12.24.2023 AM - Advent Peace

Scripture: Luke 1:46-55

Luke 1:46–55 NIV

46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”

Order of Service:

Introduction Video

Announcements

Advent Wreath Reading

Opening Worship

Prayer Requests

Prayer Song

Pastoral Prayer

Kid’s Time

Offering (Doxology and Offering Prayer)

Scripture Reading

Sermon

Closing Song

Benediction

Special Notes:

Opening Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you entered our world on Christmas as the Prince of Peace. This Advent, as we strive to become the best version of ourselves, fill us with a deep and abiding peace. Help us share that peace with everyone we encounter, especially those who need it most. Amen.

Peace

Powerful Peace

The four themes of Advent: Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace, have multiple meanings to us. However, we find a specific understanding of each of them in Jesus.

You may hear much about placing your hope and trust in Jesus instead of other things or people who will fail you. Throughout scripture, we read about the love of God, which is different and more significant than the hundreds of ways we use the word love. Last week, we read about a more powerful and permanent joy than any happiness we have experienced. Today, we will look at what may be the most elusive of these Advent themes: Peace.

Many things make us feel peaceful. For you, it may be a snowy field or the sound of a sleeping baby. Many of us feel a sense of peace when we enter the church building, especially decorated for the holiday season. Music has long been an instrument of peace for people of all ages all over the world.

I struggle to understand peace. Standing at what may be the middle of my life, I cannot recall a time without violence and the threat of warfare somewhere in the world at a international level. Most of the time, our country has been involved in these conflicts one way or another. Even our nation has been affected. Those of the generation younger than me cannot recall a time when there was peace and civility in our own country without violent outbursts and heated demonstrations. I have heard from the generations older than myself of the need to prepare for war to keep the peace, and I see the struggle, especially for those who have served in the military, as they try to understand a world today that does not fight by the same rules as those in generations past. We all know the fear well, and most days, the best we can do is try to avoid thinking about it because there seems to be no answer in sight.

One hundred years ago, the people of our country were struggling to understand war on a global scale. Two hundred years ago, wars were fought on horseback. But 2000 years ago, the people of Israel would have been able to relate to many places in the world today. They prayed for peace but did not see it. Many things they leaned on to make peace did not work anymore. They needed something stronger than sentimental notions or far-fetched hopes. They needed God to intervene, and He did. He showed the world that Jesus is the Mighty Prince of Peace.

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Glorify and Rejoice

In our journey through the Psalms, we have read prayers of confession, lament, and reminders to thank God. In our scripture today, Mary prays a prayer meant to glorify God. It is a prayer of praise. Sometimes, this is one of the most challenging kinds of prayer. It is not difficult to think of things to be thankful for, but taking the next step to glorify and rejoice in the Lord is something more.

Several weeks back, I shared the meaning of the word glory as it relates to God. In short, it is a powerful, radiant force that brings everything to light and humbles us in the face of God’s greatness. To “glorify God” would mean that we are shining a light back on God. It would be like a child trying to shine a flashlight at the sun to give it a little light. Not only does it seem unnecessary, it can seem ridiculous. God’s love for us does not depend on whether we shout how wonderful He is from our rooftops, sing about His goodness, or clap our hands whenever we hear Him mentioned. No, God does not need our praise, but as a loving Father to us all, He is pleased by it nonetheless.

Mary glorified God with her mind and words as she rejoiced in an emotional and perhaps stirring spiritual response to His blessing upon her. Sometimes, these feelings well up within us, and we feel we cannot hold them back. We often do, though, especially when we are around other people. We may suffer from performance anxiety in our praise, and it keeps us quiet and secluded when it comes to sharing God’s goodness around us.

At this particular moment, Mary did not care. God had invited her to join Him in His work to answer over 1,000 years of prayers and save a broken world, and Elizabeth would be part of that miracle as well. There was no music playing, preacher preaching, or potluck meal cooking. Revival broke out that day in Mary. This act of praise that would echo through the heavens as the angel choruses picked up her praises and spread them across the country started because one young lady shared how good God was with her cousin, unafraid of who was listening or what the consequences would be.

