No God, No Peace; Know God, Know Peace
“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.” (Luke 2:8–14, NIV)
Now it’s true, those are very familiar verses to us, and in churches and homes around the world, those same verses will be read countless times this season – and with good reason - for the angel brought good news that would result in great joy for all the people. As I read those verses again myself earlier this week, what struck me in particular, was the promise of peace. “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.” This was the proclamation, the testimony, the promise the angels sang forth that night. But what really strikes me today is the disparity, between the peace that we are promised, and the absence of that same peace, in so many lives.
“We live in a very tense, uptight, and fast-paced world filled with hurry. A Tahoma, Washington newspaper carried the story of Tattoo, the basset hound, a while back. Tattoo didn’t intend to go for an evening run, but when his owner shut the dog’s leash in the car door and took off for a drive – with Tattoo still outside the vehicle - he had no choice. Motorcycle officer Terry Filbert notice a passing vehicle with something dragging behind it. He commented that the poor basset hound was, “picking them up and putting them down as fast as he could.” He chased the car to a stop, and Tattoo was rescued. But not before the dog had reached a top speed of 25 miles per hour, falling down and rolling over several times.
[Folks,] Too many of us are living our lives like Tattoo, picking them up and putting them down as fast as we can – rolling around & feeling dragged through life.” (James Botts, The Crossing Community Church, in "Rest For The Stressed." www.sermoncentral.com)
Looking ahead to His crucifixion Jesus spoke these profound words to His disciples, saying, “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.” (John 14:27, NIV) But so many hearts are troubled, and so many others do live in fear. And so we hear the promise of peace, but wonder at the lack of it in our own lives.
Peace. We desire it as a covering for every aspect of our lives, don’t we? We seek it in our relationships. We long for it amidst the turmoil of each day. We cry out to God with our prayers that the world itself may be delivered from the ravages and horror of war. And on and on it goes with our heart cry being a cry for peace. And these desires are nothing new. Long before the time of Christ, the prophet Isaiah, referred to the promised Messiah, as the “Prince of Peace.” And when the angels proclaimed the birth of the Savior that night so long ago, they were really heralding the arrival of Isaiah’s, “Prince of Peace” – the long expected Messiah; He who would come to set His people free; He who would come with the promise of peace. And yet today the world knows very little of this peace that has been proclaimed.
Would you open your Bibles with me this morning, please, to the book of Psalms. Our Scripture passage is found in Psalm 85 and we’ll read verses 6-13 together today.
The psalmist writes these words, crying out to God and saying, “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing love, LORD, and grant us your salvation. I will listen to what God the LORD says; He promises peace to His people, His faithful servants— but let them not turn to folly. Surely His salvation is near those who fear Him, that His glory may dwell in our land. Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. The LORD will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest. Righteousness goes before Him and prepares the way for His steps.” (Psalm 85:6–13, NIV)
Again, we have the promise of peace – that the saints, that God’s own people, would have peace. And again we are faced by the contradiction of our own experience.
Back in the early 1980’s there was a retired Christian couple who was deeply disturbed by the state of the world. They made a serious study of all the places they could possibly live, looking for that one place that they thought least likely to be affected by war. They were searching for that one place of ultimate security that would grant them the sense of peace they so desperately longed for. They studied and traveled, traveled and studied and finally they thought that they had found the place they had been looking for. As Christmas approached they sent their pastor a card from their new home in the Falkland Islands. Four months later they found themselves surrounded by death and destruction as Argentina invaded their new home; their illusions of peace shattered. Why is peace so elusive?
Friends, the Peace of God is not the Peace of this World. Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.” The peace promised by God, the peace given by Jesus, is not, at this time, the physical peace, the laying down of arms around the world, that we often pray for, and that politicians sometimes seek.
World War II was thought to be the war to end all wars, and yet in the time since the last shots were fired in 1945, there have been scores of wars around the world. The peace of God is not the tenuous and fragile coexistence worked out on a piece of paper between nations that were previously enemies. Those treaties of peace are often broken, and even if they are not, the bitterness and resentment goes on for lifetimes. My great aunt lost a brother in combat in World War II. When the circumstances of his death were revealed to her, she carried a hatred, for all persons, and all things, German, for the rest of her life. She knew no peace in her heart – only torment, and bitterness and sorrow. The peace of God is not the peace of the world.
