The Promise of Peace (Part 1)

Over the next three Sundays, I want to teach you about God’s promise of peace. I first introduced this promise to you at the church picnic on August 1 when we met at Memorial Park for our service in the park. I will now take the next three weeks to help you know about and experience the power of the promise of peace in your everyday life.

• The promise of peace with God (vertical) from John 14:27 “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.”
• The promise of peace with yourself (internal) from Philippians 4:6-7 “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.”
• The promise of peace with others (external) from “The Promise of Peace!” (Part 3) Ephesians 2:14 “For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.”

There are three aspects to this peace that I will invite you to experience as the provision of God’s promise for you: (1) peace with God is your salvation—it manifests as your holiness; (2) peace with yourself is your mental health or peace of mind—it manifests as your wholeness; and (3) peace with others (a peaceful heart)—it manifests as your ministry. These three aspects of the promise of peace are a cord of three strands (Ecclesiastes 4:12) for us to experience the joy of the Lord and to fulfill His Greatest Commandments for our lives (Matthew 22:37-40).

This promise is part of a larger teaching of Jesus found in the revelatory passages of John 13-17, the night before the crucifixion. Listen to John 14:23-31,

If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. 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. 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. You heard that I said to you, “I go away, and I will come to you.” If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.

Jesus is preparing the hearts and minds of His disciples for His death and promising the coming of the Holy Spirit, who can only fulfill the promise of peace in any person because of Jesus’ saving work on the cross, which is the only way to restore our peace with God!

Jesus defeated the power of death and the forces of evil to restore us back into right relationship with the Father; it is only “in Christ” that we can have “peace” or “access to” or relationship with God. When we talk about having peace with God, we must remember first and foremost that peace is the very essence of God—He is Jehovah Shalom (Judges 6:34-34). Peace is God’s presence—His wholeness in a situation! That is what shalom means and this is God’s desire for His covenanted people (Isaiah 26:3, 12; 54:10; 66:12)—peace with Him!

Jesus is our “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Listen about God’s peace that Jesus promises us:

• John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
• Colossians 1:19-22 – “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”
• Romans 5:1-10 – “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

Today, our focus has been on our holiness, that must flow from the Cross of Calvary and Jesus’ imputed righteousness. Next week we will focus on our wholeness, our peace of mind, and the mental health only God can give to us as we learn to walk in His ways and be transformed by the renewing of our minds through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. As we will learn our wholeness flows from our holiness.

You can listen to the message presented today here:

You can watch it by clicking HERE.