The Gift of Peace

Series: Preacher: Date: December 23, 2001 Scripture Reference: Isaiah 9:6-7a; Luke 2:8-14; John 14:27

Isaiah 9

6 – For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 – Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.

Luke 2

8 – And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.

9 – An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

10 – But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

11 – Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.

12 – This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

13 – Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 – Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.

John 14

27 – Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

I’ve always had an interest in the great hymns of the church…particularly in the stories behind those hymns that tell how they came to be written. One of my favorite hymn stories concerns they lyrics of a popular Christmas carol-written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Now, Longfellow was really not a hymn writer per se, but one of his poems was set to music and has been sung in churches at Christmas ever since. I’m referring to, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. Inspired by the joy of the Christmas season, Longfellow wrote the poem on Christmas day in 1863. Can you sing the first verse with me?

I heard the bells on Christmas day, their old familiar carols play,And wild and sweet the words repeat of peace on earth, good will to men.

Well, as Longfellow continued to write lines to this poem, his mind was filled with thoughts of all that was going on in his country at that particular time. The Civil War was in full swing. The Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg were not more than six months past. Tens of thousands had died in those battles…even more were wounded or missing. It was not a peaceful time in America, and he probably asked himself the question, How can the last phrase of that stanza be true in this war torn county of ours? So he continued to write and his next verse went like this:

And in despair I bowed my head: ‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said,’For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.’

Now, unfortunately, you and I can probably identify with Longfellow’s feeling of despair because even today, 138 years later, this song of the angels recorded in Luke’s gospel seems like an idle dream. Like the prophet Jeremiah we sadly cry, Peace, peace!…when there is no peace. (Jeremiah 6:14 )

And I say this because first of all…there is NO PEACE among the nations of the world.

Even now we are at war in Afghanistan; many think Iraq is the next target in our attempt to put an end to terrorism. Israel and the PLO are embroiled in blood shed that looks like it will never stop. And this is nothing new. Just as Jesus foretold, there are now and have ALWAYS been, wars and rumors of wars. This week I read that in the three thousand three hundred and fifty years between 1500 B.C. and 1850 A.D. there were only 286 years spent without a war taking place on the globe somewhere. That’s thirteen years of war for every year of peace.

During that same period of time eight thousand peace treaties were broken. Each of these treaties was supposed to last forever but on the average they only held together less than two years. This prevalence of war caused one observer to comment, Washington has a large assortment of peace monuments. We build one after every war. Charles Swindoll expresses the feelings of many of us when he writes, It seems to us that world peace is a distant, unattainable dream…a political football to be kicked back and forth by eloquent ambassadors, a philosophical fantasy, that glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading for the next war.

And, not only is there no lasting peace among nations. It is hard to find it among people as well.

Every day local newspapers and nightly TV newscasts are filled with stories of assaults, shootings, and robberies. This week I read the following very depressing statistics that indicate that domestic violence is an ever increasing problem-showing that more and more homes experience a tragic lack of peace.

  • 2 million couples have used a lethal weapon on their spouses in their life times.
  • 3-4 million women are beaten by their husbands every year.
  • 2.7 million children are beaten, maimed, murdered, or seriously neglected every year in this country.

All this makes it seem to me that it is really unfair to have a law against disturbing the peace, since there is no peace to disturb! This reminds me of the story of a woman who said she moved to New York City-with its nonstop sirens-for her own personal health reasons. She said, I am extremely paranoid and New York is the only place where my fears are justified.

And, not only is peace a pipe dream between nations and individuals-more and more of us rarely experience peace within our own hearts.

It seems as if we are constantly fighting our own INNER battles to free ourselves from anxiety. I mean, we constantly worry: about our jobs, about our health, about money, about our children For these reasons there has never been a more stress-ridden society than ours. Panic anxiety is the number one mental-health problem for women in the United States and in men it is second only to substance abuse. Stress has become a way of life. It is the rule rather than the exception for most Americans-especially those who live here in Montgomery County, Maryland..

