We are all looking for a place of ultimate peace. We want a place of ultimate serenity where there is no disease, no war, no civil unrest, no crime or violence or acts of terrorism. And where there are not tragic losses in accidents or natural disasters. All normal human hearts long for this. I saw this Ad from Target
Ad: Get The Peace Of Christmas delivered to your door in as little as 2 hours. Try Drive Up, Pick Up, or Same Day Delivery. We’ll do the shopping for you. Same Day Store Pick-Up · 5% Off W/ RED card (Target)
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just drive up or pick up or have peace delivered to your door?
Where do we get this desire for peace and serenity?
Our Desire for Peace Is Given by God The reason? God is a God of peace…Often directly referred to in the scriptures as a God of peace. Romans 15:33, says, “Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen”. Another related verse is 2 Thessalonians 3:16, which says, “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. But God being a God of peace is evident as you look back at the book of Genesis in the beginning of time and creation.
God originally created order out of chaos. Remember God did not place Adam and Eve in the midst of chaos. God created order and peace from the chaos and then placed Adam and Eve in garden paradise… Yet we know what happened in Genesis 3. We call it the Fall, the sin of Adam and Eve which broke the peace. Right after this in Genesis 4 we see the first real act of murder with Cain killing his brother Abel. And now… here in the real world, there is so much brokenness and discord. This broken peace leads to many broken lives and broken hearts. Ever since Genesis 3 there continues to be a missing peace in our world. Both ancient and modern history indicate this.
The Society of International Law in London gives a startling report. It says during the last four millennia there have only been 268 years of peace in 4,000 years. There have been over 15,000 known wars from 36 BC to the present time. There have been over 8,000 treaties trying to make for peace. Those treaties have been made and broken. Despite the peacemaking efforts of organizations such as the League of Nations, NATO, and the United Nations, since 1945 there have been over 85 wars and over 105 million have been involved in armed conflict of some variety. All of this has caused one very insightful cynic to say that “Peace is that one glorious moment in history when everyone stops to reload.” Peace eludes us.
We can search for peace and many are searching for peace. But it eludes them.
St Augustine made famous the lines… We transpose it to say…Humanity is forever restless and will not rest until we rest in God.
While there is no external war going on internally within our own nation, thanks be to God, there is still much division and strife. Our political arena remains very divided and tumultuous. Marriage failures and separated families abound, prison overcrowding, continued violence in society, abuse and neglect abound. And there are still recovery efforts from natural disasters. Mass shootings and acts of terrorism reinforce the reality that we live in a world where there is no external peace about us.
So the question comes to mind if Jesus is the Prince of Peace and the angelic announcement of “Peace on earth, good will to men”, then why does the world around us still seem so violent and filled with strife and unrest?
Jesus obviously did not come to bring the world peace… at least in his first coming. Christ came to make peace possible. Yet it eludes us, especially in our corporate world.
And Jesus talked about the opposite of peace in Mark’s gospel. I mentioned some of this last week in speaking about the signs of Jesus Second Coming. Jesus said in Mark 13:8 nation will rise against nation. There will be wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes and famine and the times would wax worse and worse.
And in one place in Matthew 10:34 Jesus said I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
It represents the spiritual battle that we face day by day, light opposing darkness, flesh against the spirit, righteousness against the powers of evil in our world. We are the church militant. Ephesians says that we are in a spiritual warfare, a spiritual battle and to put on the full armor of God. So, Jesus is the Prince of Peace while the world around us continues to be in conflict and turmoil, even opposing Jesus.
What is the peace that Jesus brings?
We must realize that we are living between the first and the 2nd coming of Christ. I believe there will be an ultimate fulfillment of justice and peace at the 2nd coming of Christ. We believe that Jesus does come to bring peace, peace into the hearts of every person NOW. The angelic message is still true. He comes to bring good will and peace to all humanity. We believe that ultimately one day there will be external peace as the song says when King Jesus comes to rule – finally and completely and fully. A couple weeks back I talked about pictures of paradise.
The prophecy out of Isaiah so beautifully put these pictures of peace for us that we are anticipating. We are hopeful that we will one day see when Christ comes again. Isaiah 2:4, men will beat their swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks, nation will not take up the sword against nation, neither will they study war anymore.
Isaiah 11:6, the wolf will lie down with the lamb. They will lie down together. The infant will play over the hole of the cobra and neither will they harm nor destroy any more on my holy mountain.
Those prophecies will one day come to pass when Jesus returns. But for now we live in that in between time where Jesus said, in the world you will have trouble, struggle, frustration, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world! Christ came to bring internal peace to our hearts for those who believe in him, to those who trust him, to those who acknowledge him as Savior and Lord.
As we think about Christmas and the coming of Jesus, what was God’s plan for Jesus? Jesus had to give up heaven to come to earth. Further, Jesus had to give up part of his glory to become a human being. Ultimately, He had to give up his life in order to become a sacrifice for us. And Jesus perfectly obeyed God’s plan and God’s order to bring peace between God and us. It’s amazing to think that the God of Creation placed Adam and Eve right in the middle of the garden paradise, a place of ultimate peace and tranquility where everything was in harmony and unity. But God placed His Son into a world of sin and disobedience where there was no peace or harmony. Here we see the amazing love of God on display.
