2020 12 21 Prince of Peace

The speaker discusses the concept of peace in relation to the birth of Jesus. They mention that Jesus, despite being born in a chaotic and noisy environment, is referred to as the Prince of Peace. The speaker also highlights the peace that Jesus offers, which surpasses human understanding. They emphasize that this peace is not about the absence of problems, but rather about the presence of God. The speaker encourages focusing on Christ and his eternal kingdom rather than temporal circumstances. They offer a prayer for those who wish to be part of this kingdom of peace. Hello there, Merry Christmas! I'm Chris from Highway Christian Fellowship and today we're going to be continuing our Advent series that we've been doing here at Highway and we've been going along the theme of Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 which I'll read to you right now. 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. In this fourth installment of our Advent series from Isaiah chapter 9, I have the pleasure of bringing to you a message on Prince of Peace, that reference that it makes to Jesus right here. There are some interesting things that we say in Christmas songs. Now I'm not saying they're theologically erroneous, but they don't always quite make sense. One of those things is how in a way in a manger it says, no crying he makes. I doubt very much that that was true. I doubt very much that Jesus didn't cry as a child because the Bible tells us that he became like us in every way and we see in the shortest verse in the Bible it says Jesus wept. We know that Jesus felt those things, you know. We know as crazy as it would have been, you know, he would have had to have been potty trained. He would have, you know, he would have had a snotty nose that needed to be wiped as a child. He what became like us, fully man and fully God. And I think one of the interesting things is, right, we have this idea, this sort of pious silent night idea in our minds of what that night would have been like when he was born. And the reality was it wouldn't have been a very silent night at all. We understand from the biblical accounts that there was no room in the inn. There was no room for him because there was a census going on, bustling busy city where he was coming. We know that it was not a peaceful surrounding. I don't know if any of you guys are farmers or have been to a farm, but Jesus was born in this sort of like stable kind of scenario, we understand, with the animals. Barn animals are not all quiet and all this, you know, reverent and all this kind of stuff. You know, they're going to be sheep making noise. You've got these, you know, all these things going on, right? If you've ever seen the movie, The Nativity, I really appreciate the way they handle this situation in the movie because you see Mary giving birth and, you know, she didn't have an epidural. She didn't have anesthetic. She would have been going through quite the labor pains just like anyone else. And this is the situation Jesus was born into. The reason that I was selected to do Prince of Peace was because in our team meetings, as we bounce around the ideas for these Advent series, I had mentioned one of my favorite Bible verses on peace. And once I mentioned it, Pastor Ralph said, I think you just volunteered to do the Prince of Peace message. I'm going to read that verse to you now. The verse is found in the book of Philippians way over in the New Testament, chapter four, and we'll actually start in verse four, which says, Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again. Rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. I love that verse and a translation that I remember it from more frequently says that it surpasses all understanding, a peace which surpasses all understanding. Same thing here as transcends. The point being that it's what strikes me about this peace that Jesus gives is that it's a peace that doesn't make sense to the human eye, to the human experience. The peace that we can have in Christ doesn't really make any sense because here we are in circumstances where we shouldn't quite feel peaceful, and yet we do. Here's the Prince of Peace born into a chaotic circumstance to bring us peace, and I think the beauty of it all, and sometimes in these Christmas carols, as beautiful as they are, and they do hold great nuggets of truth, sometimes we do tend to, in our mind, between carols, between the nativity scenes, between the Christmas cards, kind of have this oversimplified idea of Christmas, that it was all beautiful and, you know, just everybody was glowing and, you know, happy, and realistically they were in a time of Roman occupation. They were, we see in the Christmas story, the slaughter of all of these children from King Herod out of his rage and jealousy that there was a new king coming. We don't see a time that in the natural, and a setting in the natural that seems peaceful, you know. I guarantee that Joseph, carrying his very pregnant wife through the city on a donkey, running around trying to find a place for them to stay, that was not a peaceful situation, and yet here we have, as Isaiah is foretelling, this Prince of Peace, and what else happened to this Prince of Peace? He grew up into ministry where people wanted to kill him constantly, and eventually he did go to the cross to die for you and I. He was not in a situation that throughout his life from the external human eyes seemed peaceful, but the beauty of the gospel is that God gives a peace which surpasses all understanding. Even when it doesn't make sense, there's a peace to be had. I think that when we look at the Christmas card version of Christmas, that sometimes where we can rob the truth of the gospel in this unintentionally, is in giving this idea that the gospel is one of Jesus taking all our problems away. What Jesus came in this season, as we're here on earth, what Jesus did was create a situation where he would step into our world, step into our experience, and experience it with us. One of my favorite quotes is, this is not a biblical quote, but one of my favorite quotes is that peace is not found in the absence of danger, but in the presence of God. The beauty of the gospel is not so much Christ coming and taking away all the things that we that we wish would go away that were bad, whether it be sicknesses affecting the world, whether it be a Roman occupation. The beauty of that gospel is that he came in to live with us within our circumstances and help us rise above them. I heard a message not too long ago talking about when people waste the bad things that happen in their lives, when they waste those experiences, not saying that all those experiences were brought by God, but they waste the opportunity to learn something from those experiences, that God could teach them through it, because they're too focused on wanting to get through the situation to what they perceive as peace, instead of coming closer to the Prince of Peace. We find that peace when we focus on Christ, and we put out of our mind the temporal things, these temporal weights, and instead focus on what is not temporal, what is eternal, Christ himself, and the truth and the beauty of who he is, and the truth and the beauty of not an earthly kingdom that he came as a Prince of Peace to establish, but an eternal kingdom that exists beyond what you and I can see. The beauty is we want circumstances that are different and away from the chaos that we feel and experience in everyday life, and that's exactly what Jesus did, not by coming in and making no more bad things happen here in this lifetime, but by coming in and offering us a lifetime and an eternity and an experience entirely different from this temporal world. If you would like to become a part of that eternal kingdom that that Prince of Peace has established, why don't you just take a moment with me to pray. Heavenly Father, Prince of Peace, Lord, we recognize that we are not perfect people. We are people who have made mistakes, we've messed up, we've hurt others, and we've hurt you, God. Lord, we repent of those mistakes, and we ask you to come live within us, set up your kingdom within us today, and usher us into your kingdom. Thank you that we can be a part of that, that we can live in that kingdom of peace despite the circumstances around us, and that we can be peace bearers of you, Christ-bearers of you, to those that we meet, not just during this Christmas season, but always. In Jesus' mighty name, amen. I'm praying that the Prince of Peace is real in your heart today and always, and that the peace which surpasses all understanding will be with you today and this Christmas season. God bless, and Merry Christmas.