Christmas Greeting Card Sermon Ii: Peace! Series

CHRISTMAS GREETING CARD SERMON II: PEACE

World leaders talk about it. Church leaders pray for it. Ordinary folks long for it. Yet, there seems to be nothing more elusive than the PEACE that we talk about, pray for and long for. Since the beginning of time, a genuine sense of peace on earth has been hard to come by. Do you ever wonder why?

Thousands of years ago, the prophet Jeremiah threw up his hands in exasperation and spoke the truth when he said, “Peace, peace, they say, when there is no peace.”

Do you detect the prophet’s frustration? Two words uttered by him speak volumes – “they say.”

It is just as true today as it was then that the biggest reason why there is no peace is that peace is something people talk about but do very little to achieve. In fact, as a rule, we tend to do more to deter peace than we do to show that we are determined to make peace our number one priority.

There can be no doubt that the Lord God intended that there BE peace on earth.

Luke 2:8-14 . . . “And on earth peace . . ..”

The peace the angels sang about, in their appearance to the shepherds, Isaiah had prophesied when he declared centuries before the coming of Christ that “Unto us a child is born . . . and His name shall be called . . . the Prince of Peace.”

What the people of the world had longed for, God provided when He sent His Son into the world to be the Savior of the world. God’s provision was hard for people to accept because they had not expected God’s gift to be given to the world in the form of a baby born of a peasant and laid in a manger. Whoever heard of such a thing - a Prince born in a stinking stable?

Folks, we ought to thank God that the Prince of Peace came to this earth in a lowly manner. You know why? Ordinary folks like you and I can relate to that kind of Prince – One who thought it not shameful to associate him self with the likes of poor shepherds in surroundings that were anything but palatial and princely.

In the manner of our Savior’s birth, God made a resounding statement to all the people of the earth – whether they are high and mighty or low man on the totem pole. It does not matter, to the God who created each one of us “in his image,” whether we are rich or poor, fat or thin, lovely or ugly, Jew or Gentile, American or not. What does matter to Him is for the whole wide world to acknowledge His Son as THE Prince of Peace.

One of my favorite Christmas cards has a beautiful white dove – the popular symbol of peace - painted against a background of blue skies filled with numerous stars of the universe. The dove appears to be in flight carrying in its beak a ribbon flowing in the wind. There is one word printed on the front of the card – “Peace.”

The painting suggests to me that the message “Peace on Earth” is to be spread by messengers of Peace throughout the whole world - in the hope that peace will be found in the places mentioned inside the card – “in your home, in your heart, in the world.”

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every home on the face of the earth became the “haven of peace” that God intended?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Christ the Prince of Peace were received into the hearts of each and every individual on earth?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every nation and every tribe in the whole wide world bowed in worship to the King of kings and Lord of lords?

Crowning “Christ the Prince of Peace” as the King of whose kingdom there will be no end will be the order of the day when Christ returns to take His bride the Church out of this world into the realm of glory.

That glorious event will occur when God the Father says, “It’s time.”

When He came the first time, opponents of Jesus did not recognize Him as Prince of Peace, and, because they failed to recognize Him, Jesus felt compelled to warn them of their fate.

Those who did recognize Him, and therefore believed in Him as the Son of God - who had come to bring peace rather than a sword - lined the streets of Jerusalem as He rode into town on a donkey; and the whole crowd, Luke says, “began joyfully to praise God in loud voices, shouting, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace!’”