Every year the Nobel Peace Prize is given to the person who has done the most to promote world peace. Alfred Nobel—who amassed a fortune from his patent of nitroglycerin—in his will, stated that the prize should be awarded by a committee of five in the presence of the King of Norway. The Nobel winner receives a diploma, a medal and $1.2 million. Notable winners include the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa. Every year they give a prize for these kinds of peace promoters. We could use more peace promoters because we sure can use more peace considering last week’s events:
Nineteen children and two teachers were killed at yet another school shooting, this time, Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. The shooter, an 18-year-old armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, shot his grandmother first.
Nineteen first-responders waited outside the classroom where the shooting was taking place for nearly an hour before taking the shooter out.
Thirty minutes before the Uvalde shooting, ten-year-old Lexi Rubio received her all-A honor roll award. Her parents told her, “We love you. We will pick you up after school.” Her father, Felix Rebio, a deputy sheriff, would return to the school sooner than expected to answer an, “Active shooter” call. He would learn Lexi’s last day of school was Tuesday, 11a.m., not Thursday as planned for her and her classmates.
Joe Garcia, after hearing the news of his wife, Irma—one of the slain teachers, dropped dead of a heart attack. The death toll rose to 20.
Only a week ago, a racially motivated gunman shot and killed ten people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
There have been 212 mass shootings so far in the United States this year.
Five of the worst mass shootings have been in Texas. This weekend, Texas will host the NRA convention.
As in all the recent mass shootings, the Uvalde shooting followed a familiar pattern: an enormous outpouring of public sympathy, then political outcries for tougher gun control, next the intractable partisan defense of the untouchable 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, and finally, the all too frequent call for moments of silence.
A week like this leaves you with more than another call for moments of silence, but also moments of questions: where’s the peace? Is peace even possible?
Maybe the question is not where’s the peace but, where are the promoters of a different peace. Not all peace is the same. According to John 14:27, there is a peace the world gives, promoted by committees, counties and kings—a temporary peace. Then there is a peace that surpasses all understanding, promoted and provided by the Spirit of the prince of peace.
Where do you find this surpassing peace?
We see this peace in the Fruit of the Spirit of Galatians 5:23, 24. It is one of the nine qualities every believer is to possess and promote in their Christian walk—qualities of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control bestowed on the Church on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. John 14: 27 helps us face the realities of an uncertain peace of the world, like that witnessed in Uvalde.
Turn to John 14:27. In our summer series: Got Fruit—It Does a Body Good, we will inspect peace. First, we will see what is this surpassing peace. And second, we see how we can possess and promote this peace that cannot be taken away by a bullet. This peace speaks instead of moments of silence.
First, we see this peace that surpasses is a Christ-given peace different from the world’s peace. Look at part “a” of our primary text, John 14:27:
27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. John 14:27a
This peace is a Christ-given peace. It come via the Holy Spirit as seen one verse earlier:
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. John 14:26
The Christ-given peace, Eirene, in John 14:27, is a surpassing peace rooted in the Old Testament concept of peace—shalom. This is not the absence of conflict as the Greeks viewed peace, but is a Hebrew view of a positive peace—a confidence in the midst of conflict because of a right relationship with God.
David had this confident peace as he “walked through the valley of shadow of death” with God in Psalm 23. Death is a mere shadow when God was with you.
Paul and Silas had this confident peace as they “sang songs of praise at midnight” when they were in a Philippian jail for proclaiming Christ. An earthquake shook their chains free.
Jesus had this confident peace as He spoke to the wind and the waves, “Peace, be still, ” as he rode out a storm. “Even the elements obeyed Him” because God was in the boat.
In contrast, the world’s peace is a borrowed peace, a temporary absence of conflict, war and trouble. It is a negative peace. The absence of fighting doesn’t mean that the combatants have changed their relationship with each other. There can be a peace treaty today, and then a full-scale war tomorrow. The world’s peace is a temporary truce. Why else would you explain why there have been 15 Middle East peace treaties since 1919? What happened in Uvalde was a temporary truce with violence—broken.
