BIG IDEA: As Christians, we have been blessed by God with peace and grace.

2 Thessalonians 3:16a - Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way.

A. The Lord (God) of Peace

2 Thesalonians 3:16a - Now may the Lord of peace Himself

Romans 15:33 - Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

Philippians 4:9 - The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

Peace (εἰρήνη eirene) - harmonious relationship and freedom from disputes. Relates to the Hebrew word “shalom”, which was the intense desire of every Jew.

Why is this such a strong desire?

1. When God created Man and Woman, we were in a relationship of Peace with Him

Genesis 3:8a - And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day

2. BUT, when Adam and Eve sinned, they broke that relationship of Peace and brought on a relationship of enmity

Genesis 3:8b - and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

3. They separated themselves from God by their sin, and thus brought that adversarial relationship on all their descendants

Genesis 3:24 - So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Isaiah 59:2 - But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.

4. God sent His Son to live a perfect life and die in our place in order to restore that relationship of Peace with Him.

Jesus accomplished this by living a perfect life.

The second way Jesus restored our relationship of Peace with God is by sacrificing Himself on the cross.

5. We are brought into that relationship of peace with God through faith.

Romans 5:1–2 - Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

B. God continues to give His people peace

2 Thessalonians 3:16b - give you peace always in every way.

John 14:27 - Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

2 Thessalonians 3:16c - The Lord be with you all.

Matthew 1:23 - “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.

Matthew 28:20 - teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

John 14:23 - Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

Acts 1:8 - But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

2 Thessalonians 3:17 - The salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is a sign in every epistle; so I write.

Ephesians 4:11–16 - And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

2 Thessalonians 3:18 - The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

grace (χάρις charis) - unmerited and undeserved kindness or favor

All Because of God’s Amazing Grace

Amazing grace O how sweet the sound,

That saved a poor sinner like me!

Though once I was lost, yet now I am found,

Though I was blinded, now I see!

Through disappointment through danger, too,

Through labors and sorrows we've come!

But God's grace has guided safely through,

And someday it will take us home!

Then with the ransomed around God's throne,

We will praise our Redeemer and King!

We will tell how his mercy for sin did atone;

Through countless ages this song we'll sing;

It was all because of God's amazing grace!

Because on Calvary's Mountain he took my place!

And someday, some glorious morning,

I shall see him face to face,

All because of God's amazing grace.

Numbers 6:24–26 - “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’