Let Us Go to Bethlehem and Find the Peace of Christmas
Luke 2:8-20
Christmas celebrates God’s initiative to reconcile humanity to himself.
Christmas also celebrates God’s entry into this broken world to set it right.
Christmas is were God’s left the glory of heaven, to live and understand what it is like to hurt, to suffer, and to know what it is like to be human.
Despite this great news, many fail to see the wonder of Christmas
Unfortunately this truth has not reached all of mankind
Every year when the Christmas season comes around, life can become very chaotic and stressful. We are pressured to buy gifts, put up decorations, prepare a great meal, and visit family (the list is endless) there seems to be no time to find the true meaning of Christmas.
Unfortunately Christmas has different meanings for different people such as…
Businesses - Sales
For Children – Gifts
For many - Family time
Still others - Being out of school or work
Many Christians who don’t seem to have the outward qualities of peace.
The bestsellers on the Christian bookstore shelves seem to be about anxiety, fear, frustration and depression.
If we would look at the truth surrounding this heavenly event, then we can find the purpose of God’s Peace
a) Life has always been, and will continue to be a struggle. Our Christmas gift of peace is what really needed today.
Two thousand years ago angels heralded the birth of Jesus Christ as they sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” (Luke 2:14)
b) This is crucial because there is no peace apart from God
c) Peace is a gift that restores mans fallen spirits
The shepherds hear the angels proclaiming that with the arrival of the savior, peace is available "on earth" to people "on whom God’s favor rests" (2:14; see Birth of Jesus).
But on whom does God’s favor rest? Throughout Luke’s gospel, "peace on earth" comes to outcasts, disciples, foreigners, any who will receive God’s grace and respond with faith.
Where there is peace, God is.
Spiritual peace is deliverance from sin, by which we were at enmity with God (Rom 5:1); the result is peace in the conscience (Heb 10:22).
Peace with God - Peace in Salvation
The peace that Jesus Christ spoke of was a combination of hope, trust, and quiet in the mind and soul, brought about by reconciliation with God.
The inner tranquility and poise of the Christian whose trust is in God through Christ.
Peace in the Christian Way of Life
In our lifetime we can experience Peace on a daily basis. When the believer responds by faith to Grace, God provides many blessings which can result in great inner happiness.
Isaiah 26:3,4 "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength."
In the Christian Way of life, peace comes through fellowship with God and daily growth
1. The peace of God is progressive
(1) Isaiah 9:6-7
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 increase of his government and peace there will be no end.
a) Shalom (shaw-lome’); safe, i.e. (figuratively) well, happy, friendly;
b) This is a Hebrew mode of expression denoting that he would be a peaceful prince. The tendency of his administration would be to restore and perpetuate peace.
c) As Prince of Peace he will bestow, "peace," implies in its fullest meaning: health to the sin-sick soul; a sound and healthy relation between Man and God
(2) Luke 2:14 NIV
14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
a) The word for peace in the Greek language is iranay. It means, “to join together.”
It’s a picture of two opposing forces that have been separated, that now have been reconciled. That’s what our peace in Jesus Christ is all about.
b) We who were at enmity with God have been brought together by Jesus Christ. He is our peace.
That’s why when Jesus was brought into the world as our Savior, the angels said, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace...”(Luke 2:14).
c) He is the Prince of Peace because He is the One who solved the enmity between us and God. Accept Him and you have peace with God.
2. The power of peace
a) The peace of Christmas is not the absence of trouble.
Christmas peace is comfort from God regardless of our circumstances.
b) Peace rules the day when Christ rules the mind.
Horatio Spafford, a businessman in Chicago, sent his wife and three daughters to Europe by ship while he remained back in the States, intending to join them later. En route there was a terrible storm and a shipwreck during which their three daughters drowned. Mrs. Spafford made it to safety and wired back saying, "All of our daughters have been lost. Only I have been saved."
He took the next vessel. As they came near the place where his daughters drowned, the skipper of the ship pointed to the place where the other ship had gone down. It was there on the deck of the ship he wrote these stirring words:
When peace like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
"It is well, it is well with my soul."
3. The process of peace
a) Peace begins when we are restored and reconciled to God and have peace with God
b) The peace of Christmas helps us to be at peace with ourselves, our past and our present.
c) The peace of Christmas should lead us to be at peace with others.
a) Christmas is a time of healing – Good will toward all men.
b) A young soldier was going off to fight in World War II against the Japanese. As his father put him on the train and waved good-bye, he turned with bitter tears and said, "If my son is killed, I hope ever Japanese in the world is killed!" A year later the son was killed. Soon $10,000 in life insurance money arrived. The father did a most surprising thing with the money: he sent it to the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board and designated it for missions to the Japanese.
Conclusion:
4. The product of peace
Several years ago a submarine was being tested and had to remain submerged for many hours. When it returned to the harbor, the captain was asked, "How did the terrible storm last night affect you?" The officer looked at him in surprise and exclaimed, "Storm? We didn’t even know there was one!" The sub had been so far beneath the surface that it had reached the area known to sailors as "the cushion of the sea." Although the ocean may be whipped into huge waves by high winds, the waters below are never stirred.
This, I believe, is a perfect picture of the peace of Christmas.
The waves of worry, of fear, of heartbreak, cannot touch those who are at peace with God with themselves and with others.
For, as the Apostle Paul says, “...the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Finding the peace of Christmas gives us a reason to sing because peace is renewed in our hearts