But Christ-given peace is a permanent peace because it is a purchased peace, paid by Christ on the cross and granted as a gift by His Spirit. It is not easily understood, but is taught to us by His Spirit to guard our hearts and minds according to Philippians 4:7:
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7
You may not understand what you are going through, but God’s got you…
When you lose that loved one, God’s guarding your heart from despair.
When you lose that troubled relationship, God’s guarding your heart from bitterness.
When you lose that church of former glory days, God’s guarding your heart from hopelessness.
Church, get peace given by Christ, rooted in a relationship with God. It is a permanent, purchased peace. It does the Body of Christ good because it guards your heart and mind for good even in the face the evil like that of a Uvalde shooter.
Secondly, this Christ given-peace does a body good because this peace cannot be taken away by the world. Look at part “b” of John 14:27.
27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. John 14:27b
The Christ-given peace cannot be taken away by fear and trouble. So don’t be paralyzed them. A shooter may take a breath, but he cannot take away your relationship with God. Instead, be on the offensive. Christ-given peace is not passive. It doesn’t mean do nothing, say nothing. This is not a time for a moment of silence, but a time to be a promoter of peace. To promote peace, you have to pursue peace according to 1Peter 3:11.
He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. 1PE 3:11
How do you pursue peace? Don’t get rope-a-doped by Satan into fighting evil with evil, to retaliate rather than reconcile. But do what brings good. Look what good the Fruit of the Spirit of peace brings: reconciliation, reunion, and renewal.
First, it brings reconciliation with God, a peace with God: We were once enemies with God and separated from Him because of our sins. But Jesus was our peacemaker according to 2 Corinthians 5:18,19. He reconciled your debt to God.
18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
Think of Christ as your CPA, working on your behalf for peace with God.
Got jailtime on your books, not in God’s book.
Got adultery on your books, not according to Christ’s accounting.
Got alcoholism, drug addiction on your books, not according to God’s ledger.
You are at peace with God because you owe nothing for your sins. Christ paid it all.
Second, we have reunion with others—a peace with people: This Christ-given peace gave us peace with each other. Through Christ, Jews who were enemies with Gentiles, are now one. The law separated Jew from gentile, but now Christ has fulfilled the law by his atonement on the cross. So we are reunited as one new man. Look at Ephesians 2:15:
15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace. Ephesians 2:15
Think of Christ as your Ancestry.com that shows your linage in Him:
Jew and Gentile are related
Black and white are brothers
Straight and LGBT are family
We all share the divine DNA of the Holy Spirit and His Fruit of peace.
Finally, the third benefit from the Fruit of the Spirit of peace is peace with ourselves through Christ. According to II Corinthians 5:17, we can let go of the past. We are renewed.
2 Corinthians 5:17 17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Think of Christ as your TSA agent. Some things you can unpack because it won’t make His flight:
Unpack your prideful past. Only humility will get a boarding pass.
Unpack your promiscuity. Former lusts are on the no-fly list.
Unpack prejudice. Everybody flies first class.
Reconciliation, reunion, renewal. That’s what you get with Christ-given peace. It cannot be taken away by a bullet. But this peace is not passive. To promote it, you have to actively pursue it. Do good because it does a Body good.
CONCLUSION
Peace does the Body good because this Christ-given peace is a surpassing peace—surpassing conflict to give us confidence based on our unconditional relationship with God. We can walk through the valley of the shadow of death with God. This peace guards our hearts against shooters, looters, and abusers. Second, this Fruit of the Spirit cannot be taken away because it a dynamic peace. You can do something about peace— by doing good. Pursue it.
This week may have led you to ask: Where is peace, is it possible? Yet another gunman shot and killed the innocent at an elementary school. But he cannot kill our peace with God, with others and with ourselves. This peace does a body good. So, be a peace-promoter even the more. No time for moments of silence. And you don’t need a prize from Nobel. You have the Fruit so you can sing with confidence: “It is Well”:
When peace like a river attendeth my way When sorrows like sea billows roll Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say It is well, it is well with my soul
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