God’s Peace
December 18, 2022
What happens when things don’t go the way you planned? When the unplanned and unwanted happens, it’s not always to experience God’s peace. So, I want to talk about how we handle those disappointments and hardships. What do you do when you feel disappointed in God? When God seems to throw you a curve ball?
You did everything you could to raise your kids in a way you thought was wise, and now you've got a child making decisions that blows you away.
Maybe your plans for this year didn’t materialize as you planned. You didn’t plan to experience sickness and death; loss, struggle, depression or anxiety.
What do you do when you believe God’s plans are definitely not yours?
We're going to look at Luke 2, perhaps the most powerful version of the Christmas story, the birth of Christ. Shepherds were in the field taking care of their flocks and an angel of the Lord appears to them. Luke 2 tells us - - -
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another,
“Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.
17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
That’s the second half of the Christmas story. I want to tell you about the first half. Because it’s an amazing story.
It’s a story where the main characters were probably asking “What do you do when you find yourself wondering where God is when you're doing everything you believe is right?”
It’s a heart-wrenching story that most people are pretty familiar with. It could be a hallmark movie. It’s about a young couple who move through what feels like betrayal, deceit, and total dysfunction.
I don't want you to hear this story like you've heard it 100 times before. I want you to imagine that these are very real people with hopes and dreams, just like you. And we're going to watch as this young couple navigate through a difficult time
Mary and Joseph have this traumatic birth followed by a nightmare where they're running as fugitives from King Herod. And all of this disappointment and trouble because they were trying to do exactly what God wanted them to do.
I’m going to take a little liberties with the story to modernize it a bit. I'll tell you the story kind of like it happened today. Maybe it helps us better understand what’s happening.
Imagine Joe has the perfect proposal planned for Mary. He gets the ring and takes her out to a beautiful summer sunset. He's going to propose on the Bethlehem bridge. It’s all set up. Friends are hiding, taking videos and pictures. It’s going to blow up Instagram. The proposal is a great success . . . and Mary is thrilled!
Fast forward and they're excitedly planning their wedding. They're getting married in May. And the honeymoon is at an all inclusive resort in Rome. They've got plans to pay off the loans from Joe's trade school. And they're really excited about the future.
They're going to live in an apartment for two years. Then they're going to build a home in a nice suburb of Nazareth. Joe's going to do most of the work.
In time they’ll expand the business, hire others and make money. Then, they’re going to start having babies. But not for at least 3-5 years. They had great plans.
And God interrupted those plans with the most complicated, untimely, inconvenient, seemingly unfair assignment. An angel appears to this teenage girl. Mary’s 14 or 15 years old - - - -
30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus.
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David,
33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
Now, Mary’s kind of dumbfounded. She’s half in shock and she says to the angel,
34 “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy — the Son of God.
37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
And Mary makes one of the most beautiful and powerful, trusting statement - - -
38 “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Mary’s dazed, but on a spiritual high. An angel just appeared to her. She runs to tell Joe, he's going to be so excited. "Joe, you're not going to believe it. I had the most powerful moment with God and I'm pregnant by the Holy Spirit."
Picture his response! You’re crazy! That’s not possible. When she tells him, No, it’s true! I’m pregnant through the Spirit of God. Joe comes back and tells Mary - Not only are you a liar, and a cheat, but you're crazy. Imagine your girlfriend says, "I'm pregnant and it's the Holy Ghost who did it."
How are you going to feel about that? She's expecting him to be excited. And he's completely devastated. Matthew 1 tells us - - -
19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
Why would he divorce her if they’re not married? That’s crazy. But in those days being engaged had a different meaning. The engagement was a binding agreement and technically you were already married. You weren’t living with one another, the ceremony would come later. It was so serious that if the man died during the engagement, the woman was considered a widow.
So technically they're married, but yet the ceremony and the gifts comes later. And so if you can imagine this - - - they're technically married, but they're still picking colors for their wedding ceremony.
And Mary’s pregnant in a culture where she’s going to become an outcast. And Joseph knows, "Hey, we haven't been intimate." He's crushed. Humiliated. He’s beyond disappointed. This is a life-altering disappointment.
The invitations have gone out. You're going to call it off. Worse than the public humiliation, there's the personal betrayal. He trusted Mary. He loved her. He was ready to spend the rest of his life with her. And in his mind, she cheated on him. Now what? There’s total anxiety and restlessness. There’s no peace.
Then think about Mary. Just a young teenage girl who didn't do anything wrong. In fact, she did everything just right. She did exactly what God asked her to do.
And now her fiance’s considering divorcing her and she's going to be shamed and not allowed to participate in society like a normal woman. Imagine what she's thinking, as she prepares for motherhood alone.
"God, where are you? I said yes to you. This wasn't what I wanted. But I did exactly what you asked me to do. This isn't fair. Now Joseph doesn't trust me. He doesn't even like me, he wants to divorce me.”
What do you do when you feel disappointed in God? Some of you’ve had similar experiences. Maybe you had big plans, and now there’s no plans. You entered the year healthy and now you’re not. You had a great job and now you don’t. You had someone in your life and now you don’t. You had plans for college and something changed that.
Whatever it is. I'm guessing that in so many of our lives, you're facing something that isn't what you planned. God, I don't understand. Where are you in the middle of my disappointments?
I want to show you a couple of truths that might help when you don't understand. Two truths that I pray the Holy Spirit will put in your heart and will be good news and bring you peace and joy.
The first thought is this, you don't have to understand the plan to trust that God has a purpose. Proverbs 19:21 is a powerful verse that says - - -
21 Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. - Proverbs 19:21
I have plans, you have plans. Mary had plans, Joseph had plans.
Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it's the Lord's purpose that prevails.
