Tag: Psalm 103

The Peace of Christ: Lord’s Day 42

Date: October 19, 2025

Lord’s Day: 42

Series: Colossians the Mystery of Christ

Title: The Peace of Christ

Text: Colossians 3:15-17, Psalm 103:1-14

Confession:

Christ, by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are justified, and did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to his Father’s justice on our behalf1. Jesus was given by the Father for us,2 and his obedience is accepted in our place3; these are freely given to us. We are not forgiven or       justified by anything in us but our justification is only of free grace4; thereby   making us perfectly just so that God may be glorified in the justification of        sinners.5

                                                adapted from Westminster Confession of Faith 11:3

This is the Reading of God’s Word

Colossians 3:15-17

15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Psalm 103:1-14Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity,
    who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6 The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

Introduction:

“Let the Peace of Christ rule in your hearts” is the beginning of our text.  I have a question and I want you to think about it for a moment.  The answer to that question, I want you to carry it with you through our time together.

Right now, in your life, where do you have little to no peace? (give substantial time to let them reflect . . . as them maybe to write them down)

You are bringing burdens here today – When I say burdens I am not referring to what Krista was showing us a few weeks ago.

I do these little sight illustrations.  Because I want you to see reality.  I do not just want to say thing like, you are bringing burdens, things that disturb the peace in your life. 

You can affirm that.  You can sit and hear me say that very thing and confirm in your mind, that yes.  But often, when we see something, it hits a little better. 

I stand before you and know in some cases you peace has been disturbed so long that you only think on them when you are confronted with it in quiet times.  But these burdens, these things that destroy your peace, are always there.  What are these things? 

POINT: We all bring these burdens with us, these things in which we are not at peace.  BIG CHUNKS OF ROCKS THAT DISTURB THE POND OF OUR LIFE.

There are many images when we hear the word peace.  One of the most recognizable signs is the 1960’s VW van.  There was a lot of Tomfoolery with this old van – (recall 1990’s driving between Springfield and Columbus and the Grateful Dead traveling circus. I saw 50 of these vans pulled over mostly at the rest stop there at the county line).

These vans represented peace.  Protests for the PEACE Vietnam War. 

We had:

  1. World War 1 = the war to end all wars
  2. World War 2 = Period called the Long Peace (not true)
  3. Gov’t and historians get around it by calling it a conflict (still not peace)
  4. Pax Romana = 200 years of no war (still conflicts Jewish Roman/Hispania)
  5. 26 days of peace since end of WW2 in 1945
  6. NYT reported in last 3,400 years there have been only 268 years of peace
  7. 1776-2020 USA at peace for 15 years.

When we read, “Let the peace of Christ rule,” HOW SIGNIFICANT is this?  I am uncertain if we really are aware that there was a time of cosmic treason where we were at war with God.

Not many like to hear this.  We have not grasped how seriousness of this war. We know things were BAD but COSMIC WAR?  War with God? Is it that bad?

 (Illustration of friend who went afoul of the law.  His words, “I knew what I was doing was wrong.  I just did not know how wrong it way.”) 

POINT: When I say cosmic treason it is not an overstatement. 

Yet our text says we have peace with Christ.  How can that be?  How can we get this peace?  What can this peace of Christ do for us in other areas where we have little to no peace?

You may be like my old friend who was afoul of the law.  If you are in Christ now, you may look back and be tempted to think, “I was not that bad.”  There is a sense in you know you needed Christ but things were not that bad.

Without Christ you have no hope.  Without Christ you are doomed. WHAT WAS OUR HOPE? JUSTIFICATION IN CHRIST ALONE

508 years this month Martin Luther posted on the door frame of the church in Wittenburg (sound familiar?) 95 thesis.  He did this on October 31, the eve before All Saints Day.  It was, in our term today, a marketing decision.

There would be a ton of traffic to come look at relics on All Saint’s Day.  His decision to do this would have its greatest effect and exposure.

He was protesting the thinking of the day.  A protest that could lead him to jail, even execution.  It did lead to execution for several who agreed with Luther. 

The voice of the day said: You can give money and spring your family member from purgatory: Luther was there to say, no, it is by faith alone.

The voice of the day said: You have to place yourself in a position to be saved, if you do not, you will not be saved: Luter was there to say, no, it is by faith alone.

