Nathan E. Lewis

“The Gift of Inner Peace”
Presented by Nathan E. Lewis
at the annual, Faith PCA, WIC Christmas Brunch
at the Tacoma Club, December 11, 2004

Hi, I’m Nathan Lewis, a recovering worrywart, peace monger, and eager rabble-rouser. I have been asked to present to you today some insight on “The Gift of Inner Peace.?? I suspect that someone here discovered my particular sins and frailties in this area of my life and assigned to me this topic, as a middle-school teacher would do for one of her troubled students. In other words, I am speaking to the topic today, not because I am an expert by knowledge or experience, but rather for my own maturation in this particular field.
I am only a small part of the peace problem in our present world. We have left the 20th Century in the dust yet her wars, genocide, tyrants, and social unrest still haunt us. We have lived in the supposed postmodern world now for more than 30 years. Like a mantra we hear our generations chant, “’Peace, peace,’ where there is no peace.??
Bono sings,
Heaven on Earth
We need it now
I’m sick of all of this
Hanging around
Sick of sorrow
Sick of pain
Sick of hearing again and again
That there’s gonna be
Peace on Earth….

In 1994 K&M Books published Alan Morrison’s The Serpent and the Cross, which documents the coming of the Age of Aquarius, the reprise of Gnosticism in the form of the New Age, ushering us into a Post-Christian era. He writes about “Harmonic Convergence,?? the psychic energy to produce all of the promises of the Age of Aquarius. Among the promises is worldwide peace, which springs from individual inner peace. The logic of “Harmonic Convergence,?? is this: What if everyone, or at least a critical mass of people in the world, thought about peace all at the same time? The compound effect of that energy of thought toward peace would produce a global peace unparalleled in history.
The Dali Lama has published his Essential Teachings of His Holiness the Dali Lama. Among the 37 practices of bodhisattva is #20, which speaks of the powerful impact of peace in the life of one individual. “Unless the aggression of our inner adversaries ceases, the more we fight them, the more they multiply similarly, until we have mastered our own mind, negative forces will invade us. To discipline the mind through love and compassion is a practice of the bodhisattva…. If no one attempts to bring about peace, conflicts worsen. But a single calm and peaceful person can bring about much peace. Free of internal agitation, we can discuss things effectively and in this way find solutions. We must calm this inner agitation that always comes from an emotion brought about by attachment, aversion, or desire. To master one’s mind is a practice of bodhisattva.??
In 1963, Western Civilization was given Science of Being and Art of Living: Transcendental Meditation by His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. His basic philosophy of peace is that it springs from human freedom and happiness, which are the products of the state of Being. “This permanent infusion of the absolute bliss consciousness establishes the mind in the state of everlasting freedom, and, the mind identifies itself with the objects of experience or with the activity, Being and the freedom, which cannot be obstructed or overshadowed by any state of experience, activity or passivity, of the relative existence. Thus freedom in life belongs to the field of Being. It can only be established through the practice of Transcendental Meditation…The basis of peace is bliss. Unless one is happy, he cannot be in peace. Peace without real lasting happiness is passivity. When one sleeps at night he feels absence of activity. This is called peace. But when he wakes up in the morning and comes into the field of thought, speech, and activity, he begins to feel miserable again. The peace felt by the absence of activity is not lasting. The only golden gate to peace in life is the experience of transcendental bliss consciousness. Therefore, someone with peace at heart naturally vibrates peace and harmony to influence the whole universe.??
Whether or not one individual or a harmonic conversion of millions of individuals sends vibes around the globe, the peace offered by some of the more popular religions of our generation, is a peace manufactured by human energies.
One of the more irenic religions, the Baha’i Faith, has emerged out of the strife and tyranny of Islam. In 1850 the Bab was executed and his followers scattered. Upon his death he predicted that one would come who would found a universal religion of peace quite different from Islam, the religion of strife. This leader was none other than Baha’u’llah. Lewis Hopfe, in his Religions of the World textbook published by Macmillan places the Baha’i in the final chapter signifying his bias that this religion is the most developed in peacefully gathering together humanity. The main teachings of Baha’i are as follows: 1) The oneness of the entire race; 2) independent search for truth unfettered by superstition or tradition; 3) basic unity of all religions; 4) condemnation of all forms of prejudice; 5) Harmony between science and religion; 6) equality of men and women; 7) Compulsory education must prevail; 8) universal language must be pursued; 9) extremes of wealth and poverty must be abolished; 10) a world tribunal must be instituted; 11) service must be exalted to the rank of worship; 12) Justice must be glorified as the ruling principle of social peace; 13) the supreme goal of humanity is permanent and universal peace.
In a day when it is politically correct to speak of Islam as a peace-loving religion, we must remember the birth of Baha’i. Then we must honestly assess Baha’i. While it is intent upon establishing and enjoying peace, it nevertheless supplies nothing more than the conventional wisdom that peace is humanly manufactured in the inner-self and hopefully that it produces a universal impact through the gathering together of a critical mass of individuals.
We are four years past the dawning of the Age of Aquarius and we have yet to experience this worldwide peace promised. How long must we wait into the 21st Century until this universal peace comes? The worldwide famous Depak Chopra blames the Christian Church along with all religious fundamentalism for the tardiness of this universal peace: “We live in some of the worst turbulence in the world. There has been a resurgence of religious Fundamentalism, violence, terrorism, bigotry, racism, ethno- centrism and prejudice.?? Chopra teaches us all how we might achieve inner peace: “I experience complete stillness where I am an unbounded, unconditioned, omnipresent field of awareness that transcends space and time…a level of being at which you are in touch with the cosmic computer…. Meditation takes a person to the level of spirit beyond the mind….You actually have the direct knowledge that you’re not in your body and you’re not in your mind: you’re beyond both.??
What does Chopra add to the world’s advice and teaching on acquiring peace? He offers a Hindu spin on the teaching we have already discovered: this humanly manufactured peace is achieved only when human energies are channeled to aid the individual in escaping his own body, spirit, and mind! “Peace, peace, where there is no peace!??
Lyall Watson, a British biologist, has helped to promote “The Hundredth Monkey Theory.?? There is a critical number needed to be gathered for a psychic quantum leap to occur. Peter Russell, a British exponent of Transcendental Meditation writes, “If enough people were working on inner development through such techniques as meditation, significant worldwide effects would be felt.?? The Mararishi Mahesh Yogi claims that if a mere 1% of the population were to practice Transcendental Meditation, the course of history would be profoundly altered. John Lenin sang, “I hope some day you will join us and the whole world will live as one.??
Jesus said, “Peace give I to thee; not as the world gives give I to thee.?? The first surprise for me in his words is that peace is a gift, rather than a product of human manufacturing. A second surprise is that Jesus claims that his peace is not the peace that the world offers. In light of all my inner-strife and world wars, when will Jesus give us this peace? The good news, the prevailing responsible history of redemption, is that he has given a large measure of this peace. Chopra points out the obvious, that this is a fallen world filled with strife and that most individuals are messed up inside. But the Christian view of the world is that it would be worse off were it not for the peace that marks the kingdom of heaven come into this world and into the hearts of individuals. The 20th Century would have been a greater blood bath were it not for the peace of Christ dwelling more and more in the hearts of men and women and children worldwide.
