Perfect peace: rooted and established in an unchanging God whose love is inextinguishable
JOHN 16:33 AMP33 I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]
Trouble:
Pressure that constricts and rubs together; squeeze into someplace narrow; internal pressure that causes someone to feel confined - restricted, without options
●Anxiety, burden of heart
The afflictions Jesus had to undergo (and which, therefore, His followers must not shrink from)
Tribulation:
Distress:
Suffering:
2Corinthians 4:7-9, 13-14, 16-18
“...we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed…
13 “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, 14because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself…
16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18No we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Be courageous: of good courage, cheer
Radiate a warm confidence - peace - Emboldened to show courage - God bolstering the believer, empowering them with a bold inner-attitude
The Lord has infused His strength by His in working of faith (in-birthed persuasion
Inner confidence
○ Be confident:
○ Be undaunted:
○ Be filled with joy:
why? Jesus has overcome the world… and so will we
He has rendered the world and its power to harm impotent and subverted its influence
Maintaining Peace: and so the Christian, who consistently lives out their righteousness, remains effective in His relationship with Jesus, and its peace, by keeping Himself unharmed and spotless from his adversaries devices, solicitations, assaults - the devil. (2Peter 1:1-11)
The believer who lives in the righteousness that they are - Jesus in them (Gal 5; Romans 8; 12-14; 1Peter 1:13-25)
Be Holy
13Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” a
17Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
22Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. b23For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24For,
“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25but the word of the Lord endures forever.” c
And this is the word that was preached to you.
What is a life at peace? This is a message (of peace and anyone who would receive life in Christ) for believers - to experience, daily, the peace they have with God (in the present and future)
Complacency vs. peace
The peace we speak of is not the lack of trouble in life or the security in the accumulation of goods and the happiness of strifeless relationships and life, or a season of life devoid of suffering.
But, it is so very important to see, to know, to acknowledge as true, what true peace is and from where it comes…
You see, peace, more than anything, is the tranquility of heart, a true and actual contentment whether having little or much.
This peace is anchored in a surety in the midst of strife, a certainty in the midst of suffering - a joy, not necessarily in what is now, but that which will come, and is coming - seeing up and over, to and through - though present in it, seeing through what is to what will be, and persevering in it knowing, trusting, that God, our Father, by and through the merciful and gracious work of the Son, by and with the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit - our comforter and encourager - will certainly use all present things “for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purposes”
What does this matter - now? What good is this peace? Why would both the Psalmist and Peter implore us to seek and pursue it? Why is Jesus the Prince of Peace, who came in peace, announced with peace? Why did Jesus promise, peace, and kindly offer peace, and implore us to be at peace, to have peace?
What does peace do? This peace permeates…
God and His promises, the anchor of our soul (Heb 6:13-20; Psalm 62:5; Rom 5:5) - This peace transcends by permeating every aspect of self and identity - this peace rests in Jesus - as our being His gives (our) life and its happenings context, reason, and purpose for every experience and circumstance - for my very self and those around me.
If we are able to see our life’s timeline and be honest about the shortness of our time, in the context of the hope we have for eternal life in and with Jesus, it changes our perspective…
We are longer slaves to (fear of) death, in fact, what we have to look forward to is far greater than the best of what we have today (and, how seldom do we have and experience what we would consider “the best”?!)
Romans 8
Life Through the Spirit
1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.3For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.7The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life d because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of e his Spirit who lives in you.
12Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the flesh, you will die (1Cor 11:30 “sleep”); but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. f And by him we cry, “Abba,g Father.” 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
