3: Peace on Earth
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Merry Christmas! Welcome guests to the family gathering, introduce yourself. Thank the band. Invite guests to parlor after service.
We are in the process of collecting our annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions during December and January. Our goal as a church is $26,000, and as of last Sunday, we have received $8,340. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is vital for the support of our SBC missionaries serving overseas. Prayerfully ask how God would have you give to this offering this year. We will see more about the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering at the end of the service.
We will hold a special called business meeting tonight at 5:30 here in the Sanctuary for the purpose of voting to repair the roof on the north end of the building, and to authorize the use of funds from our Building Reserve account to pay for it. We will need to have at least 50 members here to vote, so please plan to be here tonight.
First, we will have a special called business meeting next Sunday night, December 15, for the purpose of voting to repair the roof on the north end of the building, and to authorize the use of funds from our Building Reserve account to pay for it. We will need to have at least 50 members here to vote, so please plan to be here for that next Sunday night at 5:30.
Then, on Sunday morning, December 22, we will have our annual Christmas musical program during our Family Worship service at 10:30. It’s going to be a great time of worship, and I hope you’ll plan to be here for that as well.
On Christmas Eve, December 24, at 6 pm, we will have one of my favorite services of the year, our Christmas Eve Candlelight service. It will be a short time for our church family and others to come together to worship Jesus as we remember His birth together.
And finally, we will close the year out by celebrating the Lord’s Supper together during our Family Worship service on Sunday morning, December 29. I’m looking forward to that time of worship together as well.
Opening
Opening
Let’s open our study time this morning by standing in honor of God’s Word as we read our focal passage from ’m going to start in verse 8 again, but our focus today will be on verses 13 and 14.
luke 2:8-14
8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: 14 Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!
PRAY
Last week, we considered the second message in our Christmas series this year, “Hope is Born,” which will culminate in the messages both next Sunday morning and then a final message at our Christmas Eve service. “Joy to the World” was last week’s theme, and we looked at the fact that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news of great joy for all people. This week, we will look at what the multitude of the heavenly host said together with the angel in praise to God in verse 14, which is the verse we will key in on today:
14 Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!
Opening thoughts
This verse has really two parts, and we’ll focus on the second part today. But the first part is definitely worth considering. This multitude of the hosts of heaven suddenly appear with the angel who has just declared to the shepherds that the Messiah, the Son of God, has been born in Bethlehem. And they break out in praise: “Glory to God in the highest heaven!” The advent: the arrival of Jesus Christ on the scene of history, was a moment of celebration and worship on earth and in heaven because of what God was doing. Do we see it that same way? Do we see Jesus’ birth as a time of celebration and worship of God?
But then they declare: “and peace on earth to people he favors!” There are several questions for us to consider as we reflect upon this promise from the heavenly host. The first is:
1: What is peace?
1: What is peace?
Everyone close your eyes for just a moment. When I say the word “peace,” what comes to mind? Open your eyes. What comes to mind when I say “peace?” Get a couple of responses.
When I say the word “peace,” you know what I usually don’t think of? Christmastime. Because of the ways in which we often celebrate Christmas, sometimes Christmas is one of the craziest times of the year. We have parties to go to, gatherings to plan, gifts to get, decorations to hang, movies to watch, carols to sing, cookies to bake, pictures to take, houses to clean, cards to write, programs to attend, family to visit, and friends to call. Whew! I’m tired just saying that list! Let’s admit it: Christmas is a hectic time for many of us. It doesn’t really scream “PEACE”, does it?
In the English language, peace (like many words) can mean several things, can’t it? It can mean sort of an inner tranquility for someone who has a lot on their mind. Peace can mean calmness or stillness for someone whose life is harried and busy. Peace can mean the stopping of battle or fighting for someone in a conflict or a war. For parents, especially with young ones, peace can just mean a moment of quiet in contrast to the volume of life.
Man’s ideas of peace, esp. lack of conflict with each other.
But is this what the heavenly host were talking about when they declared that the coming of Christ would bring “peace on earth?” Not exactly.
The biblical idea of peace is broader than a state of mind or merely an absence of hostility between people. In the OT, the Hebrew idea of peace was captured in the word shalom. Shalom is more than what we might think of as peace. Shalom includes the ideas of wholeness, well-being, and (yes) an absence of hostility, but also in place of that hostility, friendship and care… not just a stopping of fighting. And here in Luke, in the declaration of the heavenly host, we have to keep in mind that they are specifically talking in messianic terms. They’re making a statement that goes with the birth of Jesus.
We looked at a little bit last week, but I wanted to remind us of verse 6. Isaiah prophesied that when the Messiah arrived, He would be called several things, but included in that was that He would be called “Prince of Peace.”
6 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.
