S2, Episode 6: Peace
What is Peace?
If you look up every reference to peace in scripture, you’ll find that it is a multilayered, multifaceted word. The most common word used for peace is Shalom.
When I have heard Christian people talk about peace, I have often gotten the sense that we think of it as calmness or stillness. Which I suppose is a component of peace. I also get the sense from what believers say, that peace is like spiritual energy. It’s simply something that the Holy Spirit imparts onto us and we incorporate it. And certainly when Jesus said “My peace I give to you” there is the implication that peace is received, and not necessarily obtained. But I’m fairly certain you wouldn’t be significantly different to me, in that I’ve had so many people pray that I would have peace in a situation…that I haven’t necessarily felt. So if Jesus has given us peace and it’s primarily received, why don’t we experience it more? How many things in our life would be greatly improved, if we experienced the peace that Jesus gave us?
What are we missing about peace?
Firstly, the word Shalom can mean calmness, tranquillity and even just quietness. But it also can mean: contentment, wholeness and safety.
So if we want to experience peace, we need to understand these three concepts: contentment, wholeness and safety.
Contentment means to be full and to be satisfied. Psalm 23:1 says: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing”. Another version says “I lack no good thing”. This was not a superficial statement. David wasn’t declaring and speaking into being the reality he sought. He had a unique perspective. He likely said this when he was a lonely shepherd boy. He was satisfied well before he received recognition, praise and authority. Have you ever had those moments in life, where you feel this deep inner joy…this is the exact type of statement you would make in that circumstance. I’ve had a fair few moments throughout my life, where I am overlooking my backyard, basking in the Saturday afternoon sun with a cup of tea in my hand enjoying the sight of my daughter playing quietly…and I’ve thought: This is it. This is all I need. Or maybe hanging out with close friends, laughing, with a few chunks of cheese on a platter, whilst the sun sets…and I’ve thought “It can’t get better than this.” I understand what David was saying. He is saying: My heart is full.
Yes, we need food, we need water. But when you have the Lord as your Shepherd, your needs are taken care of. Which means, you don’t lack. You certainly don’t lack all that is good. The Lord is all you need. And you can imagine, the kind of peace and rest this perspective would bring to your life if you were to truly believe it.
So let's now talk about wholeness. This word is so interesting. Because we seem to inherently desire wholeness, but it is actually really difficult to define. Wholeness is like inner wellness. But it's even more than that. It’s a wellness and harmony between our heart, mind and soul. It’s like inner-unity. Now if you think about it, the heart, mind and soul can be on different paths in terms of what they want. The soul is a complicated concept, so for simplicity's sake, let’s just consider the heart and mind. The heart and mind are not always in agreement. A classic example is when someone is trying to get over a breakup. The heart still desires the person. But the mind is often trying to push the heart to move on. And some of the distress experienced by the newly single person, is because of the tension between these two parts within them. So wholeness is the absence of this kind of inner conflict. We can’t downplay the significance of this inner turmoil.
Paul describes the warring between the flesh and the spirit, which may be a nuance of the same heart/mind/soul phenomenon. OR its something else altogether . He says in Romans 7:19:
“For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”
Then of course there are the internal conflicts of unrealistic expectations, for example perfectionism. Then there’s harmful mindsets and belief systems, like Narcissism, a victim mentality, poverty, or one that we Christians ought be aware of: legalism, self-righteousness. There’s unworthiness, over responsibility, people pleasing, entitlement. All of these and many other belief systems, can be simultaneously warring within us.
These internal tensions don’t make us very comfortable. They create pressure. Of course, every person differs in the degree of pressure they can handle. But the pressure is still there, when we don’t have wholeness.
The pressure also often shows up in other ways. It can manifest physically. A very common problem, and somewhat obvious one is the way in which stress causes tension in the neck and shoulders. Often leading to headaches and back problems. Another one is digestive issues. We often begin to struggle with digestive issues in highly stressful situations. But even the everyday stressors have an impact on our digestive health. There’s sleep disturbance, fatigue, coughs and colds. All of this can be symptomatic of internal conflicts, and internal pressure.
And our attempts to resolve such tension, is not usually through a commitment to a long arduous journey of genuine open heartedness to internal reorientation. We usually seek that when the turmoil has reached a damaging level, that demands some kind of intervention. Often the rest of the time, we seek momentary relief. And I’m not talking about self-medication and escapisms like drinking and drugs. We usually point the finger at these escapisms, because we want to highlight how the world isn’t coping. Assuming that drugs and alcohol are escapisms that are so far from being options for believers. But we have our own socially acceptable escapisms. Like food. Food is a common form of justifiable self-medication in Christian circles. And I’m not even talking about overeating. Even just the ridiculous level of self-indulgence that we seek on a regular basis. Spending money can be a form of self-medication. Coffee can be a form of self-medication. As my husband likes to call it “The Christian drug”. Even judgement can be a form of self-medication. It’s a sin that we gravitate to, and big surprise it makes us feel good about ourselves to point out the foolishness of others.
