Sermon Cloud

TEXT

 

Luke 2:10-14: "And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people.  11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped (the first Christmas gift wrapped by God for us) in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.'  13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!'"

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Of the various passages we read of the birth narrative of Jesus during Christmas, this is perhaps the most famous.  Stroll into Hallmark and you'll find a number of cards with advent words like hope, love, and joy on them, but the one word that most are familiar with at this time of year is peace.  Everyone speaks about it, it is on most Christmas trinkets, and it becomes a kind of holiday mantra as we say things like "peace on earth and good will towards men."  We sing about peace during the Christmas season as we hear songs in the malls blaring "peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled."  Families attempt to put aside their differences during this time of year and enjoy each other's company as they exchange gifts on Christmas day.    

 

But what is it all about?  What is the meaning of the cradle of Christ?  Why do we have such warm feelings towards one another at Christmas time?  Most of us know the answer intuitively.  The answer is peace.  Jesus came into this world to bring peace on earth.  This is the central theme of Christmas and also happens to be a central them in Scripture to summarize and explain the very meaning of Jesus.  How did Luke understand the meaning of Jesus and the proclamation of peace when he wrote this?  How would the earliest believers understand this promise of peace through the birth of a baby? 

 

But what is the peace that this passage is proclaiming? 

 

Back to the beginning

 

To understand this we have to go all the way back to the beginning where our story begins in creation.  Out of God's overflow of loving community and glory in the Trinity, God speaks everything into existence and through the power of His word creates all there is, to display His glory and share His love.  The non-human creation of oceans and rivers, sky and trees, mountains and plains, animals and flowers are all created to display God's glory.  And in the very climax of God's creation, He makes man and woman as His crowning achievement.  And, unlike any other part of creation, He bestows upon them His own image. 

 

In all other ancient creation accounts, creation is the by-product of some kind of warfare or act of violence between the gods.  Almost never is the creation in these ancient religions planned and deliberate.  Violence and struggle is the cause of creation between warring factions.

 

The Bible is unique among the various creation accounts in that the Bible speaks of a world that is bursting with flourishing and abundant forms of life that are perfectly interwoven and interdependent.  They each enhance, enrich and serve one another in various ways.  God's response to all this is supreme delight at the work His hands.  Like a painter who creates a masterpiece, God paints this world in all its colors.  He creates a symphony in which each note has its place and serves to enhance the other notes.  God keeps repeating the phrase that it is all good. 

 

For His image bearers, God calls them to cultivate and steward the vast resources of creation like a gardener tends a garden.  "Keep going," He seems to be telling us in Genesis 1:28.  In doing so man will fulfill his created design and live as he was intended with a goodness about him in his work and relationships.

 

The Hebrew word for this perfect, interdependent and harmonious relationship with God and all creation is called shalom.  When we translate this word we pick what is an attempt at the equivalent as we use "peace."  But the English word is primarily in the negative because it refers the absence of war, conflict or hostility.  The Hebrew word has a much deeper and richer meaning.   

 

We call it peace, but it means far more than a cease-fire between enemies or even a peace of mind.  In Scripture, shalom means a full-bodied wholeness and universal flourishing wrapped in delight.  It is the weaving together of God and mankind with all creation in justice and joy.  Shalom is the way it's supposed to be! 

 

Not the way it's supposed to be

 

The devastating loss of shalom through sin is described in the creation account of Genesis 3.  Our first parents' attempt to live for themselves takes their eyes off of God as their greatest good and deepest joy, and as a result the entire created world cracks and breaks.  So tied together is creation with humanity that when our first parents turned from God, the whole of creation began to groan and unravel.  Decay, disease, disorders, famine, natural disaster, aging, oppression, gender and racial conflict, violence, and death ravage this world.  We have lost God's shalom-physically, emotionally, spiritually, socially, psychologically, and culturally.  Things now fall apart and Romans 8 tells us that the entire world is in the "bondage of decay" and will not be put right until we are put right.

 

In the film Grand Canyon, an immigration attorney breaks out of a traffic jam and attempts to bypass it.  His route takes him along streets that are dark and dangerous.  His car stalls on a deserted street.  The attorney is obviously concerned and calls for a tow truck, but before it arrives, five young gang bangers surround his disabled car and threaten him. 

 

Then, all of the sudden, the tow truck shows up and the driver, a hard working and gentle man, begins to hook up the disabled car.  The thugs don't like it and begin to protest.  The truck driver pulls the leader of the group aside and says to him. 

