How To Achieve Peace Of Mind
From Gospel Minutes Nov. 11, 1984
INTRODUCTION
I. Life is not always easy - in fact it can be difficult.
II. There are many things that can occupy our thoughts that cause us to
have an uneasiness of mind.
A. Concerns about money, health, war, peer acceptance, loneliness,
aging, death, and dozens of other things.
B. But, until we have it, we all continue to search for the thing we
call "peace of mind".
1. Finding it is not easy -few find it.
2. Some don't know how to obtain it, so to get relief from the
world's problems they turn to:
a. Liquor, drugs, elicit sex, or other forms of self-indulgence's.
b. Others try to hide from themselves in their work or in recreation.
c. Many simply try to hide the problems within and carry the load
with them.
1) When they do this often the tension mounts to the point that
they need professional help.
2) There are more psychiatrists in some cities than plumbers! Progress
III. Peace is Available
A. The answer to finding peace comes from "the prince of Peace" - Jesus.
B. He left his peace with us: "My peace I leave with you" - John 4:27
C. The Lord offers us peace when we are burdened and cry for help.
1. But there is something for us to do to have peace of mind.
2. We all know that just being baptized and attending the services regularly
won't bring lasting peace.
a) Takes more than that.
b) We must resolve to DO the will of the Lord (as we learn).
1) We've heard this many times so let's look at in a little
different way as we try to bring it down to specifics.
IV. Our lesson today will be a discussion of a MOTTO, by which,
if we live, we can obtain peace of mind.
A. It goes like this: "God being my helper, in a world of needy people,
I resolve to will myself to be responsible, to face reality, to do
what I ought to do, and to like it."
B. To live by this will bring peace of mind, and as we study each part
we hope you will see WHY, and if you do not have peace of mind
we hope you will profit from this study.
BODY
I. "God Being My Helper".
A. This is where we must begin.
1. We must accept that God is our creator and that He knows what
is best for us.
2. Just as the automobile maker knows the needs of the car he makes,
God is our maker and knows our needs.
a. I cannot achieve peace of mind by myself, I must have the help
of my creator: "The way of man is not in himself, it is not in man
that walketh to direct his own steps" - Jer. 10:23
b. The auto makers manual tells me how to care for my auto to get
optimum performance.
1) My makers manual (Bible) tells me how to live to achieve the
purposes for which I was created.
2) Only when I trust in God and look to Him for guidance
can I find the peace He wants me to have.
B. "God being my helper".
1. Too many expect God to do it all, and some even put
the blame on God for their anxieties.
a. One filled with self pity said, "I've prayed and prayed, but things
get no better".
b. But there is a simple truth we need to learn:
God will not do for us what we can do for ourselves!
1) He told Noah to build an ark, not because God couldn't
do it, but because Noah needed the sense of
responsibility the work would bring.
2) What the Lord requires of us is "for our good always" (Deu. 6:24)
and when He promises us peace of mind, He also reveals
what we are to do to achieve it.
i. "Faith without works is dead" (Jas. 2:26), and when we expect
God to give us peace without our doing anything, we are
doomed to continued frustration.
2. God will help us, but He won't do for us what we are capable of doing.
a. I believe in prayer, but He won't do for us what we are capable of doing.
b. Instead of just praying for peace of mind, we must do the things
that bring that peace.
1) God will be our helper.
2) But He will not do it for us.
II. "In A World Of Needy People"
A. No man is an island.
1. We are social creatures who depend upon others for survival,
purpose and satisfaction.
a. Look around you and you will see people who have problems,
just as you do.
b. We can't do like Cain and say, "Am I my brother's keeper?",
because we are!
1) The liberty we have in Christ is not a freedom from
responsibility to those about us.
2) In the middle of the chapter, which Paul wrote on the subject of
liberty, he said, "None liveth to himself, none dieth to himself" (Rom. 14:7)
2. As we seek after peace of mind, it must be with the realization that
others have needs, and we must make the personal commitment to
serve them.
B. When Jesus was asked about the "great and first commandment"
(Lk. 10), He replied, "Love God".
1. He then added a second, "Love thy neighbor as..."
a. When asked, "Who is my neighbor?" the Lord replied with the
story in Luke 10:30-37.
b. A man going from Jerusalem to Jericho was attacked by thieves
who left him nearly dead; a priest saw him and passed by; a
Levite saw him and passed by; then a Samaritan stopped and
ministered to him.
1) Jesus then asked, "Which one was neighbor to him?".
2) The answer was, and is, obvious.
2. But what about this question: Which one do you suppose was a man
who had peace of mind?
3. We cannot ignore the cries of those about us who are hurting and still
have peace of mind.
