Finding Peace That Lasts

Rev. Dr. Christopher Carlson

For the past several weeks we’ve been doing a series on How God Meets Our Deepest Needs; and today we are finishing up that series and talking about how to have peace, or personal peace, in our lives.  As we move forward I’m going to give you, oh, a one-minute sort of commercial for what’s coming up.  In the next four weeks we are going to do what I call some housekeeping.  I am going to preach a series of sermons on some things we don’t talk about a whole lot but we probably should talk about more.  I’m talking about things like baptism and communion and marriage and things like that, and funerals.  So we are going to talk about just some basic things the church does.  What does it mean for us as we celebrate those kinds of things in the church?  Now I’m promising you it’s not going to be a lecture.  I could easily lecture about those things but I’m going to try hard not to do that.  But there are some things that we just need to hear from time to time; and I’m going to do that for the next four weeks.  Then in the fall we’re going to be doing a series of sermons and talks on ‘better together’.  The theme we are going to have for the next year or two is about connecting, connecting with God, connecting with each other, connecting with our church.  We are going to kind of begin at the beginning and talk about what it means to be together in ministry and doing church and worshipping and all those things.  So that’s what we’re going to do.  You’ll hear it again so you don’t have to remember it; but next week we’re going to have a baptism and so we’re going to talk about baptism.  The next week is communion Sunday so we’ll talk about communion, and then marriage, and funerals leading into August; then after that, the other series.  But today we’re talking about peace.

Now if you go onto the internet and Google ‘peace of mind’, for example, you’ll find all kinds of things.  You’ll see a lot of references to yoga, how to meditate, how to find peace that way.  You’ll find lots of people trying to sell you things, like insurance, having peace of mind having the right kind of life insurance and that kind of thing.  You’ll find a lot of people selling funeral plots, you know, having peace of mind for that.  You’ll find security systems.  You’ll find people trying to sell candies, crystals, body soaps, having more peace if you smell good.  Not sure how that works, but…all kinds of things. One perfume had a saying that if you wear it you’ll feel serenity, whatever that means.  People are trying to sell peace; and they do a pretty good job of it because we are all looking for peace, in one way or another, because life is uncontrollable.  We feel very insecure when we look out into the world and it’s always in conflict.  Right after 9/11 happened, we had special services in the church I served and they were packed for about two months and then they began to dwindle.  But people felt very out of control.  We feel out of control with the people around us.  People don’t want to change, including ourselves.  Someone once said, “Did you ever try a personal improvement program for your husband, wife or children?  And what did they think about that?” probably not much.  We have a lack of peace when problems are unexplainable.  We are looking for peace everywhere.  You know as I have gotten used to being in Minnesota, one of the things that is easily noticed about Minnesota culture is that people leave in the summer.  They go to cabins, or vacations.  There is nothing wrong with that but what are you looking for when you go to your cabin on the lake?  You’re looking for peace, that sunset, that smooth water, warm weather.  You’re looking for peace.  We’re all looking for it.  But where do we find it.

Well, obviously, you already know the answer because you’re in church.  So we are going to find it God.  But even though we know that, we have trouble acting on it.  So we are going to talk about that today.  I’ve chose a couple of scriptures for you today, out of many.  First from John, chapter 14, a change from what’s in your bulletin, I want you to notice something about this.  Jesus says, of course, that he is leaving peace with his disciples; but notice how this peace is in connection with something.  (John 14: 23 – 27)

Jesus said, “If anyone loves me he will obey my teaching.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.  These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

            “All this I have spoken while still with you.  But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Later Paul writes in Philippians a letter written to the people of Philippi and what’s unusual about this letter is that Paul is in a Roman dungeon, awaiting possible death by beheading by the emperor Nero.  Yet this letter, this epistle as they are called, is one of the most positive and joyful he ever wrote.  He talks a lot about having peace.  He talks a lot about having joy.  He talks about it in the midst of a situation where he ought not to have either.  (Philippians 4: 4 – 13)  He says:

            Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again:  Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

            Finally whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice.  And the God of peace will be with you

            I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me.  Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God!

