The Gifts of Christmas Part 3

The Gift of Peace

When you see these symbols, what do you think of? [Show circle peace symbol, two fingers V peace sign, and an image of a dove with an olive branch.]

These three images are very different, but they all are very recognizable as signs of peace. Interestingly, not one was developed out of an abundance of peace but rather out of the need for peace.

What we know as the peace sign was first developed by a British artist and activist named Gerald Holtom in 1958. The emblem was based on flag semaphore movements for two letters: N (two flags pointed down at angles) and D (one flag straight up, the other straight down). The letters stood for nuclear disarmament. Holtom also said the design was personal as it represented a person with hands outstretched in despair. The symbol was used in Britain to protest the making of nuclear weapons. When it was brought to America, it was used for broader purposes in the civil rights movement and later as an antiwar symbol by those who opposed the Vietnam War.

And what about the two fingers raised in a V shape? This symbol actually started as a sign of victory, not peace. Resistance fighters in German-occupied territories used it as a symbol of strength during World War II. The British prime minister Winston Churchill adopted it to stand for the English victory, and it eventually came to stand for the end of the conflict. Later, in the 1960s, it was adopted as an antiwar symbol by Americans who opposed war.

As for the dove and the olive branch? This image was used in many traditions throughout history, but the Christian symbolism comes from the Old Testament account of Noah, who sent a dove in search of land after the great flood. The dove returned holding an olive branch, indicating that the waters were receding and land was near. It was a sign of the promise of peace after the storm of God’s judgment.

While we immediately associate peace with these symbols, none were born out of peace. All these images came about because of a desperate need for peace in the midst of conflict and unrest.

Peace is defined as “freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility.” But it is often in situations that are exactly the opposite that we most recognize our need for peace and the power of the peace God provides.

We see peace most clearly not in the absence of noise, suffering, and conflict but in the midst of it.

This is the world Jesus came to.

The song “Silent Night” conjures calm, soothing, peaceful images in our minds, and it’s often a worshipful three-minute respite in the midst of our hectic holiday preparations. But that original silent night was not actually very silent.

The world was not at peace. There was a divide between God and people. There was conflict among families and nations. There was political tumult and Roman oppression in Israel.

There was demanding physical travel forced on Mary and Joseph by Roman politicians. And there was unrest in the hearts of many. But in the midst of all this, Jesus came as the Prince of Peace.

Jesus the Messiah was and is many things that the prophet Isaiah foretold He would be:

Isaiah 9:6 NKJV

6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

But it’s important to remember that Jesus is not just a symbol of peace, He is peace. And the Prince of Peace offers us the gift of peace this Advent season.

This was part of His original birth announcement made by the angels:

Luke 2:13–14 NKJV

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, goodwill toward men!”

So far, we’ve looked at two great gifts provided to us in the birth of the Savior, Jesus.

Hope

Joy

Today we look at the gift of peace.

What an appropriate time and season to recognize Jesus as our peace! Really, our world is not much different from the one Jesus stepped into a couple of thousand years ago.

We are certainly more technologically advanced, but our fast-paced, high-tech capabilities in many ways have added to anxiety, stress, and fatigue at the relentless pace of life.

The scenery and process of daily life looks very different, but still we strive and struggle to subsist and exist.

Our world rages with wars and violence. Governments and politicians rage and clamor.

While we certainly have so very much to be thankful for in our lives and community and country, peace can and does easily get squeezed out of our ongoing lives easily and often.

Think about this: Have you ever been somewhere that suddenly got very quiet?

Maybe you’ve been in a building when the electricity goes out, and the buzz of the lights and devices and appliances is silenced.

Or maybe you’ve been outdoors on a summer night when the song of the crickets stops abruptly.

Sometimes we don’t even recognize the noise all around us until it suddenly stops and we hear the silence. The same can be true for peace in our lives.

Sometimes we are so used to the hustle and bustle that we don’t even notice the noise, chaos, and unrest until it is gone—until we take the time to experience peace and allow God to silence the other noises in our life.

During this Advent, we are recognizing a season that helps us take that time to reset our hearts and minds to be still and listen as we wait. Peace is the gift we unwrap today.

Let’s look at several ways that peace manifests itself in our lives.

Peace With God

There is a bumper sticker that says,

No God, No Peace. Know God, Know Peace.

