10-14-12 Grace and Peace

Two weeks ago we began a study

of the New Testament book of Philippians.

The book,

(which is really a letter written by Paul

to his fellow Christians in Philippi),

was written while Paul was in prison in Rome

waiting for his trial before Caesar

on charges stemming from the uproar

his presence in Jerusalem had generated among the Jews.

Paul had been in prison for about two years prior to the writing of this letter.

This man whose life had been

one massive explosion of energy

and activity

for most of his Christian life

had been forced to sit under house arrest

for what I am sure

were two very long years.

On the surface it’s simply a note

written by Paul to his friends

thanking them for their gift

and filling them in on how things were going in his life.

But there is something else going on in this letter as well,

something that has far broader application for all Christians.

Through this letter Paul reveals to us

the principles that equip us

to survive the prisons in our lives.

And not just to survive them,

but actually to thrive in them.

Paul’s prison had physical bars,

and locks,

and Roman guards.

Ours may be prisons of the mind

and spirit,

but the effect is the same -

they leave us feeling caged,

helpless,

powerless to control our own future.

Prisons come from our being forced

to deal with circumstances

we would never have chosen,

circumstances that are beyond our control.

And in our last study

we saw in the first six verses

that Paul begins the letter by sharing with us

four crucial pieces of information.

He talks about WHO we are,

he talks about WHERE we are,

he talks about WHAT to expect,

and WHO is in control.

We are God’s saints,

God’s holy ones,

made holy and absolutely pure in heart

not through improved performance

or greater obedience,

but through the transforming work of God Himself within us

as a result of our faith in Christ’s death

as total payment for our sins.

That certainly doesn’t mean practical changes don’t take place in our lives,

because they certainly do,

in ways and at a depth we could never have imagined.

But they are changes that take place from the inside out,

as our spirits begin to discover,

and trust,

and respond to the love of our God for us.

Then he reminds us WHERE we are -

we are IN CHRIST JESUS.

We do not just live with Him

or for Him

we live IN Him -

completely immersed in His love and His care.

Then in verse 2 Paul went on to tell us

WHAT TO EXPECT from this Christ:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Prisons have a way of confusing

the real issues in our life.

It is almost impossible to be in prison

without asking ourselves the question

‟Why?”

And given our fundamentally religious minds

one of the answers we often come up with is,

“Maybe God is ticked at me!”

‟Maybe this is some sort of punishment

for my sins.”

And Paul addresses this kind of foolishness right up front.

As he sits in prison,

chained to his Roman guard

not knowing whether he will live another month...or another day,

he tells us what we can expect

from our Creator -

Grace and Peace from God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then finally Paul reminds us of WHO IS IN CONTROL...

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

Paul begins his survival manual

for the prisons in our lives

by telling us right up front

that no prison ever has

or ever will in any way

at any time short-circuit

God’s commitment to us

or God’s ability to complete and perfect

the good work He has begun in our lives.

Now, having sprinted our way through

those first 6 verses

I want to go back

and look more closely

at the last two items on that list.

We’ll begin with the first of them

in which Paul says, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is something going on with these two words “grace” and “peace”

that I want us to look at a little more closely.

I know what we do with phrases like this:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ...

We tend to relate to them

in the same way we relate to the “DEAR”

at the beginning of a letter.

“DEAR LARRY”

When I read that I don’t think

the person writing

really thinks I’m DEAR to them.

I just look at it

as a sort of meaningless letter etiquette.

But there is no meaningless letter etiquette

in the New Testament Epistles.

There is something crucial going on

with this second verse of Philippians

that I want us to see.

And to appreciate what’s happening here

I want to read you

the introductory verses

from some of the other New Testament letters.

Rom. 1:7 ...to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Cor. 1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Cor. 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Gal. 1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ,

Eph. 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Col. 1:2 to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

1 Thess. 1:1 Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

2 Thess. 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Tim. 1:2 to Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

2 Tim. 1:2 to Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Titus 1:4 to Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Philem. 1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Pet. 1:2... May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure.

2 Pet. 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;

2 John 1:3 Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

Every letter Paul wrote that was included in the New Testament

begins with the promise of grace and peace from God the Father.

Every letter Peter wrote that was included in the New Testament

begins with the promise of grace and peace from God the Father.

And one of the three letters written by John

begins with the same promise.

16 of the 21 N.T. Epistles

open with the assurance of grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

WHY?

First of all let me assure you that it was NOT because this was

the early Christian’s form of “Have a nice day!”

It was not simply a pleasant greeting

passed around between believers.

The New Testament Epistles were written for a crucial and specific purpose.

They were written EXCLUSIVELY to believers,

to those who had already joined themselves to God

through faith in Christ for their sins,

and they were written in order to reveal to us the principles

that govern a grace-based walk with God,

and to show us how to think

like the new creations we have already become through Christ.

And whenever we find repetition in the Epistles

it is there for one or both of two reasons.