And despite being called the Prince of Peace, Jesus once spoke these words saying, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn “a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” (Matthew 10:34–36, NIV)
Those are harsh sounding words from the Prince of Peace but they forcefully emphasize that the peace Jesus brings is not the peace of the world that we so often desire, but something more, and not just something more, but something more profound.
It is also true that The Peace of God is not the Peace of a Trouble Free Life. The very peace that Jesus offers us may lead to division. It can set those who claim it at odds with their families and it will certainly bring those who seek His peace in conflict with the world. I once heard a former orthodox Jew speak of his family. When this man accepted the peace that Jesus gives to the world, the sword was driven between he and his family. He became dead to his parents and his siblings. They didn’t just ignore him – they actually had a funeral for him – casket and all - and to this day they will have no contact with him.
Jesus never attempted to hide the cost that would come with the peace He gives. In Jesus’ mind those who receive His peace will certainly be persecuted – it is a foregone conclusion. He says, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.” “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” … And, “If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also.” Jesus says, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. [For] in this world you will have trouble.” The peace given by God will not rectify all the woes and sorrows in your life. Your problems will not instantly be solved. Instead you might find the sword being driven into your own life, and you might find yourself facing persecution, because of the peace you have received.
Just as the peace of God is not the peace of the world, and the peace of God is not the peace of a trouble free existence, The Peace of God is not The Peace that is Known by All. I once “heard a story about a train traveling through the night in a very violent rainstorm. The lightning flashes were almost blinding, the rain hitting the windows was deafening and the strong gusts of wind rocked the train from side to side. When the lightening flashed and lighted up the darkness, the passengers could see the rising water along the tracks. This created terror in the minds of the passengers. Yet several [of them] noted that through all the noise, lightening and wind, one of the passengers, a little girl, seemed to be at perfect peace. The adult passengers couldn’t figure out why the little girl was so calm during all this excitement. Finally, one passenger asked her, “How is that you can be so calm when all the rest of us are so worried about what might or could happen?” The little girl smiled and said, “My father is the engineer.”” (Bill Butsko, www.sermoncentral.com) And friends, she wasn’t anxious. She wasn’t worried. She wasn’t fearful. She had a peace that couldn’t be shaken – why? Because she knew her father and she knew he was in control. And so it is for us who know our Father in Heaven.
Scripture tells us that we are to seek peace and to do so by turning from evil, for the wicked will never know the peace that they seek. [1 Pet. 3.12, Isa. 48.22]. The restlessness of the human spirit for peace, for tranquility, for contentment, drives us to try and discover this peace for ourselves. We relentlessly pursue it in possessions, believing that “things” can bring us the peace we desire. We desperately look for it in others hoping to find in them what we know to be missing in ourselves. We turn to self help books to find the path to peace which we should follow. Yet in none of these things do we find that elusive peace which we seek. We might find a counterfeit of it – we might experience a contentment from time to time - but we never find that peace which cannot be destroyed by the whims of this world.
We will never know the peace we seek, until we know the God of peace, Christ Jesus our Lord, for the Peace of God is the Peace that is Christ Himself. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 14, says of Jesus, “He Himself is our peace.” Peace is not just something that Jesus gives, and which is external to Himself, He Himself is our peace.
In the first chapter of the book of Colossians Paul writes of Jesus saying, “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.” The peace that we can know today, we can only know because the blood of Christ ran red for us, some 2000 years ago.
In the book of Philippians Paul writes that The Peace of God is the Peace that Surpasses all Understanding. How true that is! How does one explain that peace that God alone can give to someone who has never experienced it?! It is the peace that enables those who are martyred for the faith to stand firm to the end and not recant the truth. It is the peace that resides with you when the peace of the world has fled, when turmoil exists all around you, it is the peace that enables you to persevere.
“The story is told of a young dockworker who heard a minister named Henderson deliver a sermon based on Romans 5:1.” Now Romans 5:1 tells us that we have peace with God through Jesus Christ and although the young man was impressed with the truth that one can have peace with God only through the merits of the Lord Jesus, he did not trust Him as his personal Savior. The next day that man joined the crew of a steamship named the “London.” But before the ship arrived at its destination it met with disaster on the high seas. Several months passed, and a sailor came to see Pastor Henderson. "I've come to tell you that I talked and prayed with a young man on board the “London” who had heard you preach on Romans 5:1. He was concerned about his soul but didn't quite understand the plan of salvation. I finished what you began and led him to the Savior. Only a few minutes later we were shipwrecked, and he and I were told to launch one of the lifeboats. While doing so, he said to me, 'Mate, if you get to shore, be sure and tell Pastor Henderson that I've been saved.' Somehow he failed to get into the lifeboat in time, and we had to row away immediately to keep from being capsized and pulled under by the suction of the sinking ship. The last I saw of him, he was up in the rigging of the doomed vessel, waving his hat and shouting to me above the noise of the waters, 'Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ!'" (Source Unknown) That is a peace which surpasses understanding.