So when Jesus said “My peace I give you” in John 14:27, the statement naturally implies that Jesus has peace. He has peace to give. And we assume that Jesus had peace, since we agree that he was and is indeed perfect. It stands to reason that He would have peace, if He is perfect! But this also means he is perfectly whole. Jesus says this very thought provoking statement in Matthew 12:25. He says “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.”
In this specific context, he is responding to the Pharisees who suggest that he can cast out demons because He must be one of them. But the verse applies more broadly. The analogy works, because it is true. A kingdom will eventually come to ruin because of division. A city or household will not stand where conflict exists. In modern days terms: You would expect that a company with incessant infighting will eventually suffer for it. Or a church that continues to have unresolved conflicts. But it also can extend to our inner conflicts. With all the pressure that could be warring within us, it is unlikely that we will be able to sustain ourselves in the long run. There will always be a form of suffering for such a life. It could be physical, psychological or emotional. It could even be what we so often describe as burnout. And therefore to prevent burnout, we must pursue wholeness.
Now there’s one occasion in which it kind of looks like Jesus is having an inner conflict. When He is in the garden of Gethsemane He says: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will”. From this statement, it's obvious that there is some aspect of the plan that Jesus is struggling to contemplate. We would guess that it would be the pain he knows he is about to endure. However, He is completely in agreement heart, mind and soul that He will do as the Father wills. We see that not only from the fact that he says so, but also by the fact that He does nothing to change the situation. The truth about Jesus’ situation is that he has choices. He could run away. In fact his time at Gethsemane alone, may have been his prime opportunity to run. He could have attacked the soldiers when they came to gather Him. And in that way He would have been the Messiah the Jewish people really wanted at the time! He could have used all the power in His hands and demonstrated his position in the kingdom… as the enemy once tempted him all the way back in the desert. He could have sought out a much less gruesome death. He could have taken his own life…which I know is a kind of a difficult idea to contemplate. But the point of saying all of this is Jesus did have options that could have made the cup pass from him. But he didn’t do any of it. Because His heart, mind and soul were in total agreement that He would not pass the cup of his own volition. He would always do what the Father had said. This is wholeness - unity in mind, heart and soul. This kind of unity compels all other outlying thoughts to be submitted and surrendered to the overriding unifying belief. How much do we need this in today's age?
Lets now briefly talk about safety. There are a lot of scriptures that talk about safety. And often they speak of physical safety, because of course they were often at the mercy of nature whether animal or elemental, tribes who were often barbaric, and in the case of David…being pursued by a delusional King. Our sense of safety contributes greatly to whether we feel at peace. Psalm 4:8 says:
“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety”
David has peace because he knows he is safe.
Of the promised land, Leviticus tells us that safety was a significant aspect of the appeal of the promised land. It says in Leviticus 25:19
“Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety”.
The promised land represented a place of safety, a place where the Israelites could be carefree.
In this way, peace is the absence of fear that is associated with security. And we desire security, boy do we desire it. We don’t believe we can be confident, until we have it.
Even when we have physical safety, there are still risks to relational and emotional safety. In fact, that is probably the most significant risk we experience. Relational safety may be the threat of domestic violence, theft, sexual assault, even fraud, deceit, betrayal…It’s the kind of safety that involves person against person. This threat can come from anywhere, even those who are closest to us. I recently watched a series called the Shrink Next Door, which is based on a true story of a Psychologist Dr Ike Herschkopf who basically took over the life of a wealthy business owner Marty Markowitz. It is a sordid tale of manipulation and selfish ambition. Dr Ike basically successfully bated Marty into cutting all ties with any family members and friends that stood in the way of him vicariously living through the wealth of Marty. This is what I would call a threat to relational safety.
Now relational safety existed in scripture too…but it's certainly what accounts for people’s low trust and reservations these days. Because so many of us have had our sense of relational safety broken, sometimes quite early in life. We can’t be ourselves for two seconds without someone criticising and harshly condemning our actions. And the world has gotten so brutal when it comes to criticism. In fact, criticism is a valid form of humour. The more brutal you are, the more popular. Now it may seem harmless as observers, but it certainly plants some seeds subconsciously about how safe we all really are to be ourselves.
So let’s imagine. If at all possible, stop what you are doing for a second. Close your eyes and imagine if we could combine these 3 experiential concepts. Use all the powers of your imagination right now to feel what these 3 concepts operating simultaneously, must feel like: contentment, wholeness and safety. Being content, remember, is being satisfied. Being whole is internal unity. And being safe is secure and even carefree. If you can imagine what all three combined would feel like…then you just experienced a taste of peace. Or at least you have a vision of peace. That’s what is available to us in Christ. It’s awesome, hey!
