The Peace Of Christ, Breath Of Heaven. An Advent Message. Series

The Peace of Christ, Breath of Heaven. An Advent message.

The first part of this sermon is a little auto biographical.

There have been a few times in my life when I was living on the edge, well it felt like it anyway. I don’t mean the times when I was kayaking or climbing, even screaming down a rope tied between two trees at a big angle between them hanging onto a pully by another short length of rope in scouts, up a 30 foot ladder on a power pole in a howling nor-wester before getting down and telling the consumer that their power line would get fixed when the wind dropped, or the time we rolled the ute on the motorway coming back from Moratua. In these fleeting sorts of events while they may have made the adrenaline run, and the hands grip a bit tighter than usual and had possible short to long term negative consequences, there was always a resultant peace about the situation, during or after.

For me things that have left me seeking peace of mind have always been an outcome of a situation where I either did or said something really stupid that resulted in upsetting or hurting someone else or a situation that was outside my control that left me wondering could I have done more to resolve that situation or not have the situation occur in the long term.

Here’s and example and it’s quite hard to relay this. In Sri Lanka, on the 21st of April 2019 there were bombings that resulted in the deaths of 265 innocent people in churches and hotels and the nine bombers, plus some police raids that resulted in other terrible outcomes. I know I have shared some of this story with some of you. However, prior to the bombings the Colombo Central Corps of The Salvation Army was visited once around Christmas, by a group of clean and tidy young men, and then about three weeks before the bombings by the same group of young men, some of these men would go on to carry out the bombings. I had a feeling that we were being scoped for something and even made the comment that I thought we were. In both instances the young men didn’t stay long, and I think that thankfully when they came the second time numbers at the Corps were very low and they decided not to target that place of worship. In my wildest imagination as a Kiwi in a situation like that, I ever would have imagined such an horrific and destructive outcome. I was thinking burglary or an outburst down crying our beliefs, nothing like the violence and loss or life that occurred. We heard the bomb go off at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel while we were in our Sunday morning meeting. The days that followed the whole country was in lock down. This in itself brought an uneasy calm.

How do you come to terms with such a thing and find a place of peace within yourself, when you carry the thought that you may have been able to do something that could have made a difference, saved so many people, that is a rhetorical question? While I think about this often, God has helped me to find some resolution. I think about this every Easter, praying for God to intervene in places where violence may be planned. For we live in a world where violent people practice hate towards believers and others, all the while believing that God is on their side, all the while when what they do is opposed to his laws.

Why this illustration? This will become clear, I hope.

The prophet Isaiah said this in the 8th Century BC:

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty

will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Lukes gospel chapter 2 relates this about this person, the promised Messiah’s coming:

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:8-12)