Like the wisdom of the world, the Christian Scriptures make a connection between inner peace and communal peace. The Holy Spirit works in individual lives, producing his fruit, including peace. “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.?? Notice how many of the acts of the sinful nature work against inner and communal peace. Notice that inner peace is a work of the Holy Spirit within us. But also notice that (26) hints at the connection between internal and individual peace and external/communal peace: “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.??
The Apostle Paul writes to the Church at Colosse: “Let the peace of Christ rule in
your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.?? We are instructed to receive Jesus’ gift of peace and to be governed by it! It is not merely that which we strive for hoping to achieve it and then enjoy it. This is where the wisdom of the world stops. Rather, the Christian teaching is that God gives it and then we are to be ruled by it! This teaching of Paul enforces my present point that inner peace is connected to communal peace. Together, we who comprise the Church, who are the unified body of Jesus Christ, are called to peace, this peace that rules in our individual hearts. Yet his reasoning is even more developed: Paul reasons that the corporate body has been brought together by God for the purpose of peace and therefore, each of us members of that body ought to be controlled by an inner peace. In other words, he is not saying that our individual inner peace produces the corporate/communal peace.
To the Roman Church, Paul writes, “If it is possible, as far as it depends upon you, live at peace with everyone.?? In this instruction Paul argues in the opposite direction, appealing to each of us who possess the gift of peace to use it toward the communal peace. The comparison and contrast of this one biblical verse alone to the New Age teaching of Harmonic Convergence is fascinating.
Even more fascinating than the similarities between world religions and various teaching of peace, are the unique aspects of the teaching of peace found in the Christian Scriptures. The prophet Isaiah in the 26th Chapter of his prophecy speaks God’s promise to save his people unto a perfect peace. The condition of humanity prior to this divine salvation and gift of peace is “as a woman with child and about to give birth. She writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in the presence of the Lord. We were with child, we writhed in pain, but we gave birth to wind.?? What a powerful picture of all human attempts to produce peace: giving birth to wind.
I have told you that I know little about peace. I know less about childbirth! My wife, Glenda, has given birth five times. When our first child, Hannah was born, someone asked us, “How did the birth go??? I beat Glenda to the punch to say, “No problem.?? Glenda said, “It wasn’t a problem? 15 hours of labor is not a problem??? I learned then and there to say very little about childbirth. What I do know is that when labor results in a stillborn child, there is much grief. But when the labor gives birth to a live baby, the pain on the mother’s face gives way to instant joy. The Maraheshi is right when he says that true peace accompanies the condition of bliss, happiness, or joy. He is right in observing that the absence of activity and labor is not peace but passivity. Yet he and all of us would do well to trace the imagery of childbirth in the Christian Scriptures to see how it relates to and informs us about the gift of inner peace.
Jesus uses this childbirth imagery of Isaiah. In the Gospel of John we read, “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will rob you of your joy…I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.?? Jesus does not teach us to strive for a peace that will replace all of our trouble in this world. He flatly states that we will have trouble in this world. He boldly states that peace is experience “in him.?? One, main criticism of the biblical gospel is that it is exclusive: salvation, peace, and eternal life come to us only through Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the heavenly Father except through Jesus. Yet the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi taught without apology that the state of Being that produces freedom and finally peace in us and in the universe can only come through his Transcendental Meditation. Not only does every world religion rest upon an exclusive foundation for peace, hope, and truth, but every individual conviction or tailor made worldview rests upon an exclusivity, usually the Self. The peace that comes to us exclusively through union with Jesus Christ may be described as the joy upon the mother’s face the moment her labor pains give way to the cries of her newborn infant.
Paul also uses the childbirth imagery of Isaiah and Jesus as he writes to the Church in Thessalonica: “While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.?? This destruction Paul refers to is the coming and final judgment of God upon humanity. The Baha’i are right to connect justice to peace. There is a stronger connection between justice and peace then the connection the Maharishi claims exists between freedom and peace. In Paul’s use of the imagery, the labor pains are not human efforts to produce peace, but the punishment of final justice served. He describes the recipients of this just punishment to be those who are proclaiming the peace and safety of this world. In the end, justice will cause them to writhe in pain giving birth to nothing but wind.
What is worse than living without a certain measure of inner and communal peace? Striving for a false peace. So many members of the human race have spent their lives searching for inner peace and working toward global peace. All their striving amounts to no more than the mantra “Peace, peace.??
While non-Christian paths to peace recommend human freedom or human justice, King David makes a connection between righteousness and peace. In his Psalm 85 he sings, “Love and faithfulness meet together/ Righteousness and peace kiss each other.??
Earlier in this Psalm he writes, “I will listen to what God the Lord will say; He promises peace to his people, his saints – but let them not return to folly.?? From where does this righteousness come? Its source is heaven, God himself: “Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for him.?? In David’s worldview, which should be of interest to every present day environmentalist, inner peace, springing from the righteousness of God, produces not only communal peace, but peace for the land!
Isaiah makes this same connection between righteousness and peace. “Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith. You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.?? Read the entire Isaiah 26 to learn more about this connection between righteousness and peace. “Lord, you established peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.?? Righteousness is not merely a legal standing before God who clears you of all wrongdoing and its penalties. Righteousness is also the lifestyle, the holy behavior of those united to God through Jesus Christ, who possess his gift of peace.
While the Bible would discount a connection between freedom and happiness to peace, or justice to peace, the greatest connection offered is righteousness to peace. The gospel is founded upon this connection.
Listen to this good news in the Bible: “Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into the grace in which we now stand.?? The gift of inner peace is most foundationally peace with God. The work of Jesus on the cross and in his resurrection is the reconciling of God to you and you to God. “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.?? Here we see the connection between righteousness and peace. We see the reconciliation of God to humanity, even all creation! We see the exclusive mediation of Jesus Christ. We discover that true, inner peace describes the end of enmity in our hearts toward God and the satisfaction of his wrath for our sin.
Are you weary of striving after counterfeit peace? You can not achieve inner peace by ignoring or tolerating the surrounding chaos. This is denial and suppression. Counterfeit peace is nothing more than ignorance: “Don’t tell me about it.?? It is nothing more than solitude:“If only I were alone.??
Bono sings,
Jesus can you take the time
To throw a drowning man a line
Peace on Earth
To tell the ones who hear no sound
Whose sons are living in the ground
Peace of Earth

