Advent Peace (2)

Now you know I like to preach through verses and dive deep scripture by scripture. This is topical so its going to be a little different for me so bear with me. Also it's funny to think that when we're in Bible study, when I'm on the phone with Pastor Mike, when I'm sitting and talking with friends, or even like what happened on Friday when I get a phone call with Brayden I can get into this groove of just speaking God’s word, but yet it seems like when I get in front of everyone here I get nervous and I am so hyper focused on what I am saying because I want to make sure that what I am saying is coming from God. That this does not become Nick’s ideas, but follows God’s words. I can feel the weight of standing here an teaching you. So with that let's go ahead and say a prayer for the message that we're about to dive into today.

Pray

If you are to have peace with God there must be war with Satan.

Charles Spurgeon

Last week:

So last week during pasture mikes message we heard a reference of Isaiah Chapter 9 and if you would turn there with me now:

Isaiah 9:6–7 “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. 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.”

Lack of peace in our life

Sounds like he is bringing peace/Jews Missed it

Now by the sounds of this we hear that Jesus is to bring peace to the world that governments will be on his shoulders if we take this word for word exactly what it says it seems as though that with Jesus everything gets easier. It is with this idea that the Jews at the time were looking to the coming Messiah to free them from Rome and to produce peace throughout the entire world. That is exactly why they missed it when it came to Jesus.

Doesn’t seem like there is a lot of Peace, Problems going on

If we look around right now doesn't seem to be a whole lot of peace. Whether it be just in the world as far as governments go or even during this time of year we call Christmas. You see as Christians sometimes we expect Jesus to make peace in our life to make our life easier to just be able to walk around with this peaceful glow about us. But then reality sets in we show up to family gatherings and there's turmoil, there's stress, and there's even possibly division.

For some this Christmas season will be the first one they go through without a loved one, a mother, a father, a brother, a sister, spouse. For some it's just anger and a lack of being able to get along with the family. Some of it may be the fault of other people, some of it may be our own fault. No matter what we look at this doesn't seem to be very peaceful. For still others this may not be the first holiday without someone, but it still doesn’t seem to get any easier through the years, and this time brings about hard memories.

This isn’t a feel good message

I'm sorry but if this was a feel good message for Christmas that you were looking for the beginning of this, does not look very encouraging now does it?

Turn to

John 6:52–70 “The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.””

Gaining popularity:

Throughout Jesus' teaching he was gaining more and more popularity. The disciples were getting excited they got in on the ground floor of this new movement that's gaining in popularity you see they they know the guy that started it all they're going to be up there at the top with him.

The Hard Message

Then Jesus preaches this hard message for people to understand and members of the crowd started going whoa wait a minute it's tough I don't know that I want to be around for this this is giving off some some kind of ideas that I'm not really agreeing with.

Could have clarified

And in that moment Jesus could have clarified himself he could have said hey look it's not what you think I was speaking in a parable you're not really going to bite me and drink my blood. Instead this is a a figure of speech for the covenant that I'm going to make that you're going to take apart of the in a while I'm going to be crucified and you'll you'll begin to understand it after that but he didn't.

People started Leaving

And because he didn't people started up and walking away they started leaving so as people are walking away Jesus turns to the disciples and asks you don't want to leave too do you are you gonna walk away from me? And Peter, I love Peter I see a lot of myself and Peter always the one to open his mouth first for the good of the bad. Peter's like that person that doesn't think about what he's about to say before he says it, he just wants to be surprised like everybody else around him by what's about to come out of his mouth. But in this instance

We start to see peace here

Peter actually gives the good answer it's an answer that we can all look at in our times when there is no peace around us. Peter says where are we going to go? You're the one with the eternal life if I turn away from you what have I got to go back to? I may not fully understand the situation that we're in but I know you're the one that gives eternal life you're the one that's sovereign over everything you're the one with the truth. So I may not fully understand what's going on right now I may not understand the turmoil that we're in I may not understand that all these people are walking away but I know that you have the answers and I'm going to trust you and I'm going to follow you anyway even though I don't know the whole plan.

