Christian Living

The God of Peace Will Be With You

by Thomas Kirkpatrick
09/24/21
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“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, 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, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:4-9)

In the present time, as it’s always been, so much is going on, our joy has become distracted. It is true for all, but it can be a tool for the adversary to use against the Christian follower. Distraction from the practice of our faith would be the purpose of Satan, who will deploy any means to destroy. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” (John 10:10). We are in a hot war with Satan, with his minions and all the evil spiritual forces at his hand. Even more, we are in a cold war with the world and those who have rejected the truth of God’s Word.

In this passage from the Apostle Paul, we can learn some truths of God’s Word that will help us remain focused on our Lord, stay the course He has set before us, and have peace in these times of trial. First, we see we are to rejoice and then repeatedly rejoice. Rejoicing is reviving the joy that we have found in knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. We revisit the extreme joy we had when we know that our sins have been forgiven, when we realize that death no longer waits at the door, His righteousness is ours, and we can enter into His Kingdom.

We are not talking about happiness, which is determined by our happenstances. When things are working our way, when everything we have planned falls into place when our emotions are high, and a feeling of euphoria controls our mood, we are happy. The slightest thing can shatter that feeling and toss us into a state of unhappiness. Our joy does not come from outside but from the inner parts and rises to the outer parts. The heart that has Jesus ruling from the throne is a heart filled with joy.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” There is a good reason to rejoice and then rejoice again. I have met some that have said to me, “Yeah, I have read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I’ve read the book and do not need to reread it.” The Holy Spirit authors the Bible, and the Spirit is an infinite God with an Infinite message to the Children of God. Some have committed to reading a chapter a day, and they are blessed with new truths each day. I know one man who has committed to reading thirteen chapters a day, and He is one of the most spiritually mature people I know. I am always amazed by his wisdom. Then there is junior me, who reads a verse a day over and over. In His grace at some point in the day, the Lord will give me a use for the lesson I have learned. We read and read in repetition to be sharp and use its truth when the need comes.

Living the Christian life is a defense against the worldly way. The Word of God is the power of creation, and the Christian needs that in their spiritual arsenal. When I was learning the piano, I had to practice my scales, in school, I had to practice my times tables. And in life, I have to practice God’s Word. Knowledge comes from understanding and wisdom from practice, and practice is the repetition of God’s Word. We live by God’s Word, as life is in the Spirit, and to stop growing in the Word is to quench the Spirit. To know Jesus and to grow in His likeness bring peace amid trials of this world. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

What is peace? I have a definition that I believe is correct. I’ll tell you what peace is not first. I was born during the Korean War. Soon after my arrival, the war ended, and everyone said we were at peace. I wasn’t in the war, and one of my favorite moves was “Pork Chop Hill” a war movie. I came of age during the Viet Nam war, but the years between were hardly peaceful. Peace is not a lack of conflict. My father was not publicly political, but in private, life was very political. He said something to me that is very true to this day. So it is nothing new when I say we no longer have people giving us the news, but their opinion of what the news is as if we could not reach the right conclusion. Everyone has a right to their own opinion, but when it’s used to divide instead of uniting for the common good, I feel it is a bit treasonous. Living in this divided atmosphere is not only dangerous; it is also not peaceful. It creates strife between our families of fellow Americans. Some have grown in dysfunctional families and know that our greater family, America, is without peace.

Even if all that is tailorable, the greater evil is resident within our very souls. I have heard it said and have listened to it being said the world cries for peace, and no peace is to be found. The sad news is there will never be peace in this world as long as our greatest enemy is alive and well. The enemy for me is me, and the enemy for you is you. There can be no peace until each of us has peace from within. I remember to punch line, “the Devil made me do it.” That’s good for a laugh, but it is not really true.

I have this way of understanding humanity’s history. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and then He formed the crown of creation humanity. God said it was good, and all creation, including man, was in harmony with God’s will and purpose. Then that serpent of old, Satan, come and tempted man that he too could be as God. The man gave in to the temptation and disobedience to God’s Word fractured all of creation with sin entered into the world. We could talk about that for a long time, but this is my point. In the beginning, humanity was in harmony with their Heavenly Father and His creation. After the fall to sin, humanity was orphaned.

Orphaned humanity no longer had a relationship with their Heavenly Father, as sin was a barrier between them. The man could no longer walk with God, could no longer converse with God face to face. God had a restoration plan, but until its Revelation, there would be no peace. Evil had entered the world at the desire of fractured hearts of humanity. One of the purposes of God sending His Son, Jesus, was to provide a way to restore the broken peace in the hearts of humanity. We live in a world that fills our hearts with the rubbish of the world’s wisdom. What humanity says is right and true is opposing what truth, the Word of God the Creator, is. Worldly wisdom comes from the father of lies, the deceitful one Satan himself. Anything he can do to distract from the truth will be done to battle for the souls of all humanity.

I know we live in a microwave world where multitasking is a needed talent. We fill our minds with so much thinking it will better our futures only at the end time find it was useless clutter. Regardless of what we think, so think about it, if we filled our minds with fruitful truth that will benefit us where the most time will be spent, eternity, then what is the better use of effort? If what we fill our minds with has no value here, then fill our minds with truth and force the garbage out. “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, 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, dwell on these things.”

The primary attribute of God is love. All of creation and humanity were created in the context of God’s love. Every word of God was written before the beginning in the context of God’s love. The world lives in the common Grace of God’s love. Humanity cannot figure out how the known universes holds together, but God created it and holds it together by His love. His Church has held together by having the like-mindedness of Jesus and His love. With God’s love comes peace. “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” (John 14:27)

The Christian longs for His Kingdom to come, which we should, as this is where we want to be. God’s purpose is to place the Kingdom in our hearts, which it should be. The Christian cries for peace as the world cries. If we live as we are in His Kingdom now, as we are, then the world which has rejected the truth will see the truth of His Kingdom in us. They may reject it, and that’s on them, but some will want it, and we can plant the seeds of His truth and pray that God will cause growth. They may find it while it is day, and our prayers will be answered. We are to love our neighbor that they, too, can find peace here and in the world to come. Boldly and with courage, as God’s peace will abide in us. “The God of peace will be with you.”

Thomas N Kirkpatrick

First Baptist Church of Durant, August 17, 2020