Advent: Peace

Introduction: WHAT IF WE DON’T WIN?

This is a question that I believe lives rent free in the back of everyones mind.

- What if I don’t succeed in becoming who I thought i’d be?

What if I don’t fulfill the expectations my friends and family have of me?

What if I am not the mother or the father I feel i am supposed to be?

whats your fill in the blank?

What if we don’t? What if I bet on myself in one way or another and I failed at the one thing I gave my all to? Am I a failure? whats left after me?

in any type of organized competition there is a scoreboard. of course the stakes much lower but there is a scoreboard in sports — you know if you win, and you know if you lose. Life is far more difficult to answer the question — “did I win?” or “am I winning?” but one thing is for sure —- you feel it when you aren’t and IDK about you but most feel like they aren’t going to or currently are not winning

in 2013 the self help genre had $7.5 million books sold —- in 2024 that number reached over $21 million books sold this year. that genre has hit record numbers each year since 2010. people are asking the question “why am I not winning” more and more and more —- this coincides with anxiety and depression rates

As a believer in Jesus —— we have already won because Jesus was victorious for us.

today we are talking about Gospel Peace — peace comes from assurance and you can be sure of Christs victory!!

your telling me as a christian I can have Joy because of Christ, Hope because of Christ, Peace because of Christ? YES, YES I AM!!!

HERE IS WHY:

Colossians 1:15–20 (ESV)

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Thunk about all that that this passage is saying:

-He is the very visible communication of God — if you want to know the Father, know the Son in who is the visible representation of God

-all things were created in and through Him (john 1.1-4)

-He is before all things, and all things hold together by Him

-He is the head of the church

-the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Him

-through Him all things reconcile

-he makes peace by the blood of his cross

what did He miss? nothing!

we do not have to ask the question: “what if we don’t win” —- if we have placed our full trust in the savior of the world who IS the only one who can save us and reconcile us back to God —- and the one brings about in us peace in His victory

I say all of that to set up these two realities in our life with Jesus the one who brings GOSPEL PEACE:

I want to dive into how the Cross of Christ effects us in our vertical relationship to Jesus and because of that our horizontal relationship to one another — in my two points I want to give practical realities that the peace of christ reveals in us

SERMON SUMMARY:

The peace we have in Christ gives us peace vertically and horizontally

Gospel Peace: The vertical reality of those in the shadow of the cross

Romans 7:21-25

English Standard Version (Chapter 7)

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

maybe your saying wait!!!!, I thought the peace thing took away all of that struggle with sin stuff!?

Jesus Himself is peace within us. His Lordship rules and reigns in our hearts, minds, and body —- causing peace amongst the chaos of sin and its realities.

the vertical reality of our life in the shadow of the cross is that we personally are at peace because of this reality: He is made perfect in our weakness

In almost every aspect of this life except for our reality in Christ says this: your weaknesses disqualify you // with the cross you identifying your weaknesses actually qualify you

Rom. 7:22-23

22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

who can relate to this? with the inner most parts of my soul I deeply believe in JESUS and all that He has accomplished on my behalf and yet my members (my body) still sins?

Paul isn’t writing this as free advertisement to go on sinning, rather he is telling us of the vertical reality of the christian —- what you personally will walk through in this life is a wrestle with the sin that is deeply imbedded in us and the peace in the midst of it that Jesus delivered us from the ultimate reality of sin which is death

LET ME ADMIT SOMETHING: this wrestle can be disorienting at times

however, the epicenter of our personal peace found in Jesus is that He knew we would find ourselves in this wrestle —- and yet He chose to save us anyway —— which means he can accomplish in us peace that is found in the sinner/saint life that we currently find ourselves within

STORY: IN high school I went through this phase where I tried to document every time i sinned (good luck luke) and the entire goal of mine was to get the number of sins down week over week attempting to get that number to zero by the end of the year —- this was quite literally an impossible goal —— by about week 3 I gave up —— but God taught me something so beautiful in my ignorance —— “you cannot become more like me until you believe that I am the one who does the saving” ——-

and I remember this peace came over me that hasn’t left me til’ this day: My peace is found in the savior, not in my attempt to be one

Romans 7:24

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Gospel Peace is fully and utterly reliant and found in the maker of peace and He is Jesus. This peace comes to the believer who yes understands their sin, but also understands the preeminence and the perfection of their savior!

2. Gospel Peace: The horizontal reality of those in the shadow of the cross

Ephesians 2:14–16 (ESV)

For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

Jesus Himself is our peace. His Lordship in us breaks down divisional walls and unites His people as one.

The Gospel gives peace and rest to the individual believer, AND it unites His people as one!

Ephesians: A New Covenant Commentary He Is Our Peace (2:14–18)

Paul is encouraging his readers to take in the full effect of their reconciliation through Christ’s cross. Salvation is not simply a vertical relationship between God and humans that is restored and enhanced, to which an ultimately optional horizontal aspect is added

in this passage we see that Christ came and established something new within His people —- in fact this was step one of the new creation He is establishing that will one day result in full restoration to Him in eternity —— but a huge aspect of the christians peace in christ is that it manifests itself in the unity amongst believers

not only does this peace unite us BUT it gives us eyes to see one another how the savior sees us — as children of God!