1 Peter 3:11

THE BLESSINGS OF PEACE

‘Seek peace, and ensue it.’

1 Peter 3:11

Peace is spoken of in three different respects. There is the peace of the great world of nations and of history. There is the peace with the persons that we live with, the little world of our daily companions and acquaintance. There is the peace within—i.e. peace in the inner world of our own hearts and feelings. All these we are bidden to seek and pray for.

I. Christians are bound to be examples of peaceful living among their neighbours.—This is our first point. A quarrelsome Christian is a contradiction in terms. You may as well talk of cold fire, or of burning ice, as of a quarrelsome Christian. If brothers quarrel the spirit of brotherhood is gone out of them, and they had better not have been brothers. So if a Christian is quarrelsome, the spirit of Christianity is gone out of him, and if he does not leave off being quarrelsome, it would be better for him in the day of judgment if he had never heard of Christ. The man who has let quarrelsomeness get the mastery over him in this life can never enter heaven in the next. The very first word in the chant by which the angels declared that Christ was come from heaven into this world was ‘peace.’ ‘Peace on earth’ was the beginning of their song. Christ came to bring peace. He is the Prince of Peace. And if when Christ came from heaven it was peace coming into the earth, so if we are to go to heaven we must be filled with peace. There is no breaking through this rule.

II. We must seek peace, also, in our own hearts and feelings, even under the most adverse circumstances. Even when we suffer for righteousness’ sake we are to count ourselves happy. Now, no man can count himself happy unless he feels happy. And happiness of heart and peace are one and the same thing. We are to seek peace in our own inner hearts. What do we mean by peace in the heart? We cannot now stop to go over the whole subject of this peace of heart, where it comes from, how it is to be attained, and the like. We can only say a few words about it. And what has to be said about it now is this, that it is a man’s duty to keep his thoughts and his inward temper calm and quiet and peaceful. For if not, in the first place we are actually sinning against God by the thoughts we indulge in; and, in the second place, we are preparing ourselves to fall into almost whatever outward sin of word or deed the devil chooses to tempt us to.

III. What is true of ourselves as individuals in our own private life is true also of God’s Church as a whole. We need quiet and peace in order to serve God. Times of tumult are times of evil and of wickedness. In times of tumult and confusion, bad men are unrestrained, wickedness abounds, and the work of God’s Church is checked. No doubt, in times of confusion and suffering, the very good shine out in their brightest holiness. Suffering and trouble bring to light the good that is in them, just as the darkness of the night makes us see the stars which we do not see by day. But, for all that, the work of the Church at large is hindered; just as no one finds it easier to see his way at night, even though its darkness renders the stars visible, which you could not see in the daytime. And, therefore, just as we pray God to give us His peace in our own hearts, so also we pray that the world around us may be at peace in order that the Church may be free to serve God, and do His work in the world for the extension of the truth and the salvation of souls. In our quiet times we do not think so much as we ought of the great blessing God gives us in the peace and quietness we have enjoyed so long.

Illustration

‘Think for one moment what would become of all our Church work, our schools, our parish charities, our Church building and Church extension, if we were to have only one year of war in our own land; of war, destroying our resources, our harvests, our trade, ruining and burning our towns, and throwing everybody into misery and starvation. Think of the confusion and overthrow that it would bring upon us if it only lasted a short time, and then consider how we ought to thank God that He does answer our prayers for peace, “that His Church may serve Him in all godly quietness.” It was not always so. Time was when war and trouble were common. Time was when peace was rare, and when men longed and prayed for it as being the one great earthly gift they longed for from God. And just because it is so necessary, therefore is it that in in all our Church prayers, whether the Morning or the Evening Prayers, or the Litany, or the Communion Service, we never omit praying that God will give us peace.’

(SECOND OUTLINE)

SEARCHING FOR PEACE

How is this difficult quest of ‘peace’—more difficult every day as the subjects of thought grow larger and deeper, and the divergence of mind becomes wider and wider, as it will do, more and more every day—how, how is it to be carried out?

I. Recognise it as an act of Omnipotence, an attribute of God only. ‘ He maketh men to be of one mind in a house.’ ‘ I create the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to him that is near, and to him that is afar off.’ ‘ He maketh peace in His high places.’ You will fail if you do not at once bring in the great power of God to a work which is far too high for you!

II. Then travel to it by the right and only road, adjust your own relations to God. Be at peace yourselves. This done, you will be able to understand and remember at what pains—how patiently, how persistently, how stoopingly, and at what a cost, God made your ‘peace.’ And then you can go and copy ‘God’s peace’—that great Peace-maker with us all!

III. Specially, you will have learned how ‘humility’ is the mother of ‘peace’; how it is the pride which makes all the quarrels; and how it only needs to go low enough, and to put self into the dust enough, to be able to bear any wrong, or any insult—to forgive everybody and everything. You will always find that ‘peace’ sheds its fragrance when it is planted in the shade.

IV. Further, you must never forget that a ‘pursuit’ is not one single act, but a long series of little efforts. You will very seldom catch ‘peace’ at a leap, or by a short run. You will try for it a long time; then you will think you have got it; but it will elude your grasp and you will have to ‘search’ for it again. And this will have to be repeated many, many times. It may be a lifelong work, and you may have to forgive almost ‘seventy times seven’ every day. But you will gain tact and wisdom as you go on. There will be a sweetness and blessing in the very trying. And every kind act, and word, and look—though it fail of its immediate object—will revert to your own hearts.

—Rev. James Vaughan.

Illustration

‘Do all you can to bridge over the divisions of the Church and to knit again its oft unknit unity! Do not lend yourself to party. Do not use party names and party words. Do not give way to the temptation of religious controversy. Very, very seldom—(should I be far wrong if I said never?) never does religious controversy, in common conversation, do any good to anybody! Get above it. Get up into a higher atmosphere. Speak of the things—not in which you differ—but in which you are in union; and they are a hundred to one compared with the points of difference. And all the grandnesses of truth are in the things in which you agree.’