Finding Peace in Our Struggles

FINAL EDIT Rediscover Christmas – Week 2

Text Luke 2:8-20 Visitors guests

Introduction

So we are all aware of health and fitness apps right? They pop up reminders on our phones or smart watches to track our health progress or give us reminders that we aren’t doing the things we need to hit our goals for the day. I wore a smart watch for a while with hopes it would help me be more mindful of my health, but until the watch is able to know that I’m about to grab that fourth piece and pizza and do something about it, it wasn’t going to accomplish much for me. It was about as helpful to me as the gamblers addict hotline number they put at the bottom of the screen during a sports betting commercial or the surgeon generals warning on the side of cigarette box. I mean when any of us walk into McDonalds did we really want them to put the calorie count on the menu next to the big mac? It’s never stopped me. Anyhow… there is an alert you can put on your phone or watch that reminds you to breath. Anybody have that one? I can remember one particular time I was sitting in a high energy meeting next to someone who was talking non stop. His breath alert came up on his watch, he looked down at real quick and swiped it away without missing a beat. I wanted to say, Hey, aren’t you going to get that?

I know we don’t like to participate these days when someone from the stage tells us to do it, so you don’t have to do this with me, but I invite you and encourage you to. Here in a second i’m going to say breathe in, i want you to breathe in for 5 seconds, then i’m going to say hold it, hold it for 5 seconds, then out 5 seconds, and we are going to just do it a couple times together.

We may have just kept someone from having some type of attack for another day or two… As we go through our message today, I invite you to just settle in and breath as we focus on what it means to receive His peace. In the midst of our chaos and circumstances, in the midst of the noise and pain, we can breathe in His grace and receive His peace.

The Shepherds: Peace Restored

When we think of peace in the Christmas story, we can’t help but think of the shepherds. They were the unlikely recipients of God’s message of peace. We got a preview of our passage for today, when one of our children read us this passage during their time on stage last week. But we are going to review it again together. Luke chapter 2 verses 8-20. Let’s take a look.

TEXT: Luke 2:8–14 “In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock at night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood near them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And so the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army of angels praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among people with whom He is pleased.”” Luke 2:15–20 “When the angels had departed from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem, then, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. When they had seen Him, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. And all who heard it were amazed about the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.”

PRAY

Think of all the different ways we announce the birth of a child today. Gender reveals are becoming quite the thing. As i’ve watched these over the years it seems as though we are consistently trying to one up our friends. From slicing cakes, to popping balloons, or hitting a piñata. I’m not going to lie, but gender reveals gone wrong are one of my favorite things to watch when they pop up on americas funniest videos on Sunday nights. Whether it be a gender reveal, a birth announcement or any other surprise you have to share. No one will ever be able to one up angelic creatures appearing in the sky to announce the birth of Jesus.

All together these incredible angels are praising God, and declaring glory to God in heaven and peace on earth to humanity. What language, or languages were they speaking and singing? What kind of melody and harmony? How loud must it have been? Or could anyone else hear it? No matter the details, I think the story that night leads us into several insights about our own encounters with God’s peace. But I just want to lock in on two specifically for this morning.

1. Peace interrupts our chaos.

How is your Christmas season going so far? How does your Christmas season typically go?

If we’re honest, we might choose words like busy, hectic, or frantic to describe our lives this time of year—or maybe all year round. Maybe it’s an overloaded schedule that robs you of peace. Or maybe it’s something more: relational conflict, pressure at work, a lost job, cold and flu season. You name it. We have plenty of options to choose from!

We need peace that interrupts our chaos. This seems backwards, doesn’t it? It’s always the chaos, the noise that interrupts our peace. We don’t think of peace being able interrupt the noise. But that’s exactly what we need in our life.

