If you think about it, Christmas may be the most contradictory holiday that we celebrate as Americans. The season is filled with contradictions
We wear t-shirts that say “keep Christ in Christmas” while standing in line at Walmart with a 42 inch tv, three legos and socks. We’ve got a manger scene set up next to a Santa statue. And I think that’s fine, it’s just a bit contradictory, don’t you think?
Quite possibly the most contradictory statement of this time of year is one that’s everywhere: Peace on earth. I was flipping through the channels this past Sunday night, I think it was, and the Country Music Christmas special was on and they had Vince Gill and Amy Grant talking about the season, and Amy Grant said how Christmas for her was all about peace on earth. Peace on earth is everywhere.
But if we think about it, even though peace on earth may be a goal, even though it may be something we say, for most of us, it’s not reality. It may be the image we have in our head of how Christmas should turn out, but that’s not how Christmas does turn out most of the time, right?
I mean, for most of us, this time of year is a bit chaotic. It begins the day after Thanksgiving with happy shoppers spraying each other with pepper spray in order to get dance-star Mickey.
And then the chaos extends to our schedules during the month of December with all kind of extra holiday activities. If you have kids, they have school parties and programs. And then there are the work/office parties that are always a blast, right? But just the schedule of events during the month of December is enough to drive any sane person crazy. It’s almost over-the-top chaotic.
And then on top of all of that, the shopping the crowds, the crazy schedule, your family shows up, or you go to see your family. And there are certain family members that you are excited to see, but then there’s the rest of your family. And I need to be careful because all of my family is here today, so I’m not talking about you guys, but the rest of you, you’ve got those relative that you wish would text and say they can’t make it. And you would text them back and say, “Man, I hate to hear that,” but inside you’d be celebrating. I mean, family can make this time of year chaotic.
In all honesty, the phrase, Peace on earth, just doesn’t seem to fit with our Christmas experience a lot of the time. But maybe that’s because it’s not supposed to. Maybe it is because we’re looking for peace in Christmas, or the feeling of Christmas or the experiences of the season, when peace is actually found somewhere completely different. And as we’re going to discover today, peace isn’t found in an event. Peace isn’t found in an experience. Peace isn’t found in an idea. Peace is found in a person. And that person’s name is Jesus.
And that’s who we’ve been talking about for the past three weeks here at Hub City. If you’re new or you missed a few weeks, let me get you caught up on what we’ve been talking about. We’ve been discovering who Jesus really is, and what he’s really like and why it matters to us. Because there are so many different ideas out there about who Jesus is.
And so to help us figure out who Jesus really is and what he’s really like and why it matters to us, we’ve been using a verse that was written 700 years before Jesus was born. It was a verse that was written by the prophet Isaiah predicting who Jesus was and what he would be like and why it matters to us. It’s found in Isaiah 9:6 and it says this:
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.
So far we’ve discovered that Jesus is the wonderful counselor who came for sick, hurting and sinful people like you and me. And since that’s the case he invites us to come before him with our burdens, our worries, our anxiety and our cares because he cares for us. And then we talked about how Jesus is the mighty God. He is all-powerful. That no matter what you’re going through, no matter what you’re dealing with, the all-powerful God sees the things that are stressing you out, that are overwhelming to you, and they are not overwhelming to him. They don’t freak God out, because he is all-powerful. We have a God who is bigger than all of our issues and problems and who invites us to trust him. And last week we talked about the image of the everlasting, perfect father. So many of us have images of a father that’s not all that healthy, but Jesus paints the picture of a perfect father, who loves us unconditionally. Who invites us into a relationship with him.
And that leads us to the last description that we’re going to look at today, the Prince of Peace. Now let me ask you: What do you think of when you think of peace? For me, I think of peace as the absence of conflict.
Monday night, my boys spent the night with some friends. All three of them were gone. It was just Liz and I at home and the house was so peaceful. Why was it so peaceful? There was no conflict. Nobody was fighting. Nobody was arguing. It was a peaceful evening.
For me peace is the absence of conflict. But there’s a problem with that because if you think about it, we live in a world that is filled with conflict. Your home is filled with conflict. We have conflict at work. We have conflict in our relationships. For some of you, tomorrow, Christmas Day, is going to be a conflict filled day. Merry Christmas. Thanks for coming to Hub City Church.
Even though the absence of conflict is what I think about when I think about peace, as we’re going to see today, that’s not what Isaiah was talking about when he described Jesus as the prince of Peace. He had something bigger in mind.
So what does it mean for Jesus to be the prince of peace? I mean, if peace isn’t the absence of conflict, what is it?
If you have your Bible’s I want you to look up John 16:33. We’re only going to look at one verse today. It’s a verse where Jesus says something about himself and about this issue of peace that’s so profound and incredible and powerful, but it’s something that we don’t think of.
