The Prince of Peace

INTRO:

This morning my aim is simple: that you’ll be drawn closer to Jesus. Not drawn out of curiosity alone, but drawn because you’re searching for shelter. All of us know what it’s like to feel exposed—to feel the chaos pressing in, the storm clouds building overhead, the uncertainty of what’s coming next.

And when we look around, the world doesn’t offer much comfort. Evil isn’t just present—it’s celebrated. Sin isn’t only tolerated—it’s applauded. That weighs heavy, and if we’re honest, it can feel overwhelming.

But peace—real peace—isn’t found in a pause from problems or in pretending storms don’t exist. It’s not found in silence, in money, in politics, or in the absence of conflict. Peace is found in a Person.

And so the question is this: what are you tethered to when life’s storms roll in? If it’s anything other than Jesus, you will eventually be swept away. But if it is Him—the Prince of Peace—you’ll find a shelter that cannot be shaken.

1. Peace Is…

(PPT) Biblical Peace: wholeness and harmonized relationship.

TO THE WORLD peace is...

Ceasefires with peace treaties, playing nice with one another, it’s achieved through protest and legislation. To the world, peace is associated with QUIET. But that’s not what peace from God is or how to get it.

What is your peace? What brings you peace? Careful: it’s a trick question. If you answer it by saying “this thing/place/activity”, you’ve been deceived. The right answer for what is your peace actually involves “WHO”.

Jesus is the WHO, the anchor of a Christian that steadies us against confusion and conflict that comes from Chaos and disruption. It’s not about the absence of conflict and no problems taking place. Peace isn’t found on the beach at sunrise or in the mountains at sunset. It’s not even about terrible things not taking place and disrupting your life.

(PPT) Peace isn’t about what you don’t have, but it’s about WHO you’re tied to.

There’s a pretty chaotic scene in Mark 4 with Jesus and his disciples that is often used to talk about peace — and rightfully so.

MARK 4:35-41

Why did they panic and go to Jesus? Maybe they thought he could help, but also…we as people like others to worry with us. We want company in our misery and anxieties. We often go out of our way to make others worry along with us - “Did you see/hear about...” “Well i don’t like this decision its going to cause problems such as...”

But Jesus told them that they were more worried than you should be in this situation!

And how often do we fall into that trap - more anxious about things that have always been outside of our control, but that God says “You’re taken care of”...?

And Jesus shows us how he can bring the chaos into calm, the raging into harmony. And that's true for more than just a storm, but for our souls. The sign points to something greater! To That’s the same principle is there from Matthew 9:5–6 “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.” He gave them something they could see in order to understand he could do the unseen.

The same is true with the storm. They needed to see Jesus correct chaos and bring peace, and we needed to see that so that we can understand to trust in what we can’t see - that Jesus can correct and restore what is chaotic and broken into what is peaceful and whole.

Jesus performed His Powerful Rule Of Peace

Notice how he asked them about their faith, and we must evaluate ours. Because a lack of faith means a lack of God. A lack of God means a lack of the blessing of peace because I’m tied more to sin….

And sin is what caused us to be separated from God and be enemies of God too.

But Peace is also about RESTORING what is broken.

Part of Jesus’ mission and the Gospel message is about Him restoring peaceful relationship between us and God!

Jesus is the prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

It originates with Him, He is the possessor and the giver of peace. It’s not something you can have without Him.

The RESULTS of peace are described in what Paul says about “reconciliation”.

Romans 5:1, 9-10 — peace and reconciliation are closely tied together.

Peace had to first be made between God and us!

So it starts with relationship being restored with God. Having and growing in peace is not about what’s gong on, the only thing that is circumstantial about it is if you’re in the right relationship with God through Jesus.

IF you are in Jesus, you are connected to the source of Peace! It’s not about what you don’t have, its about who you’re TETHERED to. You must be in Jesus in order to have the blessing of real peace.

2. Peace That Anchors Amidst Storms

Paul faced storms, but Paul faced them successfully because He got in Jesus!

