Message 2: Peace

Peace Introduced

This morning we are going to talk about the second advent theme: peace. You will find that each theme stands alone. But each theme is something God gives us. We don’t have to make any of them, we just have to stand in the current of God’s presence to live into them.

So let’s talk about peace this morning.

Where are the places we get peace? How do we find it?

There are six of us living in a one bathroom, 1000 square foot house. I’m not complaining, I actually quite love it but quiet real estate as a premium. Peace, as you might say, is at a premium.

When we first moved in I tried to find a place where I could go to get a little quiet. There isn’t a garage and the only extra room is usually full of kids. There is a treehouse that the previous owners built that I thought maybe, just maybe I could use for a little quiet. So one afternoon I squeezed through the entrance, and it has two levels so I squeezed through the opening using the ladder. Then I stooped onto the second level and found a decent place to sit, took out my ipad and five minutes later realized that it in fact was horrendously uncomfortable.

- What I had searched for to find the perfect peaceful place wasn’t in fact peaceful. My search hadn’t produced much of anything.

and we all do that, don’t we? We search and search and search in strange places for peace and end up finding it for maybe a moment. But it doesn’t last.

Well what if peace wasn’t dependent on where we were or what we were doing?

What if peace was something not to find but rather to recieve?

And what if peace showed up in yours and my own imperfect circumstances?

Even in our own lives, in our own search for a little bit of peace, we recognize the imperfection of our circumstances. But what if that is exactly where God wanted you to recieve His peace?

That is what we are going to find today. God wants to bring peace and He offers it to us in imperfect circumstances.

Peace in the Scriptures

- As we look at how God brings His peace let’s first look at how peace is communicated in the Scriptures. We can find it all over the place but let’s look at Paul in Ephesians.

Look at how Paul greets the church in Ephesus:

English Standard Version (Ephesians 1:2) 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

- peace is not simply a state of mind, a posture. It is something given by the Lord Himself.

Peace is a product of being in relationship with God.

- It is something enchanted and transcendent but not conjured.

We need to know that peace, like hope, comes in knowing Christ. But often we search elsewhere or look elsewhere than Christ for it.

Luke: An Introduction and Commentary Luke 2:13–14

Peace, of course, means peace between God and people, the healing of the estrangement caused by human evil.

Peace is about reconciliation between parties or situations. That is the definition of peace in the bible. It means a wholeness or a completion. There is nothing lacking. Peace is not that we have everything it’s that we aren’t lacking anything.

Where have you looked to find peace in your life other than in Christ?

In looking at the story of the Shepherds we will see God offer peace in what looks like imperfect circumstances.

English Standard Version Luke 2:9

and they were filled with great fear.

Look at what is happening here. The shepherds were here and just doing their jobs when all of the sudden one angel appeared to them.

The Bible says they were filled with “great fear.” This phrase has the same meaning as an athlete who is right about to compete. It is not a jumpscare, like out of nowhere. “Great fear” is a sustained anxiety of looking directly into the unknown. You are unsure of how things are going to turn out for you.

Have you ever felt that way before? Not like you are looking into the face of an angel but that you are staring into the unknown, unsure of what’s going to happen next?

That is the great fear that the shepherds knew.

They aren’t so distant from us at all. We can feel that great fear sometimes as well.

The fear swells because we just don’t know what will happen next.

We might think that great fear is a disqualifier for peace. But that’s not what we find in the story. Let’s look further

Talk in Faith Communities or write about a time where you were staring into the unknown, unsure of what would happen next?

Fear Not and Behold

Luke 2:10

Luke 2:10 ESV

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

This is arguably one of the greatest passages in the Bible. I want to show you why.

Primarily for the two phrases: “Fear Not” and “for behold.”

Keep in your pocked the idea of fear being a sustained anxiety of looking into the unknown.

Fear Not

It is actually encouraging to hear these words. It pre-supposes that people are really scared. No one would say fear not if fear wasn’t an option.

It is not what comes before we hear “fear not” but after that matters most.

we hear this phrase a lot in the Bible but look at what always comes next when we hear, “fear not.”

Matthew 10:31

Matthew 10:31 ESV

Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Isaiah 41:10

Isaiah 41:10 ESV

fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 54:4

Isaiah 54:4 ESV

“Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.

Genesis 15:1

Genesis 15:1 ESV

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

Luke 12:32

Luke 12:32 ESV

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Rev 1:17

Revelation 1:17 ESV

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,

When we hear “Fear Not” we are about to get the assurance from Heaven that God is on the move and things are going to change.

for Behold

What always follows this phrase is that God is going to do something. Pay attention, it is telling us because God is moving.

Joel 3:1

Joel 3:1 ESV

“For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

Zech 2:10

Zechariah 2:10 ESV

Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord.

Zech 11:16

Zechariah 11:16 ESV

For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

And guess how many times we see these two phrases together in the Bible?

Only once.

Right here.

Right at the proclamation of the ADvent of the Christ.

Even the Angels tell us things are imperfect. Don’t fear! But that does not stop what God is doing.

God is inviting you to receive peace within your imperfect circumstances.

What is one way you could begin to see the peace of God within your circumstances, no matter how imperfect they may be?

We see How God is doing that in verse 14

Glory and Peace

English Standard Version (Luke 2:14)

14  “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

This is the proper order, God and His glory first. From that place we can understand peace.

This is why we don’t need perfect circumstances. God offers peace. The Angel offers us God’s peace but it comes as an invitation after we hear and proclaim God’s glory.

We don’t have to only see from our imperfect circumstances. We see from God’s

David Hume was an 18th century philosopher who primarily introduced the idea of subjectivity into our minds. Up until this point in history philosophers were trying to determine rational and objective truth.

Hume tells us there is no such thing. We only see through what he calls “ideas and impressions.”

The idea is the thing that happened and our impression is how we perceive the event.

But Hume was a raging atheist. He wanted nothing to do with God or metaphysics and because of that there was not another opportunity to hear from any other perspective than self.

HEre is why this little lesson matters.

Because we are often better disciples of Hume than Christ.

God offers His perspective, He offers it by coming to the earth, to expressing His glory through the Advent, and we have been invited to see the miracle of the Advent first and then see peace through His perspective.

Peace is not simply left to us. We see God first and then are offered peace through a restored relationship with Him.

What is the next thing you can do to find peace with God?

How can you turn that step into a prayer to God?

And we see The authority to restore that relationship through the admission not just of who would be born but what He would be called.

English Standard Version Luke 2:11

Christ ethe Lord

The person to trust. Christ the Lord. There is no greater title to give someone. Prior to this the only place these shepherds would have heard this was Caesar being Lord. Now there is Christ who is Lord. This is not just a title, this is a revolution. But as we know, the revolution happens not in political theater but in the spiritual one.

The Christ is the highest title that can be given. And the Christ has been revealed to us. But our role, and the peace offered is to be found in wholeness in relationship.

Maybe you don’t know Him and you don’t know peace and I’m inviting you to know Him this morning. And maybe you do know Him but you don’t know peace, you need to come to Him this morning. As the worship team comes up, draw near to Christ. After the song and as the service ends we would love to pray for you.