Would you pray with me?

God in heaven, give us wisdom and help us have this peace and contentment that Paul talks about because, Lord, it is so far away from us.  We pray for it Lord.  We pray that we would learn it and have it with your power and in your love.  Be with us now Lord as we hear your word preached.  May there be something for each one of us to hear and put into practice.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Well obviously there are lots of things we can do to have more peace in our hearts.  I am going to suggest three things that we can do today, three decisions to make.  The first thing that we have to do, as the prayer that Reinhold Niebuhr wrote, is to accept some things.  We have to accept what cannot be changed.  Now, he wasn’t talking about, the bible is certainly doesn’t talk about, and I’m not saying that this means that we need to be passive about life.  We don’t just sit in the fishing boat and watch the world go by, or get the remote out and glaze over watching television and let the world go by.  We are to be involved in it.  But “accepting things that cannot be changed” is really an idea about accepting our limitations.  We might say, “Well that’s pretty obvious.”  Yet I really think that in America particularly that’s very hard.  You know we have this culture that says “We can do!  We can do this, if we just get organized enough; if we get enough money, we can do anything.”  And in some cases we can.  We really can.  But the wisdom is in knowing the difference and sometimes we don’t.  You know, for pastors, you know there is this ideal out there in our culture right now, that bigger is so much better.  So we have churches of five thousand, of ten thousand, whatever it is and everybody expects you to be able to preach like Robert Schuller.  It’s not going to happen.  You might as well get over it.  I’m certainly not going to make it….  I’m teasing… But there is this ideal that if I just work hard enough, man, it can all happen.  In some cases it’s not true.  We have to accept our limitations.  We’re not talking about passivity but what we are talking about is learning how to trust more.  You know, again, Paul is a great example for me.  You read about Paul’s life before he was a Christian, which I call B.C., he was a real go-getter; he was a fireball; his goal was to put to death as many Christians as possible.  He did that; and yet God, in His mercy, went ZAP!! and changed him.  Now he still was a fireball but God just sort of took that energy and redirected it.  Yet he also taught him along the way that he couldn’t do everything.  Here he is, at the end of his life, and I find that older people learn this after a while, often; he’s in jail, and yet he says things like, “I am convinced that God will continue to work in your life even though I am not there.”  Later he says what we read today, “Rejoice in the Lord always” and “I am content in every situation.”  He says throughout the letter “I know God is in control and God is going to bring this to fruition.”  He says it over and over again and he has great joy in it.  He’s learned it.  He’s learned this peace and contentment because he’s accepted the fact that even though he is Paul, he is this brilliant man, he can do all kinds of things; that, in the end, it is God’s power that’s going to pull it off.  In the end he will have to give it to God because he will ultimately be put to death.  And God has taken what this man and others started and here we are today.  He accepted his limitations and in doing so found joy and peace.

