The Heart Of Christmas Is Peace Series

Dr. Bradford Reaves

Crossway Christian Fellowship

Hagerstown, MD

www.mycrossway.org

Watch this message at: https://mycrossway.churchcenter.com/episodes/169217

Last week we began Advent by studying the heart of Christmas as a season of hope. We see the faithfulness of God from his prophetic fulfillment of that word in Jesus’s birth and we continue to look in confidence that we can place our hope in him today and as we await his glorious return as King of Kings. No matter what we face in life and no matter what is going on in the world around us, we can be assured that God is with us and we are securely in His plan and He will meet us in our time of need. Today, we will look at another aspect of the heart of Christmas—the wonderful offer of peace.

Every year, Andrea and I have a tradition of buying a unique Christmas ornament for our Christmas tree that represents our year together as a family. We still have the first one we bought for our first Christmas together in 1995, the ones when we lived in TX and SC. We have an ornament for Noah’s first Christmas with us and this year we bought a ****. No matter what I look back on all of these memories and I can recall nearly every time we selected our ornament. What is also significant is no matter what was happening each year, I can distinctly see God’s hand in each stage of our lives and so there’s an assurance of our future. Why? Because we’ve spent our marriage living in God’s peace.

The reason for Jesus’ birth is God’s deep desire to see his creation - and especially you and I who were made in His image - no longer broken and in conflict but rather be restored and at peace. This divine path to peace began in an unlikely place amongst some unlikely characters, and that’s where we begin today.

I. The Heart of Christmas is Peace

The Christmas story in the Bible begins with an odd group of people. The first announcement of the arrival of Jesus in Bethlehem was given by a multitude of heavenly angels to a group of shepherds who were out in a field watching their flocks to keep them safe at night.

"In the same region, there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people. 11 For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 “And this will be the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” (Luke 2:8–14 LSB)

Shepherds in first-century Israel were individuals who existed on the fringe of society. They were considered stinky, dirty, and untrustworthy. They lived on their own for months as they traveled with their flocks. It would have been shocking to the first readers of the book of Luke that these were the people God chose to entrust with such an important message.

II. THE PEACE OF GOD IS FOR ALL PEOPLE

Imagine if God asked you to plan the announcement of the birth of His Son, the Savior of the world. Who would you choose to tell first and why? How would you go about doing that announcement? People today spend all kinds of money today for “gender reveal parties” (a little ironic in today’s culture of the gender blender).

Have you ever wondered “why Shepherds?” Shepherds are one of the oldest professions in the world. Adam was given dominion over all the animals (Gen 1:26). Abel is called a “Keeper of the Sheep (Gen 4:2). God is described in Psalm 23 as our shepherd and Jesus calls himself in John 10 as the “Good Shepherd.”

These Shepherds, which were in the fields outside of Bethlehem, were tending to the flock. Incidentally, Bethlehem is just a couple of miles outside of Jerusalem. It’s practically a suburb just before the rolling hills of Judea turn into the desert. A shepherd would be guarding the flock against predators during the night. The sheep would be gathered together in the Sheep-fold. Interestingly, these same sheep would likely be used for sacrifice in the temple. Now the Savior of the world was coming and would be the final sacrifice.