Advent Day Fifteen

Luke 2:14

“‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.’”

While I sit here listening to the tranquil, smooth sounds of the Brandenburg Concerto #5, a harmonious combination of violin and piano, I’m reminded of where peace really resides. Music evokes the emotion of peace and tranquility to the ears. The sounds of nature can blot the cacophony of war and distress.

But what happens when the song ends, or we leave the mist-filled woods?  Where is the sense of peace, then? Is peace just an emotional response to something audible? Is peace the absence of sound or sound that evokes a feeling of well-being? Is this kind of peace permanent or does it have to be renewed, continually?

The angels said they were proclaiming the coming of One who would bring peace to those who lived in God’s favor (Luke 2:14). Was this peace something derived from external instruments or isolated geography? Was this peace to be the absence of the chaos and frustration of living in this seething, tumultuous world?

So many people live in the conditions described by the prophet Jeremiah, 

Jeremiah 6:14b-15a

…Peace, peace, they say, when there is no peace”. Yet “…they have no shame at all; they do not ever know how to blush”  

Far too often the cry for peace comes from those who choose to live selfishly and sinfully, yet they want a simple solution to their predicament. 

Christ was born to be the solution to selfish, sinful, chaotic living. To those who follow Him he says:

John 16:33

 I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world!

But what is the nature of the peace He gives? Is it the absence of chaos and noise? Is some kind of audible music or bird chirping?  The Apostle Paul says of God, that He “…is not a God of disorder but of peace” (I Cor. 14:33).  So, this brings us to two questions.  From where does chaos, disorder and destruction come?  Are followers of Jesus unimpacted by this disorder in the world?

The New Testament is loaded with examples of God’s desire to have a people who possess peace and are bearers of peace to the world (Lk. 1:79, John 14:27, Rom. 5:1, Rom 14:19, Phil 4:7, Col. 3:15, Heb. 12:14, et. al.).  The chaos and disharmony is not a creation of God; therefore, it must come from His enemy.  Christians are not immune to the presence of this disorder and destruction.  Christ tells us He came to bring us peace in the middle of all the messiness and hurtfulness of life in this world.

So, what is the nature of the peace that Christ brings to His followers. It is not a removal of the cacophony of hate and negativity around us.  But, it is a settledness within, a joy in knowing the One who is greater than this world, the One who bring us through the trials of living in this world.  He lets us know that this world is not the end of our existence; that there is something greater beyond the here and now. 

Ephesians 2:14a

“For He himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.

The peace that Jesus gives is one we can only have on the inside, in our heart.  It is not just an emotional response.  It is the product of a way of life.

When we choose to stop living life by our own wits and selfishness, by the sinfulness we have come to accept as the way life is, then, and only then, can we discover a life of peace in the middle of the messiness. Jesus was born to provide you and me with the way to live life full of the reality that He had a way through, whatever we might meet in this world.  In order to experience this peace and confidence regarding our circumstance and the future, we must give up trying to live with life as it is.  Sinfulness and selfishness are the only thing standing between us and a life where Christ can supply the peace, He came to give us all along.

To possess the life of peace that Jesus came to give, we must ask Him to take all of our being, our bumps and bruises, our sinfulness and destructive nature and give it to Him.  He will forgive and give us new life, a life that helps us live through the struggles the world puts before us. You are not alone.  There’s joy in knowing we are partnered with this Christ of peace. The Christ of peace is with you! 

Father, I thank you that your Son was born to earth, not just to be some cuddly, baby to be gazed at and fawned over, but that He was born to bring us something missing from our lives.  Thank you that Your love can penetrate our hearts, can not only be in us but walk beside us as we meet our messed-up world. Thank you for the peace You give in the middle of the storms.  Thank you that if we are not experiencing that peace, we can confess the sin and selfishness of our life and you will clean us up, make us new and give us a renewed outlook on living, a life of peace and joy.  Amen.