 

"Man, the world ain't supposed to work like this.  Maybe you don't know that, but this ain't the way it's supposed to be.  I'm supposed to be able to do my job without askin' you if I can.  And that dude is supposed to be able to wait with his car with you rippin' him off.  Everything's supposed to be different than what it is here."

 

What the driver is describing is the way it's supposed to be when shalom flourishes and mutual respect and concern for others is the ruling principle.

 

Defining Sin

 

The definition of sin, then, has to be understood in relationship to God and His pleasure and plan for His creation.  Sin is not merely the breaking of law but the breaking of a covenant with your creator.  Sin is the smashing of a relationship with your divine parent.  Sin is cosmic treason.  Sin is a declaration of war.  Sin is a betrayal of the greatest person in the universe.  Sin is adultery against the lover of your soul. 

 

And it is more!  God hates sin not simply because it violates some arbitrary laws we think are intended to take our joy; God hates sin because it violates shalom.  It breaks peace and interferes with the way things are supposed to be. 

 

God is for shalom and therefore He's against sin.  Evil and sin are a spoiling of shalom. 

 

It is God's design for creation to have shalom.  Since God did not discard His creation but loves it, He is going to restore what we have destroyed through human vandalism against our great Architect and Builder.

 

The Cosmic Problem Needs a Cosmic Gospel

 

You see, we have a cosmic problem in the loss of shalom.  God intended this for His creation, and we need a gospel of cosmic scope that will restore God's peace to His creatures and creation.

 

The Promise of the Prophets

 

The prophets dreamed of a new age in which all the hate would be swallowed up in justice and love, when all the crookedness would be made straight, when all the wrongs made right, the rocky places made plain, the foolish made wise, and the proud made humble.  They dreamed of a time when the deserts would bloom, weeping would cease, every tear would be removed, and people could sleep without weapons.  A time when we could work in peace to be fruitful and helpful to one another.  Lambs could lie down with lions.  All nature would blossom and be filled with amazing wonder and all humanity would be knit together as they all looked to God, walked with God, and delighted in God together. 

 

All of this was to come when God would break in and make things right through His Son.

 

• Isaiah 9:6-7: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this."

 

• Isaiah 52:6-7: "‘Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I.'  7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.'"

 

• Isaiah 2:4: "He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."

 

And in chapter one of Luke, Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, says to his newborn son:

 

• Luke 1:76-79: "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins,  78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high  79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

 

In midst of opposition and unrest, promise and expectation, a baby is born.  The first Christmas gift was wrapped and given by our Father to this world.  God sends His Son to accomplish the restoration of shalom. This is the true meaning of Christmas. 

 

So how do we get it?  How to we have shalom in our lives and then in this world?

 

First, we have to admit a few things that are disrupting the peace that Jesus came to give.  There are some blockages that have to be removed so that shalom can reign.

 

I. We'll never have shalom unless we realize we've been chasing after other peacemakers (other saviors).

 

Identity apart from God is completely unstable.  Without God, I have no true self, since God is the one who made us to flourish with Him. 

Without God I'll seek after other things to be my ultimate peacemaker.  I'll pursue other things to still the storm in my soul and give me a sense of being alright.

 

Our hearts will worship something.  A society or heart that is void of the real God isn't atheistic because every heart worships something.  Our hearts are restless and at war until they find their rest in God. 

 

What are some ways we try find other peacemakers or saviors?

 

II.  We'll never have shalom unless we admit we're at war. 

 

The real secret to receiving this peace is to admit that you're at war.  You can only truly receive something when you admit you need it.  Otherwise you might take possession of something, but it never takes possession of you.  If you're stick thin and someone hands you a book on losing weight, you might smile and put in on a shelf, but you never digest the book.  If someone gives you a bottle of Rogaine and you're part Chewbacca, you might smile and thank them, but you'll put it away and it never is really received.  To truly receive something you have to see a need and then welcome it and appropriate it.

 

You have to admit that you were at war with God in order to see your need of shalom with God.  Without a recognition that even your passive apathy towards Him is really an active opposition and hatred, you're not going to cling to the only offer of peace He gives.

 

The Bible constantly talks about the hostility between us and God that has to be reconciled.  In fact, Paul says in Romans 8:7: "For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot."

 

This statement is a punch to the gut because it's saying that the primary disposition of the natural human heart is not indifference or ignorance to God where we need motivation or more information.  Paul is saying that the condition of our heart is hostile in all ways to God and needs reconciliation with God.  This is the basic attitude of our heart towards God.

 

Since most of us are going for just an absence of conflict in our lives, we think we only need help from God.  We see Him as someone or something that might be able to calm our circumstances in life and help us keep going.  You think you need more guidance from God but you don't believe you need peace with God.