Either the concept is so crucial to our survival

that it demands repetition.

Or it is a concept that is so foreign to our thinking

that we are in danger of missing it

or forgetting it without constant repetition.

This grace and peace thing

is repeated for both reasons.

Maybe I could help us understand

what I see going on with this phrase

that is found at the beginning of nearly every New Testament letter

by putting it in a little different context for just a minute.

Do you see this door over here to my right?

Well, I’d like you to imagine for just a minute

that God is waiting for you

just on the other side of that door.

(Yes, I know this illustration has major

theological and doctrinal problems with it,

but just set all that aside for a minute.)

God is on the other side of that door

and He has asked you to come through the door and talk with Him.

Now, how would you approach that door?

Would you try to peak through some crack along the edge

or underneath before opening it?

Would you open it up just a tiny crack

and peak through?

Would you fling it open?

Would you take your Bible along?

Would you change your clothes first?

When you and I reached out to God through faith in Christ’s payment for our sins

we were accepting His invitation

to stop running from Him

and start building a friendship with Him.

But, having never met Him personally before

none of us have any accurate idea

what He’s really like.

We are standing on this side of the door,

hearing His invitation

to come in and know Him better,

but we bring to that door

all of our preconceived ideas

of who He is,

and how He acts,

and what He expects,

along with our own pockets full of personal shame,

and feelings of failure,

and inadequacy,

and unworthiness.

To be honest, I think most of us

would probably open the door

just a crack

and peek through.

The entire Bible was written

to share with us God’s dealings with man throughout history.

But the New Testament Epistles,

those books beginning with Romans

and continuing through Jude,

were given by God

to a unique group of individuals

for a highly specialized purpose.

If we were to take the time

to read the opening lines

of each of the 21 New Testament letters

we would see that every one of them

was addressed exclusively to true Christians -

God’s holy ones,

made holy through their faith in Christ.

I remember hearing years ago

about a conversation between

a very antagonistic nonchristian

and a Christian.

The nonchristian told the Christian,

“Oh yea, I read those Epistles,

and they sure didn’t make any sense to me.”

And the Christian responded by saying,

“Well, that’s what you get for reading someone else’s mail.”

These letters were given to us by God primarily to explain to the believer

what it means to live with God

on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

These letters are the equivalent to that doorway to my right,

my imagined entrance into the presence of God.

And God knows that we bring to this doorway

all of our God-baggage,

all of our concerns about what we can really expect from Him,

what He thinks of us,

how He relates to us in Christ.

How about all of those unresolved issues

that still shred our lives?

How about all of those fears

or tender places that we keep telling ourselves should have been resolved years ago?

How about those times when already

we, like Peter, have denied Him,

or refused to trust Him,

or grumbled about the way He’s handled our life?

What kind of expression

will we see on His face

when we open that door?

The New Testament writers

begin their writings with the words,

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ...”

in order to answer that question.

It is a sentence carefully designed by God

to serve as the Christian’s introduction

to every conversation

we have with our Lord.

When we peek through the crack in the door

it is His way of assuring us

that we need have no fear of flinging the door wide open.

He is not standing there, arms folded,

with a scowl on His face,

and a list in His hands of all the errors and omissions in our life

since the day we entered the kingdom,

or a list of all the times this past week

when we doubted, or feared, or failed to hear His voice correctly,

or refused to follow what He said.

In this single sentence Paul and Peter and John single out

the two most crucial ingredients in our union with God through Christ,

the two things we need most desperately

and yet find it the most difficult to accept,

or believe,

or remember - grace and peace.

Paul said it best in Rom. 5:1-2

Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand...

Peace with God - the battle is over forever.

We are no longer enemies with our Creator.

There is no more need to hide,

or to run,

or to play religious games with Him.

The Creator of the universe has personally chosen us

to be on His team,

and nothing can ever alter that fact.

Do you remember what it was like in school

when the gym teacher selected two captains for some team sport

and then let them take turns choosing their team?

Do they still do that?

I do hope not!

Do you remember what it was like

to wait and wonder how long it would be

before someone called your name?

When God chose His team,

do you know whose name He called first?

It was yours,

and when you crossed over and stood next to Him

His eyes were lit with the joy He felt

and the knowledge that you were now and forevermore on His side.

And we have also received our introduction by faith into this GRACE in which we stand.

The rules really have changed -

we do not stand before our God

on the basis of our ability to do it all right,

we stand on the basis of His grace,

His commitment to show us kindness,

His kindness for eternity

not because we have earned it,

but simply because He loves us

and the barriers to His expressing that love

have been removed forever in Christ.

Now it’s true that when our Lord sits down and talks with us in these Epistles

there are some hard issues He addresses.

But that is all the more reason why

He has chosen to begin with that assurance of His grace and our peace with Him -

just so there will never again

be any misunderstanding

about the ground rules in our relationship with Him through Christ.