Seek Peace, Pursue It Earnestly

Well, thank you, Mr. Kinsella, and once again, good afternoon or morning, everyone!

I kept telling myself, don't do that. It's not afternoon. I missed an announcement I wanted to let everybody know as well. Preetin, thank you so much for all of you who took the time to complete the Preetin day camp survey. At this point, please save the dates. Please write it down in your calendar. At this point, that day camp is being looked to be pursued on August 8th and August 9th.

Please write that down for those of you that have pre-teenaged children, and please stay tuned for additional information that will provide additional, well, information. So, there you go.

Well, brethren, we live in a world which peace is somewhat elusive. It's a world in which, particularly in recent years, I think all of us can recognize, especially over the past, you know, half dozen years or so, last six years, maybe a decade, conflict has appeared to become the norm as opposed to the exception. You take a look at civil discourse. Civil discourse is taken the wayside, particularly in politics. Polarization has resulted in greater extremes on both sides of the aisle, and in some ways, each of those extremes have gotten louder and they've gotten more aggressive in their attempts to be heard over the top of just this constant din of disagreement and debate which we have in our nation's capital. As a result, unfortunately, this has led to those extremes and the disagreements between those extremes, finding their way into the hearts and the minds of the American people, causing a great degree of conflict among one another. But, now we're talking in this case of rhetorical conflict. It's not just rhetorical conflict.

This September marks the 20th year of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 20 years that we've been at war in the Middle East and in Afghanistan. Now, those wars have begun to wind down as time has gone on, but we still have soldiers with boots on the ground in those countries. It is now officially the longest armed conflict in U.S. history. Actually, just recently, within the last couple of months, surpassed the Vietnam War at 19 years and 6 months. Vietnam itself was just one of four major conflicts that the United States was involved in during the 20th century. The 20th century being a 100-year period in which historians have marked as a time in which there was not a single year where there was no armed conflict occurring somewhere in the world. There was not a year of peace in the world in the 20th century. True peace, where there was not a war or an armed conflict being fought somewhere. As I dug into some of the statistics in preparation of this message, I was actually surprised to see that in the United States' 245-year history, historians estimate that less than 20 years of its history was without armed conflict, in some capacity or another, whether directly or covertly. And there's a whole lot of those covert things that only we find out later on. In fact, interestingly enough, for those of you in the room that were born after 2001, you've never experienced an America that was not at war. For your lifetime, our country has been involved in an armed conflict. And for that matter, in my lifetime, I just turned 40 this last year.

There were only two years in my lifetime, 1997 and 2000, when we were not in an armed conflict somewhere. 1980s was the Contra scandal. It was our involvement in the Central American policies and other things going on throughout that stretch. Many, you know, as we take a look around the world today, as we take a look around this weekend, you know, we consider what we're going to be experiencing here this weekend with Memorial Day. Many of the soldiers that were involved in those conflicts paid the ultimate sacrifice. And on Memorial Day, we honor that sacrifice. We honor that selflessness, that willingness to die, you know, for their country. We honor that selflessness and that sacrifice which they made. And for those of you that have ever attended or been to, you know, a military funeral or been to a national cemetery of some kind, you know, I think of, I've never been there personally, but I think of the pictures that I've seen of Arlington National Cemetery, where it is just row upon row upon row upon row of perfectly organized gravestones of all of these individuals who have given their life in service to their country. We had an opportunity recently to attend Charlie Van Valkenburg's funeral down in the Roseburg area. Charlie is the, was the husband of Connie Van Valkenburg down in the Roseburg area, and he was a military veteran, and he was given a military funeral. And it's at the cemetery there in Roseburg that is where they, where they bury the veterans. And they have a similar situation where there's these rows upon rows of these gravestones.

We've done the same thing at the Custer National Battlefield. And it gives you pause when you stand in these areas and you look around and you see all of these people, all of these individuals who gave their lives for the cause. And you know, we are incredibly appreciative. We are incredibly grateful of their selflessness, truly, and of the relative peace. I mean, from a standpoint of our country, at least, the armed conflict on our own shores, right? We haven't experienced that, thanks to, you know, many of the sacrifices that these individuals have made. We're appreciative very much of the liberty that it's created in our nation, the freedoms that we continue to be afforded as a result of that sacrifice. But we also recognize that, sadly, their sacrifice hasn't created a true and a lasting peace. Hasn't created a true and a lasting peace. World War One was to be the war that would end all wars. 21 years later, we were embroiled in yet another conflict. Many historians believe that it never really stopped, that that conflict just kind of took a pause between World War One and World War Two. Five years after World War Two entered or ended, we were embroiled in Korea. Korean War, 1950, and then between 1950 and 1955. By November 1st of 1955, some of the first U.S. troops were involved in a limited capacity in supporting French troops in Vietnam. By 1965, hundreds of thousands of troops were in the jungles of Vietnam. The 20th century has been punctuated by war. It's been kind of experienced very few, very relatively few years of peace. You know, we have a hymn in our hymnal that we sing entitled, Turn Now From Evil. And some of you are very familiar. In fact, as soon as I mentioned that, the song starts going through the back of your head. We're conditioned, right? We just, we know. But it's hymn number 23. You can go ahead and turn to look at it if you'd like. We're not going to go through the lyrics in its entirety, but we are going to turn to the psalm in which it's based upon. Let's go over to Psalm 34. Psalm 34. And we'll take a look at the psalm that this particular song was based upon and that this song was set up to lyrically go through. Psalm 34. And we recognize Psalm 34 is one of the Psalms of David. It's listed as such. In fact, it's listed specifically as the psalm in which David kind of reflects on the time when he pretended to be insane in front of a bimilec or achish of gath, as he's known as well. He did that at that time to escape Saul's pursuits. Saul was after him. Saul was trying to take his life. And so, you know, David and his men, they went to a neighboring enemy's land, and they went into that enemy's country and pretended, David at least, to be insane. And so this psalm was written in reflection of those times. The psalm is an acrostic psalm, so it's one of those psalms that each stands and begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. And so it's an interesting psalm in that regard. And there's a lot of things here. We're going to focus on one little piece of it today, but there's a lot here, and it would be a it's a valuable study to dig into and to take a look at this and to take a look at the events that were described, essentially, or were at least reflected upon that came from 1 Samuel 21.

