Princely Peace
Scripture reading: Isaiah 9:1-7
Passage John 14:27
Introduction
The Great Chicago Fire occurred in 1871. Over 300 people died & another 100,000 were left homeless. Tragedies like this one, always bring out hero is some people. One of the heroes of the Great Chicago Fire was Horatio Gates Spafford. Spafford was an attorney, who lost a lot of real-estate in the fire. To make matters even worse, his son died about the same time.
In spite of his great personal loss Spafford unselfishly helped others who were homeless, and grief-stricken because of the fire. Because of his generosity and service he was well known throughout Chicago as a sincere, devout Christian.
About two years later, in November 1873, Spafford and his family decided to take a vacation. Spafford was a good friend of D. L. Moody, and his family decided to meet Moody on one of his evangelistic campaigns in England, and then from there the family would travel on to Europe. However, just before they were to leave Horatio was unexpectedly detained by urgent business concerns in Chicago. The decision was made that his wife Anna and their daughters would go ahead to England and he would catch up with them as soon as possible. Tragedy was to strike on that trip. Just off Newfoundland, the ship collided with an English sailing vessel and sunk within 20 minutes. Anna Spafford was one of the 47 passengers who survived. Tragically all four of their daughters were part of the 226 who died.
Anna Spafford’s heartbreaking telegram to her husband simply read: "Saved alone." The grieving father immediately set sail for England to join his grief-stricken wife. As the ship that he was traveling on passed the approximate location where his daughters had drowned, Horatio Spafford penned the words that we sang a few minutes ago.
#1 "When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea-billows roll, Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to know; "It is well, it is well with my soul."
#2 Tho’ Satan Should buffet, tho’ trials should come, Let his blessed assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, and hath shed His own blood for my soul. It is well, with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul."
The peace that Horatio experienced through it all is not a peace that comes from this world, it is a peace that can only come from and through Jesus Christ. This Peace Jesus talked about in John 14:10: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Peace that can only come from God! I want to look at four truths from this little verse this morning.
I. The world’s peace
The first truth is that the world’s peace fall’s short of Christ peace. “I do not give [peace] as the world gives [peace]. The peace that Horatio experienced through it all is not a peace that comes from this world; it is a peace that can only come from and through Jesus Christ. When we look around at our World today we do not see a lot of peace. There is unrest in many nations like Egypt, Libya and Tunisia where the people are mad at the governments and are fed up with dictatorships. There are wars between nations like the U.S. and Afghanistan. There are also constant threats of wars like between countries and areas like North and South Korea and Israel and Palestine. There are the drug wars in Mexico that often cripple that nation.
We see unrest in cities around North America and even Winnipeg with protesting different events and more recently the new movement called ”Occupy”. There is unrest in our schools amongst students with bullying and now cyber-bullying where kids use the internet to attack other kids in their schools and ostracize them. And there is unrest in families around the world, whether it is between extended family or between brothers and sisters and husbands and wives. Everywhere we look we see evidence of devastating lack of peace.
Throughout history there are those touting the words give peace a chance. Government leaders have tried their best to author peace between nations, but through it all our world is still not a peaceful world. We hear about those you promote peace when there is no peace in Ezekiel 13:10-12: Because they lead my people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash. 11 therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth. 12 When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, “Where is the whitewash you covered it with?” Almost every President of the United states has tried to broker peace deals between Israel and Palestine, but the issue is still there. Peace, Peace, when there is no peace.
II. Peace that comes from Christ
a. Not of this world
In John 14:27 Jesus is speaking with His disciples, He says: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. The second truth is that Christ’s peace is the only true peace. This peace is not like what the world gives or speaks about. It is a different kind of peace. A peace that transcends all understanding! (Philippians 4:7)
Where does this peace come from? What is different about this peace? Isaiah 9:6-7 gives us some insight through the Prophet Isaiah that for told of this peace: 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
This peace come only from God and can never be reproduced apart from God. Jesus came to earth over two thousand years ago. He came form God, He is God and he humbled Himself as a little baby born in a manger so that we could know peace. We can know peace even in this world, peace from the sins that cause us to be doomed and peace in the midst of this storm we live in.
b. It is available (sanctification illustration)
The third truth is that this peace is for us today. Like the story of Horatio we too can experience this peace through Jesus Christ. John 14:27 says: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. We can start to realize this peace through a personal relationship with Jesus. I never want to assume that everyone in the sound of my voice has made that conscious decision to confess their sin and follow Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
John 3:16 says: For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. “Whosoever” whosoever believes in Him will have life eternal. What a great peace knowing that we have a hope that goes beyond this life, beyond the turmoil’s of this earth, beyond the hurts around us and beyond death itself. We can have a peace in knowing that when we die we will live for ever with Christ in a place where there is no pain and suffering, but rejoicing.
