Christmas 2020 4: The Gift of Peace
Notes
Transcript
Bookmarks & Needs:
Bookmarks & Needs:
B: Romans 5:1-5
N: None
Opening
Opening
DON’T FORGET THE BUMPER VIDEO!
Good morning, and thank you for being here this morning for Family Worship at Eastern Hills! Whether you are here in the room or online this morning, my prayer is that this is a time that is a blessing to you and that encourages you in your walk with God. Thank you, praise band for leading us in worship this morning. It’s a blessing to be able to come together in person and through technology to praise the name of Jesus with one another!
Before we dive into our message this morning, I would like to give a quick update on our Lottie Moon Christmas Offering Goal. As you know, the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering accounts for about 50% of the support for our Southern Baptist missionaries serving overseas to share the message of the Gospel. Thank you all for your prayerful, sacrificial, and generous giving toward our goal of $26,000 this year. At this point, we have received $22,485.00! Praise the Lord for His leading our people and thank you for your faithfulness! Please continue to pray about how the Lord would have you to give to this important offering this year.
Now, let’s dive in to our fourth message in our Christmas series, “The Gifts of Christmas.” Our focal passage today is going to be Romans 5:1-5. Let’s stand in honor of the Word of the Lord as we read it together.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified 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 boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast 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.
PRAY
When you see these symbols, what do you think of? [Show circle peace symbol, two fingers V peace sign, and an image of a dove with an olive branch.]
These three images are very different, but they all are very recognizable as signs of peace. Interestingly, not one of them was developed out of an abundance of peace, but rather out of the need for peace.
What we know as the peace sign was first developed by a British artist and activist named Gerald Holtom in 1958. The emblem was based on flag semaphore movements for two letters: N (two flags pointed down at angles) and D (one flag straight up, the other straight down). The letters stood for nuclear disarmament. Holtom also said the design was personal as it represented a person with hands outstretched in despair. The symbol was used in Britain to protest the making of nuclear weapons. When it was brought to America, it was used for broader purposes in the civil rights movement and later as an antiwar symbol by those who opposed the Vietnam War.
And what about the two fingers raised in a V shape? This symbol actually started as a sign of victory, not peace. Resistance fighters in German-occupied territories used it as a symbol of strength during World War II. The British prime minister Winston Churchill adopted it to stand for the English victory, and it eventually came to stand for the end of the conflict. Later, in the 1960s, it was adopted as an antiwar symbol by Americans who opposed war.
As for the dove and the olive branch? This image was used in many traditions throughout history, but the Christian symbolism comes from the Old Testament account of Noah, who sent a dove in search of land after the great flood. The dove returned holding an olive branch, indicating that the waters were receding and land was near. It was a sign of the promise of peace after the storm of God’s judgment.
While we immediately associate peace with these symbols, none were born out of peace. All these images came about because of a desperate need for peace in the midst of conflict and unrest.
Peace can be defined as “freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility.” But it is often in situations that are exactly the opposite that we most recognize our need for peace and the power of the peace God provides. Think about it: We see the importance of peace most clearly not in the absence of noise, suffering, and conflict, but in the midst of them.
This is the world Jesus came to. The song “Silent Night” conjures calm, soothing, peaceful images in our mind, and it’s often a worshipful three-minute respite in the midst of our hectic holiday chaos. But that original silent night that we sing about was not actually very silent. The world was not at peace. There was a divide between God and people. There was conflict among families and nations. There was political tumult and Roman oppression in Israel. There was demanding physical travel forced on Mary and Joseph by Roman politicians. And there was unrest in the hearts of many. But in the midst of all this, Jesus came as the Prince of Peace.
Jesus the Messiah was and is many things that the prophet Isaiah foretold He would be:
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.
But it’s important to remember that Jesus is not just a symbol of peace, He is peace. And the Prince of Peace offers us the gift of peace this Advent season. This was part of His original birth announcement made by the angels:
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!
