Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
Many people are afraid of car washes. They get anxious, they check and recheck the windows and hold their breath during a car wash. One such man writes, “Powers beyond my control began moving my car forward as if on a conveyor belt. There I was, cocooned inside, when a thunderous rush of water, soap, and brushes hit my car from all directions. What if I get stuck in here or water crashes in?"
We are all going through a car wash experience with this pandemic. We are afraid when this conveyor belt situation will move forward. We are mostly cocooned inside when news of deaths and tragedies like the brush of storm hitting us daily from all directions. People have lost jobs, homes, businesses. Children are at a loss with their schooling as they struggle to adjust with online, or hybrid system of education. The number of teens being admitted in the hospitals for psychiatric and psychological care at an all time high. Suicides among the young adults are happening at an alarming rate. Church gatherings and social events are almost non existent. We all feel like a victim of forces beyond our control like the “car-wash experiences”
Then add the holiday stress in the middle of these, we get a perfect storm. How do we find peace and rest in the middle of this? The holiday season and the days of New Year are the most stressful season of the year for many people. The holidays present a dizzying array of demands — parties, shopping, baking, cleaning and entertaining, to name just a few. It often brings unwelcome and unhealthy guests — stress and depression. Those are the two guests that you don't want to be there. The celebration of the coming of the Prince of peace has become the season without peace for many.
Then we have the political chaos that knows no end. No matter what political “side” people have been on over the past few months, the turmoil does not seem to end. The elections have produced some satisfied winners and a lot of disappointed losers. There are global neighbors who are excited about the outcome and others who are concerned. There can be a war at any time as we have seen in history during such an environment.
The church is also in a precarious and fragile state as we struggle to find a way to maintain unity while recognizing our ever-increasing diversity as we live into the reality of being a global church. So the reality is, this Christmas, some families may be gathering for the holidays with unresolved feelings and very different opinions about these outcomes and what they may mean for the future. There could be tension around the table in many households, tension in the wider community, and tension as we gather as congregations to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ in our sanctuaries on Christmas.
The reality is that our community is not just Democrats and Republicans, Catholics or Protestants. We are messengers of peace right in the middle of this difficult situation of unresolved feelings, diverse opinions, religious and political differences, holiday tension, and friends sitting alongside foes. We become a sign of peace born into the world.
Jesus said, "blessed are the peace makers for they will be called the children of God." The scene in Luke’s Gospel of the birth of Jesus is a hectic situation. It’s not just hectic because of the multitude of characters involved. It is also hectic because it involves the collision of multiple and diverse scenes into this singular moment in time: the census that caused a young couple to travel a great distance across deserts and mountains on the week of their child’s birth; the “no vacancy” sign at the only inn in town; the shepherds terrified by the angel of the Lord appearing and speaking out of the night sky; the heavenly host praising God; and the child being born in a stable and laid to recover from the birth experience on a bed of hay in a manger, surrounded by his parents, animals, and curious and overwhelmed shepherds.
It is hectic. But, then, childbirth is always hectic. Giving birth is not a peaceful or pleasurable event, after all. It is violent and messy and painful and frightening. And yet, in the aftermath, there is a newborn baby, swaddled in soft blankets and gently laid in your waiting arms. When you gaze upon the face of your newborn baby, you forget about the many painful months, weeks, days, and hours that preceded the moment. You forget about the sacrifices you made. You put it all behind you and simply concentrate on the incredible peace that you feel. After the violence of a birth, there is a quiet and peace that happens. There is joy, contentment, relief.
Out of the frenzy and craziness of the world situation, the political process, and the holiday season, comes a sign of peace. The birth of Jesus, his existence, his life and teachings, his death and resurrection, his promise to come again: It is a sign from God. It is a divine communication from God to all people. It is a promise that there is hope for the world. The good news I want you to hear tonight, is that on this day, in the city of David, a Savior was born. He is the Messiah, the Lord, the Prince of Peace.
Peace is not the absence of problems. If that is the case, peace will be elusive. If we plan on having peace after all these events are over, you will never find peace. Unlike the car wash, that will come to a stop, life’s storms are never ending. There is no time without problem. The Bible teaches that peace is the presence of God in the midst of trouble. Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble.” Jesus promised that He will be with us in the middle of it. At the birth of Christ, the angels appeared to the shepherds and proclaimed the news of peace on earth to all. That is the good news of great joy. The message of advent is that the prince of peace has promised to bring peace in the middle of our troubles.
