The God of Peace — Thomas Wilson

Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted as a saint, that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed.

Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. Chapter 16, verse 17. Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrines which ye have learned, and avoid them.

For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf, but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.

And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. May the Lord add a blessing to these two short portions. This morning we were considering the epistle to the Romans, and how in its four sections the Lord Jesus Christ, the full title of the Lord Jesus, is used.

The God of Peace in Romans

But you know, while in many ways the epistle to the Romans seems to fall into these broad patterns, at the same time it does not exhaust all that there is in the epistle. And so here, in these two passages that we have read, twice over we find the Apostle addressing God, or speaking of God, by this title, the God of Peace.

And one time when I was doing a study through the epistle to the Romans, it struck me the number of times that peace is found in the epistle. Again and again we find that Paul speaks of this gospel which has been brought, which has been delivered to him to bring to the people.

He speaks of it as being a gospel of peace. I'm sure that we all know that when God created Adam and Eve, he put them into the Garden of Eden, and there in that place everything was suitable, everything was perfect as far as their environment was concerned, and certainly one thing that was outstanding about that place was the peace that they enjoyed.

But you remember that sin came in, and because of sin the fellowship that man had with God, and the peace that they enjoyed was broken, and from that time right down through the ages man has not enjoyed peace.

And so we can go back into the Prophet Isaiah and the Prophet Ezekiel and many of these prophets that spoke long ago, and we hear them state that there is no peace says my God to the wicked. They speak of thee ungodly as being like the troubled sea, that which is constantly throwing up dirt.

There is no rest in it, and so peace is a characteristic that is not seen and not known in the world today. This is something that we have been made very conscious of as we have lived in Rhodesia. When we went out there in 1971 as missionaries, we felt that there was a considerable future in that country, that God had set open doors there.

Missionary Work and Political Unrest in Rhodesia

I don't know whether all of you are aware, but starting back in the middle of the last century, missionaries got a vision of working Africa, and starting in Angola and going right across the central portion of southern Africa, they moved in and formed a mission station right across central Africa.

And if you look at old missionary maps of Africa, you will see that area marked in and called the Beloved Strip. Young people today don't know of this, or they're not as familiar with it as those that are older.

But while this was true of countries like Angola and Congo as it was then, and going right across into Kenya, Uganda, and so on, right out to the east coast, the southern part of the continent was virtually neglected.

And it was only about 1963 that certain of our missionaries, principally some who had formerly been in Angola and who had had to leave because of the unrest that was there, and also because of health, they moved into Rhodesia and they began to work.

And God blessed their work. Now this is not to say that there had been no missionary activities prior to this. In the city of Bulawayo, where we live, Mr. E. W. Sims, that's the father, I'm sorry, Mr. E. H. Sims, the father of John Sims, came there during the war, round about 1943 I believe it was, and commenced to work in the city.

He had had to leave Zambia because of the education of his son, and they moved there into the city. When they got there, they already found a Miss Manders, an Irish lady from the city of Dublin, working there in the city, and they continued working there until about the end of the war.

Then, about 1945, Mr. and Mrs. Hairstline, that's the father of Gordon Hairstline, who is now the director of Emmaus Correspondence Courses in Chicago, he moved down into Bulawayo. Also, a number of the businessmen who were there in the city, and also up in the city of Salisbury, the capital, were exercised about working with the African people.

And so there was a work done there in the city, or in the country, prior to the coming of Mr. Wiseman and Mr. Allison to the city of Salisbury. But when we went there in 1971, things had already begun to change.

We felt that there was a considerable time that we could look forward to. We felt that while much of the rest of Africa had been swept by the winds of change, those winds of change that Mr. Harold Macmillan spoke about in his speech when he was made a tourist through Africa as Prime Minister of England, those winds had affected many of the other countries.

We were living in Zambia when that country gained its independence. We saw something of the unrest and the problems that they had there. And by the way, just purely as an aside, and while we don't in any way want to detract from the man and from his abilities, Mr. Kens Karunda, who is today the President of Zambia, is being spoken of as the great exponent of non-violence in Africa.