If you don’t have it we’re going to put it on the screen, the book of John was written by one of Jesus’ closest friends. And what we have in John 16 is the conclusion of a speech that Jesus begins two chapters earlier where he is giving the disciples some last minute teaching right before he is crucified. And in John 16:33 Jesus makes this incredible statement, this incredible claim. And I’m just going to read it for you and then we’ll talk about it.
John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
There is so much incredible stuff packed into this one verse. Let’s talk about it.
I have told you these things…
So what had Jesus just finished saying? Jesus had just given a warning, or a heads up to his disciples that basically said, “I’m about to be arrested and put to death, but don’t worry, I’m going to come back to life.”
And here’s why I told you that in advance:
…so that in me you may have peace.
Whoa, whoa, wait a minute Jesus. What do you mean, “In me you may have peace?”
This is an insane statement by Jesus because at that very moment, Judas, one of Jesus’ disciples, was meeting with religious leaders coming up with a plot to arrest Jesus. And Jesus knew that within the next 24 hours He would be arrested, forsaken, rejected, mocked, humiliated, tortured and executed. This is an insane statement that doesn’t seem to make any sense: “I’m about to die a horrible death, but in me you may have peace.”
From what Jesus says here, there is no way that peace could mean the absence of conflict because Jesus was about to experience a ton of conflict. Remember that. We’re going to come back to that. That is very important.
But before we get to that I want you to notice something in Jesus’ statement. Notice that Jesus doesn’t promise peace. He offered it. He said, “you may have peace.” This is huge because it means that a person could miss out on the peace. And he says that it is found in him. We gain the peace Jesus offered by finding it in Him.
In other words, we won’t find real peace anywhere else other than in Jesus. And that’s where we get into trouble. We look for peace from all kinds of places.
Relationships. We look for someone else to meet the needs that only Jesus can meet in us.
Stuff. We think that if we just get the latest “thing” that we’ll be satisfied. But that never works. And the reason I know it never works is because you keep getting stuff and you still aren’t satisfied.
Job. Not your current job, but the perfect job that’s out there somewhere. The perfect job is an illusion.
Finances. We think that if we could just get to a certain income level that we’d have peace.
The problem is that we’re looking for peace is places that peace doesn’t exist. Jesus is clear that peace is found in him. One of my favorite authors, C. S. Lewis, said: God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing. Jesus said, …so that in me you may have peace. And then he goes on:
In this world you will have trouble…
Now, taken by itself this is one of those things that Jesus says that we go, “Well, duh, talk about the understatement of the year.” We all know that in this world we will have trouble. We live that every day. But I want you to notice the incredible contrast because in the previous sentence where Jesus offers peace, and then here he promises trouble. You will have trouble. But look what he says next:
But take heart!
Other translations of this say, “be of good cheer.” Another way to think of this is to “have courage.” Why in the world would he say that? He tells us next:
I have overcome the world.
In this, Jesus proclaims an incredible truth that brings everything he said together. In this audatious statement from a man about to be arrested, forsaken, rejected, mocked, tortured and executed, Jesus tells the disciples something that he knew but that they didn’t know. See, Jesus knew that even though he was about to die, that he wouldn’t stay dead. Jesus knew that he was going to come back to life and conquer death. Jesus knew that, even though it didn’t seem that way to his disciples, that even though things were crazy and chaotic and that the world was filled with conflict, Jesus knew that he was going to overcome the world.
And this makes all the difference. This is why we can find peace in him. Knowing that Jesus has overcome the world is what gives us courage. It is the foundation for our peace in Him.
See, peace isn’t found in the absence of conflict. Peace is found in the presence of a person and that person is Jesus, the one who has overcome the world.
And here’s why this matters so much to you and me. You and I, in the middle of our conflict filled lives can find peace in Jesus, the one who has overcome the world. He offers it to us. And it is a peace that has two parts: peace with God and peace with others.
Paul writes in Romans 5:1: Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Sin created a wall between us and God, but Jesus broke down the wall that sin created so that we could be at peace with God.
And you don’t make peace with God by promising to be good or by being perfect, because you can’t do those things. The Bible says you make peace with God through faith, through putting your trust in Jesus.
Not only is peace with God available in Jesus, but Jesus made the way to peace with others: For Jesus is our peace, who has made the both one and broken down the middle wall of division between us. (Ephesians 2:14).
The way we have peace with others is through forgiveness. You cancel the debt that others owe you the same way that God canceled the debt you owe him.
So in light of what we’ve talked about what do you need to do?
Make things right with God by putting your faith in Jesus.
Forgive someone.
Memorize John 16:33
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