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PEACE AND YOUR PERSPECTIVE
A. Introduction: We are considering what the Bible has to say about how to have peace of mind. All of us
long for peace in our mind and thankfully, peace is one of God’s greatest promises to His people. But how
much peace we experience is connected to our perspective, our view of reality, or the way we see things.
1. We live in a world that is filled with all sorts of circumstances and events that rob us of peace of mind.
But it’s not what you see that determines how much peace you have. It’s how you see what you see.
a. In every circumstance and situation, there is always more to reality (the way things really are) than
what you can see and feel in the moment. If you can learn to see things the way they really are
according to God, then you will have peace of mind.
1. God’s Word shows us reality, the way things really are. The Bible reveals God as He truly is
and ourselves as we truly are in relation to Him.
2. God’s Word helps us see our circumstances in terms of who He is and what He has done, is
doing, and will do. And this gives us peace of mind.
b. This is reality: Nothing can come against you that is bigger than God. This is reality: God is
with you and for you, working out His plans and purposes. This is reality: God will get you
through whatever you are facing until He gets you out.
2. God tells His people in His Word that we need to renew our minds or change the way we that we think:
Rom 12:2—Be transformed by the renewing of your mind (NKJV).
a. We’ve made the point in previous lessons that there are two aspects to renewing your mind. One
involves changing your perspective, which takes some time and effort. The other involves getting
control of your thoughts and emotions in the moment while your perspective is changing.
b. For a number of weeks we’ve been focusing on getting control of your thoughts and emotions by
praising God. In tonight’s lesson we’re going to add to our discussion changing your perspective.
B. The night before Jesus was crucified, as He prepared His apostles for the fact that He was soon going to leave
them and return to Heaven, He promised to give them peace.
1. John 14:27—Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world
gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid—stop allowing
yourselves to be agitated and disturbed (Amp).
a. This world gives us peace of mind, but only when everything is going well. That peace doesn’t last
because circumstances continually change.
1. The peace Jesus gives is not dependent on what we see and feel, but on reality as it truly it,
which never changes. God’s peace passes understanding because it comes from knowing who
He is and what He promises to do in your circumstances—despite how things look and feel.
2. The peace Jesus gives is not automatic. We must learn to stop ourselves from being agitated
and disturbed by fixing our attention on reality as it truly is according to God.
b. Jesus went on to say: I have told you these things so that in Me you may have perfect peace and
confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good
cheer—take courage, be confident, certain, undaunted—for I have overcome the world.—I have
deprived it of power to harm, have conquered it [for you] (John 16:33, Amp).
1. Note that Jesus said He gives us peace through His Word. This is one reason why we need to
be regular Bible readers and get good teaching from the Bible.
2. Then Jesus told us why we can have the kind of peace that gives us confidence even when we
are facings the troubles and challenges of this life. We can have peace because He has
overcome the world. Jesus has robbed the world of its power to harm us.
2. It’s obvious that all kinds of things hurt and harm people in this world (including dedicated and sincere
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followers of Jesus). We need to talk about what Jesus meant by His statement.
a. When Jesus said this He just hours away from fulfilling the purpose for which He came into this
world. He is going to overcome the world by abolishing death through His death and resurrection,
b. Death is the common, irreversible enemy of all humanity (I Cor 15:26). Everyone dies. It’s just a
question of when and how. Death isn’t part of God’s plan; He didn’t create any living thing to die.
c. Death is present in creation because of sin. Almighty God told our first parents, Adam and Eve,
that if you sin you will die (Gen 2:17). When they disobeyed God, a curse of corruption and death
entered the entire material, physical creation, both humanity and the earth itself.
1. Rom 5:12—When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. His sin spread death
throughout all the world, so that everything began to grow old and die, for all sinned (TLB).
2. Every problem, pain, hurt, loss, and injustice that we face in this world is a lesser form of death,
and is ultimately a consequence of sin—not necessarily your sin, but Adam’s.
3. God created human beings to become His sons and daughters who live with Him forever in loving
fellowship and relationship. But all have chosen independence from God through sin and are cut off
from God, cut off from the life in Him, and disqualified for His family. The result of this is death.
a. There is more to death than death of the body. There is an ultimate death called spiritual death.
