Peace

Well, good morning, Church of the Grow, and Merry Christmas to everybody.

It is exciting to be with you this morning as we continue in our Advent series this Christmas season.

We began a few weeks back and we concluded our series on the 23rd Psalm and we introduced the first Advent candle as hope.

And we we we we we sang this song and we introduced the Christmas season with this idea that hope has a name.

His name is Emmanuel, and his Emmanuel means God with us.

And so I lit the very first candle, the candle of hope, and that Jesus is the hope of the world, right?

And so he is our eternal hope.

And then the second week of Advent, uh, we introduce this idea that joy, joy has a name, and his name is Emmanuel, and Jesus is joy personified.

He is our eternal joy, and even in difficult circumstances, we can rejoice that he has come.

And so last week we introduced this idea of love that love has a name, and his name is Jesus.

And part of the Advent season is we celebrate the unconditional love of Jesus that provides for our salvation.

And so love has a name, and his name is Emmanuel, God with us, and it is Jesus.

And so I'm gonna ask the Hardy family to come and to light the next Advent candle, which is the candle of peace.

And so as they light it, right here, um, I'm going to read out of Luke chapter two.

It says, And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night, and an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.

And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

And this will be a sign for you.

You will find a baby wrapped in swabbling cloths and lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.

And there's that word peace.

That word peace that we're going to talk about today.

What does it mean to have peace?

Because we live in a world that really is disturbed and broken right now.

We live in a world where people are experiencing anything but peace.

And so we blame a lot of that on 2020.

But the reality is that there have been multiple holiday seasons where people will enter into this season, that's a festive season, that's a festive uh season full of fun and celebration and love and hope and decorations and gift exchanges, all those things that are part of Christmas.

But but people will still be lonely.

They'll experience loneliness, they'll experience brokenness, they'll experience pain.

We share that many of us, many of us, regardless of 2020 being a tough year, will come into the holiday season and and we'll experience an empty chair that represents someone that's not around that we miss.

A loved one that has gone on to live in eternity.

Some of us are reminded of homes where we grew up with dysfunction and brokenness.

Some of us are reminded of just pain that comes from living in a fallen world.

And so peace is not necessarily the center of this holiday season for a lot of people.

So, how do we find this peace that God is talking about?

Some of us even dread it.

We dread the holiday season because it's such a reminder of the hurt and the pain and the brokenness.

And so that's why we have to press in and lean in to what peace we're talking about, and what love we're talking about, what joy we're talking about, what what hope really means.

And it's found in the person of Jesus.

See, Jesus provides this peace.

He provides peace with the Heavenly Father, He provides peace within ourselves, deep within our soul, and He also provides peace with others.

And so the peace that we're talking about today, it provides peace with our Heavenly Father, it provides peace for us inwardly, deep down to the depths of our soul, and it provides peace with other people.

And see, here's the deal.

Here's the problem.

What do we mean by peace?

Because peace can mean a lot of different things.

We've got to travel back, travel back, maybe to even even look beyond the first Christmas story where peace was mentioned by the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 9, 6 says, For a child is born to us, the 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, let's say it together, peace.

And so 700 years before Jesus is born, Isaiah prophesies about how peace will be personified in a person.

It will come as a human being to this planet.

Peace will come through Jesus.

And so to understand what Isaiah means, you've got to understand a little bit about the Hebrew meaning for the word peace.

You've got to go back and look at what the Hebrew people and the Jewish culture says about peace.

There's a word in the Hebrew language, and if you were with Hebrew people, if you've I've been to Israel, they greet each other, just like we say hello and goodbye, they greet each other with this word that translates into English as peace.

Anybody know what the word is?

Shalom.

It's shalom.

And so shalom.

Peace as an English translation does not do justice to describe what God meant by giving the Jewish people the word shalom.

Because the word shalom is really it's untranslatable.

It's so deep and so rich, it's so full of meaning.

It describes the peace that God provides that surpasses our human understanding.

It's this idea of all creation being at peace.

