What is the Peace of God - Sermon

Matthew 5:38-48

³⁸“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ ³⁹But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; ⁴⁰and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; ⁴¹and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. ⁴²Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

⁴³“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. ⁴⁶For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

What is the Peace of God? 

What is Peace? How are we even supposed to define it?  Does peace mean that there is no war or no violence?  That can't be the answer - or rather - that can't be the entire answer. Can it?

Even if we got rid of all physical violence - war, killing, fighting, etc., we still wouldn't have complete peace, would we?  We'd still be left with arguing, bitterness, faction forming, gossiping, and division.

Even if we got rid of the outward forms of disagreement, I still don't think we'd have peace - at least not the peace that Jesus is speaking of.  We'd have inner conflict, bad thoughts about others and even about ourselves.  That's certainly not peace!

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Is Peace even Possible?  Jesus is sure talking like it is, but when he spoke these words did he know of the evil people we'd be dealing with?  Did he know we may be attacked?  What about self-defense?  We don't want to appear weak, do we?  We don't want people to take advantage of us, do we? Certainly, if we are peaceful in the way Jesus is speaking, those things will happen, right?  We'll be punching bags for others, we'll have a virtual "sign" on our forehead saying how anyone can walk all over us...right?  

Let's explore all this.  I'm sure that Jesus knew what he was talking about.  He was, after all, a Jew in the middle of Roman occupation.  He knew what it was to be oppressed.  People came to him all the time asking for something from him - usually a miracle - and in scripture, he most always gave it to them.  He knew what it was like to be "used."  People insulted Jesus all the time.  They tried to kill him (before the cross), and he never retaliated.  He knew what it meant to turn the other cheek.  And he was God in the flesh - so, the words he spoke were informed!

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Thomas Merton, a Catholic priest and monk gave the following quote: “We can’t be at peace with each other because we’re not at peace with ourselves.  We’re not at peace with ourselves because we’re not at peace with God."

What does Jesus say about being at peace with each other? Jesus tells us to, "turn the other cheek," – Now what does that mean?  Does he really mean that if someone slaps you that you are to really let them slap your other cheek?  Maybe.  But more importantly, think about what it means to turn your cheek.  If you do it with your head down and with fear in your eyes, yes, you are saying, "I'm your punching bag."  But, if you do it with your head up and trust in Christ, as you turn your head, you have to look the other person in the eyes, and that is a sign of power.  Now, don't take that too literally - this isn't about eye contact - it's about power and peace.  When you turn the other cheek, you're telling the offender that you too are human; you too are as worthy of respect and dignity as they are; you too are equal to them.  You are also saying that the offender may hurt your body, but they can never get to your soul. Yes, your body is important - it is the temple of the Holy Spirit. But one day, this body will die - and one day we will be reunited with this body, though in a "heavenly" form. When you turn your cheek, you send a message that you have God's peace within you and that you are willing to be at peace even with the offender.

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But is this even possible?  Yes, but only if we’re at peace with ourselves and with God.

How do we find peace with ourselves? Jesus says, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵so that you may be children of your Father in heaven." We don’t love our enemies and pray for our persecutors just for their sake – we also do it for our sakes so WE can be God’s children. Turning things over to God brings peace to ourselves. Realizing we aren’t God is the best realization of peace with ourselves we can make – we can’t fix everything - it's just not possible.  As God's people, we have an important job, don't forget that, but our job is not as important as God's! Our job is to love others, plant seeds, show the way, after that, it’s up to the other people to make the choices and God to work in their hearts.

Think of a farmer before the days of modern machinery. The farmer would plant a seed.  The farmer watered the seed, nurtured the seed, made sure it had the ability to get enough light, water, fertilizer, but after that, the farmer couldn't do anything else to make the seed grow.  It was up to God.  God controlled the weather. God made the seed burst out of the soil.  The farmer still had to nurture the new plant, but God kept it growing.

    If you are at peace with yourself, you don’t have to worry about being good enough, smart enough, good looking enough, or whatever – Success as the world defines it is really nothing – Faithfulness is everything!  But first, we have to be at peace with God.

What does it mean to be at peace with God? Jesus says “⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

·      Does he mean, “perfect?” Can we be perfect? John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Movement and now Methodist Church and other branches, said that over time we can reach perfection in love of God and neighbor.  That DOES NOT mean that we can be perfect like God is perfect - we won't stop sinning, we won't know things like God knows things, we won't be God.  It DOES mean that our love will grow so that we love God and love others more perfectly - but even that is always in a state of growing.

·      As we approach perfection,we acknowledge who God is and who we aren’t. This only comes through faithful practice and faithful obedience. When we let God be God and come to be at peace with that fact we come to be at peace with God.

  Only then - When we are at peace with others, ourselves, and God, do we really know the peace that God wants us to know and experience.  Let us all seek that peace, not only for ourselves, but for our world!