So psalm 34, and we'll pick it up in verse 1, Psalm 34 and verse 1, says, A psalm of David, when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.

So Abimelech, we know, didn't really have anything to do with it. He said we don't want him here.

He was in a moment. But it says, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear of it and be glad.

It says, O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. It says, I sought the Lord, and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear him and delivers them. Verse 8, O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him. O fear the Lord, you his saints. There is no want to those who fear him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger, but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. Verse 11, Come, you children, listen to me.

I will teach you of the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life and loves many days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

Verse 14, Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it.

Verse 15, The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry.

The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all of their troubles.

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and save such as have a contrite spirit.

Verse 19, Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of all.

He guards all his bones, not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. The Lord redeems the soul of his servants, and none of those who trust in him shall be condemned. You know, in this particular psalm, David is reflecting on the incredible promises and the incredible blessings of God.

His greatness, he's reflecting on the strength that God provides to those who make God their defender, who put their trust and their faith and their deliverance in him. He speaks of that deliverance. He speaks of the relief that God provides. In fact, he goes as far as saying, taste and see. Prove him. Taste and see. Prove him. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord, and to see the joy of those who take refuge in him. He goes on, he talks about if we want to live a life that is long and that is prosperous, that we must keep our tongues from speaking evil and lies, that we must do good, that we must seek peace and pursue it earnestly. You know, David, again, is reflecting on these continuing promises that God has provided to the righteous.

He reflects on and he talks about how God will watch over them, how he will hear their cries, how he will become close to those who are brokenhearted. And if there is not, there is so much brokenheartedness in the world around us today as we experience the various aspects of this physical life. He rescues those who face trouble. He redeems those who serve him, and he saves those who take refuge in him. But notice, he doesn't guarantee that the righteous have no trouble. In fact, he said many are the afflictions of the righteous. Many are the challenges that face the righteous, but he does promise that he will deliver them from their troubles. There's a lot packed into Psalm 34. There's a lot of information here. Once again, if you have not taken the time lately to go through it and you have not gone through that in the accompanying Scriptures in 1 Samuel 21, I would suggest you take a moment and just go through it and really just piece by piece by piece really dig into it. I want to focus on one particular aspect of this Psalm today, so I want to kind of grab this one little piece, and I want to explore it a little bit further today as we dig in. I want to explore this concept of seeking peace. Seeking peace. The title of the message today is seek peace. Pursue it earnestly. And again, that title is taken from the hymn that corresponds to the Psalm. The verse itself doesn't necessarily state it that way. It's close. It says to keep your tongue from evil. Again, verses 13 and 14, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. And the earnestly part of the title comes from the Hebrew word there for pursue. It's an imperative. It's an imperative voice, and so it's, you know, really seek it. You know, really pursue it. So what is this peace?

Where does it come from? And how do we, in a world that is so full of conflict, both externally and internally, how do we seek peace? And how do we pursue it? And those are the questions I'd like to examine today in the time that we have left. I'd like to try to take this just kind of piece by piece and look at what peace is, where it comes from, and how we seek it, and how we pursue it.

So what is peace? What is peace? When we talk about peace, what is it? Because for us to understand what we're talking about, we want to make sure we define our terms. We want to make sure we're all speaking the same language, so to speak, and we're looking at what this term means. In our modern usage, we consider peace in our modern usage. We tend to think of peace in terms of its opposite.

We tend to think of peace in terms of the opposite state, which is a state of war or a state of conflict, right? So peace, then, by that definition, we would say, well, it's the absence of war, or it's the absence of conflict. But is peace simply an absence of war? Or is it more than that?

Is it more than that? You know, we see examples of war in Scripture. We see opportunities that God took to show His power to Israel, where He fought their battles for them. We see situations, too, where Israel decided they were going to fight for themselves, and they were going to do it without God, and that usually didn't end well. We have examples of numerous opportunities, where we have periods of peace that God provided them from their enemies, and where we have God protecting them from various armed conflicts. And we see, during the time, for example, of the judges, we had times of peace and war, and peace and war that was cyclical for 400-some years. Just this cycle of, you know, difficulty and oppression and challenges under a foreign enemy, and then God would deliver them and give them peace, and then, a short time later, they would be back under oppression of an enemy. But, you know, it's interesting when you consider those times, and when you consider those periods of peace, so to speak, just because God blessed Israel with peace from their enemies doesn't necessarily mean that there was peace among the people of Israel. Doesn't necessarily mean there was peace under the people of Israel. Let's go to Psalm 55. Let's go to Psalm 55. I want to look at an example of the opposite of peace here. Psalm 55, just a few pages over from where we are. Psalm 55. And I want to take a look at this example from a standpoint of this concept of war and peace that describes something other than, you know, physical conflict. Now, there's an aspect of physical conflict in this, but we want to understand that that conflict that we can have can be very much a conflict of our own attitudes, a conflict of our own methodology, the way that we interact with other people, and that war can be in our hearts. That war can absolutely be in our hearts. Psalm 55, and we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 20. You know, David, in this particular psalm, is lamenting the treachery that he experienced at the hand of someone that he trusted. Now, it does not specifically identify this person by name. I think you could speculate, looking at the context of Psalm 54 and the accompanying kind of cluster of Psalms that are around this, that it's likely Saul. But again, that's speculation. We don't know for certain, because he doesn't, in this particular passage, identify this individual. But what he says would pertain to the situation that he experienced with Saul. Psalm 55 verse 20, kind of breaking into the context, David says, he has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him.

