Christmas Unwrapped - Session 2: Peace | Pastor Phil Holcomb

Welcome to ECB's Weekly Sermon Podcast. ECB is an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

with dozens of nationalities worshipping together. We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website, ecb.asia, or our mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. This is the good news and we want to share it with others and that's why you

see this gift up here. We are in a series right now about unwrapping Christmas. And before we get

into this gift and take a look at it together, I want to invite you to do something that the

church has done for many, many years. What is that? It's turning to one another and extending

the peace of the Lord. So this is how this works. You look at the person next to you

and you say, peace be with you. And the person who is receiving that, yeah hold on, hold on,

says, and also with you. So you're giving it back and forth.

Would you join me in praying? Good Father, as we have just sung, you are worthy.

You're holy. You are so different than anything we know and experience and

we love you. And as we take time in these weeks to, in anticipation,

remembering back to the coming of this fragile, helpless baby who turned the world right side up

and we eagerly anticipate and look forward to your return.

We thank you and we ask that if anyone is here this morning that doesn't know

the beauty of you, Jesus, and have received you as their Lord and Savior,

Holy Spirit, would you be working? We invite you to do so. For any who have received that,

do your work within us. May we receive your peace into the depths of who we are, parts we don't even

know we need to receive it. We declare that you are worthy and we seal this all in the wonderful

name of Jesus. Amen. Well, several years ago I was on a trip that I made to the church and I was

on a trip that I made to Germany to be with a dear friend of mine whose father had passed away.

And I took a few days with him and then got back on the flight and heading home to where I was

living in Los Angeles. And as I found my seat near the back of the plane and the heaviness of the

days it was sitting on me, there's commotion coming down the aisle. And this happened to be a father

son making quite a bit of noise and guess where they sat? Right next to me. Well, shortly after

they sat down, I happened to look over and I saw fresh scratches on the father's face and on his

arms. And he was just sweaty. His brow was sweaty, his shirt was sweaty. And it looked as though he

probably had to run through the airport or something like that to catch this flight.

And not only that, but this boy that was, I don't know, around eight years old was screaming and

yelling and scratching out of his father. It was an absolute mess. Now, fast forward, we take off

and we're going along on this 14 hour flight and things get worse, more troublesome. People begin

to turn around and look at this father with looks of contempt, of judgment, of condensation,

and condemnation towards him. And not only that, but there was food now all over the seats,

in front of me, on the floor, on my lap, drink. It was a mess. And the flight attendants were

extremely frustrated and they said some words in German that I remember from my childhood friends,

words that should never have been said and I won't repeat here. But worst of all in all of this was

just the look on this father's face. It was one of such shame and deep weariness that was covering

him. Eventually, his son fell asleep in the seat next to him, actually in between us. And the father

leans over and he began just voluntarily sharing his story with me. This is a family from Afghanistan

and they had fled the war as refugees and made it to the United States thinking life would be

different. And it was different in some ways, but very difficult in other ways. They had to learn

any language, their skills were not marketable, they were working crazy hours trying to balance

taking care of their family and kids and all these different things. And it was during this time of

transition that they started to notice their son, something was off with him. He was six years old

and he wasn't speaking. He was just yelling and was very unsettled. They made a little bit of

progress with him and they thought, oh, things are going to be well again. And then the pandemic hits

and they're stuck in a tiny apartment, all of them together and the son's situation just gets worse.

And they heard during this time about a physician, the specialist in Frankfurt, Germany,

who could cure their son. So they had taken all their days and they'd saved them up. They had put

all their resources together. They'd even borrowed some funds, flown halfway, the father and son,

halfway around the world to see this physician. They arrive, they stay the night and the next

morning they go to the clinic and the receptionist greets them and says, oh, unfortunately the doctor

has left for the next three weeks and on vacation and so you're going to have to just wait to see

him. With no options, the father and son dejected and despairing, went back to their hotel, stayed a

couple nights and then got on their flight home. This is where I encountered them. And the father

explained during this time that he said, you know, my Muslim Afghani community, when they started to

see that something was off with my son, they shunned us and they pushed us out. So we also lost our

community. They said it's because Allah is not for you. And it was at this point that this father

looks me in the eyes and he says, perhaps God isn't for me. It's this deep wondering, can we go to the

next slide please, this deep wondering that comes out of the depths of our experiences.

