Just for a few moments, I want to talk about the missing peace at Christmas. The missing peace at Christmas. I’m thinking about Luke 2 in 8 through 14. Let me read the text. “Now, there were, in the same country, shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were greatly afraid. Then, the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born into you this day in the City of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord, and this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly, there was, with the angel, a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth and goodwill toward man.'”
Bart Ehrman is a best-selling author. He’s a professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. And he’s made a name for himself and he’s made a small fortune questioning the gospels concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. He questions their accuracy, he questions their authenticity. And just recently, I read. In one particular meeting, he was asked, given his skepticism, what would it take to get you to believe in Jesus? His answer was simple but revealing. If Jesus had fulfilled his promise to bring peace on earth. Now, I want to take that statement because the skeptic, Bart Ehrman, gives voice to the problem that many people have with Jesus even around Christmas. He was the supposed Prince of Peace, but He didn’t seem to deliver.
When the angels announced His birth, they told us he would bring peace on earth. We just read it in Luke 2:14. And yet, here we are, 2,000 years later, wars still rage. People still hate other people. Domestic violence still happens. Injustice still exists and people still fear. In fact, here we are at Christmas. And if you’ve been following the news, there’s a church in Bethlehem, the very place that Jesus was born, and they have created a Nativity scene out of broken bricks and rubble, and have set the baby Jesus amidst the rubble. Signifying that this Christmas 2023 in Bethlehem and in the Middle East, there is no peace.
Children are dying both sides of this conflict. But I want to take issue with the issue that Bart Ehrman has concerning Jesus’ promise of peace. Because unlike him, I do believe that Jesus delivered. He has. He does. He will. If you read the biblical text, and we’ll spend a few minutes in it, you’re going to see that Jesus has delivered peace with God through what He did on the cross.
Jesus does deliver peace to the human heart as He walks life with you and with me. And Jesus will deliver peace in the coming day when He returns and the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and Savior. Let’s just run with that for a few minutes. This heavenly peace with God, this heart peace with His presence within this historic peace in the future.
Let’s begin with the heavenly peace. See, the Bible wants you and I to know that the horizontal dysfunction, all the division we see, people at war with themselves, people at war with others, people with war with the environment around them, that horizontal dysfunction is the result of a vertical disconnect. The reason we don’t enjoy peace today isn’t because God abandoned us, it’s because we abandoned God. That first man disobeyed God’s command and we have all sinned and fallen short of his glory. That’s why we’re at war with ourselves. That’s why we’re at war with others. That’s why we’re at war with the environment around us.
In fact, the Bible tells us in Romans 8:7 that there is an enmity and a hostility within the heart of man towards God. We won’t submit to his leadership. We won’t bow to his authority. We won’t keep his law. We won’t serve his kingdom. But Jesus came to fix that. That’s where Bart Ehrman’s wrong. Jesus did deliver on the promise of peace, but it started on the vertical axis. He came to reconnect us to God. He came to bridge the gap that our sin had created. He came to reconcile us to the God of peace, so that we might know peace in our hearts and within history.
I mean, read Isaiah 53:5 speaking of Jesus’ death on the cross. The Bible says, “He was wounded for our transgressions and the punishment of our peace was put on Him.” Colossians tells us that He made peace through the blood of His cross. Jesus’ death on the cross was an act to secure the forgiveness of our sin, so that we might know the God of peace. Ephesians 2:14 tells us, “He is our peace.” 2 Corinthians 5:19 says, “That God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.” God didn’t abandon us. We abandoned Him. But even when we abandoned Him, He didn’t abandon us and He sent His son into the world to reconcile us to Himself.
The word peace in the Greek is a word that means to join together. See, that’s what Jesus came to do. Before we look at the world on a horizontal level, there’s got to be a peace established on the vertical level. And Jesus came to do that. He came to join us to God, the God that we have walked away from, run from, the God we have abandoned, the God we disagree, disobey, the God we want to serve us rather than us serve Him. Matthew Henry, the great Puritan said, “Sin breeds a quarrel between God and man and Jesus came to take the quarrel up and bring it to an end.” Peace on earth begins with people on earth laying down their hostility towards God and trusting His son. And finding peace with God through faith in the Lord Jesus. Amen?
Amen.
Then, there’s a second peace. He not only promises a heavenly peace with God, He promised us a heart peace. A peace that can deal with life in all its complexities and chaos, a peace that survives the cancer ward, a peace that can look into a grave and stand in the presence of death and abide. Jesus offers that peace, that internal peace, that sense of calm, that shalom of the heart. See, shalom isn’t just the absence of conflict. Shalom is the presence of well-being.