Says he has broken his covenant. He has broken his covenant. Says the words of his mouth were smoother than butter. Again, you hear those terms, and you can hear another hymn that we have in our hymnal. A minor key, you know, one of my, actually one of my favorite hymns. I love the, you know, the words are hard to sing, but boy, the melody on that song is beautiful. But says the words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart. His words were softer than oil, yet they were as drawn swords. And so we have an individual here, and I think if you, you know, think about your own life, you may have had experiences with people that are like this.

You know, they say the right things, but in their heart there's conflict there. You know, there's not a, there's not a good back and forth in some ways with that. The words, he says, were smooth.

They were not abrasive, so to speak. They weren't harsh. They weren't aggressive, the words. They were smoother than butter. They were softer than oil. But ultimately, the intense of his heart was war. His words, despite not being, you know, harsh or abrasive in that regard, maybe non-assuming, we might say, he said, the words were like drawn swords. They were like drawn swords. So we can conclude, you know, based on this, I think, that we can at least say that the relationship between these two individuals was strained. Okay, we'll go that far, right? We'll say it was strained. If this is the example of Saul, we know that Saul was actively also attempting to kill David in the process. But their relationship was no longer whole. It was no longer complete. They were not at peace with one another. They were divided. They were divided.

And now I want to, I draw attention to this example, because this is an example in which the nation of Israel was not technically at war with their enemies. You know, this was during one of those times in which they were not necessarily in active war with their enemies, because Saul had time not to be in front of his armies up against the Philistines or other people, if it is Saul, but to instead be doing the things that he was doing. And again, if you take a look at Psalm 54, Psalm 55, and a number of the little cluster of Psalms that go along with these, these Psalms all kind of go together. I think there's decent evidence there that we're looking at Saul in this scenario. But this was not, this was a time of relative peace in Israel, and yet there was war in the heart of this person. And so it doesn't always mean physical conflict. It can mean interpersonal conflict. It can mean, you know, issues and things that are between individuals.

The Bible uses two primary words to describe peace. It uses one of the words in Hebrew, and one of the words is in Greek. The Hebrew word is shalom. It's a word we're very familiar with.

The word shalom, it's a greeting used in Hebrew. It's a greeting and it's a valediction. It's a, you know, kind of a, you know, go in peace, essentially. Shalom and shalom. It's like aloha in Hawaii, aloha and aloha. You know, hello and goodbye. So you never quite know. You never know which way you're going. But the Hebrew word is shalom. The Greek word is irene. Irene, pronounced just like the name. In fact, some of the names that we have in English have come from some of these different scriptural concepts. You know, we have individuals that go by the name shalom.

The Hebrew word shalom indicated a peace, but it also, it's kind of a utilitarian word, it also dealt with prosperity and success. It dealt with a person's welfare. It dealt with their health, state of health, and as such it was kind of adopted as a greeting. And really what it meant was, you know, you said shalom, it was like you were asking, is everyone well?

Is all well with you? Is everything complete? Is everything whole, so to speak?

And it was also used to wish people continued peace and prosperity as they left. But what's interesting is, if you dig into this in Vine's expository dictionary, the root word of shalom, which is salem, the root word of shalom carries with it this concept of wholeness or completeness or a finishing or a perfecting. In fact, just one example, and I'll have you jot it in your notes, and you can turn there later, but that is in Joshua 8 and verse 31. And that's one of the uses of this particular root word in the Old Testament, and it was used in the sense that in Joshua 8 verse 31, Moses, God gave the instructions to Moses, and then Moses commanded the children of Israel that the altar of God should be made of whole stones, stones that were not hewn, that were not carved out. It should be made of whole, complete, intact, undivided, untouched, perfect stones. And so in this word is a sense of that concept of wholeness or completeness. In fact, William Barkley talks about this concept in his commentary in the book of Galatians when he talks about the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5. He says, and this is, I'm quoting from Barkley here, it says, in contemporary colloquial Greek, this word, Irene, and he's jumping into the New Testament, had two interesting usages. It was used of the serenity which a country enjoyed under the just and beneficent government of a good emperor.

So there was a certain degree of peace that came from good rulership, right? Good rulers brought forth peaceful times. But it also says, and it was used to describe the good order of a town or a village. Villages had an official who was called the superintendent of the village's Irene. That doesn't mean he was Irene's babysitter. He means that he was the keeper of the public peace.

I say he's a peace officer, so to speak. We might use that term in our common vernacular today.

But I found this fascinating, and this is why I bring it up. Usually in the New Testament, Irene stands in for the Hebrew word shalom. And it means not just freedom from trouble, but it means everything that makes for a man's highest good. In other words, if you are shalom or Irene, you are achieving and completing and finishing and perfecting.

