Waiting in Peace

Johnston, Dan

Waiting (Advent) • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

Matthew 11:28–30

Peace

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For the second week of Advent, we will look at how Jesus is our source for perfect peace.

Notes

Transcript

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Candle Lighting

During Advent, we light candles as a reminder of where we are

4 candles represent the four weeks leading up to Christmas

Then we light the Christ candle in the center on Christmas Eve

Last week, we started with hope

Both hope that was expected before Jesus was born

And also the hope we have now as we wait for Jesus to come again

Our second week, is the candle of peace

When the angels met the shepherd’s to declare the birth of Christ, they said this:

Isaiah 11:6–10 ESV

6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. 9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

Light two candles

Prayer

Introduction

In 1991, Rodney King was driving while intoxicated on the 210 freeway in LA

He was chased and eventually caught

During the arrest process, King was beaten while laying on the ground

Nearby, George Holliday filmed the event from his balcony

He sent the tape to KTLA channel 5, who showed the world the Rodney King beatings

Because the world was watching, charges were dropped against Rodney King

But four officers were charged with excessive use of force and assault with a deadly weapon

Although one of them was aiding and abetting because he wasn’t there, but was in command

3 were acquitted, one was a hung jury

The results began what was known as “The LA Riots”

Over 6 days, LA saw widespread looting, assault and arson

In the end, 63 people were killed, 2,383 were injured, 12,000 were arrested, over $1-billion in damage to 3,767 buildings

On the 3rd day, Rodney King went on TV to plead with the protesters

He asked the famous question that is often misquoted:

“Can we all get along?”

It’s a great question - one that on the surface we should all agree on

Can we all get along? We all want to, don’t we? I’d like to think so

But the sad truth is the answer to his question

“Can we all get along?” No, we can’t. At least not yet...

Truly, he was pleading for peace - and mankind doesn’t go after peace

That’s because true peace comes from one source, that is God

Sadly, we don’t all know Him - and without Him, there will be no peace

But while we can’t all get along, that doesn’t mean that some of us won’t

Peace is available for some of us today, if we go to Jesus for our peace

And someday, there will be peace for all

YouVersion: Waiting in Peace

Let’s look at what the Bible says about peace:

Before Jesus was born, Isaiah told us about Jesus a little bit

Last week during the hope candle, we read this passage:

Isaiah 9:6 (ESV)

6 For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

When Jesus was foretold, we were promised peace

Jesus’ birth story in Luke:

Luke 2:14 (ESV)

14 “Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Or yours might say the more quoted version, “peace and goodwill toward men!”

When Jesus was born, peace was announced by the angels

Before Jesus died, He said this:

John 14:27 (ESV)

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.

As Jesus was going, He was offering peace

Paul wrote this encouragement to the Philippians

Philippians 4:7 (ESV)

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

After Jesus left, Paul encourages us to draw back to Christ for our peace

Finally, our passage from the cande lighting this morning:

Isaiah 11:6–10 (ESV)

6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;

and a little child shall lead them.

7 The cow and the bear shall graze;

their young shall lie down together;

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,

and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.

9 They shall not hurt or destroy

in all my holy mountain;

for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

When Isaiah prophesied about the future, he said a couple of things

First, the root of Jesse - AKA Jesus - will be the person all nations ask for help

He says everyone will be full of the knowledge of God

And everyone and everything will be at peace

Even lions will eat grass...

Everything about Jesus promises peace

From the earliest prophecies, to His life on earth, to us now, and forever into the future

Let me ask you, who would like a little more peace in their lives?

Sounds nice! We all want it, wouldn’t you think more people would have it?

But we often don’t have it

We have to accept that peace isn’t normal, but it is attainable

Rick Warren: “You weren’t made for the normal life, you were made for the better life. You weren’t even made fore the good life. The good life isn’t good enough. It’s having the goods, looking good, feeling good… The good life isn’t good enough, you need the better life.”

I agree, and there’s something we need to realize:

Now, I don’t always experience peace

In fact, Tash and I were talking about this recently

I’ve had a lot on my plate recently, and stress has been building

She started asking me about things I’ve just been complaining about

As she was very gently confronting me, I started noticing a pattern

In everything I was complaining about, I had a choice in how I responded

Frustration, bitterness, resentment often wanted to surface, but I wasn’t forced to feel that way

In fact, in all of those situations I decided to let those feelings take over

And suddenly it hit me - Tash is a very wise woman and I learn a lot from her

“The reason I don’t have peace, is me.”

Actually, Scripture tells us that God tries to offer peace, and we are the ones that get in the way!

Here’s what God says to Israel:

Isaiah 48:18 (ESV)

18 Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!

