The Prince of Peace
Isaiah 9:7 KJV
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this....
Message:
Being at peace with yourself and others is no small accomplishment, especially during the holidays.
Often that's when family and friends are so anxious to make peace with one another and put aside their petty issues as peace on earth and goodwill toward men is embraced by all.
Why is it that the peace that we so desperately cherish can be so easily broken?
It may be that we have not truly given our lives over to the Prince of Peace – Jesus Christ.
Or it may be that the world creeps in and steals our peace? Jesus warned us of this so it should not be a surprise to be attacked in this way. John 10:10
Now let me illustrate and maybe you can relate.
Imagine a father who has had to work a midnight shift on Christmas Eve in order to get Christmas Day off.
Now imagine that he has had to work not just one midnight shift but 6 in a row.
On the way out from work his boss reminds him that he is still on call for Christmas "so don't go too far from a phone". Great.
Finally he gets off at 5 or 6AM on Christmas Day and hurries home to assemble toys for his children.
Now this man is a regular guy who bought a few toys that were knock offs because he just can’t afford the real deal.
Made in China is stamped across many of the toys that he is trying to put batteries into and others that he is trying to assemble.
Suffering from fatigue which has inflicted him for the last 6 nights and the pressure of getting things ready before the kids wake up – he loses it as one by one the toys start to fly across the room and these toys had nothing to do with space or air travel.
Pieces of plastic bounce against the ceiling and the walls as his loving wife steps into the room wearing a Santa’s helper outfit while holding a cup of hot chocolate.
The man’s face is as red as Rudolph’s nose as he sits dejected and defeated by Made in China.
By God’s grace his wife looks him in the eye and smiles as a tear runs down her face. She tells him to take a deep breath as he tells her to add a little something extra to the hot chocolate she is offering him.
Then he reaches for the cup she is holding and asks “where’s the #@**# glue” in what sounds like a foreign language that just might be Chinese.
For some of the men here today that story may not be fiction but a reminder of the Ghost of Christmas past.
Or how about this true story…..
It’s Christmas Eve and there’s a bad snowstorm and a young Mom is determined to get her only daughter that special little doll. She motivates her husband to drive through a snowstorm to a large shopping Mall a hundred miles away. To one of those specialty toy stores.
Before he can bring the car to a stop she is out of the car and walking through the front door of the store.
After racing down aisle after aisle she finds the dolls but sadly there is only one left on the shelf.
She notices two other couples eyeing up this last doll but they seem to be deliberating about whether or not to buy it.
In the blink of an eye and with Kung Fu like reflexes she reaches out for the doll and clutches it to her chest. A smile runs across her face from ear to ear as the other two couples turn to each other in disbelief.
Now she is assured that her little girl will have the kind of Christmas she had hoped for as this doll will be under her tree and not some strangers.
I turned and walked through the checkout without saying a word as I watched my wife’s eyes dance with delight all the way home.
It would take a few days for her conscience to speak to her about her actions but now you can see it makes a great sermon illustration.
I mean no disrespect to my wife you see I asked her permission to tell this story as long as I told mine first.
Our society has hijacked Christmas from all of us over the years and they have turned it into one of the biggest commercial enterprises on the planet. We have to stop this attack on our sacred holiday and tell the world sorry – Christmas is about the Prince of Peace not the Prince of Price.
I know there are lawn signs that now proclaim that message and I think that they serve as a good reminder to re-focus people’s attention on the whole reason for the season. But we can do even better than that.
We can resist the enemies of peace if we put our frustration, anger, hurt, and upset into the hands of the Prince of Peace.
The Bible tells us that Jesus overcame the world.
John 16:33
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Friends I have not yet been able to remove all anger, frustration, hurt and disappointment from my life. But there is one who helps me find peace deep within my soul when I surrender these things to Him.
Jesus and only Jesus has totally overcome the world and the things that attack our peace.
Greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4
That ancient scripture from Isaiah in the King James Version of the Bible reminds us that " Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end..." Isaiah 9:7
This Christmas look to the one who came as a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes for your true sense of peace. Let His peace increase in you at this time so that it knows no end.
This does not mean that you and I will go without the temptations of commercialism during Christmas nor can we totally avoid – Made in China.
But if we stop and take that deep breath during those times of frustration and stress we just might breathe a deep sigh of thanks for the tiny baby who would become for us The Prince of Peace.
So I repeat what Jesus said…..”Be of good cheer;" Jesus has overcome the world – John 16:33 You and I can overcome the stress, frustration and disappointment of Christmas as it is packaged by the world when we gaze into the manager and remember how our Heavenly Father has packaged the very best gift of all – Our Prince of Peace. - Amen
