Christmas is Peace

0:01 · Speaker 1 In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria, and everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to Bethlehem, town of David. because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

1:22 · Speaker 1 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

2:05 · Speaker 1 Suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

3:14 · Speaker 2 Morning. I grew up in a home with parents who had very different reactions to Christmas. My mom loved everything to do with it. And whilst dad was fully committed to the Christian message, he never got too worked up about Christmas trees and lights and everything else that went with it. And one of my mom's greatest frustrations every year was that we couldn't put our Christmas tree up until the Saturday evening before Christmas Day. My dad had friends who grew Christmas trees and every year they allowed us to come and cut one down for the Sunday school Christmas party. Thankfully, it was never like National Lampoon's at Christmas. But we couldn't have our tree until the party was done.

3:58 · Speaker 2 And it was always that last Saturday before Christmas. Drove my mum mad. And eventually she couldn't stick it any longer. So she insisted we get an artificial tree that she could put up whenever she wanted. Now, it was the same with shopping. They were polar opposites. Mum was always getting things in advance and putting them away. Presents, sweets, the rest of it.

4:20 · Speaker 2 And we lost count of how many times she couldn't find where she'd put the little chocolate ornaments for the Christmas tree. And no idea where they were, but it gave us a treat a couple of months later when they turned up somewhere they weren't supposed to be. Dad, on the other hand, had to buy everybody a present. And he always did it on Christmas Eve. And every year I was his stooge. And it just became a complete nightmare. We started meeting somewhere for breakfast to go over his list, which invariably had plenty of names and absolutely no ideas about what he was going to get, any of these names. One year, we got our very last present, get this, in the shop at the city hospital.

5:06 · Speaker 2 Back in the day when dried flowers, anybody remember dried flowers being the thing? Well, back in the day, he knew that mom wanted an arrangement of dried flowers. And we'd been everywhere, Belfast, Bangor, Newton-Ords, and none of what he saw were just right. And then he remembered he had seen some in Reed's florist shop in the city hospital. So we finished that year, 6.30 p.m., in the city hospital, getting dried flowers. Another year, we were the last people in any shop in Newton-Ords. Everybody else had gone. The doors were locked.

5:41 · Speaker 2 And dad had them taking a jumper off the mannequin in the shop window. And he was really shocking. It really was awful. And eventually I gave him an ultimatum. I said, I will go with you, but never again will it be Christmas Eve. Just to add to the frustration with dad, we never knew what to buy him for Christmas. And every year without fail, whenever we asked him, his answer was the same. I just want peace.

6:12 · Speaker 2 Now he never elaborated on that. Because we grew up in the troubles, it might have been that. Or more likely he was going to be off work for a few days with my brother and me off school. Maybe that's what he was dreading. Or maybe he was just being reflective generally, but he wasn't that kind of person. Whatever, he just wanted peace. and we know it's a regular theme that we encounter around Christmas it's the final one of the four themes we've been using to focus our thinking we've seen it on Christmas cards I'm sure on decorations maybe even on street signs and we've certainly sung about it over the past few weeks praises sing to God our king and peace to men on earth sleep in heavenly peace peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. His law is love and his gospel is peace.

7:06 · Speaker 2 It's everywhere. And it's understandable that we connect it with Christmas. One famous Old Testament prophecy that looked forward to God's intervention for his people. 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, of the greatness of his government and peace. There will be no end. And then the theme is picked up in several parts of the Christmas story.

7:43 · Speaker 2 Zachariah, father of John the Baptist, sings this, the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the path of peace. And then when Simeon, a faithful servant of God, saw the new Messiah, he spoke these famous words, Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. And then probably the most famous one, we watched it there, When the angels appeared to the shepherds with the great news, Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace to those on whom his favor rests. in the Greek the word is the same in each of those New Testament examples it's the word ireni and in classical Greek it basically means the absence of war and with what we've seen going on in the world the last couple of years we'd be very happy for more of that kind of peace but in a biblical context with a Hebrew background the word peace means way more Allah's already shared this with us. Many of you will recognize the Hebrew word commonly translated as peace, including in that Prince of Peace. It's the word shalom. And it's a word that has real depth of meaning. It includes health and prosperity, security, friendship, and salvation.

