Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture

The Way it ought to be introduction....Control and Calendar.

I have this great structure on my calendar.

Isaiah 9:1-

Introduction

One day my mom got home expecting to arrive like a normal day and find my brother and I playing outside or watching tv in the care of a babysitter…however, what she found was our babysitter waiting on the curb with her keys in her hand.

When my mom pulled up this babysitter informed my mom she quits and got in the car without explanation and left.

Afraid to imagine what this was all about she crept slowly to the house and what she began to find was an absolute warzone.

I had one chore that day and it was to mow the yard....

My brother taunting me about how much trouble I was going to be in caused a huge fight.

We got in a little fisticuffs that ended with a bloody nose and some bruises.

His last effort to wound me was kicking his cowboy boots in my direction.

Over my shoulder and through the garage door window.

shatter.

So I closed the garage and told him to clean up the glass while i removed the batteries from the clicker and locked the door to the house.

Locking him in the garage.

After about 20 minutes he took a baseball bat to the door.

That was the last straw for babysitter so she locked us in our rooms.

phone line prank with boyfriend got us out of the rooms but she still took away our freedom.

The last prank was the straw that broke the camels back.

Honey in the shampoo, flour in the hair dryer....kids do as I say, not as i do.

This was circa b.c. in my life....before Christ.

Everything blew up.

we were all yelling at each other.

Until we decided on peace to wait for my mom to come home.

Peace, a seize fire was called but everything was still a war zone.

Now a lot of times that is what we think of when we think of peace.

Two countries laying down arms.

Two people stopping some bitter back and forth…two coworkers agreeing to just avoid each other.

This is a sense of peace here but the biblical testimony will say more…

Biblical Peace

Essentially today we will be doing a word study of peace in the Bible.

Hebrew = Shalom

Hebrew = Shalom

Greek = Eirene

It is more than just a ceasefire.

In Hebrew my professor taught us a phrase.

Shalom Alochem....Peace Yall!

It is more than that.

It is not just an absence of conflict but a replacement of something in its place.

The most basic meaning is completeness or wholeness...

This is why Job says that his tent is in a state of shalom because no sheep are missing

This is why shalom can refer to well being.

David visits brothers on the battle field in 1 Samuel and bring them food he asks how is your shalom....

The core idea is that life is complex, full of moving parts, relationships, etc.

Shalom breaks down when something is missing.

To bring Shalom is to complete something or make something whole

For example: In , Solomon brings peace to the Temple, when he completes it.

Shalom breaks down when something is missing.

We see in proverbs that when people are reconciled there is shalom.

If you accidentally kill neighbors cattle and then repay them, that is shalom.

or if rival kingdoms quit fighting AND work together....this is shalom

This is talking about complex circumstances and situations with lots of pieces made whole.

Israel’s kings were meant to bring this and they failed....Isaiah’s promise of a prince of peace is huge.

Biblical peace:

Peace is God’s restoration that heals all wounds and makes right all wrongs

Peace is a present and future reality of healing and justice for God’s people; this reality is both deeply personal and cosmic.

Light comes into the Darkness

Before we jump into this there is a reality that we have to acknowledge.

Before we understand the peace found in Christ, we need to agree that there is not peace.

Before we understand the light that is coming into the world, we must wake up and realize we are sitting in the dark...

Isaiah

Truth is we want to be God, we want to control, we want to believe that we can clean ourselves up.

Think about it….both individually, but also as a culture.

If we all just pull together.

If we vote a certain person into office, if we just pass this bill or if we just conquer these peoples.

This has been the truth from the beginning.

This is the first verse of our text and it applies even today.

Scripture that applies to the context of the Israelites but it also speaks into our context.

“The people walking in darkness…”

Band Group....I have literally chosen not to share something right away.

But there is a coming light, Tim Keller writes this about .

“The Bible never counsels indifference to the forces of darkness, only resistance, but it supports no illusions that we can defeat them ourselves.

Christianity does not agree with the optimistic thinkers who say, ‘We can fix things if we try hard enough.’

Nor does it agree with the pessimists who see only a dystropian future.

The message of Christianity is, instead, ‘things really are this bad, and we can’t heal or save ourselves.

Things really are this darn -- nevertheless, there is hope.’

The Christmas message is that ‘on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”

- Tim Keller in Hidden Christmas

This morning we will consider what the Bible says about the What, Where and When of Peace.

What is it for us?

Where is this peace?

When will this peace take place?

What peace?

Remember peace is about restoration and healing.

It is about completion and wholeness.

Setting things right.

We need to understand the fullness of peace.

There are three aspects the restoration peace brings.....

1. Restored to God

The chaos begins in our relationship with God.

From very early on we are guilty of trying to control everything.

Of trying to be God.

There is something off in the relationship.

The first place of restoration is in our relationship with God.

Paul puts it this way...

This is not just a cease fire, but a putting back together.

The chaos that took place when sin entered into the world is set right.

2. Restored with each other

Not only is peace a restoration of our relationship with God but it pours over into the restoration we have with each other.