God Comes to Us as Peace

How does God come to Us?

Advent refers to the four Sundays preceeding Christmas.

The word advent means “to come” or “to arrive.”

Advent can refer to Jesus’ birth or to His second coming.

Advent is a season of anticipation and preparation.

We would not know God if God had not revealed Himself to us.

Most religions are concerned with understanding divinity or attaining to a superior state.

Christianity is the only religion where God comes to us.

God comes to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

God is a person, not an idea.

God does not come as we expect Him. He comes as He is and we may well miss Him if we are not looking.

This series looks at different parts of the Christmas story and asks, “How does God come to us?”

As we look at the story from different angles, we see different facets of God’s character.

We can say, “Immanuel - God is with us,” when each of these begins to manifest in us!

Mary and Joseph: two case studies in finding peace

Our advent figures this week are two people, the so-called parents of Jesus, although their relationship status truly fits the category of “it’s complicated.”

They both found peace in overwhelming circumstances and that peace was more than just a feeling.

For Mary it involved acceptance and yielding to God.

For Joseph it meant making a difficult decision, but one that God would help him to make.

Mary: peace through acceptance

Mary is a young woman in her teens who has never married. She has some Jewish nobility in her family background, but that is not to her advantage since her people are subject to Roman rule. She lives near Nazareth, a working class town where most are tradesmen working on the nearby colonization of Tiberius on the shores of Galilee. She has been pledged to marry Joseph, the carpenter, who will be employed for the next twenty years in the construction of the Roman City.

Six months after hearing that her cousin, Elizabeth, was pregnant following an angelic visitation to her husband who serves as a priest in the Temple in Jerusalem, Mary also receives an angelic visitation. Mary is neither accustomed to angelic visitation nor to favorable greetings. She is a woman in a paternalistic society where her place is to perform household chores and her worth is in bearing children.

On that note, she is promised to bear a son, which is the best news any woman can receive because it means that she will be valued by her husband since she has enabled his family heritage to continue. But the news is premature, because he has not yet sent for her to become his wife in the real sense.

The description that followed would have been similar to the little bit that Mary might have known of what would take place on her wedding night, except that it is God Himself that would extend His covering over her and the Holy Spirit would come into her belly, not in the ordinary way but in a supernatural way. The child would be God’s Son.

Now Mary surely had questions, but as a woman she was not expected to have answers. Her cousin Elisabeth was similarly on a Divine assignment, that would have been a comfort to her, not to feel like she was the only one. A common person should never be singled out, much less a woman.

Most of her decisions were made for her by her family and by her husband. However, God’s authority superseded that of her family, her husband or any authority that she could think of. She saw herself first and foremost as belonging to God and she accepted His proposal.

Joseph: peace as a decision

Let’s read what the Bible says about Joseph:

Matthew 1:18–25 ESV

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

As a man in those days, Joseph’s life would have been about what he could produce. He could take raw materials and skillfully turn them into functional structures. He would have lived in a man’s world, and other than his mother and his relatives, he probably didn’t interact much with women. He might have chosen Mary, because he liked what he had heard about her or what he could see from a distance, or she might have been chosen for him.

He wasn’t supposed to know her personally until after they were married. And even then, marriage was not so much about love and relationship as it was about finding your place in the larger community. It was about raising a family and passing on the traditions of the elders. God would someday save his people, but day to day life was about survival, keeping hope alive and passing the knowledge of God to the next generation.

Joseph obviously cared more than most men would. The normal response to Mary becoming pregnant before he had come for her to take her to his home would have been to create a public outcry, which should serve to convince everyone that he is shocked at her condition and certainly not responsible for it. Mary could be stoned according to the law, Joseph would want to avoid being presumed guilty. But Joseph was better that that and considered what that would mean for Mary, not just for his own reputation. He showed that he was innocent in that he resolved to do the right thing as discreetly as possible. And for that reason, the scripture calls him “righteous.”