When Jesus was born He interrupted the chaos of that time. When the angels show up, it’s in the dark of night, after 400 years of silence and suffering, and Roman oppression. When Jesus shows up He shows up in barn. Ladies would that have been a chaotic enough delivery for you? Not just away from a hospital or away from family, but outside, with animals looking on. This is chaos, and this is where Jesus...who is our peace...shows up.

Jesus placed himself squarely in the midst of all the chaos to combat it with peace.

I’ll let you know I like to write my sermon’s a week or so in advance. But Friday morning I had to text the team and say I need to go another direction. Because God spoke this point in to my heart. I woke up Friday and my whole world seemed chaotic, and God asked me if He could interrupt? I try not to be smart with God, but if one of you would have said could I interrupt, I would probably say something like… well you just did. No, I think most of the time I’m a nicer guy than that. But this whole thought brought me back to what i recently read about interrupting and why it’s rude to do to someone else. When we interrupt someone, what we are ultimately communicating is that whatever we have to say is more important that what is currently being said. For example, if I’m talking to someone in the foyer, it’s rude to interrupt them to tell me the score to a football game. I don’t think anyone has ever done that… I tried to use an example where i wouldn’t call anyone out.... It is appropriate however to interrupt me to let me know there’s a fire in the building, see what I’m saying? Do you know why it was appropriate for God to interrupt me Friday morning? I know He’s God He can do whatever He wants, but that’s not what I mean. He had something more important to be said, that what I was saying in my head. He heard me talking about how much I needed to get done, how I was tired, how I wish I could be playing golf, how many deadlines are in front of me. And He said excuse me Jonathan? Do you remember, that your my son? Jonathan, are aware that I know everything you need to and I’m working on your behalf? Do you know those deadlines don’t matter to me, and that I’m proud of exactly who you are? Do you know that I gave you your family and I want you to enjoy spending time with them?

Some of us are people of chaos. Some of us wouldn’t take peace if we bottled it and sold it over the counter? We would call that a chill pill, right? (laugh, or did i try too hard) But some of us are always focused on what’s out of place, or what’s not perfect about a situation. We even be sure to let others know that being a perfectionist is our flaw… As to make sure that others know in a passive aggressive way that the only fault we have is how much we strive for excellence. Life is chaotic, but there is a constant. When there is great chaos you must fix your eyes on the constant, the focal point of our lives. That’s why it says in Isaiah that He will keep us in perfect peace when our mind is fixed on Him. I am perpetually exhausted by chaos makers. Whether intentionally or un-intentionally there are people that need chaos, they’re addicted to the drama, the noise, because they fear the truth that speaks in the silence. This is why Jesus said, blessed… are the peacemakers. He didn’t say peace keepers as though I sit inactively just not stirring up strife. But peace maker means i’m working to reduce the chaos in and around my life.

God continues to interrupt our chaos, if we will listen. In our pain. In our fears. In our confusion. In our grief. In our loss. In our uncertainty. He speaks peace over us and invites us to take break from the chaos.

I don’t know every challenge you are facing today, or every pain you are feeling. But God does. He is there, bringing peace to calm your heart with peace that defies your circumstances. Our other key thought today is to know that...

2. Peace is found in His Presence.

The angels brought a message of peace to the shepherds. But their message of peace was not the fulness of peace that God had for them. The armies of heaven showed up that night and told them where Jesus Christ the person of peace could be found... but even then, they didn’t tell them they had to go. That was a choice that the shepherds had to make on their own. But that is exactly what they did, they said let’s go find this peace that has been made known to us.

God makes Himself known to us when we come into His presence. What does that even mean? We have been taught that God is omnipresent, which during this season is far more than He knows when you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness’ sake. No, as Christians today we can know that He is here. That’s why the phrase Emmanuel hold such power during this season, God is with us! You can’t get away from Him, whether you want to or not. The King David said in Psalm 139 Where can I go from your Spirit, or flee from your presence? If i ascend to heaven you are there. If I make my bed in hell you are there? If I run away to the farthest corners of the earth your hand leads me and takes hold of me.

