Experiencing Peace on Earth This Christmas

Oh, me.

If you have sent or received a Christmas card this year,

you most likely have found at least one

that had this phrase,

peace on earth, goodwill to men.

We sing that too, don't we, in a carol.

That is a paraphrase from Luke chapter 2, verse 14,

Luke 2:14

from the King James translation of the Bible.

It says, glory to God in the highest and on earth,

peace, goodwill toward men.

Those words were spoken by angels to shepherds

right after Jesus was born.

Now, ever since those words were said or recorded,

a lot of things have been written,

written questions asked about that phrase, peace on earth.

And one of the questions is, why?

Why would they say that?

There's never been peace on earth.

You know, the United States has the largest number

of professing Christians of any country in the world.

But if you just look around at what has been

and is happening in our country right now,

peace is the last word anyone would use

to describe the attitude or the mood

in our country right now.

You just think about it.

The coronavirus pandemic has, for now over nine months,

produced one of the most stressful environments

that most of us have ever experienced in our lives.

Throughout this past summer and fall,

almost every day,

a riot took place somewhere in this country.

We've just gotten through with an election,

and almost every emotion except peace

has come out all along the campaign trail.

So when you see that phrase,

peace on earth,

in a Christmas card,

or in a Christmas carol,

the question in our minds,

at least sometimes,

were the angels wrong?

Now,

if you really believe the Bible

is God's inerrant word,

you know the angels were not wrong.

You know that the message that they proclaimed

would not have been an erroneous message.

So I think a better question is,

what kind of peace were the angels singing about?

What kind of peace were they proclaiming that night?

Well, that's the question I want us to answer this morning.

And the fact is,

the angels were not announcing

the end of all hostility kind of peace

that we might wish for.

They were not saying

that peace and goodwill

would be experienced

between all people

at all times on the earth.

The angels were really praising God

for what he was going to do

through Jesus

to bring peace

between himself

and sinful people.

That message is clearer

in other translations.

For an example,

the English Standard says,

Glory to God in the highest

and on earth peace among those

with whom he is pleased.

The NIV says it this way,

Glory to God in the highest,

or glory to God in the highest heaven

and on earth peace to those

on whom his favor rests.

The angels were saying

that God will bring peace

to the life

of a specific group of people.

Look at it.

Those with whom he is pleased.

Those on whom God's favor rests.

On that first Christmas,

the angels were announcing

truly good news of salvation

that would come through that baby

born in Bethlehem.

The message of peace

was about peace with God

and the peace of God.

That's what I want us to look at

and think about this morning.

That's the kind of peace

that Jesus came to provide

in this world.

Look, number one.

Jesus came to provide peace with God.

A good example of just a clear statement

of that is Romans 5.1.

Look at it.

Therefore, since we have been justified

by faith,

declared right with God

by faith in Christ,

we have peace with God

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

You know, the Bible describes

a universal human problem.

We're sinners by nature

and by choice.

You know, the Apostle Paul

goes to great lengths

to describe how all people,

people who've never even heard

of Jesus,

as well as people who have His word,

how all people have really

ignored God

or rebelled against God

and are rightfully declared

sinners in His sight.

Romans 1,

beginning in verse 18,

all the way through chapter 3,

verse 20,

describes that.

I want to do a little plug

for my Wednesday night Bible study here.

We're doing a study

in the book of Romans.

We started it a little while ago.

And we're just getting started

in the study.

And we've looked at,

you know,

what all the Bible says

about why all people

reject what God does reveal Himself,

how God does reveal Himself to them.

We're going to really start moving

in the book of Romans,

which is the greatest explanation

of the good news of Jesus

found in the Bible.

I mean, just a comprehensive study

of what God has done

for us in Christ.

We're going to start back

on Wednesday night,

the first Wednesday night

in January,

in here at 630.

And I want to encourage you

to come and be a part of that

just in a couple more weeks

on Wednesday nights,

about 30 minutes worth of study.

I hope you'll come

and be a part of what

all the riches of Romans

that we're going to find

from the pen of the Apostle Paul.

But the Bible describes

sin as a universal problem.

And I've said on many occasions,

because I think it's the best example,

children illustrate that.

Your children, my children,

our grandchildren,

your nieces and nephews,

especially when they're real small

in the nursery,

and as they get a little bit older,

children just break the rules.

They'll tell you a lie

to get out of getting in trouble.

They'll jerk something away

from another child.

It's just a part of their nature.

No one has to teach them

to be that way.

That was our nature

when we started out in this world.

And you know,

we are now sinners by choice.

