Our two Scriptures today provide quite a contrast. One is a view of a life that claims peace, but is far from peaceful. The other is a view of a life that sounds more challenging, but has real peace. For me, they highlight the contrast between how we think we live in peace and how we, as Christians, are called to be leaders on living in peace.
The first Scripture from Jeremiah reminds me a lot of our culture today. Even the words used are like what we hear on the news each night – greed, deceit, wounds, shame, detestable conduct…. Everywhere we look, we see signs of a lack of peace, from the gatherings in the streets of our nation and others to the checkout lines at the stores, to the neighborhoods where violence doesn’t take a break for the holidays, to the politicians and corporations, to movies stars and rock stars and all manner of public figures. There are endless reports of violence, hatred, greed, deceit, and shameful, detestable conduct – enough to go around, no matter where you stand on any particular issue. It reminds me of an old Anne Murray song from 1983. It begins like this:
I rolled out this morning,
had the morning news show on
Bryant Gumbel was talking ‘bout the fighting in Lebanon
Some senator was squawking ‘bout the bad economy
It’s gonna get worse you see, we need a change of policy
There’s a local paper rolled up in a rubber band
One more sad story’s one more than I can stand
Just once, how I’d like to see the headline say
“Not much to print today, can’t find nothin’ bad to say” because
Nobody robbed a liquor store on the lower part of town.
Nobody OD’ed, nobody burned a single building down
Nobody fired a shot in anger, nobody had to die in vain
We sure could use a little good news today.
The song goes on and gets even hokier, but the point is still valid – we need to hear good news amidst all the stories of envy and strife and discord. Unfortunately, good news doesn’t make headlines as much as bad news and regular, everyday peaceful kind of news doesn’t even make a two-inch column buried on page 13.
But it goes beyond the fact that the news we tend to hear is usually so negative. We live in America – the land of the free and the home of the brave and we consider ourselves a peaceful nation, yet we have violence in families and communities. We use violent words when discussing what the Founding Fathers of our country designed as a peaceful transition of power. And we buy into it. We go to movies and watch graphic images of people killing and dying while we munch popcorn and slurp soda. We rush out to buy the most popular video games – which also tend to be the most violent ones. We turn our heads and hurry away when someone on the street asks for help, justifying our lack of kindness by convincing ourselves that the person would just use it for drugs or alcohol anyway. We have become a culture filled with violence and selfishness, and we just accept it as normal.
We accept, too, the lies and shameful conduct that are so commonplace. We don’t hold politicians accountable for their promises, we expect merchants to cheat us, we are irritated but unsurprised when yet another investment guy or corporation is shown to have stolen millions. We sigh and shake our heads when yet another leader of some sort – coach or teacher or musical star –is shown to be unrepentant about detestable conduct, but we aren’t outraged like we once would have been. We have become almost unshockable as a nation. We expect scandals from anyone with a high profile in the media. We anticipate bad behavior from public figures. We prefer to just accept all this and not talk too much about it because the appearance of peace is easier than real peace. This echoes the words of the prophet, “They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.”
As for shame, which Jeremiah’s prophecy talks about, the entire concept seems to have fallen by the wayside. You don’t have to even look to celebrities to see where no one seems to have a sense of propriety anymore. Just go to the mall and look at what they sell as fashionable clothing or turn on the television and watch even just an add for some of the toddler beauty pageant shows or watch the behavior of parents at a sports event.
Yet we live in a nation where, according to an ABC News poll from last summer, 83% of people claim to be Christian. As Christians we have the best news – the news of eternal salvation, of personal peace, of good and right, of helping others and doing good.
Our second passage today from Romans shows an ideal of how good things could be if we really all lived what we profess to believe. It talks about where we end up depending on how we think. “6The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” If all 83% of Americans who are Christians will truly have our minds governed by peace, then we will live in peace as more than simply the absence of violence. We will live in peace deep in our hearts, peace that allows us to sleep well at night, to treat one another with love and kindness. We will live in peace that inspires us to share that peace with others. It is the peace that comes of knowing and believing the Good News of salvation and living a life that demonstrate that knowledge.
We find this peace and keep this peace by setting our minds on the things of God, by seeking the guidance of His Spirit. We move away from death and destruction and toward life each time we choose to focus on what is good and right and righteous and walk away from what is shameful or violent or selfish or deceitful.
Romans tells us that “Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God,” and so the converse is true as well – those who are in the realm of the Spirit can and do please God. We please God when we follow His laws and walk in the paths He sets before us. What better, more real peace can we have than knowing that we are pleasing God? There is no higher goal, no better accomplishment than to be able to put your head on your pillow at the end of the day and know that what you did today pleased the Lord. That’s peace – the kind of peace that lasts through even tough times and still allows for generosity toward the less fortunate. That’s the peace of knowing that God will be on your side and as it says in Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
And again, the converse is true. If we are not for God, we are against Him and cannot please Him. “The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.” Being hostile to God cannot possibly be peaceful. If we want peace, we must be on God’s side, living according to His laws, laws summed up in the great commandments to love God and love neighbor. And when we are on God’s side, He promises peace. Not peace as the world gives, but real peace, lasting peace, the kind of peace that goes beyond mere absence of violence. It’s the kind of peace that exists even in the midst of violence. It’s the Giving Tree empty of ornaments even in a bad economy and Brielle’s bug stuffed with items for those in need. It’s the story of the firemen who rescued the baby this past week, not giving up even when there was no heartbeat, but continuing their efforts so the child might live. It’s people in Huntington Station taking to the streets to march for peace rather than continuing the cycle of violence and retribution. Those are the times we really see the 83%living like Christians, being guided by the Spirit, living in peace in a way that makes the news.
Even when it doesn’t make the news, even at the times that not all 83% are being guided by the Spirit, at the times it seems Christians are in a minority, each of us has a responsibility to make sure we are. For if we are guided by the Spirit of God, we will certainly be the ones spreading peace rather than violence, joy rather than sorrow, love rather than hate, and the Good News rather than bad.
The kind of peace we are promised in this lifetime is possible every day, no matter what is going on in our lives, if we understand that God’s Spirit really does live in us and we give that Spirit control over or lives. The world we live in is, at least in part, of our own making and we need to put effort into making sure our part in it is pleasing to God. We need to be prayerful instead of impatient, generous instead of selfish, thoughtful instead of careless, welcoming instead of suspicious. We need to really treat other the way we would like to be treated and to turn the other cheek when we are wronged. If we can do those things, then we will be instruments of God’s peace.
Imagine a world in which 83% of the people in this country – the percentage who claim to be Christian – actually lived out what they believed 100% of the time. There would be no hunger or thirst because we would all share, not out of some mandated program or tax deduction for charitable giving, but out of love. We would not have to fear when we were in strange neighborhoods at night because we could be confident that the overwhelming majority of people would be hospitable and kind. We would not see Christian stores go out of business to be replaced with gun stores in areas already plagued by violence. We would see more headlines about babies saved and miracles happening and people helping one another.
When we have peace in ourselves, in our hearts, we have what we need to spread alittle good news. When we are at peace with God and living lives that please Him, we can treat at least a few of the world’s wounds and mean it when we say, “peace, peace.” When we live in the Spirit and focus less on the flesh, we will have no need to feel shame or regret. When we have peace in our hearts, we will have real freedom and wealth, whatever our life circumstances. And if we ever doubt this, all we need to do is look to the birth of the Prince of Peace, born in poverty and oppression, but whose life and story give us the greatest pleasure and greatest sense of peace we have ever known, and we will know it is all true.
May your lives be blessed with peace this season and may you bless others with peace –real peace, as well. Amen.