And when you and I come into our relationship with God through faith in the Lord Jesus, He then enters our lives. He dwells within us and He speaks peace. Jesus said in John 14:27. How beautiful is this? “My peace I give to you.” Not as the world gives, “Give unto to you.” Philippians 4:6 to 7 says, “Don’t be anxious about anything but pray. Go to God. Give Him your burdens. Ask for His help. Seek His grace. Give thanks to Him and the peace of God will invade your heart.” The peace of God will act like a soldier guarding the entrance to your heart.
Don’t you love that story in John 20? When the disciples after Jesus’ resurrection are in a room, they’re hiding, they’re fearful, they’ve locked the door, and the risen Christ comes to them. And He comes through the door and it says, “And he said, ‘Peace.'” What a wonderful picture. My friend, if you open the door of your heart, if you’ll open the door of your marriage, if you’ll open the door of your life, Jesus will come walking in. And whatever fear, phobia, anxiety you have, the fear of God’s wrath, the fear of death, the fear of life overwhelming you, He’ll say, “Be peace. Be peaceful, my child. Be at peace.”
I love the story in Mark 4. You know it. It’s the story of Jesus in the boat with His disciples. They’re crossing from one side of the Sea of Galilee to the other. Jesus falls asleep. It’s been a busy day. His disciples who are fishermen are rowing across that. And there’s a storm that’s whipped up and it’s not looking good and the boat’s taking on water. Jesus is still sleeping and things seem to get worse. And so, they wake Him, the Lord Jesus, “Lord, don’t you care we perish?”
They’re frightened of what’s happening outside the boat. But the Bible says, “Once Jesus awakens, He stands up and He said to the wind and the waves…” The wind and the waves that He created, because He created all things. He tells them to be at peace, to be still. And all of a sudden, the storm turns to calm. But here’s the interesting thing about the story and it says, “And then, they became exceedingly afraid.” See, they started out being afraid of what was happening outside the boat. But then, their eyes were opened to who was inside the boat. God in human flesh, the Creator of All Things, the Lord of Life. And the fear of God removed the fear of what they were dealing with.
I love what John Ortberg says about that story, “Peace doesn’t come from finding a lake where there are no storms.” Is that where you’re at this morning? You’re trying to find that quiet place in life? You’re looking in. You’re looking out. I want to tell you, you can travel to the four corners of the world, but you won’t find peace in any one of them. There isn’t a lake without storms. There isn’t the life without challenges.
Now, here’s what he said, “Peace doesn’t come from finding a lake where there are no storms. Peace comes from knowing Jesus is in the boat who can calm the storm.” My friend, if He doesn’t calm the storm, He’ll calm you in the midst of the storm and He promises you that kind of peace. Some of you know my story, not everyone. Maybe you’re visiting today. Thank you for coming again.
For six years of my life, I was a police officer in North Belfast during the troubles in Northern Ireland. We were more likely to be killed off duty than on duty. I was newly married. We had a little family. There was a lot of anxiety, a lot of fear. How did I cope with that? Some of our officers coped with it with a bottle of whiskey, which was only temporary relief. It was a false peace. Because once they come out of that experience, they were back into the context they tried to get out of in the first place.
I’ll tell you how I dealt with it. I came to the conclusion, peace is not the absence of danger. Peace is the presence of God. And as a follower of Jesus Christ, I knew He was in my life. I knew He was watching over me. My days were written down in His book. No one could touch me without His permission. That give me courage in life and it give me peace in the face of death. Is He in your boat while the storms of life rage? Is He at the helm steering you through life and someday, through the valley of the shadow of death?
Finally, there’s a historic peace. Bart Ehrman’s wrong. Jesus did deliver. He has delivered peace with God. He does deliver peace within the human heart. And someday, He will deliver peace on earth. Christ came the first time to establish peace with God and to present peace in the human heart. But He’s coming a second time to bring peace to planet earth. He created it. He’s the rightful king. And man has mismanaged it and Satan has abused it. But the Christ who paid for our sin and the Christ who defeated death, defeated Satan is coming back someday to display His victory within history. That’s what we’re promised, aren’t we?
In Isaiah 9, the Prince of Peace and the end of His government. There is no end to it nor His peace. See, peace will come when Jesus governs. See, we want His peace without His government. That won’t happen. You won’t have peace in your heart until Jesus governs it and there’ll be no peace in history until the rightful king has returned. But He is returning. And what the UN has failed to do, Jesus will do.
