PEARLS OF PAUL
FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT – PEACE
DR. JIM DIXON
GALATIANS 5:22, JOHN 14:25-27
APRIL 2, 2000
On July 20, 1969, the Apollo XI Lunar Module Eagle touched down on the Sea of Tranquility on the surface of the moon. For the first time, man walked on the moon. In the words of Neil Armstrong, it was but “a small step for man, but a giant leap for mankind.” Now, on that same day, July 20, 1969, Armstrong and Aldrin placed a plaque on the Sea of Tranquility on the surface of the moon. That plaque was signed by Armstrong and Aldrin and also by Collins, the three astronauts, and it was signed by Richard M. Nixon, who was then President of the United States. These words were on the plaque. “We came in peace for all mankind.” That peace plaque is still on the Sea of Tranquility on the surface of the moon today. There may, indeed, be a kind of peace, a measure of peace on the moon today, but if there is, it’s only because mankind is not there. You see, on earth, human history is riddled with war, and historians tell us that in recorded human history, which spans 5,000 years, there has never been a time of global peace. In recorded human history, there has never been a time when all nations and all people groups were at peace.
On June 27, 1969, just 19 days prior to the launching of the Apollo XI spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, there was a soccer game played right here on earth, a soccer game between El Salvador and Honduras. El Salvador won that soccer match 3-2, scoring a goal in the final seconds, in the midst of great controversy. In the aftermath of that soccer match, there was rioting in both nations—rioting in El Salvador that was rooted in celebration, and rioting in Honduras that was rooted in rage and the agony of defeat. The leaders of both nations were caught up in the emotion. In bitterness, the leaders of Honduras accused the people of El Salvador of being cheaters. In response, the leaders of El Salvador called the people of Honduras losers. Incredibly, on July 3, 1969, both nations declared war on each other. In that war, thousands of people died. Because of that war, the Central American Common Market shut down so that there were food shortages and starvation in both nations. And all because of a soccer match. The irony was that while this was going on, at that very moment, Armstrong and Aldrin were placing the peace plaque on the Sea of Tranquility on the surface of the moon.
Of course, at the same time, war was being fought in Vietnam. And at the same time, there was fighting in Northern Ireland and in many other parts of the world because this is the way of man. Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that in this age of the world there will always be wars and rumors of wars. History is heading, racing, towards Armageddon. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” But there’s only one peacemaker who can bring global peace, and that one peacemaker is called “Sar Shalom, the Prince of Peace,” and He is Jesus Christ. One day He will come again, and He will, the Bible tells us, “Beat our swords into plowshares, our spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, and neither shall they learn war anymore.” He is the Prince of Peace, Sar Shalom.
This Prince of Peace does not simply offer global peace. He also offers personal peace. He offers what some have called inner peace. When we think of this third fruit of the Holy Spirit, we think of inner peace. This morning, as we examine inner peace, I have two very simple teachings. The first teaching is based on the Greek word for peace, the New Testament word “eirene.” The primary meaning of this New Testament word eirene is harmony. That’s its primary meaning. It refers to the peace of harmonious relationships.
This morning, in the Rocky Mountain News, you may have noticed an article called “Rough Retirement.” This article deals with the alarming growth in the divorce rate in the nation of Japan. According to this article in today’s paper, in Japan, the divorce rate in the last 24 years has doubled, and, amongst the elderly in Japan, the divorce rate has increased 8-fold. Incredible. Sociologists in Japan believe that it has to do with marriages where there has been no development of harmony in relationship. You see, according to this article, men in Japan work long. They work long hours every day. At the end of the day, they go and experience what this article calls “the obligatory drinks” with their superiors or their bosses. They don’t return home until very late, and then they go straight to bed. Their wives have reared the children. The wives have developed hobbies the husbands are not even aware of, and then suddenly, after 30 or 40 years, the husband retires, and he is at home. They’ve never had a meaningful conversation in their entire lives according to this article. The women begin to experience what sociologists in Japan call “husband-at-home stress syndrome.”
Of course, when there is no harmony, when there’s been no cultivation of relationship, there can be no peace. This is true not only on the horizontal, this is true not only in our relationships with family and with other human beings, but this is true in the vertical. This is true in terms of relationship with God. If there’s no harmony with God, there can be no inner peace. Only Jesus Christ can give you harmony with God. The Bible is absolutely clear, I promise you. Only Jesus Christ can give you harmony with God.
I hold in my hand the new United States dollar coin. On the face of this coin there is the image of Sacajawea. She was a Native American Indian. As she is portrayed on this coin, she is holding her little child, her infant baby boy, whom she named John Baptiste after John the Baptist. This coin has become very popular in America, so much so that the U.S. Mint has had to double its monthly production. Since the coin was first minted at the beginning of January, in less than 14 weeks, they have produced 500 million of these coins. You realize, it took 14 years to produce that many of the Susan B. Anthony dollar coins. In fourteen weeks, they produced as many of these as they did the Anthony coin in 14 years.
