Reclaim Peace (3)

I - Foster’s eating habits

Foster is getting closer to the age when I cant talk about him up here anymore, but I think i still maybe have another year...

It has been a busy week at our house. And

Y - We long for peace, and we find it in destructive ways (2 ways mainly (Power/Violence, Disengagement/Denial/Surrender) (we think of peace as an absense of conflict)

Home, w/ extended family, friends, church, school, work, Internally

but also community, state, nation, and world“When you look at the history of our lives + the history of the world, it seems we are willing to hurt a lot of people to (shed a lot of blood) keep the peace.”

Is this the kind of peace we look for in Christmas? Or is there something better, and how do we reclaim it?

G -

T - As Christians we believe that that longing for peace, that deep desire for peace (that we cant seem to achieve) in our minds, relationships, families, workplaces, schools, and world isn't an accident. That it actually coincides with some kind of reality.

One of the fundamental understandings of the Christian worldview as that things aren't how they should be. When it comes to peace we have a desire for a PEACE that we cant quite grab hold of.

And that desire though it is good, is often lived out in destructive ways, Right? we try and find peace in all of those hurtful ways, and the result isnt really peace no matter what we try, its usually just more pain, division, and brokenness.

We get something like peace, but at a great cost. Foster eats his dinner, but he does it on the couch watching TV.

Shalom

So if this thing we call peace, the ceasing of conflict through power or disengagement is not really peace, what is it?

Well the Old Testament talks about peace using the Hebrew word shalom.

(SLIDE)

Shaloam is

When we think of the english word peace we think of it as the absense of something. Peace is a time when we are not fighting, not at war, not engaged in a conflict.

Shalom on the other hand is bigger than that. It’s more. More like everything coming together and working in harmony. Like when you place the last plank in a bride, that bridge is Shalom (complete) whole.

or when you replace that spark plug that is going bad in your car and all of a sudden it just runs great. Your car is Shalom.

or when you fix that broken bulb on a string of Christmas lights and it works. Shalom complete, whole, perfect.

Not two family members who cant get along agreeing to not talk to each other, but them coming together in celebration of their differences.

Not just the end of a war between nations, but the forming of a strategic alliance.

Peace, Shalom

It means, completion, harmony, equity, resolution, engagement, restoration, and ultimately healing.

You can be at peace when you learn to deal with your anxiety and worries in productive ways.

That’s why Jewish people greet each other by saying Shalom and why we sometimes say peace be with you.

its a blessing, a prayer really that things will function, work out, and exist in harmony between us and in your life as well.

So much more than our concept of peace.

Genesis

At the beginning of the bible there is a description of a place of Peace. In Genesis chapter 1 God creates everything and orders it just so. All creation exists in harmony and peace. And in “God saw all that he had made and it was very good.”

Our world began as a place marked by TRUE peace, everything in its place working together in perfect freedom and harmony.

But of course in that freedom as human beings often do, human beings. Chose to break that peace. They chose to define for themselves what is Good and what is bad and like human beings mostly do they decided to try and create a world that benefits them as the expence of everyone and every thing else.

The SHALOM of the world was shattered in three ways.

We lost Shalom in our relationship with

God

God’s Creation

One another

We dont need to dwell here because it is obvious

every time your phone rings to tell you someone you love is sick.

when you turn on the tv to images of starving people, bombings, and political disfunction.

when you snap at your coworker for saying the wrong thing.

or when you dread going to christmas dinner because that uncle you cant stand is going to be there.

Ever Since

So ever since human beings have been trying to make there own peace on earth in the ways we already talked about.

Through Power/Violence OR Surrender/Retreat/Distance

But throughout history we belive God has been at work trying to RECLAIM for us that true Shalom

The Bible is full of the promise that God will reclaim shalom for his world.

is a great example

The New International Version Chapter 9

6 For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the greatness of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the LORD Almighty

will accomplish this.

FF to the 1st Century AD

At this time a man named Ceaser Augustus was on the Throne of rome. Augustus used violence to create what many at the time called world peace. By conquering and plundering those outside the empire and using taxes and the threat of violence inside the empire to keep that peace.

and it is in his empire.

in a small town

in the middle of nowhere that a young woman meets an angel.

Mary lives during a time like ours, where people use power/violence/and money to create a peace

Luke 1:30-33

The New International Version Chapter 1

30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

This should sound familiar, because its a lot like Isaiah. Almost the same words. He says Mary, you will bear the Prince of Shalom

When Mary receives this message she speaks a prophesy of her own.

Its all about True shalom, true Peace.

Not simply an ending of conflict but a setting right of the world. A building of brideges a raising up of those abused and a lowering of those who abuse.

Its all about what Shaloam looks like to a poor young jewish woman from the sticks.

The New International Version Chapter 1

46 And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord

47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

48 for he has been mindful

of the humble state of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed,

49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—

holy is his name.

50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,

from generation to generation.

51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;

he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones

but has lifted up the humble.

53 He has filled the hungry with good things

but has sent the rich away empty.

54 He has helped his servant Israel,

remembering to be merciful

55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,

just as he promised our ancestors.”

Her son Jesus will achieve this. But not in the ways we do. He will bring true Shalom to those three areas of broken relationships.

Paul talks about it in the book of Colossians 1:19-23

The New International Version Chapter 1

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

This is what Paul is saying, This is what the world hoped for since genesis.

That where we make Peace by shedding the blood of our enemies.

Through power, violence, money

or make peace by walking away and ending relationships

Jesus made peace by Shedding his blood on the cross.

In his death and Resurrection we can be transformed into people who can experience and spread true Shalom

Jesus died to put us all on the same team. To create peace across those three relationships shattered in

Through his blood,

that gap between us and God who was our enemy was bridged with Shaloam

and out of that it is possible for that same sacrifice to start bringing SHaloam to all our other relationships.

Because even our enemies through the blood of Jesus can be reconciled.

So taht the gap between us and creation can be bridged with Shaloam

That gap between us and other people can be bridged with Shaloam.

Y-

My friends by the blood of Jesus we can be reconciled with God and others. So lets live like it.

This christmas practice PEACE

Who are my enemies

Do I live my life like the people I meet and those I don't are not my enemies?

Your family member

Your co-worker

That person you just cant stand

What would it look like to pracitce peace with them, to sacrifice for them, to find restored relationship with them. What would you have to lay down?

Y -

T- So what do we do?Accept his offer.receive LIFE from deathlet go of your debt and admit graceno longer live as subject to deathAnd follow in his footsteps.Let God make peace in your relationships. Endure the pain of apologizing when you need to.Reach out in reconciling when you can.People are not your enemiesForgive those in your debtLay down your life for others in the way you live. Who are my enemiesDo I live my life like the people I meet and those I don't are not my enemies? Your family memberYour co-workerThat person you just cant stand What would it look like to pracitce peace with them, to sacrifice for them, to find restored relationship with them. What would you have to lay down?

W - We have been reconciled by his blood

W -

what if we lived like it?

what if we really believed death was beaten?

What if we really believed that peace was possible in our relationships?

What if it really is possible to reconcile?

May we receive his PEACE this Christmas season, and be people sharing that PEACE everywhere we go.Lets pray

:12-16

The New International Version Chapter 3

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

lets pray,