When it comes to peace I need to share about another type of peace that is available. There came a point in my Christian journey that I knew that I was missing out. I knew that my life was not fully in tune with Christ. I was in control and not Christ. I had been a Christian for years, but I had not yielded full control to Christ.
How often have you seen the bumper sticker or licence plate that says: “God is my co-pilot”? That’s a problem! To many Christians are piloting their way through life and they seldom check in with the Lord who is sitting in the co-pilot’s seat. God wants to be the Pilot of your life, not the co-pilot. When I finally came to that point in my life and said Jesus I m sick of doing it my way I want you to take control of my life, I want Your will Your way there was a peace that came over me that surpassed any I knew of before.
It was a peace that was greater than anything I experienced in my years as a Christian. It was a peace that Isaiah described in Isaiah 26:3: You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You. Some call that moment a second blessing, or a crisis point and others refer to it as entire sanctification, but for all intents and purposes, today I want to call it “A peace that is beyond any understanding” It is a peace that is available for each of us today. Is Christ the Lord in your life or the Lord of your life?
I saw another bumper sticker one time that read If God is your co-pilot, you’d better switch seats. That is the one bumper sticker I really liked!
III. Christ’s Peace in us – the result – It can change the world
There is a fourth truth about peace I want to look at today. In John 14:27 it says: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you”! The truth is that Christ peace is left with us and Christ’s peace in us can change our world here and now. Peace that government try to implement will fall short, but the peace that comes from Christ which we have in us when Christ is in us is the ultimate. Peace is not something we are only to look forward too when we get to heaven, but we are to practice it and live it now.
A missionary to Japan told a story of when he was riding a train one late night across town. Everyone was being fairly dignified, but then a drunk man came on board. His face was red and he was looking for a fight. He was catcalling women and trying to provoke men to fight him. Nobody responded except for an old man, who laughed and smiled.
“What’s so funny, old man?” the drunk man responded. The old man shook his head and said, “Oh, nothing. You see, I remember a time when I was about as drunk as you, I went home to my garden, tripped and fell into one of my bushes where I spent the night. It was very funny.”
He continued then, “Tell me, why did you get drunk tonight? The night that I did that, my wife had died in the hospital.” Soon, the drunk man and the older gentleman were having a conversation which led the drunk man to sobbing on the old man’s shoulder.
The two of them got up and left the train together. It was only then that one of the passengers leaned over to the missionary and said, “You know, I didn’t recognize him before, but that was one of the greatest Aikido fighters in our country. He could have probably knocked him out very easily.” The missionary responded, a little confused, “Well of course, the old man probably couldn’t take a hit very well.” The passenger responded, “no, I am talking about the old man.”
That old man knew what it was to train for battle, to train for a fight, but somewhere along the way he had learned to train for peace. He had learned peace, and it was his first response.
This Christmas we will be around friends, family and church family and there will be times we will have opportunities to be a peace maker or a peace breaker. Will you choose to say a kind word that will promote peace or will you use words that will tear someone down. We as Christians have the ultimate peace maker living in us and the angel said that starry night so long ago “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” Peace is not for when we get to heaven, but needs to begin with us here on earth. “Goodwill towards men” is a lifestyle that all Christians should partake in.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we looked at the world and lack of peace in the world. I mentioned those that want to author peace in this world apart from Christ. The peace that man tries to author will fall short, but the peace that comes from Jesus Christ is the ultimate peace. To repeat what Jesus said in John 14:27: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
The peace that comes from Jesus Christ can bring resolve to all situations, circumstances and relationships and it can bring peace to our own inner turmoil. It is a peace that comes from the ultimate peacemaker Himself and this peace is available through Jesus and our in relationship with Him. John 14:27says: Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. One day we will come to know perfect peace away from this world and it woes when we are taken to live eternally with the Prince of Peace, but until then we can have and know Christ’s peace in us. We can lean on the truths from Scriptures and seek to know Christ more and more. We need to yield completely to Him. Not our will, but His will.
And lastly, we need to strive to make a difference with our friends, family colleges, neighbours and church family. If the Ultimate Peacemaker is living in us then this should be played out in our day to day relationships. Do we find that peace is our first response to every situation? Christ in us is calling for that today.
Let’s pray!