Who was Sacajawea? She was the Native American Indian woman who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their famed expedition in 1805 and in 1806. Some history books will tell you that she was the official guide of the Lewis and Clark expedition, but that’s not true. She was not. Other history books will tell you that she was the official interpreter of the Lewis and Clark expedition, but that’s not really true either. It was her husband, a fur trader, a French Canadian. He was the official interpreter of the Lewis and Clark expedition. But, you see, Sacajawea was extremely important because she was the peacemaker. That’s why she’s portrayed on our American coin. That’s why monuments have been erected in her honor in the state of Idaho, in the state of North Dakota, in the state of Montana, and in the state of Oregon—because she was the peacemaker.
As Lewis and Clark made that famous trek westward looking for the Northwest Passage and a passage to the sea, they came in contact with many Indian nations, and they relied on Sacajawea to provide harmonious relationship, to bring peace, and she was able to do this. Particularly, she was able to do this with the Shoshone Indian Nation because she was a Shoshone herself and the sister of a Shoshone Indian chief. When they came to the Rocky Mountains and entered into the region of the Shoshone people, she gave them harmonious relationship with those Indians. Out of that came horses and supplies and much help. She was, you see, the peacemaker.
Sacajawea could not offer Lewis and Clark peace with all human beings. Her peacemaking ability was limited. Certainly, she had not the ability to give Lewis and Clark peace with God. You see, there’s only one individual who can give peace with God, only one, and that one is Jesus Christ. He is the true Peacemaker. If you are a Christian this morning, then you have asked Jesus Christ to be your Lord and your Savior, and you have pledged your life in His service and you have expressed your desire to follow Him. As you come to the communion table this morning and you partake of the bread and the cup, you thank Him for the peace that has come through the blood of the cross. By His shed blood, you have found forgiveness of sin and reconciliation with the Father, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has become your Father, and you’ve entered into harmonious relationship with God. You have become children of God, daughters and sons of God through Jesus Christ. He has brought peace, the peace of relationship, harmony with God.
We speak of this peace as the fruit of the Holy Spirit because it was the Holy Spirit who first convicted us of sin. It was the Holy Spirit who drew us to Christ and the cross, and it’s the Holy Spirit who has come to live within us. The Holy Spirit still convicts us of sin as He leads us to repentance and confession daily that there might be no barriers between us and God. As you come to the table this morning, it’s very appropriate that you confess any known sin that you might not in any way hinder that peace, that harmony, with God.
There’s a second meaning of this word peace. We see it in the Hebrew word for peace. The Hebrew word for peace, the Old Testament word, is the word “shalom.” This word has a primary meaning of wholeness, not harmony but wholeness. Shalom means “complete, whole.” There is a book in the Old Testament called Nehemiah. The tragedy is so many Christian have never read this Old Testament book of Nehemiah, and they have no clue who Nehemiah was. Nehemiah lived in the 5th century before Christ. He was a Jew living in exile. He was very wealthy, and he rose in prominence, and he became the cup bearer for Artaxerxes I who was King of Persia. As the cup bearer, he had access to the throne. He requested Artaxerxes I, he appealed to him, that he would allow him to return to Jerusalem and lead the Jewish people in the rebuilding of the walls of the Holy City. In the year 445 BC, it was granted to him to return to the Holy Land, to return to Jerusalem and rebuild those walls. The walls of the Holy City were in shambles. Rocks scattered everywhere. The city in ruins. King Artaxerxes I, the King of Persia, granted Nehemiah the right to rebuild the city and its walls and to requisition all supplies needed.
We read about this in the book of Nehemiah. We’re told that after the walls were rebuilt. After the walls of the Holy City of Jerusalem were rebuilt, the walls were at peace. Shalom. They were at peace. Why does the Bible speak of the walls at peace? Because they had become whole. They had become complete. They had been rebuilt. We need to understand that, from a biblical perspective, the whole of mankind is fallen. We are sinners, and “There is none righteous, no not one.” We are a broken people, desperately in need of rebuilding.
When you come to the cross, and when you come to Christ in humility, you recognize your need for wholeness. You know, the beauty is that when the Holy Spirit comes into you, when you receive Jesus as Lord and Savior and He sends His Spirit within you, the Holy Spirit comes to make us whole. His great work within us is to transform us and to make us like the Son of God, Jesus Christ, to make us whole, to make us complete. to sanctify us. He leads us into Bible study daily, that we might be transformed. He leads us into prayer daily, that His power might be released in us for transformation and wholeness. He leads us into Christian fellowship, that through Christian fellowship, the power of the Holy Spirit might heal us and make us whole. He leads us into ministry. He leads us into Christian service, that through Christian ministry, we might be made whole. He takes all the circumstances of our life, the ups and the downs, what we would consider to be the good and the bad, and He seeks to use it all to make us whole. This is His great work within us. He might lead us into counseling, but if He does, it’s because He’s seeking to make us whole. It’s His great work within us.