The real challenge then, is how in the world do we experience all of that?
And herein lies the reason for this episode. The Pink Elephant in the Christian world.
Ok lets go deeper.
Again, Jesus said “My peace I give you” in John 14:27. Which means, we can only assume that true peace, the kind Jesus has, is already within us. Probably via the Holy Spirits residency within us. So there must be some kind of obstruction to that peace.
If peace is contentment, wholeness and safety…at least two of those are most obviously a product of renewing the mind. I’m referring to contentment and wholeness here. And safety arguably is also a renewing of the mind experience.
So either we are struggling to experience peace because we
a) haven’t gone deep enough to recognise the counterfeits we pursue and accept that prevent us from experiencing real peace; OR
b) we haven’t gone deep enough to understand how the gospel is meant to change how content, whole and safe we are.
And in truth, it's probably both a) and b).
This also means that experiencing peace requires us to dismantle every obstruction that creates discontentment, internal division and a lack of safety. Which often the Holy Spirit is trying to lead us toward anyway, when we participate in His efforts.
So let's just talk about category a. There are many things we often pursue hoping to find peace. Let me give you an example of something we pursue to feel safe: financial security. And I fall into this temptation, hard and often. The idea is that if we are able to achieve a certain financial status, we won’t have to worry about money anymore. Because money and our financial situation is a significant cause of stress. It’s a common reason people divorce. It’s a very significant stressor for church leaders, and in fact might be the real reason there is such a pursuit for numbers. More bums on seats, means more money on the offering plate. It’s a big reason why people don’t pursue their dreams, or ideas that could really resolve significant issues in this world. And it's a big reason why people don’t give to charitable causes. And I get it! For any person who lives in Sydney, who has not inherited great wads of cash, or didn’t get into the market 10 years ago…you know that on paper, the likelihood of owning here is pretty much none. So believe me when I say that financial security sounds good. It sounds really good. It sounds like a no brainer actually!
But the whole premise is that finances could give us a sense of safety. As though money is our protector. But when I listen to rich people talk about money, a lot of them will tell you that money doesn’t take away the stress. In fact, a lot of the time it increases it. Now I’m not rich, but we recently sold our house in Brisbane and we walked away with a lump sum of money that we have never had before. And we may never see a lump sum like that again.
I can’t even explain to you the stress it produced in us as a family. We inevitably had to buy things, because we moved into a new home with almost zero furniture…but it was like the amount in the bank was inextricably linked to my stress levels. When it started to go down, my stress levels went up.
There are rich people who have written songs like “mo money, mo problems”. Yeah we sing along, but we don’t believe them. In the case of Notorious BIG, who did write that song….admittedly a truly confusing song with lyrics that both praised the lifestyle he afforded and complained about money problems…well Biggy had experienced low levels of income and high levels of income. And he still wrote this chorus. He may have very well pursued wealth because he too thought being rich would make him feel safe. And then he was murdered. Financial security doesn’t give us the safety we really desire.
Now if I said this to any of my relatives, besides thinking I'm completely bonkers…they would probably correct me and say..”No Mel, it's not that I want to be financially secure. I want to be comfortable”. Well, my friends…comfort is often a counterfeit for safety too. And peace. Comfort is overrated. When I was most comfortable in my life, I was working in a great paying job, earning all the accolades, with a great job title to drop at parties. I was travelling. Blowing my money on expensive food, clothes and jewellery. I was a shallow person in denial about everything. And when I faced hardship I had no resilience. The problem with being comfortable is that we are still looking to a destination, or a situation or objects including money to decide for us the level of ease and relaxation we have. It’s not real peace. And worse yet, it is terribly insecure. It can change so easily. It can disappear with a mistake, a misinterpretation, a diagnosis, a GFC…a pandemic. If being comfortable is such a highly volatile circumstance, have we considered how unwise it is to seek an insecure situation to resolve our insecurities?
Real safety comes from knowing the Shepherd, and allowing Him to be the shepherd. Whilst simultaneously knowing how to be the sheep. If we really believed that we were cared for by God as the analogy of the Shepherd implies, we would feel relaxed.
So how is the gospel meant to change how we experience contentment, wholeness and safety?
This is not an easy question to answer! We must look at each component. How is the gospel meant to change us to become content.
We become satisfied relationally. God is meant to fulfil our needs for relationships. Not completely alone of course, we are meant to experience community here on earth too. But in Him we access a relationship that is perfect in every way. Perfectly compassionate, perfectly attentive, perfectly selfless, kind, patient, loving…you get the picture. And His Holy Spirit resides within us. No other relationship could be this close, and this accessible.
