“Peace” By Chris Ulrich August 11th,
2013 Titus 1:9 Holding fast the faithful word as he
hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to
convince the gainsayers. Well, I’m going to say this, that sound
doctrine is an anchor for our soul. The
Bible talks about not being blown about with every wind of doctrine. There’s a lot of different philosophies out
there; there’s a lot of different beliefs... It seems like every time you turn around,
there’s something new that pops up; there’s some new religion, there’s some new
philosophy... So many people think that
they have the answer, but, if you’re not going to the source, if you’re not
going to God, if you’re not going to Jesus Christ... Theses things aren’t
new. The book of Ecclesiastes says it
like this, “There is nothing new under the sun…” The goal today isn’t to try and scare anybody
or threaten anybody into thinking, “If I believe this, or if I believe
that...” It all comes back to, what is
it we are believing? we’re going to be
known by what we believe; God’s going to judge us according to our
actions. I like what you shared, Donna,
about your years in the ministry, and how you’re building up treasures in
Heaven. That’s a real thing, and, okay,
we’re going to accumulate some things as we go through life, whether it’s a
house, a car, picture albums, different hobbies that we had as time goes by,
but our goal shouldn’t be to accumulate massive amounts of wealth. I’ve got nothing against wealth. I’m not talking about that, but, we’ve got to
look at it like, are we accumulating treasures in Heaven, because, ultimately,
that’s what’s going to keep us. I
remember seeing this movie—actually, quite a long time ago—it was called,
“Citizen Kane.” It’s about this guy, and
he’s accumulating massive amounts of wealth, and belongings, and different
things, but, at the very, very end, there’s a scene where, on his deathbed, he
just speaks the word, “Rosebud.” Not
that that has too much meaning, but it ends up being something that was very
sentimental to him as a child, and something that really meant something, when
all these other things meant nothing.
even in his last days, it was something like, “What was it all for? What did it all benefit me?” Bob preached last week and one thing I
appreciate him mentioning is that we can’t gamble with our soul. Pastor Paine, our general pastor, spoke years
ago about how the stakes for our soul couldn’t be any higher. It wasn’t one of those—he used to say, “I’m
not preaching very evangelistically,” okay, whether you are or you aren’t, I’m
still going to listen. It was one of
those things where it was like a rain that just comes down and soaks into the
earth, gently, over time. You think
about it, years later—I’m not saying that I just thought about it for the first
time in fifteen years, it’s not like that.
But, you know what? the stakes for our souls are very high. what else is more important? The topic this morning is, “Peace.” I noticed that the very first song that we
sang this morning was, “Won’t you come and go with me, up to my Father’s house,
where there’s peace, peace, peace.” I
thought, “That’s appropriate. That’s a
good starting point.” I was looking up some different things
about peace, and the word peace appears 420 times in the Bible, Old and New
Testament. Peace, it’s just a word. When you think about it, it is just a word, but
there’s a lot more to it than just being a word. People want it so much they’re willing to
fight for it. Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding... There’s a big difference in our lives
when we have peace and when we don’t. I
venture to say that we’ve all experienced both, but anyone with a discerning
heart can see the difference. Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born,...and his
name shall be called...The Prince of Peace. I suppose that all of us at one time or
another have been asked or asked the question ourselves, “Do you have
peace?” Real peace is one of those
components of Christianity that is a very good barometer of where we’re really
at in God. If we’re sometimes
wondering—especially after we’ve gone on for a number of years—it’s one thing
to think, “I’m always right with God.”
It’s another to think, at the other extreme, “I’m never right with
God.” The truth is always somewhere in
the middle. I’m not talking about
standing in jeopardy, and I’m not talking about thinking, “I think I’m
okay—maybe I’m not okay.” Our walk with
God is not like that—there’s got to be more stability. There has o be confidence, but there also has
to be humility. we can’t be so
high-minded that we think, no matter what move we make, we’re okay. At the same time, we can’t have such low
self-esteem that we think we never do anything right. There’s got to be a balance in the middle,
and that’s where we need to live. Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall
be called the children of God. I want to let
those passages sink in a little as we continue on and ask a few questions Do we have peace
or not? If we don’t have it, how do get it? If we do have it, how do we keep it? What about those that claim to have it,
but we can see that their life is anything but peace? Remember those times in our own lives when we
knew we didn’t have it, and we sought after it?
