Peace on Earth?
We’re getting closer and closer to Christmas Day and for a lot of us that means life is getting crazier and crazier! There’s all the presents to be bought, wrapped, and put under the tree. And then you’re either making travel plans or you’re getting the house ready to host the family for Christmas. I’m not sure which is easier!
It’s about this time of year you hear songs about Joy to the World and Peace on Earth but you begin to wonder about that.
Joy? Maybe. It’s fun to watch those you love open their gifts.
Peace? Not so sure about that! This is the most chaotic time of the year!
But what if I told you…
Peace is possible.
Peace is not passive, it is not easy, but it is possible.
You might not believe me because there are like a 1000 Christmas parties to go to, there’s all the shopping and preparing and cooking and going and it’s just a lot! We love it, but it’s a lot.
It reminds me of that scene from the movie Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase. The house is full of all their family and it’s complete chaos. Clark Griswald’s wife, Ellen, is in the kitchen with her daughter Audrey trying to work on dinner. With all the chirping and complaining and noise and stress they get to the point where neither of them can hardly take it anymore. Finally Ellen looks at Audrey and says…
“Well, I don’t know what to say, except it’s Christmas and we’re all in misery.” — Ellen Griswold
Check the Fluids
We’ve all been there! And we wonder… is PEACE really possible?
Peace is possible.
Peace is not passive, it is not easy, but it is possible.
But if that’s true, how do we find peace? How do we have peace?
A few weeks ago I took my truck in for an oil change. This isn’t a Christmas story but hang with me, I think you’ll see my point.
While I had it at the mechanic I asked them to look at another issue I was having. I’m not a mechanic and I know next to nothing about cars or car repair. You should know that about me. But I had noticed that there was this sort of sloshing sound in the dash of my truck when I was driving. My truck was driving fine but I was thinking… that’s not normal. So I asked them to check it out.
Long story short, they call me and tell me they think they have it figured out and of course, the repair is going to be well over a $1000! I don’t want the problem to get worse so I tell them to go ahead and fix it. Well, they didn’t fix it. I took it back three times, still not fixed.
Fast forward a few weeks, now the temperature has dropped and it’s cold outside. I dropped my girls off for school one morning and after I dropped them off my heater stopped working. I don’t want to take it back in to the mechanic, so I turned to the experts on Google and YouTube.
Turns out, the most likely scenario is that I’m low on coolant. I stop by an AutoZone, buy a $20 bottle of coolant, and 5 minutes later not only is my heater fixed but that problem that I paid over $1000 for is fixed too!
So what’s the moral of the story?
Sometimes we look for all kinds of explanations and all kinds of solutions to the problems we’re facing. We’ll spend all kinds of money trying to make it better (or make it go away!). BUT sometimes… maybe we just need to stop and check the fluids. The basics.
The problems we face in this life are real, and they are heavy, and I don’t want to make light of what you may be going through. But if there is any disquiet in your soul, if you are lacking peace, if things just simply are not the way they are supposed to be, perhaps that’s an indicator to stop and check the fluids.
If you had a check engine light for your soul it might be signaling to you that you need to check under the hood of your heart and see, where am I running low? What needs to be refilled or topped off? What’s out of alignment?
And the question that may be the question under every other question…
Are you at PEACE?
Peace is possible.
Peace is not passive, it is not easy, but it is possible.
2000 years ago when Jesus made His entrance into the world and was born in Bethlehem, do you remember the song the angels sang in the shepherd’s field that night?
“Glory to God in highest heaven,
and PEACE on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
Luke 2.14
Jesus came to make PEACE on earth.
We’ve talked about this word peace before, but just as a reminder, the biblical idea of peace is not just the absence of conflict. We pray for peace when war breaks out.
This year we’ve been praying, and rightfully so, for peace in Ukraine. And what we’re praying for is for the conflict to end! And that’s right and that’s good and we should absolutely pray for that. But the biblical idea of peace goes beyond just the idea of the absence of conflict.
The Hebrew word for peace is the word Shalom and it means universal flourishing, wholeness, it’s the way things are supposed to be.
How Does God Make Peace?
So how does God make peace? Because right now, things in the world are not the way they are supposed to be.
And maybe things in your life are not the way they are supposed to be either. Maybe the check engine light is on and you know you are not at peace with yourself, with others, or with God.
Maybe, like Ellen, you’re thinking… “Well, I don’t know what to say, except it’s Christmas and we’re all in misery.”
Maybe what you lack is peace, real Peace.
If peace is possible, how do we find peace? How do we have peace?
Not long after Jesus ascended to Heaven, churches started forming. First in Jerusalem, and then from there churches started forming all across Israel, Samaria, Greece, and modern day Turkey.
Many of these churches were started or heavily influenced by the Apostle Paul. And what Paul wanted for every church every where was for us, as followers of Jesus, to have peace. You see this in his letter to the Colossians. At the end of chapter 1 he writes this…
“For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made PEACE with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.”
Colossians 1.19-20
According to Paul, Peace is possible. It is not passive, it is not easy, but it is possible.
