Father of Heaven and Universe beyond, creator of all that is good and wholesome, Lord today we humble come seeking your peace of mind, body, and soul. Father, please teach us to be more like you, in forgiveness and grace. For when we are, this world will know what peace really is! In your some Jesus Christ’s holy and precious name, Amen!
Message: The Peace of Jesus, Will overcome All!
Welcome all to this second Sunday of Advent, which is dedicated to the idea of the Peace of God transcending of us in mind, body, and soul in His time. But what does all of this mean? Advent, Incarnation, and the Manifestation of God? And what the heck do I mean by “Peace” in my mind, body and soul?
How can there be any peace in a world that seems to ignore, refute, and outright deny the very concept of or hope for Peace? Our Lord himself spoke to this when speaking about His mission and purpose. Reading Matthew 10:33-35:
33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-
So much for peace on earth good will to men! But that is not the end in this matter, only the beginning. My thought, and that’s all it is. Your job is to do the heavy lifting and think for yourself with the Lord as your anchor. My thought is that the world is that this world is much like the great void spiritually, before God brought order and form to the universe as we know it the book of Genesis.
That when we people of good will attempt to bring our good will, hope and love to the forum of public discussion, in order to help and serve others, or:
to proclaim good news to the poor.
or: to bind up the brokenhearted,
or: to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
or:2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
or: to comfort all who mourn,
The world in its fleshiness of sin, its depravity, and it’s fallen nature, wants to push back. So, when Christ in his purity brings His peace to you and I, and the rest of the family of God, the debauched nature of this fallen place, reverberates in rebellion from the very gates of that attitude’s origin… in Hell. Because anarchy hates order, bedlam hates calm, and selfishness, envy, and fear: know nothing of peace.
Well, that’s certainly a cherry note for the Holidays! But wait there’s more. You and I, are destined for peace at some point in our future, when we are glorified with our God. I would submit to you that we were made for peace, but struggle with it as we struggle with the ideas of faith, hope, and love, due to our fallen nature. It is God’s Holy Spirit living within us, that allows us to begin to comprehend what the Peace of God is!
I would say that we are to try to follow in the path forged by John the Baptist, and his earthly mission. To give to an idea of John’s intended life, please let me read to you from Luke 1:59-79:
59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60 but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”
61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”
62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.” 64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. 65 All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. 66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him.
67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
*Now here is John’s father’s blessing and prophesy known as,Zechariah’s Song:
68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David
70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
71 salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us—
72 to show mercy to our ancestors
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
and to enable us to serve him without fear
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High:
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
79 to shine on those living in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.” …
You see, we are made for peace, but face a life of living in a fallen world of selfishness, envy, and fear… We are afforded the tools by our great and glorious God, to rise above those worldly impediments, because your God, loves you, in spite of you. This whole Christmas season in intended to remind each of us of that very fact!
On Christmas eve, we will read Luke 2:13-14:
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
To remind you and me of our Lord’s mission. That the Incarnation of Christ (God with us, God among us), is the work of our incredible God, rebuilding the bridges to Him, that humanity has burned down through sin and rebellion.
Yes, you and me, were made for peace, and our God who loves us and wants the best for us, brings us peace at the end of our activities in life, when we pass from this dimension of our existence. Jesus offers us, His family in God His peace, and to validate my statement, I’ll read from Luke 24:35-37:
35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.
This took place during Christ’s resurrection, as our Lord continued to instruct His disciples until His ascension into Heaven.
So again, what does the Lord mean by His bringing the sword and not peace into the world that I quoted from Matthew 10:33-35 earlier? My thought, you have to pray about this with the Lord and chew it over for yourselves. My thought is that just like when God is coming with vengeance to judge the world, it’s the world that needs to fear His justifiable actions of retribution. Not those who love God. Those who as Micah 6:8 spoke of:
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
That talk throughout scripture: of vindication, vengeance, and retribution, … is our God letting us know: that God has your back. God is going to make right all of the junk the world has dumped in your lap! Our job is to love our God with all we have and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Beginning with letting God pick your neighbors, cuz He’s better at it!
And after you have come to the conclusion that God has your back, and that we should have a fear in our lives. The fear that we are going to let God and our family in God, the Body of Christ down by not being happy workers of the Christian Day.
When all of this begins to resonate within each of us, we are now ready to apply the teaching of Jesus into our day to day lives. Because as I said earlier: we were made for peace, by mastering the war raging within. Even in a fallen world, we can be the authors of peace to the people in our lives, by being more like our Lord and walking in His footsteps of grace. Please let me read to you out of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:8-10:
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
You see, when we act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God, we actually grow in our love for God and other people. It becomes easier to be a peacemaker, when you are taking your ques from the Prince of Peace!
Which brings us back to where we began this morning with our Message Reading from Isaiah 9:2-7:
2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light:
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
*And you my beloved family, get to be a part of that light! Continuing now with God’s actions at verse 3:
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy:
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
**Interrupting to say: because only God is the ultimate provider of peace. When we are peacemakers, we are working for Him who has anointed, commissioned us to that task at hand. Continuing now verse 6:
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
Your accepting the Lord God into your hearts and responding accordingly, will aid the Lord by being one of His tools in God’s spiritual toolbox. This will be how God brings light into the darkness we now find, in much of our world this Christmas season.
May this Advent (the Big Event) be a source of coming together for each of you. Even in the midst of chaos, anarchy, and even Helter Skelter, our God can and will calm the storms of your inner being. May the Peace you seek, be the Peace that Christ provides to all in his family, each in different and unique ways that make each of our relationships in Him incredibly one of a kind. Then we will all understand a little better that: The Peace of Jesus, Will Overcome All!
Amen!