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He has done great things!

And Mary had good reason to rejoice. She remembered all the ways God had led her people across the centuries. She knew how every generation faced the challenges and consequences of their actions, and God stepped in to save them from the fire every time. Mary knew at this moment that she was a part of this grand story of God. She knew she was not the end of the story or the main character of this story. She knew she was not worthy. All she knew was that she had been invited, and that was enough to fill her with praise as baby John the Baptist danced in Elizabeth’s womb.

Years ago, I learned that one of the writing styles of scripture, both Old and New Testament, was to use songs and poetry to help add color and insight into the stories written around them. Much like the parables Jesus taught, these prayers and songs of praise help us understand from multiple perspectives what God did in the lives of His people. It is one thing to read that King David committed adultery and covered it up with murder, suffered consequences, and was forgiven for this sin. It is another thing to read Psalm 51 and hear the inner turmoil and eventual redemption he faced along that journey.

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Like this scripture, many praise songs, choruses, and hymns were written in an inspired moment, where the writer recognized where they are in God’s story at that moment, and were filled with hope, love, joy, and peace. Sometimes, that involved quoting phrases from scripture. Often, that meant singing prayers that someone else prayed before them. Regardless of what they did with the words, Mary’s song and all the Psalms show us that the best acts of praise connect us with the overall story of what God has done and is doing in creation. Praising God only for the present moment is like standing before a big Christmas dinner your mother spent all day cooking and only thanking her for the sprinkles on top of the frosted sugar cookies. Yes, those moments can be exciting, but that is only the beginning of the goodness we experience with God.

We can experience Shalom, the Strong Peace of God that holds us together and connects us to Him when we accept His invitation to be part of His story. We give up that peace when we allow other stories, including the ones we make up ourselves, to run and rule our lives. When we step out of that Peace of God, we allow ourselves to become a weak point for the enemy to enter into our lives, families, churches, and world.

God comes into our lives and makes peace where there is none, and we experience that peace by surrendering to Him and offering up our praise.

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Praise and Peace

It is common for people who struggle to experience peace to look to strength and power for help. When we face addictions, abusive relationships, or constant conflict with friends, family, and neighbors, there is something in us that wants to have the authorities on speed dial. It doesn’t matter if it is the police, the doctor, or dad — we feel like someone needs to come in with force to get everyone (including ourselves) back in line. We sometimes transfer that anxiety onto others as we pray for hedges of protection with tall fences, guarded towers decked out with angel cannons, and holy missile launchers to keep trouble away. That’s the strong peace of God we tell ourselves. That is what will make us feel at peace.

But here is perhaps the most frightening truth of this Advent season: God doesn’t protect us that way, even when we pray for protection from our sinful wills and ways. Somehow, God trusts us more than we trust ourselves. That makes little sense because we know that He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows more about our sins and failures than we do. And yet... He trusts us to be part of His peace - to be peacemakers instead of just peacekeepers.

How do I know this? Because He gave us His only Son, born into this world as a baby, fully human. Jesus could hurt, He could bleed, and He could die. While we were trying to beat one another into submission and fix the world's problems, God looked down and asked us to hold His baby boy.

What else can we do but join Mary in praise as we hold Jesus to our hearts, listening to Him sleeping in the Shalom peace of His Heavenly Father as we all find our place in this story that is so much greater than ourselves? A new light comes into our world, and we share it, maybe even with just one or two people. And they share it with one or two more. And then, we watch as Jesus brings God’s peace to everyone who receives Him, one life at a time, across the world.

Have you received Christ into your life?

Are you standing in that peace that He brings you?

Will you share that praise for how He makes you whole?

Let me leave you with a quote from the Apostle Paul, who, like Mary, looked back and found his place in God’s story and praised Him for it.

“20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.””

The New International Version (1 Co 1:20–31). (2011). Zondervan.