Later on in Isaiah, the promised Messiah is spoken of as the “Servant of the Lord,” and it is through the ministry of this Servant that God’s people will be brought to a place of peace with God. One of my favorite “Servant” passages is found in Isaiah 53:
2 Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; one will come from you to be ruler over Israel for me. His origin is from antiquity, from ancient times. 3 Therefore, Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of the ruler’s brothers will return to the people of Israel. 4 He will stand and shepherd them in the strength of the Lord, in the majestic name of the Lord his God. They will live securely, for then his greatness will extend to the ends of the earth. 5 He will be their peace. When Assyria invades our land, when it marches against our fortresses, we will raise against it seven shepherds, even eight leaders of men.
4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds. 6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.
Jesus, the One whose birth the heavenly host is celebrating, would be the One who brings peace.
micah 5:2-
Jesus, the One whose birth the heavenly host is celebrating, would be the One who brings peace.
Jesus, the One whose birth the heavenly host is celebrating, would be the One who brings the possibility of peace—of being made whole and well, cleansed of rebellion and sin, and a healing of one’s relationship with God… not just a stopping of being enemies of God, but being called God’s friends. He does this by taking the place of those who are “astray like sheep, those who have turned to their own way,” bearing their sicknesses, carrying their pains, pierced for their rebellion, crushed for their iniquities, punished for the sins of them all. He brings the possibility of true peace with God in the biblical sense.
So, when the heavenly host declared “peace on earth,” they were referring to this idea of the Savior’s birth would usher in a way of having peace with God—peace that’s deeper than tranquil thinking, quietness, calm, or not fighting, but of wholeness, friendship, and care.
This brings us to our second question:
2: Who has peace?
2: Who has peace?
When the angels make their proclamation of the arrival of Jesus and the subsequent blessing of peace on earth, they say that a particular people on the earth would be those who have that peace.
14 Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!
Grammatically, the word for “favors” in the Greek, eudokias, goes with God. So peace on earth belongs to those people that God favors, or with whom He is pleased. Whereas the good news being proclaimed was of great joy for all people, the peace being proclaimed now belongs to a particular group of people: the people whom God favors.
“people He favors” Why these people?
“people He favors” Why these people?
Dare I say that for some of us in the room, this makes us a little uncomfortable? Why? Because we tend to read this as if it means that God just likes some people and they are the ones that He gives His peace to. But is that what the heavenly host are saying?
We tend to read this as that God likes some people and they are the ones that get His peace. But no, this is that peace is a byproduct of a right relationship with God. We are right through faith, and thus, we are no longer in conflict with God.
No, it isn’t. When we take the entirety of the scene to this point into consideration, we find that Jesus’ coming certainly was good news of great joy for all people, because through His coming and living and dying and rising and ascending and returning, in short the entire message of the Gospel, God has provided the possibility of a right relationship with Him through faith. When the heavenly host declare this blessing of “peace on earth to people He favors,” they are declaring that those who trust Christ for their salvation, those who receive His gift by faith, have this peace from God because that relationship has been made right again. Here’s how Paul explained it in :
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds expressed in your evil actions. 22 But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—
God Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, has done all the work necessary for our reconciliation to happen, all that needed to be done to make our entering into a relationship of peace with Him possible. Jesus was pierced for our transgressions and received our punishment, dying in our place on the cross, so that we could be at peace with Him through faith, trusting that God has done the work, and that we can’t save ourselves. Jesus is the only way. He died in my place so that I could be forgiven, and He defeated death and rose so that I could live forever with Him.
By faith in the Gospel, the work of Jesus Christ, we are brought to a state of peace with God through Him. We were rebels against Him, and now we are His children. We were estranged from Him, and now we are in fellowship with Him. We are at peace. Even in the difficulties of life, which I mentioned last week as well, we can trust that God is at work, that He loves us, and that He is with us because of what Jesus has done and our faith in Him.
1 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
1 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. 5 This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
romans 5:1-
So, those who have peace, the people who God favors, are those who belong to God through faith in Christ. It’s not that Christians don’t have struggles or trials. We do. But because of the peace that we have in Christ, we can know that God is with us in the trials, and that He loves us. In the last conversation recorded by John between Jesus and His disciples, Jesus said this:
27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.
1 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
John
Amen.
One last note on this point: Sadly, just because the message and possibility is available to all doesn’t mean that everyone believes it. In fact, Jesus said in something that we experience even now:
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds expressed in your evil actions. 22 But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—
Jesus wherein He was pierced for our transgressions and received our punishment, dying in our place on the cross,
Jesus wherein He was pierced for our transgressions and received our punishment, dying in our place on the cross,
But just because the message and possibility is available to all doesn’t mean that everyone believes it. In fact, Jesus said in something that we experience even now:
One last note on this point: Sadly, just because the message and possibility is available to all doesn’t mean that everyone believes it. In fact, Jesus said in something that we experience even now:
34 Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.
34 Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
Jesus is a divisive figure. Not everyone who hears of Jesus is made right with God. Not everyone who hears of Jesus is overwhelmed with a sense of peace and contentment. Not everyone who hears of Jesus is moved to worship and surrender. In fact, in many ways in our culture today, the name of Jesus brings anything but peace. But that’s exactly what Jesus said would happen.