And we ask that question when things are not as they're supposed to be, when things are out of

order, when things are not full of peace, when we're missing peace. In that state of missing

peace, we're going to grasp for it, we're going to try for it. And we may taste it a little bit,

but eventually it's going to catch up to us and we're not going to be able to grasp it like we

hope for. And that's where this father was experiencing. He was experiencing

missing peace. God's story in scripture helps us to make sense of this. How so? Well, from the very

beginning, God created humanity to image him, to be in this beautiful, perfect, undisturbed relationship

with him. And out of that vertical relationship, there is this horizontal peace. Everything was as

it was supposed to be. But for those of you who know the story, we don't even get to the second

page yet. And this peace begins to unravel, right? So Adam and Eve make a decision to rebel. God had

given them directions and they said, no, we're not going to trust in you, we're going to trust in

your enemy. An enemy whose kingdom is marked by lying, destroying, and killing. So they switched

their allegiance over to this other kingdom, this false kingdom. And it was at that point that you

see peace beginning to unravel. Now, the biblical language, what they use rather than peace is

shalom. We translate it peace. Shalom is not just the absence of conflict. Shalom is far more than

that. Shalom is everything as it is supposed to be. It's where things are whole, complete.

Take this picture up here, this picture of a wall. It's complete, right? We have all the different

bricks and pieces in place. It's straight and aligned, which means the foundation is there.

There's, it looks like good mortar in between the bricks to hold it together. Now, what I want you

to do is we're going to populate this wall with different aspects of your life so it becomes a

picture, an illustration for you to think about. So if you put your finances up there, you put your

school experience up there, you put your friends, your family, your career, your hope, all these

different parts of what it means to be a person, your health. When all that's in order, it's shalom.

It's wonderful, right? But that's not usually how we experience life. Usually our wall is broken.

Some parts of it are not in order as they're meant to be. So in this situation, you've just

received a diagnosis. Maybe it's cancer, terminal cancer, and maybe the doctors have told you

there's not a cure for that. This brick now becomes a missing piece from your life. So

you're missing peace from your wall. And that may have impacts or maybe there's other impacts. So

your family or your home life is broken, your social relationships are broken, and then

eventually your finances and all these other things kind of break about. Maybe that's not you,

but maybe it's a different situation where it's your family that's out of order. And I mean a mess

where things are not peaceful. In fact, you don't even want to be in the home because of how there's

how much conflict there is in that space. The more broken the wall is, the more desperate we are to

reach out for peace. And the more desperate we are to reach out for peace as we journey along in life,

the more we realize we can't grasp it. And I know this news sits heavy. We're like,

we're celebrating Christmas, Pastor Phil. The darkness that is around though makes the light

shine so much brighter. And here is where we turn. So I want you to just be honest with

where your life is at, all the pieces, the parts of it, whatever's broken, whatever's missing,

that shalom that you're longing for. And would you join this man that I sat next to in asking

that question? Is God for you? If I take all of the different brokenness that is around me,

the lack of shalom, and I've tried everything I can to put it in place, it can be easy to then say,

maybe God is against me. So with that question in mind, we're going to unwrap a gift here.

Sarah Morales, thank you for creating this beautiful gift. She made it and I said,

if I made the gift, nobody would be able to tell that it was a gift. So thankful for that.

This is the gift of peace and we need to unwrap it. We need to see what is inside of it,

all the parts and pieces of it, if we are going to receive this gift fully.

And let me tell you, if you've been walking with Jesus for 50 years, there is still more peace to

receive. If you don't know Jesus, there is great news of peace to be received by him. My daughters

give wonderful gifts and what they usually do on the gift is they have a card at the front and it

says to dad and then maybe something else. Sometimes they give a hint on that gift about

what the gift is going to be. So before we even unwrap this gift, we're going to look at the,

I need to turn the right side up. We're going to look at the card and see what it is that has been

promised to us. What has been promised to us, we covered last week from Isaiah. So 700, roughly

years before Jesus comes, this is the note of promise about the gift that we're going to receive.

