Here is the manuscript the sermon "And on Earth Peace", delivered Sunday December 13, 2020. Isaiah 9:6 (NLT2)6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
One of the very significant words of Christmas is peace. The hearts of people everywhere hunger for peace. Many pray for peace. In this nation today we pray for peace because of the divisions in this nation. Some have wondered when Jesus Christ will bring peace. They have come to the conclusion that this peace will come only when Jesus comes back in the second Advent. Some have even concluded that Jesus Christ is a failure as a peace-bringer. To take either of these positions is to misunderstand the nature of true peace and the character of the peace that Jesus brings to the human heart.
For an audio recording of the sermon click the YouTube link at the end of this manuscript.
To see a video of the entire service click this link https://youtu.be/YDH4XhmtW0w
Scripture
Luke 2:9-15 NLT Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
Text:
Luke 2:13-14 NLT Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
Introduction
The great prophet Isaiah looked forward by the help of the Holy Spirit and gave gracious descriptive titles to the Messiah, who would be born in the distant future. We hear him say,
Isaiah 9:6 (NLT2)6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
One of the very significant words of Christmas is peace. The hearts of people everywhere hunger for peace. Many pray for peace. In this nation today we pray for peace because of the divisions in this nation. Some have wondered when Jesus Christ will bring peace. They have come to the conclusion that this peace will come only when Jesus comes back in the second Advent. Some have even concluded that Jesus Christ is a failure as a peace-bringer. To take either of these positions is to misunderstand the nature of true peace and the character of the peace that Jesus brings to the human heart.
While on earth Jesus had much to say about peace:
John 14:27 (NLT2)27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.
Following his resurrection from the dead, our Lord greeted his apostles on three different occasions with “Peace be with you”
John 20:19 (NLT2)19 That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said.
John 20:21 (NLT2)21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”
John 20:26 (NLT2)26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said.
Douglas J. Harris, in his splendid book, The Biblical Concept of Peace (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1970), made a study of the Hebrew word shalom. He provided great insight into the rich meaning, connotation, and application of what Isaiah was talking about when he referred to the coming Messiah as the “Prince of Peace” and what Jesus referred to in this word translated “peace.”
“People of Semitic background in the Near East greet those they regard as true brethren with Shalom. If there is any barrier to the relationship, the greeting shalom is impossible”. The root meaning of the word shalom means to be whole, sound, safe. Dr. Harris continued, “The fundamental idea is totality.
God is the source and ground for shalom. Anything that contributes to this makes for shalom, or peace. Anything that stands in the way disrupts shalom”.
A study of the Old Testament’s use of this word reveals that the presence of shalom makes for wonderful community relationships in which people participate in the blessings of God. The absence of shalom makes for war and turmoil and unhappiness.
The word shalom is used to describe the health and well-being of individuals and true prosperity. It is used to describe the harmony that exists when there is an absence of war. Peace is the condition that prevails when everything is sound and solid and stable and dependable and reliable. The term shalom is used to describe the experience of salvation, particularly when the fruits of salvation are health, prosperity, well-being, and long life.
Jesus said
John 10:10 NLT The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
The result is joy and blessing that come from doing God’s will, shalom. When there is an absence of this soundness and integrity in personal character and in personal relationships, the result is defeat, disunity, distrust, alienation, poverty, and misery.
God is the giver of shalom. In the Old Testament, this concept included material prosperity as well as spiritual well-being. Peace could not be enjoyed by those who walked away from God in stubbornness and rebellion and in self-destructiveness.
Isaiah 57:21 (NLT2)21 There is no peace for the wicked,” says my God.
Even God cannot give peace to one who is unwilling to live a life of faith and faithfulness.
Jesus Christ, as the Prince of Peace, came into the world to help people enter into a relationship with God and with self and with one another so that they can enjoy this precious gift of shalom.
What did Jesus mean when he said,
John 14:27 NLT “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.
To enjoy peace is to be in harmony with God and self and others and things.
There are 5 ways that Christ gives us peace.
Christ give us the peace of a clean heart
Christ gives us the peace of a right relationship with God
Christ gives us the peace of a Spirit-controlled life
Christ gives us the peace of a proper attitude toward others
Christ gives us the peace of our purpose for living
First of all Christ gives us the peace of a clean heart.
Christ came as the Lamb of God to take away our sin
John 1:29 (NLT2)29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
Jesus Christ died on the cross under the penalty of our sin that he might save us from the condemnation of sin and return us to God.
