Peace – the Fruit of the Spirit

 Study Series on the Fruit of the Holy Spirit

Galatians 5:22,23

 

I.         Introduction

 

A.      There are NINE fruits placed in the life of the believer at salvation

 

1.        Their seed is the word of God, in you (1Pet 1:23)

2.        The Holy Spirit takes God’s word, and produces fruit from it in your life

3.        All nine are growing in you at the same time, and are meant to be visible and readily available for anyone to pick from

 

B.       These are God’s replacements for the seventeen WORKS of the flesh as listed in Gal 5:19-21.

C.       The fruit of the Spirit is a direct result of my personal walk and relationship with Jesus Christ in His word – it’s not complicated. It just takes effort and focus (Gal 5:25)

D.      So far, we have studied

 

1.        The fruit of Love

2.        The fruit of Joy

3.        Both of which are not natural in our lives – not like anything this world has to offer – but completely supernatural!

 

E.       This message will focus on the third fruit of the Holy Spirit – Peace (Rom 14:17-19)!

F.       The whole world is preaching peace – constantly! At this very minute:

 

1.        Peace talks are constantly going on in the Middle East

2.        The UN is currently seeking new peace initiatives in half of Africa

3.        Tony Blair is seeking a peaceful resumption of the N.I. Executive at Stormount

 

G.       If you are breathing here today, you don’t need me to remind you, this world needs peace. But it is not something this world will ever know until they come to know the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ

 

II.       Message – Peace – the Fruit of the Spirit

 

A.      What is Peace?

 

1.        Peace is usually understood (Ps 55:4-8) as:

 

a.       A state of quiet or tranquility – being undisturbed by troubles

b.       The absence of conflict – like when there is no war going on

c.       In other words, to the normal person, Peace is something you feel on the inside, when there is NO external problem on the outside.

d.       It is NOT peace. It is only the quiet between two storms!

 

2.        There is a kind of peace the world cannot know (Rom 3:10-18). It has a certain “way” about it that is in direct opposition to the sins of this world

3.        This is the kind of peace that the Holy Spirit seeks to produce in every believer.

 

a.       It is called, Great Peace (Ps 119:165) – greater and better than the world has ever seen

b.       It is called, Perfect Peace (Isa 26:3)

c.       It is called, Peace that passeth all understanding (Philp 4:7)

d.       The opposite of God’s great Peace is Anxiety, and Worry

e.       There is nothing spiritual about worry!

f.        To worry about something is a work of the flesh, and leads to Idolatry and Witchcraft – How?

 

1)       When you worry, it is because you are not trusting God’s word, His will, or His care

2)       So you end up turning to OTHER gods, powers, or supposed sources of deliverance (as did Saul to the witch in 1 Samuel 28)

3)       And you never are better off than if you had just patiently trusted

 

4.        The human heart was not made to live without peace – that’s why the whole world seeks peace – yet rejects God’s provision (Lk 2:14)

 

B.       False Peace (Jer 6:14)

 

1.        According to God, There is NO peace to the wicked (Isa 48:22; Isa 57:20-21), and there NEVER will be

2.        They DREAM of peace – Martin Luther King Jr.

3.        They SEEK peace

 

a.       Created the League of Nations

b.       Then the United Nations

c.       There are now at least 1,000 world-class organizations striving for peace in the world

 

4.        They PREACH peace – some quotes…

 

a.        “This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future.” --Adolf Hitler, 1939

b.       The following is the wording of the printed statement that Neville Chamberlain waved as he stepped off the plane on 30 September, 1938 after the Munich Conference had ended the day before:

 

1)       "We … have had a further meeting today and are agreed in recognizing that the question of Anglo-German relations is of the first importance for our two countries and for Europe. We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again. We are resolved that the method of consultation shall be the method adopted to deal with any other questions that may concern our two countries, and we are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference, and thus to contribute to assure the peace of Europe."

2)       Chamberlain read the above statement in front of 10 Downing St. and then said: "My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time...
Go home and get a nice quiet sleep."

 

c.       “The real differences around the world today are not between Jews and Arabs; Protestants and Catholics; Muslims, Croats, and Serbs. The real differences are between those who embrace peace and those who would destroy it; between those who look to the future and those who cling to the past; between those who open their arms and those who are determined to clench their fists.” William Jefferson Clinton

d.       Here is a wide-spread list of the wishes of world religious:

 

1)       Confucianism "Seek to be in harmony with all your neighbors ... live in Peace with your brethren."

2)       Buddhism "There is no happiness greater than Peace."

3)       Hinduism "Without meditation, where is Peace? Without Peace, where is happiness?"

4)       Islam "God will guide men to Peace. If they will heed Him, He will lead them from the darkness of war to the light of Peace."

5)       Taoism "The wise esteem Peace and quiet above all else."

6)       Judaism "When a man's ways please the Lord he maketh even his enemies to be at Peace with him."

7)       Baha'I "War is death while Peace is life."

8)       Shinto "Let the earth be free from trouble and men live at Peace under the protection of the Divine."

