“Peace begins with a smile.”
―
Mother Teresa
What we are going cover today is one of God's favorite things that may just be the hardest for human beings to grasp. PEACE.
It is something we elude to and say that we want, but do we really understand what it is?
As I began to think about the subject, I recalled a moment in a class I took at MTSO in my second year in the Course of Study. It was a class on Christian Education and it was taught by Randy Litchfield who is now the Academic Dean. There were 20-22 people in the class and all of us were required to give a 5-6 minute summary presentation on a subject we might teach on. You can imagine the tense feeling of trying to present your summary in this tight window of time. From the back of the class, Dr Litchfield would survey our work and as one approached the end of their time he would let each person know they had "two minutes" left with a 'two finger sign'.
As I gave my presentation on the subject of sanctification, I'm rolling along and not even thinking about the time. I got down to my last two minutes and Dr Litchfield quietly held his 'two finger sign' to which I, without missing a beat, said "peace, brother, peace" and kept right on trucking through my talk.
We all know peace means much more. And, we are looking at much deeper moment from the scriptures. A moment where some angels spoke to some shepherds in a very familiar passage of scripture off this time of year.
It is something we elude to and say that we want, but do we really understand what it is?
As I began to think about the subject, I recalled a moment in a class I took at MTSO in my second year in the Course of Study. It was a class on Christian Education and it was taught by Randy Litchfield who is now the Academic Dean. There were 20-22 people in the class and all of us were required to give a 5-6 minute summary presentation on a subject we might teach on. You can imagine the tense feeling of trying to present your summary in this tight window of time. From the back of the class, Dr Litchfield would survey our work and as one approached the end of their time he would let each person know they had "two minutes" left with a 'two finger sign'.
As I gave my presentation on the subject of sanctification, I'm rolling along and not even thinking about the time. I got down to my last two minutes and Dr Litchfield quietly held his 'two finger sign' to which I, without missing a beat, said "peace, brother, peace" and kept right on trucking through my talk.
We all know peace means much more. And, we are looking at much deeper moment from the scriptures. A moment where some angels spoke to some shepherds in a very familiar passage of scripture off this time of year.
Luke 2:8-14
New International Version (NIV)
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Peace is a tricky thing, a difficult thing to define for each individual person.
We all need it or want it. But, what bring each of us peace can be vastly different.
It's probably good to look at exactly what we are talking about....
Definition of PEACE
noun
1: a state of tranquillity or quiet: as
a : freedom from civil disturbance
b : a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom peace
2 : freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions
3 : harmony in personal relations
4 a : a state or period of mutual concord between governments
b : a pact or agreement to end hostilities between those who have been at war or in a state of enmity
5 —used interjectionally to ask for silence or calm or as a greeting or farewell
— at peace
: in a state of concord or tranquillity
: a state in which there is no war or fighting
: an agreement to end a war
: an agreement to end a war
: a period of time when there is no war or fighting
As is to be expected, the word is a noun and it can be used possessively. My peace. Your peace.
Even children have a good idea of what peace is. Ask them and you'll hear right away...no fighting...no war.
Here's something interesting I found in my research. It's also used as a verb. Yea...an action word.
Even children have a good idea of what peace is. Ask them and you'll hear right away...no fighting...no war.
Here's something interesting I found in my research. It's also used as a verb. Yea...an action word.
Definition of PEACE
intransitive verb
: to be, become, or keep silent or quiet
Hmmm. This really threw me. I hadn't thought of peace as something we do.
And, I wasn't expecting that whole transitive thing to be here either.
You remember what that means. Things can be transferred between parties. From party 1 to party two and on to party 3. But, in this case, peace is an intransitive thing. No transference. You don't 'pass the peace' between parties, even though we have heard that old adage before. Peace is a personal thing. It is something a person has to work out for themselves.
On Thursday of this past week, I scrapped this whole sermon I had so far on 'peace'.
I just wasn't happy with what I had; wasn't peaceful about what I had written so far.
Then, I had nothing going towards Sunday.
Talk about having 'peace' with what I'm going to preach about come Sunday. Whoa....
I remember what the Lord showed me years ago.
9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth.
Ah, so he will give me the words to say. I have to trust him on that and be at peace.
And, I think he's doing pretty good so far....
Saw a really good program Saturday evening. A program I planned on watching, but as I was in the middle of it, I knew it was exactly what I needed to see. A message on peace.
Maybe you saw it too. "Youngstown Boys". The stories of Maurice Clarett & Jim Tressel.
Tressel, the coach. Clarett, the player. Both coming out of the world of Youngstown, OH.
Growing up in different worlds and having different outcomes.
Clarett would lose his dad, grow up around influences that would not serve him well.
