Peace
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Good morning, Gateway Chapel!
If we haven’t met before my name is Chris, I’m the pastor here at Gateway Chapel.
Thanks Thomas for leading us in song. Thomas as he mentioned is a part of Gospel Life Church just down the road in Puyallup and we’re really thankful to have him step in this morning and lead us.
We’re here to worship Jesus because we want to be people who hear, love, and obey Jesus. And Jesus is our Prince of Peace. This morning we’re going to be talking about peace. We’re going to sing about Jesus and his peace, we’re going to be people of peace as we have fellowship with each other.
And so would you join me in praying this blessing over our time this morning.
11 May the Lord give strength to his people!
May the Lord bless his people with peace!
God we all long for peace.
We long for peace in our minds. We are an anxious world. Full of many troubles.
We long for peace in our relationships. We are crushed with relational discord, division, divorce, hatred, suburban coldness.
Forgive us for the ways we contribute to the lack of peace in our lives today.
Help us trust that despite our many sins we have complete peace with you through your abundant love and grace.
Would you help us see that Jesus is our peace.
Holy Spirit, would you help us become people of peace. Not just in word, but in deed. Not just in our thoughts, but in our actions. And not just us in this room, but all your people. We pray that our brothers and sisters at Gospel Life including Thomas and his family would be people of peace.
Not so that our lives would be easier, but that more people would see how good you are. All for your glory, and our joy, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Regularly on Sunday mornings, we want to talk about the missionaries we support at Gateway Chapel both prayerfully and financially. This morning we’re talking about Mike and Amber Paterson.
And they sent us a video Christmas card.
Christmas is much more popular than Easter, and it’s not particularly close. Why is that?
Now, the obvious answer may be “Presents.” We all love stuff. Consumerism drives our culture. That’s a different sermon.
But there’s more to it. Why is Christmas so much more popular than Easter? Two months before Easter, local radio stations don’t start playing Easter songs. They don’t start playing, “My Redeemer Lives” on Warm 106.9. No, but the minute Thanksgiving is over you better believe Nat King Cole is playing on half of the FM dials.
Easter has warmth, flowers, springtime, resurrection. I love snow, but I don’t love flu season and being endlessly congested or it being dark by lunchtime.
Why is Christmas so much more popular than Easter? Theologically, Easter seems to have the trump card. Without the resurrection, we have nothing. Yet, without Christmas, you can’t have Easter. But, I don’t think that theological logic is the reason Warm 106.9 is playing “O Holy Night” in November.
I read an article in Christianity Today and the author, Fred Sanders, said -
“As a young convert to the Christian faith, I would often get grumpy (I felt it was righteous jealousy) about the way shallow, secular, seasonal merriment tended to bury the truth under tinsel and jingle bells. But now I think I am beginning to get it. Even beyond the circle of faith, Christmas spreads the rumor that God is not done with humanity.” - Fred Sanders, Hail the Incarnate Deity, CT
There’s a rumor…have you heard it? God isn’t done with us yet. Themes of Christmas that pervade this season: Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy…who can’t get behind those? The issue is, what is true hope, peace, love, and joy, and where do we find them?
This week we’re in week two of our sermon series: The 4 Gifts of Advent: Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy. Advent means coming. We celebrate that Jesus came and that he is coming again. When Jesus comes, what does he bring?
Last week we talked about how he brings hope. And Biblical Hope is bigger than optimism. Biblical hope is bigger than someTHING but based in someONE. Jesus himself.
And this week we’ll see how Jesus brings peace. We all want peace! What is peace? Why do we need peace? How does Jesus bring peace? How do we receive peace?
Prayer
What is peace?
Peace is a very common word. It’s not like you’re about to hear a sermon on transubstantiation or infralapsarianism (those are real things if some of you are wondering). It’s not a Christianese word. You were just as likely to hear about peace if you walked into a weed shop this morning then if you walked into church.
What comes mind when you think of peace?
Comes from the British campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in 1958
If I said, this week, you’re gonna have a ton of peace…what comes to mind?
People say I need to achieve inner peace
We talk a lot about peace treaties
Or how about this one…this is a prison in South Korea where you can pay $90 to be locked up in solitary confinement for 24 hours in order to escape your frantic life. How many of you might sign up for that this week?
What ties these images together? Something has been taken away. Whether it’s nuclear weapons, or you’ve been taken away to a beach, or all thoughts have been taken away from your mind, or war has been taken away, or people have been removed from your life so you’re alone.
Peace = Something taken away
Peace = Something taken away
How does the Bible describe peace?
Thanks to the Bible project for the bones of this sermon and sermon series.
We find peace throughout the Bible, in the Old Testament and the New. In the Old Testament we have the word “SHALOM.”
Shalom - you’ve heard this word before, right?
It is a MASSIVE word…It has a million connotations and beautiful images.
It is a dense word that means something is complete, safe, untouched, it means everything is well, everything is good, everything is whole.
In Job, we read...
24 You shall know that your tent is at peace,
and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.
