Episode Transcript
[00:00:34] Series on Advent. I'm your host, Renee, and for those of you who have followed me, you know that I'm currently in seminary.
[00:00:41] If we're counting, I've kind of finished five, what we would call semesters, and I am just loving every minute of it.
[00:00:53] A quick plug for a movie that my husband Jeff and I just saw, and it's called the shift. It's produced by Angel Studios, the same studio that puts out the chosen. And actually, if you watch this movie, you'll recognize some of the cast from the chosen real quick. It's an amazingly powerful film, loosely based on job, and it actually carries many of the themes that, ironically, I've been talking about in some of my podcasts. Well, again, welcome to my Advent podcast series. And as we've talked about, advent might be a word you're not really familiar with. It's the liturgical season that precedes comes before Christmas. And while many well meaning christians have believed that advent is merely preparing us for the celebration of Christ's birth, that's not quite right, because it's actually a time of preparing us for Christ's second coming.
[00:01:55] Advent means coming. Yes, we know that Christ came to earth in the flesh, and he died on the cross for the forgiveness of all of our sins. And this is what we recognize in all of his humility at Christmas time, and then also the celebration of his defeat of death and resurrection at Easter. But we also know from scripture that Jesus is going to come again. And that is the good news that advent just prepares our hearts and minds for. The themes of advent are centered around this excitement of Christ coming again. And so that's why we have hope, peace, joy, and love. Last week, advent focused on hope, and we know that our hope comes from the Lord. And I ended the podcast with this anchor metaphor, which we have discovered was a metaphor used early in the church to describe the hope that we had in Christ. Because an anchor like our hope is firm, secure, sure, and steadfast.
[00:03:12] Well, this past Sunday's advent theme was peace. So I'm going to ask you, what is peace really like? What does it mean for someone to say, have peace?
[00:03:27] I think that right now, people living in Israel or Palestine would answer this question differently than you or I would. So does our definition of peace depend on our circumstances?
[00:03:43] In Hebrew, the word for peace is shalom. It means tranquility. In Israel, the word shalom is used as a greeting, and it's regardless of the time of day or even the being addressed, it's a heartfelt message of desire for the person that you're speaking to to be at peace.
[00:04:06] Shalom. Shalom is perfect peace. That's the kind of peace not found in this world. It's the peace that literally surpasses all understanding.
[00:04:22] It's the peace of the Lord.
[00:04:25] The Bible says that God gives us shalom. Shalom.
[00:04:31] Shalom. Shalom is a. Well, it's a profound psychological and emotional piece. The prophet Isaiah says that this shalom. Shalom is given to us when we steadfastly set our minds on God.
[00:04:50] I just want some peace and quiet.
[00:04:55] I remember my parents saying that more than once when I was a child. I think I was always apparently pretty loud and didn't adhere to the rule that children are to be seen but not heard. They could hear me from across town. My father used to say.
[00:05:13] So does peace mean no external noise? Does it mean no violence or wars or screaming or pain or discontent?
[00:05:25] Does it mean no more poverty or suffering? Does it mean justice?
[00:05:32] Well, whose justice? Or whose definition of poverty and suffering?
[00:05:40] Yes. Over the years, we've had many leaders, good and bad, who have sought to promote their idea of peace. Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Even John Lennon, Harriet Tubman, Malalia Yosefazi almost would agree. Good people. They felt a sense of calling to create peace on earth.
[00:06:11] Some would argue these people were successful. And some would argue that shortly after their death, things fell back into chaos and unrest. Okay, consider Karl Marx. Just work with me for a moment.
[00:06:29] His plan was to honestly create peace and equity among the masses by eliminating capitalism. He felt that capitalism caused exploitation, and he desired, through socialism, to create peace by bringing about a utopian state of no social classes and the ideal that everyone would work together for the common good.
[00:07:02] But what happens in practice? There's a power struggle. And when the state owns everything, it leads to tyranny.
[00:07:12] So again I ask, whose definition of peace does this ideal promote?
[00:07:20] Each person has their own vision of a utopia perfection. And for those who don't agree with a particular definition of peace, the vision can become anything but utopian. A utopian vision quickly turns to dystopian. For anyone who does not adhere to the premise of the utopia right, animal farm by George Orwell gives a fairly grim portrayal of a peaceful utopia gone wrong.
[00:07:55] So is our quest for peace futile?
[00:08:00] All right, well, let's table external peace for a moment. What about inner peace?
[00:08:08] If you look up how to obtain inner peace, you're going to find lots written about fasting and meditation and easing your mind. Listening to soothing music, going out in nature, drinking hot herbal tea, and bending your body into unnatural stances and holding it for an ungodly amount of time.
[00:08:33] Breathe. Shut off the lights, light a candle, inhale incense, think happy thoughts. Channel your inner Bob Ross and paint lots of happy little trees.
[00:08:46] Become a beatnik. Wear a turtleneck. Play the bongos while smoking a pipe of something. And of course, there are drugs, legal and otherwise, that also promise to bring your mind to a state of peace.
[00:09:02] Or do they?
[00:09:06] Perhaps you've tried some of these methods, but the reason why there are so many books and so many body positions and so many mind altering drugs is because ultimately these things do not bring us peace.
