SHALOM

Intro: I do not know how many of you keep up with the adventures of the Hill Family, but if you have been recently you know that we just bought a house. And in typical Hill fashion we decided to make the process as stressful as possible. Not only was buying the house stressful when it came time to close but we took it upon ourselves to tear up floors, knock down a brink wall, scrape popcorn ceiling, and flip it with new floors, new dry wall, and new paint in little over a week. Not to mention we have a soon to be 6 month old and the father of the 6 month old (myself of course) was in the middle of finals for my masters.I can safely say that the past week and a half was one of the most stressful and hardworking weeks of my life full of blood, sweat, tears, and laughter. Now I cannot forget to mention the incredible amount of help we got from a lot of you and I know for certain it would not be where it is today if it was not for the church body. However, the weight and the stress of getting everything finished was anything but peaceful, was anything but “shalom.” Everything was out of order, my routine, my to-do list, our finances, everything was completley different after we closed on this house.

And I know for many of you in this room this morning that has been your story either in the past or currently. And for many of yall this has been your story for several months and several years. The amount of chaos around you seems to never cease. For many of us it feels as if since Covid and the shut downs, life has been anything but normal. You have been forced to drive countless hours for medical reasons, bury mutliple family members, spend countless amounts of money you had no idea you were going to have to spend, and the list goes on and on. And the icing on the cake is right now during the holiday season where everyone around you seems to be celebrating with their families, full of joy, and seemingly full of much more peace. Every advent devotional hits on the topic of peace. And at the sound of the word “peace” you laugh, scoff, or simply roll your eyes.

I can relate. The idea of peace, the thought of having true peace sounds nice but rarely ever feels like a reality. When we hear the word peace we think of no more war, no fighting, no more pain, no more suffering, things ceasing around us and life being simple. However, today I want to look at the Word of God and see if it is at all possible to have peace despite the metaphorical “war” that is going on around us in a variety of ways every single day.

Lets pray.

Since we are a week away from Christmas, it seems approprate to look at Isaiah 9:6 this is a verse many of us may be familiar with but if not, in this verse Isaiah is prophecying the coming Messiah. He is setting up the character of Jesus hundreds of years before Christ would be born. The prophet Isaiah writes “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Right here this one verse enough to expand on for an entire four week series, however, for the sake of todays objective lets focus on the last phrase, the last threee words “Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah mentions the messiah, the coming savior of the world, will be the Prince of Peace. This was a huge promise for the Israelites (Gods people) they have suffered persuction and slavery from various armies and leaders since being cast out of the Garden of Eden. Their history is one wrapped up in literal war and violence. The same is true today, there is violence and war around every corner, you can find hatred without looking very far, and like I already mentioned many of us our lives feel as if they have been blown up or shattered. Which begs the question, if Jesus is the “Prince of Peace,” how come all this persecution, violence, and chaotic mess is still happening? How come peace has not been established? I mean Jesus says in John 14:27

John 14:27 (ESV)

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.

I believe that the peace that Jesus has brought and offers us is not a peace applicable to our outward circumstances but a peace that is offered inwardly depsite our outward circumstances. What do I mean by this? I mean that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and that the peace like he said in John 14:27 “is not as the world gives.” But is a form of peace that is found in Jesus himself. Jesus is peace. He is the source of peace.

Word Study: In scrinture there are two main words for “peace.” The Hebrew word “Shalom,” and the Greek word “eirene.” When looking into the defintion of these words there was an interesting dynamic to them that changed the way I view “peace,” in the scripture. In Isaiah 9:6 the prophet calls the messiah the “Prince of Shalom.” In John 14:27 Jesus says “eirene I leave with you” at a surface level both of these words can refer to a time of no quarrels, calmness, and unity. However there is a deeper level and if we know anything about Jesus is that he understood the deeper level a lot better than we do at time. See the word Shalom refers to a “wholeness or being complete.” The way I like to think of it is like this:

All my belongings have a certain space and they reside in that space a certain way. For example my bed looks a certain way, my clothes are put away a certain way, and my keys are kept in their place when they are not in my pocket. When everything is as it should be I feel better climibing into bed at night, I have no problem with finding my shirts or them being wrinkled, and I do not have to worry about where my keys are. BUT when things are not how they should be there is an added stress my sheets may feel cold or not as comfortable (I know I am extra), I cannot find the shirt I want to or may need to wear, and I end up being late because I cannot find my keys. But when everything is put together then everything is good.

That is the same idea of “Shalom,” everything is as it should be, things are complete; whole. Eirene carries the same idea a step further, it refers to unity and harmony and more specifically the reoncilation of one to God. This leads me to my first point:

Peace can be experinced by first being reconciled to God.