Seeing the underbelly of the Youngstown world, the drug traffic and the hard life.
He would find football as a medium to help him develop into a young man and later find his way into the world of college athletics at the Ohio State University.
He would challenge long standing rules about getting into the NFL, looking to go early before the rules said he was eligible. Striking out, he would wait and 2 years after playing for a National Championship would finally get his crack at it.
But, in the process of waiting, he found his way into deleterious influences.
In the world on Los Angeles, California he found a world of alcohol and trouble.
His tryout for the NFL would not go as well as he had hoped, mainly due to his lack of planning ahead.
Amazingly, the Denver Broncos took a stab at him and would draft him in the third round of the NFL Draft.
But, his tryouts did not go well and he did not even see the field during the preseason.
Seeing his world slipping away from him, Maurice would fall in depression and more alcohol.
Many of us remember the headlines. Getting into trouble, arrested with a vehicle full of weapons and accused of stealing from a person on the east side of Columbus. Clarett was sentenced to over a year in jail.
It would be in that setting that he would finally find his inner peace.
As the door on his cell slammed behind him, Clarett was finally alone with his thoughts.
That's what life in prison forces you to do. Alone with your feelings and remembering where it all went wrong, a person is forced to think. You can let it drive you crazy with remorse or you can work it out.
Maurice chose to work it out.
He would journal his thoughts and send letters to his girlfriend, the mother of his recent addition to the world, a daughter. His girlfriend would put those letters into a blog on the internet for other to read, so that people could see what Maurice was struggling with inside. After more than a year on the inside, Clarett would emerged a changed man.
He had worked it out. He had found his peace.
He was sorry for all the trouble he had caused his family, his mother. He was sorry for all the trouble he had put his own self through. Alcohol no longer ruled his life. Freedom would lead the way. Now, he speaks at church and in front of youth groups. He goes to prison and shares with the inmates. He has re-enrolled at Ohio State and is working on his degree. He and former coach Tressel work together to better the state of athletics in the State of Ohio, making life better for students looking to play sports.
A far cry from the broken life he once knew under depression and alcohol.
Peace truly is something that one must work out for oneself.
I can show you love. Love can be a transitive thing. I can help you feel warm and fuzzy inside be showing you love. I can share my joy with you. If I am happy, my joy can rub off on you. It can be transferred.
Peace cannot. It truly cannot be transferred. I can share some things with you, but i cannot cause you to feel peace. It truly is something for a person work out and experience for oneself.
Have you ever been on a 'retreat'? In Maurice's context, prison is a forced retreat.
A time to purposefully get away and simply focus. To work out whatever issues we have on our plate.
To finally come to peace with what we are wrestling with inside. A good retreat can work wonders.
Ok, I'm going to wrap this up by speaking to my OCD people out there. (Hold your hand up if you care to admit that you are OCD.) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Everything has to work out just like this and just like that in order for all to be right in the world. Talk about being robbed of your peace.
We're all a little OCD at times. Maybe some more than others.
Maybe a little time away is what we truly need. Maybe we need to get away. Lock ourselves up with nothing but a bible and God until we have worked out the issues driving us crazy. Everything in our physical world isn't going to go perfectly. Everything isn't going to be exactly the way we want it to be. The only thing or person we can truly control is sitting right there reading this message. The peace we can find is what we need on the inside of that person. You.
Closing the service today, we will sing #245, The First Noel.
Did you know this is the OCD person's hymn? It is! Look at everything that needs to go right in this song in order for it all to work out. 5 verses. And, by the end of it, the baby is born, the wise men come, the gifts are given, all is well with the world. It all works out.
The angels spoke truly prolific words that day to some shepherds. Some every day people.
Not to kings and senators. To the everyday people. With their everyday worries and common cares.
"....and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."
Peace. It's worth seeking. And, finding. If you are willing to take the time.
And, I wasn't expecting that whole transitive thing to be here either.
You remember what that means. Things can be transferred between parties. From party 1 to party two and on to party 3. But, in this case, peace is an intransitive thing. No transference. You don't 'pass the peace' between parties, even though we have heard that old adage before. Peace is a personal thing. It is something a person has to work out for themselves.
On Thursday of this past week, I scrapped this whole sermon I had so far on 'peace'.
I just wasn't happy with what I had; wasn't peaceful about what I had written so far.
Then, I had nothing going towards Sunday.
Talk about having 'peace' with what I'm going to preach about come Sunday. Whoa....
I remember what the Lord showed me years ago.
Jeremiah 1:4-5
New International Version (NIV)
The Call of Jeremiah
4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew[a] you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Yea...he called me to work for Himself.
That took several years to work that out in my heart. To come to some kind of 'peace' with that.