Well, we were living in Zambia when he was conducting his campaign against the British government, and I can assure you that it was not a non-violent campaign. But these are purely as an aside, because we want to point out that there, living in Africa, it became so evident that peace was something that is virtually non-existent.

I remember seeing an article in a newspaper one time concerning the British army, and it stated that from the middle of the 19th century up until the time that that article was written, there had never been a time when some sections of the British armed forces had not been involved in military activities in some place around the world.

And so we can see the truth of the word of God when it says that there is no peace for the wicked, and the lack of peace is the characteristic of those who have turned their back upon God. Because we find here in this passage that we read together that the characteristic of God is that he is the God of peace, and it was his desire that men should live in peace, and this was what he had planned for Adam and Eve when he put them there in the garden.

But because of sin, because of rebellion against God, that peace was broken, and they turned their back on God, and so we find the conditions that exist today. But when we come over into the epistle of Romans here that we were reading this morning, we find that the coming of the Lord Jesus was for the express purpose that he might constitute peace once again, that he might remove that which was disturbing the peace of men.

And so, at the end of chapter 4, it tells us that he came, verse 25, he was delivered for our offenses, and he was raised again for our justification. Therefore, and as Mr. Ernie Woodhouse always points out, when you find a therefore, look to see what it's there for.

And of course, it's connected. And because of the work of the Lord Jesus, because he was delivered for our offenses, those sins that had risen up and had broken the fact of fellowship between man and God, that which had disturbed the peace, he took care of it.

He was delivered for our offenses, was raised again for our justification, and therefore, having been justified by faith, we can have peace with God. And so, as you go on through the epistle, you find that the apostle takes up this thought of peace, and he shows how this is worked out in the heart and in the lives of the believer.

Peace with the World and in the Assembly

If we look at chapter 12, we see there that this peace is possible in our relationship with the world. Those of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ, he says that it is possible for us to live in peace with the world.

The world doesn't know peace, but we who have trusted the Lord Jesus can know this. He goes on to speak in chapter 14 about the possibility of peace in the assembly, and one of the tragedies around the world is, among the people of God, the turmoil and the unrest and the sorrow and the division that has come among those who should be the illustration, the living examples of the peace of God.

Paul's Missionary Service and the God of Peace

But when we come over here into chapter 15, we find that Paul is now thinking of his service, and he speaks here in this chapter, and by the way, the background to these verses that we read here start in Acts chapter 19.

Paul has been out on one of his missionary journeys, and he travels down through Macedonia, down into the city of Corinth, and this letter that he writes to the Romans was written there from the city of Corinth.

And as he looked around, and as he saw the depravity and the sin that was rampant on every hand, his heart was disturbed, and I am convinced that those early chapters of the epistles to the Romans were a direct outflow of the revulsion that Paul felt as he looked at the sin and the iniquity and the open death pool of all that was going on there in that beautiful city of Corinth.

And he speaks of the pagans and how these men have turned their back on God. But now he writes to the Romans, and he says to them, I have a task that I want to do. Money has been given to me by the churches here through Asia, and I have been given this charge to go back to the city of Jerusalem to minister to the saints there.

But, he says, when I have completed that work in the will of God, I will come to you. Now, I believe that Paul was aware of some of the things that were likely to happen in connection with his visit to Jerusalem.

We've only got to read the following chapters from Acts chapter 19, and going right on through until he arrived there in the city to see how again and again the apostle was warned about what was going to happen, how bonds awaited him, and yet he felt that it was the will of God for him.

He was pressed in his spirit to complete this work that had been given to him to do. And he says, after I have been there, and after I have done that work, in the will of God I am going to come to you.

There is going to be trouble, there is going to be unrest, and I know that these things are lying ahead of me, but pray for me. Pray for me that the God of peace may preserve me. And this seems to be the thought that was sustaining him in view of those things that lay ahead.

And so, we have so often comforted our hearts in connection with the same thing. You know, it's so easy sometimes to look at the circumstance, to look at the things that there are around, and to become discouraged.

We were living in this country when there was all the unrest here during the 1960s across so many of the campuses of this land. And so often, when you spoke to both believers and unbelievers, there was a real sense of fear, of dread, of uncertainty as to what the future would hold.