C. We need to recognize that the blessings we have received from God
make us debtors to those who are less fortunate.
1. Paul wrote, "I am a debtor both to the GK. and to the barbarian;
both to the wise, and to the foolish" - Rom. 1:14.
a. The same principle works with us.
b. We receive from God in order to help others.
1) That's why we are told to "work that which is good toward all
men" (Gal. 6:10).
2. If we "stop our ears at the cry of the poor" (Prov. 21:13), we shall
cry and God will refuse to listen to us.
3. If we have peace within, we must seek to bring it into the lives of
others.
III. "I Resolve To Will Myself"
A. This one is hard! "I resolve".
B. This means that I make up my mind, I decide, I determine what I am
going to do.
C. Any sinner who comes to Jesus must "resolve" to live differently then
he has been living.
1. This is basically what repentance is (add godly sorrow).
2. Jesus said, "Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish."
3. People in Jerusalem were told to repent (Acts 2:38), and Paul told
the Athenians that "God commandeth all men everywhere to repent."
(Acts 17:30).
4. Unless there is a definite resolve we can never achieve or
accomplish anything worthwhile.
D. A great example of firm resolution under difficult circumstances is
found in Luke 15:11-32.
1. Jesus tells the story of the young man who left his father's house,
took all of his inheritance, and wasted it all in sinful living in a far
country.
2. When his money played out his friends then turned from him, a
famine came and he was reduced to a beggar.
a. Finally he got a job working on a hog farm.
b. For a Jew, there could be no worse job on earth!
1) But in that hog pen, Jesus said, "He came to himself".
2) He had been, as we would say, "out of his head" (takes
something drastic sometimes...).
3) But when he came to himself, he said, "I will arise and go to my
father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against
heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called your
son! Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and
came to his father".
a) We don't know how long the trip was, his mode of travel, nor
what his accommodations were.
b) It may have been that he slept in a ditch with his head laying on
a stone, but whatever...no doubt he got the best nights sleep that
he had had in a long time, because he had resolved to go home!
3. It is one thing to resolve, it is another to carry through and do what is
resolved.
a. Here is where our will comes in.
b. If I am to have peace of mind, I cannot do everything I want to; I
must make myself do some things that are not too pleasant at the time.
1) Paul spoke of this in 1 Cor. 9:27: "I buffet my body, and bring it
under bondage".
2) So must we.
3) As long as a person indulges himself in any form of worldliness he
will not achieve peace of mind, and he shouldn't!
a) That is what a conscience is for.
b) And until we are able to will ourselves to a course of action that
we know is right we can never achieve that peace of mind which
God wants for us and that every man should want.
IV. I Resolve...To Be Responsible
A. God will provide what we need in the doing of His will as we seek to
fulfill his purpose for our lives.
1. But He will not do for us what He tells us to do.
2. From the beginning, God has given man resp.
a. Adam was put in the garden of Eden to "dress the garden and keep
it" - Gen. 2:15.
b. In saving Noah, God told Noah to build the ark; God didn't do it for
him.
3. Only when we have something worthwhile to do, and are busy doing
it, can we find purpose in life.
a. Man's purpose is summed up in Eccle. 12:13: "Fear God and keep
his commandments, for this is the whole duty of men."
b. It is only through such usefulness that we can achieve peace of mind.
B. God expressed His approval of Abraham in these words:
"For I know him, that he will command his children and his household
after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord" - Gen. 18:19.
1. God knew that Abraham would meet his responsibility.
2. The employee who fails to do faithfully the work for which he/she is
paid is going to be concerned about his/her job, and should!
3. The husband who cheats on his wife is in constant fear of being caught.
4. Children who disobey dread the time when parents find out
(If parents punish...).
5. In every realm of life, responsibility is demanded.
C. The apostle Paul paid a very high compliment to Christians at Phi. when
he wrote: "Ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now
much more in my absence" (2:12)
1. When they were given a job, they did it.
2. When the Lord gave a commandment, they obeyed it.
D. Look at Paul, did he have peace of mind?
1. He made the statement, "For me to live is Christ, to die is gain..." (Phi. 1:21)
2. And, "For I know whom I have ..." (2 Tim. 1:12).
a. What gave Paul such assurance?
b. Because he lived for Christ, and was faithful to Him, he had peace
with Christ and peace with himself or "peace of mind".
V. I Resolve...To Face Reality"
A. We do not live in a dream world, nor can we find true peace of mind
in such.
1. To try to escape into an imaginary world where all is fun and no
problems
to plague us will leave us worse than before.
