Calm at the Center Isaiah 26:1-4 (NKJV) John 14:25-27 and Philippians 4:4-9

Transcription

1 Calm at the Center Isaiah 26:1-4 (NKJV) John 14:25-27 and Philippians 4:4-9 Christ Church Longboat Key, FL June 29, 2014 Dr. Paul T. Eckel O God, You keep us in perfect peace, When our minds are stayed on You, because we trust in You. (Isaiah 26:3 NKJV) H urricanes bring back old and familiar memories for me. How could it be otherwise. I grew up in Miami. When an announcement would come over the radio that a hurricane was spotted I knew my chores. Round up all outdoor toys, move in the porch furniture, fill the bathtub with water, and help dad nail up the old wooden shutters. Then it was sit and wait. I d watch the storm through a crack in those old shutters. On one occasion a hurricane was tearing things up outside. Then, almost as if someone had thrown a switch, the wind subsided, the rain stopped, and the sun came out. We can step outside for a moment, my Dad said. Is the storm over? I asked. O no, he said, it s all around us right now. We re in the eye of the storm and it s always calm at the center. Calm at the center. I ve never forgotten that about hurricanes or about life. We live with storms all around us economic threats, political tensions, terrifying illness you finish the list. Who can ever hope to be calm at the center of storms like this? Facing her terminal illness bravely, Jan s sister asked, Where can I find peace? Isaiah affirms that believers can find God s peace right in the middle of the storm. 1

2 You, O God, will keep us in perfect peace, when our minds are stayed on You, because we trust in You. Kept and Held This promise was first spoken in Hebrew a language that was essentially earthy and basic. Its words were rooted in ordinary human activities. Take for example the word keep. God will keep you in perfect peace. One way to study Bible words is to check out how an author uses the same word in different places. For instance in Isaiah 27:3 Israel is described as a pleasant vineyard. I, the Lord, keep it, I water it every moment, lest any hurt it. I keep it night and day. In this verse the word keep means to tend a garden. My wife is a plant person. She loves to keep a garden. Me? Well let me put it this way. Over the decades, we ve had to establish some house rules. You see it s my idea when watering a plant if one cup is good, two cups must be even better! I ve drowned more house plants than Jan wants to remember! So the rule is this: Jan keeps the inside plants, I keep the outside ones. Isaiah pictures God keeping us with the same loving care we show to our own most precious plants. Or, consider Isaiah 42:6. In this passage God is reassuring His threatened people, I am the Lord I have taken you by the hand and kept you. Here the word keep means taken by the hand. When our Grandson was about five, I was left in charge one day. Alex wanted to go roller skating. So he got on his skates, helmet, knee and elbow pads. He looked like a hockey player! Out we went along the sidewalks until we came to a busy street. We paused at the curb. Look both ways, I reminded him. If it s clear, we ll cross the street together. It was and we did. But in the middle of the road, I felt his little hand reach up into mine. Busy streets can be scary places. Holding hands is always a good thing to do. We all learned this in kindergarten. What images! God keeps you like a cherished plant. God keeps 2

3 you like a child in hand. In God s keeping you find perfect peace. Perfect Peace Remember, Isaiah wrote in Hebrew. You may never have studied the Hebrew language, but I ll bet you know some Hebrew words anyway. Hallelujah is pure Hebrew. It literally means, praise the Lord! It has become a central word of praise in Christian worship. Another familiar Hebrew word is Amen. This word is used in more languages un-translated than any other word in human speech. Amen is the congregation s word. It means, So be it, or I claim it. Amen is the way believers personally lay claim to God s truth. I m sure you know the Hebrew word for peace shalom. The meaning of shalom is not confined to the cessation of hostilities. Shalom is about harmony with God. It s about enjoying God s presence and experiencing God s blessings in every moment of life. Yet notice carefully! The peace that s promised in our text is even richer. Isaiah assures us of God s perfect peace. There are a number of Hebrew words that could be translated perfect. Isaiah could have said, tamim shalom, or mikla shalom. Both mean, perfect peace. He didn t use either of these words. Isaiah could have written gemar shalom meaning, perfect peace, but he didn t write that either. Isaiah actually wrote: God keeps his people in shalom shalom. Double shalom! Shalom, the only adequate modifier of which is shalom itself. Perfect peace is the peace God offers. God s peace is not about clever devotional slogans or paperback psychology. Nor is God s peace found by retreating from the storm. Christ is our peace (Eph. 2:14) we are told. Christ creates the calm we need, that perfect peace at the center of the storm. A Stayed Mind Experiencing God s peace does have conditions. We are told perfect peace comes when our minds are stayed on God. The Hebrew word used here for mind is yeser. The Hebews had eight different words that could be translated mind. This is the only place where yeser is 3

