Col

Col. 3:15-17

8/5/2007

“The Peace of Christ and the Word of Christ”

Last week we saw the Christ-centered nature of the commands we find in our passage. We also saw how thanksgiving was associated with every command: thanksgiving ought to color everything we do, especially as we are called to do everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot do something in the name of Jesus Christ and not give thanks to the Lord. Paul concludes this section with the exhortation to do everything in the name of the Lord. But before he does so, he highlights how we must conduct ourselves particularly in the church, in the covenant community of God’s people (vv. 15, 16). Let us see how this is the case and consider the meaning of what Paul commands for our congregation.

This week, let us take a look at the first command: “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body” (v. 15).

When we think of the peace of Christ, we usually think of the inner sense of security and wellbeing He breathes into our soul even in the midst of distress and turmoil. In this regard, how can we forget the words of Jesus, which He spoke to His disciples on the eve of the fateful Passover, the eve of His death on the cross? “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” (John 14:27). He spoke these words of peace because His disciples were distressed, deeply troubled in their hearts. Why? Because Jesus told them that He was going away and where He was going, they could not follow, at least not at that time. And what were they to do without Jesus? What were they but scattered sheep without Jesus, their great Shepherd? But He, who spoke these words of peace, was the One who could calm the raging wind and sea simply by speaking to them. His words have the power to bring peace to the troubled soul. And I hope all of us have experienced the peace and tranquility that His words can impart to our soul.

But the peace of Christ here is not limited to that kind of individual, inner sense of wellbeing. Paul is issuing this command to the Colossians as a corporate community. Paul is here using a plural noun, “in your hearts”), addressing the Colossian Christians as a group. He also goes on to say that the peace, to which they are called, is something that they are called to as one, corporate body. The peace of Christ here, then, is a corporate peace in the church of Jesus Christ. Here we learn that the church of Jesus Christ is one body--the body of Jesus Christ--where the peace of Christ reigns supreme.

What matters to us most may be the sense of inner peace. And our gracious God desires that His children possess and enjoy that inner peace. However, we must not ignore the importance of the corporate peace in the body of Christ, especially to God. How would it feel to have children who may be all successful individually but are estranged from one another as if they meant nothing to one another? Whenever they gather together as a family, the room gets filled with tension--a tension that is so thick that one feels it can be sliced with a knife. What kind of family would that be? And how would the parents feel? Our heavenly Father desires His children to dwell together in peace and unity. And even for us, the call to the corporate peace in the family of God cannot be just an additional, cumbersome chore. Can our inner peace be quite complete without the corporate peace? If our inner peace is not affected at all by the turmoil or trouble in the church, what does it say about our relationship to the church, or what kind of importance the church of Jesus Christ has in our life? Paul says in v. 15 that we are called to the peace of Christ in one body. Any disturbance or disharmony in our physical body can cause serious ailments, which affect the whole body, all the parts and organs directly and indirectly in big and small ways. You know that a physical problem is never limited just to that part: it affects the whole body. If no man is an island, it is true especially in the body of Jesus Christ. In the body of Jesus Christ, the peace of Jesus Christ must reign supreme.

What kind of peace is the peace of Christ? Notice that it is called the peace of Christ. Thus Paul distinguishes it from all other kinds of peace. It is not like the peace that the world gives (John 14:27). What is the peace like, which the world gives? But what kind of peace can the world really give? For the world we live in is hardly a place of peace. The fact that every year a Nobel Prize is awarded for peace shows how peace is such a precious and rare commodity in the world. For we cannot go even one day without the news of wars and conflicts and bombings and casualties. With every building destroyed, with every life lost and wounded, the barometer of grief and hatred in the world goes up higher and higher. As it arises, so does the fever and thirst for vengeance and retaliation. And what happens to a soul that lives in that kind of war-torn environment? When a soul breathes the air that reeks of gunpowder and blood, when a soul is constantly exposed to the air contaminated with hatred and vengeance, what happens to the soul? Where is the hope for peace in such a world?

Of course, not all the regions of the world are afflicted with military conflicts. But can we say that a region enjoys true peace just because there are no military conflicts? The place may even be buzzing with a sense of optimism, people working hard for the hope of a better future. But a land of opportunity is also a place of competition. And where there is competition, rivalries and divisions follow. And when the competition gets fierce, those who do not play fair are bound to emerge. You see, military conflicts may be the most obvious conflicts. But there are conflicts that are subtler and far more insidious. There are attacks and assaults that may not cause any bodily harm but devastate one’s soul deeply and maliciously. It can come in the way of demeaning words, a contemptuous look, a cold shoulder, indifference, ingratitude, betrayal, evil scheming and on and on. In this kind of world, should we be surprised to hear that “today’s ally is tomorrow’s foe and today’s foe is tomorrow’s ally”? What kind of peace can such a world offer ultimately? Peace in such a world--can it be more than the calm before the storm? At the time of Paul, the western world was experiencing what the historians call “Pax Romana” (“the Roman Peace”), inaugurated by Caesar Augustus. But how was this peace established? Through wars and massacres and assassinations and executions. How was it maintained? Through the iron grip of the imperial tyranny. And beneath the thin veneer of this superficial peace raged incessant intrigues, conspiracies and assassinations of all kind.

