SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/12/2014 10:44 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Peace
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Thess.
3:16A
Message
of the verse: “16 Now may the Lord
of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance.”
Before we begin to study what is one
of God’s attributes, peace, I want to quote what is an actual short review of 2
Thessalonians that is found in John MacArthur’s commentary on 2
Thessalonians. “This brief letter has been filled with high drama. Its three short chapters have described God’s
retribution on the wicked rejecters of the Lord Jesus Christ, and their eternal
destruction in hell (1:6-10). It has
discussed God’s judgment on the sinful world in the Day of the Lord
(2:1-2). It has also predicted the
coming of the final Antichrist, the blasphemous abomination of desolation he
will commit, and his ultimate destruction at the return of Jesus Christ
(2:3-12). It has warned of deceiving
wolves in sheep’s clothing (2:2-3) and rebuked lazy Christians (3:6-15). In short it has up to this point been a
tempestuous letter. But this concluding
passage is like the calm sea after a violent storm.” I suppose that peace being one of God’s
attributes should be no surprise to me, and yet I do not remember studying
about peace as an attribute of God in the books that I studied that spoke of
God’s attributes. We will take a brief
look at this attribute in today’s SD.
MacArthur calls peace as being
“highly prized, yet elusive,” and I would hardily agree with that statement,
for peace seems to be a difficult thing to maintain in my life, but hopefully
after doing this short study on peace that I will be able to have peace that
passes all understanding so it will guard my heart and my mind in Christ Jesus
(Phil. 4:7).
If one would think about peace and
what a worldly definition would be they would miss the mark as far as what
God’s definition would be, for one can have peace in the world’s definition by
having a restful night’s sleep, or by doing drugs or drinking alcohol. This surely is not a description of God’s
peace. I remember something that I heard
about a very long time ago that has to do with God’s peace. An artist was asked to paint a picture of
“peace” and after he spent time in his work it was time for the painting to be
revealed. As the canvas came off of the
painting it revealed a bird, a mother bird sitting on her nest with her baby
birds under her. The amazing thing was that
the bird’s nest was situated in a tree branch over a raging waterfall, and left
the audience wondering why the artist could call his painting “peace.” This is the perfect description of
peace. John MacArthur writes “It (peace)
is the deep, settled confidence that all is well between the soul and God
because of His loving, sovereign control of one’s life both in time and
eternity. That calm assurance is based
on knowledge that sins are forgiven, blessing is present, good is abundant even
in trouble, and heaven is ahead. The
peace that God gives His beloved children as their possession and privilege has
nothing to do with circumstances of life.”
We will now look at an outline, with
some descriptions of what the characteristics of peace are.
1. Peace is divine, deriving from the Lord of peace
Himself. Just as when we look at some of
the other characteristics or attributes of God we find that God is peace, and
in this case He is the One who gives His children peace, for that is the only
way we can receive it. As we look at
God’s peace we know that just as His other attributes it is perfect. We know that God is never under stress, never
worried, never anxious, never fearful, never unsure, or He is never
threatened. As we look at all of these
“never” statements in the sentence above we know that the reason that we can
say this is that because of His other attributes. Now as we search the Scriptures we find out
that the trinity, the Father, Son, and the Spirit all have the quality of peace
for they are in essence One. MacArthur
writes “In the perfectly harmonious working of the Trinity, the Father decreed
peace, the Son purchased it (cf. Acts 10:36; Rom. 5:1; Col. 1:20), and the Holy
Spirit brings it.”