Then your peace would have been like a river,

and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;

It’s actually simple, if you have to go to God to get it!

Here’s what you need to know first

The reason I don’t have peace is me

Every time - without fail

But this person did this...

and my boss said...

and my kids are always...

That might be true, but people can find peace in some pretty bad circumstances

If we can acknowledge that we are the problem, that opens us up to finding the solution

There’s good news for you - the bible talks about peace a lot

Some 700 verses talk about peace

In all these verses, we learn there are three directions we need to pursue peace

AND we need to pursue them in order

3 Pursuits of Peace

1. Peace with God

2. Peace with ourselves

3. Peace with others

These are the three types of peace we pursue

Now, I said you need to handle these in order

You might think, “You can have peace with others without having inner peace”

Or, “I know people who are very peaceful who don’t know God”

You can certainly have elements of peace, but not full peace

If you broke your leg in half, I might say, “You need to see a surgeon first, then worry about self care.”

I don’t need to see a surgeon, 5 months later you’re leg is crooked and you limp around wincing in pain

“See! I didn’t need a surgeon…!”

If you want full peace, you have to find peace with God first, then yourself, then others

Peace with God

Let’s start by looking at the most important: peace with God

Romans 5:1 (ESV)

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The only way to have peace with God, is through Christ

That’s why Christmas is so important

Had Christ not come to earth to offer us peace with God, we couldn’t have it

Religions and cultures for centuries were always trying to make peace with God

The Mayan’s sacrificed humans with decapitation and removing their hearts

Both to appease the gods and to feed them - trying to gain favor and preserve creation

You might even say, keep things peaceful between their gods and their people

You may try to make peace with God by doing more, sacrificing more, trying harder, whatever

But the only way to have peace with God is through Christ

Hebrews 7:27 (ESV)

27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.

This peace between God and man was an essential part of Christ’s coming

Show gifts

Gold - represents Jesus’ royalty

Frankincense - has a key word in there: incense, as in the temple - represents His Priesthood

Myrrh - spice or perhaps anointing/embalming oil - used for burial - represents His death

From the get go, His sacrifice was the plan

It’s the only reason we can find peace with God

We’ll come back to that in a bit

Peace with ourselves

It’s the internal struggles we have we are constantly present

Christ actually offers us peace here too:

Colossians 3:15 (ESV)

15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

This peace is essentially emotional

So often, when we struggle emotionally we do one of two things:

We use something external to try and fix it

Oftentimes today, it’s a pill

I’m not saying pills aren’t a helpful way to deal with real mental disorders

But, I think a lot of people with relatively minor emotional struggles would rather alter themselves chemically than trust God to offer His peace

What’s interesting is how often it doesn’t work

17.5 million American’s were surveyed over 10 years

All with mental disorders, half on meds, half not

For those taking medication, there was a .7% increase in happiness

From 2000 to 2014, antidepressant use increased 65%

How come the suicide rate now is the highest since 1970?

We should all be a bunch of happy people walking around in Pleasantville

Hi Bob, how are the kids? Just dandy thanks!

Got my new drugs in me! I’m just so at peace now!

Again, I believe mental disorders are serious things

But if you don’t have peace with God and yourself, all the drugs in the world won’t make a difference

Stop looking for external changes until you’ve gone to God for the internal ones

2. We let our emotions take over

Not a good idea

2 Corinthians tells us to “take every thought captive”

It’s important to do that

Either you take your thoughts captive, or they’ll take you captive

True inner peace comes from God alone

And if you aren’t pursuing His peace first, you’ll never find it in yourself

It’s this idea of “Shalom” the Hebrew word for peace

This is how Jews often greet each other - Shalom Aleichem (Shalom Ah-lake-kem)

It means “Peace be on you”

Shalom is more than just an absence of fighting

It’s an idea of completeness and wholeness

It’s contentment and the idea of thriving

Even when our external situation isn’t the best

Peace with others

If you don’t have peace with God, you’ll struggle having any peace with yourself

If you don’t have peace with yourself, you’ll struggle having any peace with others

Tash has a really nice espresso machine at the house

It’s an automatic touch screen - I press Americano

It grinds the beans, loads and tamps the grounds, pours hot water, extracts the shot

But our cups are a little too small and it fills right to the brim

The first time I used it I grabbed it and burnt my hand, quickly set it down and spilled it

Tash said, “Don’t use Americano, use Mecano”

What? I made a setting that has less so you don’t spill it

A person not at peace, is like a cup filled to the top of hot, burning, scalding coffee

When it’s at the top, it’s hard to do anything without spilling it on everything else

