BiblicalInsights.net

What’s it all about Alfie? In the final scene of the original Alfie, Michael Caine stands with his back to the Thames and adds up what he’s gained from his life of womanizing. Not much, he concludes. He has a lot of material things, but he knows he has treated people badly. “I ain’t got me peace of mind,” he says to camera. “And if you ain’t got that you ain’t got nothing…So what’s the answer? That’s what I keep asking myself. What’s it all about? Know what I mean?” (Popcultured, Steve Turner, p. 66). Many have asked the same question. What’s it all about? What is life all about? How do you find meaning and purpose and most importantly, peace?
The apostle Paul reveals the pathway to peace in Philippians 4:6-8. Paul founded the church at Philippi on his second missionary journey (Acts 16:12-40). Luke records the conversions of Lydia (and her household) and the jailor (and his household). The church at Philippi was probably not large. It was also predominantly Gentile. The book of Philippians was written by Paul from Rome around 58-60 A.D. Paul writes concerning spiritual matters that indicated his love for a church that always stood by him. He writes of his imprisonment and how it advanced the gospel in Rome. He exhorts his fellow Christians and instructs them in the faith. He encourages them in the pursuit of noble virtues. One of those virtues is peace. He outlines four steps in the pathway to peace.
Step one: reconciliation with God (II Cor. 5:17-19). Here are some things that trouble the human spirit: turmoil, trouble, temptation, trials, unrest, war, pride, covetousness, persecution, sin, etc. These things produce: strife, enmity, discord, and anxiousness. They are unsettling, disturbing, irritating and frustrating. They rob us of peace. The members of the church at Philippi had taken this first step as a result of Paul’s ministry of reconciliation. He enjoins, “Be ye reconciled to God…” (II Cor. 5:20). The word “reconcile” means “to be made one, to be brought into fullness of fellowship with God.” Sin produces enmity between us and God and that enmity can only be resolved through forgiveness. We must be forgiven by God in order to have peace. Paul mentions the “peace of God” in Phil. 4:6-8. Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). God is the ultimate source of peace. Without Him, there is no peace. Forgiveness comes from Christ. Paul writes, “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled” (Col. 1:20-21). We obtain forgiveness when we obey the gospel. On the day of Pentecost, Peter told the people to “repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…” (Acts 2:38). This same message is relevant for us. Forgiveness forges a new relationship with God (Gal. 3:26-27). We become the children of God by faith in Christ and baptism into Christ. Forgiveness produces peace. Peace is the tranquility of soul that is one with God. You cannot find peace in worldliness and materialism. You find it in God and Christ.
The second step is trust in God. Paul declares, “in nothing be anxious.” Anxiety may be defined as “my mind is a blur and my heart is a stir.” It is inner turmoil. Nervousness resulting from life’s uncertainties and difficulties. The resolution to this inner turmoil is trust or reliance of God. Noah was faced with the wrath of God predicting a cataclysmic event–the universal flood. By faith, he built an ark just as God told him to do (Heb. 11:7). He saved his life and that of his family because he trusted God. Abraham started a journey by God’s direction but he did not know the destination (Heb. 11:8). He trusted God with his future. Amram and Jochebed brought a child into the world at a most difficult time in the history of Israel. The people of God were enslaved. Yet, God providentially preserved his life and we know the child as Moses (Heb. 11:23). To trust God is to take God at His word. When we do not know the future, we trust God who does. When we do not know what to do, we trust God who gives us direction. When we have lost hope, we turn to God who restores hope and gives peace. When we trust in ourselves, our friends or material means, we can be disappointed. God will never fail us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5-6).
The third step is prayer. Prayer is intimate communication between a righteous person and God. Paul instructs us to pray rather than fret. Supplication involves expressing a need, want or entreaty. Both prayer and supplications are addressed to God only. Only God can answer prayer and help us. We appeal to His power and might. Thanksgiving is also mentioned. Thanksgiving is the verbal expression of gratitude of the human heart denoting the joy of the human heart for God’s blessings. You cannot be negative and thankful at the same time. Thanksgiving focuses on what we have rather than our losses or what we do not have. Positive prayer, fervent entreaty and effective communication with God is a better approach to problem solving that fretting and worrying. The agitation of the mind is soothed in fervent prayer and is the means of inner peace.
The fourth step is focused thinking. The mind must be disciplined to focus on things that make for peace. This peace is not only from God but it passeth understanding. This does not mean that it cannot be known. God wants us to experience this peace. But, it means that it exceeds our thoughts in its glory. This peace acts as an umpire to sort out our thoughts and eliminate impure and unhealthy thoughts by focusing the mind on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report. We must eliminate stinking thinking! We must replace such with spiritual thinking that elevates the human soul and causes us to be filled with the riches of Christ.
Peace is available to us and attainable by us. But, we will have to come to God and Christ to experience it. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).