Peace
Luke 2:8-14
At the birth of Jesus
- Angels appeared to shepherds
- “Fear not”
- Great joy!
- Peace was the message
Christ’s coming into the world
- Was heralded as the coming of peace and joy
- We humans have attempted to manufacture peace and joy
- Our materialism is our culture’s attempt to find peace and joy
- Personal peace and joy
- The message is “Be content with things; they will give you peace and joy”
- They do not
- We have people, good meaning people
- Who seek peace at any cost
- No struggle, no conflict, no war, no matter what the provocation or cost
- We have Christians calling for peace
- But many have a theology that removes Christ and the divine
- To enthrone the human soul
- They too find no peace and no joy
- Only disappointment, emptiness and fear
Where is this peace and this joy heralded by the angels?
- We seek peace between nations
- We seek peace between people
- But the more we look, the more we find strife
- There is no peace in this world
- Jesus said in Matt 10:34, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
- What did He mean by this?
- How does this match up with the heralds
- Who proclaimed peace at His birth?
- Look at history
- Look at current events
- We as Christians have no peace in the world
- We are killed and harassed abroad
- Called intolerant here when we claim Christ as Truth
- We have no peace in this world
Isaiah and the other prophets of the Old Testament said the Messiah would bring peace
- Look at Isa 9:6
- Here He is called the Prince of Peace
- Zechariah 9:9-10
- Here we have Him coming as king
- Proclaiming peace to the nations
Yet, where do we find this peace?
- Our Messiah came with prophecies and proclamations by angels
- That He would bring us peace
- This Christmas we celebrate the birth of our Christ
- Our Savior, the Prince of Peace
Let us look and find more about this peace He sends us
There are several important things we need to realize about His peace
1. His peace is different than the world’s peace
- Read John 14:25-27
- His peace comes with the Holy Spirit
- What Jesus taught
- It is here we find our peace
- In Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit
- As we trust Jesus to lead us, teach us
- Give us life
- We find peace
- Peace that comes in the security of our relationship with Him
- Peace based in the relationship of faith we have with Him
- The world can’t give this kind of peace
- It does not know Him or follow Him
- Jesus told us in John 16:33
- We will have trouble in the world
- But He has overcome the world
- It has no power over us
- As it had no power over Him
- And He has brought us His peace
- Even as we have trouble in the world
- He is our peace, not the world
- The world is only trouble for us
As the prophet Jeremiah said (Jer 6:14)
- The world proclaims, “Peace, peace, but there is no peace.”
- The world winks at sin and rebels against God’s authority and rule
- It cries out that everything is ok
- God will not punish sinners
- He is God of love
- He will forgive us because we aren’t that bad, are we
- Be at peace. Don’t worry!
- Peace, peace but there is no peace
2) Jesus told us in Matt 10:34-36, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
- He did not come that we might live in peace with the world
- He is the reason for people to turn against us
- He calls us to choose sides
- The world will not tolerate Him
- Or those who side with Him
- They put Him to death
- They will also pressure us to deny Him
- That is shown in the violent and subtle persecution
- Christians around the world experience
- Right here, those who claim Christ is the only way, the only truth and the only life
- Find our society increasingly calling us intolerant and dangerous
- We are a menace, a threat to our society and culture
- That by the way is correct
- But not because of our intolerance
- But because of the conviction we are to be
- To the sins of our society
- We are to be salt
- Salt either preserves what is worth keeping
- Or burns in the wounds of sin
- We are salt in the wounds of the sins of the world
- Sinners will not refuse a sword to those
- Who stand up to their sin
- Herod had John beheaded
- The leaders of the Jews crucified Christ
- Nero had Paul and Peter executed
3) Peace is only found in Christ
- 1st with God Romans 5:1-2
- 2nd with each other Ephesians 2:14-16
- 3rd even in difficulties and trials Philippians 4:4-7
4) Peace is the fruit of obedience to God
- We are called to live by faith
- Doing so brings peace
- Look at Isaiah 26:3-4
- We are called to worship God
- To live in awe of Him
- To live as He is indeed God Almighty
- We are called to refrain from evil and to do good
- This obedience brings peace
- See Psalm 34:11-14
- We are to do good
- Do the works of God
- And speak the words of God
- We are to pursue peace
- Even in persecution
- We can find God’s peace
- It is a fruit of our growing relationship with Christ
- It grows inside us where no sword or word can touch it
- Christ said in Matt 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers. They shall be called the sons of God.”
5) We are to help others find the same peace given to us in Christ
- Listen to Acts 10:36, “You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord over all.”
- The Gospel is the Gospel of peace
- Peace with God through the atoning work of Christ
- We are to proclaim this peace
- To a world desperately searching for it
- To a world which has no peace
- We are to remind them as Isaiah said
- “there is no peace,” said the Lord, “for the wicked.” (Isa 48:22)
- Peace comes only in surrender to Christ
So as we celebrate Christmas
- And read the familiar stories
- Hear the familiar songs of peace and joy on earth
- Amid the world’s calls for war and violence
- We need to reflect on who is our peace
- And return to Him
- Seeking the peace that passes all understanding
- That overcomes and befuddles the world
- The peace which comes from the Prince of Peace
And we need to look expectantly for his return
- When Christ returns again
- He will establish peace on earth
- The lion will lay down with the lamb
- Isaiah 11:6-9
Prayer
Invitation