9:12 · Speaker 2 And the New Testament use of the term peace has to be seen in the light of that. This concept of shalom was high on the agenda for the Old Testament prophets and the vision of the future they longed for, for individuals and families and for their nation. It's what was seen as the consequence of God's presence with and favor on his people. They hoped the Messiah would come and bring peace to their families and their people, that he would come and end warfare and wipe out the enemies of Israel, bringing peace to Jerusalem. Even the name of the city, Salem, was a derivative of shalom. Jerusalem, city of peace, city of wholeness. But when Messiah did come, it's fair to say that Jesus didn't quite live up to the expectations of some of the Israelites. Now, there were clues in his life if they watched carefully, pointing to the full meaning of shalom, how he cared for people, his miracles of healing, the way he embraced outcasts and outsiders, his message of salvation.

10:25 · Speaker 2 But many in Israel were too sectarian, and they weren't thrilled with the idea of outsiders being welcomed. They reckoned that would destroy their purity as a people. And Jesus called to them to live as peacemakers didn't quite fit their version of a Messiah who would obliterate the Romans. And never mind uniting people. Actually, Jesus said that on one level, he didn't just come to bring peace. Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword for I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies will be the members of his own household.

11:07 · Speaker 2 That doesn't sound like the idealized picture that some had taken from the prophets. And I'm pretty sure you didn't get a Christmas card with that quotation of Jesus on it. But it just reminds us that Jesus was pointing to much deeper realities than what people were considering. Some would truly experience his peace, but others would completely miss it. And it might be wise for us to ask what makes the difference between those two types of people. And to answer that, maybe it's best that we go back to those words from the angels. Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace to those on whom his favor rests. And there's a clue in there as to what makes the difference.

12:01 · Speaker 2 God's peace, God's shalom comes to those on whom his favor rests. And who are they? If we follow through the life of Jesus, we get some answers. God's favor rests on those who hear his voice, who grasp his offer of grace and respond in faith. Those who realize their need and receive his blessing. Those who realize the limits of their own righteousness and understanding and seek mercy. And those who determine to live and share his shalom with others. And there's a very stark contrast painted for us in the Gospels between those who responded to this message and those who didn't.

12:54 · Speaker 2 Indeed, the contrast is best seen in Jerusalem, city of peace. symbolic of the religious leaders and system and those from outside. The city of peace did not receive God's peace because it didn't surrender to the message of the Prince of Peace. And as I reflected on some of this, I thought it would be helpful to see where peace played itself out with the characters in the Christmas story because peace isn't just some kind of abstract notion. And whilst shalom has the ultimate goal of reconciling sinful people with a holy God, it is also something that we're supposed to experience in our lives. It's supposed to have an impact in our everyday living. Look at Mary and Joseph, for example. It's nigh on impossible for us to get our heads around how they must have felt when God revealed what he was doing in their lives.

14:03 · Speaker 2 On the simplest of human terms, the sense of shame they carried would have been immense. Their culture did not take kindly to pregnancies outside of marriage and the talk that would happen. And it's not the kind of thing you can hide. And then try telling your friends that God did it and see what the reaction to it would be. And add to that, try to get your head around the immensity of God deciding he was going to intervene in such a direct way in your life. It is truly unbelievable. Joseph gets the message. He's told this, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

14:52 · Speaker 2 And Mary hears something similar. She's somewhat perplexed. And she wonders how she, having had no sexual relations with anyone, could be going to have a child? And the answer is this, the Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Both of them told that this is the work of the Holy Spirit, which on a rational human level probably didn't help them very much. And yet, how did they respond? Mary said, I am the Lord's servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.

