My Sermon on Peace

I’ve only preached one sermon in my life, that is, before Sunday. I was in high school and we had one of those Sunday nights when the teens lead the service. I spoke five minutes on Romans 14. They never asked me back.

Now, at my home church, we’re between preachers. Desperate to fill the pulpit, they stuck me in there. Here’s the sermon I prepared. I, of course, extemporized to my own detriment, but I can’t help myself.

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SERMON ON PEACE

Just to be clear: I’m not a candidate for the preaching position. No, I’m here to make the real candidate look good. I’m the bottom of the barrel. It’s all uphill from here …

The week’s lesson is on peace. You see the Christmas-present boxes on the stage behind me. We add one for each lesson, and so this week we’ve added a box for “peace.”

It’s gift wrapped because peace is a gift from God.

Kinds of peace

I can think of at least three kinds of peace that God gives us:

• Peace with God himself
• A feeling of peace
• And …

Peace among God’s children

There’s a message suitable to the season —

(Luk 2:13-15 NAS) 13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,  14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”  15 When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.”

The KJV and some other translations say “to men,” but the commentaries and the most recent translations prefer “among.”

That sounds strange to us, because we don’t see nearly enough peace among men, even among God’s people. Did Jesus really come to give peace among his people? I mean, let’s be honest: it didn’t happen. We aren’t at peace with one another.

And yet Jesus was born so we’d have exactly that. It seems that God must have given us something that we aren’t using.

How do we have peace in the Household of God?

1.      Forgive just as God forgave you

Remember the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant.

(Mat 18:23-35 ESV)  23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.  24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. [the GDP of Syria!] 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.  26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’  27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.  28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii [about 4-months pay], and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’  29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’  30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.  31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.  32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.  33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’  34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.  35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

You can lose your salvation if you don’t forgive as you should. We have to be just as gracious and as generous to your brother as God is to us.

We aren’t allowed to wait until the person who sins against us asks for forgiveness. God forgives continuously. We should be anxious to forgive. We can’t blame the other person for our refusal. We can’t hold grudges.

God gave up his Son just so he could forgive us; and that’s how urgently we should want to forgive.

(1Co 13:4-5 NAS)  4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,  5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered …

Forgiveness is hard. Sometimes we enjoy holding a grudge, talking bad about someone, getting vengence by running someone down. It can really be a lot of fun.

But Paul writes that we shouldn’t even take wrongs suffered into account. We should forgive as quickly as we’re sinned against — just as God continuously forgives us.

Aren’t we glad God isn’t like us? To be like God, for peace to reign among Christians — for the promises made in the birth of Jesus to be true — we have to give that up. We have refuse to retaliate. In fact, we are supposed to be like God, who causes it to rain on both the just and the unjust.

COCA COLA BOTTLE STORY

In the late 1960s, shortly before I enrolled at Lipscomb, a story happened I want to share with you. The freshmen boys lived in Sewell Hall, which was an ancient building built to withstand years of abuse by freshmen boys. The walls were old, hard, solid plaster. And some of the guys decided to play dodgeball in the hall. But they couldn’t find a ball.

Now, in those days, Cokes came in green glass bottles, that were thick and heavy. We bought Cokes for 15 cents, 10 cents for the drink and a nickel deposit for the bottle. If we returned the bottle, we could get our nickel back. It was recycling before there was recycling.

And the freshmen boys decided to play dodgeball with a Coke bottle — which would be nearly indestructible. But the bottle hit the wall in just the wrong way, shattered, and a shard cut one of the boys in the neck, nicking an artery. He bled out, and he died.

After the funeral, the boy’s parents asked to speak to the boy who’d thrown the bottle. He was terrified. Were they going to press charges? File suit? Have him expelled? But the parents came in and said,

“Our son was our only child. We spent our life saving for college, just so we could see him do well, make good grades, and graduate from Lipscomb. Now there’s a hole in our hearts that we need someone to fill.

“And so, if you don’t mind, we’d like to pay for your schooling, we want you to do well, make good grades, and graduate. And if it would be okay, we’d like maybe to come to your graduation and have a picture made with the two of us, with you standing in the middle in your graduation gown. We want someone to be proud of.”

And that’s what happened. And there was peace among Christians. They did something I believe is impossible without Jesus. They loved their enemy. They gave grace to someone who didn’t deserve it — not even a little. They were as generous to this boy as God had been to them.

Because that’s what God did and does. That’s how Jesus lived.

And that’s the only way for there to be peace in God’s church.

2.      Talk it out

Peace is not the absence of conflict. Rather, peace is being in right relationship. And if we’re in right relationship with each other, we can calmly talk to each other about our disagreements and our hurts. We can be honest. And by being honest, we can deal with our disagreements without manipulation or gossip or politics. Rather, we talk to each other, not about each other.

(Mat 5:23-24 NAS)  23 “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,  24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”

If your brother has something against you, it should bother you — enough so that you go to him and seek reconciliation. He might be right. He might be wrong. But the gulf has to be bridged, and it’s up to you to go to him.