You see, the Peace of God, the Peace that is Jesus, is the Peace of Salvation. In Psalm 85 the psalmist links the peace of God with the salvation He gives to His people. Jesus Christ is our salvation. The peace of God is not the peace of the world for the world can never do for us what Jesus has done for us. The peace of God is not the peace of a trouble free existence because having received the peace of God, that is salvation, we obey not what the Scriptures call the “powers and principalities of this world,” but God alone. For those whose minds are controlled by the Spirit find “life and peace” according to Paul’s writing in the book of Romans. It is the peace of Christ which is to rule in our hearts. And the peace of God is not the peace that is known by all, for you can not know the peace of God, until you have encountered and known, the God of peace.
You can hear the cry of this truth foretold in the words of the psalmist when he wrote, “Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.” And in Jesus Christ the two have come together. Heavens and earth reconciled in the one man. The promise of Creator and Creation to be united in harmony. God and man reconciled in the one who was both man and God, Jesus Christ.
And folks, the Peace of God is the peace that is offered to you today. God’s peace is the peace that calls us out of our folly, out of our sin, out of the horror of a world lost in darkness. In the first chapter of the Gospel of John, John says of Jesus, “He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”
Author “Robert Fulghum … tells a story involving his daughter, Molly. One day, as Fulghum was ready to leave for work, Molly handed him two brown paper sacks. In one was his lunch. What was in the other was a mystery. When Fulghum asked Molly what was in the mystery bag, she said, "Just some stuff—take it with you." At lunch time, Fulghum tore open the mystery bag, dumping the contents onto his desk. The contents consisted of: two hair ribbons, three small stones, a plastic dinosaur, a pencil stub, a tiny seashell, two animal crackers, a marble, a used lipstick, a small doll, two chocolate kisses, and thirteen pennies.
Later in the day, when Fulghum was cleaning off his desk before going home, he wiped the contents of Molly’s bag into the waste basket. As he said, "There wasn’t anything in there I needed." That evening Molly asked where her bag was. He told her he had left it at his office, and asked, "why?" Molly said, "Those are my things in the sack, Daddy, the ones I really like—I thought you might like to play with them, but now I want them back. You didn’t lose the bag did you, Daddy?"
"Those are my things in the sack, Daddy, the ones I really like." To Fulghum the hair ribbons, small stones, pencil stub, a used lipstick and all the rest did not seem like much. To Molly, they were her most priceless treasures. The things she loved the most. But Fulghum did not have the sight to see their true value.
Long ago some shepherds left their fields and made their way to a stable. When they looked into the manger they saw a very ordinary baby wrapped in swaddling cloths. Whether the baby was sleeping, crying, or cooing, we are not told. But the shepherds saw something more, something which others who were gathered with Mary and Joseph apparently did not see. In this baby in the manger the shepherds saw [someone priceless] none other than the One in whom all God’s people find joy and peace, just as the angels had told them. The shepherds had heard the promise, had believed the promise, and in believing they saw more than met the ordinary eye. (Donald L. Deffner, Seasonal Illustrations, Resources, 1992, p. 16-17, www.sermoncentral.com, Scott Sharpes) In Jesus they saw the one whom was, and is today, the peace we so desperately need, the hope of the world.
This Christmas we’re being offered a precious gift. It is the gift of peace – peace with God through Christ Jesus our Lord. It’s a peace that withstands the test of time. It’s a peace that endures through all the hardships of life. It’s a peace that cannot be taken from you. It’s a peace that settles the heart, transforms the mind, and gives life to the soul. It’s a peace that awakens and revives the human spirit. It’s a peace that recognizes the grace and mercy that God has extended to us. And it’s a peace that responds to God in joy and worship – not just at Christmas – but in each day of the year because it recognizes the truth of Immanuel – God with us – God with us in the person of Jesus – in each day of the year.
Let’s pray …