Peace within our relationships, but peace that's not just relational, peace that's emotional, peace that transcends into our mental capacity, peace that affects all of creation, environmental peace.

So the scripture says the whole world groans, waiting for the fulfillment of God to bring shalom to us.

And so it's this it's this word that so transcends and and so goes beyond our understanding and our health and security and and the fact that there'll be no sickness.

There's a shalom even related to our health and and our total well-being, our completeness, even to the point of our eternal salvation.

And so he says, hey, you will have shalom.

You will have shalom as a result of this child that is born at Christmas.

Isaiah is prophesying 700 years into the future, to this future one who will bring complete fulfillment, complete shalom to this earth.

And so we we just heard some of the children reading the scripture, Luke 2, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.

So who is it that God is pleased with?

And how do we find our way to being pleased and in peace with the Heavenly Father?

Jesus says this in John 14, 27, he says, I'm leaving you with a gift.

He says, peace of mind and heart.

And the peace I give you is a gift the world cannot give.

So don't be troubled and afraid.

And so Jesus says, this kind of peace, this jalum that I'm going to offer you, cannot be contained in a wrapped package.

It cannot be contained in a celebration around a holiday.

It cannot be contained with the just putting lights on a tree or lights on your house.

It cannot be contained to anything that you would celebrate in a season.

It is something that transcends anything you can imagine, the shalom of God.

And so what how do we how do we navigate through this?

See, Jesus provides us shalom with our Heavenly Father.

He provides us with shalom inside our heart and soul.

And he provides us shalom with our fellow neighbors, our our relationships, even with our enemies or people that are unlike us.

He affects every area of our life.

And so let's start with this upward shalom, this relationship with the Heavenly Father.

I always loved the cross.

The cross is to your left and it's to my right over here in our building.

And it's a symbol of how God points us upward to shalom with our Heavenly Father, and how Jesus provided for that.

He became something that we could never become.

God sent his son into this earth.

That word Emmanuel, it means God with us.

John 1 says the Jesus came.

He came to dwell among us.

He came to tabernacle among us.

And so the glory of God came into a human being.

And that's what we celebrate at Christmas.

And so Jesus is born as a baby, but he lives his entire life without any sin, without any brokenness, and in perfect righteousness.

And so in living perfectly righteous, Jesus became a substitute for you and me.

We could never attain the righteousness needed to be reconciled with our heavenly Father.

And so Jesus lived as a substitute for us in his righteousness.

But not only did he live in our place in righteousness, he surrendered his life.

He was arrested, he was beaten, ultimately, he was crucified, his blood was spilled, his body was broken, and he was killed on a Roman cross.

And so in that, he also is our substitute.

And so we we call in the theological world we call it substitutionary atonement.

And so up to that point, they would have to daily take lambs and animals into the temple, and they would have to shed the blood of these animals to atone for the sins of the nation.

And then on one special day called the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, in the Hebrew life, they would, the high priest was allowed to go into the Holy of Holies and take the blood of a sacrifice, perfect sacrifice lamb, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat that would provide for the atonement of the whole nation.

A lot of people don't know this part.

They would also take a goat and they would symbolically put, place the sins upon the head of that goat, and they would turn the goat loose into the wilderness.

And that was called the scapegoat.

And it symbolically took the sins of that nation, of that people, away so they could be right with their Heavenly Father.

So in the coming of Jesus, he lives righteousness in our behalf and then he dies.

He suffers the consequences of broken humanity in his death and his crucifixion.

And Jesus becomes the scapegoat.

And so upon him, the Heavenly Father places your sin and my sin.

And so the Lamb of God takes away the sins of the world.

And so that's what provides for our relationship with our Heavenly Father to be made peaceful.

The shalom of God to make us right.

So when God sees you, listen to this, listen.

He doesn't see your sin.

Your past sin, your present sin, your future sin is forgiven in Christ.

And so when God looks at you, he doesn't see your brokenness.

He sees the righteousness of his son Jesus.

