given was about who the Creator was and how men could please him.  Clearly the Law was misunderstood.  The religious leaders who were responsible to interpret the law for the people improperly used the law to build up their own traditions or ideas.  They ignored the warnings and revelations of the prophets and instead fixated on a technical keeping of the law.  In fact they didn't even do that well.  It is important for us to understand that the Law that God gave Moses was to help us understand who He is and what He desires of us.  It is the very words and judgments of God.  Thus it is not something that we can twist and manipulate looking for loopholes and technicalities.  When we do this we are shaping God in our own image, our own thinking.  This is a political attitude that is not only found in courtrooms but also in the halls of government today.

The lawyers showed their true self once they were rebuked by Jesus.  The Bible says, "Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you, rebuke a wiseman and he will love you."  Of course Jesus' job is to reveal the true self of these hypocritical posers.  Luke says that they began to assail him vehemently.  Not only at that time, but also from that time forward, they did not listen to what he said.  They only watch him like a hungry wolf for any point of weakness in which they might attack.  Doesn't that just about sum up politics and the courtroom here in America?  I am not judging everyone.  However, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize that politics and justice in this country has become a bunch of posers who do not debate.  Rather they look for loopholes and leverage points in the law and the words of each other in order to better their position.  This will not work with God.  He will not be mocked by our psuedo sophistry, or our false wisdom.  We will be held accountable and believe me we know too much.

The attitude of the lawyers is that of a dog in the door.  I don't mean the lazy dog picture.  But rather the pit bull that stands in front of the door barking and foaming at the mouth.  They don't go in but rather stand at the door keeping everyone from getting in.  Their is a need for religious leaders, but not those who make a mockery of the Truth of God, not those who attack anyone who tries to really know God.

So the Old Testament saints had enough knowledge to enter the Kingdom. However, the religious leaders had so confused the issue that God had to send Jesus to clarify and give greater definition to the truth.

By Faith We Already Live in Christ's Kingdom

In Colossians chapter 1 verse 13 we have a powerful verse.  "He [God] has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love."  This is a picture of a military incursion.  Although it is not a physical airlifting from one country to another, that is the picture spiritually.  We once were in a kingdom of darkness and ignorance to the Truth of God.  But now through the life, miracles and teaching of Jesus we have been airlifted into a kingdom of light that is ruled by the Son of God's love.  Yes we are physically in this world, but spiritually we are not of it.  We are of a heavenly kingdom.  That kingdom will one day physically come to earth.  But until then we spiritually participate in it now through our faith in Jesus.  Jesus told the pharisees of his day that they would not see the kingdom of heaven come.  Rather it would be in the hearts of people.  That is where we have been for nearly 2,000 years.  However, he is not saying that it will never "really" come, that it was only meant to be spiritual.  So we are to live today in the light of a future kingdom.

What does kingdom living look like?  In Galatians 5:6 it says, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love."  The first thing I would point out is that Kingdom living does not fixate on the technicalities of God's Law but rather looks to the spirit of what is being said.  That doesn't mean we don't obey it.  However, we don't stop there.  Rather, we realize that the rejection of sexual immorality speaks of a deeper rejection of spiritual harlotry, adultery and promiscuity. 

Instead of working on a list of do's and don'ts, our faith in Jesus expresses itself in loving actions towards God and our fellow man.  This is the life God has called us to.  A life that is lived with an ear to the Spirit of God who is the Spirit of Truth.  The previous method of technicalities and loopholes may look godly, but it is empty and powerless to accomplish anything spiritually.  However the life that is lived by faith expressing itself through loving actions, this life is the life that pleases God and transforms our life.  It is powerful because the Spirit of God is within it.

Here are some practical thoughts for Christians.  Make sure you have fully entered into the Kingdom of Heaven.  Challenge yourself by looking into the mirror of God's word.  Have I been a dog in the door towards others?  Have used technicalities and loopholes to my advantage and yet disadvantaged others with them?  Have I judged others strictly and yet hypocritically justify myself at every turn?  God is not pleased with such actions and calls us to repent and walk by faith in Jesus Christ and in the power of His Spirit.

Another challenge for us is to not trust the mind of man.  No matter how brilliant a theologian is, we must trust God's Word over the top of man's attempt to explain it.  The Rabbi's were very creative and brilliant in their analysis of the law and the creation of traditions.  However, they were completely off track.  They missed it.  Don't turn God's word into a document that you can twist and find technicalities in.  Don't look for loopholes and what you can get away with.  Instead see it as a glimpse into the heart of God.  God has revealed his heart and we need to respond in faith through the actions of love rather than looking for was around it.

Keys to the Kingdom P3 Audio