The peace of
God
sermon by
Manfred Schreyer
>>
(Phil 4:4-9 NIV) Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! {5} Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. {6} Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. {7} And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. {8} Finally, brothers, 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. {9} 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.
Last week I preached about how Paul was converted and how he ministered to the people. I would like to stay with Paul and give you more insight about Paul’s feeling how Christians should treat each other and what we should do in our relationship to God.
The first thing Paul asks s from the Christians in Philippi is to "Rejoice." I’ll tell you why. We have no idea, what tomorrow will bring here on earth. You may get sick, you may lose your job, you may lose a friend, you may lose you relatives by death, you may die, war may break out, diseases may strike the world . . . and so on. Nothing, but nothing is for sure in life about tomorrow.
And for me being 45 years old, and have some experiences in life and of life I truly thank my God that I do not have the knowledge about tomorrow. Because life would not be life if I would know my tomorrow. In fact it would be horrible to know what I have to expect in this life.
But there is the ONE thing which I know for sure and that is promised me through Jesus Christ: That if I have given my life to Christ (not just being a good person, not just attending church), then I will have eternal life.
So, it does not matter what will happen tomorrow, because I have eternal life in my future.
Let us say it together: "I rejoice in Jesus Christ"
{5} Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Wishing to seal a letter, Gotthold called for a lighted candle. The maid obeyed his orders; but, proceeding too hastily, the flame, which had not yet gathered sufficient strength, went out. "Here," said Gotthold, "We have that which may well remind us of the gentleness and moderation to be observed in our behavior towards weak and erring brethren. Had this candle, when first lighted, been carried slowly, and shaded by the hand from the air, it would not have been extinguished, but would soon have burned with vigor. In like manner, many a weak brother might be set right, if we only came to his help in the right way and with kindly advice."
Sometimes I have conversations with you about a situation in you r life which you bring to me and you are expecting an answer. When I give you the answer, you tell me that you agree with my assumption, but can’t others agree with the biblical interpretation and my answer is always the same: "Although we are all on in Christ, we are on a different journey. Some are further ahead then others, some are behind, but we are on the same path. If we move too fast for some, their light will go out and we will lose them on our path of our spiritual journey.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. {7} And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
We as believers often become anxious, because this world has trained us to live by expectations and we become anxious when situations arrive and we wish for a specific outcome. Sometimes we even become disgruntled with God, because He did not meet our expectations.
But I know one thing: That no matter what happens in our life, it happens for a purpose and I know that all things happen for the good and the glory of God.
What prayer does for us is that it will bring us the peace of God. Anytime when I hear from any of you, because you need God’s help I always say: "Pray" "Pray hard" I do not tell you to petition God, but just to pray to God. And then the peace of God which transcends all understanding will come into your heart.
Have you ever wondered why a pigeon walks so funny? According to an interesting article in the Detroit Free Press, a pigeon walks the way it does so it can see where it's going. Because it can't adjust its focus as it moves, the pigeon actually has to bring its head to a complete stop between steps in order to refocus. This is the way it walks: head forward, stop; head back, stop. Don't laugh -- that's how it goes!
In our spiritual walk with the Lord we have the same problem as the pigeon. We have a hard time seeing while we're moving. We also need to stop between steps -- to refocus on where we are in relation to the world and the will of God. That's not to say we have to stop and pray and meditate about every little decision in life. But certainly our walk with the Lord needs to have built into it a pattern of "stops," which enable us to see more clearly before moving on.
{8} Finally, brothers, 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.
I think this paragraph should be displayed in every school building, it should be published in every newspaper, it should be known by every human being, it should be the essence of life.
First of all Paul’s saying tells us that there are things that are right, things that are noble, pure, lovely, excellent, praiseworthy.
As you may well know, you are who you are congregating with.
I recently visited one of our attendees in a hospital and she shared with me her life and how she had arrived at current state. It was an amazing story. Some of the pain she experienced she noted was caused by her own choices she made in life. As she was telling me her story, my eyes glanced to wall behind her. On that wall was a large poster and it read:
Watch your thoughts,
they become words.
Watch your words,
they become actions.
Watch your actions,
they become habits.
Watch your habits,
they become character.
Watch your character,
it becomes your destiny!
We as Christians have to make choices what will influence us: (1) Will it be the rap music which promotes women as prostitutes, degrades human life to worthlessness, promotes violence? (2) Will it be the thoughts that are promoted by movies, even at family times like "queer as folk?" (3) Will it be the idea of humanists that there is no truth and that truth lies within us as individuals and that we should be allowed to do whatever we want to do, because we should respect others and they hold as much truth as we do?
When we give in to any of those understandings, then we have given up on God, who wants us to be pure and people of Character. God is not one who is against us, but for us, because he loves each one of us.
When Paul speaks of purity there is nothing more pure then love:
"Those who deserve love the least need it the most." It is this concept that transforms us and others. It is this concept that allows us to build the Kingdom of God on earth, because the Kingdom is within us as Jesus told us. It is this concept that allows us to heal and to overcome and to forgive.
The reason that we as Christians do not make any progress in their walk with others is that people are looking for love in all the wrong places. People are in desperate search for intimacy.
If you are in search for an intimacy, give your life to Christ, give it to God and all your dreams for a peaceful life will be fulfilled.
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