All this depressing information shows that PEACE is something that we all desperately need and want, which is why untold millions of dollars are spent annually in search of peace. I mean, every year thousands of people seeking PERSONAL OR FAMILY PEACE flock to professional counselors. Diplomats fly around the world pursuing PEACE BETWEEN NATIONS. Our court systems are jammed with cases arising from a breakdown of PEACE BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS OR CORPORATIONS. But spending all this money on these various pursuits of peace has not worked, because the truth is that in the end peace is not something that you purchase…it is something that you receive. Peace-the kind of peace we need and yearn for-is a gift…a gift that God lovingly gave us when He sent His Son-THE PRINCE OF PEACE-into our world, two thousand years ago-the night those angels sang that song of peace.

And the peace that Jesus gives is truly a wonderful caliber of peace. As His Word says, It is not the kind of peace that the world gives…it is a peace that passes human understanding. Let me take few lines here to attempt to describe this GIFT of PEACE that Jesus gives. It is a kind of peace that enables us to experience an inner calm in spite of all the circumstances that would normally cause us stress. It’s like the calm like the eye of a hurricane…perfect stillness and peace while storms rage all around.

I think a good picture of the peace that Jesus gives is illustrated in a famous photo that sells in art stores all over. You’ve probably seen it yourself. It’s a photograph of a light house off the coast of England. The picture shows a huge wave breaking across the light house and it looks as if it is about to engulf the structure. It’s nearly as high as the light house itself. And at the base of the tower is the light house keeper. He is right outside the door with his back to his light house and the wave, and he stands there with his hands in his pockets, perfectly calm, as if he has no fear whatsoever. That’s what the peace that Jesus gives is like. It is a peace that exists even as the storms and waves of life break against us.

But the best picture of the gift of peace that Jesus brings us is seen in Jesus Himself. I say this because the way He lived His life showed that when it comes to peace Jesus knew what He was talking about, and that He deserves the title: Prince of Peace. For example, the very storm that made His disciples panic, made Him drowsy. Remember? They feared that their boat would be their tomb but to Jesus it was a cradle. Another time, when Jesus was teaching a crowd of 5,000 men-not counting women and children-the disciples panicked because it was supper time and they were worried about how they would feed this crowd. When they informed Jesus He didn’t stress out. He faced that situation with truly unworldly calm. I mean ladies, how do you feel when your husband brings home just one guest for dinner without letting you know before hand? Wouldn’t you get a little upset if he brought home 15,000? Not Jesus, it didn’t even cause Him to break a sweat. He just relied on God’s power and fed all those people! When He began His earthly ministry and told people in the synagogue that He was the Messiah, they tried to throw Him off a cliff, but He calmly walked through their midst. The professional mourners at the home of Jairus laughed in His face when He told them the little girl was only asleep. Then He calmly entered her room and raised her from the dead. Even the raging demoniac in the grave yard at Gadara did not scare Him. When the temple police came to arrest Him, He didn’t panic. He even took the time to calmly heal a man whose ear had been loped off by Peter. Jesus’ entire trial was a travesty of justice. Yet He calmly moved from judge to judge …as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. (Isaiah 53:7 ) Later while the other prisoners cursed their executioners, Jesus prayed for them, Father forgive them for they know not what they do.

Now, wouldn’t you like to have that kind of peace? Wouldn’t you like to be able to face the trials of life like Jesus did? Doesn’t this particular gift of Christmas seem appealing to you? Well if it does, then listen, because this morning I want to tell you how to unwrap this particular Christmas gift from God. First of all, for an individual to experience this gift of peace, he or she…

1. …must become a CHRISTIAN.

I say this because the root cause of our lack of inner peace…is the fact that we are sinners…at odds with our Holy God. And so to experience this gift of Christmas we must make our peace with God. We must resolve our part of the conflict between God and man that began when sin entered the world. You see, when Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God’s laws, they damaged their relationship with our loving Creator. And every human being since has done the same thing.

Like those first humans, instead of living our lives according to the will of our Creator, each of us willfully chooses to live according to our own selfish will. Isaiah 53:6 describes this selfish rebellion when it says, We all…like sheep…have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way. Well, when sin entered the world, peace left it because since then all of us go our own way instead of God’s. We disobey His laws in thought, word, and deed. And., Jesus came to make peace between God and man a possibility again. In coming and dying for our sins He bore the iniquity of the human race in His own body.