Jesus this song you wrote
The words are sticking in my throat
Peace on Earth
Hear it every Christmas time
But hope and history won’t rhyme
So what’s it worth?
This Peace on Earth

What robs you of your peace? Lonliness? Relational strife? Proverbs 17:1 “Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.?? Happy Holidays! (This may be my favorite holiday verse.) Do the worries of life rob you of your peace? Miroslav Volf, author of Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation suggests quite strongly that the greatest thief of your peace is Self. He explores strands of thinking prevalent today that suggest that a Self without a center will search and strive seeking to invent and to reinvent itself. He corrects such thinking by stating the obvious, that every Self has a center, either a right one or a wrong one. What is the center of yourself? How you answer this question may be not only insight to your possession of lack of inner peace, but the key to receiving inner peace. Volf quotes the Christian Scriptures, “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who lives but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.?? He writes, “Paul presumes a centered self, more precisely a wrongly centered self that needs to be de-centered by being nailed to the cross.
Are you searching for inner peace? The path is narrowly, “I have been crucified with Christ.?? Volf observes that your Self is not “simply erased but replaced by an alien center – Jesus Christ the crucified and resurrected. But Volf goes on to say that this is not quite right either for Paul has written, “Christ lives in me.?? Christ living in the center of you transforms you. As a Christian, crucified with Christ, you do not cease to exist. This is not your inner peace – cessation of existence. Rather your Self is given a new center, a center of your union with Christ Jesus. This is the essence of inner peace. Your living “by faith in the Son of God?? is the experience of inner peace. Nothing short of this Christ invasion and transformation will produce inner peace, or for that matter communal peace.