Praise God that the peace of Christ is not like the peace that the world gives! It is called the peace of Christ because it is particularly and specifically and uniquely the peace of Christ. As the peace of Christ, it is Christ-centered in nature: it originates from Christ; it is caused by Christ and characterized by Christ; it belongs to Christ and is connected to Christ; it exists in Christ; it is founded upon Christ; it exists under the authority of Christ, etc. It is true peace, which the world aspires to but can never attain.

To be more specific, the peace of Christ is a messianic peace. For the word “Christ” means “Messiah” (that is, the anointed One). You know that the focal point, the culmination of all the hopes of God’s people, is the person of the Messiah. In their repeated failures, they were to look outside of themselves for hope. As their prophets, priests and kings invariably failed to save them, they were to look for Someone greater and better. As they could not find the true solution for their sins in the temple and its sacrifices, they were to look for a greater temple and a better sacrifice. The promised Messiah was God’s answer and provision for their longing. He is the promised Seed of the Woman, who would vanquish the Serpent of old; the promised Descendant of Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed; the promised Prophet like Moses but even greater; the promised Priest of the Most High according to the order of Melchizedek; the promised Son of David, who would build the house of the Lord and reign forever as the true King of God’s people. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this” (Isa. 9:6, 7).

And when Paul’s tells us, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,” he is declaring that the zeal of the Lord has indeed done what He had promised! When Paul exhorts us to let the peace of Christ reign in our hearts, he is declaring that the promised Messiah--the promised Child, the Prince of Peace--has come in Jesus Christ and established His peace, the true peace. How did He do it? He did it by dealing with the very cause of our division and war--our sin.

When sin entered into the world, it created all kinds of division. Man was separated from God his Creator and Sustainer. Remember how Adam and Eve hid themselves from the Lord God when they heard the sound of Him walking in the garden? Man was separated from one another as well. When their eyes were opened, they saw that they were naked and they covered themselves from each other’s view. And when the Lord brought charges against them, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the Serpent. Sin thus broke down man’s fellowship with God and with one another. As a result of sin, man is shut up in himself within the high walls of self-interest and self-centeredness. Confined thus to himself, he can think only of himself. He glances at others with suspicion, unwilling to grant them the benefit of the doubt, which he desires for himself. We judge ourselves according to our intention, which is always good, or, at least, not bad. But we judge others according to their actions, to which we attribute the worst possible motives. We do this even with those, whom we should know better. They may have proven their faithfulness and love for us over and over again. Yet, one mistake of theirs is enough to make us forget all that they have done and treat them as enemies. If we do this with those who are close to us, imagine what we would do with our acquaintances!

It doesn’t help that this world we live in as self-centered, isolated sinners is limited in its perishable resources. There is just one pie and everyone wants a piece of it. Of course, even if we had enough to go around for everyone, it just won’t be enough for everyone when everyone is a self-centered sinner. There are plenty of us, who want to take a bigger piece of the pie, who want to make our piece bigger even if we have to take away others’ shares! What can be done to bring true peace to this world of competition for self-centered sinners? There are some extraordinary people who give of themselves generously, sacrificially. But can their acts of philanthropy bring about true peace into this world as long as the problem of sin remains in us?

Praise God that it was not His will to leave His children in bitter conflicts and divisions! As we read in 1:19, 20, “For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross…” (NASB, 1977). And Paul goes on to say, “And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach…” (Col. 1:21, 22). Christ brought reconciliation between God and us by offering His body as a sacrifice, as our sin offering. For it was sin that severed our relationship with God. Without the atonement for our sins, there can be no true peace between sinners and a holy God.

Of course, there in ch. 1, Paul is not talking about our peace with one another but our peace with God. But that the two are intimately related cannot be denied. Think about the kind of God, with whom we are reconciled. He, who commanded us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, also commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves. We cannot be reconciled with such a God without also being reconciled to one another in the kingdom of God. Think also how it was the same sin which severed our fellowship with God and our fellowship with one another (in the Garden of Eden). When sin is removed, removed also is its dividing and antagonizing effects, not only in our relationship with God but also in our relationship with one another. That is why the peace of Christ, which brought about our reconciliation with God (1:19-22), is applied to our relationship with one another as members of the same body of Jesus Christ (3:15).

