C023 5/15/55
© Project Winsome International, 1999
PEACE OF MIND - IT'S WONDERFUL?
Dr. John Allan Lavender
Jn. 14:27; Ephs. 6:10-17
One of the disturbing things about the teachings of Jesus is that they are loaded with
contradiction, or so it seems to us who look at life through single vision glasses. But Christ was
not hampered by such vision. He looked at life through what we might call "spiritual bi-focals."
He knew that truth is not singular, but plural. It has a double edge. It is made up of a multitude
of individual truths, none of which stand alone, all of which are interdependent. So He
constantly presented His disciples with truth in the form of paradox, or apparent contradiction.
Let me show you what I mean. On one occasion He said we should avoid the danger of
becoming hypocrites by doing our good deeds in public so people could see them. On another
occasion, He said we should let our light shine so people could see our good works. A paradox?
Yes. A contradiction? No. For you see, it's not a case of either/or, but both/and. The complete
truth regarding good works is they must be done -- whether public or private -- in a spirit of
humility as a witness to God's goodness, not our own.
Or look at His teaching regarding prayer. In one place He said that when we pray we should shut
the door and pray in absolute privacy. In another place, He said where two or three are gathered
in His name, He is in their midst. A paradox? Yes. A contradiction? No. The truth regarding
prayer, like all truth, has a double edge. Jesus wanted us to know prayer is both a public and
private affair.
Or again, Jesus was constantly bumping up against the obstructionism of Hebrew tradition and
law which made it difficult for Him to fulfill his mission on Earth. As a result, He denounced the
Pharisees for practicing a religion which was nothing more than rigid tradition and hollow forms.
And yet, at the same time, He saw the incalculable value of God's law and great tradition and so
He said, "I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it."
His whole ministry of teaching was characterized by a careful balance which emphasized the
double-edged nature of truth. Jesus knew that individual truths are often half-truths. That is to
say, they do not stand alone, but are interdependent. Unfortunately, the rest of us rarely possess
this spiritual sensitivity. We discover a precious truth and then, instead of using it in its proper
context, we exploit it to our own detriment. We over-emphasize one side of life, while we ignore
its equally important counterpart, and that which begins as a virtue (bringing balance), becomes a
vice (producing imbalance).
Such is certainly the case with the cult which has infiltrated many Christian circles. For want of
a better name, I call it "The Cult Of The Comfortable." It is made up of an alarmingly large
group of those who have fallen under the hypnotic spell of the 20th century's Pied Pipers who
play a lilting tune called: "Peace of Mind."
Perhaps you've heard the story that's been making the rounds about a young woman who went to
a salesperson in a book store and said, "I want that new Book: 'A Piece of Your Mind' by Rabbi
Sheen." Well, there's nothing wrong with peace of mind. Whether it be the variety of Bishop
Sheen, Rabbi Liebmann, or my friend Norman Vincent Peale. In its proper sense, the sense in
which Jesus promised it, peace of mind is of tremendous value. Unfortunately, it has been
distorted and even exploited, until this precious virtue has become a vice.
As a result, it is being used by Satan to undermine the true nature and purpose of Christian peace
which is not to go out into the world and relax, but to go out into the world relaxed! Listen to
this quote from one of the recent best sellers that has been propagating this new Phenobarbital
philosophy of "Go ye into all the world and relax." This noted author says,
"The life of inner peace, being harmonious and without stress, is the easiest type of existence."
Is that what the Christian life is supposed to be? "The easiest kind of existence"? If so, this new
de-caffeinated brand of Christianity has nothing whatsoever to do with Christ. When
Hechallenged people to follow Him, He talked about a yoke, a burden, and a cross! If this
religion of bovine complacency is Christianity, then the New Testament is wrong. For it warns
us that the Christian life is a warfare, and we must put on the whole armor of God in order to stand.
Now, before you think I'm going off half-cocked, let me affirm the fact that there is a genuine
Christian peace. And I can say to you from personal experience, it's fabulous! I couldn't exist
without it. No one can successfully meet the vicissitudes of life without the foundation of real tranquility.
