October 25, 2015
Scripture:
Scripture:
Hymn 193 - There comes to my heart one sweet strain
Prayer
We are going to continue this week with “Jesus is my peace.” What is peace? Well, it could be the absence of war or fighting. Until you are saved, you don’t have peace with God.
If there is a group of people who are separated because of conflict, they need someone to come between them to make peace. Jesus made peace between a Holy God and sinful people. Through Him we can have peace with God.
What does peace with God mean? We have heard people ask, “Have you made peace with God?” Charles Stanley once told a dying man, “I’ve got bad news; you can’t make peace with God.” Only Jesus can make our peace with God.
When we are guilty of sin, our conscience bothers us. We wouldn’t want to meet God. A family was once discussing Genesis 3, about Adam and Eve and how they disobeyed God in eating the forbidden fruit. The children thought that Adam and Eve were foolish for breaking the only commandment that they had been given. The Mother wanted to illustrate this for them, so one day she caught a mouse and put in under a bowl on the table. Before she left, she told the children, “Don’t look under the bowl on the table.” The children were immediately curious about what was under it. Well, that curiosity got the better of them. They looked under the bowl and as they lifted the bowl, the mouse scampered away. When Mother came home they all felt and looked guilty. When they told their mother what they had done, and asked for forgiveness, they felt peace again.
The Lord Jesus bore our sin. When we take Him as our Saviour we receive peace. Read Romans 5:1. When a sinner finds forgiveness in Christ, we say he or she has found peace of conscience.
We can also have the peace of God, which is peace in circumstances.
An artist was trying to paint a picture of peace. He was having a hard time figuring out what to paint. Other artists gave some suggestions of what it was. This artist was looking at other pictures to get an idea of what to paint. He saw a picture that was a scene of a pasture. There was a river in it that was as clear as glass. So peaceful that the trees were reflected in the water. There were white fluffy clouds above it, and sheep grazing by it. The whole scene was peaceful.
The next picture was of Niagara Falls. The water was thundering down splashing on the rocks below. Spray was going everywhere. But down by the water there was a tree whose branches stretched out above the rocks. In the crotch of one of those branches was a nest with a bird who had laid its eggs. It was sitting on them completely unconcerned about the roaring falls. That bird had peace.
Peace of God doesn’t mean everything is fine or all right. But when nothing is going right we can still have the peace of God. We can know God is in control of all when everything seems wrong.
The God of peace gives us the peace of God. It is wonderful to know that because we have peace with God, we can have the peace of God. It is there for the taking.
Colossians 3:15, Philippians 4:6,7
I can be calm and rest in God each day because I know that Jesus is my peace. He is the basis of it all.
Ephesians 4:20-32
Paul talks here about the truth as it is in Jesus. With that name, it’s different truth than what we learned about Christ in chapter 1. The name “Christ” is usually used in reference to the resurrection; while Jesus was the man on earth: God in humanity. In John 1, Jesus is the one that brings grace and truth. That truth is so important, and it’s found in the word of God.
The truth as it is in Jesus is what we should look like as believers. That is why Paul gives us this list of things to put on and put off: those of us that put on the new man should act as Christ would. We are also to put off our old nature with it’s lifestyle. That’s not something you do once, though, but rather a daily exercise. We get our new man when we’re born again; but the old is still here, and we will struggle to put him off until eternity.
We are to put on the new man, but where does that renewal start? In our minds. Our minds are the battlefield on which God and Satan fight: what will we think about? Matthew 16:23 in the Darby Translation reads, “But turning round, he said to Peter, Get away behind me, Satan; thou art an offence to me, for thy mind is not on the things that are of God, but on the things that are of men.” What do we savour? Thoughts from God, or thoughts from men? We are told to set our minds on things above; that’s what will renew them.
If we are saved, then we have a new man, which—according to verse 24—is created in righteousness and true holiness. Adam and Eve weren’t righteous before the fall; they were innocent. Now that we have been justified by faith, we are accounted righteous, and we are to behave accordingly.
Paul lists practical behaviours that we are to put off; like lying. We are also not to sin when we are angry. The Lord used anger; e.g. when He cleansed the temple. Sinful anger is when we are angry at something done against us: someone stepping on our toes. Righteous anger is when we are angry at something done against God; when someone treads on His holiness. We are not to be angry people; any anger of the flesh will give place to the devil, and deserves an apology and to be dealt with quickly.
Putting on the new man goes farther than putting off the old man. Our old nature allowed stealing; the new nature not only doesn’t allow us to steal, but commands us to labour to provide for others. Wrong deeds must be stopped, but on top of that we are to have mercy and be generous.
Verses 29–32 are pretty self explanatory. We are to stop saying things that aren’t nice, and instead to say things that build up, and that minister grace to others. We are not to grieve the Spirit of God by living in a sinful condition. He seals us until the day of redemption: the day we are taken to heaven. Verse 31 deals with our attitudes, and verse 32 with our affections. We are to put off the old, put the new on, renew our minds, and head instructions!
Hymn 252 — A mind at “perfect peace” with God
Prayer