You’ve probably seen it. Placed on the back of a car, it can sound trite and cliché. But there is actually truth there. When we know God, we can experience peace because of who Christ is and what He did in coming to earth, living among us, dying on the cross, and resurrecting to defeat sin and death.

Our sin separated us from God. The Bible says we were God’s enemies. But listen to what Paul says in Romans.

Romans 5:1–2 NKJV

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Jesus brings and allows us peace with God, our Creator.

Our first and greatest need for peace is to be at peace with God.

Our sin naturally separates us from God. From the time sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden, humans have been at odds with God.

Our sin and His holiness are not compatible. They are not at peace—they are at conflict with each other.

And when we believe in Jesus and accept His salvation and forgiveness, we are at peace with God. The barriers of conflict and sin are removed. We are right with Him in unity, identity, and purpose.

This eternal peace with the Creator is the greatest gift we can receive this season.

It is available to us all. It is where we all start with receiving Christ’s gift. It is where we all must abide and return—we belong to God in Christ. We are unified with Him. We are His.

May we all lean into and experience the peace of this reality throughout Advent and beyond. Peace with God. Next...

Peace Within

As I mentioned earlier, there is so much to draw us or drag us away from the peace of Christ.

Fortunately, God also knows the unrest we feel within ourselves. He made you and knows your deepest thoughts, hurts, joys, and desires. He knows your need for peace within.

And He knows the broken world surrounding us and all the unrest clamoring around and against us.

Paul offered us these appropriate words in Philippians 4:6–7,

Philippians 4:6–7 NKJV

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

I think one thing that’s interesting about this verse is that we often take it as a type of formula.

If we can just manage to pray and thank God and ask Him about everything, then we’ll get God’s peace.

While Paul was describing those actions as part of a practice of peace, we should remember that this is not an automatic formula.

We must remember that God gave the gift of peace in the form of a person—Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

The verse just before this passage says, “The Lord is near” (verse 5). And that’s an important starting point.

Jesus’s presence with us is the reason we do not need to be anxious.

He is the reason we have peace within.

He is Immanuel, God with us, who offers us the gift of peace beyond understanding that guards our hearts and minds in Him.

And as we practice the actions of prayer and petition and thanksgiving, we do so to connect with Him.

Peace comes as a result of the transformation we experience as the Holy Spirit shapes our perspective and realigns our heart.

Our troubles may rage on, but the Spirit gives us new eyes to see and the peace of Christ guards us and calms us and changes our outlook.

May this be the practice and power of peace that we experience in Advent and beyond. And thirdly...

Peace to Come

So we have looked together at the gift of peace with God and peace within. But what about peace without?

What about the situations we can’t change, the relationships that are broken, the chaos we can’t calm, the hurt we can’t heal, the violence we can’t understand?

What do we do with the need for peace in our world?

This again is where we recognize the two-pronged nature of the Advent season.

We wait for Christ’s coming at Christmas, and at the same time we wait for His return.

The peace we long for in our world is a peace that is still to come.

It is a final restoration promised but not yet realized. In the meantime, we wait with longing for the day when God’s peace will reign in all the earth.

Until then, we can turn to the words that Jesus spoke to His disciples. We can hold onto them closely until we see Him face-to-face.

John 16:33 NKJV

33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Again, we see God’s recognition of the brokenness we live in and among. He knows. He understands how and why we can become discouraged, but here He encourages us to remember the person of peace, the Prince of Peace.

In Him, we have and find and remember peace for our present and future.

There is a peace today, and there is a complete peace that is yet to come.

In the time between, we trust in Jesus’s promise that He has indeed overcome the world.

And in the meantime, we return to Jesus. It’s a similar process to what Paul described in Philippians 4.

It’s a continual returning and renewing with our Lord and our God. It’s the deepening of our relationship with Him, and it shapes us and holds us and carries us to all that we are and all we can experience because of Him.

Where is your chaos today? Where is your warfare and unrest? Let me encourage you that the Prince of Peace is greater. His peace is more powerful.

This is the peace I long for.

As we celebrate the Advent season of waiting, let’s recognize that we wait with longing for God’s peace to be made perfect in our world.

Let’s also remember that the peace of Christ is also here and now and waiting to fill us all.