If you have been able to join us the past three weeks, you know that we have been on a journey through the season of Advent as we’ve unwrapped the gifts of hope, love, and joy. The word Advent means “coming” or “arrival,” and the season is marked by expectation, waiting, anticipation, and longing. Advent is not just an extension of Christmas, it is a season that links the past, the present, and the future. Advent offers us the opportunity to share in the ancient longing for the coming of the Messiah, to celebrate His birth, and to be alert for His second coming.
During Advent we are lighting candles which represent these aspects of Jesus’s coming to a world lost in darkness. As we engage in our own Advent celebration this season, we light an additional candle each week. Each flame brings us closer to the arrival of the true Light of the world, born in Bethlehem. First, we lit the candle of hope, and we considered how we can find hope even in difficult times because of the arrival of Jesus and the promise of His return for His people. Then, we lit the candle of love, and we saw that we can accept, experience, and then share the love of God. Last week, we lit the candle of joy, and we were reminded to anticipate joy, to recognize it when it comes (even through trials), and to choose joy by focusing on gratitude, obedience, and abiding in Jesus day by day. Can you feel the excitement building? We’re almost there! Soon we will mark the day that Christ has come. He is among us and in us—Immanuel, God with us!
Today we light the fourth candle, the candle of peace. Advent is a season for allowing God’s peace to infiltrate our hearts and minds as we prepare for His coming at Christmas and His return someday.
What an appropriate time and season to recognize Jesus as our peace! Really, our world is not much different from the one Jesus stepped into a couple thousand years ago. We are certainly more technologically advanced, but our fast-paced, high-tech capabilities in many ways have added anxiety, stress, and fatigue to our relentless pace of life. The scenery and process of daily life looks very different, but still we strive and struggle to subsist and exist. Our world rages with wars and violence and tension and worry and a crazy pandemic. Governments and politicians rage and clamor and fight. Things are the not the way that we expect them to be, and to be honest, probably not the way we would like them to be if we could choose. While we certainly have so very much to be thankful for in our lives and community and country and world, peace can and does get squeezed out of our ongoing lives easily and often.
Consider this: Have you ever been somewhere that suddenly got very quiet? Perhaps you’ve been in a building when the electricity goes out, and the buzz of the lights and computers and appliances is silenced. Or maybe you’ve been outdoors on a summer night when the song of the crickets stops abruptly. Sometimes we don’t even recognize the noise all around us until it suddenly stops and we hear the silence. The same can be true for peace in our lives. Sometimes we are so used to the hustle and bustle that we don’t even notice the noise, chaos, and unrest until it is gone—until we take the time to experience peace and allow God to silence the other noises in our life.
During this Advent, we are recognizing a season that helps us take that time to reset our hearts and minds to be still and listen as we wait. Peace is the gift we unwrap today. Let’s look at several ways that peace manifests itself in our lives.
1. Peace with God
1. Peace with God
A long time ago, when I was early in my time as youth pastor, I owned a certain bumper sticker. I stuck it to the side of the filing cabinet in my office, and so I can say that I “used to own” this sticker because that filing cabinet is Trevor’s now… but the sticker is still there! Here’s a picture. The sticker says this:
No Jesus, No Peace.
Know Jesus, Know Peace.
Maybe you’ve seen one like it on a car at some point… or maybe you even have one on yours. Placed on the back of a car (or on the side of a filing cabinet), it can sound trite and cliché. But there is actually truth there. When we know Jesus, we can experience peace because of who Christ is and what He did in coming to earth, living among us, dying on the cross, and rising from the dead to defeat sin and death. It’s easy and right for us to associate His life and work on earth with salvation, but the apostle Paul made an additional important note in Romans that we are wise not to overlook.
1 Therefore, since we have been justified 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 boast in the hope of the glory of God.
