"Gods Peace will Guard and Keep You"
Philippians 4:4-9
12/ 20/06
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep
your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. These words should sound a
little familiar to you. Theyre the words I speak to you at the
end of every sermon. And because they are heard so often, many
times they just go in one ear and out the other, and we fail to pay
attention to what they are really saying. Tonight Id like to look
at the words in depth and unwrap the gifts contained in them, so that
we might receive the comfort and peace that our Lord wishes to give us
through them.
The first gift we get to unwrap here is the peace of
God itself, or to put it in the possessive - Gods peace - Gods peace as
opposed to any other kind of peace, such as our peace, the worlds
peace, false peace, or artificial peace, like the kind that might be
brought on by drugs or alcohol. But to say this is Gods peace is
not to say that God keeps it to Himself. Gods peace is a gift
that He gives to us in Jesus. We need this peace, because we cant
get it or work for it ourselves. We need this peace, because on
account of our sinfulness, we are at odds with God. Gods Law tell
us this. It tells us that on account of our sin we deserve Gods
wrath and punishment, now and forever. Without the Word of Gods
Law, we might assume that because we are at peace in this world,
therefore, we are at peace with God. That is the deceptiveness of
worldly peace.
When the angels came to announce peace on earth to
the shepherds, however, they were not announcing a worldly peace, but
peace between God and man on account of the prince of Peace who was
born that night. Though our sins separated us from God and
destroyed the peace we once had with Him in the garden, God did not
allow this condition to remain. He sent His Son, Jesus, to work
peace between ourselves and God through the sacrifice of His body on
the cross. Through the shedding of His blood, Jesus has
reconciled us to God. He has ended the warfare that existed
between us by taking upon Himself Gods wrath and punishment which we
deserved for our sins. God is no longer angry with you on account
of your sin. His wrath has been spent on Jesus. All thats
left for you is His grace and mercy. You are at peace with God on
account of Christ. Your sins have been removed from you.
You have complete and total access to God as your heavenly Father in
Christ.
The second gift we get to unwrap here is that this
peace of God passes all understanding. Gods peace goes beyond our
understanding, because it doesnt come from our sinful reason. Its
not a peace or a way of achieving peace between ourselves and God that
we would have come up with ourselves nor that appeals to our sinful
understanding. Our idea of peace is to have nothing going wrong
in our lives, to have everything working out according to our
wills. When we see that things arent going the way wed like them
to, we often conclude that we arent at peace with God. He must be
mad at us for something. So then our idea of how to achieve peace
with God leads us to believe that we ought to try harder at making Him
happy by our obedience, trying to live by His Law, trying to be good to
our fellow men, trying to avoid things that would make God angry.
This is the peace of our own understanding. But Gods peace
transcends our understanding; it doesnt make sense to us. It
doesnt make sense that this Man who hung on the cross should be the
sacrifice for our sins, that God should punish His own Son in our
place, that His blood should cleanse us of all our sins, and that on
account of His work alone we are at peace with God. And yet, this
is Gods Word. We may only confess it and believe it. We are
not asked to understand it or question it. It is God who was
offended, and therefore He is the one who determines how peace with Him
is to be restored, and that is through the death of His Son on the
cross.
The third gift from this text that we are given to
unwrap is that this gift of peace will continually guard and keep our
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. This is truly the gift that
keeps on giving. First, it guards and keeps; that is, it protects
us. Its a word that is used of the guarding of cities. It
keeps bad things (our enemies) from coming in, and keeps us from
wandering off and getting lost. It keeps false doctrine from
leading us away from the truth. It keeps us from falling away
from Jesus. It guards and keeps our hearts and minds. With
our hearts we believe, and with our minds we know the Truth. Gods
peace continues to keep us in the faith, confessing the Truth about
Jesus, so that we might not be deceived by the lies and false peace
which the devil, the world, and our own flesh offer us.
Gods peace keeps our hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus. Its only in Jesus that we have this peace with God, and it
is only in Jesus that Gods peace guards and keeps our hearts and
minds. How does God do this? By way of His Word and
Sacraments. Paul tells the Philippians here to focus on what is
true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent, and
praiseworthy. What is this but the Word of God, the only thing
that meets all these characteristics. Hes not telling us to focus
on ourselves and our good works. Hes not telling us to focus on a
beautiful sunset or some lovely mountain scenery. He points the
Philippian Christians to the things that they had learned, received,
heard, and seen in Paul as an Apostle of Jesus Christ. And what
were these things? The letters written from him in our Bibles,
letters which are inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that they are not
Pauls words alone, but the words of God, words about Jesus, Baptism,
the Lords Supper, and Holy Absolution. Paul taught and practiced
all of these things. He knew that it is only through these means
that Gods peace comes to His people. These are the things they
have learned, received, heard, and seen, and these are things things to
which they are to cling, that they might remain in that peace in Jesus,
until the day He comes again for them.
Gods will is to guard and keep us in the peace He
gives us in Christ by causing us to remain steadfast in His Word and
faithful to the end. This is His work in you. God, not you,
will guard and keep you in His peace until the day of Christ Jesus, and
He does it through His Word. By continually absolving you of your
sins, you are reassured that you are at peace with God. When your
sins and your conscience burden you with guilt, hear Gods words of
peace and forgiveness to you again, given to you in Jesus. God
also delivers His peace to you through the Lords Supper. The
Lords very body and blood which worked peace for you as He was
sacrificed on the cross are given to you in this meal to give you that
peace and assure you that God is no longer angry with you on account of
your sins. And God continues to deliver His peace to you daily as
your baptism has its way with you. There He assures you that you
are His child and that He is your Father. There He reminds you
that He has washed away your sins and that you stand before Him pure
and holy, spotless and undefiled, clothed in the righteousness of
Christ. You are at peace with God. And because you are at
peace with God you can approach Him will all boldness and bring your
requests before Him, knowing that He hears you and promises to answer
you.
These are some great gifts, arent they? Gifts
that were purchased not with silver or gold, or with our own good
works, but with our Saviors precious blood and His innocent suffering
and death. It is on account of His sacrifice that we are now at
peace with God. And that peace, which passes all our
understanding and is delivered through the Word of God, will continue
to guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, either until
you go to be with Him at your death, or He comes for you on the Last
Day. Peace to you in Christ. Amen.