You know there are other things we have to accept in connection with this, because we have this demand.  We have this demand to know why.  You know we are really in some ways at cross purposes with God.  You and I want some basic things out of life.  We want to be safe.  We want to be happy.  We want to be relatively comfortable.  These are the things that we pursue on an every day basis.  But you know what, and I am telling you the truth, you may go to another church and hear something else, but I am telling you the truth, God doesn’t necessarily have that as His purpose for you. I’m not saying He wants you to be unhappy, necessarily uncomfortable all the time; but God has a purpose of building you up in Jesus Christ, making you stronger to live life.  The prayer said, did you hear what it said, that “peace often comes through the path of hardship” and that is true.  You can be as comfortable as you can be but not be at peace; and yet you can be totally uncomfortable and still be at peace; and God is after that.  Our happiness, our comfort is not necessarily His first goal.  We have to accept that.  If you are going to come to some kind of reconciliation with yourself and God, you have to come to that place.   Not only that, we need to accept the fact that even if we did understand everything, or got all the answers to our questions, we probably wouldn’t understand them all.  You know it’s interesting to me that if you start reading the bible you find this right away.  God said to Adam and Eve, “Don’t eat of the tree, the fruit of the knowledge of the tree of good and evil” and I am sure they were going “Why?”  God didn’t tell them.  Later on, Job suffers unimaginably, just incredible suffering.  He asked “Why?” over and over and over again; and at the end, God never tells him why.  He just says “I’m God.”  And Job says “You’re right.”  God doesn’t give us the answers; but even if He did, again, we may not understand them all.  Can you imagine five hundred years before the time of Christ, God saying in detail what He was going to do?  Now, there were a lot of prophecies predicting Jesus Christ, predicting what he was going to do.  There were over three hundred, of things Jesus Christ fulfilled from the Old Testament to the New.  Yet, the details weren’t given, like God saying, “I’m going to become a human being; then I’m going to live on earth, perform a lot of miracle and then I’m going die and be raised again.”  Those kinds of details were only hinted at.  Can you imagine them getting that information and going, “Are you kidding?”  “Yeah, I got a bridge to sell you across the Sea of Galilee too.”  Not only would we not understand it; but, often, we also wouldn’t necessarily have peace if we had it.

Did you ever have a friend come to you when you were really hurting?  When you had some tragedy hit your life and that friend, in their well meaning way, tried to explain what happened and give you reasons why?  All you really wanted was their presence and not their words.  You know, I have a hint for you.  If you want to be pastoral to your friends around you, don’t say a whole lot.  It’s not that hard; but we need to explain things; we need to give reasons why; we need to say all these words.  And we don’t necessarily need to do it.  Well that’s the exact same thing with God.  We want God’s presence more than we want explanations.  That is what leads to peace.

We not only need to accept the things we can’t change, we need to trust in God’s care.  You’ve heard me say these verses many times, but I give them to you again as verses to memorize.  There are parts of scripture that you really should memorize.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.  Don’t lean on your own understanding.”  In other words, don’t try to get all the explanations.  Don’t try to figure it out.  “In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path.”  Trust in the Lord.  No one lives a problem free life.  No one.  We all know that.  We solve one problem and pretty soon another one’s coming down the pipe.  You know, if you’re like me, I would like it to end sometimes but it seems like when it rains it pours, you know, they come in bunches.  For the last three weeks we have had no one in the hospital.  In the next three days, we will have four.  It just comes that way.  Problems come and they will always be with us.  It doesn’t matter how old you get.  We might ask the question, “Well, why does that happen?”  That is a legitimate “why” question.  Well the answer the bible gives is pretty clear.  First, in primordial time, human beings messed up.  I don’t know what you think of the story of Adam and Eve.  I believe it, you may not; but the wisdom is there.  In primordial time, Adam and Eve fell.  Because of their snowball effect we are suffering from that problem way back when.  We were born with the problem.  We are born with selfishness.  We come out, going, “Feed me!  I want mine!”  Another reason is “Yes, there is a being who’s out to get you who you can not see.”  I believe in Satan.  You know, it’s kind of interesting.  When you first become a minister, they put you through a battery of psychological tests.  You know that?  I wonder about some of the guys who had theirs; whether they really had them, or not?  I’m probably one of them…  But I remember having all these tests; and, inevitably, one of those questions they ask in there somewhere, to decide whether you’re crazy or not, is “Do you believe in an unseen being who is out to get you?”  “Well, yeah!”  I guess they decided I could still be a minister.  But it’s true.  But we have a hard time with this.  We have a hard time just admitting that there is actually evil out there.  You remember many, many years ago when President Reagan said, “The Soviet Union is the focus of evil in the modern world,” and everybody went ballistic.  Just went crazy.  I was trying to figure that out.  I think the reason is because nobody really wants to admit there’s actually evil.  It’s like this guy from Virginia Tech.  They’re constantly trying to figure out what kind of physiological explanation they can give.  I have nothing against that.  Don’t hear me say that, I have nothing against that kind of thing; I’ve got a degree in counseling, also.  I believe in that kind of thing; but on the other hand, there is just evil out there too.  I also think that one of the reasons is they seem to think that President Reagan was saying we shouldn’t talk to people.  Well he did.  But the answer sometimes isn’t if we just talk to people often enough they will come to see goodness. It just isn’t true.  It doesn’t happen.  There is evil.  There is an evil one.  Now a lot of things happen to us because we live in this evil world; we live in a fallen world.  We can be just walking down the street and have somebody pull out a gun and shoot us; or we can catch an infection and wind up in I.C.U.  Just minding our own business, it’s the world we live in.  But another answer to the “why” is that, it’s us.  A part of the problem is ourselves - a lot of the things that happen to us, and the peace we do not have, can be traced to our own decisions, our own rebellion against God and what he has provided.  If we are honest with ourselves we know that that’s true. 