Jesus brings and allows us peace with God, our Creator. Our first and greatest need for peace is to be at peace with God. Our sin naturally separates us from God. From the time sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden, humans have been at odds with God. Our sin and His holiness are not compatible. They are not at peace—they are at conflict with each other. That’s why no conflict on earth can compare to this need for peace between God and His creation—us humans especially—and it is the reason God sent Jesus to earth that first Christmas. Through Jesus we can be justified by grace through faith. And when we believe in Jesus and accept His salvation and forgiveness, surrendering our right to go our own way, we are at peace with God. The barriers of conflict and sin are removed. We are right with Him in unity, identity, and purpose. In short, God reconciles us to himself through Jesus’ death on the cross, as Paul wrote in Colossians 1:
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.
This eternal peace with the Creator is the greatest gift we can receive this season or in any season. It is available to us all. It is where we all start with receiving Christ’s gift through surrender to Him by faith. And it is here that we must abide daily—rejoicing in the fact that we have been brought into a right relationships with God because of what Jesus has done. We are unified with Him. We are His, and that will never change. May we all lean into and experience the peace of this reality throughout Advent and beyond.
While this is the most important aspect of the Gift of Peace, there is an added benefit to having that relationship of peace with God.
2. Peace Within
2. Peace Within
As I mentioned earlier, there is so much to draw us or drag us away from the peace of Christ. Fortunately, God also knows the unrest we feel within ourselves. He made you and knows your deepest thoughts, hurts, joys, and desires. He knows your need for peace within. And He knows the broken world surrounding us and all the unrest clamoring around and against us. In fact, Jesus even said that the peace He would leave us would be His kind of peace: a peace that is found on the inside, not the outside:
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.
This peace isn’t a momentary or temporary peace, and like we talked about with the Gift of Joy last week, it’s not a peace that we have to somehow manufacture or conjure up, but it’s an incredible gift of an abiding peace that can move us away from fret and fear. Paul offered us these appropriate words in Philippians 4:6–7:
6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
What a beautiful promise! What a rich practice! What a powerful peace that we can experience!
Look at these phrases: God’s peace “transcends all understanding.” It defies our world and our circumstances. It fills us when everything going on around us is not conducive to peace. In other words, it shows itself most strongly in circumstances where peace just does not make sense. Maybe that’s a tragedy or an illness or a conflict or a heartache or a job struggle or a pandemic. No matter how bad your situation, if you are in Christ, God is there . . . with you . . . offering the gift of His peace that is stronger than whatever difficulty you face.
Notice too that while this peace is calm and restorative, it is also strong and active. It has the power to “guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” It is strong enough to defy our worst nightmares. Even the ones that we haven’t even thought of yet.
I think one thing that’s interesting about this verse is that we often take it as a type of formula. If we can just manage to pray and thank God and ask Him about everything, then we’ll get God’s peace. While Paul was describing those actions as part of a practice of peace, we should remember that this is not an automatic formula.
God gave the gift of peace in the form of a person—His one and only Son, Jesus, the Prince of Peace. The verse just before this passage says, “The Lord is near” (verse 5). And that’s an important starting point. Jesus’s presence with us is the reason we do not need to be anxious. He is the reason we can have peace within. He is Immanuel, God with us, who offers us the gift of peace beyond understanding that guards our hearts and minds in Him. And as we practice the actions of prayer and petition and thanksgiving, we do so to connect with Him, not to follow a recipe for peace. Peace comes as a result of the transformation we experience as the Holy Spirit shapes our perspectives and realigns our hearts. Our troubles may rage on, but the Spirit gives us new eyes to see and the peace of Christ guards us and calms us and changes our outlook.
May this be the practice and power of peace that we experience in Advent and beyond. And it is to that beyond that we look now:
3. Peace to Come
3. Peace to Come
So we have looked together at the gift of peace with God and peace within. But what about peace without? What about the situations we can’t change, the relationships that are broken, the chaos we can’t calm, the hurt we can’t heal, the violence we can’t understand, the illness and stress and strain in our world right now because of COVID? What do we do with the need for peace in our world?