So this brings us to our final question:
This doesn’t match man’s perspective, because Jesus said he came to bring a sword ().
27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.
33 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.”
1 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. 5 This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.
3: What about peace between people?
3: What about peace between people?
Many people say that they want world peace. This is an admirable desire. The modern Christmas song “Grown-Up Christmas List” captures this ideal well. The chorus goes like this:
No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
That everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
and love would never end
This is my grown-up Christmas list.
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds expressed in your evil actions. 22 But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—
It’s a great sentiment. The problem comes in the line “and right would always win.” In this world, there are wildly divergent ideas about what constitutes what is “right,” and in how we determine what “winning” actually looks like. This is because mankind is flawed, as we looked at briefly last week—we are at odds with God, and therefore, at odds with one another. God made us to be in relationship with Him and in relationship with each other, but when sin entered the picture through Adam, then the peace.. the shalom... in our relationship with God and our relationships with each other was ruined.
Sure, we see glimpses of it. Brothers and sisters, we in the church can be and should be a loving people, living at peace with everyone as far as it depends on us (). But we don’t have the market cornered: Those who don’t believe in Christ can be loving as well, and can seek to live at peace with others. But the catch is that we won’t ALL be loving, because we’re broken. Sure, we should strive to live in such a way that we are loving peacemakers, but I can’t even manage to always be a loving peacemaker in my own house with my wife and kids. We have a problem, and the problem is us.
It’s an o
So how do we solve this conundrum? We don’t. God already has solved it in Christ. Biblically, people will not be at complete peace with each other until they are at peace with God, and then through our being made right with God, God will by the work of His Spirit bring peace between His people. In , Paul wrote about the work of Christ in bringing peace between radically different people, the Jews and the Greeks (and thus, between all of humanity) in Christ:
That’s a great desire, but biblically, men will not be at complete peace with each other until they are at peace with God, and then through that unity, God will bring peace between men. Jesus does both.
11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Become mature, be encouraged, be of the same mind, be at peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.
15 And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful.
13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh, 15 he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace. 16 He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death. 17 He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
So in Christ, peace with God and peace with each other is made possible. Again, there is a picture of active submission here on our parts, especially in the church. We should be actively pursuing peace between us as we each serve God and love each other:
11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Become mature, be encouraged, be of the same mind, be at peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.
15 And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful.
But it doesn’t stop there. Once we are reconciled to God through faith in Christ, and thus on the path of being reconciled to our brothers and sisters, then we are also given a ministry to do as a body in proclaiming the reconciliation of God to man in Christ, so that those who are lost might experience the peace of God that comes through Christ as well:
And once reconciled, we can be about the ministry of reconciliation, so that more would have peace.
have peace.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! 18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God.” 21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Brothers and sisters, if we are at peace with God through faith in Christ, then we should be sharing that peace in what we say and in how we live. We are Christ’s ambassadors, representing Him in the world, and He has chosen to use us to make His appeal to those who are lost, those who are bound for hell. Peace on earth comes not through our silence, but through God working by His Spirit through our proclamation. He has committed that message of reconciliation to us: the message that Jesus took our sin on Himself, and offers us His righteousness in return. This is where we will find peace with God and thus peace with each other.
But ultimately, there will come a time when there will be true peace on the earth, according to :
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. 3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. 4 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.
Not everyone will get to experience that peace. Only those who belong to God through faith in Christ will. We are a beacon that God has given to the world, a lighthouse of where to find peace, and we are to shine that light everywhere we go, as we go through our lives, as Christ’s ambassadors of reconciliation and peace.
Closing
Closing
At the first Christmas, God provided Jesus, the mediator between God and mankind, in order to make the way for us to be restored to a right relationship with God: a relationship of peace…of shalom. However, that peace is only available for those who belong to God through faith in Christ. But once we are given that peace, we are to proclaim the message of peace, just like the heavenly host did on that first Christmas night. God wants to bring peace on earth by bringing people into a restored relationship with Him, and then through that relationship, to restore us to each other. He wants to bring peace to your life, in your life, and through your life.
If you know you’re not at peace with God this morning, that you don’t belong to Him, surrender your life to God right now by trusting in Christ for your salvation. I’m not saying that your life will be stress and conflict free after that. I’m saying that you will be in a right relationship with God. Jesus is the only way of salvation. Surrender to Him this morning, and come and share that with one of us. Or maybe you have questions about Jesus and about this peace that God brings. Come and tell us that you have questions. As the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” Don’t be afraid to ask about good news!
God might be calling someone here to formally join this church, this family of believers, as we serve as ambassadors together in this world. Come and share that with us as well.
For all of us who belong to Christ, we all have a calling placed on our lives by God: to be those ambassadors of the peace of the Gospel. Who is someone that you can share the message of the Gospel with? Who is your one?
If you need prayer, come and share that or pray at the steps.
Invite the band
Pray
Remind of the parlor.
Lottie Moon video.