Romans 5:1 NLT Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.
As the Lord of life, Jesus offers us forgiveness of sin that is full, free, and forever.
By his sacrificial death on the cross, he has made it possible for us to be cleansed from all sin.
1 John 1:7 (NLT2)7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
Secondly Christ gives us the peace of a right relationship with God.
Until people enter into a faith relationship with the Father God, they experience a rupture or a shattered relationship. In many respects, this is like a broken bone or a dislocated joint. People stand in desperate need of entering back into a relationship with God that will bring inward peace.
To receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord into the heart is to be introduced into a child-Father relationship with God
John 1:12 (NLT2)12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
We need to enter into a faith relationship with God so that we might be declared acceptable by God.
This happens through faith in Christ, and we receive the peace of God. As I said before
Romans 5:1 (NLT2)1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.
In this new relationship with God, we love him because we know that he first loved us.
1 John 4:19 (NLT2)19 We love each other because he loved us first.
Jesus died for us while we were still His enemies because of sin.
Romans 5:6-11 NLT When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
Number 3 Christ gives us the peace of a Spirit-controlled life.
The Lamb of God who came to take away the guilt of our sin comes in the Spirit to be the Lord of our life.
Once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, we get to receive the Holy Spirit at the exact moment we get saved with the Lord, not sometime later.
Acts of the Apostles 2:38 NLT Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 1:13-14 NLT And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
He will deliver us from the power of sin.
Until we are controlled by the Holy Spirit, we can have no peace.
It is only when we let the controlling authority of the Lord of love become real in our hearts that we begin to experience the true peace God has for us. This is in the background of Paul’s warning against seeking to cope with the pressures of life by means of some artificial means. He said,
Ephesians 5:18 (NLT2)18 Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit,
Those artificial means could mean drugs, alcohol, gambling, shopping or anything outside of dependence on the Holy Spirit
To seek help through artificial means, is to worship a false god that will always disappoint. Only through the control of the Spirit of God, rather than under the influence of an artificial means, can we experience true control over our lives. In describing the end result of the fruit of the Spirit, we find that a person experiences both peace and self-control.
Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT2)22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Fourth Christ gives to us the peace of a proper attitude toward others.
This right attitude is implied and is to be implemented by a commandment:
John 13:34-35 (NLT2)34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
Oh, the great inward peace that comes to the individual who relates to others in terms of unconditional love.
Five Christ gives us the peace of our purpose for living.
Many people are anxious about their reason for being. Jesus encourages us to let God do his good works within us that others cannot help but recognize the presence of God in our lives.
Matthew 5:16 (NLT2)16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
They will come to know God through our attitudes, actions, ambitions, and all that we seek to do. This kind of a purpose for being will bring God’s peace into your life.
Ephesians 2:10 NLT For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Christ gives us the peace of adequate reserves for all situations.
A pastor in Oklahoma City describes the financial peace he enjoys because of a habit he formed of always carrying a hundred-dollar bill in his wallet. It gives him a sense of well-being and security. The security that a hundred-dollar bill brings is nothing compared to the assurance of divine resources made available to us through Jesus Christ, God’s Son and our Savior. Paul spoke of this sense of adequacy that came to him as a result of his relationship with Jesus Christ.
Philippians 4:10-13 NLT How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
Conclusion
Jesus Christ offers you the peace of forgiveness that is full and free forever. Jesus offers the peace of belonging to the Father God and to the family of God. Jesus offers the peace of partnership and fellowship in his great work of bringing love, mercy, grace, power, and wisdom into the hearts and lives of people. Jesus offers the peace of his perfect provisions, not only in the present but in the future.
When Jesus Christ is in the heart, we do not have to worry about where we will be for eternity.
Jesus Christ is the peace-bringer to the individual heart. He will work to bring about harmony and peace within the relationships of the home and help you establish harmonious relationships with those about you. He came that there might be peace on earth.
Colossians 1:19-20 NLT For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
The apostle Paul says Jesus himself is our peace. Jesus removed all the things that separate humanity from one another and from God and now offers his peace to others as a gift.
Ephesians 2:11-15 NLT Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups.
Ephesians 4:31-32 NLT Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
We Jesus’ followers are called to receive, keep, and cultivate this gift of peace, which requires humility, gentleness, patience, and love.
Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT2)22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Sermon Audio
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