The Real Jesus - Prince of Peace

The Kingdom of Heaven is Like Disney World

Have you ever been to Disney World? I have not, but I did stay just outside the park one time and it was pretty cool. There are all sorts of restaurants and attractions outside. The closer you get to the park the cooler things get and this makes sense. The closer you get the more the park has an affect on things around it. There was this place where you can go outside the park and there are tons of amazing restaurants and shops. It is really cool. At the hotel I was staying at you could sort of see the fireworks at night. It was nice but it was not Disney World, it was just close. You can get close to the park and have some fun. You can get close to the park and see some things.

It is the same with Jesus and what He offers. You can come to church and get some. You can get a taste of peace, joy, community, and life. The closer you get you get more, but you do not get the whole thing without getting Jesus.

To receive the Peace of God you must receive it from the Prince of Peace.

Now please understand, every metaphor breaks down. But we can understand there is a difference between being outside Disney World and inside Disney World. If you want to go to Disney World you need to actually go in the park not just outside.

Jesus is THE Prince of Peace. Not a prince of peace, not the prince of a type of peace. Not one among many princes of peace but the Prince of Peace. To get His peace you have to get in Him and let Him in you.

It is His.

Jesus as ultimate Sovereign rules Peace and allows access to it. He is over it completely. So if you want peace you get it through Him.

Isaiah 9:6–7 CSB

For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.

The Real Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He is the one over it and the protector of it.

So if we want true, unending, everlasting, perfect peace we can only get it through Jesus.

The peace we all want can only be received the way God designed it to be received—through Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

Everything Else is Temporary

2 Peter 3:7 CSB

By the same word, the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

1 John 2:17 CSB

And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.

1 Corinthians 7:31 CSB

and those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it. For this world in its current form is passing away.

Isaiah 40:8 CSB

The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever.”

Everything on this side of eternity passes away. We understand that our bodies will eventually give way to corruption.

1 Corinthians 15:42 CSB

So it is with the resurrection of the dead: Sown in corruption, raised in incorruption;

Our bodies will pass away and what we will be will be something new.

Money fades, time fades, everything fades away, except the Kingdom of God which is ruled by the Prince of Peace.

This is why nothing else truly satisfies. Everything except the Kingdom of God is subject to entropy. So if we want true, everlasting, real peace, the kind of peace that gets deep into our souls, the type of peace that is able to withstand the hardest storms, the type of peace that can weather hardship and distress we must receive it from the Prince of Peace.

There are no substitutes.

Depending on your personality I have two definitions for biblical peace:

Biblical Peace is internal security and wholeness despite external situations which is rooted in our identity in Christ.

Biblical peace is knowing its okay because Jesus is in control.

As long as we understand that peace is not dependent on external things or found outside of our relationship to Christ we are good.

When we receive Christ we receive this peace. We receive it because we receive Him. You do not get one without the other. To have me as friend is to have my faults and failures too. If you want to be my friend that means you also have to put up with the annoying things about me too.

Jesus does not have faults, failures, or annoying things. He is perfect and brings perfect gifts. To have Him is to have HIS peace. So moving forward the rest of everything we say will be grounded in this idea that the peace we are talking about it the Jesus Peace.

Peace is an Anchor

Peace is easy when everyone else is in asleep.

When everyone else is in bed, the house is quiet, the dogs are snoozing in their crates, the lights are low, and the bills are paid, peace is easy. But at some point everyone is going to get up. Peace is not dependent on external situations.

When we are trusting Christ and finding our identity in Him as our source peace, it is firm and solid and we can always return to peace.

This means when we lose our cool we can come back to peace.

How about an example,

I was steaming the kitchen floor the other day. I had no idea how dirty the floor was until I started steaming it. The puppy is still be house trained, the kids drop all sorts of things on the floor, people walk on it, and it is just nasty. It thought because I mop it was clean. Nope.

Anyway there I was steaming the floor when splash, the dog bowl spilt all over the counter. Water went everywhere and it was annoying. I rushed over to clean it up and noticed the water was in the printer, under the printer, dripping down and soaking everything. I went from annoyed to chucking the printer across the room. Not my finest moment. The kids all got real quiet and I felt like a dope. I lost my cool. I let something small and unimportant get the better of me.

Does this mean I lost the peace of God? Does this mean I am out of the kingdom? No, it means I needed stop and recompose myself. I cleaned everything up, fixed the printer, and apologized for loosing my cool.

