Gospel peace
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you
— John 14:27, ESV
Has there ever been a day and age like ours, when the people of world and the members of the church more desperately needed peace? Our globe is filled with wars and rumor of wars. Our body politic in the United States has never been more fractious and divided. The church at large cannot agree on the veracity of Scripture and the most basic fundamentals of the faith. All around us, husbands and wives are fighting in one house while next door a single, or single again, person has never felt more alone. We need peace, God’s peace.
Peace comes to those who love the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you love Jesus? You cannot love anyone you really don’t know and you certainly cannot love someone you don’t respect. I cannot say I love my wife if I really don’t know her, haven’t studied her history and heritage, likes and dislikes, personality and preferences. I cannot say I love my wife if I disrespect her opinions or disregard her simple and reasonable requests. But I know her, I respect her; therefore, I love her. Do you know Jesus as, in the words of the Nicene Creed, as “The only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father?” Do you believe He is God? Do you trust Him as Savior? Do you respect Him as Lord? Do you really know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, and does this knowledge and love give you God’s peace?
Peace comes to those who obey the word of God. Love without fidelity is hypocrisy. If you want to know whether or not you have, in the important words of the Apostle Paul, “Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (ref. Romans 5:1), then ask yourself an important question. Do you keep and treasure, do you value and esteem, do you listen and study, do you do your diligent best to obey, the word of God? In his excellent book, “The Gospel According to Jesus,” John MacArthur writes, “Obedience is the only possible proof that a person really knows Jesus Christ.”
Peace comes to those who are filled with the Holy Spirit. You need a solid faith, you need pastors and teachers, but most of all you need and you have the Holy Spirit if you are a Christian. He is God, He saved you, He indwells you, and He will never leave you. Once you are born again as a Christian, the Holy Spirit’s principal role is to guide and teach. He helps you interpret, He helps you remember, He shows you ways and means to apply the words of Scripture to everyday life. The objective voice of the Spirit is often plain, as plain as the words in a text of Scripture. The subjective voice of the Spirit is harder to hear, admittedly, but nevertheless true. When you know that, as a result of trusting Christ as Lord and Savior, and as a result of committing yourself to hearing and obeying the word of God, and as best you can tell, you have let God guide you in your decision and action, and not your own selfish desires or another person’s pressure, then you are filled with the Holy Spirit, and the filling of the Holy Spirit brings “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (ref. Philippians 4:7).
In the classic movie “Field of Dreams,” when Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) was about to give up the farm, Terence Mann ( James Earl Jones) gave him peace, by showing him the way to give peace to others: “People will come, Ray. ‘ Of course, we won’t mind if you look around, it’s only $20 per person.’ They’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it. For it is money they have and peace they lack.”
People lack peace today. But it is not the voice of James Earl Jones they need to hear, it is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Believe it. Share it. Give the gift of gospel peace and let us the world, and the world to come, a better place. Chuck DeVane is the pastor of Lake Hamilton Baptist Church in Hot Springs. He is a graduate of Valdosta State University, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He has served churches in Arkansas and Georgia and preached the gospel across the United States and other countries. Email him at pastorchuck@lakehamiltonbaptistchurch.org.