That’s one of the big differences between knowing God, and just being
religious, or just being philosophical, or not having any ability to prove
where we really stand with God. I know
one thing—I think a lot of us can relate to this—years ago—and I’m sure this
still happens quite a bit—especially when we get down to the nitty-gritty, like
talking about sound doctrine—where we’re trying to share with somebody—and,
again, it’s not like we have some perfect understanding in and of ourselves; it’s
an understanding that comes from God, it’s written in the Bible—God’s given us
this plan of salvation; He’s given us His Word—a lot of times when we sit down
to share with somebody, and it’s like, “What do you know about the Bible? Are you interesting in knowing about Christ?”
Yes, they’re interested in knowing. Do you know what you need to do to be
saved? “Oh, I’ve already done that.” “Really?
Can you show me what you’ve done to get right with God?” and, a lot of
times, they have no idea. I’m thinking,
and I’m sure the thought goes through all of our minds, “The Bible talks about
proving all things.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
It’s also a matter of, I don’t want to just sit there and wonder. We can’t just sit and think, “Well, I think
I’m okay with God.” There’s no room for
disputing here, and that’s one of the big things about being right with God We have to have that confidence, and we have
to have that humility, but we also have to—the Bible says to study to show
ourselves approved unto God. Now, I know
that the world has several different ideas about peace, but I would just like
to share that, when I was growing up, does anybody remember this sign?
(flashing two fingers in a peace sign)
It means peace. There was a guy
that lived in my neighborhood; he was the local postmaster. He lived right down the street from us; he
had kids that were a little older than me and my brother. We’d see him driving by—we were maybe five or
six—and he’d always go like this (flashing peace sign) out the window. “What does that mean?” “Oh, it means
peace.” This guy, he had a vacant lot
right across the street from his house, and he would let us play baseball, and
we didn’t have to run over to house every time to ask. Did he know God? I really don’t know. I would say that different people have
different stances, or different ways of expressing peace. I’ve got to say, I look back on that as being
something right... I think about
that lot; I have fond memories. There were other people in the neighborhood
that were not quit as nice. I’ve shared
before about my brother and myself. We
can’t just pull the wool over people’s eyes and just say, “Okay, you’ve got
peace.” I’m not talking about trying to
forcefully convert people. I’m talking
about sharing; the Bible talks about instructing those that oppose themselves
(2 Timothy 2:25). We ourselves were in
that position at one time, where we were like, “Well, I don’t know what it
takes.” Everybody understands that
you’ve got to make decisions as you go.
Even before we knew God, whether it was a decision, “Okay, I’m going to
go to school today,” or, “I’m going to go to work today,” or, “I’m going to go
to this restaurant,” or whatever it is...
Once we actually find that peace, there is a big difference. In some ways, this message is for us to pass
on to others. I know who I’m talking to
here; I know that this is a room full of people that love God, that have
expressed the faith and that have, in many cases, years of serving Christ. It’ not like I’m coming to you and saying,
“Peace comes from God,” as if you didn’t know that. Now, maybe some that don’t know Christ, I’ll
say this without a shadow of a doubt, “It does come from God.” One thing is for sure, too many times, people
try to get their peace outside of God. I
want to add, we could be in tumultuous times, we could be in wartime—but I’m
talking about peace from within. The
Bible talks about we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12). There’s always been a war, whether it was
World War II or World War I or the War on Terror, or whatever it is nowadays,
politics, you could just go on and on and on, every time you turn around,
there’s some kind of conflict... Whether
it’s media-driven, whether it’s just something that we see in our
workplace. Whether it’s even in our own
family. Do we have peace? We have to examine ourselves because God
wants us to have it, there’s no question about that. I want to read this, and think about that this
is the Prince of Peace talking (especially in this first verse): Matthew 10:34-36 ...I came not to
send peace, but a sword... Now, that’s not something that I
want to hear. I think I can say that all
of us would feel that way. We see it,
and sometimes it’s a lot more pronounced than others—some have had extreme
conflict and difficulties with their own family, whereas—I’ll just say
this: My own family isn’t
religious. They’ve been supportive over
the years that I’ve been part of this ministry, and sometimes they’re just
thinking, “Okay, that’s good for him.” I
remember shortly after I got baptized, I was so excited, and I was thinking,
“Everybody’s going to want to know,” and, you know what? everybody does, but
not everybody’s willing. So, I wrote
about fifteen letters to friends and family, and I was expecting all these
responses like, “Oh, yeah, we’re definitely going to come down.”—I was in Matthew 10:37-39 ...he that loseth
his life for My sake shall find it. Those are strong words, and those aren’t
easy pills to swallow. I remember, Malcolm,
last week, you said something about, “Medicine usually doesn’t always taste that
great, but it has great benefits. The
thing about it is, we read different versions in the Bible, and it’s not always
what we want to hear, in fact, a lot of times, it’s really not what we want to
hear. But, am I going to feed my soul,
or am I going to feed my flesh? The
Apostle Paul said, “In me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.”