The last thing we need to do is surrender to God’s control.  You know I mentioned Adam and Eve to you several times in my sermon today.  I find that story fascinating.  I also find the mythology that goes around it kind of fascinating too.  It persists to be the apple they ate.  There is no mention of an apple, it’s just “the fruit of the knowledge of the tree of good and evil.”  It could have been a fig for all we know.  That’s neither here nor there. The other explanation, even among some Christians, is the original sin was some kind of sexual relationship.  I got news for you; if you read the story really careful, they’ve already really done that kind of thing.  I’m not trying to be R-rated in the sermon but we won’t go that way; but there is something more sinister going on, actually; much more sinister.  It’s not really about physical activity; it’s about what’s in their heart.  See the temptation for them, when they are told not to eat of this tree, is that that don’t trust God.  They don’t trust God that God is going to explain it later or give them this knowledge later.  Then they also want to be God, too.  You know the temptation is “you will be like God;” and God doesn’t want that.  They didn’t trust or obey.  Doesn’t that sound familiar, “trust and obey.’  When you boil it down to our problem, it boils down to those two things.  We don’t really believe God is going to do what He says He is going to do, and we don’t want to do what He says anyway.  That leads to no peace whatsoever.  God loves you.  We know that.  But we, in our heart of hearts, are often at war with God.  We may say, “Who, me, I’m not at war with God.”  Well, are you really obeying God?  Would you do what God told you to do if He told you to do it, whatever that may be?  Or, would you make excuses?  Someone once said that “Our arms are too short to box with God.”  In the end it is about giving up our own sovereignty and giving it back to the Lord and knowing that He is going to do alright with it.  He’s going to take our lives and He is going to take care of us; and whatever happens, we are going to belong to Him, no matter what.  No matter what.  Are you tired of being at war with God?  Don’t you realize that this is the single most source of stress in your life?  Every day we have to get up in the morning and say something like “Who’s going to be God today, myself or God?  Who’s going to be in control, me or God?”

I’ll close with this story.  Writer Catherine Marshall tells about a friend named Marge who got on a plane bound for Cleveland, of all places.  She had an unusual experience.  The plane was waiting to take off; and, as she settled into her seat, she noticed on one side of the airplane a sunset that infused the entire sky with glorious color.  Out of the window next to her seat, all Marge could see was a dark threatening sky with no sign of the sunset.  As the plane’s engines began to roar, a gentle voice spoke within her, “You’ve noticed the windows,” the voice murmured.  “Your life too will contain some happy, beautiful times but also some dark shadows; and, here is the lesson.  I want to teach you, to save you much headache and heartache, and allow you to abide with me with continual peace and joy.  You see, it doesn’t matter which window you look through; this plane is still going to Cleveland.  So it is in your life.  You have a choice.  You can dwell on the gloomy picture, or you can focus on the bright things and leave the dark ominous situations to me because I can handle them anyway.  The final destination is not influenced by what you see or feel along the way.  Learn this, act on it, and you will be released, able to experience the peace that passes understanding.”  In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Shall we pray together?

Father in heaven teach us peace.  Come into our lives and our hearts and our minds.  Help us to know you and, so, know peace.  We pray it in Jesus’ name.  Amen.