And what does it say? For unto us, a child is born. To us, a son is given. We're just saying these

words, right? They're very familiar to us. And the government will be on his shoulders. What does

that mean? That means the full weight of all the responsibility in life is going to be on this

child's shoulders. And he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father.

And what's the last one? Prince of peace. Okay, so we've got our gift foretold here,

our gift of peace, but he's not done yet. He says of the greatness of his government and peace,

there will be what? No ends. Amen. Let's just call it there and go forward. No, let's go ahead and

unpack this beautiful gift and we're going to see the different parts and pieces of it. The arrival

of Jesus's birth actually helps us to understand the true beauty of this gift. So I'm going to open

it up here, not unwrap it, and we're going to look at the first one. For those of you in the front,

go ahead and just yell it out. Peace with God. Okay, so the very first gift that we receive

is a gift of peace with God. Now hold up a moment. If God has arrived on the scene,

and I'm on the wrong side of this cosmic battle, is that good news or bad news?

It's bad news. Think about D-Day, the big huge battle in World War II when the collective forces

are coming through Europe. You want it to be on that side, not the other side. So how is this gift

of peace, this peace with God going to be obtained? Because like this seatmate of mine,

and like myself, and like you, we've all engaged in some form of rebellion against God.

So it seems that when he shows up, it's going to be trouble for us, not something good.

And to add to this, let's look at the Isaiah passage, that card that I read at the beginning.

What has he identified as? Not the King of Peace, but the what? The Prince of Peace.

That's peculiar. This word is one of an administrator, a military administrator

that is coming to cause this thing. So if I am the King, I'm simply ruling over my

kingdom with a certain flavor or dynamic to that. But a prince is one who is coming in,

bringing the kingdom and administering the peace. And the word here is really one of a military

leader. So if you're tracking, you're thinking, okay, this administrator has arrived and I'm on

the wrong side of the battle. How is peace with God going to happen then? What is it going to

look like if I have engaged in rebellion and I'm on the wrong side of this battle? Well,

let's turn to the text and we're going to look at what happens when Jesus arrives.

Familiar passage, but again, keep your eyes open, your ears open to see what God is doing

in this arrival of Jesus. So here's how Luke recounts it. He says, in that same region,

this is the region where Jesus had just been born. He had been born in Bethlehem and it's

the countryside there. There were shepherds out in the field. Okay, we're going to stop there.

Shepherds, they're smelly, they're uneducated, they're outside of the city, and they're considered

those who are likely God is maybe against them. And they would be the first people to be trounced

by an incoming army as a way to show those in the city, hey, look, what's going to happen to you to

instill that fear. So, and in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field keeping

watch over their flock by night. And then angel, which is a messenger, he's a messenger of God.

And then angel, which is a messenger of the Lord, appeared to them. And the glory of the Lord shown

around them. This word glory literally means weight. So the larger I am, the more glory I have.

Think about this with a small swimming pool. If I jump into one of those little kid pools and I am

a very large person, I will displace all of the water, right? My glory is causing things to happen

in that situation. So imagine yourself as a shepherd, and you're in the countryside. And this

man, this messenger shows up with God's glory surrounding him. Well, what is God's glory?

He doesn't have a body. So this is his power, his strength, his knowledge, all of the force

of who God is, all of the strength of who he is, is somehow shining around this person.

And often in the Bible, when glory shows up, it shows up with a picture of fire. So perhaps

this man was there and it looked as though everything around him was on fire.

Imagine yourself as a shepherd seeing that. Oh, Lord, help me would be the response. And so here

we have a shepherd looking out there and he's thinking, uh-oh, trouble has come. The Prince of

Peace has come to administer the way and I'm going to be the one that needs to be taken out.

And so we understand why the shepherd was filled with great fear.

But what does the messenger say? The messenger said to them, fear not. It's easy for you to say.

I'm looking at you and I'm seeing all of this. How am I supposed to not fear in this situation?

Fear not for behold, look upon, let's see what is going to happen. Behold, I bring you

good news of great joy. What is that great joy? Joy that will come for who? All people,

including dirty shepherds, including my seatmate, including you and including me, for all people.

Well, what is that good news? For unto you is born this day in the city of David a what?

