The Blessing of Peace // An Abundant Life in Jesus, Part 7

I don’t think there’s a single person on this planet, who doesn’t want to have peace in their lives. A cessation of conflict and wrangling and fighting. Of course conflict comes in many different forms – the words, is a conflict with God.  Turns out that one of the things Jesus wants to bless us with, is peace.

We’re looking this week at Jesus’ outrageous promise of an abundant life. Have a listen, John chapter 10 verse 10:

The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. I came that you may have life and have it abundantly.

And as we unpack that promise, it’s worth unpacking isn’t it? What I’m keen to do is that we don’t misinterpret it. Because it isn’t something we can roll around in, like a pig in mud, imagining somehow that Jesus promised here to put us on “easy street”.

The easiest thing in the world is for us to assume that Jesus wants to bless us just financially or in some other physical way. And of course sometimes He does, but the blessings of the Kingdom of God are far greater, far richer than anything this world has to offer and anyone, anyone who’s ever chased after wealth and fame and fortune will tell you that those things never ever satisfy the deep yearning inside.

Am I right? Jesus didn’t come to give us things the way the world does. He came to give us the blessing of the Kingdom of God in our lives, righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. That’s the real deal, that’s what He died on that cross to give us, that’s what He rose again to bring us. An abundance of life, a rich life, literally, a super abundant life, life in vivid technicolour. And today, today we’re going to take a look at the blessing of peace.

Righteousness, we looked at that yesterday, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Those three in a nutshell are what the Kingdom of God brings into our lives. They are the fountain of blessing. And that little troika is put together by the Apostle Paul in dealing with the controversy over religious rules to do with food and drink that was raging back in the 1st century Church. And in responding to that in his letter to the Romans he’s saying, “Guys, guys, you’ve got a hold of the wrong end of the stick, don’t you get it?” Romans chapter 14, verse 17:

The Kingdom of God isn’t about food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

See that’s the context, because in exactly the same way as some people were taking a human worldly perspective on God’s Kingdom over religious rules back then, you and I we can easily take a worldly view of this promise that Jesus made of an abundant life through our consumer oriented 21st century mindset.

I mean when you hear the promise of an abundant life what’s the first thing that springs to mind? Enough money to get by, being able to have a few of those luxuries, paying off the credit card, “easy street”; I mean it’s the natural reaction right?

But this isn’t what Jesus was saying. As I said last week on the program this promise of an abundant life comes set in the context of a parable of a shepherd and his sheep. And a shepherd and his sheep lived difficult and dangerous lives out there in search for pasture where thieves often came and wild animals came to ravage the flock. Where, sometimes the shepherd had to lay down his life for his sheep. There’s nothing easy street about that little lot is there?

But if we stopped and thought about this whole abundant life thing for just a little while and thought, “If I want an abundant life what would be up there? Right up the top of the list. Numbers 1, 2 and 3 on my list of what it means to have a rich and abundant life.”

I think we’d come up with exactly the same list as Paul, righteousness, a right standing with God, finally the enmity between us and God is gone. Finally the threat of judgement is gone. Finally, where we’re meant to be back in a relationship with God and right standing with Him; so righteousness.

Secondly, peace. Is there anyone among us that doesn’t want peace on every side in our life? The absence of strife. And thirdly, joy; a deep delight that springs out of our relationship with God. A joy that transcends the ups and downs of life. A deep joy that’s there 24/7.

So today we’re going to talk about peace and again remember we’re not talking a worldly view of peace here, we’re talking of a Godly view of peace and that’s exactly what Jesus instructed His disciples to do when He gave them His peace.

See Jesus was about to be crucified, the disciples knew that, they were in fear for their own lives as well. It was a scary, scary time. They’d been following this amazing Jesus around for three and a half years. His miracles and His teaching and now, all of a sudden, the dark clouds of death hung over their future and Jesus says to them, He says, John chapter 14, verse 27:

Peace I leave you, my peace I give you. I don’t give it to you as the world gives, don’t let your hearts be troubled, do not let them be afraid.

You see this? Peace not from the world’s perspective, not the way the world gives it to you, Jesus is saying take my peace, my deep inner peace. The security, the safety, that comes from being one of my disciples. The sort of peace that sheep have when they’re safe in the protection of the one true shepherd, the shepherd who’s prepared to lay down his life for his sheep.

And the clear thing that Jesus is saying to them is this, “Look my peace isn’t the same as the peace the world offers you. That’s why your hearts shouldn’t be troubled. That’s why you needn’t be afraid.” And as I’ve said previously that promise of an abundant life in John chapter 10, verse 10 comes set in a story of difficult, dangerous existence of a shepherd and his sheep. It comes set not wrapped in cotton wool but in the reality of life and it’s for that reason, the cold hard reality of life that you and I need peace.

Without that how can we have an abundant life? How can we? As I look back on my decade and a half of now walking with Jesus, through thick and thin, up and down, dark and light, through some great places and some places that look very much like that valley of the shadow of death that Psalm 23 talks about, His peace is one of the things that I value most about my relationship with Him. A peace that lasts through every situation because it’s His peace, it’s His way, not the world’s peace, the world’s way.

Paul the Apostle in Philippians chapter 4 writes about a peace that surpasses all understanding. That guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. I so relate to that because so often this peace from Jesus in a worldly sense it doesn’t make sense. It completely defies logic and surpasses all understanding because I should be afraid in this situation. I should be panicking. I should be running around like a chicken with my head cut off, but instead I have a deep inner peace. Psalm 23 verse 4:

Even though I walk through the darkest valley I will fear no evil for You are with me, Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.

That’s the peace that Jesus brings. Friend, it is better, better than any bauble, any trinket that this world has to offer. This deep inner peace that Jesus brings. A peace delivered into our very beings by the Holy Spirit Himself and it’s a peace that only comes when first we have a right standing with God through Jesus.

That’s why Paul and his list of three things that the Kingdom of God is about kicks off with righteousness first, then peace because peace flows out of our relationship with God when we have a right standing with Him through Jesus. And then, once we have this relationship with God and the peace that comes out of that, the next thing, the icing on the cake almost, is joy. The Joy of the Lord which is our strength.