So if God is present wherever we go and in whatever we are going through, we aren’t we experiencing His peace. This is because we still creatures of free will and He will force his way in. No one plays with toys the way our little Ben does. 6 days out of the week he owns our dining room table as Captain America faces off against Lebron James in an intergallatic battle to save the farm. His creativity and imagination are so awesome, and I like to sneak in just to watch him play some time. But more than a few times, he’s saw me trying to catch a glimpse, he was this epic universal battle and look at me and say hey dad, and I’ll say Ben. Then in a way that he doesn’t want to be mean, he will kind of sheepishly say, Hey dad, I think I could use some personal space.

Church, we have to make personal space to spend time with God. Psalm 46:10 teaches us that in the stillness we know Him. We experience all the peace and joy and love He has for us. We need to stop and breathe Him in like the crisp fresh air of a winter morning after we’ve been snowed in for a few days. Jacob talked Wednesday about needing fresh revelation from God, we need to hear from Him they way need that refreshing breath that comes as we step out in to a new day. We say we want peace but we refuse to separate ourselves from the noise. Stop trying to fix noisy places in your life so much, and take a rest from them. See if when you come back to them that perhaps God has worked on your behalf to quiet them down a little bit. It won’t be easy, in fact a a 17th century monk named Brother Lawrence wrote a book called practicing the presence of God, which the title itself implies that we are out of practice.

In a couple of weeks we will talk about the wisemen that made that journey to find him. They went to worship, but not from afar. They wanted to be in His presence. We don’t experience His physical presence the way they did when they arrived at His birthplace, but in the same way, we journey toward His presence, prepared to bring offerings of great value, with no regard for the powers of this world like the king that would try to use them to kill the baby Jesus. If you aren’t experiencing the peace that only comes from His presence you must reduce the space between you and Him that exist and come so close that all you can see is Him. Remove the space that comes from sin, distractions, and those who would take you off course.

RESPONSE – MAYBE TEAM HERE? Dismiss those being baptized here.

No slide for this as our team is coming, but as we move towards a time of response we can know that He IS our Peace.

Last week we said that Hope has a name, and we know that name is Jesus. Two weeks ago we talked about how the Lord will fight for us when we are still or quiet. God has given a person and that person is Jesus Christ. And the only way we have peace with God is through a relationship with His Son who was born on that first Christmas Day, Jesus Christ! It all comes back to a person. Peace is a person. Peace is Jesus. Paul says in Ephesians 2:14 “He (or Jesus) himself is our peace, who has broken down every wall.” What walls need to be broken down in your life so you can experience the fulness of His peace?

There’s no peace without resolution. When we think of peace perhaps we think of war. The absence of one perhaps leading to the other. If we aren’t at peace, then we are at war with God. Struggling with God. Out of sync. Out of rhythm. Then there is no rest, no peace. Those outside of relationship with Christ are at war with God whether they realize it or not!

What is your current relationship status with God? Are you at odds with Him? Is there any conflict? Are you at peace with God? If not what part of you is at war with Him? Would you just stop right now and pray that to God, Lord is there any area where I’m at war with you?… (sensitively and slowly) Will you help me to stop fighting and receive your peace.

Are you at peace with people? We can’t be at odds with other and say we have peace with God. Your peace or lack thereof will never be worth that argument, that disagreement, or that bitterness or unforgiveness. Romans 12:18 says “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all people.”

Let me encourage us all to come to Him and worship like the shepherds, even when we find ourselves in the darkness night. Let’s be reminded that we are supposed to come to Him. Because He is here. The Prince of Peace is with us.

Let’s stand and respond obediently as they sing this song, Peace be still, you are here so it is well. Receive His peace..

BAPTISM

Post Response Receive this and respond this week. Jacob reception, thrive group sign ups, PRAY FOR JACOB HERE, some just cookies.

But also receive this blessing from 2 thess 3:16

May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. (2 Thessalonians 3:16, NIV)