Joseph could not marry her, that was out of the question. The normal order of things had been violated. It was not about one person’s best interest, it was about the Jewish survival as a people. Women were often raped by occupying forces as a strategy because questionable parentage disrupted homes, families and communities. It produced outcasts, fatherless children, who would spend their lives causing trouble and ensure that another generation would continue to live as victims of tyranny, if not of the government, of themselves.

Women were often raped by occupying forces as a strategy because questionable parentage disrupted homes, families and communities. It produced outcasts, fatherless children, who would spend their lives causing trouble and ensure that another generation would continue to live as victims of tyranny, if not of the government, of themselves.

If the truth was to be known about what had really happened to Mary it would have to come by revelation. She could not tell him and he had no reason to believe her. The truth came in a dream. It was delivered by an angelic messenger. It collaborated Mary’s story and it was attested to by the Prophets. Joseph could make a decision on the basis of two, even three witnesses.

Joseph chose to obey God. A man’s life is not only about producing, as a husband and a father it is about making decisions. It is about making decisions that will either put food on the table or not. It is about positioning your family where there are the best possible resources for your family's’ survival and success. It is about deciding what will lead to peace, health and prosperity for generations to come.

Joseph decided that God knows best. He not only took Mary as his wife, he took Jesus and raised him as his son. He provided a stable home environment (no pun intended) for Jesus, Mary and the other children that he and Mary would eventually have together. By the time Jesus begins his ministry, Joseph would have passed from the scene, but as a man he has been successful because he is outlived by what he has helped to produce.

God came to Mary and to Joseph and they found peace

God comes to us as peace

God disrupted Mary, a virgin who was looking forward to being married with a proposal to bring His Son into the world.

God disrupted Joseph, a carpenter with decent job and promising future with a tragic scandal. But he also gave him Divine confirmation.

We don’t get the sense that Joseph or Mary continues to be trouble by their disruptions.

We get the sense of peace, that they were settled with their decisions and that peace was from God.

God comes to us as peace.

What is peace?

Some would say that peace is the absence of conflict.

“Peace. The Meaning of Peace. In English, the word “peace” conjures up a passive picture, one showing an absence of civil disturbance or hostilities, or a personality free from internal and external strife.”

God disrupted history to bring peace.

God disrupted Mary, a virgin who was looking forward to being married with a proposal to bring His Son into the world.

God disrupted Joseph, a carpenter with decent job and promising future with a tragic scandal. But He also gave him Divine confirmation as to what he should do.

We don’t get the sense that Joseph or Mary continue to be trouble by their disruptions.

We get the sense of peace, that they were settled with their decisions and that peace was from God.

The definition continues:

“The biblical concept of peace is larger than that and rests heavily on the Hebrew "Shalom”, which means “to be complete” or “to be sound.” The verb conveys both a dynamic and a static meaning—“to be complete or whole” or “to live well.””

Schaefer, G. E. (1996). Peace. In Evangelical dictionary of biblical theology (electronic ed., p. 597). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

Remember last week we said that hope is knowing that God who created everything good at the beginning will eventually restore all things in the end.

Schaefer, G. E. (1996). Peace. In Evangelical dictionary of biblical theology (electronic ed., p. 597). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

Hope is confidence in the goodness of God.

Peace is experiencing the goodness of God.

Whenever or wherever God enables us to experience the life that He created us to live as He designed it to be, we have peace.

Peace with God

Romans 5:1 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Peace is knowing that our sin is forgiven.

Peace is knowing that our sin is forgiven.

Our sin- our determination to do things independent of God- is what separated us from God at the fall.

Notice I didn’t say “sins” because sins are what we do, but that is not the real problem, the real problem is that it is in our very nature to do it.

Jesus death was not only payment for our sins, but became the basis for a complete transformation of our nature.

Peace is not just knowing that if I sin I can be forgiven.

Peace removes all guilt because that is not who I am in Christ!

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Peace is a restored relationship with God.

Peace is a restored relationship with God.

These verses are known as the Aaronic blessing. It is the blessing that the priests were to speak over the people when they come to offer their sacrifices.