How can God forgive our future sins because he's God?

You are in Christ forgiven.

You are in Christ made right.

You are in Christ given hope, joy, unconditional love, and you are given the shalom of God.

So that's great, Russ, but I'm telling you, I'm I'm I'm still here.

I believe that, but I'm still living on this earth.

And deep within my soul, I am experiencing the hurt, the anger, and the pain, and the brokenness.

And I'm reminded every holiday, every birthday of somebody, I'm reminded as I look at the world, I am overwhelmed of how fallen it is.

And I'm telling you, not only does God give you the shalom with the Heavenly Father, He gives you the shalom of your own heart and soul.

He gives you healing where you can't find it.

He gives you hope where you can't search for it, where you can't grasp it.

Colossians 3.15 says, and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful.

And so it's this idea of regardless of what your experience in life is, that Christ can heal and he can provide shalom.

I refer all the time, you know, to my story and to my wife's story.

And my my wife grew up in a home where where Christ was worshipped, and they that's all she knew was to go to church and to worship and to and to be a part of ministry and to lift up the name of Jesus, and she'll tell you that her family wasn't perfect, and there was some measure of dysfunction, and there's no such thing as a perfect family.

And then on the other end of the spectrum, I grew up.

I grew up with an alcoholic father that was verbally and physically abusive, and I and it ran throughout my family, and and even to this day, to this day, there's division in my family.

And around the holiday season, I feel like I'm walking a tightrope, trying to figure out how to make sure I don't make this side of the family upset or this side of the family upset.

And so I'm walking this tightrope and it leaves me divided.

It leaves me inside with without complete and full peace.

I look at this world and I look at this year, and I think of what has happened with COVID and racial injustice and an election year where people have different opinions about things.

And it leaves me uneasy.

I find myself having to worry about what I say and walk in the tightrope.

And so, in the middle of all of that, I have to be reminded of the words of the apostle Paul in Philippians, where he says, in chapter 4, verses 6 and 7, he says, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.

And here's what he says and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The peace of God, the shalom of God.

We live in a broken world.

We deal with the effects of dysfunction.

And so God wants you to have inward shalom.

Peace.

Even in the midst of the storm, the midst of the difficulty, you can have a measure of peace that surpasses all human understanding.

The world can be falling apart, and you can trust a sovereign God because he's in control.

And so we have this peace with the Heavenly Father that's provided through our Savior, that's provided through the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And then we have the peace that changes our souls and gives us peace inwardly.

And then thirdly, we have Jesus that gives us peace with other people.

He says, you can be at peace with other people.

You say, well, that's that's great, as long as we agree, right?

No, he he says you're gonna have peace with people who may not agree with you on everything, people that may come across as enemies in some way or manner.

Here's what the apostle Paul says in Romans 12, and and and he and we've got to start here in the church.

We've got to start loving one another here in the church, and then that love will spill out to the world.

He says, Bless those who persecute you.

Bless and do not curse them.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Live in harmony with one another.

Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.

Never be wise in your own sight.

Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

Here's what he says in verse 18, if possible.

So far as it depends on you.

Here's what he says.

It's up to you.

It's the decision we make.

Live peaceably with all.

I think one of the most visible, tangible, observable characteristics of a follower of Jesus is found in how we treat other people.

And part of it may be within our family or our church family.

And then it goes out into the circles of relationships that we have, maybe even all the way to people that we disagree with or would say we don't have the same beliefs with.

He says, hey, as it depends on you, you live peaceably with all.

With all people.

So that that changes my mentality.

I've got to, I want to, I want to represent Jesus.

Hey, it's easy to be at peace with people that are just like you.

The challenge is to be at peace with people that maybe we disagree with or that we're our ideologies or beliefs are different.

We've got to be the example, church.

We've got to be the difference makers.

We've got to decide to live at peace with all people.

And so the Christmas story declares that peace has come, that love has come, that joy has come, that hope has come, and that love has a name, peace has a name, joy has a name, hope has a name, and that name is Emmanuel, it's God with us, it is Jesus Christ.