The voice of the day said: You must bring something to be saved: Luther was there to say, no, it is by faith alone.

There were so many who lost their lives over this concept.  Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer were burned at the stake for their confessed faith in these doctrines.  Luther himself was in the Wartburg Castle for a year to avoid being killed and imprisoned for his support for these thoughts.

Luther, and so many other Reformers, were upholding the doctrine of Justification by Faith alone.  Why is this important? 

The wages of sin is death.  This was the wage spoken to Adam.  As soon as you eat of the forbidden tree, you shall die.  Yet, after eating from the tree, there was no death.

Our brother David writes in Psalm 103, a reading from earlier,

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”  What benefits?  “Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals your diseases, who redeems your life form the pit.” Xx Does this sound like you were doing okay?  Iniquities?  Pit?  Disease?  What disease?  Cancer?  Deep Bone Thrombosis?  Arterial Disease?

In one sense, yes.  IN one sense these things have come upon us since the rebellion of Adam.  We have suffered birth defects and illnesses too many to count.

In one sense, yes, but don’t limit it there.  Don’t you dare limit it to just our illnesses.  God says in Exodus 15:26 “I am the Lord, your healer.”  What healing we needed is the healing He provided.

David continues, “He satisfies you with Good. . . The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. . . The Lord is merciful and gracious.  Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”  xx

Thank you, Lord.  Thank you so much for being slow to anger.  I get faced with some of the people who take peace from my life and I am not as patient. He is not only patient, He is loving. 

“He did not deal with us according to our sins.  He did not deal with us according to our sins.  HE DID NOT DEAL WITH US ACCORDING TO OUR SINS: nor repay us according to our iniquities.  For as high as the heavens are above the earth so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear him. . . As a father shows compassion on his children so the Lord shows compassion on those who fear him.” XX

This is our peace!  This is our peace!

Here is what our Savior has done.  He was perfectly righteous.  Jesus became the second Adam.  The first Adam was unable to be righteous.  Jesus was righteous.

Even more, He did not just give us righteousness, He gave us His obedience.  You are at peace because Jesus gave you HIS perfect obedience. 

I do not stand before you today on my own merits.  Those of you here who are in Christ, we are not in Christ on our own merits. Yet, we are at peace.  We are at peace with God in Christ Jesus.  Without Him you have no hope.

What did this passage mean for those to whom Paul was writing.  You have this group of people in 3:11.  What a diverse group of people! 

This congregation was a mixture of so many. (list them, explain them)

Then Paul says this thing: Christ is All and in ALL.  What a peculiar thing to say.

Christ is all we need.  Christ is ALL.  And Christ is in all.  Every person in the world?  Is Christ in every single person?  No, just all race groups.  Just these south enders.  These Scythians.   These Barbarians.  All age groups.  Male and female.  Christ is in the rich and the poor (slave and free). 

This is why they have peace.  Similarly, this is why we have peace. 

PERSPECTIVE!

But what about our wagon.  How does Christ give us peace over these things?

YOU SAY TO ME – I have serious concerns.  This sometimes wakes me up at night.  Sometimes I shed a tear because I think of this.  I have no peace in this relationship. 

Look at this chapter.  Look at what lies behind us and look at what is ahead of us.

You find 3:15 near the exact center of the passage.  This chapter represents a thought.  Chapters and verses were added later and not a part of the original text.  It was meant to be helpful. 

But take the number chapter 3 out.  This whole section represents a thought. In this thought, there are 260 words before it and 220 words after it.

This is the center of our lives: For the Christian the ultimate Goal is peace with God.  Everything revolves around this.  Christ is the foundation of our lives. 

For those who are in the Proverb study you may grow tired of me speaking about building our life on the foundation of Christ. 

It was Jesus who said, “He who hears these words of mine and puts them to practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock.  The rains come and the streams rise and the winds blow and beat on that house and it does not fall because it is founded upon a rock.

Christ is the rock who helps us deal with our rock.  Can you place your trust that our peace, Jesus, will work all things for good?

The peace of Christ is our ability to live.  The peace of Christ is the ability to live out the first part of this passage. . . .and the remaining part of this passage. 

Because Christ has taken our place, we are at peace with God.  Paul is pointing to the peace in Christ as the means by which to accomplish his instruction.

