Saved to Share the Gospel of Peace

Peace on Earth

Series Reminder

We are Purified to be Peacemakers

Filled with the Holy Spirit

Receiving and demonstrating wisdom from above

Meekness

Self-giving love

“This may be the season we talk about peace the most, but experience it the least.”

This week I want to suggest…

If we’re willing to go beyond the superficiality and sentimentality of the season, we might find that our neighbors are longing for something we can offer them.

The whole world is singing

about Jesus

our need for Jesus

Are we paying attention?

Listen to the lyrics of this song

Stevie Wonder - Someday at Christmas

Someday at Christmas men won't be boys Playing with bombs like kids play with toys One warm December our hearts will see A world where men are free

Someday at Christmas there'll be no wars When we have learned what Christmas is for When we have found what life's really worth There'll be peace on earth

Someday at Christmas we'll see a land With no hungry children, no empty hand One happy morning people will share Our world where people care

does it seem out of place to sing about…

bombs

hunger

poverty

in a Christmas song?

This is exactly what we should be singing about at Christmas

Joy to the World

No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make his blessings flow Far as the curse is found.

O, Holy Night

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining, It is the night of our dear Saviour’s birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining, ‘Til He appear’d and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices! O night divine, O night when Christ was born; O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother; And in His name all oppression shall cease. Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, Let all within us praise His holy name. Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever, His power and glory evermore proclaim. His power and glory evermore proclaim.

Do we understand how

his gospel is peace?

he breaks the chains of the slave?

he ends oppression?

there was a group of exiled and enslaved Jews, 500 years before Jesus was born, who found HOPE and COMFORT in the words of the prophet Isaiah. He prophesied about the coming of the Prince of Peace…

Isaiah 9:6–7 ESV

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. 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.

Specifically Isaiah 40-55

Isaiah prophesied that Salvation is Coming

God would partner with Cyrus, the Persian king

Punish Babylon for sinning against his people

Liberate Israel from captivity

Restore Jerusalem to her former glory

Isaiah pictures the day when this good news would ring out to all the people who (MUCH LIKE MANY TODAY) were longing for PEACE

Isaiah 52:7 ESV

7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

The Hebrew word for “Peace”

Shalom

Wholeness

Completeness

Contentment

Safety

Security

This is what we mean when we say, “Gospel”

It is the message that God reigns

His “Shalom” is available to you

Isaiah 52:8–9 ESV

8 The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion. 9 Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem.

Babylon would completely destroy Jerusalem, but the prophet could see…

God would return to Jerusalem

The people would return to Jerusalem

Jerusalem would be REDEEMED, RESTORED, RENEWED

Is this “Good News” about the return from exile or about Jesus?

YES!

The prophets have a way of combining all the future promises of God

So there is already

And a not yet

There is a sense in which God redeemed Israel

when the exiles returned

when they rebuilt the temple

when they rebuilt the walls

but ULTIMATELY when God returned to the temple in the HUMAN BODY of a tiny baby

Luke 2:38 “38 And coming up at that very hour [Anna] began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.”

The Jews in the days of Jesus’ birth knew

We’re still waiting for redemption

We’re still waiting for peace

We’re still waiting for the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies

there’s still a sense in which

Isaiah 52:10 ESV

10 The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

Isaiah sees a time when

the whole world

will see the strength and power of God

Isaiah 52:10 MSG

10 God has rolled up his sleeves. All the nations can see his holy, muscled arm. Everyone, from one end of the earth to the other, sees him at work, doing his salvation work.

God has done this multiple times

Deliver from Egypt

Deliver from Babylon

Deliver from sin through the cross

Ultimately, when Jesus comes again, the world will see his saving work

Isaiah goes on to tell of God’s servant who will bring about this saving work

Isaiah 53:11 ESV

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

This effectively prophecies the resurrection of God’s servant

verse 9 told of his death

now he sees the good work he has done and is satisfied

He will reconcile people to God

many accounted as righteous

bear their iniquities

the result is a covenant of peace

Isaiah 54:9–10 ESV

9 “This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you. 10 For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

This is what it looks like to have peace with God

will not be angry with you

will not rebuke you

covenant of peace

This is what we have because of Jesus

This is the plea of the Good News

Isaiah 55:1–2 ESV

1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

we are surrounded by people

who are thirsty

who are hungry

spending their money for that which is not bread

laboring for that which does not satisfy

ASK: What are spending your money on and working for that is not satisfying?

Cars

Houses

Politics

Fads and Trends

Entertainment

God is pleading, “Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good.”

This is shalom

water

wine

milk

bread

peace

safety

security

abundance

Application

This was GOOD NEWS to people 2,500 years ago - enslaved and exiled

And it’s good news today

It’s good news to our neighbors

It’s good news to us

This is how we EXPERIENCE peace and MAKE peace

Effective peacemakers promote the “gospel of peace” with their words and their lives.

What is the Gospel of peace?

“Your God reigns”

And God has made peace with us through his Servant and his Son, Jesus.

Telemachus (tuh-LEM-uh-kus)

The gladiator games went on in arenas for hundreds of years

Monk traveled to Rome

Saw the gladiators fighting one another to the death

Ran out in between them

Preached to them and to the crowds

Sadly, they killed him

But when the news reached the emperor

He put a stop to the games

Centuries of death ended because one person was willing to promote the gospel of peace with his words his life.

How are YOU promoting the Gospel of peace?

The world is longing for peace

And you know where it can be found

Point people to Jesus