A Savior. A Savior who is Christ the Lord. That's good news. That is great news. And here's what

actually happens. This tiny little helpless baby comes upon the scene and you can think of it as

him sitting in that stone feeding trough as an offering from God, a peace offering. And

you can think of it as a gift from God, a peace offering on your behalf saying rather than you

being trampled, I give you myself to take your place. And all of the things that you have done

have rebellion against me. I take that upon my own shoulders, shoulders that will end up being

where I will be nailed there for your sake. Paul says the following in Colossians. He says for God

was what? Pleased. Don't pass over that. God is pleased to come and offer himself for you.

God was pleased to have all his fullness. He's not actually weak. He's not that helpless baby

in his fullness, but he surrendered it somehow and through him to reconcile to himself all things,

whether things on earth or things in heaven by making what? Peace through his blood shed

on the cross. Amen. That's a wonderful gift. Peace with God. That's only part of the gift though.

That's part of the gift. This Prince of Peace, he comes to administer justice and he takes it upon

himself, thereby taking your place and saying, you can now have a restored relationship with me.

Well, let's continue to unwrap this and let's look at the second part of this gift. Again,

you guys did such a great job. The first service, I could hardly get them to speak. So here we go.

Can we read it out again? Peace from God. So we're coming to the second aspect of this. So I've got

my vertical relationship intact now with God, but he's offering something even more. Peace from God.

So here we continue the story and Luke says the following, he said, and this will be a sign for

you. Actually, these are the angels speaking it to these shepherds. You will find a baby wrapped in

swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Familiar words for those of you who have journeyed with

Jesus for some time, but again, let's unpack this. Let's unwrap it a little bit and see what is going

on here. If I have peace with God, that may be just a promise, but my actual life is not going

to change at all. So I could have told my seatmate on that flight, this is the prayer you say, and

then hold on and you'll get into heaven at the end. But that's not the God we follow. He comes to also

bring peace with him. A peace on the horizontal level, a peace that we get to experience.

Now, how do I see this? How do we see this in this passage here? How does Jesus show up?

He shows up as a baby, but not just any baby, a baby who doesn't even have a place to be born in.

A baby who is in a dinky little town, a baby who has been given to a teenage mother to care for.

We just celebrated one of my daughter's birthdays and I was thinking back to bringing her home from

the hospital. Those of you who have held a brand new baby, remember that feeling? They're so tiny

and they're so helpless. They can't even hold their head up. They're like, you got to put your

hand there. It's the number one thing a father needs to learn. And this baby, this helpless baby

is not going to survive any moment at all without that help.

So the savior of the world is entrusted to us in this way. Fast forward just a little bit and this

family with this now young toddler end up fleeing to Egypt as refugees.

This is the upside down kingdom that this prince of peace brings. It does not make sense. It doesn't.

If you were to plan a way to come and turn things over again, this is not it. A small baby in a

manger and then entrusted to a teenage daughter who will then be refugees as they're fleeing for

their life. Why does God do this? Because he is stepping into the very existence of the lack of

peace that I experience and that you experience and that this man on the flight was experiencing.

There is none of us here that says, God, you don't understand my situation. He does. He fully

gets it. And so he sits with the man on that flight in all of what is wrong and he's with him.

And this is how he brings that peace from above to him. It's an upside down kingdom.

But he also calls you to participate in that kingdom. We have a long term ECBer named Scott

Hayden who has taught courses on conflict resolution, peacemaking.

And he does this in schools. He's done this with our business fellowship. He's done this here with

an ECB. And what he's doing is he's helping us to know how to walk in the way of peace, peace from

God. But we have to understand something about this peace. This peace is one that comes at a

sacrifice, a willing sacrifice in the following ways. Jesus says, I will not be a victim of

the peace. I will not be a victim of the peace. I will be a victim of the peace in the following

ways. Jesus says, blessed are the peacemaker for they will be called what children of God.