Why there is no peace in our life

All that, but really you don't need my help to point out the holidays bring with it a lack of peace within a family. I mean for some of us it looks like our family get togethers we're trying to stay biblical, because the family tree starts to look more like a Bush and due to the turmoil that Bush is on fire. But why is that, why does it seem like cousin Bobby comes walking through the door and when you ask “hey what'd you bring for the holidays” he says “beef” and starts verbally swinging on people.

John 3:19–20 “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.”

Movies in the middle of the afternoon.

What's the easiest way I can give you an example of this? Have you ever been to the movies in the middle of the afternoon sat through almost a 2 hour long movie you get done you walk out that exit door of the movie theater and it's about 2:00 in the afternoon you get blasted with that sunlight in your eyes just can't handle it what do you wanna do? Turn around and go right back into the building because that's uncomfortable, it doesn't feel good to go from the dark immediately bang into the light there's no progression of it it's just an immediate blast. This is the closest analogy that I can give to you. And what is this light that we're talking about? This is Jesus he is the light.

How do we know this?

Well John 8:12 “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””

Jesus is the Light of the world shining through us

So Jesus is telling us that he is the light of the world. And also telling us that if we follow him that we will walk in darkness but we will walk in the light of life. And then looking back up and John 3 we see that everyone who does wicked things and walks in the darkness hates the light. So is it any wonder why those that do not like Jesus, or choose not to follow him hate us and caused turmoil around us?

We are Christians and they hate us

Now it's easy to say well they're not a Christian and that's why they hate me. It's easy to point the finger at everybody else and say that's why and because they're not truly walking in Jesus. I am sure we have all experienced this. I know I did. At my old job when I started talking about Jesus an walking in the light, they started saying things about me being a hypocrite now, a better than though.

Sometimes its us

Sometimes this is true. But like I said before sometimes we're walking in turmoil that other people are causing, but sometimes we are walking in turmoil that we ourselves caused and refused to admit.

Luke 6:43–45 ““For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

Jesus’ own words

Now keep in mind that this is Jesus talking I want you to fully understand that. These are Jesus's own words not mine. In Matthew he even says that we will be held accountable for what words we state.

Now what fruits could he possibly be talking about?

We find those in

Galatians 5:22–25 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”

Conviction

uh ohh, here comes the part that none of us like, the part of conviction. Now keep in mind I'm not just preaching this at you this is convicting me as well. So much so that just a couple of weeks ago I had to pull a family member of my own off to the side and I had to apologize and seek forgiveness. Because how could I hold a grudge, and how could I be self-righteous, and how could I be proud, when just like what I'm reading to you those are not the fruit of the spirit that we are supposed to yield.

Reflection

You see just like we were talking about reflection this morning during communion we are too constantly the self reflecting and looking at the actions that we take with not only the outside world but also our own interactions within this community that we call a congregation and evaluating how every action we take aligns with the fruits of the spirit. And far too often it's easy to justify our actions by saying but they didn't and then we get into the spirit of comparison and justification. You see we're able to justify our actions based on how we think we look compared to somebody else. But we are never called by God to compare ourselves to each other but instead hold up the mirror of his word and compare ourselves there.

What are we supposed to do about it?

OK so we already know there isn't any peace in this time we see the struggles that we're going through we see the stuff that is happening in our families, around our families, in our hearts, in our minds, we see it but now we need to understand what to do about it. If you will turn with me to Matthew chapter 10:5-15

Matthew Chapter 9 verses 5 through 15 16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. [1]

Good shepherd?

now we say wait a minute, I thought Jesus was supposed to be the Good Shepherd this to me seems like a shepherd sending his sheep amongst the wolves so that they can be eaten and devoured and just beat up that seems like bad shepherding.

