“Therefore, having been justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans
5:1)
This is the third in a series on the “fruit of the Spirit,” a phrase used by Paul the Apostle
to describe the kind of people we are expected to be as Christians. According to
his words in Galatians 5:22, “peace” should be like
“fruit” growing in our lives! However, since we
live in a time when people are irritable, ambitious and rude, it’s a problem. In
the 21st century, we’re not very good at making peace. Charles Schultz, who was
the author of the famous comic strip, “Peanuts,”
said this: “I love mankind; it’s people I can’t stand!”
As a people, as a church, we tend to not grasp what
peace is all about. And we don’t understand how important this peace (or its
lack) is to Almighty God. In Jesus’ famous “Sermon on the
Mount,” He praised unlikely people, calling them “blessed”
in the sight of God. He commended the “poor in spirit…
those who mourn… the meek…
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…
the merciful… the pure in
heart… the peacemakers (and the)
persecuted for righteousness sake”
(Matthew 5:3-10). As to the “peacemakers” He said,
“they shall be called sons of God,” which does not
mean those in warlike jobs are barred from God’s kingdom.
There is much more to Jesus’ statements than pacifism because
even though He talked with a number of officers in the violent army of the Roman
Empire, he never told them they had to change careers. At one point He did tell
a rich man to give up his money (Matthew 19:20-21 & context), but when a
centurion, a Roman soldier in charge of 100 men, asked that “his servant” be healed, Jesus simply responded, “as you have believed, so let it be done for you” (Matthew
8:5-13). And the man went away blessed by the Lord.
It’s interesting that the Lord often chooses somewhat
flawed people on the basis of faith. For all Noah’s good
qualities, he was also quite human. A Great Flood had killed everyone he knew,
except for his immediate family. The world’s vegetation had been decimated and
the new growth did not remotely compare with the past. The stink of drowned,
decaying animals still drifted in the air. Whatever civilization, arts, music
and scientific achievement had existed before – it was gone. He accepted the
word of God that such a global flood would not happen again, but what was his
response? He had already decided to become a farmer and some of the seedlings
nurtured by him on the Ark began to bear fruit. Among them were grapes, which
ripened, then fermented and Noah “became drunk”
(Genesis 9:20-21). It's a surprising look at who he was.
God saw the danger that you and I would read about the
biographies of people in Scripture and think they were some kind
of Biblical giants, different from the rest of us. They were instead ordinary
men and women who had the same decision we have. Just like them, we can view the
events of our lives and the circumstances of this world and then make a choice:
We have the freedom to accept or reject the God who made us. Noah saw the
destruction of his world and though he committed human errors, he did right by
giving Himself and his family to the Lord. He had faith in God.
When the Lord said to Noah, “I
establish my covenant (contract) with you and with
your descendents after you…” (Genesis 9:9), Noah’s response was to
believe Him. We can see the man’s heart in places like Hebrews 11:7 – "By FAITH Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen,
moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which
he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according
to faith.” Noah saw massive destruction, but chose to BELIEVE in the
love, character, honor, and fairness of the Lord. A similar choice is offered to
you and to me.
This world has been judged, is being judged, and
humanity will be judged once and for all. Can you trust in the One who sees the
need to root out the sin that is in us? If there is a cancerous attitude in us that needs to be changed, will you accept that He knows what He is doing
in eradicating it from your life and the lives of your loved ones? In offering
His peace to you, He has begun the process of turning you into a “peacemaker.” Through Christ in us, the barriers between
God and man are eliminated, one at a time.
The Lord receives those who do wrong, changing them
for the good. Jonathan Aitken, a former Conservative Member of the British
Parliament, became Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 1994. It was a Cabinet
position and he was an important man. Just five years later, in 1999, he was
convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice. The trial was costly.
He declared bankruptcy and his marriage ended in divorce. He was incarcerated
for a total of seven months, but during that time he learned Greek and he
subsequently became a student of Christian Theology at Oxford University. Here’s
what he said about the beginning of his time in jail:
“I was in Chelsea police station
where I was charged with perjury and conspiracy to pervert public justice. I
spent the next five hours alone in a police cell, waiting for… fingerprinting
and photographs. I used that time to pray, to meditate and to read all sixteen
chapters of St. Mark’s Gospel, something I had long meant to do at one sitting.
This should have been a time of deep despair. The worst day of my life. Not so.
For I had such an overwhelming sense of God’s presence in the cell with me that
I was at peace.”
Jesus promised “peace” to
His disciples, and we learn from His words that peace is offered to all who
trust in the Lord. But it is an unusual peace. Jesus didn’t promise an easy
life. Yes, He did say “that in Me (in Him) you (will) have peace,” but
then He continued, “in the world you will have tribulation.”
He continued with these comforting words: “Be of
good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He had already told
His disciples that this “peace (is)
not as the world gives” (John 14:27). We do receive
His peace, but it is different from anything we previously thought.
This is not necessarily “peace”
with others. It is in HIM we have peace. Our
Scripture verse for today shows us the nature of what we are given. The whole
world is at war with God, but when we trust in Him, “having
been justified by faith, we have peace with GOD through our Lord Jesus Christ”
(Romans 5:1). This is peace with Almighty God.
Father, we want Your peace. We give ourselves to You.
Forgive our sin of rejecting You in the past and fill us with Your peace. Thank
You. In Jesus Name. Amen.
