What Does It Take to Know Real Peace?

19th Sunday after Pentecost, 10/3/21 James 4:7-12 What Does It Take to Know Real Peace? I. Submit yourself to God. II. Humble yourself before the Lord. Is this the most unsettled period of time you’ve ever experienced in your lifetime? Contemplate that question for a moment. For about two years now, we’ve lived with uneasiness in our lives, the result of some huge issues we’re facing. But is this the most unsettled period of your lifetime? A very few of you can recall living through WWII. What was that like? Was it more unsettling than what you’re facing now? Quite a few more of you lived through the unsettling times of the mid to late 1960s. I vaguely recall those times and I was largely unaffected, but was your life then more unsettled than it is now? Think about it. Right now it’s almost impossible for you to find someone who thinks about things the same way you do. We all have our opinions about what should be done to make things better, but no one seems to agree, at least not 100%. And the result is that we feel uneasy at best and utterly conflicted at worse. How can we find some peace? Well, one way is to insist on our way. That’s what powerful people tend to do. They force their way on others, and they often have the resources to accomplish it. And so, now that they have forced people to do what they want them to, they feel a sense of peace. But that’s not real peace. There’s no love for others in their forceful actions. Those actions are often sinful, and sin does not bring peace. Sin always brings discord and conflict with the result that relationships suffer. There’s no peace. So, what does it take to know real peace, especially in these unsettling times in which we live? Well, first, what’s your definition of real peace? Jesus has told us that we’ll always have trouble in this world (Jn. 16:33). So there’s no real earthly peace. The Bible also declares that there is no peace for the wicked (Is. 48:22). But that implies that there is peace for righteous people, God’s people, people who trust in Jesus as their Savior from sin. And there’s the source of real peace. It’s found in Christ. He has made peace for us—sinners that we are—with the holy God. But what does it take to know that peace every day of our lives? How do we live in that peace in these unsettled times? What does it take to know real peace? Keep that question before you as we see how the writer James answers it for us this morning. Part I. With the Dayton area being heavily influenced by the large air force base located here, I’m sure all of you are familiar with the military chain of command. Some of you live under it every day of your working lives and, indirectly, so do your families. For the military to function orderly, the chain of command must be followed. You are responsible to carry out the orders of those above you exactly as they are given to you. If you don’t, problems occur, often big problems. The Bible doesn’t use the term “chain of command,” but that concept is certainly prevalent on the pages of Scripture. In fact, you don’t have to read more than the first three chapters of the Bible to see how violating the chain of command is Satan’s most effective approach. He convinced Adam and Eve that living under God’s command was keeping something wonderful from them. He convinced them to do what they wanted to do, not what God wanted them to do. And immediately after they violated God’s command, they lost their peace with him and with each other and with the world in which they lived. And the world has been a broken, sinful mess ever since. So, how do we experience that peace once again, even a little bit? Listen to the advice of James, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.” James gives us some godly, practical advice. First, he commands us to resist the devil. People of God, do you realize that Satan is really the one behind all the uneasiness we feel? Do you realize that he’s the one behind our attempts to think the worst of other people and to think that we always know what’s best? Satan wants nothing more than to drive a wedge between you and other people, and, ultimately between you and your God. Resist him! But that’s a tall order. In fact, none of us are up to the task of always resisting Satan’s temptations. So, what should we do to know real peace? James tells us to wash our hands. No, he’s not concerned about making sure we don’t pass along germs to other people. He’s referring to a spiritual activity. He’s encouraging us to come clean spiritually. Recognized your failings to love your God and your neighbor. Confess them. And receive the forgiveness that Jesus won for you. Next, James tells us to purify our hearts. That’s essentially the same as washing your hands, but the focus is more inward than outward. The peace which Jesus won for us needs to permeate our hearts so that it influences what we think, say, and do. That’s why James refers to us as “double-minded.” I’m sure every one of you knows and believes in the peace of forgiveness which Jesus won for you, but we tend to hang on to sinful attitudes and ways of thinking that comprise our ability to live in Christian peace with others. I know that’s how it is with me; how about you? So that’s why James tells us flat out, “Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.” He wants us to stop thinking that the reason we don’t know peace is because of what someone else is saying or doing. He wants us to realize that the solution starts with me, with you. It’s not that other people need to repent; it’s that I need to repent. In fact, I need to grieve, mourn, and wail. My sins are ugly in the sight of God, and I need to realize it. That’s what James means when he urges us to submit ourselves to God. That literally means to arrange ourselves under him. That’s how he created us, to love and serve him. We’re under him, not above him. And when our attitudes and actions are a reversal of that arrangement, we ruin our peace with him and with each other. And that’s when it’s time for us to grieve, mourn, and wail. God’s will for us as sinners is to live in daily repentance because our daily lives are an unbroken string of sinful days. And it ruins our relationship with our God and with each other. But thank God that real peace is still ours through the forgiveness Jesus won for us. His forgiveness washes us clean—heart and soul—and brings us into harmony with our God and with each other once again. Real peace is found only in the cross of Christ and its yours by faith in him. Part II. These words of James are filled with practical advice for Christian living. In addition to submitting ourselves to God he also says this, “Humble yourselves before the Lord.” But just what does that look like? Notice that James doesn’t continue by giving you instructions on how to bow before the Lord. Instead, he gives you instructions about how to treat your neighbor. And there’s the connection. When we’ve humbled ourselves before the Lord, it will show in how we treat our neighbor. Listen to what James states, “Do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?” James reminds us of several commands in God’s law. One is not to slander, to run someone down by what we say. In my opinion, that happens so often with each one of us that we rarely consider that what we’re saying is sinful. It seems as if that’s the way everyone talks, so we do, too. But it’s wrong. Next, James reminds us not to judge others. First, let me remind you that the Bible gives us the responsibility to point out sin in another’s person’s life in a loving way. That’s not judging. Judging is to presume to know what’s in another person’s mind and heart, assigning sinful motives when we have no way of knowing whether that’s true or not. Be careful! Don’t judge! Because, when you do, James informs you that you’re placing yourself above God’s law. You’re telling God you’ll make your own rules to live by and ignore his. You’ll decide what’s right or wrong for yourself. When that attitude begins to creep into our hearts and minds, James reminds us to humble ourselves before the Lord. We’re not in charge; he is. We don’t make up the rules; he does. And when we humble ourselves before him, then we can begin to enjoy real peace—peace with him, peace with ourselves, and peace with others. But that’s not only difficult for us to do, it’s also impossible for us to do all the time, every day, in every one of our relationships. But that’s where God’s real peace comes in. You and I know Jesus as our Savior who always lived in that peace with his Father and with every human being. He always did the loving thing. He was always right. In fact, he was always right for you, for me. He even died to establish your peace with God, and he rose again to make you certain of it. That’s knowing real peace. It’s yours by faith in Jesus. Now live in that peace! May your love for Jesus empower you to do so! Amen.