PRINCE OF PEACE

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.  

Isaiah 7:13-15

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28

Our Prince of Peace restructured the heart of humanity and therefore changed and lit the whole world. This sermon curates some of the highlights of His life in order to help you restore or retain the peace He offers you.

Though it could be reasonably argued that there are faults in elements of celebration of the Christmas season, if Jesus is the center of them all, the purpose of the day, then a blessed season it will be.

• PRINCE OF PEACE

“I see Him, but not now;
I behold Him, but not near;
A Star shall come out of Jacob;
A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, ...
Numbers 24:17

The birth of Jesus was prophesied of in the Old Testament. Jesus is the obvious star of the New Testament, but God intended from the beginning for a messiah to arrive, align and heal His children.

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Isaiah 9:6-7

Indeed, Jesus has always been our story. We are loved thoroughly by God; He realized from before our first breath that we would require such qualities as Jesus would possess in order to spiritually survive and thrive. Let's think about those qualities listed in the ninth chapter of Isaiah more deeply:

Jesus is called Wonderful. The original word was "Pele" and means a miracle, a marvelous thing; wonder, marvel. Jesus is the miracle so many pray for and few actually see. He is the answer to every prayer, the strength for every weakness, the balm for every wound, the hope for every situation, the light of every life, the love for every heart. The wonder of Jesus is that a relationship with Him compensates for any lack a person could ever have. 

Jesus is called Counselor. A lifelong conversation with Jesus is a prayerful life. He is present, vigilant and available for consult each moment of our day or night. Because He is so aware of every detail of our situation, and so very familiar with us as unique individuals, He is able to provide specific, tailored advice. He powerfully, subtly, leads us toward the answer we need. To welcome the presence and counsel of Jesus into your your heart, your life and your situation is to be given the objective perspective and divine-strength necessary to proceed with purposeful wisdom.

Jesus is called Mighty God. Our Messiah is a multifaceted entity... praise God. Praise God because while Jesus is gentle and kind and wonderful, He is also a powerful authority. We require a powerful authority to confront the tenacious corruption of our enemies. We need a God who is gentle and fierce. We need a good Who is as wonderful to us as He is frightening to our adversaries. 

Jesus is called Everlasting Father. We need a God who is a father. We need Him to love us and discipline us. We need Him to raise us well and also rest us thoroughly. We need a God who is a shelter, a haven, a home. And we need Him forever. In God and Jesus we have steadfast presence and loyalty, such that we could never receive from any other source.

Jesus is called Prince of Peace. In the tumult of a world of people and a body of emotions we sometimes cannot understand or endure, we have the peace of Jesus. Our relationship with Jesus provides the hope and remembrance we need when we forget that difficulty and darkness are temporary. Jesus' peace soothes us as we remember God's plan, which Jesus brought to us, in order to assure us that there is purpose and order and justice in life. The greatest peace is knowing that God is in control and has a righteous, compassionate, restorative plan that is in the works this very moment!

• AN ANGEL ARRIVED

Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” 

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. For with God nothing will be impossible.” 

Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Luke 1:30-35;37-38

God's sense of humor cannot be denied; it is especially noticeable when He reveals an aspect of His plan to one of His children. He is always able to baffle and astound because His plans consistently exceed our limitations. Jesus' birth is our reminder that God has grand plans within our own lives that are not subject to any rules, norms or possibilities.

Mary is our reminder to always consent when God offers to run the course of our life in accordance with His word. For God certainly chooses us for tasks we would, not unreasonably, deem too lofty for our own capabilities. And they would be too big for us without Him. It is only through firm, focused faith that we able to keep our lives on the course of God's will.

The birth of Jesus through Mary, of the Holy Spirit, is extraordinary especially in that it is the melding of the natural world as we know it with the super-natural, spiritual world Jesus has taught. In no other moment had humanity been so-joined with God than in the birth of Jesus. Our former brothers-and-sisters-in-faith did not have Jesus as we have Him now. The Holy Spirit had not yet permeated the hearts of any who called upon it. We have continuous, persistent, intimate connection with God. It was such unprecedented and joyous a moment that a multitude of angels and the glory of the Lord were present (Luke 2:9;13).

