We are continuing our study of the Fruit of the Spirit. They are found in Galatians 5:22-23. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
The word Peace has several different meanings, and is used in different ways throughout the Bible. If you look it up in a concordance, you’ll see many instances where the phrase “held his peace” or something similar is used. This just means someone kept their thoughts to themselves, rather than speaking. Peace was included in greetings and parting words, also. “Peace be unto you” and “Go in peace” are used quite often throughout the Bible. One of the sacrifices God required of the Israelites was a peace offering, and throughout the Old Testament, you’ll see references to different nations or groups of people who made peace with each other, i.e., they agreed not to fight and kill each other. These are all good, but we’re going to dwell on the kind of peace that comes as a Fruit of the Spirit. This is the kind of peace that comes as a result of having surrendered our will to the will of the Lord. Let’s read our definition right now.
Peace: The absence of mental stress or anxiety. Inner contentment; serenity.
The absence of conflict
Peace is given to us by the Lord, and the longer we serve Him and walk in His ways, the more peaceful we will become. This is not to say that we won’t have circumstances that cause us stress or anxiety. We will have plenty of those; but, we can have peace, knowing that our lives are in the loving hands of the Almighty God, and He is in control of all that happens to us. Look what King David said in Psalm 4:8, “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.” This from a man who spent years running for his life! The Apostle Paul also instructed us not to fret over things, but to let God handle them. Phil. 4:6, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” This kind of careful means full of care, or worry. Paul is telling us, “Don’t fret and worry; pray and ask God for what you need, with thanks”, and God will give us the best kind of peace there is!
To get this wonderful peace, though, we must first repent of all sin in our lives, and be doing our best, with the Lord’s help, to live every day without sin. God doesn’t hand out His perfect peace to just anybody! Isa 48:22: “There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.” Psalm 37:37 shows the other side, “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.” Also, see what Paul had to say about it in Romans. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” (Rom. 5:1) and “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (Rom. 8:6). Being justified through faith (that is how we get saved) and being spiritually minded (being conscious of the Lord in our daily life) will give us peace! This leads us to the next point.
If we are going to have peace, our minds cannot stay cluttered up with a constant stream of worldly things (carnality). Books, music, TV, MySpace; they are all good (or can be; should be!) and have their place, but we absolutely must spend time thinking on the Lord and His Word. Isaiah 26:3 says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” If we blunder through our days, with never a thought to God or His Word, we will be so full of fears and anxiety, we won’t even be able to put our trust in the Lord, because we won’t have any faith left. Proverbs 3:1-2 says, “My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.” God’s law and commandments are in our Bible, so if we read it, remember it and do it, we will get added peace! Psalm 119:165 says, “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” This doesn’t mean we will never get mad; that part of the verse is for another lesson! If we love God’s Word we will make sure we are getting some of it every day, and it will give us great peace! How awesome is that!
Another aspect of this Fruit of the Spirit peace is living our lives with a minimum of conflict. This does not mean that we are supposed to lay down and be a doormat for everyone that wants to wipe their dirt on us. Paul put it pretty clearly in Romans 12:18, “If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” There are occasions when we have to stand our ground and fight; we can not let evil prevail. However, those occasions don’t arise every day in our normal lives. Many times, in Proverbs, we are cautioned against being a “brawling woman” or a “contentious woman”. Nobody wants to be around a woman who always wants to argue and fight. A man would rather live in a barn with cows! (We could do another whole lesson on that, too!) The Lord doesn’t want us stirring the pot all the time (and I don’t mean cooking!) He wants us to seek for peace. Look what Paul said in Hebrews 12:14, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:” James had this to say, “And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.” James 3:18. When you make peace, you are sowing seeds of righteousness; righteousness will grow from this! Then looks what happens: “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.” Isaiah 32:17. Psalm 34:14 says, “Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” This kind of peace doesn’t just happen; we have to MAKE it and SEEK it. Human nature wants to fight every time we feel slighted or mistreated even a little bit. This is part of the “old woman” that we have to crucify every day. We have to ask the Lord to help us nail down that part of us that wants to constantly play the victim and make us, and everyone around us, miserable.
Jesus, through His death and resurrection, made it possible for us to have peace. He paid the price to remove our sins, which allows us access to God, and eternity in Heaven. Look how Isaiah said it in chapter 53, verse 5: “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” That is so beautiful; read it again. While Jesus was here, He said some things that can give us peace and comfort, if we’ll hold on to them. In John 14:27, He said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Then, in John 16:33, Jesus said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” We will have trouble and sorrow and tribulation, here on earth, but through Jesus we can also have peace, because the bad things are temporary.
CHALLENGE: This week, we’ll continue our daily evaluation (Do we have any sin in our lives that we need to get rid of; how did we do on being loving today; did we make time to read the Bible; did we offer praise to the Lord, so we can increase our joy?) Let’s add to that. Pick out a scripture passage about peace, and memorize it. It can be one from this lesson, or any other one that you like. Several times each day, repeat it to yourself. You don’t have to do it out loud. A good way to remember is to say your verse to yourself every time you are in the restroom! God wants us to have peace. “The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.” Psalm 29:11. “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” II Peter 3:14. Let’s do all we can to make our Peace fruit grow!
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