So you empty it out, that way you can maneuver around and not spill on others

Our inner peace is like that

If we’re burning inside with conflict and self-hate and guilt and pride, boiling at the brim

When we interact with others, we often spill over - scalding everyone we come in contact with

So it helps to empty ourselves of that inner turmoil so we can have peace with others

Think about it, the Bible tells us to be at peace with a lot of people

We are to get along with our government, our families, our churches, even our enemies

Actually, Paul says this:

Romans 12:18 (ESV)

18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

But to do that, we must have peace with God and within ourselves - then with all

There’s one thing I don’t want to ignore

You might sit there and think, “I don’t know how to do that”

I get it - in some ways it’s a long, challenging and detailed process

But Jesus gives us a great baseline for that journey

Matthew 11:28–30 (ESV)

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

3 Ways to Pursue Peace

1. Come to Jesus

If you want peace, you have to go to the source

It’s not a pill, a product, a program or a preference - it’s a person

Jesus says, if you need rest, if you need peace - come to me

Movies are great way to veg out after a hyper-focused day

Golf is a great way to calm the nerves outside

The guitar is a great way to release built up emotions

But only Jesus offers rest for your soul

2. Lean on Jesus

Jesus says, “take my yoke”

A yoke is a wooden crosspiece attaches to the necks of two animals

It allows both animals to pull a shared load

When Jesus says, “Take my yoke,” He isn’t saying, “Do all of my work for me”

He’s actually saying, “Stop pulling your wagon full of troubles all by yourself.”

He’s saying let’s do this together and it will be so much easier

I promise you this, His back is way stronger than yours - he’ll probably do most of the pulling

Reminds of my paper mill days

When we did wire changes, we all had to work together as a team to pull these things on

Show image and explain

We would always tell the new guys, “If you slip, don’t let go. Just hang on and let the guys pull you”

I remember one of my first times, I slipped and just held on

All the guys pulled me along with them, didn’t seem to bother them at all

That’s what it’s like sharing a yoke with Jesus

Sometimes you’re so weak you just want to let go

In those moments, I believe Jesus carries you and your burdens until you can regain your footing

The problem is when we decide to take the yoke off

That’s when stress and worry start to overtake us

You know what the big loads are most of the time?

Unrealistic expectations from yourself and other people

You don’t have to - the only expectations you need to fulfill are the ones God has for you

That will affect other people - the Bible tells us how to treat our kids, parents, church members, etc

But the stuff they add only matters if you allow it

3. Allow Jesus to work in you

In v.29 Jesus says, “Learn from Me.”

And the next thing He says is, “For I am gentle and lowly in heart.”

(Lowly in heart means He is “humble”)

If we’re going to learn from Jesus, you think then that gentleness and humility are things we should learn?

Of course! Makes sense...

Doesn’t it also makes sense that the opposite of those things are what is causing our lack of peace?

I’d say absolutely they are!

What’s the opposite of gentle and humble? How about aggressive and prideful

Think about it, how much of your stress and contention come because you are aggressive?

What do you mean? Like mugging people?

No, there’s lots of types of aggression

How about driving like a maniac - does that ever cause problems?

How about trying to move up the ladder at work and you step on a few heads to get to the top?

What about filling up your schedule aggressively and not fulfilling your commitments?

What about racking up your credit cards because you want something now?

What about pride?

Not asking for help because you’ll feel like you’re not doing enough

Not listening to correction because you could never be wrong

Insisting on doing something your way and not considering the needs of others

That’s all pride - a desperate grasping of control

You know what that says? Get out of the way God, I’m in charge

I was talking to another pastor and he was venting

I’m doing way too much for this church! They don’t even know or care!

Why don’t you stop?

If I quit doing it, nothing will ever get done! The church will fall apart

Then you’re doing it wrong...

Sometimes when my stress gets really high, Tash gives me an important reminder

I’ll be venting, “This person said this, but this person wants that, how am I supposed to handle this?”

She’ll say,“You’re not God. Let it go and let Him handle it.”

Matter of fact, here’s a quote slide for you

Tasha Johnston: “You’re not God. Let it go and let Him handle it.”

Seriously, go ahead and hand in your notice as CEO of the universe and we’ll all be okay

The weight of the world doesn’t fit on your back

Closing

Believe it or not, God is in control and always has been

At Christmas time, we remember that Christ came and handled the worst part

Thinking of the future, we trust that that part will be handled too

So what’s our mission now? Live in peace

The peace that God has arranged for us

And whenever you’re struggling to stay there, remember these words in Isaiah

Isaiah 26:3 (ESV)

3 You keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on you,

because he trusts in you.

Prayer

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