Together they celebrated the gift we now have today, this precise moment and its immediate and even everlasting future.

• BLESSED ARE THEY

Baby Jesus grew up and with His ministry redesigned the whole philosophy of the earth. In various ways, He taught the opposite of what the system of the world had been teaching, introducing such concepts as humility and mercy and servitude.

And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted. 

Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth. 

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled. 

Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy. 

Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God. 

Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.  

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:1-10

Jesus taught the shocking message that it was actually the weak who were strong, the lowly who were exalted and the hungry who were fed. Jesus taught the concept of "we reap what we sow" and suddenly it was wise to invest and participate in the well-being of others. He shifted humanity's perspective in a manner which would enable the little and lowly of the world to be seen and valued, and cared for. 

Jesus taught us that if our primary pursuit was the kingdom of God, there would be progressive purpose in everything that we do and more than sufficient provision to do it, (most specifically noted in Matthew 6:33). Jesus' message rendered the former way obsolete and even regressive. It could no longer be thought that it was prudent to disregard the meek and needy. Self-promotion and progression by any means necessary in order to be wealthy and recognized as prominent, no longer held logic since Jesus taught that God's eyes were on those who gave more than they had and held no esteemed position in society. 

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp-stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:14-15

Moreover, Jesus gave us purpose when He revealed to us to our influence. Jesus gave us value when He revealed that God trusted us to make an impact here with our words and behavior. We may have once believed ourselves to be too minuscule to matter, our lives too happenstance for purpose, but because of Jesus we cannot think that anymore; we have been taught otherwise.

• SON OF THE FATHER

Jesus taught us a valuable lesson in His temporary death and the events that led up to it: his message was contrary to the world and therefore was rejected by it (John 15:19). Changing our lifestyle in accordance with God's will would definitely make us popular with God, and would just as definitely make us peculiar to the world (and thus unpopular in it). 

There was an opportunity for Jesus to be released from prison before the crucifixion, but He was not released, because had a message for us.

Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished. And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” 

But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They said, “Barabbas!” Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!” 

Then the governor said, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!” When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.”

And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.” Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.

Matthew 27:15-16;20-26

Jesus, though innocent, took the place of the guilty man... and continues to do so each and every time someone professes themselves to God. He lived and died and resurrected in order that we would receive the message that gives eternal life. We are not condemned to death because He has earned our eligibility redemption.

Jesus is referred to as 'Son of God' and the guilty man's name, Barabbas, means son of the father. We are all children of God, but who do we recognize as our father? Jesus revealed that we have a good Father in Heaven, the Father of righteousness. Barabbas had chosen to be a child, a product of unrighteousness. Jesus preferred a Father, a family and even the repentant sinners were welcomed into it; it was in Jesus' heart even to forgive the ignorant (Luke 23:34).

Jesus' life and death and resurrection provided us with a choice: will we accept our place as a child of God?

• PEACE I GIVE TO YOU 

“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

John 14:15-18

“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’

John 14:25-28

We celebrate Jesus' birth because since before even the moment of conception, He has been our advocate. Jesus is spiritually present, but because of His physical absence, He knew that we would need support. In the Holy Spirit, we have it. We have Him. We have an intangible, inexplicably, but undeniable, comfort, provision and power that sustains and propels us. 

All we have to do to receive it is to welcome Him into ourselves, our lives, our thoughts, choices and actions. And why wouldn't we? Jesus offers the sweetest peace and promise. 

 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

John 14:12-14

Within the will of God is an extraordinary place to be because possibility is endless. Within His ancient and established, everlasting kingdom are new glories, fresh inspirations, unprecedented occurrences. The Prince of Peace connected us to the God of vitality and proliferation. Our creator is a masterful artist and architect who gives attention to the details of the details of life. If you are able to dream of and pray for anything which enhances your little portion the Kingdom, God is able to do it. Trust Him to do it and deliver it in the time and material and way that He decides is best. Let God's will enhance your dream.

