Luke 2:8-14
The Peace of Christmas[1]
A young soldier was going off to
fight in World War II against the Japanese. As his father put him on the train
and waved good-bye, he turned with bitter tears and said, "If my son is killed, I hope ever Japanese in
the world is killed!" A year later the son was killed. Soon $10,000 in
life insurance money arrived. The father did a most surprising thing with the
money: he sent it to the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board and designated
it for missions to the Japanese. How could the father do this? Apparently, he
knew Christmas peace - the shalom - that Jesus speaks of in our text.
God offers
to you this morning the peace of Christmas:
the peace that is found no place other than in the miracle of
Peace with God:
Christmas celebrates God’s initiative
to reconcile humanity to God’s self. Christmas celebrates God’s entry into this
broken world to set it right. In other words, Christmas is all about peace. And
God’s act of reconciliation begins with you and me, for we, like the rest of
creation, are apart from Jesus Christ, alienated from God.
An elderly couple was driving down
the street one day. They were listening to the radio as the man drove the car
through the busy Christmas streets. As they listened to the beautiful music of
Christmas, the wife became nostalgic and she said, “Herbert, do you remember how, when we were younger, we used to sit so
close together as we drove along? It was so wonderful back then. What happened?”
“I don’t know about that,” said
Herbert, “All I know is that I haven’t
moved.”
Christmas is celebrated each year to remind us that, not only has God not moved
away from us, but that God has come near. We are the ones who moved away from
God. We created and continually renew the need for reconciliation.
Dr. Hugh Litchfield some years ago told about taking his 5-year-old son
Christmas shopping one Saturday morning. It was just a day or so before
Christmas and the store was packed with shoppers. Litchfield told his son to
stay near him because he could easily get lost in the crowd. After they had
shopped together for a while, he looked back and his little 5-year-old son was
not there.
Litchfield began to frantically
search for his son. He called out to him; he rushed through the crowd looking
for him everywhere, but he could not find him. He moved quickly to the candy
counter and then to the toy department. Surely, he would be there, but he
wasn’t anywhere to be found. Just as Litchfield was about to panic he heard
this announcement over the department PA system: “We have a lost boy here! If you have lost your little boy, please come
to the service desk.”
Litchfield hurried to the service
desk and there was his lost child. It was a joyous reunion full of hugs and
words of love. The boy had moved away from his father and had become lost. They
had been separated, but they were brought back together. They were reconciled!
In the same sense, Christ has come to earth to reconcile creation to God its
loving creator. Most importantly right now, God comes as the Christ Child to
seek and save lost humans. That’s what Christmas is all about. The only way to
be reconciled to the Father, the only way to have peace with God, is to believe
on His Son, the Christ, who came as a babe in a manger.
Is peace missing from your life? God gives peace with God’s self through faith
in Jesus Christ.
Peace with ourselves:
And that leads us to a very personal thing
called self-esteem. How can a person possible think rightly about him or
herself without peace with God? Without the counsel of the Holy Spirit, we either
think more highly of ourselves than we ought to or we think too little of our
selves. But, through peace with God we can also be at peace with our “selves.”
Have you heard about the man who wrote a letter to the Internal Revenue
Service? It read: “Dear Sirs: I underpaid
my tax bill for last year. I can’t sleep at night and my conscience is
bothering me. Enclosed please find $600.” He then added the P.S.: “If I still can’t sleep, I’ll send the rest.”
That’s one way to deal with a hurting conscience. But, there is a better way as
revealed in a story about Rick Pitino, who was at the time the head basketball
coach at the
Suddenly, he realized what was so
funny to them. They had tricked the referees and the other team by slipping
someone to the foul line who had not been fouled. In other words, one player
had been fouled, but another player who was a better foul shooter had slipped
to the line to take the shots – a clear violation of the rules of basketball.
Coach Pitino said that the players
thought it was all a big joke, that they had put something over on the
officials and their opponents, but Pitino didn’t think it was a laughing matter
so to make his point, he suspended three of his best players and made them sit
out of a very important conference game. “They’ll
never do that again,” said Coach Pitino, “And they’ll never joke about that again. I want to win games for sure,
but I also want my players to know the meaning of integrity.”
Let me ask you something. Do you know the meaning of integrity and honesty and
ethics and virtue and morality? In other words, what is the nature of the
relationship you have with yourself? Let me underscore a point right now: the
only way we can be at peace with ourselves is to be at peace with God. The only
way we can be at peace with ourselves is to welcome the Prince of Peace into your
hearts and lives.
One of the best gifts we can give our
loved ones at Christmas this year is to be at peace within. God gives peace;
peace with God and peace with one’s self.
Peace with creation:
Have you ever seen the special Christmas headband that has mistletoe above it
on a spring? When you wear it, everywhere you go, you’re under the mistletoe.
Do you know where the custom of kissing under the mistletoe came from? It
actually came from the Druids in
When the missionaries moved into northern
If you want to have a “peace-full”
Christmas, go in the spirit of love and fix those broken relationships in your
life. If you are alienated or estranged or cut off or at odds with any other
person, go in the spirit of Christmas and make peace. Don’t put it off any
longer. Drop your pride, your resentment, your grudges, and go set it right. Go
and God will go with you. That’s what mistletoe is really about and that’s what
Christmas is about.
But, are you also aware that we are
called to act as reconcilers between God and his physical creation? We cannot
be reconcilers and abuse the
environment. We can’t reconcile that which is broken and continue to live in ways that cause further brokenness. Over-exploitation
of the earth and its resources is a spiritual problem. You and I are given
peace with God in order that we might become peacemakers with all of creation.
Humans are saved, not from the world
but for the world.[2]
God comes to us as the Christ Child to
give us peace with God, peace with ourselves and peace with other humans and
with all creation.
Conclusion:
In
conclusion, several years ago a submarine was being tested and had to remain
submerged for many hours. When it returned to the harbor, the captain was
asked, "How did the terrible storm
last night affect you?" The officer looked at him in surprise and
exclaimed, "Storm? We didn't even
know there was one!" The sub had been so far beneath the surface that
it had reached the area known to sailors as "the cushion of the sea." Although the ocean may be whipped
into huge waves by high winds, the waters below are never stirred.[3]
This, I believe, is a perfect picture
of the peace of Christmas. The waves of worry, of fear, of heartbreak, cannot touch
those who are at peace with God with themselves and with others. For, as the
Apostle Paul says, “...the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
Christ Jesus.”[4] To face
the waves of life, we don’t need to dress like Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes. Our
heads do not need to be encased in a space helmet. Nor do we need a cape draped
around our necks, across our shoulders, down our backs and dragging on the
floor. We don’t need a flashlight and a baseball bat. With the peace of Christmas
in our hearts, we can say with Calvin, “If
anything does happen today, I’m going to be ready for it!”
[1] NOTE: This sermon series on Advent is currently a
publication of Abingdon for Bible Study during Advent. Jim Moore has granted
this series to eSermons users to use in preparation of their Advent sermons.
The material may be used in oral presentation in services of worship. It has
been adapted here for the use. eSermons.com Sermons, Dr. James W. Moore,
ChristianGlobe Network, 2002, 0-0000-0000-15. This sermon has been modified so
that tit now only vaguely resembles the work of Dr. Moore.
[2] Sir John
Houghton CBE FRS, in The Christian
Challenge of Caring for the Earth – The JRI
Briefing Papers, No. 1 (2nd printing) at http://www.jri.org.uk/brief/christianchallenge.htm
[3] Rev. Adrian Dieleman, Sermon: “Receive the Holy
Spirit.”
[4]The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Php 4:7).