House of Shalom | Part 3
RECAP / INTRO
Let me give you an example of what SHALOM is not:
SHALOM is a state of being (completeness, wholeness)
Life is complex with many different parts:
Relationships
Work / Money
Physical Health
Emotional Health
Energy / Strength
SHALOM is that state of being (completeness, wholeness) when all those pieces are in alignment, working together as they should.
From Tom’s first sermon:
“SHALOM is like a house.”
“We are invited to go to this house.”
“In the house of shalom, fear & anxiety are not allowed to come in.”
“In the house of shalom, shame is not allowed to come in.”
John 14:27 | “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.
Jesus leaves His disciples with peace (Shalom).
And then He commands them not to allow their hearts to be worried or afraid.
“Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.”
How can He command this?
Doesn't this just seem impossible?
Without the Holy Spirit, it is impossible.
It is impossible to be anxious or afraid when we possess the peace of Christ.
1 John 4:18 | There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment.
Where did Jesus get His peace from?
From God, His heavenly Father
How does He maintain that perfect peace (completeness, wholeness, SHALOM) as He walks this earth & lives for those thirty-something years?
Jesus had this kind of peace bc He KNEW…100%...that the Creator and Sustainer of all things, the God of the universe was His Father, & that He loved Him very much!
& He knew His Father wasn’t going to let ANYTHING happen to Him that wasn’t a perfect part of His perfect plan
& this is the very same peace that we now have access to bc we have the Holy Spirit inside of us…
Bc we are sons & daughters of the One true God.
God loves us!
He’s got our back! NO. MATTER. WHAT.
How can we have SHALOM even in suffering?
John 16:33 | I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
Jesus makes it clear. We will experience suffering in this world.
But Jesus also promises that “in Him” we may have peace.
All of us will suffer in this life.
Suffering is coming.
We expect it bc we wanna live in reality.
But what does Jesus say immediately after that?
Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
Jesus commands us to “Be courageous!”
Bc even tho, in this world we WILL have suffering…
We can take heart & be courageous…
bc Jesus has conquered this world filled with brokenness & suffering
So what does it look like for us to be courageous while suffering?
How can we experience Shalom while we suffer?
1 Peter 1:6-7 | Rejoice in this fact, that even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
How can we be courageous in the face of suffering?
WE REJOICE!
We get inside the House of Shalom where Jesus wants to meet with us…
& we rejoice!
Mandalorian episode from this week:
The Forge is the heart of Mandalorian culture
Just as we shape steel, we are being shaped ourselves.
Everyone starts out as “raw ore”
Then we are refined ourselves through trials and adversity
“The Forge can reveal weaknesses.”
1 Peter 1:3-7 (MSG) | What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole. I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it’s your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.
God is going to put us on display!
1 Peter 1:8-9 | Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
James 1:2-4 | Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.
Endurance: the fact or power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way.
Sufferance
Fortitude
Forbearance
Perseverance
Grit
the ability to withstand hardship or adversity
Do you wanna be able to last? To finish your race well?
Do you wanna be able to withstand anything that comes at you in this life?
Don’t you wanna be mature? Complete? Lacking nothing?
(completeness/Wholeness = sounds like Shalom to me)
So when suffering comes we run as quickly as possible to the House of Shalom…
& we count it all joy!
We consider it joy!
We REJOICE!
Romans 5:3-5 | …we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
As we suffer…& then rejoice in our sufferings…
More & more hope is produced in us.
More & more assurance
We are able to receive more & more the beautiful love of God toward us…
Which makes us more complete…more whole.
We have more SHALOM even in suffering.
This is my HOUSE OF SHALOM verse:
Isaiah 26:3-4 (ESV)
3 You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.