This is not just a matter of simple, cold logic, a matter of impersonal doctrine, is it? I hope it is not to us! For it was not a matter of cold, mechanical duty when He offered Himself as our sin offering! Who or what can compel Him to abandon His heavenly throne and come into this world of misery in the likeness of our sinful flesh? Some Gnostics in the early church denied that Christ came in the flesh because it was unthinkable that a pure spirit should be in touch with the profane flesh! And they were right on that point. Surely, the distance between the pure spirit of God and the fallen human flesh must be greater than these secular philosophers could have ever imagined! But what they did not understand, what they could have never imagined in a million years, was just how intense and great was the love of the Son of God to do the impossible, to condescend so low, so far down: the Son of God was willing to take upon Himself this body of sin. Why? Because He desired to save us from our sin! Knowing full well (in the way that we can never know) the true misery of being separated from God, the horror of the eternal punishment in hell, He did not wish that we should perish so! No one could have forced the almighty Son of God to go to the cross unless He wanted it! And it was not those rusty nails that kept Him on the cross--not Him, who is the almighty God, who could calm the raging storms of the sea and cast out demons and raise the dead simply by speaking! It was rather His love for us; it was His unshakable desire and will to save us from sin, that kept Him there on the cross until He bled the very last drop of His precious blood!

How can we be forgiven by such an intense, marvelous love and not have peace among us in the body of Jesus Christ? How can we not show compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience toward one another, bearing with one another and forgiving each other? How can there be anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk and lies among us?

But Christ did not just bring forgiveness to us. He brought for us heaven, which we shall enter one day! He brought to us heaven with all of its riches. For this command is an auxiliary command to the overarching command found at the beginning of this chapter: “seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” This peace of Christ, then, is the peace that is where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. It is the heavenly peace, the peace that exists in the heavenly realm. As such, it is a perfect peace--inviolable, invincible, unshakable, imperturbable, eternally secure and safe. It is more than mere absence of conflict. If it should be characterized as absence of conflict, it is so not in a relative and superficial way (as the peace of the world is) but in an absolute and eternal way! It is characterized by perfect harmony exemplified by the peace that exists among the three Persons of the Trinity. And such peace we shall have in heaven. And that peace is what is to rule in our hearts even now. It is manifested in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience and bearing with one another, forgiving each other as long as we live in this world in our body of weakness.

Yes, the peace of Christ is a heavenly peace. What is earthly defined and characterized as “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness”. Continued as “anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk and lies”--all because of our sinful nature, of course, but also because of the limited resources of this world. But Christ not only forgave us of our sins but He also gave us a new birth from above into the kingdom of heaven, the place of God’s infinite riches and eternal security. That is why we don’t have to fight over the limited resources. In heaven, our cup overflows. That is why we can show compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience and bear with one another and forgive each other.

When Paul exhorts you to let the peace of Christ to rule in your hearts, he is declaring that the messianic age, the age of fulfillment, has arrived. Have you recently read the Book of Jeremiah? In that book, all the prophets, who promised peace to Judah against Jeremiah’s message of judgment, were condemned as false prophets. Why? Because they were living in the era of judgment. There can be no peace for those who are under God’s judgment. But Paul says, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts!” The judgment has passed! The salvation has come! The era of eternal peace is inaugurated and it is yours in the kingdom of heaven.

You know that the biblical definition of peace--“shalom”--is full and rich. It is not just absence of conflict but a state of completion and fulfillment, of wholeness and unity. We said at the beginning that the peace of Christ is not like the peace of the world. But do you realize that the peace of Christ is far greater than any peace that had existed before. It far surpasses the peace that Joshua gave when Israel entered into the promised land. It is far greater than the peace that David gave when he conquered all the enemies of Israel, greater than the peace that Solomon, whose name is “peace”, established in Israel. Yes, they came to possess the promised land and experienced rest from their enemies, but only in an incomplete way. The peace that the people enjoyed in the promised land was but a type and shadow of the true peace of Jesus Christ, which was established by His perfect sacrifice and perfect righteousness, which has removed the curse of the law once for all. This peace is eternal and indestructible.

The peace of Christ, therefore, is not, and cannot be, just in the sense of absence of conflict in a superficial way but in an absolute way, not just free from military conflict but even from other, subtler ones. This peace is not a peace of indifference--a peace that exists just because we don’t care, because we are not doing anything. The peace of Christ something much deeper, the peace that exists even when we passionately care about something, even when we are deeply involved, even when we have different ideas yet must work together. The peace of Christ must reign supreme, reign supreme in our hearts--in our hearts! The peace that exists in the corporate body of Christ is something that flows out of our heart, out of the abundance of Christ’s great Shalom, overflowing into our relationships. It flows out of the abundance of the security we have in Christ, the security that is secure enough to love and forgive. In the body of Jesus Christ, it is the air of heaven we must breathe, not the air of earthly division and conflict. Let us not cripple and disease the body of Christ with our pride and arrogance, with our self-centeredness and selfishness, with our factionalism and divisive spirit. Let us look forward to that time when we shall dwell in the eternal peace of Christ in heaven! As we are assured of that glorious future, may the peace of Christ rule in our hearts even now that the peace of Christ should reign supreme over our church even now! Amen.