2. The Lord lived in this world, with all of its trials and temptations, and
He shows us how to face it.
a. He was "despised and rejected of men" but he persevered in living a
sinless and productive life.
b. He warned the disciples, "If ye were of the world, the world would
live its own, but because ye are not of the world, but I chose you out
of the world, therefore the world hateth you" - Jn. 15:19.
1) No one wants to be disliked, we want to be loved.
2) But we must recognize that, no matter how hard we try, some will
not like us.
a) Instead of allowing the dislike, distrust and disapproval of some to
cause anxiety, we must face the reality that some won't like us.
b) Some didn't like Christ! and we certainly are not going to live better....
B. The apostle Paul strived constantly to keep a clear conscience "void of
offense toward God and man" - Acts 24:16.
1. When some were ready to kill him, he said, "I have lived before God in all good conscience" - Acts 23:1
2. If he would have peace of mind, he must first seek to have peace with God.
a. That, in turn, would lead to seeking peace with men.
b. But God came first, and He must come first with us.
c. We cannot be true to others until we are first true to ourselves and to God.
C. There will be sickness, grief, betrayal and even death come to all of us and
our loved ones.
1. Prepare for it before it comes, and face it when it does.
2. We cannot have peace of mind until we face life, with all of it problems.
VI. "I Resolve...To Do What I Ought To Do"
A. The self-indulgent can never achieve real peace of mind.
1. Peace comes from doing what we ought to do, not what we want to do.
2. Jesus Christ is "the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey
him" - Heb. 5:9.
a. As long as a person is doing his own will instead of the will of the
Lord, he will not achieve peace of mind.
b. And he shouldn't!
c. No matter how much "fun" he is having, or how much money he is
making, failure to do what he should will trouble his thoughts and
dreams constantly.
d. We read that "even Jesus pleased not himself" - Rom 15:3.
e. He stated His purpose on earth in these words, "I am come down from
heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me"
(Jn. 6:38).
B. We cannot compromise with wrong and still have peace.
1. I read about a fellow who wrote an anonymous letter to the IRS:
"Dear Sirs: Enclosed find $200 cash. I cheated on my income tax last
year, and it has been bothering me. I'm' sure you could never discover
my cheating, so there is no need to apply this to my record. Just apply it
anywhere." Then added, "P.S. If I still can't sleep, I'll send the rest of it".
a. I seriously doubt if he slept any better, don't you?
b. But that attitude too often works in us.
1) We know that God has a right to our lives, our time, our ability - all
that we have and are.
i. But we "hold back" from fully committing ourselves to Him and
His service.
2) The prodigal son (Lk 15) could find no peace until he did what he
knew he should.
3) To do what violates our principles, or fail to do what we should,
will make us miserable.
4) We can never have peace of mind until we do what we ought to do.
VII. "I Resolve...And To Like It
A. This is what puts it all together.
1. Too often we equate happiness with good things happening to us.
2. But real happiness, and peace of mind, is not based on that.
3. In the sermon on the Mt. Jesus gave the beatitudes, each of which
begins, "Blessed are the.." (Matt. 5).
a. Many versions read, "Happy are the..." for the idea is the same.
b. He then names those that are happy: "The poor in spirit, they that
mourn, the meek, they that hunger and thirst for righteousness, the
merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted".
1) We would say, (for some of these at least) that these people would
be miserable, or they ought to be!
2) But the Lord knows better.
3) Happiness is not dependent upon not having trials and troubles, but
in responding properly to the trials that come to us.
c. Too many people are searching vainly for happiness, when happiness
cannot be found.
1) It is created within each of us as we fulfill our God-given purpose.
2) And happiness is not created by what happens to us or around us,
but what is within us.
B. The apostle Paul had problems.
1. He names many of his afflictions and trials in 2 Cor. 11:23-28, then
adds, "There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Saten
to buffet me" - 2 Cor. 12:7.
a. But he also wrote, "I have learned, in whatever state I am, therein to
be content" - Phi. 4:11.
b. Paul had peace of mind, not because everything around him was the
way he wanted it, but because he was right with God and right with
himself.
2. Paul, who recognized that we all have problems, wrote: "Rejoice in the Lord always...In nothing be anxious; but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made unto
God. And the peace of God, which passeth understanding, shall guard
your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus" - Phi. 4:6-7
CONCLUSION
I. Do you really want peace of mind?
II. There is no shortcut and it is not cheap.
A. But it can be yours if you are willing to pay the price.
B. The cost is not that high when you consider the alternative.
III. God being my helper,
in a world of needy people,
I resolve to will myself to be responsible,
to face reality,
to do what I ought to do,
and to like it.
IV. Live by that, and "the peace of God..." is yours.
V. If you need to be baptized to have...why not do it...
VI. If you are a Christian but have not been faithful, not being responsible and
you have resolved to change - repent...
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