 

Every problem you have with God is because of the war between you and Him.  If you're struggling with this notion it's because you don't really believe in your condition.  You don't really believe you've been living as an enemy of God.  You might even say, "I'm not as bad as that guy, why would God have a beef with me?" Or, you might say, "Look at all that I've done for Him, how could He dare say He's at war with me?" 

But your attempt to compare yourself or even prove yourself to God shows that the peace hasn't come and you don't have the favor of God resting upon you. 

 

This might even make you suspicious of God's character and nature.  Like two lovers who thought they were close but have drifted and become estranged, you begin to be suspicious of everything the other person does.  You begin to question every motive behind their actions.  And the things you once cherished about them become the very things you most despise and are critical of. 

Her strength and poise that you once were so attracted to is now perceived to be arrogance and distance.  His gentleness is now perceived as a cowardly weakness.  Her spontaneity which you treasured is now seen as flightiness and foolishly impulsive.  His thoughtfulness with his finances is now seen as simply being cheap.  You take what you once admired and respected and you see them through the grid of suspicion.

 

We do this with God because our hearts are hostile.  When we are estranged from God or when distance has crept in, we begin to look at God suspiciously and instead of admiring and treasuring him, we distrust His motives and actions.  In other words, we question His character.  Our hearts make us strangers because of an inward hostility.

 

Because of the hostility in our hearts, the sovereignty of God is seen as a lack of accountability.  The grace of God is seen as too simple and easy.  The patience of God is seen as slowness or a lack of care.  The wisdom of God is seen as impractical.  The justice of God is seen as harshness.  The love of God is seen as too vague.  The goodness of God is seen as questionable at best.  The holiness of God is too hard to grasp.  The infinite nature of God is too distant.  

 

Each of these qualities of God that make Him so beautiful is twisted and distorted in our hearts because of hostility, because of our war with Him.  We begin to grumble against Him and question every decision He seems to make in our life until we throw up our hands in frustration and say, "He must not care, He's not doing what I want!"

 

This is how sin grows in us.  Sin is not some accidental "oops".  Look, when David sinned by committing adultery with Bathsheba, and then had her husband Uriah killed on the front lines of battle to cover up his sin, it wasn't a simple "oops". 

 

God sent Nathan the prophet to tell him that He had despised God-not simply missed the mark, but actively despised God.   

 

After serving in ministry full time for a few years, I'm always amazed when someone says that they aren't enemies of God because they've never rejected Him or they've never hated Him.  They even say, "Of course I believe in God."  But yet they live their lives as if He doesn't exist.  There is no "of course" with God.  If you've met the real God you can never say, "of course," as if it's a given.  The splendor, majesty, glory, and holiness of God are terrifying to those who first meet Him.  They either fall on their face in shame or they break out in worship and declare that all the fullness of joy is found in Him.  There is no "of course." 

 

When people assume God and don't think they need peace and favor from Him because they don't see themselves as hostile, what they've done is fashion God according to their own imagination.  It isn't the real God they have in mind or they'd never be so blasé about the subject.  The hatred they have for the real God doesn't surface because they are seeing the real God.  But once they get near the real one and hear about who He truly is, the hatred, opposition and disgust come to the surface.  The closer you get to God, the more you're going to fall down and worship or despise Him for who He is.  Are you experiencing either of those lately?  Then you may not have the real God in mind. 

 

What we need with God is shalom.  We need peace with Him.  We need our hearts to raise the white flag and surrender.  We need the war between us to end.  And that is exactly what Jesus was sent here to accomplish for us.  He came as the ultimate olive branch.  He came as the dove of God.  He came as the very Prince of Peace.   

 

How can we dare question the goodness and grace of God because we can't believe He'd let certain things happen in our lives.  Here is a God that came into this world and allowed the most horrific things to happen towards Him so that He could win shalom that our souls are desperate for.

 

This is why Jesus came.  He came to restore universal flourishing and wholeness as He wins shalom, and He does this by starting with you and me.  He comes to win over our hostility between us and the Father. 

 

 

III.  We'll never have shalom until God's favor rests on us. 

 

When we read this translation, some of you might scratch your head because you've always heard this verse quoted as "peace on earth, good will towards men."  In other words, you've heard it as God's peace on earth causes us to have good will towards all men.  But this is the way the King James translation puts it, but it is actually supposed to be rendered a little differently.  The King James took the word "good will" and read it as an accusative case instead of a genitive case.  It is to be read "peace on earth among those whom God's favor rests."  I know it's not as poetic, but that's the actual meaning.  This is saying that there was ill-will between us and God and now God favors some, which brings peace.  This is what "peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled" means!  It is that there was a war between God and men, and by God's gift of grace in giving us His son, He has reconciled those who love and trust Him.  The war between us is gone and we're now reconciled in a flourishing relationship.