[00:09:23] What's the answer for creating peace?
[00:09:27] Some argue that the only way we're going to have peace is if we establish a christian society.
[00:09:35] But the church and state are separate for a reason, and it is actually a biblical reason.
[00:09:45] Let me explain.
[00:09:47] There are two kingdoms. We have the earthly kingdom or the civil kingdom, which God has established to care for the neighbor. We have laws that protect us from each other. We have a justice system and a system to help the poor, the elderly, the vulnerable groups.
[00:10:08] Secular government is a precious gift from God.
[00:10:14] But this is important to note. The law is given both to believers and unbelievers.
[00:10:23] Reason here is an essential tool in ordering human affairs. And reason has been given to everyone, in varying degrees, both believers and nonbelievers. You don't need to be a Christian to love your neighbor. You don't need to be a Christian to feed the poor. Helping the poor is not a theology.
[00:10:49] Now, the second kingdom, that's the spiritual or heavenly kingdom. And God's kingdom is not established by laws or commands. God's kingdom is his gospel promise through the work of the Holy Spirit.
[00:11:09] Problems arise when the gospel is suppressed by the government or if the gospel is attempted to be made applicable to secular issues.
[00:11:21] Let me explain.
[00:11:23] The government has its limits. The government's role is to regulate our physical, temporal life. Its job is not to mess with man's conscience and soul. The government's authority only extends to our bodies and our property.
[00:11:45] While it's true, yes, throughout history, leaders will have fundamental flaws because we're human.
[00:11:52] But that changes nothing regarding the authority of the government office.
[00:11:58] God has and does use people who are evil to carry out his will.
[00:12:06] Romans 13 reminds us that the ordinance of government is God's, and we must subject ourselves to the government. Of course. Wait a minute. We know Satan can enter the government, right? And the government can exceed its authority and potentially compel us to act contrary to God and his word.
[00:12:30] And when this happens, well, yes, then the government is delegitimized because ultimately our christian conscience is informed by what acts chapter 529 reminds us, obey God rather than man. The government is not legitimate to regulate the word of God and faith.
[00:12:57] So bearing all this in mind, is a utopian world possible?
[00:13:05] The answer is no.
[00:13:07] Christians accepting a call to public office, it's noble, it's worthy, but they need to remember the role of the office is basically to care for the neighbor.
[00:13:20] Utopia does not exist in this earthly kingdom because, and you don't have to think too hard about this to realize it's true. At the core, we're sinners and therefore focused on self.
[00:13:35] Remember, sin is unbelief. It's unbelief in God's promise that he is a giver. When we're solely focused on ourselves, we can never perfectly care for the neighbor. God and God alone is the one who pulls us out of our selfishness. To focus on the neighbor because our righteousness is not found in our deeds, we're actually then free to love our neighbor without fear of condemnation.
[00:14:10] Honestly, guys, we can't possibly address all the ills of the world, can we? No. We can't focus on injustice and poverty and orphans and polluted air and lost puppies all at the same time. It's through the freedom we have as christians that the Holy Spirit gives us an ear to hear his word of promise and forgiveness and an ear to hear the needs of our neighbor. We can choose, without condemnation, to focus in one area. Knowing our salvation is not based on what we choose or don't choose to do.
[00:14:48] There's no perfect world in the law.
[00:14:51] The law doesn't make faith. Both heathens and believers are used by God in government because the focus of government is the things below. Our righteousness doesn't come from the things we do or don't do, how politically active we are, how we vote, what kind of car we drive, or if we even recycle our garbage.
[00:15:15] We always think we know best, don't we? We think we know what is good and what is evil. But wait a minute. This is the sin of the garden of Eden. We do not know what is best. In fact, most of the time, what we think is best is actually the worst. We think we know what God knows. It's evil. It's a sin that makes us think we can determine what brings peace. Now this seems like a noble quest, doesn't it?
[00:15:48] Evil makes us think that God is not for us. We think our ways are best as sinners. We want to create, make, obtain and meet our world's desires apart from God.
[00:16:05] Think about the Hebrews in the desert right when they were leaving Egypt. And what did they do? They complained to God because they were not satisfied with what God had given them. They felt that things were better before. They wanted the peace of the past, which was predictable. We don't understand God's ways and we want things on our terms.
[00:16:30] Well, by now perhaps you can see that none of these world utopian ideals, no self help book, and no medication, legal or otherwise, will truly bring us inner peace or world peace.
[00:16:47] The world guys is not heading toward utopia because utopian ideas are directed by humans, not by God.
[00:16:57] Those who were thought wise, the Bible says, were made foolish.
[00:17:04] Our life purpose is to share the gospel message that Christ died for you and for the forgiveness of all your sins. This can only be brought about through faith in Jesus. Instead of trying to create peace, we need to focus on the source of all peace.
[00:17:23] Philippians chapter four, verses six through nine says it so clearly.
[00:17:29] Rejoice in the Lord always, and I will say it again, rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything. By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things and the God of peace will be with you in this season of advent. I leave you with this verse from Isaiah, chapter nine, verses six through seven.
[00:18:32] For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders, and its name will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal father, Prince of peace, have a week of peace.
[00:18:56] Amen.