Now I want to make a sort of a point

of clarification here.

Everybody is not

just what we would call wicked

and evil.

Some children grow up.

They're more compliant.

Some children you just sort of look at,

and they're going to do

whatever they think will please you.

Some are more defiant.

Some are,

you know,

they're looking for a rule to break.

One of my sons,

he was a real little fella.

I forgot exactly the context,

but we asked Michael.

Played a little game.

Asked Michael.

Things would be better if,

and he filled in the blank,

if there were no rules.

Who taught him that?

His mama did teach him that

by her example.

But really and truly,

it was just in him.

It's in all of us.

The more compliant ones,

they're not being compliant

because of just the goodness

in their heart.

They just have a gentler way.

Some of them learn to manipulate adults.

By being more compliant.

To get their way like that.

We can all look back on our own lives

and see that we have never outgrown

these tendencies

to just be selfish.

Do what I want to do.

The way that I want to do it.

This is a serious problem

that the Bible calls sin.

We ignore God,

or we rebel against God.

We just sort of

close our eyes to him,

or we shake a fist in him,

at him,

or we're somewhere in between.

The Bible talks about this

being a problem called sin.

It separates us from God.

It prevents us from having

and enjoying a right relationship with him.

That's the bad news of the Bible.

But the Bible's main message

is good news

about how that relationship

can be made what it ought to be made.

The good news of the Bible

is that God sent his son

into this world to save us.

That message has already been

announced

in the Christmas story.

It was presented last week

in the great job the choir did.

It's one of my favorite Christmas statements

about the gospel,

why Jesus came.

Look at Matthew 121.

The angel told Joseph,

She will bear a son,

and you shall call his name Jesus,

for he will save his people

from their sins.

Jesus came into this world

to save sinful people,

people who would trust him.

And the way he did that,

he came into this world

and lived a perfect life.

He always obeyed his heavenly father.

He always followed the rules.

When we trust Jesus,

his perfect, righteous life

is credited to us.

But Jesus was crucified

by evil people.

But that was a part of God's plan.

As he hung on the cross,

Jesus became our substitute.

He became our sin bearer.

And on the cross,

God unleashed the fury of his wrath

against sin.

Look at it.

Romans 5, 8 explains this very well.

God shows his love for us

in that while we're still sinners,

Christ died for us.

We don't do a thing.

We enter the world as sinful people.

We live life our way,

instead of God's way.

At some point,

you who are a Christian,

somehow or another,

God got your attention.

He made it clear to you

that you are a sinner

separated from him.

You may have had it explained to you.

The penalty for sin is death.

God so worked in you

to awaken you spiritually

to that reality.

To cause you to want to

change or be changed.

God gave you the desire

and the ability

to turn from the way you were living,

your way,

the sinful way,

and turn to God.

God is the one who gave you

the thoughts and the desires.

I don't want to live this way anymore.

I don't want to dishonor God,

disrespect him any way anymore.

I truly want him to change me.

And God opened your eyes

to see

that when Jesus died on the cross,

he was dying for you,

paying the penalty for your sins.

God so worked in you,

if you're a Christian,

that you called upon Jesus to save you.

You started trusting him

as the Lord of your life,

whenever that was.

And by God's grace

and his spirit's working,

you're still trusting him that way.

If you are not trusting him like that now,

I want you to know

today can be your day of salvation.

If God's opening your eyes,

softening your heart,

turn from your sin,

trust Jesus,

call upon him to save you.

The Bible promises,

look at this,

from Romans 10,

but whoever calls on the name of the Lord

will be saved.

Jesus came into this world

to give us peace with God.

Now if you're a Christian,

are you experiencing that peace right now?

That peace with God.

If you're truly a child of God,

trusting Jesus and him alone

for your salvation,

do you realize that

you don't have to perform a certain way

for God to accept you?

You see, Jesus did all the performing for you.

You're accepted in Christ.

You don't have to try to undo your past.

The penalty for your sin has been paid.

You're accepted in Christ.

I want you to understand,

if you are a Christian,

you should not be afraid to go to sleep at night.

If you are a Christian,

you should have this sense of rightness with God.

The Spirit of God should be working you

in such a way that you know him

as your heavenly Father.

You have a true love for him

and a desire to please him

and do his will.

That peace of God,

or that peace from God,

or with God rather,

is something that we all as Christians

should experience.

And if you're not experiencing it,

there's something wrong.

It may be that

there's some things going on in your life

that you know aren't pleasing to God.

Sinful, selfish things

that you just won't turn loose with.

Well, you'll never know

peace with God

until you confess it

and repent of it.

