"PEACE after WAR" A Utopian Dream?

          "The illusion is: On the other side of CONFLICT or WAR you will find PEACE"

Acts 16: 9-15    John 14: 23-29

Picture this seen:  A young father sitting at the breakfast table sipping on his Saturday morning cup of coffee, nose stuck in the morning Herald.  His young son of 6 enters dressed in his super hero suite with a brightly colored cape wrapped around his shoulders.  One hand holds a flashlight the other a plastic baseball bat.  Dad Asks “What’s up today son”  “Oh nothing yet dad” answers the son as he begins to march off.  “But if anything does by golly, I’m going to be ready for it”  Well, are you ready for it today folks?  What do you have to protect you through your day, your week, or your life time?

Ever wish you had a suite like that, I mean something you could put on that made you feel ready to take on anything the world can throw at you.   For some of us these days, life is pretty hard to cope with, and may not be filled with a sense of peace let alone joy.   For many of us, peace seems almost illusive and most often joy is hard to find.  

That's the way many of us feel as we read or watch the news of today, or as we deal with work, family or money issues in our lives.   Sometimes this world seems quite unfair, violent and people seem to be at each other's throats.   A suit like that would come in handy, so we could say just as the boy, "Whatever may come my way today, I'm going to be ready for it!  Bring it on!" 

Well, I don't have a suit to give you this morning, but I do have some words I can share with you.   Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. 

There is a defining phrase in that statement. One that tells us what kind of peace it is that Jesus can give us.  Listen to it again and see if you can pick it out: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."  Anyone want to give it a shot?  The defining phrase is: "Not as the world gives." If we look closely here, this phrase defines God's peace.   This peace Jesus is speaking of is not what the world offers to us as peace at all.  The world has brainwashed us to believe that there is only one peace and it comes after you overcome conflict.    In other words, worldly peace can only come after the war.  Now think about that for a moment folks, for this worldly view has shortchanged us here, suggesting that true peace comes when conflict ends.  In other words it makes no difference who wins or who loses, after the dust settles peace will come.   Now I ask you, is that not what we have been taught?    But we know from family feuds, personal dysfunctions’ and worldly wars, this kind of peace doesn’t last, does it.  It isn’t long before old hurts, issues or scares become inflamed and families or countries find themselves back in conflict or at war.  This kind of peace is illusive it will never be complete, because this type of peace has to maintained by law and order Jesus explains.   In order to maintain peace through law and order, it always requires the use of aggressive force or restriction.  Now tell me, what does our human nature do when we are told we can’t do something?   That is why Jesus said, the peace I give you is not as the world gives.   The Peace I give you requires no law no aggression and it is not on the others side of conflict.   So then I ask you, what do you think Jesus is talking about here?  Anyone want to give it a short? 

 Let me try and illustrate true peace with this modern day parable:  

A young aspiring artist was asked by a King to paint him a picture that depicted true peace.   After a great deal of thought he painted a beautiful country scene.   With green meadows and sheep grazing, birds in flight, flowing hills with a valley and village nestled in the background.   He really felt he had captured peace in its entirety.  The King said to the artist, " This isn't a picture of true peace, go back and try again.”   Discouraged but not perplexed the artist went back to his studio, thought for several hours about peace, then went to his canvas and began to paint.  When he was finished, there, on the canvas was a beautiful picture of a mother, holding a sleeping baby in her arms, smiling lovingly at the child.  He thought, surely, this is true peace.  So, off he went to the King, only to be rejected again.  Anger began welling up inside him as the artist returned once again to his studio, what does this King want from me, he though!  This time the artist took time out to pray for inspiration.  All of a sudden through divine revelation the words came to him.  Not as the world gives.  He rushed to his canvas and began to paint like he had never painted before.   When he was finished he hurried back to the King.   This time, the King studied the painting for several minutes, then uttered,  “now this painting reflects true peace.”   There on the canvas, the artist had captured the furry of the wind as it whipped up the sea.   Dark rain clouds were laced with lightening bolts.  The sea was a raging turmoil, waves crashing on the rocks, the dark sky filled with the power of the furious hurricane.   And in the middle of the picture, under a cliff, the artist had painted a small sea bird, safe and dry in her nest snuggled in the protected shelter of the rock.  The bird was at peace, shelter by the rock, in the midst of the storm that raged about her.   The songs that comes to mind,  “A Shelter in The Of Storm”  The Lord’s our Rock, in Him we hide,  A Shelter in the time of storm;  Secure whatever ill betide,  A Shelter in the time of storm. Refrain  Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land, A weary land, a weary land; Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land, A Shelter in the time of storm.   Another song “ Over My Head I Hear Music in The Air” When the storms of life are ragging I hear music in the air.   and then of course there is this old rock a billy song: "Jesus is the rock and rolls my blues away."

In other words true peace, the peace that Jesus offers us, can not be found when the war is over, when human conflict ceases, for we know that peace is illusive and won’t last.  True peace can only be found in your heart, storm or no storm it comes through your relationship with your ROCK, the Christ, when you allow yourself to become entangled with Him.  His "WAY" calms the storms of life, takes away the fear out of death and give you the peace that passes all understanding.  He will comfort you and give you rest even while the winds of stripe are blowing all around you.  This peace will quite and even extinguish fear.  You who accept my peace Jesus tells us, will not be afraid but at peace in the midst of a raging world.  I will teach you how to cope with the storms of life in a new way.   It is the peace that passes all understanding and who wouldn’t want that kind of peace in their life.    It’s yours for the asking folks, take Jesus into your life, surrender you burdens, allow yourself to be entangled with the Christ.  As you surrender to Him and allow him to be your guide in life, everything becomes manageable everything becomes tolerable.   This is more than a promise it is a reality for all those who have accepted Him.    
                                                      " Jesus is The Rock"