Think of it this way: In essence Jesus became our peace offering. Now, a peace offering is a gift or service for the purpose of procuring peace or reconciliation. In the Old Testament there are dozens of references to the Hebrew people recognizing this enmity between themselves and God by bringing peace offerings, sacrifices to God in His temple. But Jesus came to be the peace offering to God for all mankind. The prophet Isaiah said it would happen this way. In Isaiah 53:5 he said, The punishment that brought us PEACE was on Him. God inspired Isaiah so he was able to see that it would take the blood of Jesus, shed on the cross, to make peace possible between sinners and God. Colossians 1:20-21 sums this all up by saying, For through Him-Jesus-God was pleased to reconcile to Himself all things…by making peace through His blood shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation.

So, Jesus’ death on the cross is the source of this gift of peace. This is what Ephesians 2:14 means when it says, For He Himself is our peace, Who has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, for through HIM we have access to the Father. To have inner peace then, we must personally, individually accept Jesus as our Savior. We must claim Him as our peace offering. Each of us must make peace with God before we can be at peace ourselves. We must resolve our own inner-sin problem before we can experience the inner-peace Jesus gives, because you can’t have the peace without the Prince.

One of my favorite biblical epic movies is The Robe which stars Richard Burton as the Centurion assigned to supervise the crucifixion of Jesus. By the way, it was the first movie filmed in cinema scope, designed to compete with a new form of entertainment that was becoming popular at the time, known as television. Now, this has nothing to do with the sermon. I just couldn’t resist the temptation to share a little movie trivia with you. Well, in the film Burton’s character joins with his troops at the foot of the cross in gambling for Jesus’ robe and wins but he discovers that touching the robe causes him both physical and mental pain. He develops a fear of the robe which drives him mad. He has no peace. He can’t eat or sleep. Repeatedly he slips into a trance-like state in which he yells out, Were you there? Did you see Him? Did you hear Him? Were you there? His servant, played by Victor Mature, becomes a Christian and leads Burton’s character to realize that his madness…his lack of peace…is due to his need to have his sins forgiven. His inner madness had nothing to do with the robe. No, it was a result of two conflicting realizations….the stark reality of his own sinful life and his awareness of Jesus’ sinlessness-His cruel death on a cross that He did not deserve. He finds no peace until He claims Jesus as His Lord and Savior, professing his faith that Jesus died in His place, even though this decision led to his own execution by the Emperor Caligula. This film illustrates the truth that all of us live lives of unrest like this, lives of quiet madness, until we too make our peace with God by asking for His forgiveness through Jesus Christ. It is this decision that gives us this inner calm, no matter how stormy life is on the outside. Why? Because in becoming a Christian the Prince of Peace comes to live inside our hearts…and when He does we are given the promise of eternal life…and when we understand this we can have peace in all aspects of life. Nothing can disturb this peace…not illness…not financial troubles…not even death. Through Jesus we can indeed have the peace of God that passes all understanding.

Now, in order to continue to experience this gift of peace…you must do certain things…to maintain it…and keep it strong.

2. First, you must be careful to THINK on the right things.

Paul talks about this peace principle in Philippians 4:8-9 when he says, Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things….and the PEACE OF GOD will be with you.

You see, when we focus our minds on things that are NOT true or noble or right or pure or lovely or admirable, then we can lose our peace. For example, a person who watches only daytime talk shows in the morning and soap operas in the afternoon and reads nothing but romance novels, is going to start to wonder about the peace of their relationship with their husband or wife. An individual who spends all of his time reading the newspaper or watching CNN is bound to lose their peace of mind when it comes to the state of the world. A person who looks at life through these sources tends to become cynical and joyless. Studies have shown that teens who only listen to music that promotes violence and sexual promiscuity, tend to become violent themselves and sexually promiscuous themselves.