What is happening to our land? But those of us that know the Lord Jesus Christ, those of us that have been brought into this relationship with God, we can know Him as the God of peace, and we can know that it is His desire and His will that peace should be that which is the characteristic of our land.

And so, as he thinks of his visit to Jerusalem, and as he thinks of all that is likely to happen, he asks these Roman believers to pray for him that he might be kept, and that he might be able to come and visit them.

And it seems that, having come to the end of this, he has finished what he had to say, and so he gives this salutation, Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. And then it seems that, in thinking about these things, there are other thoughts that come to his mind, and so he takes up his pen again, and he starts to write concerning his sister Phoebe, and then he goes on and he speaks of these various ones, and sends greetings to them, but then he goes on and he says that, even among the believers, there is the possibility of the lack of peace.

Those who, having given themselves over to Satan, that one who is responsible for destroying peace, they're bringing in evil, they're bringing in division, they're bringing in dissension among the people of God, and he commits them to the God of peace.

And here, his thought is not so much as to that peace that we can know and enjoy now, but he looks forward to that day when he, whose right it is to reign, is going to come back, and when all unrighteousness is going to be put down, and even Satan himself is going to be trampled underfoot.

And so here, in verse 20 of chapter 16, he speaks again of the God of peace, and he says he is going to deal with that one who is destroying the peace that should be ours. And so, I would like to comfort our hearts, I would like to encourage our hearts with this thought, that today it is possible for us to know peace.

In spite of all that might happen around, in spite of so much uncertainty, in spite of the turmoil that can be seen in so many different places, we have been brought into the relationship with the God of peace, and this is something that can be asked.

And so, we can take up the words of Isaiah when he tells us that thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. But then, not only that, but we can look forward to that day when he is going to come back, and when Satan is going to be trampled under his feet, and he whose right it is to reign is going to set up his throne here in this seat, and peace is going to be that which is going to rule across this world.

You know, Rhodesia is a troubled land, but this is one thing that we can hold on to, not only for the believers, but also we can hold it out as the possibility of that which can be enjoyed by even those who do not know and who do not love the Lord Jesus.

Geography and Ministry in Rhodesia

Now, we'd like to just show you very quickly some of the slides of the work that God has been doing out there in that land. I know that folks generally don't appreciate geography lessons, but I think that just very quickly we should have a very brief geography lesson, and so my first slide is a map, and you'll just look at that, and that will perhaps give us a little insight into some of the things that are happening there in that land.

Now, you'll notice that Rhodesia is approximately the shape of a man's head in soapbox. Whenever you think of the country, if you think of it that way, it might make it easier for you to identify some of the things, or the country itself.

We have the nose out here on the left, and so on right on that. Now, we're completely surrounded by four other countries. In the north, the northern border, starting here at what we would call the tip of the nose, and going up here to the crown of the head, we have our boundary with Damascus, and that boundary at present is closed because of the political problems that have existed.

There is virtually no come and go between the two countries. Then, from that point, right round the eastern border, down here to what would be the neck of the neck, is the boundary with Mozambique. I'm sure that many of you are aware that about two years ago, Mozambique were given their independence after a long period of crisis, and one of the very first things that they did, having established their government there, was that they proclaimed, openly and unashamedly, that they were going to be a Marxist government, and having done that, one of their first acts was to take all Christian workers, missionaries, as well as nationals, and put them into prison.

Many of the missionaries, I would say probably all of the missionaries, have since been expelled. They've been sent back to the countries from which they have come, but from that day until this, many of those national workers are still in prison.

Many of them have given their lives for the sake of the gospel. It was not that they had broken any law, it was purely the fact that they were preaching the gospel, and therefore it was against the communist and Marxist doctrines that were held by the government there.

One of the problems that is existing in Rhodesia today is that that government has declared that they will not rest until they have overthrown the present Rhodesian government and set up a communist government there in Rhodesia.