Can’t be a Consumer Christian

Now if we're hearing this and all we can think about is life isn't gonna go the way we want it to go because we see that even for the disciples it's not gonna go well for them then the real question that we have to ask here is are we doing this because we are consumer Christians? Are we trying to follow Christ for what we can get out of it? Are we trying to look to God and say look at what I've done for you now grant my wishes? Are we treating the savior of the world like Jeannie Jesus? Do we acknowledge what truly giving our lives up to him is about? Do we truly treat him as our king or simply as our parent that's supposed to give us what we want?

What kind of shepherd do we want?

So not only is life not going to go our way but our shepherd may send us out amongst the wolves. Why would I want a shepherd that would send me out like that. Lets jump down to verse 26 through 33

Matthew 10:26–33 ““So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”

What is going on?

So what are we saying? Now I'll give you a little hint here when Jesus says something multiple times it's kind of starting to emphasize for you what you're supposed to be paying attention to. You see not only is he telling you that God the father is the almighty creator of everything, knows everything, is everywhere, but he is also telling you that he is your dad. He knows every hair on your head or in cases like mine that aren't there. Ladies he knows every hair on your head what color it used to be what color it's gonna be.

Look at it this way, if you've ever had a child that was afraid of the dark man get them to go anywhere by themselves in the dark especially to take the trash out is the chore. It becomes a pep talk you reassuring them that they can do it they can do it on their own it's OK there's nothing out there that will hurt them. But ultimately they want you to walk out there with them not because they don't believe you but because they know who their parent is and they know what their parent is capable of and they know that their parent will never allow them to be hurt.

What are you afraid of?

Are you looking at your heavenly father knowing that he has you and everything within your life? That's not saying that troubles not gonna come Jesus himself is saying don't fear the person that can kill the body what's the worst that can happen they're going to kill you? Well yeah that's kind of what I'm afraid of. Why? Are you more worried about this life or the next. Are you a consumer Christian and following Jesus for what you can get out of it, or are you following Jesus for the life that he will provide for you after this one? Are you following Jesus for the glory that you can bring to him? Are you more worried about comfort in the here and now or are you more worried about worshipping and serving the sovereign king?

Paul says in

Philippians 1:18–24 “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.”

OK so Jesus is with me everywhere I go, I'm not to fear man because all they can do is end my life but instead I'm supposed to have a healthy fear of the Lord who can not only end my life but send me to hell. That so long as I'm following Jesus not only is that creator God over everything and every circumstance but he's also my dad who loves me and takes care of me.

Are we starting to see peace?

So is anyone in beginning to see how this brings peace? That when you start to look at life in a way that this is the worst it's ever going to be, it just gets better from here. Then how can we not have peace in that? That when we spread the good news of Jesus to our family members and they become children of God as well, then we have the hope of seeing them even after they're gone. That when we are praying for loved ones that they be healed in accordance with God's plan, it may not be the way we want to but we have the hope and the knowledge that we will one day see them again. It is through the actions of exemplifying the fruits of the spirit that Jesus begins to bring peace through us in the spreading of the gospel to our families and those around us.

Where are we supposed to see the peace?

What a lot of people don't understand is that our actions in the face of turmoil and strife, in the situations where there is no peace actually points others either to Christ or away from him.

It is all in Gods control, not even a bird falls out of the sky without His OK.

Application

So how do we as living vine Christian fellowship put this into practice? Cool story nick, what what's this got to do with me? How do I help spread peace during this talk? Well we as a church spread peace through our actions.

Church kindness through service

We exemplify things like kindness goodness and faithfulness through our adoptions of families within our community to assist them during their hard times.

Personal through humility

OK so how do we as individuals exemplify these aspects of peace within our families and our friends and our congregation? We exemplify love joy peace patience and kindness through our interactions with each other. That if we have a disagreement within our family both church family and physical family that we follow Jesus's words and count others above ourself that we do away with our pride and that we come to each other in humility and forgiveness. That we acknowledge we can't control other people's actions, But only our own. And in this time we choose to follow the instructions of Jesus, be children of the light, and allow him to shine through us.

Benediction

Philippians 2:3–8 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”