Spiritual death is separation from God who is life. The Bible calls men who are alive physically,
but cut off from God because of their sin, dead. Eph 2:1; Eph 2:5; Eph 4:18
b. No one ceases to exist when they die. From the moment of conception in a mother’s womb, that
person will never cease to be. Note what happens at physical death.
1. Human beings have an outward or physical portion and an inward or immaterial portion to their
makeup (II Cor 4:16). At death, the inward and outward parts separate. The body returns to
dust and the inward portion passes into another dimension. II Cor 5:6; Phil 1:23; Luke 16:19-31
2. If a person lived in relationship with God through faith in Jesus in this life, he (minus his body)
passes into Heaven. If he lived separated from God in this life (or was spiritually dead) that
separation continues, and he passes into a place of eternal separation from God called Hell.
4. Jesus came into this world to abolish death in all its forms. Jesus is God become man without ceasing
to be God. Jesus took on a human nature (incarnated) and was born into this world so that He could
destroy death by dying as a sacrifice for sin.
a. Through His death and resurrection Jesus opened the way for us to be restored to God who is Life—
(Jesus) died for sinners that he might bring us safely home to God (I Pet 3:18, NLT).
b. Jesus joined us in death to take us through death and bring us out of death: We are people of flesh
and blood. That is why Jesus became one of us. He died to destroy the devil, who had power over
death. But he also died to rescue all of us who live each day in fear of dying (Heb 2:14-15, CEV).
1. You might be thinking: Fear of death is not my greatest fear. In fact, I don’t think about
death very much. However, at the root of every fear is fear of death because every problem we
face is a lesser form of death.
2. Why is it that you are anxious and fearful when you can’t pay your bills? It’s because if you
don’t have money, you can’t get food and shelter, and you could end up homeless and starving
until you finally die.
5. To appreciate the power in Jesus’ statement that He has overcome the world, we need to know that there
is more to life than just this life. And, the greater part of our existence is in the life after this life.
a. Compared to eternity, this life is a blink of an eye, a vapor. James 4:14—What is the nature of your
life? You are [really] but a wisp of vapor—a puff of smoke, a mist—that is visible for a little while
and then disappears [into thin air] (James Amp).
b. Jesus did not die to make this life the highlight of our existence. He died to provide us with
ultimate victory—victory over death in all its forms, a victory that will last forever.
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1. When Jesus returns resurrection of the dead will take place. Resurrection of the dead is the
reuniting of our inward part and outward portions that were separated at death.
2. Our bodies will be raised from the grave and made immortal and incorruptible (no longer
subject to sickness, infirmity, old age, or death). We’ll be reunited with our body so we can
live on earth again after God frees it from the corruption and death that infused it when Adam
sinned (lessons for another day). No more death or sorrow or crying or pain. Rev 21:4
6. After our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned God immediately began to reveal His plan to undo the
damage done. He promised that there was coming the Seed of the woman, a Redeemer, who would
deliver the world from the death that permeates all of creation because of sin. Gen 3:15
a. The Seed is Jesus and the woman is Mary (Gal 3:16; Gal 4:4-5). Down through the centuries, God
progressively revealed more details about His plan to recover His family through Jesus until Jesus
came into this world. We are part of this plan, and it’s bigger than us and our short lifetime.
b. The concept of resurrection of the dead was known in the early days of mankind on earth. Note a
statement in the Book of Job. Job’s story dates back to 2000-1800 BC.
1. Job 19:25-26—For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
After my skin has thus been destroyed, yet in I flesh I shall see God (ESV).
2. Jesus was born into a culture that was looking for and expecting resurrection of the dead. One
of the titles He gave Himself during His earth ministry was: I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live (John 11:25, NKJV).
7. Paul the apostle, in a letter to the church in the Greek city of Corinth, wrote a lengthy passage about
resurrection of the dead (I Cor 15:12-54). He concluded by stating that when Jesus comes again:
a. I Cor 15:52-53—Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we
who are living will be transformed so that we will never die. For our perishable earthly bodies must
be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die (NLT).
b. I Cor 15:54-56—Then at last the Scriptures will come true: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O
death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (I Cor 15: 54-56, NLT). Thanks be to
God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (I Cor 15:57, NKJV).