Now, it is on this eastern border that most of the fighting that is going on in the country has occurred. Gradually, over the years, this has accelerated. They have moved into other areas of the country, but principally it is in those areas that the trouble has occurred, and most of the missionary activity that was taking place, not only those connected with our assembly, but also the Evangelical Alliance mission, the Baptists, many others, Salvation Army, those who had work up in that area, many of them have had to close down their work and move out of the area because of the war activity.

Then, here in the south, across what would be the next is our boundary with South Africa, and then from there up again to the point of the nose is our boundary with Botswana. So, you see, we're completely surrounded, we have no outlet to the sea, and this has caused considerable problems.

We are presently working in the city of Bulawayo, which is down here in the southwest, and if you think of it as following down to the mouth and going up to approximately where the temple is, that would be where the city of Bulawayo is situated.

Now, Rhodesia is a country about the size of the state of Montana, and it only has a population of about six and a half million. Many of your cities right here in this country are much bigger, much larger than the total population of the country of Rhodesia, but we are very grateful to God for the opportunity of taking a gospel there.

The city of Bulawayo, as we'll see in a minute, is a modern city. It has a population of roundabout 265 ,000, and there, as in most other parts of the country, the ratio of white people to black people is approximately 20 to 1, or perhaps as high as 22 to 1.

So you can see that, really, the great majority of the people, and these are the ones that God has called us to work among, are the African people. I don't like the term because my wife and I feel that we're African as well.

Our roots are there. I was born there. My wife was not born there, but went there at a very early age. Our lives have been spent out there in Africa. It virtually is our home, and we feel that we're Africans.

All our children, except our youngest, were born out there. They're Africans, and it was very difficult for them to adjust coming to this country that black people were not Africans, and that they were the Africans, and the black people in this country were Americans.

Victoria Falls and the Awe of Creation

Rhodesia is a country that is a very beautiful place, and up in the north there is the Victoria Falls. Now, we don't want to spend too much time on this, but the falls are about a mile across, and therefore it's not possible to get an overall view of the falls.

This is the western end, or the Rhodesian end. The eastern end, or the northern end, whichever way you want to look at it, is the Zambian end, and as I said, we're no longer able to go over there. If you move along the face of the gorge, and look back to this point, you see there a statue of David Livingston that has been mounted just about the place where, when he was exploring in 1873, he first came out and viewed this tremendous site, this handiwork of God, and he wrote at the time, in his diary, that he was quite sure that angels were pausing their flight to look at this wonderful site.

You see that, as we stand at his feet, and we look down the gorge, it is not like Niagara, which falls into a broad valley, but it falls into this narrow gorge, and rushes away down through a series of gorges, and so on, down the river, and out to the Indian Ocean.

It's not possible, as I said, to get an overall view, but here we are, just various views of it. They say that, at full flood, you get something like two million gallons per second going over the lip, and it really is an awesome sight to go there, and one which I'll never forget.

My first experience of going there to the fall, and the one verse that rang in my mind as I stood there as a boy, looking at that site, was his voice, was of the sound of many waters. How this filled our hearts, to think that one day we're going to see our Lord Jesus, and hear his voice, and how it will fill our hearts, that something like this can so affect us, how much more will be the sight of our Savior.

Animals, Christian Witness, and Family Life

You travel down the river, about perhaps 400 miles, and you come to the Kariba Dam. This was built during the 1950s, when the three Central African Territories had federated, with the view that they would supply electricity to the three territories.

Since then, this federation has broken up, but for up until this last year, Rhodesia was still supplying electricity to the country of Zambia, and if you've got very sharp eyes, you can perhaps see the cables, the power lines, going across there.

Since then, Zambia, which is the northern bank over there on the far side, has built their own power station, and are now generating their own electricity. Rhodesia is also very well endowed with wild animals, and this is one of the things that a lot of people come to Africa to see.

And so here you have the sable antelope. This is the national emblem of the country. We have a lot of giraffes, and this fellow looks like he's getting out of the way there. But you know, whenever I look at giraffes, I'm reminded of so many Christians, so many believers, because the giraffe has literally no voice.

It is completely mute, and there are so many believers that are like that. Oh, they're so attractive to look at. They look so lovely. Their lines, perhaps, are exemplary, and yet they never open their eyes to witness for the Lord Jesus.

