Joe Stowell, author and President of Cornerstone University, spoke recently at a chapel service. While musing over the statement by the angels to the shepherds, he paused over "peace on earth."
We don't see peace on earth. Did the angels lie or where is the peace they promised?
Is this the peace the shepherds would have imagined? Is this the peace you would have imagined?
The answer over what peace the angels shouted for joy (the adult) Jesus explains privately to His disciples:
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. ~John 14:27
Why should their hearts be threatened with fear when they have His peace? Because He does not give the peace for which the world looks. No treaties will be signed, because of this "peace on earth." Wars won't cease (as you have seen). Persecution and famine may touch your family. What good then is this peace?
So much of what we think of as good has to do with outward comfort, universal peace, physical health, financial wealth... If we've grown up with this, we assume it is our right. If we have been deprived, we make it our aim. But God turns our purpose on its head.
The Apostle Paul in Romans uses Abraham as an example for us. He assumes our familiarity with the patriarch's life and the promise (covenant) God gave to him that He would bless the world through his unborn offspring. As Abraham and his wife Sarah passed childbearing age, he still believed God's promise of a son...
being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. ~Romans 4:21b-25
THIS is the Source of peace. When the angels sang, they knew without doubt that this Baby would fulfill the mission for which He came to earth. They too believed their Master would keep His word.
I wonder if they knew then that the peace they proclaimed would cost His life. This is the hope of Christmas!
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. ~Romans 5:1-5
This Baby born—God with us—lived for thirty years in obscurity, rose in momentary fame, died a criminal's death, buried in a stranger's tomb, rose to complete our peace with God.
Because of this peace, we now can live beyond our physical comforts. In fact, we can suffer and be glad! We can have sorrow and feel joy! Why? Because peace with God is greater than our understanding of peace, greater than our hope for comfort, greater than our longing for belonging.
Now what?
Peacemakers! We are called to be peacemakers.
A colleague of mine is filming a documentary on the early church in the days of the Roman Empire. Interestingly, although some emperors accused the Christians of bad conduct, the citizens of Rome knew this was false.
It was the Christians who adopted the babies the Romans piled in heaps to let die. It is the Christians who stayed behind during a plague to nurse the sick and dying (many of them dying as a result). Sound like today? No, it doesn't really, does it?
Today, we protest homosexuality at military funerals! Today, we mimic the Muslims and burn their "sacred" book. Today, we think that pursuing social justice is compromising the Gospel. Today, our divorce statistics rival the rest of the world.
Doesn't it move you to tears to see the name of Jesus run through the mud by our actions, our compromising? I'm sure it moves Him to tears. What a blaspheme of His name!
Matthew 5:9 may be more accurately applied to some Christians (as Dr. Stowell pointed out) as—"Blessed are the troublemakers." Other Christians may live it as—"Blessed are the compromisers."
But Jesus said—
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
If you have accepted the gift of rebirth offered because of Jesus' sacrifice for you, you know the peace of God—the peace with God. If you know it, share it.
Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. ~James 3:18
This doesn't mean you don't speak up for what is right. Quite the contrary! Yet, in pursuing justice, remember to be motivated by mercy (compassion with love) and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8)
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1867
Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all! (2 Thessalonians 3:16)
No comments:
Post a Comment