"Christmas Gifts that Won't Break: The Gift of Peace"
Luke 2:8-14
"Love your enemies and pray for those who harass you..."
"You must not oppose those who want to hurt you.
If people slap you on your right cheek, you must turn the left cheek to them as well."
"...just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing love to everyone, so also you must be complete."
These are some very key teachings from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
How are you doing at living them out?
How am I doing?
Sometimes I don't feel like I'm doing very well.
Author Andrew Santella puts it this way:
"This morning, for example, you were running late for an 8:30 meeting and you just wanted to get your latte and a bagel from Starbucks and run.
Of course the guy in front of you in line had to spend 10 minutes talking to the woman behind the counter about that most fascinating of topics, the weather.
You’re ashamed to admit it now, but you were on the verge of balling up your 10-dollar bill, throwing it across the counter and screaming for service.
Actually, the whole day has been a little like this.
At work, you had a tense exchange with your boss about what he called “peculiarities” in your expense account.
Even now, on your way home, as you were inching toward a tollbooth, it happened again.
You had 20 minutes to get home, pick up your daughter and drive her over to her dance lessons.
No chance, right?
The traffic was going nowhere when suddenly, thank God, another lane opened up.
You went for it.
So did the guy in your blind spot.
A Hummer, cutting right across your bow like you weren’t even there.
And off you went, laying on the horn, screaming some embarrassingly unoriginal obscenities, spittle flying, face contorted.
If you could have caught a peek of yourself in the rear-view at that moment, you would have seen a person who appeared utterly insane.
Here’s the thing — and maybe you’ll find this comforting or maybe you’ll find it frightening.
There are a lot of you out there.
Rage seems to be all the rage lately.
Look around; it’s not difficult to conclude that the world is getting angrier and angrier.
Our politics is angry.
Our popular music is angry.
Our highways run like rivers of anger."
Do you feel it?
I do.
Even some of our Christians seem angry.
Recently, the president of Liberty University urged his student body to start carrying concealed weapons with their books.
“I’ve always thought if more good people had concealed carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in” President Jerry Falwell, Jr. said before 10,000 people at the Christian college.
It's been argued that one of the most telling signs of a national problem with anger is the hostile tone of our political discourse.
Some call it a new style of anger.
“For the first time in our political history,” author Peter Wood writes, “declaring absolute hatred for one’s opponent has become a sign of good character.”
It’s not just that people have such fury," Wood argues, "it’s that they are so proud of their rage, so eager to broadcast it, so determined to assert their rage as a badge of their identity.
The terrorists, the abortion clinic bombers and school shooters may be the most violent examples of contemporary rage.
But don’t forget angry posts on Facebook, finger-pointing cable-news hosts, brawling professional athletes, bullying school kids, and those Little League parents who go after umpires, veins bulging.
Once you start looking for anger, you see it everywhere.
So is there any hope for the anger in our world, in our everyday lives?
Is there any reason to believe that someday you will be able to survive the afternoon commute without someone screaming or tailgating?"
On the night Jesus was born, the angel said to the shepherds: "Don't be afraid! Look! I bring good news to you--wonderful, joyous news for all people.
Your savior is born...
...Suddenly a great assembly of the heavenly forces was with the angel praising God.
They said, 'Glory to God in heaven, and on earth peace..."
The word for "peace" in the Bible means wholeness.
It's a "peace" in which our relationship with God, others, the natural world, and ourselves is what God intended all along.
And it alone brings well-being.
This peace is no longer some far off in the distant hope; it's a present reality, as a result of the arrival of the Prince of Peace.
"Now wait," you may say.
"Our world is at war."
"People are buying guns like they are tic tacs."
"Terrorists are scaring everybody."
"Peace?"
"What you talkin' bout?
There is no peace."
The peace of God, the peace of Christ resides in the hearts and minds of those who choose to follow the Words, the Way, the Truth the teachings and the Life of the One Who was born in a feeding trough in a back water town called Bethlehem.
In John 14 Jesus promises: "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."
We live in a terribly dangerous, unstable, and violent world.
But God has called us to a life that runs in the opposite direction of many of this world's practices and attitudes.
And thank God for that!!!
Peace...real peace...God's peace...the peace that was bought for us with Jesus' blood on the Cross is the greatest treasure humanity can ever know.
It is the treasure hidden in the field.
It is the pearl of great price.
It comes to us free of charge--by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
It means more, much more than just the absence of war, troubles, famine, economic problems.
It means wholeness and completeness even in the midst of them.
I understand that Disney World and similar theme parks become especially busy during the Christmas Holiday season.
To be safe, Disney has just stepped up the security at their parks.
There will be much tighter methods of making sure all people go through metal detectors, perhaps even a couple of times.
And toy guns and squirt guns will no longer be available in Disney Park stores, nor will they be allowed into the Parks.
Officials don't want to take the chance that toy guns will be mistaken for the real thing by security personnel.
We live in a violent time; of course, Jesus' world was, arguably, even much more violent.
And Jesus' life and radical teachings caused the ruling Empire to hang Him on a Cross as a criminal.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God," Jesus tells us.
"Those who live by the sword will die by the sword."
"Turn the other cheek."
And as the Apostle Paul so beautifully puts it: "live at peace with all people.
Don't try to get revenge...
...don't be defeated by evil, but defeat evil with good."
As Christ followers we become caught in and must endure this world's wars, acts of terror, economic swings, prejudices, social unrest, political posturing, natural disasters and accidents.
But the Good News is that through believing in and following Jesus we can have peace--even during these kinds of things.
As Jesus says: "Trust in God; trust also in me."
And that is what it is really all about, is it not?
"Trust in God; trust in Jesus."
Do not be afraid.
"since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness combined with our faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."
Peace is certainly a Christmas gift from God which will never, ever break.
It is worth much more than gold--it is much greater than diamonds.
Do you have this peace?