2. “Divine peace is a gift from God. It is His good pleasure to graciously grant
it to those who belong to Him.” Numbers
6:26 says “The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’” In all of Paul’s letters we find that peace
appears in the greetings of them, and not only his letters, but in Peter’s
letters, 2nd and third John, Jude, and also Revelation. Now let it be known that God does not give
His peace to unbelievers. In his
commentary John MacArthur quotes Puritan pastor Thomas Watson who writes: “Peace flows from sanctification, but they being
unregenerate, have nothing to do with peace…They may have a truce, but no
peace. God may forbear the wicked a
while, and stop the roaring of His cannon; but though there be a truce, yet
there is no peace. The wicked may have something which looks like peace, but is
is not. They may be fearless and stupid;
but there is a great difference between a stupefied conscience, and a pacified
conscience…This is the devil’s peace, he rocks men in the cradle of security;
he cries peace, peace, when men are on the precipice of hell. The seeming peace a sinner has, is not from
the knowledge of his happiness, but the ignorance of his danger.”
3. “A third element of the divine peace that God gives
to believers is that it is continually available.” We may wonder if it is continually available
why would Paul pray that the Thessalonian believers continually have
peace. MacArthur writes: “Because though true peace is always
available it can be interrupted. Weak or
disobedient Christians may find their peace disturbed by the same sins, doubts,
fears, and anxieties that destroy the false peace of the unredeemed.
a.
We will now
look at reasons as to “How believer’s interrupted peace can be restored, and
the first is by trusting God. Let us
look at Psalm 42:11 for an example for this:
“Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed
within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance
and my God.” The psalmist teaches us to
hope in God.
b. The peace of God can be forfeited by sin. 1 John 1:8-10 says “8 If we say that we have
no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a
liar and His word is not in us.” Here is
another quote from Thomas Watson “If you would have peace, make war with sin.”
c.
“Third, peace
may be restored by accepting God’s chastening as seen in Job 5:17-24. “17 "Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, So
do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. 18 “For He inflicts pain, and
gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal. 19 “From six troubles He will
deliver you, Even in seven evil will not touch you. 20 “In famine He will
redeem you from death, And in war from the power of the sword. 21 “You will be
hidden from the scourge of the tongue, And you will not be afraid of violence
when it comes. 22 “You will laugh at violence and famine, And you will not be
afraid of wild beasts. 23 "For you will be in league with the stones of
the field, And the beasts of the field will be at peace with you. 24 “You will
know that your tent is secure, For you will visit your abode and fear no loss.” I also think that what we find in Hebrews
chapter twelve goes well with this point:
“"My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be
discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives." 7 If you endure chastening, God
deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not
chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become
partakers, then you are illegitimate and not son (NKJV).”
d.
“Fourth, peace
may be restored by walking in the Spirit, since peace is an element of the
fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22).”
e.
“Fifth, peace
may be restored by loving God from the heart and avoiding legalism.”
f.
“Sixth, those
whose peace has been interrupted need to pray that the God of peace and the
Prince of Peace will restore it.”
4. “A fourth element of the divine peace that God
continually gives the redeemed is that ‘it exists in every circumstance.’” As we are learning more about God’s peace we
have to notice that the peace that He has, that He gives to us is for every circumstance
that we will face in our lives. As we
look back to the picture that the artist painted in which he called peace, we
can see that the mother bird was completely at peace even though the waters
were ragging around her, and not only her but her little birds she was caring
for.
MacArthur finishes this section with
the following words: “Paul longed for God to grant the Thessalonians peace so
that no matter what their circumstances were, they would experience settled
confidence and unshakable joy amid the storms of life.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I can
praise the Lord for what I have learned from this short section that is found
in 2 Thessalonians, for there were some things in this section that not only
taught me some new truths, but also reminded me of truths that I had forgotten. God’s timing is always perfect.
My Steps of Faith for Today: “If you would have peace, make
war with sin.”
1
Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have
received a faith of the same kind as ours, but the righteousness of our God and
Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace
be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing
that His divine power has granted to us everything to life and godliness,
through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and
excellence. 4 For by these He has
granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may
become partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in
the world by lust.
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “In
Tarsus” (Acts 22:3).
Today’s
Bible question: “Who were Noah’s sons?”
Answer
in our next SD. 12/12/2014 12:59 PM
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