We no longer live from a place of lack. It may not always feel that way, especially when we don’t have enough money to do xyz, or a home, or whatever other practical needs we deal with…But the fact is, from the moment of conversion we become His children. We are so blessed. We receive as co-heirs. We are a new creation. The old has passed. We get a second chance, with grace and no condemnation. We are righteous. Forgiven. Favoured. Unconditionally loved. This is the starting point for us, just simply by receiving Christ. And it gets better from there. We get to co-labour with him in mission. We get to experience the Holy Spirit's power and anointing. And so much more.
We don’t have to strive. No, I’m not saying that we don’t make an effort. But we rest in the fact that the transformation process is primarily Gods. Philippians 1:6 - he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
We don’t have to change ourselves in a rigorous, punishing way. We simply respond to his invitations, abide in Him, and open ourselves to him in every way and follow Him.
How is the gospel meant to make us whole?
Firstly, and this is a huge one. He heals us. He heals our trauma, our pain. He heals the mindsets and beliefs that have been harming us.
Secondly, he changes our values. We can stop judging our value against the world's standards. We stop judging whether what we are doing is good enough. Whether the job we have, the money we make, the houses we own, and our looks are deemed GOOD. In Christ, our value is not in any of those things. We are valuable because we are human beings, touched with the very image of God. Made with detail and wonder. The greatest of all his creations. We are valuable because we breath the breath that he first breathed into Adam and Eve. We are valuable enough for Him to intimately know our thoughts, and every action we take. He values us enough to take notice of us, individually, every idiosyncrasy, every trait is known. Even before you were made, in your mothers womb.
His sacrifice on the cross was personal. And He gently invites us everyday, to knit each part of us together into unity and wholeness through the personal leading of the Holy Spirit.
And finally, how is the gospel meant to make us feel safe?
David spoke often of God as His fortress. A fortress was a place of safety built with military knowledge and defensive resources and strategy, that would protect the inhabitants of a township. It is a warfare tactic to have built a fortress. To call God his fortress as he does in so many verses, including Psalm 18:2 which says:
“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,”
Not to mention Psalm 59:9, Psalm 91, Psalm 62:2…and I could go on. To call God His fortress, denoted the incredible strength and might in which God holds in his hands. And how truly at ease we can be, because of HIS active and involved presence in our lives.
But Here’s the conundrum we must face. God’s protection doesn’t remove all evil and hardship from our life. This is something I have grappled with so much. Being a believer didn’t stop me from experiencing trauma. This awful thing that seemed like it had ruined my life in so many ways. That still rears its ugly head from time to time, shaming me…as though I did something wrong.
You know what I am talking about. Hard things happen everyday. And some of those hard things aren't small. There are very legitimate threats out there. So how do we reconcile this? How can we see God as our protection, when our safety has already been lost?
When David said these things, he was on the run. His life was being threatened by a madman that He once loved. He knew a thing or two about not feeling physically safe. So how was he able to see God as his safety, when he clearly had real physical risks before him?
Here’s the truth that David understood:
Our confidence in God's safety is not found in whether a set of circumstances will or will not occur. Our safety in God, is knowing that we actually CAN handle whatever circumstance we find ourselves in because of what we have in Christ. When I was a really broken person, I couldn’t say this. But now as a believer who is so reliant on God, not because I’m superior either, but because I have no choice but to… A believer who still makes mistakes and still has incredibly difficult days. I know because of the things I have been through WITH Him, when I have been able to see firsthand His might, His faithfulness, His voice, His comfort and His love. These are the things that give me confidence that I am safe. Because of history. David had this history. He faced animals that He couldn’t pacify. He faced the darkness, the threats. He faced Goliath. Saul was not necessarily the biggest threat he would face, though surely he was an adversary that might still make him shudder…he simply needed to remember that. Now that doesn’t mean we don’t have our fair share of wounds, and pain. It wouldn’t be the planet earth if you didn’t. But you will have pain whether you try to avoid it or not.
Jesus said in John 16:33
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.
Yes you will have tribulation. You cannot avoid it. You will have distress on account of this world, its many evils and the presence of sin. We ought not be surprised by that. But our courage, our safety comes from His overcoming. You know the saying that goes: “We didn’t win the battle, but we won the war”. It’s like Jesus is saying “I have won the war, so you can win the battle”.
We don’t become overcomers by attaching ourselves to these man-made, impermanent, counterfeits of peace. We need to get them out of the way, no matter how difficult it is. Even though we have used them as a crutch for so long.
Believer I encourage you, do whatever you can to remove every psychological barrier to contentment, wholeness and safety. Because the peace Jesus has given you is there, underneath all the debris, waiting for you to find it and experience it.