Transcript
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love the sights and sounds and themes of Christmas. I love when a city is decorated. I love when a house is decorated. I love the gatherings and the gift giving, but there's something this year that I particularly love.
A Peace That Seems Terribly Distant
It is that the Christmas story draws into focus for us something that seems in our world terribly, terribly distant. I want to talk about peace. You know, we've all been saddened by the events in Paris and in San Bernardino, with a Middle East that seems to be on fire with millions of Syrian refugees who have no place to live with a world that seems so dramatically in conflict, so dramatically broken.
And all of that being flashed in our faces in the 24-hour news cycle creates fear and unrest in our hearts. And it seems like peace will never come. It seems like it's a vain desire and a hopeless request. And I love that this story, the story of the coming of Jesus, is a peace story.
Way back in the Old Testament, in historical times when things seem just as broken as they are for us, these words were written. "Unto us, a child is born unto us, a son is given, and the government will rest upon his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
What the Angels Announced
What the angels announced as they sang their song to the shepherds was peace. You need to look into that manger and see the coming of the Prince of Peace. You see, God was not satisfied with the horrible, terrible brokenness of his world. The war of sin everywhere around that breaks families and breaks nations and breaks the rest in our hearts, God was not satisfied with that, so He sent His Son. He sent His Son to bring peace.
Now, how does He do that? Well, first, to bring peace to us, peace in our hearts, peace that is the result of the deepest form of unrest in our hearts. Why are our hearts at such unrest? Because our hearts will only find their rest when they find their rest in Him. And so, Jesus came to bridge the gap between us and God, to break the conflict between us and God, so that we would know peace with God.
And you see, that peace with God is meant to do a second thing. It's peace with God that is meant to create peace between us. You see, the only hope of real human peace is that my heart is no longer driven by greed and driven by power and driven by lust and driven by control. I'm no longer in the center of my world, that my heart is at rest, that I found what satisfies me and so, I can now love you. I'm not afraid of you. I'm no longer competing with you. I no longer need to rule you. I can be at rest with you.
Where Is That Peace?
From beginning to end, this Christmas Story is a peace story. You say, "Well, Paul, where is that peace?" Well, we only will know that in pockets in the here and now, where God helps us to have peace in a relationship or peace in a marriage, or moments of national or international peace.
But know this, peace is coming. Peace is God's ultimate destination for us, that He will welcome us into a place where peace will reign unbroken, unchallenged, forever and ever and ever. That peace is God's guarantee to every one of his children. That peace is why Jesus came.
Now in between, here's what you need to understand - that that future peace is a guarantee that God will provide for you all the grace you need to live in a world that is not at peace. Future grace is God's guarantee of present grace. And so, the Christmas story is not just a promise of a future. The Christmas story is for today.
The Prince of Peace Comes to Give Us Rest
The Prince of Peace comes to us to give us rest in a world that's not at rest, to give us peace in a world that has no peace, to give us hope when hopelessness seems the rule of the day. He does that because He came as the Prince of Peace. The Prince of Peace is not just your future hope. The Prince of Peace is with you today. He knows what you're going through and He's invading your life by His grace so that you would know rest, not because life is easy, not because people like you, not because war has ended, but because Jesus is alive and He has invaded your life by His grace.
I love Christmas because it's a peace story and look into that manger. Don't just see the baby Jesus, see the Prince of Peace, who has come to give peace and establish peace forever. Now, that's good news in a world that's torn by conflict.
