The Gospel of Peace

This is the message given in the Sunday night service in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  The Bible verses used are Ephesians 6:10-18.

We live in a rapidly changing world.  That’s been true for a long time, but it’s as true now as it ever was.  You don’t need me to tell you that, of course.  All you need to do is look at news headlines.

            Some of the changes have been good and necessary, and others not so much.  That’s always true when we’re in a time of change.  And with many of these changes, we don’t yet know what the outcome of it all is going to be. That’s always true when we’re in a time of change, too.

            You may have heard the phrase “the winds of change”.  When things are changing this rapidly, we can sometimes feel like we’re being pushed around by strong winds.  We feel like we’re constantly being knocked off balance.  The things we’ve always counted on to be there, the things we’ve considered constants, the things we’ve thought would always be our refuge in the wind and in the storm--a lot of those things are not there anymore.  And they’re being replaced by--what?  We don’t know.  It’ll be a while before we do know.

            Again, my point is not to say whether the changes are good or bad.  But what happens, in this time of change, is that sometimes feel like we’re standing on the deck of ship that’s in the middle of a storm.  The ship is moving up and down, side to side, and we’re trying desperately to stay on our feet.  We’re trying to keep our feet planted, strong and secure, in the face of these winds, in the face of all this upheaval.  We’re trying to find something, anything, that we can rely on, something that will keep us standing upright and help us withstand all these winds and storms.

            The Apostle Paul tells us what that thing should be.  He tells us that have our feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

            Unlike the other aspects of the armor of God we’ve talked about, we’re not given an analogy for this.  You know, we have the “belt of truth” and the “breastplate of righteousness”.  We don’t have the “shoes of the gospel” or the “boots of the gospel” or anything like that.  We don’t even have the “sandals of the gospel” or even the “socks of the gospel”.  But still, our feet are to be fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel.

            And you know, of all the things Paul talks about in discussing the armor of God, in some ways this may be the most important one.  I say that because Paul says three times about how we need to stand our ground, to stand firm.  He says the whole purpose of the armor of God is “so that, when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.”  Paul then says it again, “and after you have done anything, to stand.”  And then one more time, “Stand firm, then”, with the armor of God.  Our feet, after all, are what we stand on.  If we’re not able to stay on our feet, the rest of the armor of God is not going to help us much at all.

            What strengthens our feet, what makes us able to stand our ground, what makes us stand firm, is the gospel.  The gospel of Jesus Christ.

            In Hebrews Chapter Thirteen, Verse Eight, we read, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”  I know some of you have heard that before.  But that is one of the most important verses in the Bible.  And in terms of standing firm in a time of change, it may be the most important verse.  No matter what else may happen, no matter how much the world may change, Jesus Christ is the one who will never change.  And the things Jesus told us to do will never change, either.

            What that means is that the storms of the world do not affect our faith.  Now, don’t take that the wrong way.  I am not saying that Christians should ignore the storms of the world.  I am not saying that Christians should have nothing to say about what’s going on in the world.  What I am saying is that our faith should not be changed by what goes on in the world.  Our faith should not change, because the one in whom we have faith has not changed.  Our faith in Jesus Christ remains the same, regardless of what the world says, regardless of what the world does, regardless of what happens.

            We need to stand firm in our faith no matter what.  Again, remember what the armor of God is.  It’s not an offensive weapon--all the things we’ve been talking about are defensive.  The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness--they don’t enable us to attack anyone.  They protect us from attacks.  And remember whose attacks they protect us from.  It’s not the attacks of other people.  Other people may be involved, but that’s not what we’re protected from.  We’re protected from the powers of the dark world and the spiritual forces of evil.

            The gospel of Jesus Christ is always our best protection from that.  And how does Paul describe that gospel?  Paul describes it as a gospel of peace.

            There does not seem to be a lot of peace in the world right now.  Whatever you may think of what’s going on in the world right now, peace is not the word any of us could use to describe it.  The world is in turmoil.  We can hope that, at some point down the road, what’s going on will ultimately result in peace, but we do not see peace right now.  We don’t even hear very many people who seem to be interested in peace.  And in fact, there are some people who argue that peace is not and should not be a goal right now, that there are other things in the world more important than peace.

            And yet, here’s the Apostle Paul telling us that our feet need to be fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  We need to stand firm in that gospel of peace, no matter what the world is saying or doing.  How do we do that?

            Well, let’s think about armor.  Armor is a very personal thing.  You don’t have armor that protects a society.  You don’t have armor that protects a community.  Armor protects one person.  If I put on the armor of God, it’s going to protect me.  If you put on the armor of God, it’s going to protect you.  Each of us, if we want the protection that comes from the armor of God, has to make the individual, personal choice to put on that armor.

            Another way of saying that is that the only person whose behavior each of us can determine is our own.  I cannot put on the armor of God for you, and you cannot put on the armor of God for me.  We can attempt to persuade people to put it on, but ultimately, it’s a choice each of us has to make for ourselves.

            So, as we see what’s going on in the world, that’s what we need to remember.  We cannot control what other people do.  We cannot control what other people say.  We cannot control what other people think.  But we can control what we do, what we say, and what we think.  That is true, and that will always be true.  No matter how hard other people may try to control us about those things, they cannot control us unless we allow them to.  You and I always have control over what we do, what we say, and what we think.

            And so, no matter what’s going on in the world, you and I need to continue to follow what Jesus Christ has told us to do.  What are those things?  You know them.  We’ve gone through them before, but we can never go through them too many times.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  Love your enemies.  Pray for those who persecute you.  Treat others the way you would like them to treat you.  Not the way they actually do treat you, but the way you would like them to treat you.  And go and make disciples of Jesus Christ.  Spread the gospel of Jesus to everyone you can in whatever ways you can.

            That’s the gospel of peace.  That’s the gospel that, some day, is going to bring peace to the entire world.  And you know what else?  That’s the gospel that will bring you and me inner peace, too.

            If you and I respond to what’s happening in the world this way, we will have inner peace.  Because we will know that those things cannot touch us.  If you and I follow the gospel of Jesus Christ, if we follow the gospel of peace, we are completely protected from the powers of the dark world and the spiritual forces of evil.  Yes, they may affect our lives here on earth.  But they cannot affect our eternal lives.  They cannot affect our salvation.  If have faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior, if we follow the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of peace, we know that we will have salvation and eternal life.  And no matter what else is going on in the world, that knowledge can give us inner peace.

            The world is constantly changing.  I have no idea what’s going to happen.  But God does.  And God has told us how to handle it.  Stand firm in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Stand firm in the gospel of peace.  If we do that, we can withstand whatever the world may throw at us.