So next time you're at the zoo, or next time you see a giraffe, remember, let's be vocal Christians, those who are prepared to speak for the Lord Jesus. Here we have the zebra. I always think he's a crazy mixed-up kid, a donkey that doesn't quite know what he wants to be, half white and half black.

Also, we have a number of the square-lipped rhinoceros. This is one of the endangered species of the world, and they have found that the area just outside the city where we live is very suitable for breeding them, and so they are attempting to increase the world population and to preserve them in this way.

Rhodesia also has one of the largest population developments of any country in the world. A recent article in Time magazine says that we have 14 ,000. So, if you want to see elephants, come to Rhodesia.

Also, the African buffalo, and this is a very treacherous animal. You know how so often we think of the lion, and we think of the words of Scripture, of Satan going around as a roaring lion, Satan whom he has seemingly made his bow, and yet sometimes the treacherousness of some of those, and we are reminded of the bold ablation that it speaks about in the Old Testament.

Here is the African buffalo, and of course the lion, and that's just how close he was. We were very fortunate, convincing at this time, we were able to drive right up next to him, but you know, he was completely bored as a whole thing, and he just couldn't care.

We were able to drive right up next to him and just point the camera just about put it down his throat. But you know, in all the time that we've been in Africa, we could probably count on one hand the number of lions that we've seen.

I'd like to introduce you to our family, those of you that don't know them. Our daughter, Annette, is the oldest. We have six all together. Terry is 20, and then there's John at 18. Graham, with us here, is 14, almost 15.

David is 14, and Brian is almost 6. And these are our children. We have been asked a number of times about the question of our children doing military service, and we should point out that this is something that there is no option for every child, every white boy who is in school.

The minute he reaches the age of 16, has to register for military service, and then at the age of 17, providing he has finished school, he has to go into the army. There is no question about it. We're not given any choice in the matter.

One thing that we are grateful about is that the government are prepared to consider people that have conscientious objections, and they do try and accommodate them as much as possible. And so, our son Terry, when he did his military service, he did a year of national service, and we are very grateful to God that during that time, he was in as a radio operator, and it was not necessary for him to bear arms.

John is now in the police force, but even in the police, he is still required to do service in the war zone, and we would ask you to pray that God will keep these young men, not only physically, but also spiritually.

These are a real test of spiritual character, to have to go into the army, and to have to go into these kind of circumstances, and to be able to stand for God. So, please pray that the Lord will keep the young men.

The Simpsons have had to face the same situation. Many of the other missionaries there in the country have had to face the same thing, and we do feel it is a real problem. I might mention that in addition to our own family, we also look after two other children.

We have only one missionary couple working in the whole of the country of Botswana. They have two young children, a little girl of eight, nine, and a little boy of seven, and because there are no suitable schools down in Botswana, they send them up and they live with us for nine months out of the year, and only three months at home.

This, again, is one of the things that we feel very grateful to God that we have been placed in circumstances where we've been able to keep our families, but this is some of the things that others have to face, and we would ask you to pray for missionaries, not only just in Africa, but in many places of the world, that they have to face these decisions as to what they are going to do with their children.

It is a real wrench, a real problem for them as to what they are going to do. So, we have done this service to the Lord. In 1971, in 1966, we had come over, we were going to settle in this country, we felt that there was no longer any future in Africa, and we came to settle.

But the Lord stirred us up, and in 1971, we went back as novice missionaries. Of course, we had been associated with missionary activity all our lives, but we had not been actually engaged in it, and so we have only been missionaries since 1971.

Missionary Stations and Ministry in the City

And then, in September, we flew out, landing here in the city of Salisbury. This is Salisbury Airport. You can see large, modern facilities. We were greeted there by the missionaries working in the country.

Some of them you'll recognize, Mr. and Mrs. John Simms, John King on the left here, Mr. and Mrs. John Simms on this side. Some of you perhaps met Mr. and Mrs. Allison, a Scottish couple, when they were over here about two years ago.

