Jesus, Prince of Peace
Advent 2023 - The Names of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
[Show image of boy with anxiety] “Anxiety: Struggling with Life’s Uncertainties”
https://www.preachingtoday.com/media/images/2010/november/anxiety.html
I want to begin by showing you a picture. As you linger over that picture what emotion do you think this image depicts. What do you see?
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The caption next to the image when I first came across it was this: “Anxiety: Struggling with Life’s Uncertainties”.....Anxiety.....uncertainty.
Now let me shift your attention from an image to a story. The story is called the Hunger Games…How many of you have read the books or seen the films?
"The Hunger Games" is a dystopian novel set in a future nation called Panem. Every year, the Capitol selects a boy and girl, known as "tributes," from each of the 12 districts to participate in a televised event where they must fight to the death until only one survivor remains.”
Well here is a very interesting fact about the book: According to Amazon, the most highlighted passage in all books read on Kindle (as of November 2014)—highlighted almost twice as often as any other passage—is from the second volume of The Hunger Games:
"Because sometimes things happen to people and they're not equipped to deal with them."
University professor Mark Shiffman comments on this passage:
It's easy to see why The Hunger Games is the novel [of a] generation. The trilogy depicts adolescents rigorously trained by adults for desperate but meaningless life-or-death competitions. [The story] resonates with students' … worry that they're all honed up with no place to go … They rack up majors, minors, certificates, credentials, and internships to keep them in the running for what they feel to be an ever more elusive success. They're driven by fear … They clothe themselves in an armor of achievement that they hope will protect them against uncertainties—of the job market, of course, but also deeper uncertainties about their status, their identities, their self-worth … [They are trying to gain] more control over an uncertain future.
Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Negatively, this quote could highlight the reality of our fears and the need to control our fears and anxieties. Obviously, Shiffman takes this negative approach. (2) Positively, it could reinforce the need for planning for the future.
Source: Mark Shiffman, "Majoring in Fear," First Things (November 2014)
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Anxiety....uncertainty.....worry.
Maybe you’ve never read or watched the Hunger Games, and so you’re not able to relate to the story, but this idea that many of us experience anxiety because we’re trying to get some sense of control over an uncertain future, is an experience many of us can relate to. And this can cause lots of us to feel anxious....worried....unsettled....restless....
Allow me to again read the two verses from John’s Gospel which I’d like for us to focus on this morning:
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
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It struck me this week as I was reading them alongside each other that they are really parallel verses. Each verse seems to be saying three things, and I want to reflect on those three things with you this morning.
Now listen to what each of these verses say, which I think is similar or parallel:
First,
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.”
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.”
Jesus is our peace.
Second,
I do not give to you as the world gives.
In this world you will have trouble.
The world offers counterfeit peace.
Third,
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
But take heart! I have overcome the world.
Do not be afraid. Do not fear.
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Now, what I’d like to do this morning is start with the third point first..... and I want to acknowledge that I’m leaning on a sermon that I read by Tim Keller who also takes these points in reverse order. Why? For the simple reason that it’s always good to end with Jesus.
So first, do not be afraid....
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
But take heart! I have overcome the world.
If you read through the four gospels, one of the most repeated phrases of Jesus is, “do not be afraid.”....
I wonder if fear is the opposite of peace..... fear of the unknown, fear of the future, fear of being alone, fear of how someone else may react, fear of being found out, fear of missing out.... fear is the opposite of peace.
Have you ever noticed that in the very beginning of the Biblical story, when Adam and Eve disobeyed the voice of God and ate from the tree that was forbidden.... what does the Bible say was their very first emotion? They were afraid!
They realized they were naked.... and that realization created fear.... and quickly they took leaves and covered themselves.
When the Lord first draws near to them after they had disobeyed Him, he calls out to them, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
Did you notice that? The very first emotion was fear.
They were exposed, their attention now turned in first on themselves....they felt vulnerable, they felt shame, they felt afraid.
What the serpent promised them was a lie..... the serpent said, you won’t die if you eat that fruit. In fact, God doesn’t want you to eat it because you will become like him. If you eat it your eyes will be opened to see that you don’t need God. What kind of God wants to hold you back? What kind of God wants to take away your freedom? Are you afraid of God? Are you afraid of what he might do to you if you eat that fruit? You need to move away from God, you need to stand on your own and release that fear!
But the fact that the Bible makes abundantly clear is this....the farther you move away from God, the greater will be your fear.
Why?.....well I think we can go back to what I shared earlier..... remember that quote from the Hunger Games book,
"Because sometimes things happen to people and they're not equipped to deal with them."
As we move away from God we are confronted with our finiteness....our smallness....we’re confronted with our inability to face all kinds of things that come up in our lives.... we’re confronted with something we never imagined.... and now what? We’re afraid.
Let me invite you to think for a moment on what stirs up fear in you. What makes you afraid?
Let me invite you to listen to these words from the Bible.
Deuteronomy 33:12 (NIV)
12 “Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.”
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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It is true, none of us know what the future holds for us.... but we do know who holds the future. And because of that we can be at peace.
Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Do not be afraid. Do not fear.
Second,
I do not give to you as the world gives.
In this world you will have trouble.
The world offers counterfeit peace.
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It is important I think for us to realize what peace actually is in the Bible. The Hebrew word for peace in the OT is shalom and in the NT it is the Greek work, eirene. The word shalom encompasses a sense of soundness, well-being, prosperity, and a holistic sense of human flourishing. Shalom signifies not only the absence of conflict but the presence of wholeness and harmony in relationships, communities, and the world. The biblical concept of peace is deeply relational, involving reconciliation between God and humanity, as well as harmonious relationships among all people.
Now the moment I describe that big-picture sense of peace....all of us know that that kind of peace in our world, in our neighborhoods, in our families, and in our hearts is missing or broken in all kinds of different ways. And we all know, when we look at the history of humanity, that people are really not that good at maintaining that kind of peace.
Take one example: The holocaust of WWII when some 6 million Jews were exterminated happened not that long ago.... and yet today anti Semitism is still alive and well..... On Oct. 7 in Israel some 1200 Jews were senselessly masacred and slaughtered, and on the streets of many prominent Western cities people are parading slogans like death to Israel...
We never seem to learn. when we look at the history of humanity, that people are really not that good at maintaining that kind of peace.
And then there’s the question of what happens when we simply rely on the world to find peace. If we take God out of the picture, and rely on worldly wisdom to achieve peace.... who gets to decide when we are experiencing well-being, prosperity, flourishing....
When about 150 years ago during the apex of the enlightenment and the beginnings of the Industrial revolution, the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, wrote GOD IS DEAD, he wrote that more as an ominous warning than a declaration of human triumph. If indeed, God is dead, and humanity is now god.... who gets to decide what is right or wrong? who gets to decide was is noble or profane, what is pure or corrupt, what is good or evil? In fact, some of the things he wrote predicted what we saw in WWII
The world left to its own is not equipped to deal with the troubles of the world. It can only offer a kind of counterfeit peace. We need a lasting peace…a peace that comes from outside the world, from the Creator of the world.
We need a peace that comes from one who created all things....
16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
That’s the One who can bring true peace.
And that brings us to where our verses begin:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.”
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.”
Jesus is our peace.
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First, Jesus is our peace.
Approximately 700 years before Jesus was born the prophet Isaiah spoke of a Messiah that would one day come into the world. He would be a King anointed by God. His name would be, Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, Mighty God....Prince of Peace. And remarkably it was said of him, “of the greatness of his government and peace there would be no end.”
And then there came that historic day, when this King was born a humble baby, his entrance into human history came with a heavenly announcement from a glorious company of heavenly host:
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
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This verse it seems to me gets at the heart of where peace comes from. What does it mean that Jesus is our peace? How is it that “in him” we have peace? Well, at the very centre of Biblical peace you’re not going to find a program, or a set of rules, or a particular ideology. Biblical peace is centered on a restored relationship. When humanity disobeyed God in the very beginning and thereby moved away from him, we rebelled against the One who gives life, thinking we could find life and purpose and meaning in ourselves. We broke relationship. And for that reason we were removed from the Presence of the Living God and cast out of the Garden.
But because of His great love and mercy, God pursued us. He came to us and made it possible for us to come near to him. ..... tabernacle/temple required an animal for sacrifice....
[Elaborate....God takes a very ordinary experience…slaughtering an animal so that we can live by eating it....and imbues it with extraordinary meaning......]
And that is why Jesus is our peace....
Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world..... our relationship with God has been restored through Jesus Christ....
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
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27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Dallas Willard (who lost his mom as a young child) writes of a little boy whose mom had died. He was especially sad and lonely at night. He would come into his father's room and ask if he could sleep with him. Even then, he could not rest until he knew not only that he was with his father, but that his father's face was turned toward him. "Father, is your face turned toward me now?" "Yes," his father would say. "You are not alone. I'm with you. My face is turned toward you." When at last the boy was assured of this, he could rest.
Dallas Willard concludes, "How lonely life is! Oh, we can get by in life with a God who does not speak. Many at least think they do so. But it is not much of a life, and it is certainly not the life God intends for us or the abundance of life Jesus came to make available."
Source: John Ortberg, "God Is Closer than You Think," Dallas Willard Center (accessed 4-28-17)
The abundant life that Jesus opened up for us has been made possible because Jesus is our PEACE.
Amazon keeps track of your highlights. When e-book owners mark sentences, the online retailer knows and notes it. Recently Amazon released a list of the most popular passages in some of its bestselling books, such as The Hunger Games, the Harry Potter series, and Pride and Prejudice. Also released, the most highlighted passage in the Holy Bible. I expected America's favorite biblical portion to be John 3:16, Psalm 23, or the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. But, no, it was a less prominent text, but one that's striking a deep cord in today's worried world. It was Philippians 4:6-7:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Source: Robert J. Morgan, Worry Less, Live More (Thomas Nelson, 2017), page xiii