Peace with God
The most basic need we have is peace with God. This is foundation to real peace in our lives. If we don’t have peace with God, we will never experience real peace that is lasting. The angels brought the news of peace to those whom God favors meaning, That means “to those whom God is the Lord” of their lives, have the promise of peace. The chapter before that he talks about the justification through Christ. Paul says in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” When we accept Jesus as Lord in our lives by faith, peace enters into our lives. Faith is an important factor in experiencing peace. Romans 4: 25 “He was delivered over to death for our trespasses and was raised to life for our justification.”
Justified means that God declares you to be just in his sight by imputing to you the righteousness of Jesus. And he does that by faith alone: “Since we have been justified by faith.” Not by works. Not by tradition. Not by baptism. Not by church membership. Not by piety. Not by parentage. But by faith alone. When we believe in Jesus as the Savior and the Lord and the supreme Treasure of our lives, we are united to him and his righteousness is counted by God as ours. We are justified by faith. And the result is peace with God. God’s anger at us because of our sin is put away. Our rebellion against him is overcome. God adopts us into his family. And from now on all his dealings with us are for our good. He will never be against us. He is our Father, and our Friend. We have peace. We don’t need to be afraid any more. This is foundational to all other people. Jesus brings peace with God and man. The kind of peace that angel was talking about was a peace with God. Paul writes in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”
Peace with Ourselves
And because we have peace with God because of being justified by faith, we can begin to grow in the enjoyment of peace with ourselves — and here I include any sense of guilt or anxiety that tends to paralyze us or make us hopeless. Here again believing the promises of God with a view to glorifying God in our lives is key. Our hearts and our minds are under constant assault with guilt, worries, threats, confusions, uncertainties that threaten our peace. And Paul says that God wants to “guard” your hearts and minds. He guards them with his peace. He guards them in a way that goes beyond what human understanding can fathom. Don’t limit the peace of God by what your understanding can see. He gives us inexplicable peace, supra-rational peace. And he does it when we take our anxieties to him in prayer and trust him, that he will carry them for us (1 Peter 5:7) and protect us. When we do this, when we come to him — and remember we already have peace with him! — and trust him as our loving and almighty heavenly Father to help us, his peace comes to us and steadies us, and protects us from the disabling effects of fear and anxiety and guilt. And then we are able to carry on and our God gets the glory for what we do, because we trusted him.
Peace with Others
The third relationship where God wants us to enjoy his peace is in our relationships with other people. This is the one we have least control over. So we need to say it carefully the way Paul does in Romans 12:18. He says, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” For many of you when you get together with family for Christmas, there will be some awkward and painful relationships. Some of the pain is very old. And some of it is new. In some relationships you know what you have to do, no matter how hard it is. And in some of them you are baffled and don’t know what the path of peace calls for.
In both cases the key is trusting the promises of God with heartfelt awareness of how he forgave you through Christ. I think the text that puts this together most powerfully for me again and again is Ephesians 4:31–32, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
Continually cultivate a sense of amazement that in spite of all your sins God has forgiven you through Christ. Be amazed that you have peace with God. It’s this sense of amazement, that I, a sinner, have peace with God, that makes the heart tender, kind and forgiving. Extend this to others seventy times seven. It may be thrown back in your face. It certainly was thrown back in Jesus’ face on the cross. That hurts and it can make you bitter if you are not careful. Don’t let it. Keep being more amazed that your wrongs are forgiven than that you are wronged. Be amazed that you have peace with God. You have peace with your soul. Your guilt is taken away.
A widow of a missionary was traveling on a ship to meet her only daughter in Australia. There was a fierce storm during the journey that threatened even their lives. People were in panic and started to throw away things and getting ready for lifeboats. This old woman was sitting quietly. One passenger asked her why she was so calm. She said, “If the ship sinks and I die, I will be able to join my husband in heaven. Or, If I make it to the other shore, I will be able to join my daughter. Either way, it is a win/win situation for me.
Keep trusting God. He knows what he is doing. Keep his glory, not your success or your effectiveness in peacemaking or your relationships, supreme in the treasure chest of your heart. And then you will be like the angels: Glory to God in the highest is the first thing. Peace among his people is the second thing. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” This is why he came — on a day, to a city, as the Savior, Messiah, and Sovereign. That God would get glory, and that you would know peace. May the God of peace give you peace, and get his glory.
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