I don't know about you, but I thank God that He has a purpose. I thank God that people's opinions can't stop God's purpose. I thank God that a pandemic can't stop God's purpose. I thank God that my disappointments can't stop God's purpose.
We have lots of plans, but God’s purpose will always prevail. That’s good news. That should bring us comfort.
We see Mary and Joseph's plans are wrecked. They're disappointed. Now what? Scripture says this - - -
20 But as Joseph considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,
“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
Wait a minute, God, is doing something in the middle of my disappointment. God, you're still working in the middle of my pain. There's still a purpose in the middle of all the things that I don't understand, you're doing something.
We don’t have to understand the plan, but it’s to trust that God has a purpose. And His purpose always prevails
The second thought is this - - and it’s a tough one ... I think. Your disappointment with God might actually be a divine appointment from God. There are times in our lives, when we might find ourselves disappointed and wondering where God is. And your disappointment with God could be a divine appointment from God.
You're still doing something God, even in the middle of what I think is my greatest disappointment. I'll tell you a story that seems pretty insignificant now. But sometimes, you know, in life when something's happening to you, it feels like all the weight of the world is on us.
When I was working for Metropolitan Insurance as an investment auditor, I applied for job with another branch called real estate investments. They were the division that made many of the investments in real estate. I was excited and nervous and they wined and dined me. All day interviews. It all looked good, until I came in 2nd place.
I was so disappointed. I really wanted that job. More money, more prestige, more responsibility. BUT . . . . . it wasn’t part of God’s plans. It was part of my plans! But not God’s plans. His purpose wasn’t being fulfilled! Why? 6 months later I believed God was calling me to go to seminary and become a pastor.
Now, I was a Christian at the time, but in my thought process, I never planned to become a Christian, let alone a pastor. To read through a Bible and learn about some guy named Jesus.
Fast forward and now I’m here at this very moment today, recognizing that I wouldn't be married to the greatest woman in the world, and I wouldn’t have my family and wouldn’t be preaching today and we wouldn't be sharing this moment together . . . IF things had gone according to MY plan.
You may have some things right now that haven't gone the way you had hoped. This isn't what you planned. And I hope you'll find comfort and peace. If you're disappointed with God it could be a divine appointment with God.
Mary and Joseph were trying to figure things out. What are we going to do? Just when they started to get things together, Caesar Augustus issued this stupid decree. "You've got to go back to your hometown to do this census."
Which was incredibly inconvenient. We see cute Christmas cards with Mary and Joseph riding on a donkey and it all looks kind great, "Hey, that looks life fun."
Yet, this was a 90-mile trip on a donkey, a grueling 2 week trip. Joe had the pressure of protecting his pregnant wife-to-be, traveling through a Judean desert where it would be freezing at night. They had to go through the terrifying Valley of the Jordan River, which was a heavily forested area. And there were thieves and muggers waiting for people like Joe and Mary.
And they'd have to fight off bears, lions, and wild boars. And so Joseph's got his very, very pregnant wife facing threats all around them, traveling on a donkey.
Mary starts having contractions and he's panicking, freaking out, running red lights on the donkey. And they didn't have hotels.com. So there was no place to stay. Nobody left the light on for them.
They find a barn. It’s a nasty hole in the wall with animals. And she has a traumatic birth with no help in a cave. And then these gross, dirty shepherds come and wanna hold her baby. Imagine it.
Before they can even get home and finish decorating the nursery, they find out Herod wants to kill their child. Just imagine that in your world today. You just had your first baby. Everyone's whispering behind your back. Even wanting that precious baby dead.
And now you're on the run all because you're doing what God asked you to do. Peace on earth - - you laugh at that thought. This isn't what you planned.
Fast forward all the way to the cross, Mary, the mother of Jesus, the girl who said yes God, without knowing the details, "Oh, Lord, I love you and trust you. My answer is yes. May it be done unto me, according to your Word."
And she looks and sees her Son. Her boy, who's never sinned, never wronged anyone, never disobeyed God, stripped naked, beaten. And she looks up at her boy, her flesh, her blood. And humanity is mocking God in the flesh, Jesus, the Creator, looks up and says - - -
"God, please forgive them. They don't even know what they're doing."
And then He lifts up His head toward heaven and He says - - -
"Father, I did what you sent me to do. It's finished. Into your hands I commit my Spirit.
And the mother of Jesus who said yes to God, watches her son die. You don't have to understand the plan. When you know God, when you love Him, when you have faith in Him, when you understand His character, when you realize just how much He loves you and has plans for you, to bless you, to give you good gifts.
And even though we have so many plans, His purpose, His will, it always prevails.
You don't have to understand the plan when you trust God has a purpose.
No one could have planned that God would become a man, conceived by the Holy Spirit. But God would raise Him again. Mary and Joseph had a plan. I have a plan. You have a plan.
But God has a purpose. And the good news is, you were that purpose. You were His purpose. Verse 21 says - - -
21 Mary will give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus.
Why? "Because He will save His people from their sins."
What did we need? We needed forgiveness. We needed healing and hope. And that's why God sent a Savior. His name is Jesus. He was born of a virgin. He's the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice, the one who never sinned. So He could give His life in our place so we could experience the peace of God.
Even when life doesn't go as you want, there is a peace from heaven. It's not just a concept, it’s a person, a reality. His name is Jesus and Jesus is our peace.
And in the middle of your pain, know we’re all in this together. We all grieve together, just as we all rejoice together. We can trust that even though we don't fully understand, God's purposes are good. His ways are perfect. He is always good.
Mary and Joseph had a plan, but God had a purpose and you were that purpose. That's just how much He loves you. So in the middle of the pain, I pray you find good news and great joy. A Savior has been born. His name is Jesus, and He is the one we worship. And He is the one we honor and He is our peace!!
