We do not live in a peacful world.  Anyone can simply look around or read the news to understand this truth.  The Bible also makes this point clearly known.  Just read what Psalms 74:23 has to say, "Do not foget the clamor of thy foes, the uproar of thy adversaries which goes up continually!"  Those who oppose God have been active since and before David's time and are continually active.  Just think of all the wars in just the last century.  Not just the wars in which the United States has been involved with but ALL of the wars.  That's a pretty stagoring thing to imagine.  We can obviously see that peace does not exist in the world.  However, Jesus promises peace to his disciples in the book of John.  In John 14:27 it says, "Peace I leave with you: my peace I give to you: not as the world gives do I give to you."  Furthermore, In John 16:33 the Bible says, "I have said this to you , that in me you may have peace.  In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  Just notice in these two verses the distinction between the peace Jesus gives and the "peace" the world offers.  The peace the Jesus was talking about is not the lack of war or the ability to get along with everyone all the time.  The peace that Jesus desires for his diciples is a peace that dwells in the soul.  This peace is between God and every believer and consequently between every believer and his circumstances.

Clearly, the question arises, "How does a person recieve and maintain this Christ given peace?"  I believe that Philippians 4:4-7 gives one of the best answers to this question.  It says, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.  Let all men know you forbearance.  The Lord is at hand.  Have no anxitey about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep you hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

I know that I don't post often on here, but over the next few weeks I want to discuss the answer to the question above and the answer given by this verse from Philippians.  I don't want to take complete credit for the observation that we are given a sort of formula for peace in this verse.  The idea first came to me by way of an abbreviated section in a larger sermon by a preacher who's last name is Corley.  I have forgotten the man's first name but I think he might have prefered it that way.  The message he left with me was of far greater importance than his name.  So, everything that I am going to say on this topic will be an expansion of his ideas which he delivered in about ten minutes of an hour long sermon on the subject of peace.  Of course my thoughts are hingend on Philippians 4:4-7 and I would suggest that as you read, keep that passage in your bible marked and refer back to it often.  I might even suggest that you memorize that passage.  In doing so you will have memorized the basic outline of this discussion and will have a sermon or short talk ready as the need should arise.  As you will most likely see this can be a great way to preach the gospel to someone.  Nevertheless, I won't focus on the evanglistic potential of this text in Philippians, but I think that if you are an intuitive thinker you will get the idea of how it might work.  So, let us get right into the discussion with the first point.

I think the first idea we can draw from this passage  in Philippians is that a person should rejoice.  As much as we like to believe differently, ultimately this flesh, without the soul that God has breathed into every one of us, is just an animal.  At times we must treat ourselves simply as animals, knowing that the simple actions we take have a great effect on our souls.  The habits that we maintain do indeed directly effect our souls.  God realized this and so used it to make us better servants for him in that he appointed that we should take his Lord's Supper every week. By this habit and its necessary actions we are made to frequently remember the Lord's death and thus a great impression of its importance is cultivated in our souls, along with an understanding of the graditude we should have for his sacrifice.  Consequently, we are more frequently inclined to think about the Lord's death outside of worship and are then motivated to a great many actions and attitudes as a result.   The simple act of rejoicing even when the world seems to be coming down around you may indeed go a long way to producing a real feeling of joy in your soul.  We all have at least one thing to rejoice about.  Even in the midst of the worst circumstances God will not leave you totally despondent.  Of course, for the Christian we have one of the easiest things in the world to rejoice about.  We should rejoice in hope just as the Bible says in Romans 12:12, "Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."  If we as Christians will simply focus on Christ's return and heaven's reward every situation, no matter how drear, will suddenly become a great time of rejoicing and joyful worship.  I would even go as far to say, and rightly so, that we should make a habit of rejoicing even outside of those drear times.  We should rejoice in heaven's reward when we face easily happy circumstances as well.  Think about Luke 10:20, "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."  Obviously having evil spirits in subjection would be something that would thrill every believer.  Nevertheless, the circumstances are not to be the focus, whether good or bad.  We should always be looking ahead.  By activly looking ahead to the reward we keep this life in perspective.  We realize that our time here is temporary and that both the good and bad times will pass away with time itsself.  As a result of this focus our actions will be dirctly effected.  We will be more joyful people, more courteous, more evangelistic, more loving, and ultimately more like our focus which is Christ Jesus.

However, let us revisit the idea of rejoicing in hard times for a bit.  In Romans 5:2 & 3 the Bible says, "Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God.  More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance..."  We are to go beyond just rejoicing in hope we are to rejoice for the troubles and sufferings themselves.  To most that would seem to be absolute insanity!  Are Christians to be some kind of sadists?  No, we are not going to derive pleasure from suffering.  However, we are going to be able to see beyond the immediate suffering to the reward and rejoice in the change that will come about deep within ourselves because of the suffering.  What Christians are really rejoicing in is the endurance that is produced by the suffering.  There are several verses in the Bible the attest to this fact.  James 1:2 & 3 says, "Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trial, for you kow that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness."  Here we see a different word used as the reward of suffering.  Steadfastness implies the idea of being imovable and firm.  Through suffering we are made steadfast in our faith.  We are forced in hard times to truly rely on the Lord and the knowledge that he has a better plan.  We are forced to really put our faith into action.  (Notice again the connection between our actions and the state of our souls!)  Of course there is an obvious danger involved in testing our faith.  There are individuals who, when tested, reject the faith and turn away.  These people are not strengthened by suffering but truly torn down. There can be all sorts of speculation about why God allows this to happen, but I think the best answer I can come up with (note this is only my opinion) is that these people didn't have the kind of faith that was allowing the Holy Spirit to work in them.  Therefore, they were already not allowing themselves to be made into the kind of souls God wants in his kingdom; they have already lost their faith on the very deepest level.  Regardless of God's reasoning, we are blatantly told in 1 Peter 1:6 & 7 that trials do indeed prove faith to be genuine.  This passage reads, "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may rebound to praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."  We prove ourselves in how we handle trials.  God has told us that we are to rejoice in trials, so we are proven when by faith we handle tough situations in the way that he has commanded.  Finally, I have noticed that scripture seems to provide us with a great circle of reasoning.  In Matthew 5: 11 & 12 it says, "Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you."  Here we see that suffering ultimately should cause us to look towards the reward of heaven, in which we are again to rejoice. 

Therefore, we are to rejoice when things are good or bad.  We are to be joyful for victories over the devil, for the steadfastness and genuineness that is produced through trials, and ultimately and most importantly for the hope of heaven.  This is the first element in the formula for peace. "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice." 

Come back next week for more of the story and the next element in the formula!