Jesus came into this world

so that we might experience

peace with God.

But I want you to see

that that's not all.

Jesus came to provide also

the peace of God.

And I think one of the best statements

about that

is in Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

We're going to look at verse 7.

But I want you to understand

verse 6 tells us

that instead of worrying,

we need to learn to pray.

And if we'll substitute prayer,

prayerful trust in God

in place of our worries,

we can experience

the peace of God in our lives.

Look at this.

Paul writes,

and the peace of God

which surpasses all understanding

will guard your hearts

and your minds

in Christ Jesus.

The peace of God

refers to some type of

unexplainable,

supernatural,

inner peace

that we as children of God

can experience.

I want you to think

for a minute.

Who are some of the people

in your life

that you have a real

close relationship with?

I mean,

everybody in this room.

There are people

in our lives.

For some of you,

some of the people

you think about

that are in the past.

But all of us,

we have people

in our lives.

A spouse,

child or children,

parents,

siblings,

close friends.

We have people

in our lives

that we have had

a real close

relationship with

for a long time.

We've lived life with them.

We've enjoyed life with them.

We've shared life with them.

What does it feel like

when you have

unresolved conflict

with that person

or with any of

those people?

You know what it's like.

Don't you tell me

you've never had conflict

with anybody close to you.

Don't ever say,

my wife and I

have never had a conflict

at any point in our lives.

People who say that

will lie about other things

as well.

You know that.

Think about how it feels.

There's conflict

between you and your spouse,

between you and your child,

between you and your parent.

You feel stressed,

don't you?

You feel sort of

maybe depressed.

Maybe you feel hurt.

Maybe you're just angry

right now

if it's going on right now.

If the anger goes on too long,

you feel bitter.

Well, how do you,

how do you talk

to a person

you're having conflict with

like that?

Your conversation is

sort of strained, isn't it?

Sort of cold.

Sort of harsh.

They ask you,

how you doing?

Fine.

What are we going to eat

for supper?

Food.

I've heard that

for 40 something years,

you know.

Oh, me.

Don't you tell them

you've heard that

for 40 something years now.

You know what

I'm talking about though.

Life is not good

good

when there is

this strain

or conflict

between someone

that we do

have a relationship with.

We love them.

They love us.

But we don't

experience the peace.

Now think about

when everything,

when the conflict

is resolved

in a healthy way.

When the conflict

is resolved,

you feel relaxed.

The anxiety is gone.

You feel just

at ease.

You smile.

How was your day?

It was a good day.

What would you like

for supper?

Whatever you would like.

It's totally different,

isn't it?

You let down your guard.

You talk freely.

You laugh.

You just

sort of

share life together.

You go along

living life

together.

Life is good

when those

who are

close to you

and you have

a real healthy

relationship

with them.

And life is good

even in a pandemic,

isn't it?

You know,

no one

in their right mind

would say,

well,

I have

just thoroughly

enjoyed this

past year

with the

coronavirus pandemic.

No.

But I have

heard

and I have

said,

you know,

there are some

positive things

that have happened

as a result

of this pandemic.

Lisa and I

have spent

more time together,

especially back

in, you know,

March, April,

and May.

We ate more

meals at home

together.

And some of you

have a,

this might tear

some of you up,

but I don't

really care.

My boys

and I,

we played

more golf

during the spring

than we have

in a long time

together.

There was just

some positive

things

relationally

that happened

in a lot

of our lives

during the

worst

pandemic

or the only

pandemic

we've ever

experienced.

Well,

experiencing

the peace

of God

means

that we

know

that all

is well

deep

within us

even

when

everything

is not

well

all around

us.

The peace

of God

described in

verse 7

there,

as I said,

is actually

the result

of praying

instead of

worrying.

Look at it

in verse 6.

Do not

be anxious

about anything

but in

everything

by prayer

and supplication

with thanksgiving

let your

requests be

made known

to God.

That was

the first

message I

preached

back in

March,

March the

22nd

when we

shut things

down for

the pandemic.

In fact,

March the

22nd was

on a Sunday.

I preached

that standing

here to an

empty sanctuary

except for

Michael and

Colton

on Thursday.

We don't

need to be

anxious about

this.

We don't

need to worry

ourselves sick

about this.

We need to

pray,

we need to

trust God

and we

can experience

peace,

the peace

of God

within our

souls

as we face

who knows

what

in the days

to come.

That was

the message.

Praying

instead of

worrying is

the key to

experiencing

what we're

talking about

this morning.

But there

is no

prayer,

I want to

make this

clear,

there is

no promise

anywhere in

scripture

that our

prayers will

make all

of our

sources of

worry

disappear.

