Peace
Hope Came down at Christmas • Sermon • Submitted
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Prince of Peace
Prince of Peace
Last week we celebrated the joy that a life in Jesus should bring each of us. This week we celebrate the Prince of Peace.
Peace is not usually the first word that comes to my mind when I think of the Christmas season.
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But the birth of Jesus is supposed to remind us of many things about our savior. One of them is that he is the prince of peace.
What a beautiful ideal peace is. When I say the word peace, many different images come to our mind. Some think immediately of the absence of conflict whether from war or children not fighting or screaming.
Some may see the old commercial of Calgon take me away. Where a woman is removed from the busyness of life with a quiet, relaxing, bubble bath. Some picture sitting on a snow covered mountain with a cup of hot chocolate next to an open fire or on a sail boat in the Caribbean. One of the common factors of all of them is usually quiet.
Even this year in a time where many people are working from home. Many of us have had more family time than we could ever imagine. We still are begging for peace.
Why is that? Could it be we are looking for peace in the wrong places? or Could it be that we don’t really understand what peace is.
In John 14:27 Jesus makes a promise to his disciples and to us. A little context: Jesus and the disciples are in the upper room. Jesus had washed the disciples feet, they had eaten the last supper, and Jesus was talking to the disciples. This should have been one of the most peaceful, worshipful moments in history, but it wasn’t. Judas had left after to betray Jesus. Jesus had predicted Peter’s denial. Thomas was doubting. The disciples were confused. And Jesus laid down this nugget.
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.
My peace I give you. I am leaving peace with you. That is kind of a strange statement don’t you think. I am leaving peace with you. If I were there, and wasn’t already confused, I would have been confused for sure now.
How can peace be something you leave. Isn’t peace something that happens when everything is calm, when everything is working out. When unicorns, butterflies and rainbows fill a green valley without a cloud in the sky.
But Jesus is saying this right before the disciples’ world were about to be thrown upside down. He was about to be arrested, beaten, and crucified. They were going to be scattered, leaderless and afraid and Jesus is saying I am leaving you my peace. HUH?
But maybe that is exactly what they were supposed to hold on to in the coming days and years. The peace that Jesus gave them.
Shalom
Shalom
Throughout the Old Testament the word for peace is Shalom. It is and was the daily greeting in Israel. Most of us have heard the word. We know it means peace, but maybe we did not know it means a whole lot more.
The root of the word is found in many Semitic languages and it more accurately means to be whole or complete. In Hebrew, when you are greeted with Shalom, a better understanding would be: may you be well by being whole or complete.
I love that. That makes sense to me. Peace is wholeness. Peace is being complete. So when Jesus said my Shalom I leave with you. My Shalom I give to you. He is telling us that he is leaving his Completeness, his Wholeness, with us. WOW!
We as believers and followers of Jesus, because we have been given the Holy Spirit, can have Shalom peace. Completeness and Wholeness.
But like so many of the gifts God has poured out on us we have to receive that gift. We have to live in that gift. We have to trust that gift.
Remember the end of 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.
Jesus is reminding the disciples to live in his Shalom, because he knows their tendency and ours is to let our hearts be troubled and to be afraid. So Shalom peace, is meant to combat troubled hearts and fear.
You know that and I know that when we really think about it. When we are truly at peace, we are not worried or afraid. So, Jesus is reminding the disciples and us, that to combat fear and worry, trust HIM.
Obviously, the early church struggled with this as well because Paul had to instruct the church at Philippi how to live in Shalom peace. I think it is a great reminder to us today.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, 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.
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
God makes a promise to us, and he shows us exactly how to receive the overwhelming, unimaginable, incomprehensible PEACE OF GOD. The peace that Jesus gave to the disciples. Completeness, wholeness, WELLNESS.
I love it when things are made simple to me. I actually like step by step instructions. tI actually like IKEA furniture because I know that if I follow the directions exactly I will be able to put it together correctly. I do get frustrated when I can’t figure out which part is A and which bolt is Z, but once I figure that out I am able to get it.
Paul is giving us the instructions for living in Shalom peace in Philippians 4.
Two things before we dive deeper.
1. The peace has already been given to all believers. Jesus did that in John 14 and it indwells us when we are given the Holy Spirit. We need to remember this. We already have it. We just forget to live in it.
2. Sometimes we try to follow the instructions, but we get confused on the parts. What I mean is: like IKEA furniture, we sometimes think side C is Side A and no matter how hard we try to put them together it just doesn’t work. When it comes to living in the Shalom peace of God. Sometimes we try to take matters into our own hand to find peace. We put our trust in things God has given us, but they were not meant to find SHALOM peace. For example, Money, things, relationships, government, people or work. None of which are bad, but if you try to find true peace in them, you will never reach the peace God has given us.
But let’s look at the instructions Paul has laid out for us to live in that Shalom Peace of God.
1. Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS!
We should be rejoicing and celebrating God all the time. We need to give glory to God for the good. We need to celebrate!
But we also can be joyful when you are going through a crisis. That doesn’t mean you will be happy, remember that is what we talked about last week but rather you will know God has it and whatever He wants and has planned for you will be perfect.
2. Let your gentleness be evident to all.
Living in Shalom peace means we are instruments of that peace to others. We are gentle and kind. We live like Jesus. We don’t return evil for evil. We love all. We pray for those who persecute us. We are the peacemakers Jesus celebrates in the Sermon on the mount. We don’t incite anger in others with our words, actions or social media posts. We share the love of Christ.
3. Do not be anxious about anything.
Toughest one for me so you know. I am an anxious person. I worry about everything, but God knows that about all of us. That is why he shows us exactly how we can fight it.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
4. In every situation, present your request to God by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving in your heart.
Give it to God. Give the good to God. Give the scary to God. Give your struggles to God. Give it to God. Lay them at his feet. This is the key to Shalom peace. Through prayer we trust him. I want to remind you of something cool. This prayer can be intense. Remember Jesus in the garden right before he was arrested. His prayer was so intense that he bled. He prayed that God would take the cup of suffering away. He was intensely praying to God. But he ended the prayer with not my will but yours. Basically, I trust your plan God more than I trust myself.
That is the kind of prayer Paul is talking about here. Real, honest, and pure. Pouring out your heart to God and then trusting him.
THEN, the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Don’t you love that!
The peace of God is more than anyone can understand. It will look crazy to the outside world. It won’t make sense.
Again, I want to stress that this peace is here and it is in the hearts of everyone who trusts Jesus as their Lord and savior, but we definitely can choose not to live in his peace.
But it is our choice because God has promised us HIS PEACE.
The final instruction. The most practical part comes in verse 8&9. The how do we keep our focus in the right place part.
Finally, brothers and sisters, 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.
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
When you go through the list in verse 8, and I encourage you to spend some time this week reading and meditating on this whole passage, (there could be no better preparation for celebrating Christmas) notice that all of those things are part of who God is part of Jesus! TRUE, NOBLE, RIGHT, PURE, LOVELY, ADMIRABLE, EXCELLENT, PRAISEWORTHY
Keep your mind on Christ. Keep learning from him. Keep trusting him. Think like he thinks.