This past Sunday we heard Paul say, “Therefore, having been
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I’d
like to pull out two words from that quotation: faith and peace. Faith and
peace go together. When we believe that we are justified before God through
Jesus Christ, our Lord, then we have peace. We know that everything is going to
be okay.
Faith and peace going together is not just a Christian
thing. It is something that is true for everybody. Believing in something means
that you think that it will work. When you believe that it will work, then you
have peace. For example, when a thunderstorm approaches, you have peace when
you believe that your house can withstand the wind. If you faith in your walls
continuing to stand diminishes, so does your peace. If you hear the tornado
siren going off, you suddenly do not believe that your house can withstand the
wind as capably as you did before. You have less peace and you run to someplace
that offers you more peace of mind—the basement. But if you hear that freight
train sound that comes before the arrival of the tornado, perhaps your faith is
diminished even in your basement’s safety. What has happened to the peace? It’s
gone.
I think nearly every year I bring this up at the end of the
church year and during advent. During those seasons of the church year we
consider what the Bible says about the end of the world. The signs that the end
is near are frightening because the things that used to be believed in as
trustworthy start to fail. These things that are believed in are assumed to be
so trustworthy that they are taken for granted. So when we take for granted
that the earth won’t shake, and earthquakes come, then we are troubled. When
the sea is supposed to stay within its banks, and it isn’t acting as it should,
this would be frightening. Jesus says that even the heavenly bodies—the sun,
moon, and stars—things that are renowned for their ability to be stable and
predictable—will go strange and wobbly.
Here we get down to something that is so fundamental to us
as human beings. Faith and gods go together. Whatever things a person puts his
or her trust in—that thing is the person’s god. If your faith is directed
towards the true God, then your faith is true. If your faith is in other
things, then you are more or less an idolater.
This gets at what is so fundamental to us as human beings
because after the fall into sin we have become hopelessly addicted to idolatry.
This is certainly true of people who don’t know the true God, but it is also
true for those who do know him. Alongside the true God, idols are propped up in
the human heart. Think of the people of God in the Old Testament. These folks
knew the true God. They had his Word. They had his ordinances and sacrifices.
They even named their children very pious names that referred to God, his
goodness, faithfulness and so on. Most of the names that we hear of in the Old
Testament in some way refer to God. And yet they could never get rid of those
high places. They were plagued by Baal and Asherah and Chemosh and a whole
bunch of other things in which they put their trust. They never wanted to get
rid of the true Lord God, but they also didn’t want to trust only in him. They
wanted to cover their bases by worshipping other things too.
We Christians are no different. The reason why we find the
prospect of the end of the world frightening is because all the old gods beside
the true God are failing. These things in which we put our trust prove to be
untrustworthy—they can’t help us. They can’t save us. Only One can do that.
This is why Jesus says that when you see all these frightening things taking
place, lift up your heads and look up, for your redemption is drawing near.
When the old sources of peace can’t give you peace because they are
untrustworthy, then have peace in the Lord God who is trustworthy. He is about
to usher in a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells.
But we do not have to wait until the end of the world for
this kind of thing to happen. It happens at the end of our earthly life. All
the other things that previously were relied upon for our health and happiness
don’t work no more. We are left with one hope—the resurrection from the dead
that has been promised to us through Jesus’s death and resurrection. But again,
we don’t have to wait until then either.
Think about what happened to Joseph. The things that would
give Joseph peace were taken away from him. You’d think that he should be able
to trust his brothers. His brothers failed him. He thought he could live in his
homeland. He couldn’t. You’d think that doing the right thing should be honored
and rewarded. By the slander of a spiteful woman he is thrown into prison. The
fall from peace and happiness is tremendous. He used to be the favorite son of
his father. Eventually he finds himself in a prison in a strange land.
What makes Joseph different from an unbeliever is that he
didn’t fall into despair. He didn’t murder himself. He also didn’t desperately
do whatever he could to fix his fate. Those who do not believe in the true God
have no other choice but to try to prop up the old gods. The unbeliever tries
to find his peace in anything and everything besides the one true God. Joseph
commended himself to God. He stood up straight and lifted up his head. He
waited for his redemption to draw near. Either he would be delivered in an
earthly way, or he would receive the final deliverance from all evil that comes
with a blessed death, believing in Christ. Either things would get a little
better in an earthly way, or they would get totally better in a way that is so
good that it is beyond our imagination.
This lesson is applicable to us in our times. I’ve known
some people who have been brought low. Earthly hopes for recovery are dim or
practically nonexistent. Perhaps it’s a disease. Perhaps it is a financial
failure. Perhaps it is a betrayal and a broken relationship. It is bitter—very
bitter—when these things that used to give a person peace and happiness are
taken away. It is frightening when the things that used to be trusted in to fix
a person’s predicament have no more solutions. We may very well feel like
Joseph, sitting in a dungeon in a strange land. We may feel very lonely and helpless. But this may not be
altogether bad. Good can come from it.
As I mentioned earlier, we have
this congenital defect from our being conceived and born in sin where we are
incorrigible idolaters. We find it easier to trust in all kinds of things
rather than in the true God who has made himself known to us and given us his promises.
Bitter experiences such as the ones I have just described can and do work as a
cleansing fire to burn off the dross—to burn of the idolatry that we would
surely hold on to if we were otherwise given a choice. Blessed is the man to
whom the Gospel is preached when all other sources of peace and hope are taken
away. Hear again how Paul puts it: “Therefore, having been justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we
also have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we
rejoice confidently on the basis of our hope for
the glory of God.”
To be sure, the fear around us
has increased these past several days. If there isn’t fear of the disease,
there may well be fear of what might happen to our money and the economy. I
disagree with those who say that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
This is a popular philosophy, to be sure. It is applied not only to this
specific case, but this is also the kind of philosophy that people are comforted
by when death approaches. The saying is not true—pure and simple. There are
things that we should fear. Those who do not believe in Christ most certainly
have something to fear, because all their old gods are going to fail—including
this philosophy.
To many ears it might sound as
though I must be a person in favor of panicking. They think there are only two
options—either stoically carrying on, come what may, or being terrified. Those
are not the only options. You, as a Christian, have been fully equipped for
such a time as this. You have been purchased by Christ’s holy, precious blood
and his innocent suffering and death. You have already died the important death
by being baptized into Christ’s death. You are awaiting your inheritance that
is going to come either sooner or later. It might come sooner by the time that
you have left on this earth being short. It might come later if your time on
this earth is to be long. Either way, commend yourself to God and nothing can
harm you.
Paul says in Romans chapter 8: “What
then will we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will
he not also graciously give us all things along with him?”
He goes on to say: “Neither
death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to
come, nor powerful forces, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our
Lord.”
Paul gives us a powerful
argument for why peace is always ours—even if the very world is falling apart.
God did not spare his dearest treasure, his eternally begotten Son. The most
precious thing in all existence was given to us for our benefit. How can it be,
then, that God should not give us lesser things at their proper time? The love
of God has been given to us and nothing can overcome that. It does not matter
if we are sick or not sick, rich or poor, in prison or free, together with
Jesus here on earth or together with Jesus in heaven—God doesn’t change. He
will keep the promise of eternal life that he has made to you. Whatever happens
between now and the fulfillment of that promise is of secondary concern.
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