I’m saying that God’s peace is something we can lose if we feed our minds on things that are not godly. We must look at life through the perspective that His truth provides. David Moore tells the story of the time he and his wife gave their three-year-old son a doll named Corky. Corky was a lot of fun to play with. He had a built in tape player and when the tape played a song Corky would move his mouth and his eyes. And his son loved Corky and played with him contentedly for years, until he saw an advertisement on TV for a movie called CHUCKIE. You see, Chuckie was a little doll that looked just like Corkie but every night Chuckie would come to life and slice everyone to pieces. From then on Corky was no longer welcome in his son’s room. They’d wake up in the morning and find Corky sitting out in the hallway…with his son’s door closed and locked. Moore says he tried to tell his son that CHUCKIE was only a movie but it had no effect. His little boy was still terrified of Corkie. Moore did confess, Maybe I contributed to this a little bit because I’d get up at night and move Corky. And there was that night I put a butter knife in his hand. But the point was his little boy lost his peace because he looked at his doll through the wrong perspective…the perspective of a horror movie. And we can learn from his experience. When we as Christians immerse our minds in all the negative of this world and we lose our peace. We must keep our focus on God…and the things of God if we are to enjoy the peace of God. We need to learn to keep the SON in our eyes…we must THINK on the right things!

3. And then…we must also DO the right things.

The Hebrew word for peace is shalom and it is loosely defined as the deliberate adjustment of one’s life to the will of God. In other words it is trust in action. This is what Isaiah is talking about when he says, The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in Thee. (Is. 26:3) So, shalom comes to Christians who live their lives in ways that please God. Righteous living brings us peace. This is what Psalm 85:10 means when it says that …righteousness and peace kiss each other.

Do you remember the first Apollo moon launch years and years ago? The astronauts, of course, were being closely monitored. At the time of lift-off, it was reported that their pulse rate was the same as just before or just after. Can you imagine that? If it were me in one of those helmets, my heart rate would have soared! Not theirs-and that calmness was the result of training-in other words doing the right things over and over again. This should remind us that one way to experience peace is by living as God wants us to live. As Psalm 119:165 says, Great peace have they who love [God’s] law. In Isaiah 48:17-18 God says, I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you what is best for you, Who directs you in the way you should go. If only you paid attention to My commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

So, think the right things; do the right things. But the most important thing you must do to experience the peace of Jesus is to…

4. …develop an understanding and awareness of the GREATNESS of God.

You see, the better we get to know God…the closer we walk with Him day in and day out, the more we understand how loving and wise and powerful He is…the smaller our worries seem to be. When we spend time with God in prayer and learn more about Him through studying His word we come to see that He is far greater than anything that could steal our peace. We learn to rest in an awareness of His greatness and power.

I remember seeing a movie years ago called My Bodyguard. It was the story of a teen who had no peace at school because of a gang of bullies who constantly threatened him. Then he heard of a boy in the school who everyone feared…even the bullies. He was huge and strong but he never said anything. Nevertheless everyone trembled in his presence. Well, the teen boldly befriended this big guy. They became close friends and he agreed to serve as his bodyguard. From then on he never feared the gang of bullies again. He trusted in the power of His friend to protect and care for Him. Well, we have a body guard of sorts…in our Heavenly Father. He is more than able to handle anything that could happen to us. When we realize this, we come to see that peace comes not from the absence of problems but from the presence of our all powerful, all loving Heavenly Father. We learn that peace comes from developing a close relationship with our all-powerful God. The old preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, If you do not come to [God], you will receive no peace; if you do not keep near Him, you will retain no peace; and if you do not grow nearer and nearer to Him, you will miss much of the peace that you might have. Abide in Christ Jesus, and let Him abide in you, and you shall have abundance of peace.

You know, when I was a little boy and would get afraid at night, like many of you I would run and jump in bed with my parents. I’d snuggle in between them both…my mom on my left and my dad on my right. With their huge bodies on either side I felt perfectly calm and protected. Their strength comforted my fears. I knew they were bigger than anything in my nightmares. Well, God is bigger than anything that causes us fear. Even things big enough to scare adults are nothing compared to God and the more we realize this, the more we are at peace.

We come now to our time of decision. If you feel God leading you to respond publicly in some way now is the time to do so. As we stand and sing come forward and share your decision with me or Steve.

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