It is a statement of absolution, not just the forgiveness of sin, but the restoration of relationship.

Its like when you have an argument. You know that relationship is restored when you can look at each other again.

Your sin has been forgiven, now look in God’s face because He’s looking at you!

Peace within ourselves

Isaiah 26:3 ESV

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Put God in control of your thoughts.

If peace is wholeness and completeness, then the reason we don’t have peace is because we are divided.

Where are we divided? Flesh and Spirit.

But the battleground of soul and spirit is in our minds.

In our minds we battle to trust God.

For things that are beyond our control, peace is coming to a place of acceptance like Mary.

We yield to God’s authority even where it conflicts with other authorities in our life.

For things that are in our control, peace is coming to a firm decision like Joseph.

We need a word from God based on reliable evidence.

2 Thessalonians 3:16 ESV

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.

Practice the presence of Jesus Christ.

Mary and Joseph both had angelic visitations to help them find peace.

We have the continual presence of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus came to restore us to wholeness, will He not guide us in each situation to know what wholeness looks like?

We have a restored relationship to God and it is that very relationship and walking in the Spirit that makes us complete.

Whole and complete, walking in the Spirit is what brings peace.

Peace with our surroundings

Romans 12:14–18 ESV

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Becoming whole as a person enables you to live peaceably with others.

Look back at these verses. What kind a person does these things? A secure person does these things! A person who is whole in Christ.

A secure person does these things!

A secure person can bless because they have a source of joy within themselves.

A secure person can empathize, because they know their own heart, they can participate but not get caught up in another persons emotions.

They can appreciate the differences in others without feeling like they need to be like someone else or that others need to be like them. (harmony)

A whole person is not concerned about who’s above them or below them socially because they are accepted as they are.

They are not concerned with their self-image at all, because life is not about them.

A person who is complete in Christ has no need for revenge because injustice is paid for on the cross.

They are free to release the love and the forgiveness that has been shown to them in Christ.

A person who is whole and complete is at peace with God and themselves.

And for the most part they will be at peace with others.

But that is not always the case. Sometimes that peace will bring you into direct conflict with the kingdom of darkness.

You may be able to influence them with your light, or you may not.

The important thing is that you don’t let them take away your peace.

Isaiah 32:14–18 ESV

For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks; until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.

As we become complete and whole all of nature is restored.

isa 32:14-18

Romans 12:14–18 ESV

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Becoming whole as a person enables you to live peaceably with others.

When we become whole, even nature is at peace.

Isaiah 32:14–18 AMP

14 For the palace shall be forsaken, the populous city shall be deserted; the hill and the watchtower shall become dens [for wild animals] endlessly, a joy for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks, 15 Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is valued as a forest. 16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation) will abide in the fruitful field. 17 And the effect of righteousness will be peace [internal and external], and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever. 18 My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting-places.

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

The point of this prophetic picture is that when mankind is living selfishly apart from God the whole earth suffers.

isa 2

Isaiah 26:3 ESV

3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Not just the people are suffering but the land and the natural resources are all misused.

2 thes

2 Thessalonians 3:16 ESV

16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.

Romans 5:1 ESV

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Note that the solution comes when the Holy Spirit is poured out.

True revival in the church leads to wholistic transformation in the world.

Peace is not passive, it is not complacent.

Peace is described as rest, not inactivity, but life as it should be.

Peace may be disruptive at times, because corrections need to be made.

But peace brings us back to relationship with God.

It brings us back to God’s original design.

Peace is ultimately trusting God.

Reflection:

As we light the second candle of advent, think about God who is our peace.

He never promised that there wouldn’t be conflict, but He has promised to guide us. Hear His voice speaking to you today.

Our minds can be filled with many thoughts that pull us in many directions, but only one thought is important. It the thought that turns our hearts toward Him.

His face is shinning upon you right now. Look at Him and be at peace.

Even if you don’t see Him, He’s still there and you can have hope.