Here it says, it means that tranquility of heart that derives from the all-pervading consciousness that our time, speaking again of it here in Galatians 5, it's context, that our times are in the hands of God. So because of this sense of this word standing in for the Hebrew, there's a sense of that in Paul's words to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5. Let's turn over there real quick as we kind of build this concept. 1 Thessalonians 5, as we look at what exactly does this mean?

What are we talking about when we talk about peace? 1 Thessalonians 5, we'll go ahead and head over there to take a look at the words that Paul wrote to them. And we see God frequently referred to in the New Testament by a title as the God of Peace. In fact, in many of the blessings that were given in front of some of the epistles, may the God of peace be with you. You know, grace and peace from, you know, so-and-so to so-and-so. So often, these things are included in the process of the greetings that we see. So the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5, and we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 23. Verse Thessalonians 5 verse 23. And I want you again, keep in mind, the Greek word that we're using here, Irene, is standing in, in many places, for the Hebrew word shalom, and the concepts included in that Hebrew word shalom. Look at the way Paul wrote this. Paul was a Hebrew. Paul understood the context of what peace meant.

Paul understood that the words were generally interchangeable between Hebrew and Greek in this case. And so look how he words this. Verse Thessalonians 5 and verse 23. He says, now may the God of peace, the God of wholeness, of completion, of finishing, of perfection, himself sanctify you completely.

May he build the holiness that is in you, the setting apart of you completely.

Not just sorta, but he's building in that direction.

May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He goes on in verse 24 to say, he who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. Paul is using this Greek word, Irene, in a Hebrew sense. That God who is the God of peace, he will sanctify them completely, wholly, fully. Such that the whole spirit, the soul, and body, as it says in the passage there, is preserved blameless. Might say that they might no longer be divided, but would instead become whole, perfected, as the spirit of God interfaces with our spirit of man. And we work through that process of perfection that God has started in us, as we build in that direction toward the fulfillment of that, as God perfects and he finishes us through the things we experience in this life, and ultimately the gift of his spirit and the resurrection that will come.

But he assures them of God's faithfulness. He assures them that God will follow through on the promise and will finish and will complete and will wrap up, so to speak, that which he has started.

And Paul, in some ways, in his discussion here, in some ways, is getting at this concept that peace is not a natural characteristic in our lives. In our natural state, as humans, in our natural state, carnal as we are, and working to rid ourselves of that carnality, we are incomplete in some ways. We are not at peace. In fact, we are at war. We are at enmity, so to speak. We are hostile until God begins to work with and shape us, and we begin to yield to his presence in our lives. But when we're at war, when we're at enmity, when we're hostile, it has effects on personal relationships. It affects how we view others. It affects how we treat others. Sometimes it results in our willingness to draw lines amongst ourselves, kind of feeds tribalism, to divide lines among ourselves, dividing ourselves into tribes and making it us versus them. That is our natural human proclivity. God wants something more. God is a God of peace. God is about breaking down walls of separation. He's about joining that which is divided, completing that which has begun, bringing things into a state of peace. Let's turn over to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2, again, as we look at what peace is and how peace operates, Ephesians 2.

Pardon me. Ephesians 2. And we're going to go ahead and we'll pick it up down in Ephesians 2.

I believe it's verse 14 is where we want to go. Yes, verse 14. But the book of Ephesians is fascinating. The book of Ephesians is a really interesting read. It's a book that was written later in Paul's life. In fact, it's believed that it was written during the time of his imprisonment in Rome. Why was Paul arrested? What brought him to Rome? What was the event that occurred that brought Paul to Rome? Well, the original event is in Acts 21. We won't turn there, but the original event is in Acts 21. Paul was falsely accused of taking Trophimus, who was one of the Ephesians that accompanied him to Jerusalem, past the wall of separation, past the barrier wall of the temple, and bringing a Gentile into the inner court area where only the Jews were allowed to be.

Now, that wall of separation was designated at that time to keep those who were not children of God by birth by Abraham, those of the circumcision, you know, not of the circumcision, I should say, those who were Gentiles. It was designed to keep them out of that inner court area where the Jews could be. Now periodically, and there's actually kind of interesting, archaeology has found some of these inscriptions on the wall of the temple and some of the rubble that was there, and some of the inscriptions essentially tell the Gentiles, do not take another step forward upon pain of death. Do not cross this line. Do not enter these courts. There's two of these inscriptions that have been recovered, and they're on display at a museum in Istanbul and also in Jerusalem. But this wall of separation, this wall of hostility, kept a very literal physical separation between the Jews and between the Gentiles in the first century. Now this accusation against Paul was false. This was a false accusation. It was an incorrect assumption based on them having seen Paul with Trophimus in the city earlier that week, but then Paul also having gone, you know, up in and offering a offering to to consecrate the vows that they had undertaken. But that accusation of him bringing that Greek or that Gentile from from Ephesus into those inner courts, once you combine that with what Paul was teaching about the Gentiles being offered the opportunity for the gospel, that Paul was seen in the temple with four men they didn't know earlier that day, it was enough to rile up the city, and it was enough to bring him to the point of arrest. So interestingly enough, as Paul writes this letter to the Ephesians, he references the incident. You know, this happened with Trophimus. Trophimus has probably told them about this particular scenario as he's returned to Ephesus after Paul's imprisonment, and so he writes in Ephesians 2 verse 14, once again, keeping our mind on what peace is and how peace operates. Ephesians 2 verse 14 says, For he himself is our peace, for he himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity, thereby putting to death the enmity. And he came and he preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. Verse 18, For through him we both have access, speaking of the Jews and the Gentiles, by one Spirit to the Father. So Paul makes the point to those that are in Ephesus, those receiving this letter, that Christ is our peace, that it is he who made both one by breaking down the wall of separation, by removing the enmity that was established in the Jewish and the Gentile divide. Now often, this scripture gets used to go, see, law's done away with. See, don't you see that? That's not what he's talking about. What he's talking about is the removal of the requirement of physical circumcision for those Gentiles to become Jews in order to access these aspects, that the circumcision was now spiritual. It was a circumcision of the heart. It was a circumcision of, you know, their heart. It was a circumcision of their spirit in many ways, and they're humbling themselves and yielding themselves to God. But Paul's talking about the bringing of the gospel to the Gentiles. And what that did was that destroyed, absolutely turned upside down, this idea of us versus them. Oh, those Gentiles. Bad as dogs.