1. The victory Jesus gives is resurrection from the dead, and it will be a fulfillment of a prophecy
given to Isaiah the prophet seven hundred years earlier. Let’s get the context of the prophecy.
2. Isa 25:6-8—(In that day) the Lord almighty will spread a wonderful feast for everyone around
the world. It will be a delicious feast of good food, with clear, well-aged wine and choice
beef. In that day he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the
earth. He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears (NLT).
c. I Cor 15:56—Sin is what gives death its sting. Death has power because men are guilty of sin and
under its dominion. Jesus paid for our sin through His death on the Cross so that we can be released
from the guilt and penalty of sin (death in all its forms) and have unending life with Him. That is
ultimate victory. That is what He means by: I have overcome the world.
C. Conclusion: Jesus’ statement about overcoming the world brings up an important issue we must address
because people have misunderstood it to mean no more problems for us. Or any that we face will be short
lived and we will come out the victor in every circumstance.
1. The fact that Jesus has overcome the world does not mean we’ll have no more trouble or that success in
life is guaranteed for us. Remember, Jesus said that we will have trials and tribulation. Overcoming
the world means that nothing can permanently harm us because there is more to life than just this life.
a. Remember that God is working out a plan that began with His first promise of a coming Redeemer.
Jesus’ death and resurrection initiated the process of reclaiming God’s creation (humanity and the
earth) from the curse of corruption and death. The plan will culminate with His second coming.
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1. Right now, we still live in hostile territory, and the curse of corruption and death caused by sin
has not yet been removed. Things wear out and break. People hurt us. Events happen that
change our lives in negative ways, events that we have no control over and can’t undo. Loved
ones die. Therefore, life in a fallen world is still very difficult.
2. The devil has been defeated through the Cross but not yet subjugated (removed from all contact
with God’s family and the family home). He causes chaos by working through people who are
under his influence and control, and he tries to weaken our trust in God in the midst of troubles.
b. Jesus, through His resurrection victory, deprived the world of power to permanently harm us. He
is greater than the effects of sin and the resulting death it has produced—every problem, pain, loss,
disappointment, every fractured family and unfulfilled dream. Even death can’t stop God’s plan.
2. This is why developing an eternal perspective is so critical—realizing and living with the awareness that
there is more to life than just this life. This perspective lightens the load of life’s challenges.
a. Even if our troubles last a lifetime they will come to an end, and in comparison to forever and what
is ahead, they are nothing—the joy of reunion and restoration, the thrill of seeing Jesus face to face,
the reality that nothing can ever again harm or hurt us. Rom 8:18
b. This perspective gives us peace of mind in the midst of life’s unavoidable problems, challenges, and
hardships. Paul, in the context of the many trials he faced, wrote:
1. Our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us an
immeasurably great glory that will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see
right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will
soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever (II Cor 4:17-18, NLT).
2. Paul used a Greek word for look that means more than seeing with your physical eyes. It
means to mentally consider. In other words, Paul set his mind and thoughts on what is ahead.
c. For a Christian, overcoming is a perspective that is based on what Jesus did for us through His death
and resurrection. We live with the awareness that because of what He has done, nothing can
permanently harm us. All loss is temporary, and God will get us through whatever we have to face.
3. God’s motive behind creation and redemption (delivering us from sin and death) was and is love. His
plan for each of us is bigger than this life. It began in before time began and will last forever.
a. Eph 1:4-5—Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be
holy and without fault in His eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own
family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure (NLT).
b. II Tim 1:9—It is God who saved us and chose us to live a holy life. He did this not because we
deserved it, but because that was his plan long before the world began—to show his love and
kindness to us through Christ Jesus (NLT).
c. I John 4:9-10—God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that
we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he
loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins (NLT).
4. God’s love has made us victors in every circumstance. Although we can’t stop life’s troubles right now,
life’s troubles can’t stop God’s ultimate plan for us. Note Paul’s description of an eternal perspective.
a. Overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can
ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons
can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep
God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all
creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our
Lord (Rom 8:37-39, NLT).
b. An eternal perspective gives you peace of mind no matter what you face in life because you live with
the awareness that it’s temporary and what is ahead outshines this vapor of life. More next week!!
