The Opposite of Chaos

John 20:19-20, 1 Corinthians 14:40, Romans 15:33

Watch on YouTube – Watch on Facebook

We’re celebrating the resurrection of our Lord, with that in mind, I’d like to read from John Chapter 20, reading there verses 19 and 20.

Then the same day and evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, Peace be with you. When he said this, he showed them his hands and his side and the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. (John 20:19-20)

Recently, I was visiting with a friend and we were talking about the things that everyone is talking about these days, all of the conflict and all of the uncertainty that we’re currently experiencing in our society and in our world. With the deep political, cultural divisions, and also with the ongoing pandemic and all the questions that swirl around that. So we are talking about the subject of chaos. And it got me thinking, just what do we mean when we speak of that word, chaos in our world?

I looked it up. It means an intense and deep confusion or disorder. And spiritually speaking, that would seem to be right up Satan’s alley. He loves the idea of us being confused, especially confused about our salvation and confused about the future of our world and our lives. He loves the disorder that is created by our sin and the danger that that can represent too.

I was reading the other day in the news and something interesting is happening in Iceland, that little country in the middle of the North Atlantic, they’re going through some interesting times because there’s a lot of volcanic activity going on there. And so lately there have been a lot of tremors and small earthquakes that seem to indicate that a major volcano is about to erupt. When you think about chaos, that’s a pretty good picture of it, isn’t it? With the earth trembling and with fire raining down from the sky, it’s hard to have a very orderly society when that’s going on.

And then ironically, I came upon something else in the news about Iceland. Apparently in that country, when people have a baby, the names that they can name their child are restricted to what has been approved by the government. I guess they want to protect their culture that way. But recently they’ve added a name that is now acceptable for Icelandic children, either boys or girls. And that name is Chaos. That’s an interesting choice now in these times that we’re all facing and that they’re facing, especially in Iceland.

We are so thankful that in Jesus Christ who died for us and who rose again, we know the opposite of chaos. It’s that Peace that Jesus first shared with his disciples when he came in through the door in the upper room on Easter evening. Peace be with you. We’re so thankful that he’s called us to faith in him and put us in his church here on Earth. And we know that the guidepost for conducting ourselves in the church was spoken by Paul when he said Let everything be done decently and in order just the opposite of the disorder represented by chaos. (1 Corinthians 14:40)

Where Christ and his church are found, then chaos and everything else that comes out of sin is replaced by this quiet order, this peace that we have with our Father. Peace that we can have with one another. And so because Jesus died for us and rose again, the chaos is gone. And as Paul ended one of his epistles, we can say to one another, the God of peace, be with you. (Romans 15:33)