Paul's

point is

that we can

experience the

peace of

God in

the midst

of our

problems.

Joe Thorne

is a

pastor.

He describes

how God

provides

peace in

the midst

of life

storms.

I think

this is a

good reminder.

This is

sort of the

most un-Joel

Osteen-ish

thing you'll

see today.

Look at

it.

And by

the way,

for those

of you who

don't know,

one of my

goals every

Sunday is to

be non-Joel

Osteen.

Because Joel

Osteen is

non-biblical.

or theological.

Joe Thorne

says,

God does

not promise

to rid

your life

of affliction

and difficulty.

He does,

however,

offer to

give you

the grace

needed to

suffer well.

It isn't

wrong to

ask God

to relieve

you of

your pain,

but it is

more important

that in

the midst

of the

pain,

you rely

on the

promise of

God to

work such

experiences

for His

glory and

your good.

To use

these times

as a means

of perfecting

your faith,

strengthening

your spirit,

and transforming

your life

in such a way

that you are

becoming more

like Jesus.

As we've

looked down

many times,

that's God's

goal,

to make us

more like

Jesus.

God does

not promise

to always,

or even

most of the

time,

rescue us

from our

troubles,

but He

does promise

to replace

our anxiety

in the midst

of troubles

with His

peace.

And note,

Paul describes

this as

something that

cannot be

explained,

a peace that

surpasses

all understanding.

It's a

supernatural

experience

that we

cannot explain,

but it is

something we

can experience.

some of us

in this room,

you know

exactly what

I'm talking

about.

Some of you

in this room

have gone

through a

job,

a family,

a health

crisis.

You didn't

know what

the next day

would hold,

none of us

ever do.

But God

gave you

what you

needed.

He didn't

take all

the stress

of the unknown

away,

or what

should I do,

but He

gave you

what you

needed to

be calm,

to be

wise,

to think,

to make

good decisions.

I've heard

some of you

talk about

that.

Explain

the experience

of having

the peace

of God,

but you

couldn't really

explain it.

I don't

know what

the new

year is

going to

bring,

but there's

going to

be some

kind of

hardship.

There's

going to

be times

of uncertainty

for every

one of us,

and when

those times

come,

we have

two choices.

We can

just worry,

panic,

subject

ourselves to

all kinds

of fear

and anxiety

and misery,

or we

can pray.

We can

trust God

to do what

only He can

do.

We can

seek His

wisdom to

help us

know what

we ought

to do.

And when

we do

those kind

of things,

He will

give us

that supernatural

peace that

we can't

describe,

but we can

experience,

and that

will help

us to

better weather

life's

storms.

Now,

what I want

us to

understand is

this choice

I'm talking

about is

something we've

got to make

in every

situation.

It's not a

once and all

decision.

You can't

pray some

kind of

prayer this

morning or

make some

kind of

commitment.

I'm never

going to

worry again.

I'm always

going to

trust God.

I'm always

going to

seek to

experience His

peace in

every situation.

No, what I'm

talking about is

something that

it's just a

daily thing.

You and

I, we've

got to learn

to trust God,

that He really

is in control,

that He's

sovereign.

He's working

everything according

to His good

purpose because

He is good.

He loves us as

His children.

If we'll learn

to do that

day by day,

situation by

situation,

sometimes hour

by hour,

I truly believe

we can count on

God to replace

our fears and

worries with His

confident peace

peace deep

within our

soul.

The Christmas

story.

Jesus came

into this world

so that we

might know

peace with

God and

the peace

of God.

That's what the

angels were

praising God

about that

first Christmas.

and I want

you to so

respond this

morning and

every day that

we can praise

God this

Christmas for

the peace we

have with Him

through faith in

Jesus and for

the peace we

have that is

His that He

gives to us by

continuing to

trust, to

love, to

obey Him.

Let's bow

together in

prayer and ask

Him to help

us that way.

Father, show

us now what

needs to take

place in our

lives, our

thinking, our

attitudes, our

relationships.

that would

help us to

leave here

today truly

experiencing

peace with

you because

we're united

to you by

faith in

Jesus.

Show us how

we should

respond so

that we can

live each

day, even

in the hard

times,

experiencing

that supernatural

peace within

us.

because we

trust you

that you're

working

everything for

your glory and

for our good.

That's just an

attitude of

prayer.

Not just

listen to the

Lord, but

obey the

Lord.

Let's use

these next few

minutes to

make that kind

of commitment.

Heads bowed,

eyes closed.

Jesus.

Tie

16

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