How did God make peace? How did God make things they were always supposed to be? How did God set things right and make things new again?
He made PEACE with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
Christ came, Christ lived among us, Christ died for us, Christ was buried and then was resurrected for us, and then He ascended and is currently interceding for us…
WHY? Because Jesus is a PEACEMAKER.
How did Jesus make PEACE? By His blood shed on the cross for you and for me!
It wasn’t passive, it wasn’t easy, but peace was made possible by the shedding of the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
The Problem with Sin & the Power of Forgiveness
You see, sin is the problem when it comes to peace.
Sin separates. Sin divides. Sin puts us in conflict, at war. Whenever sin is present things are not the way they are supposed to be, there is no flourishing, things are not well and things are not whole.
But where there is forgiveness of sin there is PEACE. Where there is forgiveness things can be the way they were always intended to be. Where there is grace there is flourishing, wholeness, and love.
This is precisely why, when you turn the page and you get to Colossians 3, Paul writes this….
“Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the PEACE that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in PEACE. And always be thankful.”
Colossians 3.14-15
Peace is possible.
It is not passive, it is not easy, but it is possible.
Peace is possible when the peace that comes from Christ rules within your heart.
So maybe the question is,
Does the peace that comes from Christ rule in your heart?
Paul wants this church to live in PEACE. But that can only happen for the church collectively when we, individually, allow the PEACE of Christ to rule within our hearts.
Our Prince of Peace
Centuries before Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians, the prophet Isaiah spoke of this plan when he prophesied:
“For a child is born to us,
a 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 Peace.”
Isaiah 9.6
What’s the plan? Jesus.
Who is Jesus? He is the Prince of Peace.
Peace is possible.
It is not passive, it is not easy. But it is possible.
Peace on Earth came in the form of a child who was born in a manger, lived among us for some 33 years, and then suffered and died for you and for me. Jesus is the Prince of Peace and Jesus is our Peacemaker. He made peace when he sacrificed His life as the Lamb of God for you and for me. In that moment he reversed everything that went wrong. In that moment the power of sin was undone.
How?
…through [JESUS] God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made PEACE with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
Now, we are alive together with Christ. Now, we have been raised with Christ through our baptism into new life. Resurrection life. And now, Jesus has ascended to Heaven and we are seated with HIM in the presence of the Father! – Ephesians 2.4-6
Jesus is Peace.
Jesus is not passive, the path to Peace was not easy. But because of Jesus PEACE it is possible.
It’s possible in and through Jesus, our Prince of Peace!
Maybe what you need this Christmas is a little peace. If so, here’s how you find Peace, real Peace.
It all begins with the Prince of Peace.
Check Your Check Engine Light
Perhaps the first step for you is to simply check under the hood of your heart. Check the check engine light on your soul and ask the question…
Where am I running low? What’s out of alignment?
If you’re anything like Ellen in Christmas Vacation, as soon as she said, “Well, I don’t know what to say, except it’s Christmas and we’re all in misery,” she lit up a cigarette. Why?
This is what we do isn’t it? When we’re not at peace we look to self sooth. We have all kinds of self soothing behaviors we use in an attempt to have a moment of peace. And we can always explain away our bad habits and vices.
Smoking. Alcohol. Lust. Gaming. Binge Watching. Scrolling social media. Shopping. Buying. Over-spending. Over-working. Over-eating. The list goes on and on and is way to familiar. All of them promise an escape but none of them can deliver what we really need: PEACE.
If you’re like Ellen and you’re living in misery it’s probably not because all of the people in your house or in your life who are driving you crazy. It’s probably because you are not at peace within yourself. And you can’t tackle the major issues around you if you don’t take care of your basic needs within you as a human being first.
The good news is that Christmas gives you a chance to push pause and remember your reason for peace. To reconnect with the Prince of Peace.
This kind of peace is possible for you and for me.
Peace is possible when we center our lives on the Prince of Peace.
Center Your Life on Peace
How do you do that?
It looks the same and it looks different for every one. But there are no shortcuts to centering your life on PEACE.
Here’s what’s interesting though, the world around you can be in chaos but you don’t have to be. You can be in the middle of a storm but all can be well within your soul. When you walk daily with the Prince of Peace you’ll experience Life as it was always meant to be.
When you take time to pray, when you spend time in God’s word, when you reflect on His goodness, when you see Him in others, when you realize He’s closer to you than your next breathe, that you never walk alone, that He is with you, He is for you, and He is near… you can live in peace.
Things around you may be crazy, but things within you are the way they are supposed to be. You experience a life flourishing in Christ. You are whole in your relationship with Christ. You are at peace.
Every year we’re reminded that we live in a world that suffers from division, fighting, war, brokenness, and constant conflict. We see this warring between countries, we see the conflict and tension in our own country, we even see division within the church.
Maybe what we need this Christmas is a little peace. Not just a ceasefire. But real peace. Things being made the way they were always supposed to be. Reuniting. Restoration. Healing. And forgiveness.
In order to find this kind of peace we have to find the origin of peace. The good news is that Christmas reminds us of the true source of peace. It’s found in Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Want more from this Series… Click here.