It created one new man from two. It made peace. It removed the enmity. It took away the finger pointing. It took away the us versus them mentality, and it made Irene. It made peace. It made shalom, if we use the Hebrew word. It completed by bringing those two divided things together into a whole and bringing that body to God. Peace is a wholeness.

Peace is a removal of division. It's a removal of conflict and hostility. It's a, at its core, it's a reconciliation of relationship, both with man and ultimately with God.

So where does this peace come from? Where does this peace of God come from?

Well, we've seen in a couple of passages already this morning that the easy, simple answer is God. Right? That's where it comes from. That's the easy answer. The answer is God. And I suppose we could leave it there, and we could ultimately move on, and we could say, well, that's good enough, but there's a whole lot more to it. We know that God is the author of peace. We know that God is the being through whom true peace can be achieved. We know that, in some ways, we've seen it in our own history. Peace can at least temporarily be achieved through human efforts. You know, we've had treaties and we've had other things. We've had wars that kind of, you know, beat another group of people into submission, but that never lasts long. It never lasts long. Eventually, there's always something that occurs, and that peace is gone. The efforts that we've made towards peace in the history of humanity have been temporary, and they've been ineffective. But we recognize God is the being through which true lasting peace can be achieved. Turn over to Leviticus 3. Leviticus 3. Leviticus 3 and Leviticus 7, and you can put a bookmark or something in Leviticus 7. We're going to turn there here in just a second as well, contains the instructions for the sacrifice of the peace offering. Contains the instructions for the sacrifice of the peace offering, and it's throughout a number of locations. It's not just Leviticus 3 and 7.

You know, there's some spots in Numbers that talk a little bit about it. There's some other places, too. But as far as here is the peace offering, Leviticus 3 and Leviticus 7 are two of the places where that can be found. We're going to go ahead and pick it up in Leviticus 3 and verse 1, and we're going to look very specifically at the peace offering or the shalom offering or the offering which made peace. What it says is the sacrifice of a peace offering. If he offers it of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord. Verse 2, and he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and Aaron's sons, the priests, shall sprinkle the blood all around on the altar.

Then he shall offer from the sacrifice of the peace offering and offering made by fire to the Lord the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails. It gets into the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the flanks and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys he shall remove.

Verse 5, Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is on the wood that is on the fire. Notice as an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma, to the Lord. We can see this peace offering is one that is very specifically labeled as being a sweet aroma or a sweet savor, as some translations put it, to God. It was an offering that was pleasing to him, very much pleasing to him, and not all of the offerings are described as sweet savors.

Not all of them are sweet savors. This one is one that is. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, this offering could take three different forms. It could be a thank offering, which a person would bring to God and bring to the priest there in response to divine favor. You know, a good thing happened. God answered a prayer. I'm going to go and provide a thank offering to God as a result of that.

It could be a votive offering, which has to do with the fulfillment of a vow or a consecrating of a vow that was given to kind of repay the vow, or it could be a free will offering that was given out of kind of just spontaneous piety, so to speak, or one's joy in their God.

Each of these sacrifices, these ones in particular, the peace offering itself, they were private sacrifices. So these were ones that an individual would bring to the priest. And while they were similar in many ways to other sacrifices in the Israelite system, they differed in one major way.

Leviticus 7 and verse 15 gives us that difference. Leviticus 7 and verse 15 says, the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered. He shall not leave any of it until morning. But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offers his sacrifice. But on the next day, this remainder of it can also be eaten. The remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day must be burned with fire. And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering is eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, nor shall it be imputed to him.

It shall be an abomination to him who offers it, and the person who eats of it shall bear guilt. This peace offering is one of the only ones outlined in Scripture that the offeror, the priest, and God all have a portion, that all three of these individuals have a portion. Other sacrifices have aspects of this where the priest may have a portion or God may have a portion, but this is the only one that all three parties were satisfied together in this offering. Each of them had a part. Each of them were communing with one another, so to speak. It was a fellowship offering in that regard.

It was an offering that helped strengthen the relationship with God. It was an offering that helped honor God with their substance, and it was an offering in which they came before him to offer up a sweet savor. In some ways, it was an offering of wholeness. It was an offering which strengthened the bond with their God and brought them before him in thankfulness and in joy. Now Hebrews 10, if you want to begin turning over there, Hebrews 10 instructs us that that which we see in the Old Testament, sacrificial system, for example, it was a shadow of the good things to come.