Last Sunday night, the movie “American Beauty” won the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture. Movie critics, have, almost without exception, praised this movie. Two thumbs way up! That’s what the critics say. Two months ago, Barb and I went to see American Beauty—not because of what the critics said, but because some other people had said to us, “This is really a good movie.” I’ve got to say, personally, really for Barb and I both, we were VERY disappointed. I mean, it occurs to me it could have been called “American Ugly.” The movie portrays a dad in midlife crisis, lusting after his own daughter’s girlfriend. It portrays his wife, a mom, just preoccupied with career, driven by a craving for career success as she’s a real estate broker. It portrays their daughter as riddled with low self-esteem, viewing herself as unattractive, inwardly and outwardly. The daughter’s girlfriend, though, is very pretty, you find out later that she has no self-esteem either. She is empty at the core. The next-door neighbor, the boy, is a drug dealer, and the boy’s dad is a harsh bigoted man with a military background who hates gays and yet is a repressed homosexual himself, hating the very things he desires. It just portrays humanity as a mess!
The makers of the movie have declared that they tried to portray the human race and humanity as one big dysfunctional family. I must say that they succeeded. The truth is, the human race IS one big dysfunctional family, and we DO need to have mercy and compassion towards each other. But I must say, personally, I believe this movie fails. I believe this movie has little redemptive value, no redeeming quality, because there’s no call to holiness, at least none that I could perceive. No call to holiness. No prescription for wholeness.
If you’re a Christian, you know that you’ve been called to holiness, and you’ve been called to wholeness. You’ve been called to “hunger and thirst after righteousness.” Of course, the world seeks peace, and sometimes the people of the world seek peace through denying their own brokenness. The people of the world seek peace through redefining morality so as to get them off the hook of immorality. Sometimes people in the world seek peace by embracing their brokenness and just saying it’s normal. But, you see, if you’re a Christian, you can’t wallow in brokenness. You’ve been called to wholeness, and you’ve found the source of wholeness in Christ and in His indwelling Holy Spirit.
As you come to this table this morning, as we come to this table this morning, we need to renew our commitment to wholeness and holiness. This is the call of Christ upon us. There is His great promise that “He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion.” We have the peace as we come to this table of knowing that someday we WILL be made like Christ. We have the peace of knowing that. Incrementally, as we are transformed and sanctified, the peace grows within us. The Bible says, “We all, with unveiled faces beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed from one degree of glory to another, and all of this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
Life is hectic, I think, for all of us. Sometimes it just seems like the pace of life allows for very little peace. I read recently of a family that was going on vacation. They all had different tastes in music. As they drove in the car, they decided that each person would get a chance to play their own cassette tape in the tape deck. They had a 6-hour drive this one day, so they decided that the four members of the family each could play a 90-minute tape. The mom went first. She chose country western music. The daughter then chose, on her tape, jazz music. The son chose rock music. Last, the dad got to put in his tape. He chose to put in a blank tape so he could just have an hour and a half of peace and quiet.
I think we can kind of understand that, can’t we? I mean, there’s not enough quiet in this world, not enough quiet in our car, not enough quiet at home. It seems like the TV is running too much, and the phone is ringing too much. Have you noticed all the phone solicitations? It just seems like more and more, people are trying to sell things to us at home. Whether it’s lawn care or a new credit card, phone solicitations are just increasing. At the very time a lot of people are wanting cordless phones, I find myself wanting phoneless cords, just to have the peace of no phone at home.
In my study at home, there’s a picture. It’s a Thomas Kincaid painting in my study. I love this painting. It shows a mountain lake late in the day. On this mountain lake, there’s a little canoe with this man fishing, a little boat with a man fishing. There are ducks on the lake, and it’s calm. There’s a little pier that goes out over the lake. There’s a dog and two puppies on the pier. Then two little boats up on the shore. Then by the side of the lake, a mountain cabin with smoke coming out of the chimney and lights shining through the window. In the background, you see all colors on the trees late in the day. There is still some snow on the peaks. Sometimes I just want to jump into the picture or maybe go into the mountains and spend about three months!
I know you feel like that sometimes, but you really can’t find lasting peace by going to the mountains or by having a quiet car or a quiet home. You can’t find lasting peace that way, because if you don’t have harmony with God, you take that brokenness and that disharmony to the mountains. You take it to your quiet car. You take it to your quiet home. If you don’t have any wholeness, and if there’s no growth of sanctification in you, you take that to the mountains. You take that to your car. You take it to your home. Only Jesus Christ offers lasting peace, real peace, through His Holy Spirit, and that’s the peace of having harmony with the Father, relationship and friendship with God. That’s the peace of His indwelling Holy Spirit, performing the work of sanctification and wholeness inside.
As we close in prayer, and before we take communion, I want to invite you to embrace this peace. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.