"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you," said Jesus. But He added, "Not as the world
giveth, give I unto you."
He wasn't talking about the sluggish languor that is currently being peddled under the Christian
banner. Rather, He was promising a deep well of serenity which would enable us to live above
the common harassments of life at the very moment we are engaged in hand-to-hand combat for
their defeat.
"He knew," as Harry Emerson Fosdick points out, "that if a man is going to lift the world, he
must have something solid upon which to rest his lever." And so, Jesus promised a peace that
would not produce sedation, but stimulation.
He wanted His people to put off the affliction of self-pity and be busy in some powerful activity.
That's what He meant when He said, "I have not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matt:34).
He was not contradicting Himself. He was presenting another side of a great truth. He was
trying to show us that the Christian life is not one long night of peaceful slumber -- a kind of
opium smoker's disassociation from reality -- but, rather, the Christian life is a happy
combination of inner peace and divine dissatisfaction. It is this balance, this combination of the
two, which reveals the real truth regarding life, and helps us keep it on even keel.
Again, let me show you what I mean. Suppose the good Lord had so created the solar system as
to be at what someone has called "Heat Peace." That is, a situation in which every part of the
Universe is constantly at the same degree of temperature. What would happen? Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Actually, it would mean death. We could not exist in such a state of intolerable sameness, for if
everything was constantly at the same degree, it would then become impossible for us to extract
heat energy from one part of the solar system to be used elsewhere for some constructive
purpose. And, in the last analysis, we would die. That's the physical counterpart of perfect
"peace of mind." Nothing happens. Nothing can happen. Some may call it peace, but it would
be more accurate to call it what it really is -- death!
My scientist friends have a humorous puzzle which asks,
"How can we prove the temperature of hell is uniform?"
The answer runs something like this,
"If the temperature of hell were not the same at every point, then some scientist in hell (and the
scientist who told me this story conceded there would probably be plenty of scientists available
there) would set up a heat engine which would use this difference in temperature as a means of
making energy available. Then this scientist would use this energy to run a refrigeration unit
which would cool down some place in hell until it was a comfortable temperature. But, you see,
it is contradictory to the basic idea of hell that any spot in it should be comfortable. Thus, one
concludes by the classical reductio ad absurdum, that the assumed difference cannot exist. Hell,
therefore, is at a uniform temperature."
We chuckle, but let's remember the place said to be at perfect physical peace -- that is, uniform
and never-changing -- is not heaven, it is hell! That's the whole point of the story, and of my
sermon. To strive for peace of mind as an end in itself is to ultimately awaken to the fact that
you have forsaken heaven, and are living in hell.
Where on God's green earth did we get the idea that security and pleasant living -- the absence of
difficulty and the presence of ease -- could, in themselves, make us happy? As a matter of fact,
the opposite is often the case. Some of the happiest people I know have little monetary security
or physical ease, and some of the most unhappy people I know have both.
The Scandinavians have a saying which we would do well to remember in these days when the
20th century pied pipers seek to lure us with their siren song called "Peace Of Mind." The
Scandinavian saying goes like this: "The North wind make the Vikings."
These people of sturdy stock did not just happen. They developed through hardship, difficulty,
and pain. They would never have gained a reputation as men of strength and valor by scurrying
for cover when the North wind began to blow.
"Good sailors were never made on calm seas."
This is a lesson the Church needs to learn. There is a moral flabbiness about a lot of Christians
today that is frightening to behold. They clamor for spiritual aspirins. As long as you preach a
kind of Phenobarbital religion, they're happy. But, they want nothing of the cross.
I have a ministerial friend out in San Bernardino, California for whom I have preached on several
occasions. The last time I saw him, he told me how he had announced a series of sermons on the
subject: "Peace of Mind." For three Sunday nights, the church could not hold the crowd. At the
conclusion of the third message, he announced that the following Sunday evening he would
speak on: "The Christian and the Cross." In his own words, "The next Sunday there were more in
the choir than there were in the pews!"