The peace of Christ is the ability to:

  •  set our mind on things above
  • Put to death what is earthly in us
  • To put off the old self
  • Put on the fruits of the spirit
  • Praise Him in everything
  • For wives to submit
  • For husbands to love wives properly
  • Children to obey.

This peace is right in the middle of his instruction.  Because of the peace of Christ we can do these things.

We can be wise and build our house upon Jesus, our peace, or continue driving this bus . . . seeking peace. This bus did NOTHING to bring peace – NOTHING

Christ brings peace.  Peace between us and God – peace in how to wisely handle life.

There is turmoil all around us.  We get reports from the doctor and we are disheartened.  Some of you have children that are not in the faith and I know you are hurting, I know there is no peace in your life because of this.  You take this seriously and you have prayed and possibly fasted on this.

Understanding the peace of Christ and coming to terms with the peace of Christ is A KEY to growing in Christ. 

Let the peace of Christ RULE. 

Can Loosing Teach Us About Grace?

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LOST!

Looking back on that one time when I lost two decades of writing. If, at some point in daily living, you struggle, like me, with accepting forgiveness, then let this be a lesson for both of us. 

this writing has been read by the author

Several months ago about fifteen years of almost every word that I had written, vanished.  They were lost. Gone! After hours of searching turned into days and then days of searching turned into weeks, hope waned.   There were many thoughts and notions on how to retrieve those lost writings but with no positive result, I gave up.

This was no welcome defeat.  Soon entered the typical stages of grief which is said with some humor but also a great deal of truth. 

Mentally, I thought back to some of, what I considered, my better works.  These writings can never be rewritten.  This birthed sadness.  In an age where seemingly everything on the internet never gets lost or deleted, some of the best of me, was lost and deleted. 

Hate is a word not strong enough to describe what I think of my past sin.  I despise what I was.  I absolutely abhor it.  There are moments that I reflect upon my past rebellion and ponder how I could ever conceive being associated with such degeneracy. 

Equally, it is a constant struggle to believe that purification, justification and forgiveness was freely given to me.  I can teach it.  I can explain the theological truths of what is called propitiation.  I love that word.  Some English Bible translations have replaced propitiation because it was believed too complex of a word to be properly understood. 

Propitiation means, wrath absorbing.  God, being perfectly pure and holy, has a wrath against mankind.  God’s righteous wrath is a topic of which many prefer not to hear.  I can teach and explain how this wrath was appeased through Christ.  He absorbed (propitiated) God’s wrath for believers. 

Inasmuch as I can expound this thought and others as they relate to God’s saving grace, there are times where believing He can do that for ME is too difficult to accept.

I believe in God’s forgiveness.  I believe in God’s grace.  I believe in God’s mercy.  I can’t believe it is for me. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!

Then I think on fifteen years of writings.  Gone.  Deleted.  Where are they? There is absolutely, no trace of them.  As far as the east is from the west, so far as these pages been removed from existence.

Sound familiar?  If, at some point in daily living, you struggle, like me, with accepting forgiveness, then let this be a lesson for both of us. 

God removes sin. 

How can God remove sin?  Does He just sweep it under the rug because we are all buddies now?  No!  He does it because, the wrath I deserved, He placed upon Christ.  Ever question or ponder why Christ had to endure such extreme suffering?  It is clearly because He was propitiating a holy wrath for unholy sin.

For our sake, God made Him who knew no sin, to become sin, so that IN HIM we may become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

There will be a time where I will face judgement.  Anyone who is reading this, you will also.  It is inescapable.  Not certain exactly what I will be thinking at that time.  Maybe about all those despicable things I did.  How great it would be for me to report that those despicable things I hate were JUST those things I did twenty and forty years ago.  Not true. 

Sadly, I don’t always love my wife like Christ loved the church.  I say inappropriate things.  I think inappropriate things.  At times I treasure inappropriate things.  Oh, at times, how I weep at my constant rebellion.  Will I be thinking about such things at the judgement?

Here is the reality, just as much as all my writings are gone, so IS all my sin.  All if it: past, present and future. That is how the propitiation of Christ works[1]. 

In one sense there is great sadness over the loss of all those past writings.  In another, upon great reflection, a real life lesson unfolded reminding me something I once did, can literally be gone. 

As far as the east is from the west, so my sin has been removed from me[2].

 I believe

S.D.G.

[1] Hebrews 9:11-15

[2] Psalm 103:12