 

e.       Now, what is wrong with all this? None of it is real – only a pipe-dream. Unable to support you through the troubles and trials of life

 

5.        In all this world’s history, there has never been anything more than a few years of respite between wars, or before the next disaster strikes!

6.        Satan will use FALSE peace to destroy this world (Dan 8:25). You had better get God’s peace, and then nurture it and protect it all your life!

 

a.       The EU – created for PEACE!!!

b.       The United Nations – created for PEACE!!!

c.       World Peace Summits – every year there are more of them!

d.       People actually think the world is getting safer! Yet there have been MORE WARS in the past 150 years than in all of history combined!

 

7.        So, whatever peace a wicked man or woman says they have, it is definitely NOT much of anything to be proud of (Jn 16:33) – not when compared to the Christian! And the future is not any brighter (1Thes 5:3)

 

C.       Examples of REAL Peace

 

1.        God’s peace is the ability to be at rest in the MIDST of the storm

2.        Jesus sleeping in the boat while in the middle of a storm while His disciples were terrified and screaming at Him to wake up and do something (Mk 4:37-41)!

3.        Stephen dying in Acts 7 – in perfect peace. If you do not find peace before you die, there will never be another opportunity after death

4.        Paul, headed into Rome – knew he would die there, but at rest

5.        Paul on a doomed ship in the middle of a hurricane in Acts 27

 

D.      Some Facts About REAL Peace

 

1.        God is the Author of Peace (Isa 45:7; 1Cor 14:33) – it is NOT self-generated. You can’t create it on your own through meditations, or drugs, or even hypnosis. It comes from God

2.        Jesus Himself is our Peace (Isa 9:6,7; Eph 2:14)

 

a.       He that hath the Son hath what… LIFE! Eternal life!

b.       Well, He that hath the Son hath… PEACE too! Package deal!

 

3.        There are Four Different Kinds of Peace in a Christian’s Life

 

a.       Peace with God (Rom 5:1) – no more condemnation

b.       Peace of God (Philp 4:7) – How could you think there could be anything better than having in your life, the peace that pervades the mind of God?!

c.       Peace with others (Rom 12:18-21; Pr 16:7)

d.       Peace with self

 

1)       Able to bury the past in the past

2)       Able to allow God to change you/transform you – not stuck with the old man in dominance

 

4.        The price of this peace is Christ’s blood (Col 1:20; Isa 53:5)

 

E.       The Needs for Peace to Thrive in the Life of a Christian

 

Peace is very fragile – there are some important things necessary in your life for God’s Peace to grow and thrive! Compare it to a garden.

 

1.        Do some DREAMING – desire GOD’S kind of peace (1Pet 3:10,11). To be able to not live in fear, and to sleep and night, and be at rest during every day, no matter WHAT happens!

2.        Do some WEEDING – have a clean life – holiness (Isa 32:15-17) – you will be more confused, and fretful the more you mess with sin, and ignore obeying the Book!

3.        Do some FEEDING  - on the word of God (James 3:17)

4.        Do some YIELDING – learn from your experiences

 

a.       Accept chastisement (Heb 12:11) – stop complaining, and fighting God’s work of producing PEACE and REAL REST in your heart!

b.       Letting God’s peace rule in your heart (Col 3:15) – it drives away worry

c.       Obedience to God’s word (Philp 4:9)

 

5.        Do some RESTING – this is where you, by faith, live by faith instead of by what you see and feel! Have you noticed that all the fruits are totally disconnected with how you feel, and yet they can SO influence how you ought to feel?

 

a.       Have an anchored Mind (Isa 26:3; Rom 12:1,2) – rock solid in this Book!

b.       Have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ – the prince of Peace (Jn 16:33)

c.       Walk in the Spirit – spiritual-mindedness (Rom 8:6)

 

1)       Instead of talking to people with your flesh, and from your old man, talk from the new man’s angle – like Jesus would!

2)       Instead of making decisions like you always have in the past, pray, and lean on the direction and still, small voice of the Holy Spirit

3)       Trust the promises of God (Isa 43:1-3)

 

III.     Conclusion

 

A.      There are two kinds of people in this room

 

1.        Those who have peace

 

a.       Peace with God

b.       Peace of God

c.       Peace with others

d.       Peace with self

 

2.        Those who can only wish for the next calm before the next storm

 

B.       Those of you who are born again, have God’s Peace, planted deep within you

 

1.        Are you nurturing it?

2.        To enjoy it, you need to force yourself to be at rest, trust in God’s care – reject worry as wicked sin and allow God to work all things out for good

 

C.       If you only live from calm to calm, then let me invite you to trust Christ – get saved!


I.                     Background  The Bible’s meaning of Joy

 

A.      We all WORKED to go to hell before we got saved (Rom 6:23) – and by our sinfulness, we EARNED it!

B.       But since salvation, the Holy Spirit has been working IN us to do God’s will, and produce everlasting fruit in us (Philp 2:13)

C.       Thus the Christian’s new life is characterized by FRUIT instead of WORKS

1.        Good works are not nearly as important as good fruit in my life (Heb 9:14; Mt 7:15-20)

2.        Good works can be counterfeited – good fruit cannot!