Acts 9:18, was an enemy of the cross but was humbled and got in Christ at Baptism. He fought the Gospel, but then He obeyed the Gospel by being baptized, and was in harmony with God. Jesus calmed the chaos of Saul’s wayward soul, tethered him to Himself, and because of that became a mighty instrument for Christ and the Church.

(PPT) But that doesn’t mean Paul wasn’t without turmoil and hardships…but when you know Jesus as your prince of peace, you move through life differently.

Acts 27

V.9-12

They ignore good advice and take a path they shouldn’t, and ended up facing a brutal storm. That can be the cause of our storms.

We can be our own reason we don’t have peace.

We can also find ourselves in storms regardless that we chose the right things.

Daniel in the Lions Den.

And whether you can relate to one of these now or in the past or maybe later on, you might find yourself in a place you don’t want to be.

V.13-20

You may be in a similar situation where you’re “storm tossed”. Been there? Are there?

The crew thinks it knows what to do - so they toss things over, tie things down - they’re doing everything they can to try to change their situation.

And having to do that in any situation can ware you down, and exhaust you. Doing everything you know to do and trying everything you ought to try that is reasonable and makes sense - but the situation doesn't clear up. And they ended up in a state of despair.

V.21-22

Paul is saying “this isn’t the choice we should have made” and sometimes we can look back and say I shouldn’t have made that decision. Or maybe we can see someone else we’re connected to that did that to themselves. And we find ourselves in a situation where we’re saying “I wish I weren’t here”. But there’s no way to go back.

And this isn’t Paul rubbing salt in the wound, this is more how a parent would deal with their child who was told not to do something and they did it anyway and then you say “See? You weren’t supposed to do that were you?” Because it serves as a point of reminder “listen, I know what is best”.

We can all relate to looking back on moments where we think, “If only...” But Paul’s words remind us that while we can’t undo the past, we can face the present in the right way. For us, recognizing consequences is part of growth - learning from mistakes, not falling into the same foolish habits of the past.

I’d be willing to bet that if the sailors and the captain followed this same route in the future at this time of year, they would’ve thought back to these long and horrible few weeks and heeded Paul’s advice that time around. Because that’s good common sense. And sometimes we need the same good spiritual sense, don’t fall into the same mistakes as the past.

Also notice that God knew they would choose that and be there, and He already made plans to provide.

V.23-26

We don’t have this promise, but we do have promises of our own from God.

Maybe it would’ve been better if I had chosen a different path, or someone around me made a better decision. But whats done is done, and God knew I’d be here right now.

And if I’ve been away from God and have come to my senses that I need to get back to living faithfully, as long as I’m breathing I’m never too sinful to be saved. I can always return to God.

If I’m on the wrong path, God can fix it. If I’m so far down the wrong path and stuck in what feels like a trap I can’t get out of, God can fix it. God can get me out of the sin and help me deal with what mess I got myself into. God is closer than the storm. God is more powerful than the storm.... “Well that’s pretty cheesy preacher!”…but it wasn’t to Paul. It wasn’t to the soldiers and sailors. It’s not if you’re pretty close to the storm. It’s needed reassurance and reminders. If you don’t remember those truths about God, then eventually you will turn to something else you think saves. And you’ll be lost.

Trusting in God’s promises can have an affect on those around me as well. I try so often to emphasize this! Here the sailors and soldiers and prisoners all benefited from Paul’s faith with the hope that they would develop faith in God. You remaining steadfast in the storm is not just for your benefit, but for those around you as well. Even if you never know it.

V.27-29

2 Weeks of being storm tossed at sea. 14 nights of dark and violent motion. Can you imagine that? I remember being on a cruise with a few waves and me and my family were seasick and miserable…but this is extreme.

They realize they might run aground and there’s nothing that they can do except lower the anchors and wait.

Maybe you’ve been there, I sure have: worn out, afraid, feel as if I’m feeling my way through the dark not sure where I’m at or where I might end up and what might happen next...

