This title may be a bit confusing. You may be thinking, “shouldn’t be the gift of the Gospel?” Yeah, that’s an accurate title because the gospel is a gift in itself. But, looking at it more and more, you realize that it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

Embedded in the Gospel are at least 3 other gifts. Those gifts are peace, purpose, & passion. We can go on and on really and see much more, today we will look at Peace, and in the coming days, look at the other gifts of the Gospel. 

Peace

Romans 5:1

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Through the Gospel, we realize a great peace. This is not the peace of God, but peace with God.

The bible says that in our sin, we’re in active rebellion from God. We are his enemies. But Through Christ the relationship is restored perfectly.  Without Christ, we are separated from God. That separation brings us great anxiety within us as well. 

Peace within ourselves

These days the term mental health is very popular. People are so anxious, nervous. Ultimately this is because our relationship with God is broken. So we are anxious and have no peace.

When we realize our sin, we can find the solution in Jesus and we experience peace. 

This means you are humbled by God’s love for such a horrible sinner like yourself, but also greatly confident because of his love. You can’t feel like a better person than anyone else, but you also are free’d to not care about being better than anyone else. Because only his love can really validate you. 

This is deep peace within us. But there’s more to this. The Gospel gives us opportunity to have Peace with others

Naturally, if we now have peace with God, peace within ourselves

Peace with others should come, too. 

Romans 3:22-24

22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

If we ever want to have world peace, the world has to trust in Jesus. 

In the US where I live, racism is a popular topic. People are crying out for justice. And this is good. We should see that there is something really messed up with the world. 

But if our pursuits for justice are not motivated by the truth, they will always be biased. 

It’s dangerous to try to fix life without God. As we try to fix the issues between people, it’s like a kid breaking something and trying to fix it.

Imagine a child climbing up on a counter to get cookies from a cookie jar. But they knock it over, the glass is everywhere. But they still try to clean it up all by themselves to stay out of trouble.

As sinners, we will always be blinded by our own selfishness. We will always look at sin and think it’s a problem with other people. So even if we do address their behavior, even if we overthrow the current powers, even if we bring people to justice, the underlying issue- sin- will not be addressed. 

But if we really grasp this fact that we are all sinners who need to be saved,  this is when we can have peace with one another. 

David once said Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction” Psalm 2:12 

God is angry because he loves us so much and we reject him. We can’t love God till we know how much he loves us, and we can’t love others till we know how much he loves us.  

We are broken and worthy of condemnation, but in our brokenness, we break one another. 

Even the Jews, the chosen people, they used the law as a weapon against others. 

But what does God say?

Romans 3:21-22

21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,

Amen!. This is God’s word, and after we receive this truth 

Now that we have peace with God, we can have peace with others as well. How can we really believe what the word says about us, and other humans and then feel superior in any way?

The Gospel brings peace in these ways. Paul, the author of Romans could testify to that as he was changed from a hateful person persecuting the church, to one of the powerful examples of God’s work in building it. Next week, through his life how it also gives us the gift of purpose, too.