And if you have something against another, you have a duty to go to him also.

(Mat 18:15 NAS) 15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.”

Who is obligated to take the first step toward reconciliation? The sinner or the one sinned against? Both. Neither one gets to stand back and let the conflict remain unresolved. Both have a duty to go to the other. In a perfect world, they’d meet each other on the way to each other’s homes.

Notice what isn’t part of the system: Talking bad about your brother behind his back.

(Gal 5:19-21 NAS) 19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: … 20 … enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,  21 envying, … of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

You know, church hasn’t changed all that much in 2,000 years. Sometimes we’d rather run our brother down than talk to him. Sometimes we’d rather split a church than compromise. Sometimes we’re more interested in power than peace.

But if we love each other, then we won’t enjoy gossip. If we love each other, we won’t enjoy listening to gossip. And when someone comes to us to speak ill of the elders, a minister, or the other members, rather than listening, we’ll ask, “Why haven’t you spoken to him about it?” or even “I’ll go with you to help you present your concerns.” People who love are peacemakers.

Don’t dare refuse to go to someone for fear of retaliation or a broken relationship. The fact is that you won’t have much of a relationship at all if you don’t resolve the conflict. Silence guarantees that things won’t get better — that your concerns won’t be addressed. It’ll just get worse and harder to deal with later.

Go quickly.

3.      Sacrifice

So here’s the ultimate path to peace among brothers in Christ.

(Phi 2:1-4 NAS)  Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,  2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.  3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;  4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

“Regard one another as more important than yourselves.” What do we do when we disagree? We submit to our brother.

Now, hear me well: I didn’t say “Compel your brother to submit to you.” You only get to preach this one to yourself.

We submit. We hope our brother has the same attitude, and that we both submit and meet in the middle, but we’ve not submitted if our submission depends on him. We submit. Period.

“Do nothing from selfishness …” Sadly, because we’re all Americans and lived in a democratic, capitalist society, we think in terms of “my” rights and “my wants” and getting what I want by spending money or exercising political power. It’s all about me.

Sometimes, we even market the church as a place that meets “felt needs.” We try to make people happy, even if it means leaving them as spiritual infants. But the scriptures call on us to grow up by learning to give up our rights and our preferences. We mature by learning to be living sacrifices.

(Jam 4:10 KJV) Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

But Jesus teaches — by his own example — that it’s all about sacrifice — all about giving yourself to others. It’s all about surrendering, even rejoicing in defeat — knowing that God will lift you up in the end.

We submit. God gives the victory.

Paul continues,

(Phi 2:5-8 NAS)  5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,  7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

“Emptied himself” could be translated as “poured himself out” or better yet “made himself nothing.” “Bond servant” actually means “slave.” Washing feet is the work of a slave.

Are we willing to do that? Is peace with God worth that price? Jesus paid that price in hopes we’d follow his example.

I’m an elder. But I don’t always get my way. I submit to the other four men. Sometimes the church has preferences we don’t agree with. If it’s not doctrinal, we submit to the church.

Just to give an example: The song selection is never my choice of music. Tom, our worship leader, doesn’t even know what kind of music I like. I haven’t told him because it’s not about me getting my way. My preferences don’t matter because everyone else’s preference is more important than mine.

Rather, we are looking for what we think is best for the congregation as a whole, whether it’s best for us individually or not. We won’t always get it right, but the approach is the right one: We try to make the best choice for the congregation as a whole.

Now, that means we have to consider what’s best for everyone from babies in arms to the elderly and shut ins. Eveyone doesn’t get their way, but everyone gets considered.

It also means that the elders take into account the necessity that we all learn to be like Jesus — to make ourselves nothing. And sometimes, we ask the church to live it — by giving up classes for tornado volunteers, by giving up our CampusView Auditorium for a Baptist Church with no other place to worship God, by coping with the challenges that come from ministries to addicts and those in poverty.

You see, the best church isn’t the church that best meets your felt needs; it’s the church that best teaches you how to submit and sacrifice — how to be like Jesus.

It’s only when we have to give up what we want for someone who doesn’t deserve it — not even a little bit — that we become truly like Jesus. And that’s the heart we think God wants this congregation to have.

Conclusion

Peace is a gift from God. It comes in a box called “sacrifice.” Jesus showed us how it works. He asks us to follow him. And he gives us his Spirit to equip and help us really do it.

If we don’t have peace among each other, it’s because we aren’t doing a good job of following Jesus to the cross. It’s not an easy lesson, but it’s at the core of Christianity.

Invitation

The proper response to the lesson is not to come forward. This is about one-to-one relationships. If you feel convicted, if you have something against someone, or someone has something against you, this week — go to that person and make it right. Don’t pretend it’s not a problem. Honestly discuss the problem and find reconciliation.

Talk it out. Share how you feel. And forgive — from the heart.

And do something so absurd that it could only come from God — submit to someone who doesn’t deserve it. Sacrifice for someone you don’t even like.

Ask “What could I surrender that would allow peace to prevail?”

Thank you.