4 translated mind. Rare though the word is, it is based on a common and familiar activity the potter s trade! A potter throws a lump of clay on a wheel and starts it spinning. Then he moistens his hands and takes hold of it. And suddenly, before your very eyes, a lovely vessel begins taking shape. The Hebrews recognized that just as a potter shapes the clay, so our minds are also being shaped. This was also Paul s point when he wrote: Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:1) J. B. Phillips paraphrased Paul s language this way. Don t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God remold your mind from within. It matters what shape your mind is in. If you feed your mind X-rated films, gross language, Internet pornography, addictive behaviors, then don t be surprised by your distorted and darkened outlook on life. And be especially careful where children are concerned. It matters what children are exposed to. Paul insisted whatever is true honorable right pure lovely admirable excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8-9) Focus your mind on things that are positive and good. Isaiah says life is properly shaped when your mind is stayed on God. I used to think this meant think a lot about God. Then I got toying with the idea of a stay. What is a stay? Once as children we were playing hideand-seek in Grandpa and Grandma s house. I hid in Grandma s closet. Something was hanging there that mystified me grommets, laces, straps. It looked like an instrument of feminine torture. We re talking corset! As I understand it, a corset was intended to give shape to what needed shaping-up. Corsets used to be made of long whalebone stays. Today small plastic stays smooth a fellow s shirt collar. A stay maintains a desired shape. Isaiah was saying, let God be the stay of your mind. Let God give shape to your thinking, believing and acting. 4

5 Trust In God Finally, wrapping it all up, you can have real peace only when you trust in God. Adults talk about trust, but children teach us how to trust. A pastor invited me to lead a series of renewal services in his church. He confided that often he found the children s sermon a challenge and a chore. You re in luck, I told him. I ll not only preach your adult sermon, I ll do your children s sermon too. As the children gathered on the chancel steps, I said quietly, Hi, kids! Thanks for letting me be with you this morning. I m a visitor today, so we don t know each other. But maybe you d let me ask a couple of questions. Do you know I love you? Kids are wonderfully honest. They had no evidence of my love and remained silent. Okay, I said, do you think you can trust me? They had no proof of that either and just sat there. Okay, okay I said, how about this? Do you think I m stronger than you are? They looked up at me and reluctantly conceded the point. Well, I do love you, you can trust me, and I am strong and would not let anything bad happen to you. Now, I need two volunteers to play a little game. Every hand went up! I chose a boy and a girl. First, I asked the little fellow if he would stand straight and tall like a soldier. I m going to step around behind you, I said. Remember, I love you and you can trust me. I am strong and would not let anything hurt you. Now just fall back into my arms. He started back okay, but then caught himself and stopped. It s really hard, I consoled the little fellow, you were so brave to try. I turned to the pastor and said, Maybe you d like to work with the girl? Sure, said the pastor. I m right here behind you, Honey, he told her. Now, just fall back into my arms. And back she fell without a second thought right into her pastor s arms. I asked the little girl, I don t understand, you just stood right up there and fell straight back into your pastor s arms. How could you do that? She got a giggly look on her face and said, Cause he s my daddy! We could have ended Worship right there. 5

6 She preached the only sermon anyone needed that day. If you don t really know the one saying, Trust me, you probably won t risk it. But if that s your father back there who loves you, and who has always been there for you, who has never let you down, you ll trust him and fall confidently into his arms. Jesus, our Prince of Peace, introduced to us His Father and our Father. Through Jesus, we have come to know Our Heavenly Father as loving, faithful and almighty. Trust Him and sing your faith. Peace, Perfect Peace, our future all unknown? Jesus we know, and He is on the throne. 6