We understand, you know, these things weren't done in isolation. These things were done purposefully, recognize that God had a system in place for these things, and that he, you know, worked to help Israel to understand these things as those things pointed toward Christ and toward the fulfillment of many of these things.

Hebrews 10, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 1. Hebrews 10 and verse 1, again, the fulfillment of these things was largely achieved during the time of Christ. You know, the system of sacrifices were in place to help illustrate the critical nature of sin, to kind of help people to understand what was needed to reconcile us to God, what was required to be able to come before God's presence in fellowship. Hebrews 10, we'll pick it up in verse 1, says, For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices which they offer continually, year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshippers once purified would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. Verse 4, and we read this passage and we will go through the day of atonement, we recognize the critical aspect of Christ's sacrifice on our behalf, it says, For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

The blood of a physical animal is not good enough. It's not good enough.

Verse 5, Therefore, when he came into the world, he said, Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come. In the volume of the book it is written of me, to do your will, O God. Verse 8, previously saying, Sacrifice and offerings, burnt offerings and offerings for sin, you did not desire, nor had pleasure in them, which are offered according to the law. Verse 9, Then he said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first that he may establish, the second by that will we have been sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Verse 11, says, And every priest stands ministering daily, and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting until his enemies are made his footstool, for by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. And once and for all Christ entered the most holy place to atone for our sins with his own blood, reconciling the relationship between us and God, removing that division, so to speak, that wall of separation, we might say, tearing that veil, causing us to be able to be complete, to have relationship and communion with our God.

Again, picturing what the sacrifices of the Old Testament entailed.

And we recognize today our sacrifices today, they're no longer physical, they're spiritual. We have spiritual sacrifices. We are a living sacrifice to our God. We know that our prayers, they go up like a sweet aroma to God. You know, these are spiritual things. In fact, a few pages over in Hebrews 13, just a couple pages over, it talks about one of these sacrifices of praise that we make. One of these incredible sacrifices of praise. Hebrews 3 and verse 3, 13. Did I say three the first time? Oh, good. I just said it the third time. Hebrews 13 and verse 7 says, Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. He goes on and says verse 8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Verse 9, Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have been or have not profited those who have been occupied with them. Verse 10, We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat, for the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned outside the camp. Therefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we have no continuing city. We do not have a future physically here.

Spiritually, yes. It's not going to get fixed through the actions of man. It's not going to happen.

He says, verse 14, We have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Therefore, by him, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. Says verse 16, But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased. The sacrifices that we do today, they're spiritual in nature.

You know, they are an acting upon the calling that God has given us. They're an offering up of praise from our lips to God, giving thanks to his name. And those things rise just like that sweet savor of that praise or that peace offering that we see given and outlined in the book of Leviticus. We know these things are well pleasing to God. These aromas are well pleasing to him. We know that he is satisfied and we can be satisfied as we give thanks to him as well. In the book of John, turn over the book of John. In the book of John, Christ spends a portion of his time in the last bit of time that he has with his disciples, and he speaks twice of peace. He speaks twice of this idea of peace. He does it once in John 14, and he does it once in John 16.

Again, as they wrap up their their Passover and as they work their way through these final words and their way to the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ takes the opportunity to instruct his disciples in this idea of peace. John 14, if you want to go ahead and turn there first, John 14, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 25. John 14 and verse 25 says, these things, John 14, 25, I have spoken to you while being present with you, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he, in the more appropriate again translation as it, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you. So the Holy Spirit helps to bring to remembrance the teachings which Christ has provided us. That mind and that power and that essence of God dwelling in us after baptism helps to bring to mind these things, helps to provide that voice that we hear in our head that leads us in the proper and appropriate direction. He goes on, he says, verse 27, peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. He says, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Christ says, peace I give you. He says, my peace specifically I give to you.

Not something like the world gives, not something temporary, not something that is here today and gone tomorrow, something that fades with time, but a peace that is sincere, that is true, and that is lasting, and that does not fade. And what I think is really beautiful about this passage, it is his gift to us. He gives it to us. It's his gift to us. And it's not just a peace that is the absence of conflict, it's a peace that completes us. It's a peace that brings us closer to him. It's a peace that removes the division and the hostility between us and God and us and our brethren. It's a peace that unifies us, that brings us together, that strengthens and sustains us. And it's a peace that enables us to go forward in our Christian life unafraid, to trust in God, to go forward unafraid and without trouble. In John 16, just a page over, at least in my Bible it's a page over, 16 and verse 31, John 16 and verse 31, he expounds on this idea a little bit further, kind of what his peace entails and the peace of God. John 16 and verse 31, he says Jesus answered them, kind of speaking here about the plan of what was going to occur. His disciples saying, finally you're speaking sense, finally we understand what you're saying, finally you're speaking plainly. He says in verse 31, Jesus answered them, do you now believe? Do you now believe? He says, indeed the hour is coming, yes has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own and will leave me alone, and yet I am not alone. He says, I'm not alone because the Father is with me. Verse 33, he says, these things I've spoken to you that in me you may have peace, in me you may have peace, in the world you will have tribulation, in the world you will have tribulation, but in Christ you will have peace.

He says, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Christ says, I have overcome the world, I have conquered the world. I have conquered that which is in it. The war is won. That doesn't mean the battles are over with, but it means the war itself is on its way to conclusion.

That final peace, we know what it is. We know how it operates. We know how it ends.