Well, what are those peacemakers? Jesus teaches us about this. There are those who forgive their

enemies. There are those who turn the other cheek when they've been hit. They are those who give

them the loam and peace of God. They are those who work endlessly on behalf of their king of peace

for that. But Jesus isn't one who just says, hey, these are your marching orders. I'm going to sit

over here and every once in a while I'm going to give you a clap or a hand of applause. No,

Jesus actually did all of this with us. Philippians 2 says the following. I don't have it on the

screen here. I want you to just listen to what Jesus did. So just let the words of God soak in

here. Again, a familiar passage. Do nothing, nothing from selfish ambition or conceit.

But in humility, count others as more significant than yourself. Let each of you look not only to

his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this in mind among yourself,

which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, he took on

human nature, the form of a servant being born in the likeness of man. And not being found in human

and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,

even death on the cross. Is that a trustworthy savior? Absolutely. He is willing to go to all

of those extent to offer this peace from himself. But he calls you to do that with one another as

well, to be people who are full of peace to others. Contrary to the experiences we often have in life,

this leader comes serving, lifting us up and taking our life from where it was and bringing

healing and shalom back to it. Jesus says the following about the peace he offers. He says,

peace I leave you. My peace, not the peace of your circumstances, but my peace I give you.

I don't give to you as the world gives. See, we long after the peace that we think we know,

but he comes and he says, I give you a different peace. So we need to look to him and say, this is

the peace that comes from him. So after establishing that vertical relationship, that relationship

with God where we have peace with him, he now comes launching a new kingdom, a kingdom of peace

for those around you. But I hope you're sitting there and saying, Pastor Phil, I still have things

that are out of order in my life. And loving my enemy seems like a worse situation than before

possibly. And you know, whatever those questions may be. Well, here is where Jesus brings the final

gift. The Prince of Peace comes with the final gift. And what is that final gift? Now it's on

the screen, so we're all going to read together. What is it? Peace guaranteed. If I give a promise,

which we do with one another all the time, I may or may not be able to fulfill that. Not so with

God. God is different. When he speaks, it's as good as done. And when he promises, it's as good as

though that will happen. So this peace guaranteed, let's go ahead and look back to the arrival,

the story, and here we're going to find more details that help us understand this. And suddenly

there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts proclaiming or praising God for the

first time. And they were all saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those

whom he is pleased. We have a promise here. If God is pleased with you and if that relationship has

been restored this way, then what will be your gift? Peace. Okay, but maybe I'm not experiencing.

I'm not seeing here. Well, let's go ahead and look at the story with a little careful attention.

Peace is promised to those with a restored relationship, but there's a guaranteed aspect

that will come later. And Pastor Rene unpacked this with the idea of hope, the certainty of what

will come and we as followers of Jesus walk in that. What do you notice though about the angels

here? There's an angel army, an army of messengers. If a battle is about to happen,

they're going to be running around. They're going to be working hard. They're going to be

sharpening their tools, fixing their weapons, whatever it may be to engage in battle.

What are these soldiers doing? These terrifying soldiers. They're singing like we did last week.

They're praising God. How can they do that when the hope of the world is three kilos,

can not hold his own neck up and is sitting there in a manger with a 14 year old, possibly girl,

as his mother? How can they do that? They should be on full alert, helping with this situation.

But see, they know something about the God that we serve. This was the plan that he put into place

from the beginning of time. When Adam and Eve said, God, we want to rebel against you. He said,

I love you and I promise through you a son will come. You fast forward to Isaiah and he tells Isaiah

write this down for unto you a son will come. And these are some characteristics of this son.

Fast forward to 2000 years ago and this son comes. Everything God speaks happens. Everything he

speaks happens. Peace is guaranteed. So what does he actually speak then? What is it that he

expresses? Well, before we get there though, I want to turn to the last part of our story here

because our shepherds are kind of the key characters besides Jesus in this story. Here's

what it says. When the angels went away from them into heaven, so now the army is gone and they're

left with this little baby, the shepherd said to one another, let's go over to Bethlehem and see

this thing that has happened. Okay, we're going to check it out. We're going to see if what the angel

said was true. So they go with haste and they find Mary and Joseph and this little baby lying in a

manger. And when they saw it, they made known the sayings that had been told them concerning the

child. And all who heard it did what? Wondered at what the shepherds told them. This is something

that was promised to them in that moment. And what do they do? They go and see that it is exactly as

God said it was. Again, another little picture or hint into what is going on here. You have these

angels singing and you have these shepherds who have just seen a promise of God come true. So

again, this is the God that we follow and when we're in this situation where things look

completely hopeless, we remember back to words that Jesus said. What did he say in John 16 to his

followers? He says these words just before his circumstances, his wall crumbles to absolute

pieces. Here's what he says, I have said these things to you that in what? Me, not in your

circumstances, but in me you may have peace. In this world, you're going to have problems.