Rather than absence, we have a sense of fullness, nothing is missing. Ordered complexity. Like a 5,000 piece puzzle piece put together to perfection. Shalom.
One can have...
Personal Shalom
Personal Shalom
Shalom acts as a greeting, a way to ask, “Are you well?” We see this in Genesis, as Jacob goes east and inquires about his family...
6 He said to them, “Is it well with him?” They said, “It is well; and see, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep!”
In Proverbs, listening to wisdom results in the good life...
1 My son, do not forget my teaching,
but let your heart keep my commandments,
2 for length of days and years of life
and peace they will add to you.
Peace is something we can have as individuals.
There is also...
Relational Shalom
Relational Shalom
Shalom is closely tied with the biblical concept of covenant. Two parties who were formerly separate come together for peace. We see this in the story of Isaac and Abimilech in Genesis after there is quarreling over property, Abimilech says...
28 They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.”
Or in Joshua with the story of the Gibeonites who trick the Israelites into making a treaty with them...
15 And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.
Or in 1 Kings with Solomon...
12 And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.
You can have
Shalom with God
Shalom with God
In the Bible, Shalom is not a human construction, but a gift from God. We see this in Aaron’s blessing over the people in Numbers...
24 The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Or in Mal 2:5
5 My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.
It says in Judges that God IS Peace and this God makes a covenant of peace with Israel by choosing them to be his people so he can be with them and be their God.
Rather than an emphasis on the absence of something being taken away, you might say biblical shalom is someone has come near.
Peace = Someone has come near
Peace = Someone has come near
Because of God’s gift and presence, complex things become ordered and good and relationships become whole and we are humans live the good life because of God’s Shalom.
When was the last time you experienced Shalom in your life?
One of the most “Shalom” moments of my life was when we brought Isabelle home from the hospital. She had spent a few days in the NICU, and when we set her down in the living room. Everything felt right.
What is the image of Shalom in the Bible?
The Garden. In the Garden, everything was GOOD. Harmony. Peace. Shalom with Adam and Eve, Shalom with the land. Shalom with God.
So the question is...
What happened to peace?
What happened to peace?
You cannot deny the absence of peace in our society. Where peace go?
We have one of those Alexa Shows (sorry for our massive listening audience as I just set off your Alexa)
And it rotates pictures of Isabelle and then it gave me a news update and said “Two people killed in a carbon monoxide poisoning accident.”
Back to pictures of Isabelle...
We can all agree there is a problem, but what is it?
Maybe it’s the iPhone. We all were more peaceful before 2007 before smartphones.
Maybe it’s the internet. Cable news. Talk radio.
Maybe the problem is peace isn’t here yet because we need time to progress as a society.
Some say the problem is religion. Has religion been the cause of peace leaving our world?
What happened to peace?
The Bible says we don’t have peace not because of something someone else has done, but because of what we all have done. And that is called sin.
Sin split Shalom. We had wholeness in the Garden and chose emptiness. We had goodness and we chose evil. We had light and we chose darkness.
From the Garden, the Biblical story goes from bad to worse. Sin splits shalom, then you have Cain murdering Abel. On and on it goes.
But God isn’t done with us. He makes a covenant of peace with Israel. And he says you’re going to be my kingdom of peaceful priests. And if you hear, love, and obey me, I’ll bring you back to the Garden and we read in Lev 26:6
6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.
How does that go? Not well. The problem of sin lies at the heart of every human being, including God’s people. The Bible says sin is not something OTHER people do, it is something we ALL do.
So what does God do?
He sends these crazy characters called prophets to graciously call people back to Shalom.
Isaiah is one and he says...
18 Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
Or in Jeremiah we read...
5 “For thus says the Lord: Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the Lord.
11 then you shall say to them: ‘Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the Lord, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law,
Sin splits Shalom. God wants to give peace, but people choose war. And God is a personal being and like a wronged spouse God is upset about the lack of peace in his family. That’s why often you read the prophets and there is anger and judgment towards the people.
But the prophets also give hope by pointing ahead to a return to peace. And that return to peace comes from someone called the Messiah.
Micah 5:2–5 (ESV)
2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
from ancient days.
3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in labor has given birth;
then the rest of his brothers shall return
to the people of Israel.
4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth.
5 And he shall be their peace.
Or in Zech 9...
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
There is hope for a new covenant of peace in Messiah.
How does Jesus bring peace?
How does Jesus bring peace?
Sin split us and God. Jesus brings humanity and God back together within himself. Jesus is peace.
Peace accompanied Jesus at his birth.
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!”
Jesus’ ministry was all about peace.
Right at the start of Jesus’ ministry he says
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
What’s the Kingdom of Heaven? Shalom! Peace has come. Turn from your sin and receive God’s peace.
He taught his disciples to be people of peace.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
But Jesus’ peace was not the same as the world’s peace. Peace for Jesus looked like a death to self and a full allegiance to God even over above family.
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
Or in John he says...