Our peace cannot be in our ability to control ourselves, our ability to keep it all together, or our ability to be cool under pressure because if it is then when we slip, clap back, or fail we have not just had a moment of frustration we have lost our peace.

I am a big believer in willpower, in self-denial, and these types of things, but they are not and I am not the source of my peace.

The peace of God is an anchor. Yes sometimes we drift a bit but it pulls us back to where we belong. Life gets to us sometimes but it cannot overtake us when we are rooted in Christ.

John 16:33 CSB

I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

In this world we have suffering, struggles, trials, temptations, and failures. In Christ we have an anchor that won’t let go. No matter what happens we can return to His peace. Sometimes there are consequences here but the peace of God is always there for us to return to.

Peace is present in Sorrow

We said before that everything passes away on this side of eternity. That means we have sorrow here. Peace does not mean we ignore the truth of pain.

I think it is absolutely amazing that God put this in the Bible like He did.

Ecclesiastes 3:4 CSB

a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance;

There is a time for weeping and laughter, mourning and dancing. Sadness exists. Sorrow is real. When we lose a loved one who was a follower of Christ we can both weep that they are gone and rejoice they are with the Lord.

This past week on Christmas Eve our family lost a dear dear friend. She was an amazing woman who just suddenly passed. She was young and full of life. We weep for her family but we also rejoice because she now stands before Jesus.

Peace in sorrow.

In this world we have sorrow. To pretend we don’t only stifles your own emotional growth. Some people are so emotionally stunted because they refuse to experience the emotions God gave them.

At some point there was a lie introduced into the church that emotions were bad and sorrow was to be avoided.

We need to be honest about our wounds and our weaknesses in order to experience the fullness of God’s grace. - Timothy Keller

Men, emotions are not weakness. They are an essential part of God’s design. You were created with emotions so that you can experience the fullness of life and relationship with God and those around you.

For all of us, to ignore emotions like sorrow and cover it with platitudes is to lose the ability to have peace in the midst of sorrow.

We are to embrace His peace as we experience sorrow.

There is nothing wrong crying when it is deserved. Here on this side of eternity there is a time for weeping. Weeping also reminds us that,

Revelation 21:4–5 CSB

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away. Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”

We do not let our emotions rule us but we do not ignore them either. They are a gift from God that allow us to experience Him and His peace in profound ways.

Peace is found in a Person

We circle back to this idea, peace is found in Christ. To receive Him is to receive His peace. But that means we must experience the person of Jesus Christ to receive His peace.

We must spend time with Him. How do we do this, we read the Bible, we pray, we worship, we use the gifts He gave us. I think you understand as a Pastor I am real big on those first three but the last is important as well. This makes sense because we would spend time with any friend.

John 15:15 CSB

I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father.

I think we understand Bible reading, prayer, and worship, so I want to focus on using the gifts and desires He gave us as we close.

There are spiritual gifts and then there are the gifts God gives us that make us unique.

My wife loves to crochet. When she takes the time to sit and crochet she feels peace, clarity, and a closeness to Jesus.

When we do the things God created us to do with Him we find a closeness to Christ that is unexplainable and unshakeable.

God created you with specific talents, gifts, and ideas. When we spend time with Him doing those things we find intimacy with Him that grows our ability to tap into and rest in His peace.

I enjoy having a project that I can work on with my hands. I like building and working on things even when it is frustrating. My wife will sometimes ask, if it is frustrating you why do it? Well because the frustration is part of the process and activity. When I do things with my hands and have a project I find rest and an ability to get clarity on things that I am stumped on. I find my closeness to the peace of God is tangible.

I did this the other day and as I was working on something I said something and felt like God was saying, “now apply that to everything.” This simple task and simple statement opened my eyes to something greater.

And I have been riding a peace wave since then. Even bring sick for a few days has not diminished the peace wave.

Faith in Action

The peace of Jesus is meant to be experienced, not just discussed.

Back to Disney World. If you drove all the way to Florida and then hung out outside the park it would be nice but not the fulness of what you were there for. Yes there is fun stuff to see and do outside the park but it pails in comparison to what is inside.

The peace of Jesus is available as we go through trials, temptations, failure, etc. But this means we have to be honest about the thing we are going through. Jesus, The Real Jesus, is the Prince of Peace. We must be honest about our lives and spend time with Him to enjoy the peace He gives us.

Just coming to church is not going to do it, you must get in Him and let Him in you.