Fruit of the Spirit Series
“How To Keep Your Head When Others Are Losing Theirs”
(Peace)
Galatians 5:22
Rudyard Kipling began his poem “If” which explores the journey to manhood with that famous line, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs. . .”
According to Kipling in his autobiography, the poem was inspired by Dr. Leander Starr Jameson who was a commander of British forces in the Boer Wars. It speaks to that British quality of keeping a stiff, upper lip and remaining composed in spite of what’s going on around you.
That is quite an accomplishment, isn’t it? Everywhere we turn today there is over-reaction and emotion-driven responses. The most recent is the furor over gun control. And many, in an attempt to deal with a problem decide to deal with a symptom of the problem rather that the problem itself.
And if anyone dares to insert some common sense into the discussion, they are labeled in one way or that other. We used to say, “Let cooler heads prevail”, but now it seems that the loudest voice, no matter if it is right or wrong, is the one that wins.
And oftentimes what’s really is the third characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit. Which is peace.
It’s one of those characteristics of Christ that gets passed along to the children of God through the work of the Holy Spirit inside of us. It is what causes us to have the cooler head in an emotion-driven world. It is what enables us to keep our head when all about you are losing theirs.
Now there are actually three types of peace that we find in the Bible. There is, first of all, eternal peace. Let’s call that peace with God.
Rom. 5:1 says: “therefore having been justified by faith, we Have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Then there is external peace. That is peace with others.
Paul said In Romans 12:18, “If It Is possible, as much as Depends on you, live at peace with all men.”
But the fruit of the Spirit is talking about internal peace. This is the peace of God.
Paul said, “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts.” (Colossians 3:15)
Now I want you to understand what peace really is. Peace is an assurance of God’s control, which results from obedience to God’s command. The Lord said to the nation of Israel in Isaiah 48:18, “Oh, that you had heeded my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river. . .”
Now even if you are saved, you still need to have peace. Because even the upright can get uptight.
You can have peace, perfect overflowing unbelievable peace, even in the stormiest seas of sorrow and suffering, if you follow the prescription for peace that Paul provides in the fourth chapter of Philippians.
There are certain steps that Paul tells the Philippians they need to take every day in their life, and if they do, he says in v.7, “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
First of all, he says peace is a matter of
1. Focus
Philippians 4:4
Now you cannot rejoice in the Lord, unless your focus is on the Lord. When your focus is on the Lord, you will rejoice In the Lord, and when you rejoice in the Lord, you will have the peace of the Lord. Isa. 26:3 says: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
You remember when Jesus came walking on those stormy waves to the disciples in that boat? Peter wanted to come to him, and Jesus invited him to step out of the boat into that water. You remember that as long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he walked on the water. But when he took his eyes off of Jesus, he began to sink.
The great Christian, Corrie ten Boom, once said: “When I look at the world, I get distressed. When I look at myself, I get depressed. But when I look at Jesus, I am at rest.”
I want to let you in on a little secret about peace. Peace is not the absence of problems. Peace is the presence of Jesus in the midst of your problems. You see, you cannot always rejoice in your losses, but you can always rejoice in the Lord.
Notice the reason for this rejoicing. We are told to rejoice “In the Lord.” Now remember that the person who wrote this was not just some preacher in a pulpit.
This was a prophet in prison who was telling all of his brothers and sisters in Christ to rejoice in the Lord. Paul wrote these words from a Roman dungeon, chained to a Roman guard, facing a Roman death. Yet, the key was his focus.
Let me tell you three things you can always rejoice in no matter what’s happening to you, or what you are going through.
First of all, you can rejoice in the grace of God that saves you.
Secondly, you can rejoice in the goodness of God that secures you.
Thirdly, you can rejoice in the glory of God that surrounds you.
Then notice also the season for rejoicing.
Not only are we to rejoice in the Lord, but we are to rejoice in the Lord “always.” That means Winter, Fall, Spring, Summer, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and all day Sunday; When it is wet, when it dry; when it is hot, when it is cold; when things are good, or things are bad, we are to rejoice in the Lord.
I am going to tell you something that is going to sound very strange, but it is true. The reason why most people in life never find peace is because they are looking for it. You will never find peace looking for peace. You will only find peace when you look for Jesus.
John Wesley said: “When I looked to Jesus, the dove of peace flew into my heart. But when I looked at the dove of peace, it flew away.”
You see, he understood peace was a matter of focus.