Finally, if you need a reminder of how to serve God this season, listen to Jesus' parting advice. It's simple.

...“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
John 14:23

And if the boisterous demands of the season are draining your peace, distracting you from the purpose of the season, and causing you to feel feebly alone, remember that you have never been alone.

"I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:20

WHOM SAY YE?

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Matthew 16:13-15 

An instrumental element of the disciples' training was to witness Jesus encounter and respond to His adversaries. Two religious groups called the Pharisees and Sadducees challenged everything Jesus said and did. Some questions are conscientious in nature, and are welcomed by God. He does not want or expect blind faith; God wants us to choose Him based our understanding and agreement with the principles He stands for. Conscientious questions diligently seek truth. 

But other questions are contentious in nature, seek no truth, but endeavor instead to discredit any other principles than the ones that uphold the person's authority, status or wealth. Understand that the Pharisees and Sadducees hounded Jesus with their, oftentimes nonsensical, disapproval because His authority threatened their ability to retain their own (which was considerable). They had a lot of power and influence... and wealth, and the more people that joined Jesus' righteous  congregation, the more people left their corrupt one. 

It was after one such confrontation that Jesus asked His disciples: Who do men say that I am? Who do you say that I am? Jesus wanted them to be perceptive about the atmosphere around them while also able to discern their own thoughts. At worst Jesus' adversaries declared Him to be a blasphemous fraud (John 10:33-38). At best, they declared Him to be a prophet, rather than an authority made and established by God. And though some admitted that He was at least a prophet, we know from scripture that prophets were not highly regarded (after all, Elijah was sentenced to death, his fellow-prophets gathered and systematically killed, and Jeremiah was threatened, mocked, and imprisoned). 

The point is that there are a lot of opinions in the world about God's existence and character. People will have different motives, barriers and reasons for their beliefs or lack thereof.  Indeed you and the world will often have conflicting declarations about God; therefore Jesus wants you to be able to discern between the two voices: your own and the world's. Because the voice you listen to will propel you through life. He wants you to have your own, fully informed declaration because what you declare will matter and hinder or assist in the course of your life.

• THE FOOL IN HIS HEART

The fool has said in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt,
They have done abominable works,
There is none who does good.

Psalm 14:1 

A portion of the world is agnostic, undecided or unsure about the existence God. Another portion staunchly disbelieve and oppose the philosophy of God; Psalm 14 refers to this portion. Everyone has encountered such a person as described in the first verse of the Psalm: a person who, usually callously, denies the existence of God and uses that presumed-absence for their own corrupt lifestyle.

In fact, the denial of God can prove quite convenient to a selfish and/or deceptive person. For the denial of God is also the denial of an established system of justice and of repercussion as well. In such a world, a person would be free to pursue any desire by any means. There are no limits to their behavior, no need to modify of soften their words. They can ignore the conscious and also their responsibility to humanity. 

Even people who say or believe that they believe in God sometimes act in negligence of God's commandments. When Jesus asked his disciples: whom do you say that I am? He meant: whom do you declare that I am? Because a declaration has depth and commitment attached to it. "Believers" are just as surely breaking God's commandments when they neglect to follow them as non-believers are. So when Jesus says: who do you say that I am? It needs to be a question we can readily, confidently answer because otherwise, we are probably not adhering meticulously enough to what we say we subscribe to.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were supposed-believers in God, but corrupt motivations altered the purpose of their faith and therefore the quality and validity of it as well. Was each member of each group consciously aware of their deviation from pure and righteous faith? Probably not. If we are not careful, we can lose the objectivity, impartiality, humility, and selflessness God's word teaches us to have and retain. Our own motivations can cause us to steadily disengage from genuine, fastidious faith.

When we say that we believe in God, we need to know what precisely it is that we believe about Him. God has established commandments and made promises, He has explained truths and prophesied eventualities. He has made decisions, chosen paths and people, created, destroyed, esteemed, demeaned... He has done and declared so much and we need to know all about all of it in order to truly be able to say who He is. 