15:29 · Speaker 2 And as for Joseph, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. Think back to those on whom God's favor rests, those who hear his voice and surrender in faith to what he is doing. And maybe there are no better examples anywhere than Mary and Joseph. Or what about the shepherds to whom that great message of peace on earth was given? Shepherds were looked down on. They were treated as unclean because they spent their time living with animals. And consequently, they weren't at the temple all of the times they should have been. They were also seen as untrustworthy.

16:22 · Speaker 2 In fact, shepherds were not treated as credible witnesses if there was a court case. And yet to these unclean, untrustworthy outsiders, God entrusts the news of the birth of Christ. Was anyone less likely to be chosen? Would anyone ever think of them as the first audience for the news or the first people to share the news? Now, put yourself in their position. What do you reckon you're tempted to think when you have this amazing experience of the heavenly host, whatever that looks like, speaking to you? I mean, you're probably looking at each other, wondering what was in the stuff you'd all drunk with your dinner. And yet their response to it, whatever their bewilderment, whatever they felt, their response was this.

17:24 · Speaker 2 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. Yet again, God's favor on those who decide to trust his word, however unbelievable it might sound. Not moping about how tough things were for them with chips on their shoulders complaining about their lot in life, but thrilled to be entrusted with the great news and ready to act on it. Shalom to them was something heavenly. They experienced God intervening, and their lives would never be the same. But what about another character? One who doesn't come out of the story with a great reputation, King Herod. The Magi come to see him searching for the King of the Jews, And there's one sentence that is chilling.

18:30 · Speaker 2 It's this. When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him. The all Jerusalem bit is significant because the people there knew him. He was a shocking tyrant. Any unhappiness on Herod's part would soon be visited on others. He was so self-obsessed that history tells us he murdered his own brothers and half-brothers to remove any threat to his throne. He also murdered his favorite wife, and then he murdered her sons when they learned what he had done. We're also told that when he was ill on the point of death, he had his followers round up important people from the city with orders that they be put to death as soon as he died.

19:20 · Speaker 2 His aim, to ensure that there was mourning when he died rather than rejoicing. That's the kind of person he was. Thankfully, those orders were not carried out. But to this king, Herod, any notion of another king was anathema. Never mind this being Messiah, God's king. Herod's ego didn't know the concept of surrendering to the will and plan of God. So like the religious leaders in Jerusalem lining their own pockets and building their own kingdoms. God's peace or shalom would not be resting on him.

19:57 · Speaker 2 And as the story goes on to tell us, there would be awful consequences for others because of his insecurity and lust for power. And then just one other character I want to note, one of the old people of the story, Simeon, who in all the darkness of a people and nation who had wandered far from God, had remained faithful, trusting that God would still keep his promise and intervene. He was obviously nearing the end of his life, but still believing that God would let him have a glimpse of the promised one. Well, we don't know how he recognized, but somehow or other, the Spirit of God revealed to him one day in the temple that in the arms of that poor young couple over there lay the fulfillment of God's promise. And so Simeon, nearing his life's end, was content to depart in peace. He wouldn't live to see all that God was going to do, but he knew enough and he had seen enough to trust that God was going to work out his good purposes and that he could surrender himself to that. Once again, peace, shalom to the one who is prepared to entrust themselves to the grace of God. We need to finish.

21:35 · Speaker 2 So let's try and land this at home for each of us. I wonder where each of us today really needs to experience the peace of God and how we may be challenged to what surrender looks like and have God's favor rest on us. And I think maybe the examples of those people in the Christmas story help. Maybe like Mary and Joseph, you're in a situation that you didn't choose. And it's perplexing. It's troubling. It may even be embarrassing. It's difficult to get your head around what's going on.