And in the meantime, we continue our battle spiritually. We work on overcoming the temptations of sin. We work on the the challenges that we have to change our character, to become more like Christ, become more in line with the calling that God has provided us. But we can fight those spiritual battles and we can fight those temptations and those things knowing that this only ends one way. This battle only ends one way. This war only ends with Christ ruling victorious, with the kingdoms of these worlds being given to the Father and being handed to Christ to rule. And we can take peace in knowing that that is the end that is coming.

Christ tells his disciples that in him they will have peace, that in his presence, as they lean into him, as we mentioned last Sabbath, they will have peace. Because in doing so, they will recognize and they will understand that he has overcome the world and not just the world, everything that is in it. Everything that is in it he has overcome.

So how do we seek and pursue this peace that God provides?

This peace that completes and brings us to a whole? This peace that comes from God? How do we seek it? How do we pursue it? Well, the key to the peace of God, seeking that peace, pursuing it, so to speak, it's twofold. And it goes back to the first passage that we read today in Psalm 34.

Turn now from evil and do what is good. Seek peace and pursue it earnestly.

The book of Galatians, if you'd like to turn over there, illustrates the comparison between the works of the flesh and the fruits of God's Spirit. And I know we go to this passage a lot, but it's one of those critical linchpin passages to help us understand the difference between this physical nature and the spiritual nature that God is calling us to, the effects of His Spirit in our life, if we're yielding to it appropriately. Galatians 5, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 19. Galatians 5 and verse 19. Galatians 5 verse 19 says, Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So Paul here to the congregation in Galatia writes these works of the flesh. He writes down these things which are evil. He writes down these things that God identifies as the actions and the attitudes and the behaviors that will keep a person who practices them out of his kingdom. So when God says turn thou from evil and do what is good, he is saying reject these things. Not flirt with them. Reject them. Reject them. He says, reject adultery in all of its forms, whether it's physical or whether it's spiritual.

He says reject fornication. Reject impurity. Reject lewd behavior. Behavior that is impure, or we might say sexually charged. He says reject idolatry. Reject false gods. Reject worshiping things that are not God. Putting things in God's place. And he says reject farmakia.

He says reject farmakia, which is sorcery. It's translated as sorcery. The word we get that from today is pharmacy. It's not a coincidence. In those days, those who practiced sorcery gave their mind over to the influence of mind-altering drugs, which enabled demonic forces to operate within them and commit things that would be perceived by us today as magic. Remember the little girl that followed Paul around and drove him insane so that he cast the demon out of her?

Farmakia. Mind-altering drugs that open you up to these sorts of things.

These individuals had the ability to tell fortunes. They had the ability to perform other acts of sorcery. In fact, Simon the sorcerer saw the power of God's spirit and said, ooh, how much? That's awesome. I like it. How much?

He didn't understand. He was thinking it was something like this.

God says reject it. Reject hatred. Reject contentions. Reject jealousy. Reject outbursts of wrath. Our anger. Our inability to control our anger. It can open us up to incredible, incredible spiritual challenges. It can open us up to challenges in our relationships.

It can open us up to challenges in our relationship with God. Because we are so angry, and we are so bitter, and we are so frustrated that we take it out on anyone and everyone.

He says reject it.

He says reject selfish ambition. Reject dissension. Reject heresy. Reject divisions and sects and drawing lines among people to create a situation of us and them. Reject it. Reject it.

By definition, it is divisive. When you draw a line among people, it's division.

At its core, that's what it is. God says to reject envy, to reject drunkenness, giving up our control of ourselves to some substance. He says to reject revelry.

At that time, that was the drunken parties going down the streets in Greece, you know, celebrating Bacchus and all these other gods and whatever else.

Often these were done in celebration of pagan gods, but not always. These situations did not allow you to have control over yourself. But God instead said, I desire you to exhibit the fruits of my spirit. Verse 22. Verse 22, the fruits of God's spirit. It says, but the fruit of the spirit is love, it's joy, it's peace, it's long suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. It says against such, there is no law. Brethren, do we exhibit love?

Do we exhibit love? Do we exhibit selfless love to all? A love that is less concerned about our needs and more concerned about the needs of others. Do we find joy in life? Do we find joy in life?

Do we find happiness and lasting joy in the promises of our God? Or do we let the concerns of this life weigh us down to the point of not being able to see the joy?

Are we able to face the challenges of our life with a positive outlook?

Do we experience peace? Do we experience peace? Do we experience ultimately a lack of conflict, a completeness that can come only from us yielding ourselves to God's Spirit?

How about patience? Do we experience patience, long suffering, bearing with one another?

Being patient. Are we kind? Are we good to others? Do we treat others with love, with goodness?

Are we faithful to God? Are we faithful to our spouse? Are we faithful in maintaining the faith that we have in the promises that God has given us, the challenges of our life?

Are we gentle? Are we gentle or are we someone who is abrasive?

Are we someone who is considered to be gentle by others? Or do people, when they interact with us, do they bristle? Do they pull back and avoid interacting with us because we have difficulty being gentle? Lastly, do we show self-control? Or are we someone who is impulsive, someone who is not ruling over our own spirit? When God says, turn thou from evil and do what is good, He is saying, reject these evil things and do show it through our actions that which is good.

The fruits of His Spirit, the evidences, we might say, of a life that is yielded to God and allowing God to lead us as we work to become more like His Son. For us to be able to do this, for us to be able to be in this place, it requires us to seek His presence. It requires us to cut through the noise, so to speak, through all the distractions and all the things that go on in the world around us, to be able to find and zoom in and hone in and focus on Him. You know, when Christ called His disciples, you go back and read through that section of the Gospel. Most cases, He just simply said, follow Me. That's it. Come on, let's go. Follow Me. Drop everything. Drop what you're doing and come after Me. He said, pursue Me. Seek out My ways and pursue Me, we might say, with earnestness.