(Roman 7:18) I got to thinking about
that this morning and, that’s a fact.
Much as I would like to say, “Oh, no, no, that can’t be...” the Bible
says that every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the
LORD pondereth the hearts
(Proverbs 21:2). This might seem somewhat surprising,
especially after this talk about Christ being the Prince of Peace, but Jesus
Christ said He came not be bring peace, but a sword. So how is it that He can talk about a sword
of division? He’s talking about spiritual
warfare. It has been going on forever
and will continue until the end. This
isn’t something, again, there’s always some tension, I especially remember—I’m
going to share this: This is something
that, I was probably fifteen, I think, at the time, it was the height of the
Cold War, 1984 (I’m telling my age—so what?), but, I remember this one
particular night that, there had been a policy that the administration at the
time had started which was called, “Star Wars.”
That was basically a system that had satellites that could shoot down
incoming missiles, so... At the time, to
a fifteen year old kid, this kind of stuff is like, talk about not having
peace... But, I remember this one particular
night that, where we were at, it was probably eleven o’clock at night, and I
remember hearing this really loud explosion, and it sounded like it came from
the mountains nearby (they’re actually more hills). What happens is, at the beginning of a
nuclear strike, they have what’s called an electromagnetic pulse. That pulse destroys all of the electronics
and radar and I don’t know how it works...
I was thinking that we were under attack. I remember grabbing my parents’ car keys and
trying to start the car because I’m thinking, “If this doesn’t start, this is
happening!” Well, it didn’t start! Now I’m panicking. I’m running up, “The car won’t start! The car won’t start!” “Try it again!” So I tried it again, and the car did
start. Talk about being terrified, and
talk about not having peace. I’m talking
about just the outward—because that’s what it is; there’s going to be that
instability, there’s going to be that conflict.. I know it’s not a pleasant
thought, but I mean, I think we all remember 9-11 and how suddenly that
occurred. It had seemed like the Cold
War had ended and everything was hunky-dory.
Peace, peace, the Bible says, then comes sudden destruction (1
Thessalonians 5:3). I remember this one other time: This was a message in the late ‘80’s... I
remember there were some peace thoughts that were at a real heightened level,
and I was pretty new to the faith, and I remember reading that verse in
Thessalonians, right about the same time, there was an earthquake in John 16:32-33 ...These
things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace... So, that’s something that... it’s a
promise from God that we’re going to have tribulation in this world. You know what? He’s talking to everybody;
He’s not just talking to Christians.
There are people that are trying to avert the next terrorist
attack. They’ve closed down a lot of the
embassies in the last couple of weeks; the country’s on relatively high level
alert, and, will it happen? I don’t know.
It’s possible; it might, it might not.
Again, those are things on the outside.
We have to look at it like, “What about the inside?” We live in a society now that seems to
have tried to build a safety net into everything. How many have seen pictures of the guys
building the John 16:32-33 ...In the
world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the
world. That’s what we’ve got to look at,
saints. We have to look at it like this
is the only place that I’m going to be able to get peace. This is the only place where I’m going to be
able to keep peace. It is from God. Again, I want to mention that we should be
taking this to others, because we know this; we know that peace comes from
God. I understand that there’s visitors
here, and, for them, this may be something a little different, but I think that
even our visitors know that peace has got to come from God. There are a lot of safety nets, and, I’m
going to share this in closing: I’d
rather have peace than war. I’d rather
have an enjoyable time than decadence or challenges. Yeah, it helps us grow, don’t get me wrong,
it’s great to be able to overcome whatever struggle, or whatever conflict, or
whatever battle we’re facing... I
appreciate what you shared, Ken: There
was a guy that worked with Ken a few years back, and he had gotten diagnosed
with cancer. He had gone to the doctor,
and we had prayed for him, and others had, too.
He went to the doctor this past week, and the doctor said, “You don’t
have cancer.” Charlie Eskew—some of you
may know him, some not... I’m sure he’s
looking at it like, “I dodged a bullet.”
Truthfully, he’s going to be a lot more at peace knowing that, than he
would be at the other end of the scale.
I want to emphasize that I’d rather that we had peace on the outside and
on the inside, but there’s going to be times when we only have it on the
inside, and that’s what we’ve got to remember.
Thank you.
Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd |
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