Colossians 1:19 tells us the amazing thing about Christmas and Jesus as the Prince of Peace, “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Christ and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross.”
That is why Jesus was born. That is why Jesus lived. That is why Jesus suffered and died and rose again: to make peace between God and humanity! The peace that had been broken so long ago of the sins of Adam and Eve that we carry on in our own sins today. Our sin separated us from God and we had to be reconciled and restored first and foremost. This is why Jesus came: to reestablish a relationship with God, so that we might have peace within our own selves and then a moment toward peace with those around us! But there is more. Not only does Jesus bring peace but…
Jesus comes to bring his kingdom of peace to rule in our hearts.
The Bible declares it in Romans 14. The kingdom of God is not in externals, is not in meat and drink but it is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. So peace is a consequence of the reign of Christ in our lives, hence he is called the Prince of Peace as his peace rules in our lives.
The same Christ who is called the Prince of Peace later in that same book of Colossians 3:15 says, let the peace of Christ rule in your life.
We have many emotions in our lives – sadness, anger, grief, disappointment, bitterness, maybe apathy. I could go around the room this morning and there would be a myriad of emotions in this room. But let me ask, what is the ruling emotion of your life today? Is it fear? Is it worry? Is it anxiousness? Is it guilt? Is it unforgiveness or bitterness? Or anger? Jesus has come as the Prince of Peace to bring peace to our troubled lives.
The best Christmas gift possible is the original one that God gave to us. Jesus is the Prince of Peace who will one day usher in his reign fully at the end of time, an eternity of peace that the New Testament speaks about and the prophecy of Isaiah tells us about.
But Jesus comes today into our world, into our lives to bring his peace and his kingdom to rule. How does this happen?
One pastor put it like this. When I’m troubled or worried or anxious I get alone with the Lord. I focus my thoughts on him. I search his word for a fresh promise to meet my need. I write out a prayer to God and I give my burden to him. And I remind myself that there is a sense in which I have died and my life is hidden with Christ and God. I remember the words of the Lord and to his disciples and to me. In John 14, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives. Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid.”
It is in this surrender and prayer that Paul mentioned the peace of God that passes all understanding guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7).
I was quite concerned and anxious yesterday afternoon sitting with Rita in the Malbus ER wondering what I would do this morning! Should we just sing Christmas songs? Some of you may be thinking that would be nice and not a sermon! But I prayed and thought about it and God brought the needed answers and gave greater peace about the situation.
John Wesley in his sermon on the marks of the new birth talked about peace ruling in our hearts as the true mark of those who are followers of Christ. Here are his words. He says, “In our hearts and minds it is a peace that all of the powers of heaven and hell are unable to take from us. Waves and storms beat upon it, but they do not shake it. It is founded on a rock. It keeps the hearts of the children of God at all times and all places”. Listen to what he says next, “whether they are in ease or in pain, in sickness or health, in abundance or in want, they are at peace with God. In every state they have learned to be content, yes to give thanks to God through Jesus being well assured that whatever he has brought about is best as his will concerning us. So that in all the changes of life their heart stands fast believing in the Lord. Jesus as the Prince of Peace comes to cause his peace to rule in our heart in the midst of even the most troubling circumstances.
One of my favorite poets is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. During the civil war, a very divided time in our nation’s history, it was also a very tumultuous time in Longfellow’s life. In 1861 he lost his wife in a fire and in 1863 at the height of the Civil War he received word that his oldest son, Charles Longfellow, had been severely wounded in battle. In 1863 Longfellow made no journal entry at Christmas. But on Christmas Day in 1864 Longfellow wrote his now famous poem and song, “Christmas Bells.”
The sound of the pealing bells on Christmas Day penetrated through the despair of Longfellow and filled him with a sense of hope and peace. You know those now familiar lines of his poem which have been put to music.
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play.
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men
And in despair I bowed my head
There is no peace on earth I said
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth good will to men.
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead, nor doth he sleep
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.
Four months later the Civil War ended, and Longfellow continued his long journey of recovery but on Christmas Day in 1864 the sound of the bells reached through Longfellow’s grief and despair and brought him the peace of Christ.
Hope that God is neither dead nor asleep.
Hope that right will prevail over wrong.
Hope that peace and good will, will cover the earth in the same way that it came to his heart, in the same way that God wants to bring his peace to all our hearts.
Funny how we say so truly, the best and most important things in life we cannot buy. These gifts like peace are given to us by the Lord. I love the lines of the Grinch who Stole Christmas, “Perhaps Christmas doesn’t come from a store… Perhaps Christmas means a little bit more”.
Christ has come to bring peace and ultimately restore our broken world.
Yes…Glory to God in the highest….and on earth Peace and good will toward all!
Let it begin with me…Let it begin with you.
Do you have God’s peace in your heart? What is the ruling emotion of your life now? And does Christ rule as the Prince of Peace in your heart?