But, The Lord also said other thing to Jeremiah in this same passage.
That took several years to work that out in my heart. To come to some kind of 'peace' with that.
But, The Lord also said other thing to Jeremiah in this same passage.
Jeremiah 1:6-9
New International Version (NIV)
6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth.
Ah, so he will give me the words to say. I have to trust him on that and be at peace.
And, I think he's doing pretty good so far....
Saw a really good program Saturday evening. A program I planned on watching, but as I was in the middle of it, I knew it was exactly what I needed to see. A message on peace.
Maybe you saw it too. "Youngstown Boys". The stories of Maurice Clarett & Jim Tressel.
Tressel, the coach. Clarett, the player. Both coming out of the world of Youngstown, OH.
Growing up in different worlds and having different outcomes.
Clarett would lose his dad, grow up around influences that would not serve him well.
Seeing the underbelly of the Youngstown world, the drug traffic and the hard life.
He would find football as a medium to help him develop into a young man and later find his way into the world of college athletics at the Ohio State University.
He would challenge long standing rules about getting into the NFL, looking to go early before the rules said he was eligible. Striking out, he would wait and 2 years after playing for a National Championship would finally get his crack at it.
But, in the process of waiting, he found his way into deleterious influences.
In the world on Los Angeles, California he found a world of alcohol and trouble.
His tryout for the NFL would not go as well as he had hoped, mainly due to his lack of planning ahead.
Amazingly, the Denver Broncos took a stab at him and would draft him in the third round of the NFL Draft.
But, his tryouts did not go well and he did not even see the field during the preseason.
Seeing his world slipping away from him, Maurice would fall in depression and more alcohol.
Many of us remember the headlines. Getting into trouble, arrested with a vehicle full of weapons and accused of stealing from a person on the east side of Columbus. Clarett was sentenced to over a year in jail.
It would be in that setting that he would finally find his inner peace.
As the door on his cell slammed behind him, Clarett was finally alone with his thoughts.
That's what life in prison forces you to do. Alone with your feelings and remembering where it all went wrong, a person is forced to think. You can let it drive you crazy with remorse or you can work it out.
Maurice chose to work it out.
He would journal his thoughts and send letters to his girlfriend, the mother of his recent addition to the world, a daughter. His girlfriend would put those letters into a blog on the internet for other to read, so that people could see what Maurice was struggling with inside. After more than a year on the inside, Clarett would emerged a changed man.
He had worked it out. He had found his peace.
He was sorry for all the trouble he had caused his family, his mother. He was sorry for all the trouble he had put his own self through. Alcohol no longer ruled his life. Freedom would lead the way. Now, he speaks at church and in front of youth groups. He goes to prison and shares with the inmates. He has re-enrolled at Ohio State and is working on his degree. He and former coach Tressel work together to better the state of athletics in the State of Ohio, making life better for students looking to play sports.
A far cry from the broken life he once knew under depression and alcohol.
Peace truly is something that one must work out for oneself.
I can show you love. Love can be a transitive thing. I can help you feel warm and fuzzy inside be showing you love. I can share my joy with you. If I am happy, my joy can rub off on you. It can be transferred.
Peace cannot. It truly cannot be transferred. I can share some things with you, but i cannot cause you to feel peace. It truly is something for a person work out and experience for oneself.
Have you ever been on a 'retreat'? In Maurice's context, prison is a forced retreat.
A time to purposefully get away and simply focus. To work out whatever issues we have on our plate.
To finally come to peace with what we are wrestling with inside. A good retreat can work wonders.
Ok, I'm going to wrap this up by speaking to my OCD people out there. (Hold your hand up if you care to admit that you are OCD.) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Everything has to work out just like this and just like that in order for all to be right in the world. Talk about being robbed of your peace.
We're all a little OCD at times. Maybe some more than others.
Maybe a little time away is what we truly need. Maybe we need to get away. Lock ourselves up with nothing but a bible and God until we have worked out the issues driving us crazy. Everything in our physical world isn't going to go perfectly. Everything isn't going to be exactly the way we want it to be. The only thing or person we can truly control is sitting right there reading this message. The peace we can find is what we need on the inside of that person. You.
Closing the service today, we will sing #245, The First Noel.
Did you know this is the OCD person's hymn? It is! Look at everything that needs to go right in this song in order for it all to work out. 5 verses. And, by the end of it, the baby is born, the wise men come, the gifts are given, all is well with the world. It all works out.
The angels spoke truly prolific words that day to some shepherds. Some every day people.
Not to kings and senators. To the everyday people. With their everyday worries and common cares.
"....and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."
Peace. It's worth seeking. And, finding. If you are willing to take the time.