So it's possible.

That's alone.

A peace that surpasses our ability to understand.

And so how do we how do we get from here to there?

And so the first step is to know Jesus.

The first step is to come to Jesus, is to come to Jesus.

Jesus provides a roadmap.

Here's what he says in Matthew 11, 28, 29.

He says, He says, Come to me.

All of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens.

He says, and I will give you rest.

He says, take my yoke upon you.

Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart.

And you will find rest for your souls.

Rest for your souls.

So it starts with the coming to Jesus.

You say, you say, I Russ, I've never put my faith in Jesus Christ.

Then there's no better time than right now.

Whether you're in the room or you're watching online, you're take your first step.

The Bible says we step out of the kingdom of darkness and we step into the kingdom of light.

The Bible says we're we're unforgiven and we step into forgiveness.

We step in, we're hopeless and we step into hope.

We're restless and we step into peace.

And we put our faith in what I just taught.

We put our faith in the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And it says the Bible, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Bible says he comes and lives inside of us and he begins to change our hearts.

And so it starts with coming to Jesus and just asking and accepting what he's done for us and asking him to forgive us.

And he begins this process.

And sometimes for for many of us, it's it's it might be it might be something that happens very quickly.

For some of us, it happens over time, and he begins to change us into the image and the likeness of Jesus Christ.

He uses that term yoke.

And many of us don't even know what a yoke is.

That's a farm, you know, agricultural language.

A yoke was this leather or piece of wood that would connect two oxen.

And you imagine driving through the countryside or going back into the antiquity and and seeing a farmer plow a field that's pulled by two oxen.

And so the yoke had to rightly fit these two oxen.

It would be best if they would, if they were about the same size.

It would be best if they had the same strength.

And so it would be best if they could be yoked together in the right way.

And so Jesus says, take my yoke upon you, because my yoke is easy.

For some of us, we have been yoked or we have been connected to things that won't give us hope that we think will.

We've relied on substance abuse or addiction.

We've relied on a relationship.

We've relied on some other type of thing that will provide us hope and significance.

And so maybe your first step is to unyoke yourself from something that you put your hope in and then yoke yourself.

Connect yourself to Jesus.

You say, how do I do that?

It's through prayer, it's through putting your faith in Jesus, it's through spending time in the Word, it's through spending time in prayer, it's through being connected into a family, a church family, a family where you worship together and do life together.

And you walk away from the things that you've leaned into that leave you empty, and you lean in and you depend on Jesus.

And so would you pray with me?

Let's let's bow our heads just for a second.

And I want you to, in your mind, I want you to picture maybe there's something that you've been connected to in your life that's unhealthy or it's dysfunctional.

Something that you've leaned into that you've tried to find some hope or peace in.

And I want you to imagine yourself walking away from that and embracing the love and the hope and the joy and the peace that Jesus has to offer.

Picture your in your mind Jesus opening his arms wide to accept you, to love you, to put his hands upon you and to heal you.

To set you free from the demonic forces that have enslaved you.

And to call you into right relationship with the Heavenly Father.

And when we embrace this, that is why we as a church can come and sing songs of adoration and worship to our Heavenly Father.

That's why we can come and say, We adore you.

We worship you.

We thank you.

Oh Jesus, we lift you up.

We thank you for who you are.

We praise you for what you've done on our behalf and for setting us free.

And so we lean into you and away from the things that would pull us down and leave us empty without peace.

We lean into your unconditional love.

We rejoice in the coming of our Savior.

We thank you for salvation.

Ask Him to change you.

Ask Him to set you free.

I want you to imagine shackles falling off that have enslaved you.

Whether it's addiction or thought patterns.

Imagine the scales falling off your eyes so you can see clearly the unconditional acceptance that Jesus offers you.

Father, God, we love you, we thank you.

We come to adore you, to lift you up.

We honor you for who you are and what you've done to make Christmas become significant to our life and the life we've yet to experience.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Would you stand with me?