 

For those who have this peace but aren't experiencing it

 

Have you come to realize that the peace that God has won for you isn't merely something you get in the future, but is something you have in full measure right now?  God won't love you more than He does right now because His love is perfect.  Now, our love will forever grow for Him because we'll always be learning about Him for eternity.  He's infinite and we're finite, which means we'll never be able to exhaust learning about loving God.  It will grow and grow forever.

 

Since this is the case, what we see today is that it isn't so much a need for God to prove His love to you more than He has by sending the gift of His Son, but our learning of and understanding what He's done for us brings us this peace. 

 

In other words, the more you realize that God's favor rests upon you (v. 14), the more you'll experience peace.  The favor of the only eyes in the universe that matter is calling you to great joy at this good news.  God desires that we would join the angels in crying out to God, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace." And we could finish this by saying, "because God's favor rests on us-on me!"

 

What is keeping you from trusting that God's favor rests on you?  Is it your moral performance?  Is it your lack of perfect faith?  Is it your lack of some eastern zen calm in your soul that you're looking for?  Whatever it is, it pales in comparison to what the Father has done to win peace for you and end the war between Him and you.  He's proven His love for you so publicly, so intensely, so powerfully and He calls you to see this.  And to the degree you do, you'll begin to experience the kind of flourishing in your life and with Him that you're intended to have.

 

Many of us have gotten over the peace that Jesus came to bring and that is the problem!  The reason we struggle to experience God's peace is because we've moved on to something else.  We're never to get over it.  It is to always be on our mind, that we have shalom with God and His favor rests upon us.  That is supposed to energize us and draw us to worship. It's supposed to cause us to seek peace in this world, peace in our country, peace in our city, peace with our community, peace with our families, peace with ourselves.  Are you experiencing that peace?  No?  Then God is calling you to listen to this good news of great joy!  Jesus came to bring shalom! 

 

What is so incredible about this kind of peace is that it has to lead to peace in all our connected relationships.  God is establishing peace in this world now through us.  He is giving us shalom so that we can live and work out this shalom in His world.  And we're to do this to end injustice, poverty, strife, racism, classism, etc., until our King returns and does away with all of it by putting down the unrest of our world.   

 

Of course, before Jesus' return we won't experience the fullness of this peace because there is still conflict and chaos in the world.  But person by person, if they came to trust this good news of great joy, there would be an advancement of shalom in the world.  We're to be living out of that future shalom today and taste it.

 

IV. We'll never have shalom unless God intervenes

 

The way God brings us peace is be declaring war on His own Son for our treason against Him. 

 

Luke 12:49-51: "I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!  50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!  51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division."

 

What Jesus is saying is that His coming was to bring the judgment of God to earth.  Fire is a picture of God's judgment.  He is saying that He has a baptism to undergo and will be in distress until it's accomplished.  Jesus coming into our lives brings a kind of division of allegiances in our own hearts and with those to whom we're close.  There will be conflict as He comes and disrupts our lives before He brings us shalom.

 

Jesus is the one who suffered the fire of God's judgment upon the cross.  Jesus is the one who suffered the great division between Son and Father.  Jesus came to receive our war and to swallow our division and unrest. 

 

And what was that fire?  It was the cross of Jesus.  This was the purpose of the cross:

 

Colossians 1:19-20: "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,  20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross."

 

V.  We'll never have shalom until we hope in the peace to come.

 

Isaiah 9:6-7: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this."

 

Our security is set upon Christ's coming in a cradle, His achieving peace for us upon the cross, and our hope is set upon the sure and certain future that He will return and establish peace at His future coming. We work back from that peace and begin to dream as God's people what this will look like to live in that future peace today!

 

The basic thesis of this message describing sin and evil as the disruption of shalom was heavily gleaned from Not the Way It's Supposed to Be by Cornelius Plantinga.  There were several rewriting excerpts from the book in this sermon.  Also, The Reason for God by Tim Keller, particularly the chapter on ‘The Problem of Sin.'    Also, Surprised By Hope, by NT Wright,  Luke commentary by Hendriksen,  Hope In Troubled Times by Bob Goudzwaard/Mark Vander Vennen/David Van Heemst and Living at the Crossroads by Mike Goheen and Craig Bartholomew were all helpful in shaping this message.  As always, my hope is that you pursue deeper reflection and study on these ideas and subjects by reading these suggested works.