It is also a matter of
2. Faith
Verse 6
Think about it this way: focus deals with praise and worship. Faith deals with prayer.
I want you to see, first of all, the attitude of this prayer. “Be anxious for nothing.”
Now you well know that peace and worry are mutually exclusive. Worry pulls tomorrow’s clouds over today’s sunshine.
The word worry comes from an old German word “wurgen” which literally means “to struggle” or “to choke.” Worry throttles our thinking, chokes out the truth, and prevents us from bearing the fruit of peace.
I want you to really consider what worry is and what worry does. Worry, first of all, is a
distrust in the wisdom of God.
You see, every time you worry, what you are really saying is: “God, I don’t believe you can handle this. I don’t believe you can be trusted in this matter. I guess I’m going to have to carry this burden all by myself.”
Furthermore, worry is a denial of the word of God.
When you worry, you are really saying that God does not keep his promises, such as Romans 8:28, that He “works all things together for the good of those who love him.”
But worry is also a defiance of the will of God. Jesus said In Matthew 6, “Do not be anxious for tomorrow.” Worry is totally out of the will of God. God is not the author of confusion; he is the author of peace.
I wish we could all take a cue from a man I heard about who was a tremendous worrier. He was not only a worrier, he was worrisome; he worried other people with his worry. He couldn’t sleep at night because he worried so much, and all he would do is pace the floor.
Well, one day he came out of his house a totally different person. He was whistling, happy, singing at the top of his lungs. His next door neighbor saw him and said: “What in the world has happened to you?”
“Oh,” he said: “I don’t have a worry in this world, and I am so happy.”
The neighbor said: “Well, how did you get rid of your worries?”
He said: “I have hired a professional worrier. He does all of my worrying for me.”
His neighbor said: “Well, that’s just wonderful. How much does this professional worrier cost?”
The man said: “He costs a thousand dollars a day.”
The man said: “A thousand dollars a day? You don’t have that kind of money. How are you going to pay him?”
The man said: “That’s his worry.”
Well, I’m not going to tell you that God is a professional worrier, because he doesn’t worry. But He is the professional when it comes to handling our worries. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all of your care upon Him, for he cares for you.”
You know what we need to do with all of our cares? We need to turn them into prayers. Because if anything Is worth worrying about, it is worth praying about, and if it’s not worth praying about, it’s not worth worrying about.
If a care is too small to be made into a prayer, it is too small to be made into a burden; and we are to be careful for nothing, but prayerful for everything.
Notice also the latitude of this prayer. “But in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God.”
Now notice we are to pray about everything. Prayer should encompass everything and leave out nothing. Some Christians pray about nothing; other Christians pray about some things, but God says every Christian ought to pray about everything.
I heard about a woman in her early thirties who was not married, and then she got saved. So she decided that she was going to pray for a husband. Every night she would hang a pair of men’s pants on the bedroom door, go to her bed, kneel and pray this prayer:
Father In heaven, hear my prayer,
And grant it if you can
I’ve hung a pair of trousers here;
Please fill them with a man.
Dr. Hopper, who was pastor of First Baptist for almost 40 years, used to tell the story of a young pastor who not only believed God would answer prayer, but would answer immediately and taught his people to believe that as well.
One night in prayer meeting a rather large woman stood and asked the pastor to pray she would lose 50 pounds. Without hesitation, he said, “Madam, bow your head and grab your skirt; I’m fixin’ to pray!”
Listen: if you’ve got a problem: pray about it! If you’ve got a need, pray about it! If you’ve got a worry or concern, pray about it!
One of the reasons why we are loaded down with burdens and cares and worries and have no peace, is because we do not take everything to God In prayer:
Oh what peace we often forfeit,
Oh what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God In prayer.
Then notice the gratitude of this prayer. Paul says we are to pray “with thanksgiving.”
The one ingredient that must never be lacking in the recipe of prayer is thanksgiving.
I Thessalonians 5:18 reminds us, “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
Peace is a matter of focus; peace is a matter of faith; and peace is a matter of
3. Fact
Now watch how God designed this to work: When your heart is filled with praise, and your mind is filled with prayer, then your soul will be filled with peace.
What happens when you rejoice in the Lord and take all of your concerns to God in prayer?
Verse 7
Did any of you see Disney’s “Under the Sea”?