When we’re there and day by day the storm doesn’t end it starts to feel as if it never will - and it tries to stir up anxiety and fear and anger. And during those real times of life, you know what we try to do? We look for a way of escape, we search for a shortcut to cut short the storm. We look for a way to get OUT instead of looking for how to get THROUGH. Even though we know we should keep our commitments, we know we should do whats right, but we get real tempted to take an easy way out and off the boat.

V.30-32

It’s not surprising that people start looking for an escape route. When we don’t know what the future holds we try to control as much of it as possible!

One thing that helps you not try to control so much as a Christian is remembering your guaranteed future with God.

But, in a huge turn of events, they actually start to listen to Paul! No one is going to listen to a prisoner, a prisoner isn’t going to tell me how to captain my ship, he’s not going to carry weight in any group discussion, he’s not going to be listened to for any reason!…UNLESS...

Unless they observed Paul and his reaction to the storm. They listened to His favorable and often spoken words about His God. They saw someone that had s SPECIAL ASSURANCE in his demeanor. A peace that was seen in Paul and that they couldn’t figure out how or why! Oh, Paul writing Philippians 4:7 adds a layer now of understanding now — “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Whatever it was — whatever words Paul was saying and ways he showed his faith, it won them over as someone trustworthy to listen to so they cut away the life boat!

And do WE trust the Apostle Paul like that? Do we trust the word of God like that in the middle of the storm when it seems like it just keeps persisting and we’re anxious and looking for an escape route, do we say “NO! There’s no plan b! I’m going to press on God’s way!” Do we cut the other options of life away and remain on the ship with God?

V.33-34

Paul, again showing his learning from his friend Barnabas the encourager, now again giving encouragement.

We need someone in the middle of the storm to speak words of peace and promise about God. We need someone to remind us “Remember who you are, what you have, the promises God gives us, the fact that God doesn’t abandon us.” Even for someone to say “Get a snack and just relax for a minute”. You need to make sure you have someone like that in your life.

V.39-44

After 2 weeks of being unsure of surviving, running the ship up to the land you see but it tears the boat apart.

“There’s no way we can make sure we can make sure the prisoners are kept captive, and if they escape we will pay the penalty - so we have to just kill them.” Can you see how Satan is trying to work there, just to stop Paul. That ought to make you think of how good our position is against Satan, that even a prisoner is a threat to Satan’s agenda.

But you also see how people and things are just a means to an end to Satan. He doesn’t care about you. He doesn’t care if your successful, he doesn’t care if you’re well thought of by the world, he doesn’t care if you’re hurt or weak. The only thing he cares about is deceiving and turning people away from God - we are all just a means to an end of Satan trying to get at God.

But on God’s side, we more than that. We’re loved. Cared for. Sought after for our benefit. Provided for. NOT a means to an end. I’m not a “pawn” to God. I’m His son.

So, what is it that we focus on in this story? The fact that they’re shipwrecked and went through all this pain and struggle? Or the fact that they safely reached the land and that not one of them would die? You can choose to focus on the pain and struggle or you can focus on the providence and care of God.

But we have a tendency to focus on the pain, don’t we. Notice though that the shipwreck didn’t come from God! Remember in Fair Havens (v.8) Paul encouraged them not to leave and not go at this time, but they ignored the sound advice and ended up in a stormy situation. God didn’t do that, their choices did. YET it was God’s fault they reached the land, it was God’s providence that saved them.

It’s very natural to look at the pain because its scary and in our face and so easy to focus so singularly in the valley of shadow. But hear this—— it is more than OK that we mourn those we loose and cry tears of pain, but we must also think about how God has blessed along the way, how He has provided for us, and recognize that the shipwreck wasn’t God’s desire yet He worked despite it.

When the Prince of Peace is the purpose of my life, my life’s is tethered to an unshakable stronghold that weathers anything that rages against me. He’s saved my soul and brought peace between me and God - and that peace resonates then through the rest of my life with confidence that He’ll take care of the rest of me.

Hurt but not crushed; Storm tossed but not capsized; Peace in spite of the storm, peace in the midst of the storm; I can feel stranded, but I know that I’m not abandoned.