This again is where we recognize the two-pronged nature of the Advent season. We wait for Christ’s coming at Christmas, and at the same time we wait for His return. The peace we long for in our world is a peace that is still to come. It is a final restoration promised but not yet realized. In the meantime, we wait with longing for the day when God’s peace will reign in all the earth, as He said in Revelation 22:
1 Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, 3 and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Doesn’t this just sound peaceful? This is what the one who belongs to Christ has to look forward to, even as we struggle in the day to day here and now. Until that time, though, we can turn to the words that Jesus spoke to His disciples. We can hold onto them closely until we see Him face-to-face.
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.”
Again, we see God’s recognition of the brokenness we live in and among. He knows. He understands how and why we can become discouraged, but here He encourages us to remember the person of peace, the Prince of Peace. In Him, we have and find and remember peace for our present and future.
There is a peace today, and there is a complete peace that is yet to come. In the time between, we trust in Jesus’s promise that He has indeed overcome the world. And in the meantime, we return to Jesus. It’s a similar process to what Paul described in Philippians 4. It’s a continual returning and renewing with our Lord and our God. It’s the deepening of our relationship with Him, and it shapes us and holds us and carries us to all that we are and all we can experience because of Him.
Closing
Closing
Where is your chaos today? Where is your warfare and unrest? Let me encourage you that the Prince of Peace is greater. His peace is more powerful.
This is the peace we long for. As we celebrate the Advent season of waiting, let’s recognize that we wait with longing for God’s peace to be made perfect in our world. Let’s also remember that the peace of Christ is also here and now and waiting to fill those who belong to Him. But that’s the starting point: peace with God through Christ.
If you know that you aren’t at peace with God, know that Jesus died so that you could have that peace. If you know Jesus, you know peace, because He is peace. This morning, I invite you to believe the message of the Gospel: That God loves you so much that He gave His Son to take your place in death so that you could have His place in life, being forgiven of your sin and made right with God. Surrender your life to His Lordship this morning, giving up your attempts to save yourself, and trust Jesus for your forever. This can happen right where you are, whether you’re here in the room or online.
And if that’s you this morning, please let us know. If you’re online, you can send me an email to bill@ehbc.org to let me know that today you surrendered your life to Jesus. I would love to celebrate that with you and help you as you start on this journey of faith! And if you just aren’t sure yet and you have questions, I welcome those, and we would like to talk with you to maybe answer those questions. Shoot me an email and let me know. If you’re either of these, and you’re here in the room, please stay in your seats as we dismiss, and I’ll come and find you.
If you have already surrendered your life to Christ, and this morning believe that God would have you become a member of this body of believers through formal membership, I would love to get to sit down with you and get to know you, go through the Statement of Faith of Eastern Hills with you, and answer any questions you might have. If you’re in the room, again please stay in your seat and I’ll come find you to set an appointment with you. If you’re online, but live around Albuquerque, shoot me an email so we can set a time.
Donna is going to come for our time of reflection. If this morning, you’re struggling with the idea of peace during this time, this time of reflection is a great opportunity for you to confess that to God and draw near to Him. He gives us His peace. This is also an opportunity for you to give online as God leads, or if you’d rather give in person this morning, you can do so using the plates by the doors as we leave at the end of service.
PRAY
Closing Remarks
Closing Remarks
We are reading the Bible as a church family, just a chapter a day every day. We’re reading through the book of Genesis right now, and today’s reading is Genesis chapter 24. You can download a printed calendar from the What’s Happening page at ehbc.org.
I also want to personally invite you to come and be a part of our Christmas Eve service this Thursday night at 6 PM, and you can join in either in person or online. It will be under an hour, and I’ll be tying together all we’ve looked at over the last four weeks in the Gifts of Christmas. I hope you’ll plan to be a part.
Instructions
Benediction: “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.” (2 Thessalonians 3:16)