Peace Costly Peace

Intro

Good evening church, friends, and family as we celebrate together the arrival of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

Over the years I have had the opportunity to be around many people and different families to see how they celebrate Christmas. Amanda and I started this journey 14 years ago, following the Lord’s will for our lives as we have had the pleasure of serving his church, but that also meant some sacrifices. In those years we’ve never been home for Christmas because of my job or Thanksgiving because of hers. However, God has always placed us around people who have pseudo adopted us and made us apart of their clans.

When I was growing up we would spend every Christmas Eve with Grandma Joyce and she would have a birthday cake every year and we would sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. One year a family we were with showed us their tradition of having one of the Grand kids recite the Christmas story from the book of Luke before dinner. Other families have reflected on each other and offer up a prayer of blessing for one another.

Tension

Everyone is different but the reason why we celebrate is not. Because Christ has come, man can be freed from the shackles of his sin and the tragedy we were all headed toward. And as we gather tonight to celebrate as believers I would like us to contemplate on a familiar passage of Scripture to all of us.

Truth

I want to start our time together by discussing a familiar passage to all of us.

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This passage is one that many of us have had memorized for years but one that really sets up the dichotomy of our situation. You see, we, all of us, according to the scriptures, were men and women drowning in our own sinful state. Given the choice, time and time again, we would choose selfishness and vanity. Given the choice, we would choose destruction and pain. Given the choice we would choose god’s of our own image that supported our every whim and passion. We were, to put it way too simply, in a mess. This sinful nature compelled us again and again to septic waters that were killing us, leading us toward our ultimate fate, outlined here, bringing us a deserved wage of death.

However, this passage also holds out hope. Sin is not the only player in the game anymore. It doesn’t have to be your path. It doesn’t have to be your story. Because of Jesus and what he did, God has offered you a free gift of Eternal life. You go from certain death and separation from God to having not just life, but life that doesn’t stop. The prophet Isaiah spoke to the arrival of the Messiah, some 700 years before it happened.

Isaiah 9:2; 6

2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

6 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.

Jesus, we are told, would be a light in the darkness. John’s gospel tells us John 1:4–5 “4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Jesus, stood as a light in a dark world and still to this day, reflects the glory of God back towards us.

He would be called a wonderful counselor. Counselors today could do no better than to study how He cared. He took pity on those that the world looked past or dismissed entirely. He had pity and compassion on the sick, the in-firmed, and the tormented. He listened to people as they described their problems and while he didn’t always give them what they asked for, he saw through to what they really needed. Ultimately, he still holds this function today as he is constantly interceeding on our behalf before the Father.

Mighty God. What can we say of might. Who could conquer sin, death, and the grave? Who could have the self-control and desire to please God enough to live sinless-ly. Were it us we would not need a savior but no man alive could boast such a claim. Jesus might was on full display during his life and ministry as he effectively laid his divine right and power by the wayside to live as we do. Weak, frail, tempted, afflicted, these are all attributes that Christ put on so that he could show us how. Strength and might are not weapons to be wielded over others but real strength is found when we choose to use that power to protect and guide those under our influence and care. In this, Christ has no Equal.

Everlasting Father. Isaiah 9:7 “7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” You see, Christ’s kingdom started here but has no expiration. At he feet all men will bow and under his authority and in his reign creation will hit the reset button. He is an everlasting God.

Prince of Peace. Lastly, we see that when it comes to Peace there is one who stands as royalty above all. He championed peace in his ministry and even up to his own death. While the crowds clamored for him to overthrow the Romans and take over Jerusalem he told them to turn the other cheek and walk a second mile. While his critics called him every name in the book including saying he was in league with Satan, he ignored them and healed the broken who desperately needed him. When he was hanging from a cross he was pleading for God to take pity on those that put him there. Such a champion of peace has never been seen and he still continues this work in us today. The waves and storm of struggles, the anxiety, the pain, the strife that overwhelms us calms when he speaks to them. Our world is lost and broken but he brings it into peace and harmony when we make climb into his boat.

You see, tonight I wanted to say that while the gift of eternal life is in fact a free gift to you and I. That is was the most costly free gift in history. You and I get the benefits that are wrapped up in it but Christ gave his very life to pay for it. He made a way for peace to conquer the war inside of your heart. He freed you from the shackles that bound you to your sinfilled nature. If you are in Christ then your unrighteousness faded out, eclipsed by his genuine righteousness. If you are in Christ, your identity is no longer sinner, wretch, broken, worthless, failure. Its been redeemed and restored to child, saint, redeemed, joint heir with Christ. You are a new creation because of the costliest free gift of all time. By his wounds you are healed. By his death you are brought to life, and in his name and in his light we walk as those redeemed, declaring to all that the King of Kings is here, and his name is Jesus.

So, Friends, family, Church, brothers and sisters. Merry Christmas. Whatever your tradition, whatever your gathering, whoever surrounds your table this year, make Christ a part of your celebration. Share your story of how he’s rescued and redeemed you. Tell the story of this gift and how it is the greatest gift you’ve ever received.

Jesus Christ is truly all we need this Christmas. Because of him we have a new identity. We have a new strength. We have the hope of salvation. We have a purpose in spreading his good news. And because of him, we can truly know what it is to be at genuine peace.

Lords Supper.

I would ask the Deacons to come forward at this time and sit on the front row.

As we celebrate, reflect, and consider the cost of our salvation, and the love that paid that cost, we are again, drawn back to the feet of the cross. A cross, history tells us, is still one of the cruelest instruments of torture and death humans have created. It was also a means by which the victim would have shame heaped upon them. It stood as a billboard to all who saw, “Don’t do these things or you will be like this guy.” Friends, we are called to be like that guy. We, you’ll remember, are those who have decided to follow Jesus. His own words remind us, that, in order to follow him, “Deny himself, then pick up his cross and follow me.” (mt. 16:24).

The bread and juice paint a picture of remembrance for the broken body and blood that he poured out on our behalf. Our supper table is open to any who have claimed the name of Jesus and chosen to give their hearts to him. As we gather to remember Jesus and his cross, I’d ask you to reflect on your own salvation, a free but costly gift that Jesus paid for with his life. He died for you, so that you could live for him. Not a life, shackled to sin and death but one of mission, purpose, and truth, as his ambassador.

Pray- Deacons Distribute Lord’s Super

Have a Deacon pray for the Bread

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for[b] you. Do this in remembrance of me.”[c]

Have a Deacon pray for the Juice

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Landing