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
It’s popular in our culture to say Jesus is love, Jesus is peace. And that’s used to say that Jesus is just okay with the evil of the world. But Jesus’ peace came by waging war against sin. And Jesus took aim at the real enemy: sin and death by dying on the cross. Jesus took sin so seriously that he loved us enough to die for us to bring us peace.
Paul wrote about it this way in Ephesians...
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
Somehow, the most non-peaceful moment in history - Jesus dying on the cross - is the moment that created peace for mankind. In the blood of Jesus, God made a new covenant, not based on our ability to obey him, but on Jesus’ perfect obedience, and made a way for us to have peace.
We receive the peace of God by repenting of sin and trusting Jesus.
We receive the peace of God by repenting of sin and trusting Jesus.
When we simply acknowledge our part in the lack of Shalom in our world, and trust Jesus that he is our peace, we have peace with God.
Paul says earlier in Ephesians.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
We cannot achieve peace on our own by simply removing things from our lives.
A gym membership in January and losing 10 pounds isn’t a bad thing, but it won’t give you lasting peace. Leaving a difficult and stressful job isn’t necessarily wrong, but it doesn’t guarantee you’ll have peace at your next job. As we know the world can be so dark people will say that the only way out is to leave this world THEN I will have peace. And without Jesus, you will find that is not the case.
The beautiful truth of the gospel is Jesus is peace. And we receive his peace by repenting and trusting him.
I don’t care if you watched porn for an hour this morning before church, you can trust Jesus and have peace with God. I don’t care if you were leading a satanic cult last night, if you trust Jesus you have full peace with God. There is no shalom splitting sin that has not been covered by the covenant of peace in Jesus’ blood.
And that peace…it’s More than a feeling!
I’m someone who has prayed for peace more times than I can count.
And as a Christian, you will still have anxiety. Paul had anxiety daily for all the churches he prayed for. And yet, he had peace. Because he knew he had Jesus and nothing could take his peace from him.
So when you’re anxious, it’s actually an opportunity to receive peace, “Oh Jesus, there I go again, help me trust you.”
How great is it that Jesus is our peace?
We become people of peace through the work of the Holy Spirit.
We become people of peace through the work of the Holy Spirit.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
The Biblical story reminds us that apart from Jesus, we cannot achieve peace. But with Jesus and through the presence of the Holy Spirit, we can bear the fruit of the Spirit, which includes peace.
And that process is not just some linear progression into peaceful bliss.
Mike and Amber Paterson are people of peace. They bring Shalom to missionary families who apart from their counseling and care might not still be able to serve. And if you know Mike and Amber their life has been HARD. They’ve had major trials in life. And in their own discomfort and pain God has actually used that to make them tremendous people of peace.
If you have a lack of peace in your life, don’t rule out that God is at work shaping you to become a person of peace by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We faithfully endure the lack of peace in this life by hoping in the return of the Prince of Peace.
We faithfully endure the lack of peace in this life by hoping in the return of the Prince of Peace.
The struggle to grow as people of peace is real. And it’s not easy.
Some of your lives are so complex and what you wouldn’t give for peace and harmony…even though you have peace with God there are still pieces that are so difficult and messy and frustrating. Family dynamics, work stress, sickness…how do we keep going?
Take hope that King of Peace is coming again.
Have you heard the rumor? God isn’t done with the world.
Advent reminds us that that King of Peace is coming again.
And when he does, he will bring PEACE.
In the words of Julian of Norwich -
All will be well, all will be well, and all manner of things will be well. - Julian of Norwich
And in the words of the apostle John -
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Communion
Announcements
As always we want to get to know you, please use the Connect Cards in front of you.
Don’t forget to grab a gift for one of our missionaries before you go!
Christmas service on December 23rd 6pm, New years Day potluck Jan 1 at 10am. And Perspectives Class coming up in January at area churches. All that info is on our weekly email.
The Christmas Party is in two weeks! December 18th 4-6pm right here. I know your month is pretty full, the goal of this time is a low stress hang with your church family. So if you want to wear an ugly sweater, please do so, if you want to overdress and wear some fancy Christmas thing, that’s cool. Just come and be together as a church family.
What do you need to bring? An appetizer or dessert to share. And a $15 wrapped gift if you want to participate in the gift exchange which, let me just say you do…it’s a good time.
Childcare will be provided, and kids will be doing a book exchange so if you’ve got a kiddo bring a book, it doesn’t need to be wrapped to be a part of the book exchange. And if we can agree no Dr Seuss books they’re just too long. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
Thank you Sandy, Haley, Elizabeth Mathews, and Theda for helping put that together.
Benediction
Be not dismayed whate’er betide, God will take care of you;
Beneath His wings of love abide, God will take care of you.
Through days of toil when heart doth fail; God will take care of you.
When dangers fierce your path assail, God will take care of you.
All you may need He will provide, God will take care of you;
Nothing you ask will be denied, God will take care of you.
No matter what may be the test, God will take care of you;
Lean, weary one, upon His breast, God will take care of you.
God will take care of you, through every day, o’er all the way;
He will take care of you, God will take care of you. - Civilla Durfee Martin, 1904