Through humanity, multiple attempts have been made in the last 100 years to achieve global cooperation and world peace. The League of Nations, 1919. The UN, 1945. The European Union, 1958. The World Economic Forum, 1971. None of them have succeeded and none of them will. We await the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and He who came a first time is coming a second time. The baby who grew up to die on the cross and rose from the grave will someday come back to this world. Not in weakness as a baby, but in power as a king. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess. Don’t do it then. Do it now. Then is too late. Now is the day of salvation. And He’s going to restore this earth to the way it was intended to be before man rebelled against God.
Death will be banished, tears will be wiped away, justice will be served, and love will reign. Don’t you want to be part of that day? I was telling in the earlier service about a reporter, a journalist who heard about an old Jew who had gone to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem for 50 years and prayed every single day. And so, the journalist tracked this man down. And when she got him, she said, “Sir, is it true you’ve been going to the Wailing Wall for 50 years and praying?” He said, “Yes, it’s true,” and she says, “Can I ask you, what have you been praying for?” He says, “I’ve been praying for peace between the Jew and the Palestinian. Between the Jew, the State of Israel, and the nations around them.” She said, “Well, how do you feel after 50 years?” He says, “I feel like I’m talking to the wall.”
And it’s true. That’s a true story. But here’s this man praying, but it hasn’t happened. So it leads the Bart Ehrman’s to conclude Jesus didn’t deliver. Oh no, Bart. Can you be a little bit more patient? God’s not willing that any should perish. But all should come to repentance, so He’s waiting. But there’ll come a moment when it’ll be closing time. The curtain will come down in human history and Jesus will be Lord. So as we close, I want to challenge you. Jesus did deliver peace with God through what He did on the cross. Jesus does deliver peace in the human heart, if you open the door and let Him in. Jesus will deliver peace in a future day. I want to be part of that kingdom. Peace is found in a person. He is our peace. Have you been searching for peace and not find it? I’m not surprised, because you’ll never find peace by searching for it. You’ll only find peace by finding Christ who is peace. You won’t find peace by looking for it. Peace will find you when you look to Jesus.
This is the closing thought. Came across a story in a British newspaper called The Sun. Some years back, an old man by the name of Jack Harris was 86 years old. He had been working seven years on a puzzle. Seven years. It was a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle. I’m not sure Jack was any good at jigsaw puzzles. But for some reason, he persevered. Seven years, he put all those 4,999 pieces together and then realized there was a piece missing. It’s a true story. The piece, the 5,000th piece was missing. The problem was that this jigsaw puzzle was no longer in production. The newspaper carried the story and the piece that was missing couldn’t be found. And so, out of public outcry, The Sun newspaper commissioned the making of a perfect copy of the piece in the puzzle and it was delivered to Jack’s home. Now, come that moment with cameras flashing and people around him when he put the last piece in and the picture was complete.
Do I speak to someone where the story of your life is incomplete because there’s a piece missing? The missing piece is the peace that God gives you through faith in His son. We’d encourage you to accept that gift. Peace is found in a person. Peace is found in a living relationship with the Living Christ. And we invite you, this Christmas here at Kindred Community Church, to make that choice. If we can help you today, please speak to us after this service. In the small tent, behind the big tent, we have a book we’d love to give you called Ultimate Questions. Stop your trivial pursuit and address the big questions of life, “Who am I? Who is God? Can I know Him? Who is Jesus Christ and what did He come to do?” We’d love to give you that book and point you to the one who alone brings peace. Don’t have that missing peace missing in your life, except God’s offer of peace in Jesus Christ. In all the gifts you’ll get this Christmas, you’ll get none greater than the gift of eternal life through faith in our Lord Jesus.
Father, we thank you for our time this day together for these three concerts. We thank you for these dear friends and family who have come and joined us in the celebration of Your love. That God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Lord, it would be easy if we just looked with physical eye to see that this world is absent of much peace, the peace on earth that Jesus promised.
But with the eye of faith, we see that there is a peace with God that thousands upon thousands upon hundreds of thousands enjoy. There’s a peace inside the heart that keeps us calm in the midst of the chaos, that allows us to live life with courage and face death with calm. And we look forward to that moment at the end of history, when Jesus does come and He takes this world that He made and He makes it anew. And brings a time of joy and peace and everlasting love. We want our loved ones to be there. We want our friends to be there. And so, may they find that missing peace that’s found alone in the person of Jesus Christ. Lord, bless every head bowed, bless every home represented. We wish them a Merry Christmas and we wish them a prosperous New Year in the presence of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And these things we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.