22:23 · Speaker 2 And maybe even your faith is challenged by it. Why would God be allowing this to happen? And from your perspective, maybe it's hard to see how there could be anything positive coming from this. What do you do? I think the example of those two confused young people back in Judea tells us a couple of things. And there are two things that are, they pretty much mark out the heart of the Christian faith. Trust and obey. When you can't see the reason, surrender in faith to what you know to be true about God, his goodness and his sovereignty, and determine to obey what he has revealed to be right.

23:19 · Speaker 2 Go with what you do know rather than be overwhelmed with what you don't know. That's a path to shalom. and peace. Or maybe your situation is more like the shepherds. Maybe you don't feel that in earthly terms you amount to very much. Maybe you don't feel successful or valued, and there are times, truth be told, when you're tempted to resent it. Maybe even the hint of a chip on your shoulder, And yet, the part they play in the story, where they're immortalized, quite literally, shows us that God often chooses to reveal himself and his purposes to those that the world is tempted to overlook. The Bible is full of examples like that, but so is history, and so is my story, and so is yours.

24:19 · Speaker 2 Like the school teacher or the Sunday school teacher that the world will never know, but God used them to change your life. Or the BB officer who set the example that turns you around. Or the humble grandparent whose generosity and kindness showed the love of God to so many people and gave you an example to follow. We could go on and on with those kinds of examples. But what a role those shepherds got to play in the birth of Messiah. And who knows what role God wants you to play in someone's life. That is a mark of his favor, a path to shalom. Of course, then there's Herod.

25:13 · Speaker 2 Don't imagine too many people call their children Herod these days. And yet, despite no one's name being Herod, and there being little likelihood of any of us hatching a plan to murder children, is it possible that some of us have Herod tendencies that ensure we don't experience peace? Are we self-obsessed? Always looking out for our own good? Prepared to be ruthless, maybe even, to get our way? Or have we bought into the lie that to really get on in life, you have to climb on top of everybody else? Are we like schemers? Manipulating things to always get our own way, to make sure it always comes out in our favor?

26:02 · Speaker 2 Or maybe from another perspective, well, no one's going to tell me what to do. I will be my own authority. oh, maybe I'll tolerate the notion of God, but when his law and my desires collide, there's only going to be one winner. And that's the path that so many have taken. But where does it end? Certainly not in God's favor and not in shalom and peace. A life lived like that actually will never know peace. In fact, it's usually the exact opposite because the search for more or the fear of losing what you do have means you never know peace.

26:43 · Speaker 2 We need to surrender to a good God to lay down our pride and experience the shalom and wholeness he offers. And then finally there's Simeon. And maybe some of us are a bit like Simeon. we're aware that we're likely closer to the end of our earthly life than to the beginning. And I wonder, do we have his sense of peace as we consider all that we had hoped to see? Could be in so many areas, things that we thought we might do, Or situations where we've longed God to act, maybe in our families, hopes that as yet appear to be unfulfilled. Can we see with eyes of faith that look to a God who is good? God so loving that he would enter earth in the vulnerability of a baby, die a death for sinners.

27:54 · Speaker 2 And rise again to vindicate his victory over evil. And rest in the fact that a God who would do that can be trusted with our hopes and dreams. Can we surrender our dreams and situations to him? Trust in his goodness and know his peace. The band are going to come back here and we're going to sing an old carol that's been difficult for them to play and it's my fault because I asked that we would do it. But let me read some of the words because they point us to peace. It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old, from angels bending near the earth with news of joy foretold. Peace on the earth, goodwill to men from heaven's all-gracious king.

28:46 · Speaker 2 The world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing. Yet with the woes of sin and strife, the world has suffered long. Beneath the angel strain have rolled two thousand years of wrong. And man at war with man hears not the love song which they bring. Oh, hush the noise, you men of strife, and hear the angels sing. For lo, the days are hastening on by prophets seen of old when with the ever-circling years shall come the time foretold when the new heaven and earth shall own the prince of peace their king and the whole world send back the song which now the angels sing. Let me pray over you Using the words that God asked his servants to pray over his people.

29:50 · Speaker 2 The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace. Amen.