CHRISTMAS PEACE

Introduction

~There is a story that has been around for over 100 years about a temporary peace made in the midst of WWI where enemies became comrades for just 1 day.

~It is said that starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.

At the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man’s-land, calling out “Merry Christmas” in their enemies’ native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men began to exchange presents of various sorts. There was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer.

~One English soldier wrote to his parents about this occasion, saying to them: “Just you think that while you were eating your turkey, etc., I was out talking and shaking hands with the very men I had been trying to kill a few hours before!! It was astounding.”

-As interesting and touching as that story is, you know what the ultimate result was—they began the fighting, shooting, and killing all over again the next day. This moment of peace was temporary.

-In a similar manner, the people of this world look for moments of peace within their lives, but the manner in which they do it is normally fleeting—all they are doing is putting off the inevitable==the problems and cares of the world are still there to be dealt with.

-But the Bible tells us that there is a permanent way of peace----but unlike what we think of in our minds, this peace is not the absence of troubles and conflicts, but is a sense of love, hope, joy, safety, security, meaning, and purpose even in the midst of troubles and conflicts.

-This peace is not natural, for it is supernatural, found in the one who made the way for peace—Jesus Christ, who is called the Prince of Peace. And my hope is that this Christmas season you will seek for peace through Him.

-I am reading from the prophet Micah. Micah lived in the 700 BC time period. Micah explained that because of the sins of Israel, God would use foreign nations to punish them. However, the people were not to lose hope, because after God’s discipline would come a time of tremendous blessing connected with the coming of the Messiah.

-By the power of the Holy Spirit, He predicted that woman would give birth to a son in Bethlehem who would become the leader of a great people. 700 years later, a virgin by the name of Mary gave birth to this promised Messiah. And something Micah prophesied about this child is what I want to concentrate on today.

Micah 5:1–5 ESV

1 Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. 2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. 3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. 4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. 5 And he shall be their peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men;

-So Micah is saying that this little village in Judah, that is too small to amount to much of anything (kind of BLINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT) would be the birthplace of the eternal ruler of Israel, whose history lies in eternity past.

-Just like Bethlehem was the birthplace of David, so too would it be the birthplace of his descendant who would rule and reign forever.

-This ruler would tend God’s people like a shepherd, He would strengthen them in the Lord, and it is through Him they will find safety and security. And this ruler is the one we celebrate on Christmas—Jesus Christ, descendant of David, Son of God, born in Bethlehem.

-And it is in Him that God’s people will find peace. And it’s not only that He will give them peace of heart and mind, it specifically says: HE SHALL BE THEIR PEACE. This means that He is the source of peace, He is the means of peace, and He is the goal of peace.

-The rest of Scripture fleshes out some important points about this peace that I believe are important for us to know:

I) Jesus gives peace through forgiveness

-I mentioned a few weeks ago that we will never experience the peace OF God in our lives if we don’t first have peace WITH God.

-This is so very important, because the Bible describes us as God’s enemies in our natural state. Because of the sin nature we have and the sin actions we commit, we are opposed to God and God is opposed to us.

-People want to think that God will just kind of ignore our sins and accept us anyway, but He can’t do that because He has the characteristics of justice and holiness—any and all who fall short of His standards must be dealt with.

-But God loved the world enough to send His Son on that Christmas day to become a man to make the path of forgiveness possible through His sacrifice. All who believe on Jesus are forgiven, and then you have peace WITH God, and then through the abiding Holy Spirit you can have the peace OF God. But it only happens through being forgiven of sin.

-There is a story about one of the early church fathers named Jerome. It is said that he had a dream one night that Jesus visited him. In the dream, Jerome gathered all his money together and offered it to Jesus as a gift. But Jesus said, “I don’t want your money.” Then in the dream Jerome rounded up all his possessions and tried to give them to Jesus. Jesus responded, “I don’t want your possession.” So Jerome asked Him, “What can I give you? What do you want?” And in the dream, Jesus replied, “Give me your sins. That’s what I came for; I came to take away your sins.”

-It may have only been a dream, but it is a reminder this Christmas season about why Jesus was born. Forgiveness is the essence of the peace that Christ gives. Once forgiven, we have access to this peace, and this peace is characterized by the other truths I want to talk about today.

II) Jesus gives peace above our circumstances

-When the world in general talks about peace, it usually means that the circumstances have become favorable enough that all parties involved in a situation have ceased hostilities toward one another. But that is not really peace, that is a ceasefire…a truce…an armistice.