Some of these missionaries are no longer there in Falklands. For instance, Dr. and Mrs. Emerson had to leave. Their work was mostly out in the rural areas, and because it was no longer safe to move freely in those areas, they felt that they were no longer able to work and to do their medical work, and so they have left, and they are presently working down at Murchison Hospital in South Africa.

Mr. and Mrs. Simms, with this couple, Mr. and Mrs. Chambers, are engaged in printing work, and we're very grateful to God for the help and the assistance that they are to us in this connection. We left Salisbury and we traveled down to Fulham, and we were given a very warm welcome when we got there, and let me say that any of you, if you ever care to come visit Africa, we would be very happy to give you the same warm welcome as well.

Fulham is a large modern city, very wide streets, very progressive, and we're very thankful for the facilities that we have there. As I said, our children live with us, they're able to go to school, we have large modern schools, we have a teacher's college, we have modern hospitals of every kind, all the facilities, really a beautiful city all together.

In the background here, across those hills, are the areas of the suburbs where the African people live, and there, in that closely confined area, we have about 200 ,000 people, and God has given given us this area to work in.

We had thought originally that we might have done rural work, but we have seen something of the wisdom of God in bringing us back to this, more of that just in a minute. Fulham is a very pretty place also, beautiful flowers, flowering trees on the streets, a lovely park, and very lovely in every way.

This is Mr. and Mrs. Hairstline, the parents, as I said, of Gordon Hairstline, and they have been working there since 1945. When we arrived in 1971, Mr. Hairstline said to us, please, I'm no longer able to continue with this work because of ill health, would you take over the work that you've been doing in the city?

But during the years that Mr. Hairstline was working there, he was responsible for the erection of this very lovely hall, and we've been very thankful for the help and the facility that this gives us.

It has two Sunday school rooms in the back, as well as a hall that will seat perhaps 200 people reasonably comfortably. Of course, they think nothing of crowding onto a seat. You'll see a seat that appears to you to be full, and somebody will come in, and by hook or by crook, they manage to push themselves in there as well.

You wonder how it's done. But this is the hall that we presently have. Up until that time, they had had this building. It was originally started by Mr. E. H. Finn, completed by Mr. Hairstline, and then it was taken over by the city.

And then they reimbursed us for taking the property and gave us a new site where we now are. So, this is the work that you can see has gone on for some time. We have fellow workers working with us there in the city.

With me here in the picture in the center is Mr. Les Rainey, that I'm sure is known to many of you here. He was working there up until the end of last year. He presently is at home here in this country, and he is very uncertain as to his future.

As I said, things are in such a state of turmoil there in that land that many of the Lord's servants are wondering just which way to turn. And so I'm sure that he would want me to ask you to pray that the Lord will lead him in regards to the future.

Mr. Ross, Mr. and Mrs. Ross are working principally among white people. They have had a real door of opportunity open to them in working with young people who have become involved in one way or another with the law, perhaps through drugs or various other offenses, and they are referred to Mr. Ross.

And God has blessed that work, and a number of them have been saved. And so they now have a small assembly meeting in their home, and it has really been thrilling to see how God has worked in the lives of these young people, changing them and producing the Lord Jesus in their lives.

Rural Ministry and Gospel Opportunities in Schools

We had wanted to do this rural work, and this is a very typical African path. This is a very typical site. As soon as you get off the paved road, the road, the other roads disappear, and you're very often confronted with a little path like this.

You follow it through the bush, and you come to a scene like this. Now, in many parts of Africa, the villages are very, very much larger. For instance, in Botswana, where our friends are working, they are living in a village of 35 ,000 people.

It's one of the largest villages in the whole of Africa. But here in Rhodesia, or certainly in the section where we work, you have something like this little family unit, and so you'll have a husband living in one house.

And if he's a rich man, he'll have more than one wife, perhaps three or even five or more, and they will live in another house. And by the way, you notice that the huts are round. They're very superstitious, particularly these that live in the rural areas, and they will not build a square hut, because they say that the evil spirit can hide in the corners, and so they build their houses round.

Of course, they're getting away from this, but they're becoming coming more into contact with civilization, but this is very typical of the villages that they live and work in. But God closed this door to us, and he opened a work here in the city itself.