Without a comprehensive understanding of who God is, there is foolishness in the heart. For if God is not occupying every space in your heart, you are like this fool spoken of, as there are places in your heart where there is no God.

• BECAUSE HE HAS HEARD

I love the Lord, because He has heard
My voice and my supplications.
Because He has inclined His ear to me,
Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.

The pains of death surrounded me,
And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me;
I found trouble and sorrow.
Then I called upon the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!”

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
Yes, our God is merciful.
The Lord preserves the simple;
I was brought low, and He saved me.
Return to your rest, O my soul,
For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

For You have delivered my soul from death,
My eyes from tears,
And my feet from falling.
I will walk before the Lord
In the land of the living.
I believed, therefore I spoke, ...

Psalm 116:1-10 

Contrarily, a steadfast relationship with God results in a life comprised of the same informed faith expressed in Psalm 116. The Psalmist is able to declare their believe in God based on concrete experience with Him. This Psalmist's faith is quality because it is familiar with God who God is.

The Psalmist declared love of God because God listened to Him. In order for God to hear and listen to the Psalmist, the Psalmist must have first spoken and trusted that God would answer. The Psalmist declared trust in God because he was surrounded and captured then freed and delivered by God. In order to be freed and delivered, he must first have called on God and believed in His refuge. He was able to rest in the bounty of blessing... but could not have done so if His faith had not provided an avenue through which those blessings came! He was given life, dried of tears, and upheld in when walking and therefore He believed and spoke of God. What he believed and what he said were in alignment, and of quality, because he knew God, had developed a relationship with Him.

A personal relationship with God is different from the type of faith the Pharisees and Sadducees had. They understood God as the God of Moses, of Abraham and David. They understood Him as the God of commandments and religious traditions, rather the present, continuous spirit existing with us now, even in this exact moment. 

In scripture we have the books of various people: Samuel, Matthew, Timothy, etc. We do not see our own book, with our own name, written in ink within the Bibles pages but we have one. When we endeavor to know God, trust Him and follow Him, we have moments in our own story when He, essentially, enables us to walk on and through water. We have our own experiences of being delivered from fear and enemy. We have our own prayers heard and answered, our own tears dried and bodies upheld. How we live in faith determines what our story says: are we like the people who never called, who never asked, who never sought? Or are we like Abraham and Moses and David who were, like all people, flawed and sometimes fearful but who, like few people, knew Who to trust with those things?

You see, someone who knows God knows that Moses was not the only one whose sea was split. Joseph was not the only one freed from prison. Shadrach, Mehsach and Abednego were not the only ones to survive a fire. It was not only that one woman who met Jesus by the well. And therefore when that someone-who-truly-knows-God is asked by Jesus: whom do you say I am? They have a definite answer corroborated by actual, tangible experience.

• KEYS OF THE KINGDOM

Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 16:16-17

Simon Peter answered and according to Jesus, correctly and authentically. Simon Peter did not just say the correct answer. His genuine, fastidious faith caused God to reveal that correct answer in his heart. He knew who God was not because it was taught but because it was earned, garnered steadily through a committed relationship with Him.

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Matthew 16:18-19 

When you know God you receive the keys to His kingdom... the refuge, the haven, the fortress, the storehouses of blessing. Because by endeavoring to know God, you have committed yourself to love and righteousness.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1 John 4:7-8 

If you know God, He knows it is because you tailored your lifestyle to His principles. If you tailored your life to His principles, you determined yourself to evermore become kind and generous, patient and merciful, observant and humble, just and compassionate, studious in His word and obedient to His will. And if you lived a life so closely connected with Him, He is pleased to know you as well and to give you the kingdom:

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Luke 12:32

Jesus wanted to disciples to be aware of their own heart's voice so that they could disentangle it from the world. Amid the opinions, rumors, disagreements and declarations around you, endeavor to have and live your own. Jesus' asks, 'Whom do you say that I am?' we who know Him say, 'you're the One, Christ, the Son of God, who met me by the well.'