The God of Peace

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“Peace is more than the absence of war. Peace is accord. Harmony.”

~Laini Taylor, award-winning fantasy author

“Instead of hating the people you think are war-makers, hate the appetites and disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed – but hate these things in yourself, not in another.”

~Thomas Merton (1915-1968), Trappist monk and writer

“The theologian who has no joy in his work is not a theologian at all. Sulky faces, morose thoughts and boring ways of speaking are intolerable in this science.”

“Loving us, God does not give us something, but Himself; and giving us Himself, giving us His Son, He gives us everything.”

~Karl Barth (1886-1968), Swiss Theologian in Church Dogmatics

“The Trinity is not some inessential add-on to God, some optional software that can be plugged into him. At bottom, this God is different, for at bottom, He is not creator, ruler, or even ‘God’ in some abstract sense: He is the Father, loving and giving life and love to his Son in the joy of the Spirit. A God who is in himself love, who before all things could ‘never be anything but love.’ Having such a God happily changes everything.”

~Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity

“From harmony, from Heav’nly harmony

This universal frame began…”

~John Dryden (1631-1700), England’s first Poet Laureate

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”

~Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Confessions

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

~Jesus in John 14:17 (ESV)

SERMON PASSAGE

Galatians 5:19-26 (ESV)

Galatians 5

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

John 16 [Jesus speaking]

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.

Romans 5

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 8

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.

Romans 14

17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.