We're all headed in there. No matter what age you are, things will begin to fail.

But do what? Take heart. For I have overcome the world. This is why those angels can sit there

singing while their Lord is sitting there as a helpless infant because he has overcome the

world, no matter if it doesn't look like it. When God promises that his baby would be peace for us,

he did it. When God tells you to take heart because he has overcome the world and all that

is broken and maimed and out of order, it too will pass away at some point. Peace is guaranteed.

Let's take a look at where those who are in Christ are heading. It's beautiful.

He, God Almighty, will wipe away every tear from their eyes. That sounds really wonderful.

And death shall be no more. Also wonderful. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor

pain anymore. For what? For the former things have passed away. For the present things have

passed away. For the former things have passed away. And he who is seated on the throne said what?

Behold. Look upon. Look upon what is going to happen. The same thing the messenger said

to the shepherds. Behold. Something is happening here. Behold, I am making some things new.

Only a little bit new. All things new. Peace is absolutely guaranteed.

So we return to my seatmate and his question. And I want you again to be honest if there is

this wondering, God are you against me with the circumstances I face? God are you against me?

God are you against me? And this is what we could say to this man on the flight.

After we have just recounted this gift and all of the beautiful reality that is there.

We can look him in the eyes and say Jesus is with you. He knows and has experienced all of what you

are going through right now. The scratches on your face and your arms. The shameful looks that others

are giving you. The weariness that you are experiencing. Every part and piece of this he

knows. He went through that because of his great love for you. And he stepped into your world to

be with you. Why? So that he can repair that relationship vertically with him. So is God

against you? Absolutely not. God is more for you than you will ever be able to know. Behold and

wonder at this. There is great news of joy. But not only this. In showing up to be with you in this

lowly state. He wants you to know that he not only sees you in your son but he wants to actually

restore peace in your own family. I live in Bangna and there is a coffee shop in the same little

Muban that I live in. And at that coffee shop that is all about restoring those who have been in the

sex trafficking industry. Restoring them back to a position of hope and dignity. It's a wonderful

coffee shop. And sometimes when I'm sitting in there this school that is close to us, international

community school, will come in with a group of young kids. These kids are all kids with disabilities.

And there's these teachers that are loving on these kids and bringing them in there and helping

them to learn what it is to sell and buy and giving them tools to walk them into a life where

they can experience greater peace as they grow up. The world would say these are the weak. These are

the shepherds on the outside. These are the ones that obviously God is not favoring. Jesus comes

and he says these are my image bears and I love them and you will care for them and you will do

so with deep profound love because I've done that for you. So I can look this man in the face and I

can say that God loves you and he sees this and he is there to restore things and to bring you into

a greater sense of peace. But I'm not going to oversell this and say that you're going to

experience a healing. Maybe. But maybe not. We don't know. But even with that if your son remains

in this condition and you offer him a little more peace in this life just like we get to experience

a little more peace. The God of the world has guaranteed that everything that is wrong will one

day be made right. That wall that we looked at at the beginning when it's completely crumbled down

and you think how can it be restored? Not only will he put it back together. He'll make it better

than it was at the beginning. That's this wonderful gift that we get to receive. For those of you who

don't know Jesus in this way have not received him as your Lord and your Savior. Don't miss that he's

coming to encounter you right now. Don't pass over that. How do you receive that gift? It's free.

There's no strings attached. There's a bow but no strings attached. If you have been walking with

Jesus for a long time there is more peace to be experienced. And for you it is a living into the

peace that has come from him. Being an agent of that peace to your family, to those around you,

to your neighborhood, to the city, to this country, to the world. And there's more peace to experience

that is a deeper intimacy with this God that we follow.

For more information about our ministry, please visit our website.

And remember to join us next week. God bless you.