HOMEWORK for Peace!

I have a cassette tape recording of a sermon that my wife Piper gave to the church on a Wednesday night in October of 1998.  As Assistant Pastors, Piper and I usually filled in for our Senior Pastors when they were away attending a conference or on a much-needed vacation.  In their absence, I covered all the incoming church calls, made hospital visits and took care of the immediate needs at hand.  I also preached the Sunday service while Piper covered the mid-week services.

Her sermon on this particular evening was entitled “The High Places” and was based on a prophetic statement that is repeated in three different Old Testament books of the Bible* where the writers declared,

“The LORD God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places.”*

And while my purpose here is not to discuss her sermon, I do remember a statement she made to the congregation concerning her homeschooling role as the teacher to our four children.  As part of an illustration, she talked about the Lord’s way of strengthening and equipping us for activities we thought to be unpleasant or difficult and told of the short-lived relief she had felt after completing her college education. 

At that time, she rejoiced and declared aloud of how she was done with school, hated HOMEWORK and would never have to do any again… only to find herself homeschooling our children… and loving it… including all the hours of preparation before and the reading and grading of their projects afterwards each day!  As part of a local Christian School’s Independent Study Program, she also was required to keep and file regular reports with the school in line with the state’s educational requirements.

And speaking of HOMEWORK… I left each of you with an assignment last week to read John 16:33 in your Bibles and then answer the question as to why Jesus gave us the GIFT of PEACE…  So… I won’t ask for a show of hands as to who did their HOMEWORK, but give you a quick opportunity to read the verse right now and then tell me your answer.

In this portion of Scripture, Jesus is nearing the end of His earth walk and is talking to His disciples about some of the different things that they will have to face once He is gone.  In summing up His thoughts Jesus said,

“And everything I’ve taught you is so that the PEACE which is in Me will BE in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in Me. For in this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must BE courageous, for I have conquered the world!” (John 16:33 TPT)

In last week’s post we discussed how the PEACE of God is a gift from Jesus and is available in us to be stirred up, fanned into a flame and re-kindled anytime we need… 24/7 – 365 days of the year!  But then we asked WHY?  And Jesus answered in John 16:33 declaring that everything He had taught pointed us to His PEACE… so that the PEACE that was in Him would now be in us to give us great confidence… AS we actively REST IN HIM!

Then He gave us an inside peek into our future on this earth, by letting us know that in this unbelieving world we would experience times of troubles and sorrows… BUT… that we also have a way to handle such times with great courage and trust by resting in Him, because He had (or in the case of when this was actually written - just before the cross was about to) overcome and conquer the world!

I get really excited when I read this verse because it seems to be declaring that His PEACE abiding in us, is the key to and/or the main reason for everything He taught us while He lived on this earth!  John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible states, concerning the meaning of this verse that,

“These words may well enough be thought to have regard to all that He (Jesus) had said in general…”

Like WOW… Right?

So… if that’s true… How do we put His PEACE into the flow of our daily lives?  How do we become CONFIDENT enough to REST IN HIM and BE courageous in and through the troubles and sorrows that we might face… knowing that He has already overcome and conquered those times for us?

Well… that information is for our next blog… but in the meantime… I’ll leave you with another HOMEWORK assignment (Gee… Piper would be so proud of you for doing your homework!).  Pull out your Bibles again and read what the Apostle Paul has to say about the PEACE that Jesus gave to you and me in Philippians 4:6-8 and Colossians 3:15-17… and you might just be able to find the answer before next weekend’s blog post!

Have a terrific weekend.  We are having a rash of cooler but still comfortable and very sunny weather out here… and I hear that my friends and family in northern California are getting a sunny respite from the torrential rains that they’ve had over the last few days! 

So… Whatever your weather happens to be at the moment… KNOW that you can have the PEACE of God resting in you… in the midst of it… because He will always take good care of you!

 

*2Samuel 22:34, Psalm 18:33, Habakkuk 3:19 (Scripture location used in today’s blog)