Sermon Notes, February 12, 2017
Rev.
Garry McGlinchy
Pastor
Garry continued his sermon series “Seven Hebrew Words Every Believer Should
Know.” Over the last few weeks we have
been talking about Hebrew words that every believer should know. We talked about hessed, God’s loving kindness; emunah,
meaning faith in action; tefillah,
prayer that requires us to examine our hearts; and ruach, meaning breath, wind, or spirit; we talked about how the
Holy Spirit, ruach hakadesh, is alive
in us, giving us a rhythm of inhaling God’s Spirit and exhaling praise. Today’s word is shalom, in the Hebrew meaning Peace. The scripture is John 14:23-31.
Shalom is rooted in the word shaleim, which means completion.
Without peace, there can be no completion. Shalom
is also commonly used as a greeting and salutation. (chabad.org) The symbols, reading from right to left are
·
lamed—Shepherd’s
staff- authority, teach, yoke, to bind
·
vav—to
attach, add, secure, hook
·
mem—chaos,
mighty, blood
Let’s
focus on two ways that we view shalom today. First, in the way we see our everyday
struggles, and second is in the way others see us in this world.
It
is safe to say that we live in a world that appears to be on a mission to feed
the fears that we may have, things that cause us to have anxiety, or worry, or
even doubt. These are not necessarily
bad emotions to have—they are all natural, and at times healthy emotions to
have. Even if we know that God is in
control, that does not mean that we will not experience fear, anxiety, worry or
doubt. However, when we allow fear,
anxiety, worry and doubt to take up residence in our minds, then we have a
problem. And this is what the enemy
wants!
Jesus
gave some incredible insight in regard to these emotions in Matthew 6:25-34. To put it bluntly, the more we allow our
fears, anxieties, worry and doubt to take up residence in our life the less
peace we will experience. These are
emotions that are rooted in the chaos the enemy, the devil, dwells in. So, as the world continues to force-feed
these chaos-endorsed emotions that naturally occur in our lives, our response
should be rooted in the peace that God gives.
That’s
easier said than done. When we give in
to emotions rooted in chaos, peace is far from us. However, once we understand the power of
Yahweh’s Peace, we begin to understand that there is freedom from the chaos of
this world. True peace can in fact be in
our grasp, and it is this peace that God wants us all to experience.
With
all of this said, it is important that as we continue to move forward in this
post-modern, post-Christian era that people are watching to see how God’s
people respond to a world rooted in chaos.
If we are to be the church in a world that is pushing Christianity into
the margins of life we must remember that we are still called to be “the salt
of the earth” and the “light of the world.” (Matthew 5:14) This has always been one of God’s purposes
for His people: to be the example for all the world to see; to be the lighthouse,
the beacon of hope guiding the world to Him, to His PEACE.
Jerusalem
in Hebrew is Yerushalayim and is
broken down into two words; Yeru
meaning “you will see,” and shalayim,
or shalom meaning the peace of
God. Jerusalem was always meant to be
the place where all the world could see the peace of God. We read in John 14 where Jesus tells the
disciples that He is leaving them, but that He is sending the advocate, the
comforter, the guide. We learn that He
is sending the Holy Spirit. And in verse
27 we read “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. . .” In
this way we can see that as true authentic Christ-followers who are filled by
the Holy Spirit, the Ruach Hakadesh,
then we are to be like Yerushalayim
allowing those around us to see “the peace of God” in us. We need to ask ourselves “Do those around me
see and experience the peace of God that is in me? Am I guiding others to respond in God’s peace
in a world rooted in chaos. When we look
at the pictures that make up the word shalom,
we can see that shalom/Peace destroys
the authority that is attached to chaos.
The more shalom we bring to the
world, the quicker we will attain completion and true everlasting peace. Shalom
is more than a greeting to be used whenever we cross each other’s paths. Shalom
is a gift from the Creator.
The
ultimate gift is our salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. With this ultimate gift comes the ultimate
gift of peace within us and amongst us.
This gift is given to us from the Ruach
Hakadesh, the Holy Spirit and is named by Paul as one of the fruits of the
Spirit in Galatians 5. Let us remember
that the Holy Spirit is our direct line to experiencing God’s peace in every
situation. And if the chaotic emotions
of fear, anxiety, worry and doubt have taken up residency in your mind, then it
is time to give them an eviction notice and allow God’s Peace to move in!
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