-These people may still hate one another in their hearts, but they’re just not acting out on it. What they have done is made the circumstances such that everybody can pursue happiness. Happiness is dependent on circumstances.

-But biblical peace is something different. For the Christian, peace comes first from our position in Christ, and then also Christ’s place within us.

-When we believe in Christ, we are spiritually placed in Christ, and we receive all the eternal, heavenly blessings that Christ has because we belong to Him, and we have a right standing before God the Father.

-But also, when we believe in Christ, He gives us His Holy Spirit, and through His Spirit He lives in us.

-So where peace comes in is that I know and live on the truths that no matter what is going on around me, I am secure in my position in Christ, I am safe in His hands, and there is nothing in this world that will change who I am in Christ and who Christ is in me.

-Peace doesn’t mean that bad things won’t happen or that we will not feel the painful emotions that come with the trials. It means that even in the middle of the mess, we still trust Jesus to love us, to take care of us, and know ultimately in Him we are victorious.

-And in this peace, we are able to confidently say as Paul said in Romans 8:38-39—

38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,

39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Rom. 8:38-39 ESV)

-That’s peace, that no matter what happens, nothing changes who I am in Christ, and who He is in me—nothing can take me away from Jesus.

III) Jesus gives peace beyond understanding

-We can sit here (or stand here) and talk about this peace being a theological truth all day long, but it sounds like a bunch of religious clichés to so many people because they think that it doesn’t really apply in the tough situations of life. Sure, we think Jesus can give peace in making some decisions and maybe give peace in the minor inconveniences—but what about the big stuff? What about the tough stuff?

-We think: really, how can a Christian lose his job and not worry? How can a believer look cancer in the face and not flinch? How can a Christian lose someone close to them and not have their doubts? How can one’s own life be threatened and there isn’t the temptation to deny Christ?

-We think that this peace is nothing but a religious platitude, but when the rubber meets the road, we really can’t have it. But, the thing is, the peace of Christ goes against all of our natural human instincts, and wisdom, and knowledge.

-It’s just like so much of the other things that God does in our lives—it just plain don’t make sense, but it works out.

-There is so much in our life that we think just has to line up and make sense to us before we believe it or act on it, but God doesn’t work that way. God’s ways are the ways of faith.

-We are very familiar with this verse:

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:7 ESV)

-The peace found through Jesus does not make human sense—I cannot sit here with a bunch of charts and graphs and show you how the peace of Christ works. But in spite of not being able to quantify it, we choose not to worry and fret, and instead place our faith that Christ is in charge and He knows what He is doing.

-Notice, that verse doesn’t say not to worry because Christ will guard your life or your house or your family. It says that your heart is guarded in Christ. So even in the midst of a chaotic life, God through Christ gives you a peace of heart that does not make sense in the human realm, but only on the spiritual level.

IV) Jesus gives peace that is always available

-Before Jesus was taken from this earth, in John 16 He promised that after He was gone He would send the Holy Spirit who would be with them and in them, and the Holy Spirit would comfort and teach and encourage.

-Then in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit did come, and He now indwells all believers and does the work of comforting, teaching, and encouraging. That means that there is never a moment when we are away from Christ’s peace.

-There is never a moment when we need to worry, or need to be afraid. We still do and still are because we are frail human beings, but the peace of Christ is available to us 24/7, through every season of life.

-And what is great is that the peace of Christ we experience on the earth is but a shadow of the continual peace we experience with Him throughout eternity.

Conclusion

-You know, there are historians who say that throughout recorded history the world has been at peace only 8% of the time. In other words, over maybe 3500 years of recorded history, there have been 286 years of there being no known wars.

-Peace sure is not a hallmark of the reality that we live in here on earth. It seems fleeting, it seems temporary. It really seems impossible.

-But in Jesus Christ, nothing is impossible. You can be at peace even in the midst of the strongest storm. I think of the picture of Jesus asleep in the boat in the middle of a storm that caused the ship to toss to and fro and flooded the ship with water. The disciples are fretting, but Jesus is asleep because He knows He is in the hand of God.

-Well, we are in God’s hand through Jesus Christ, and His peace can be our peace.

~Jesus told His disciples back then and tells us now:

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. (Jn. 14:27 ESV)

-If you are a Christian who needs to tap into this peace, come to the altar and ask God to remind you about who Christ is in you, and who you are in Christ, and find peace in that.

-But there are some here who do not know peace because they do not know Christ. Believe in Jesus Christ to have peace with God to know the peace of God.