Before the fall there was a time when there was only true love, joy, and peace. But because of our own selfishness sin entered into the world creating a chasm between us and God and the world became broken and full of anything but love, anything but joy, and especially anything but peace. Luckily, God sent His son, Jesus the Prince of Peace, to the earth to die on the cross and rise again and reconcile us back to him and all we have to do is believe in our heart that the gospel (the story I just told) is true and confess with our mouths that He (being Jesus) is Lord. When you give your life to Jesus, the Prince of Peace lives inside you and offers you peace through the Holy Spirit despite what brokeness is happening around you.

“But Corbin, I am a Christian, I read my bible, I go to church, I pray, I serve, I even tithe more way more than 10%. I dont have any peace.” Let me first say that I am so sorry you are feeling this way and that there have beeen times in my life where I have felt very similar. I have written this sermon there was an entire morning that as I typed I was met with anxiety, fear, and doubt. But I have to remind myself that those three things are not from the Lord. I also have to remind myself, that God does not charge me anything for peace. What I mean by this is that you cannot do enough good things or correct things to increase or decrease your amount of peace. Ephesians 2:8-9 reads:

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

And full peace was given to you at the time of your salvation there is nothing you did to earn it and there is still nothing you can do Why? Because it is all already there. Lets take a look at a part of the Christmas story that I find interesting Luke 2:8-14

Luke 2:8–14 ESV

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 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. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

For those of us who are trying to find the right receipe for peace I want to point out something intersting in this part of the Christmas story. The angels come and tell the good news to Shepherds. In our minds we think that is so cute, what a perfect costume design for our Christmas pagent. However, during this time the Shepherds were outcast. They were the lowest of the lows unable to worship in the temple due to their responiblity they were outcast of the Jewish community. Yet, they are the people God delivers the message to of the Messiah being born. They did nothing special for God to choose them, they did not sing the right setlist of worship songs, or convert enough people to Jesus. God simply chose them out of their humble and meek state to portray whom Jesus would come and do his ministry with and for. You see, God chose you. He revealed His grace to you for you to accept into your heart. It was not because of the way you were raised or because you attended church enough and got to the end of your punchcard no God chose you becuase He loves you. In comparison to God we are all but shepherds. God is so much greater and we do not deserve to be in unity and harmony with Him and becuase of our sin there is nothing we can do on our own accord to make that happen. That truth should not be degraded but exciting and should be followed by a sigh of releif. Which forms my second point:

Peace can be expeirced by understanding and being reminded that the peace of God already is full within you.

Let me be clear, I am not saying you just need to sit back take a chill pill and everything will be good. If that was the case I would have our deacons coming down front to pass them out. What I am saying is that God is enough and promises us peace as His children. This peace does not mean your circumstances are going to change or even get better it is just as likely they will get worse as it is they will get better (thank you Corbin that is so encouraging). Jesus says in John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Because of our faith in Jesus we will have tribulation but because of Jesus being the Prince of Peace we can have hope for tomorrow, we can have courage, we can have peace because He has already overcome all your trails and tribulations for you at the cross and in the resurrection. That may not replace a frown for a smile but I hope that will give you a glimer of hope and spark within your mind the truth of peace living inside of you. James 1:2-4 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

So, what can you do to access this peace that is inside of you well flip to Philippians 4:6-7

Philippians 4:6–7 (ESV)

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

You make your request known to God, you pray and lay it at His feet. Surrender all the outcomes to Him, the outcome that you want the outcome you do not want may you sing out “not my will but yours be done.” That is something a lot easier said than done but when we truly hand it all over to Him I believe we will expeirence a peace within our souls that fills our hearts and minds with a remember of who Jesus is and what He has done for us. My final point and then I will wrap this up:

Peace will be expierenced when we lay EVERYTHING at the feet of Jesus and truly surrender it and hand it over.

Conclusion: As we go into this week leading up to Christmas my prayer is that we all will experience peace, no matter what our circumstances look like whether this is the first time your celebrating without a loved one, you are too sick to travel and go see family, or if things simply are not going smooth with your plans. My encouragment is for all of us to look at the manger, look at the newborn baby Jesus, and be reminded that the Son of God who humbly came to the earth did not come to make your circumstances all you want them to be but He came to die on the cross, rise again, and make a way for you to have peace within your heart despite your circumstances. We are a church family, keyword is family not church. That means we are here to love and support one another, if you need anything during this time whether it is a warm meal or a good conversation over a cup of coffee, reach out to your brothers and sisters around you.

We are going to have a quick time of invitation and during this time the altar will be open for you to come and lay it ALL at the feet the of Jesus. Hand over whatever you are holding on to, hand it over to him, if you want to talk to me you can, if you want to pray by yourself you can do that too, if you need to grab someone else in this room and talk to and pray with do it. This time is for you to handle what you need to with the Lord.

Let me pray.