The title song says:
The seaweed is always greener
In somebody else’s lake
You dream about going up there
But that is a big mistake
Just look at the world around you
Right here on the ocean floor
Such wonderful things surround you
What more are you looking for
Under the sea, under the sea
Darlin’ it’s better
Down where it’s wetter,
Take it from me
Up on the shore they work all day
Out in the sun they slave away
While we devotin’
Full time to floatin’
Under the sea
Down here all the fish are happy
As off through the waves day roll
The fish on the land ain’t happy
They're sad 'cause they're in a bowl
We got the spirit
You got to hear it
under the sea
You know that’s true! I know what you’re thinking! The preacher’s flipped out or his blood sugar’s messed up. Stay with me:
Think about a hurricane brewing out there on the ocean somewhere. There may be 150 mph winds and waves 25-30 feet high on the surface, but the deeper you go beneath the surface, the less the impact of the storm is felt.
I’m not saying life under the surface is not affected by what’s happening up on top, but there is not nearly the upheaval and destruction beneath the surface as there is at the surface.
You may be saying, “So what? What does that have to do with me and peace?”
Do you know the only place you will really ever find peace In the midst of the storm is down deep in a walk with God and a relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Korean Christians have a saying, and they came up with this saying back when they were being persecuted because of their faith In Christ. They said: “We are just like nails. The harder you hit us, the deeper you drive us, and the deeper you drive us, the more peaceful it becomes.”
Now that kind of peace is God’s Peace.
The Lord Jesus said In John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” The peace of God is peace from God.
You will never have peace from God until you have peace with God, and that peace is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you want the peace of God upon you, you must have the God of Peace within you.
But I want you to notice that God’s peace is also God’s protection. Because this peace “guards our hearts and minds.” That word “guard” refers to a garrison of soldiers that were charged with the responsibility of defending a city.
In other words, The fruit of the spirit, which Is peace, is a peace that God gives that stands like a soldier at the door of Your heart, and guards you from the troubles of this world.
Everybody is looking for peace, and most people are looking in every place but the right place. Some people are trying to find peace in pills. Others are trying to find peace in pleasure. Many are trying to find peace in possessions. But, my friend, real peace is only found in a person and his name is Jesus.
Someone once said: “God takes life’s broken pieces and gives us unbroken peace.” Horatio Spafford found that out in his own experience.
Spafford was born in 1828. He was a successful lawyer and had invested significantly in real estate in Chicago. But in 1871, his only son, who was only four years old, died of pneumonia. Shortly after that, the great Chicago Fire ruined him financially as the area in which he was heavily invested was destroyed.
His business interests were further hit by the economic downturn of 1873 at which time he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre.
In a late change of plan, he sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with another vessel and all four of Spafford's daughters, eleven-year-old Annie, nine-year-old Margaret Lee, five-year-old Bessie, and two-year-old Tanetta, died.
His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, "Saved alone . . .". Shortly afterwards, Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife. As he past near the spot where his daughters had died, he was inspired to write these words:
When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say,
It is well; it is well with my soul.
Did Spafford really know the peace of God? He and his wife later had three more children, one of whom, another four-year-old son, died of scarlet fever. The Presbyterian church of which they were members said all of their troubles were a sign of God’s judgment.
But desiring to serve the Lord, they began to minister to Jews and in 1881 the Spaffords, including baby Bertha and newborn Grace, set sail for Israel. There they helped found a group called the American Colony; its mission was to serve the poor.
Four days shy of his 60th birthday, Spafford died on October 16, 1888, of malaria, and was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery, Jerusalem.
I’ve known a lot of people who gave up on God for a whole lot less. But through the deaths of six children, the loss of his wealth and lifestyle and being shunned by his church, Spafford kept serving the Lord. Why? Only because he had been taught to know, “It is well with my soul”.
I find it interesting that almost all the lyrics in print today of “It is Well with My Soul” use the word “say” at the end of the third line.
When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say,
It is well; it is well with my soul.
But the original manuscript doesn’t say “say”. It reads "know". You see, Spafford didn’t just say it, he knew it. How did he know the peace of God? It is because he knew the God of Peace through the forgiveness of sin. You see the real story of that song is not in the first verse, but in the second and third verses,
Though Satan should buffet,
though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
Listen: the only way you can write verse 1 is to have experienced verses 2 and 3.
And what Spafford is telling us is “I can stand at the watery grave of my children and know the peace of God only because of the shed blood of Jesus that has forgiven my sin and granted to me peace with God.”
If you want peace, real peace, eternal Peace, everlasting peace, so you can keep your head when others are losing theirs, you must come by way of the cross where the Prince of Peace shed His innocent blood to purchase peace for you.
Let’s pray.