That's the alarming thing about this Cult of the Comfortable. As someone has said,
"It knows nothing about the crown of thorns Jesus wore, or the cross on which He died. It knows
nothing of the beatings, the lashings, and the imprisonment of Paul. Nothing of the pioneers and
martyrs who were burned at the stake, or hacked to pieces, or boiled in oil, or stewed over the fire
of the cannibals."
And I would be quick to add, the Cult of the Comfortable does not want to hear of such
unpleasantries. They prefers to think happy, positive, pampering thoughts which do not unsettle
their complacency.
What does it matter that the world is on the brink of disaster?
What does it matter that people are lost?
What does it matter that our nation is in an ethical free-fall?
Stick your head in the psychological sand of "positive thinking," pretend all is well, and it will be
so.
Make sure you follow these seven simple steps to carefree living, or that fail-safe formula for
financial freedom," and you'll be alright.
In the place of the helmet, the shield, and the sword which were the badge of early Christians, the
Cult of the Comfortable has substituted a smoking jacket, a pair of slippers, and an easy chair.
Maybe that's why, with church membership at an all-time high, the influence of the Church is at
an all-time low!
There are those who say religion is the opiate of the people. If they're talking about the religion
which only preaches "peace of mind," I say they are right. That kind of milk-and-water religionis
the opiate of the people. It makes them soft and cynical. But that kind of easy religion has
nothing whatsoever to do with Christ.
Let me pause again to make it abundantly clear that Christ does offer peace. Perhaps you came
to church this morning with a troubled heart. If so, Christ is prepared to calm the turbulent
waters of your soul with the quiet words: "Peace, be still."
But to the vast majority of us, He has another word. This morning He walks these aisles and
mounts this pulpit. As He stands before us and seeks to minister to our greatest need, I can hear
Him say, "Along with peace, I have brought a sword. If you follow me, it will mean blood, sweat
and tears. I did not come to make life easy. I came to make people great!"
When you begin to realize that is Christ's purpose in dealing with you, then you begin to
understand "peace of mind" is not an end in itself, any more than sleep is an end in itself. A night
of rest is a wonderful place from which to start a new day. Without it, we would not exist for
long. But no healthy person wants to sleep forever.
The same is true of a healthy Christian. He or she does not strive for peace of mind to the
exclusion of divine discontent. Rather, a healthy Christian accepts inner peace as a gift from God
and then forgets about it! From a position of God-given inner peace, he or she plunges recklessly
into the revolutionary task of bringing to the world the Gospel of true peace, peace with God
through the Lord Jesus Christ!
It's not a case of choosing between activity and tranquility. It's a case of accepting both in their
proper place. When we come to Christ, He not only gives us our own peculiar responsibilities,
but simultaneously He also gives us the resources we need to meet those responsibilities.
Peace of Mind -- It's Wonderful? In it's proper place, yes! It is absolutely indispensable. It
provides the underpinning which enables us to live above the harassments of life. But taken out
of context -- made an end in itself -- it becomes an opiate which dulls our sensitivities and numbs
our conscience.
We become satisfied with the state of the world.
We become content with the moral bankruptcy of our time.
The issues of life and death become lost in the ugly fog of amoralism in which nothing is really
right or wrong. black or white, just various tints of gray.
And we come at last to a state of being in which we want nothing more than peace and quiet.
Freedom from exhortation.
It is then that the priceless virtue of Godly peace becomes a deadly vice. As such, it is something
to be shunned as we would shun a plague.
For on the day we lose our restlessness,
on the day we lose our divine dissatisfaction with life on the lower plane,
on the day we are satisfied to give first-rate loyalties to second-rate causes,
on the day we let the Church become one more pot on an already overcrowded stove,
on the day we become so dull and grey, so complacent and apathetic as to be at peace in a world
which is very much at war, on that day we miss out on heaven, and discover we have chosen hell!
Father, root us out of the rut which is really a premature grave, the rut of easy, self-centered,
complacent living. Show us the meaning of true peace, the peace that Jesus gives. Fill us with
that peace, and then send us forth to do something for Jesus' sake, and ours. Amen.