Pursue Me. You know, the challenge in life today is there's so many other things that are vying for our attention at every turn. There is always something dinging, always something buzzing, always something going off. We have pursuits, we have hobbies, we have work, we have family.

Whatever it may be that we put in front of our God, there are so many different things out there shouting for our attention. And if you've ever been in a large, you know, hall of people, think about the Feast of Tabernacles, for example, before service, when everybody's so excited to see everybody, and the din of the room is like up here. Picking out an individual voice in that din is really, really challenging. You got to be looking for it. You got to be focused on it. You got to try to find it. Let's go over to John 10. John 10. We'll turn to our last passage here today, John 10. And in John 10, Christ gives a multifaceted analogy. And so in context, I mean, he's making the point to the Pharisees, basically, in context in John 10, that they should have recognized his teachings as having come from God. They should have been able to hear the voice of their shepherd, he says, and they didn't. So that was the context, ultimately, of that passage.

John 10, and we'll pick it up in verse 25. John 10, verse 25. John 10 and verse 25 says, Jesus answered them. The Jews, we'll pick it up in 24. The Jews surrounding him and said, How long do you keep us in doubt? If you're the Christ, tell us plainly.

John 10, verse 25, Jesus answered them and said, I told you, and you don't believe.

He said, I already told you. He said, the works that I do in my father's name, they bear witness of me. But you don't believe, he says, because you're not of my sheep, as I said to you. He said, My sheep, verse 27, My sheep hear my voice.

I know them, and they follow me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.

Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. And then verse 30, I and my father are one. And we see their response. They take up stones and they try to kill him. But his point to the Pharisees were that they were not of his flock because they didn't hear his voice.

He said, His sheep hear his voice. His sheep know him. His sheep follow him.

It's a really cool video I came across recently online. Some of you might have seen this before, but it's an example of a shepherd. And essentially, it's a test for people, the final one being the shepherd, but three other ones in front who are trying to call this guy's flock of sheep over to him out in the middle of the field. And so they walk up and they do, they basically do the exact same thing he does, exact same thing he does. They get up there and they go, maybe not quite like that. That's what it sounded like to my unshepherd, an unflock of sheep, you know, ears. But they, you know, didn't even look up. You know, sheep are sitting there, they're still munching on the ground. One of those three people managed to get one sheep to go, huh? Nope. It puts his head back down and keep eating. One managed to get a sheep to pick its head up and look at him and go, oh, that's not the shepherd. Okay. Back to the food. The final guy, the actual shepherd, he gets up there and he, and all at once, all the heads go up.

All they start bawing. He keeps calling. He makes a couple of motions. And pretty sure, pretty soon, every one of those sheep are running over to that fence to come and see him.

You know, I don't have sheep. I have chickens. It's different. But I'll tell you, our chickens know when the back door opens. They know when it's time to eat. When that back door opens, there's food coming their way and they know it. And especially if it's one of the tiny kids coming out because they go out and they feed them most of the time. But if mama's coming out, they know too. And it's it's actually funny if you could imagine what a chicken like whose countenance has fallen would look like. When they don't have food in their hands, they'll, you know, come running to the front of the thing and they kind of go... and they kind of go and do their thing when they realize they're not getting fed right away. So it's a little different with chickens, I think, but it's a similar principle. Those chickens know that that back door opens and it's time for food.

The sheep in that flock know their shepherd's voice. Those other three people... I don't even recognize who that is. They know that that shepherd feeds them. He knows that they know that that shepherd protects them and that he provides for them because in their shepherd they have peace.

That's where their peace comes. That's where their peace comes. It doesn't come from their surrounding environment. It doesn't come from the things that are around them physically.

It comes from their shepherd. And brethren, for us, it's no different. Our peace is found in the presence of our shepherd. And quite frankly, if we are attempting to find it elsewhere, we will not find it. We will not find it. Peace will continue to be elusive. It will continue to be a temporary peace that is not lasting. God's peace is a gift to us. It is a gift which completes us because at its core, God's peace is a reconciled relationship between us and God.

It's a communion between the two of us. If we have unreconciled relationships in our lives, peace will continue to be elusive. God's peace is a result of His presence in our lives.

It's a result of Him dwelling in us, us yielding ourselves to His presence. And if we're not yielding ourselves to Him, brethren, we're in violation of our covenant. If we are not yielding ourselves to God, we are not doing what we said we would do when we went under that water.

We're in violation of our covenant. And if we're in violation of our covenant, peace will continue to be elusive. God's peace is something that we must seek earnestly, it's something we must pursue, it's something we must seek out and chase, so to speak. And if we're not actively seeking and pursuing that peace and God's presence, that peace will continue to be elusive. You know, the elusive nature of peace in this world is a direct result of the rejection of God and His ways as a result of Satan's influence in the world around us. It is the world choosing carnality over godliness, and the consequences of that choice, they are all around us. Just watch the news. They're all around us. Shooting in San Jose. War on how many fronts?

Violence and anger in the streets. These things are because of a rejection of God's way.

But brethren, in our own lives, we can have godly peace. We must seek it, we must pursue it earnestly. We need to turn from evil and do what is good. We need to dwell in the presence of God and maintain a reconciled heart in our relationship with God and our relationships with one another.

And then, and only then, can we be truly at peace.