December 17, 2017 NOTES NOT EDITED
Journey To Peace
Luke 2:14; Psalm 85
Luke 2:14; Psalm 85
SIS – Having peace
means we must know what it is and where it comes from.
What is “peace.” The word conjures up a picture in most minds
of some tranquil, relaxing, idyllic scene—much like lying on a remote beach
listening to the rhythm of the waves
crashing upon the shore. Certainly that
describes a peaceful scene, but most of life is not like a lazy day on a beach,
but more like a crazy drive on HWY 101 at rush hour—honking, yelling, stop and
go—mostly stop.
The Biblical concept
of peace is much broader. [SLIDE] Biblical
peace is more defined by a inner relationship with God than in terms of our
relationship to external circumstances.
The Hebrew word for “peace” has a familiar ring for most of us—shalom. This Hebrew word has a very broad
application in the Bible. Certainly,
peace may involve tranquil, relaxing circumstances but not necessarily so.
The word translated
“peace” in this Psalm is familiar sounding to most people. It is, “shalom.”
Certainly, political freedom is a part of the “Peace Package” as we see in
verse 1:
Lord,
You showed favor to Your land;
You
restored Jacob’s prosperity.
This Psalm was
written after a time of bondage for Israel, probably the 70 year captivity in
Babylonia. The words, “restored
prosperity” literally means “turned around the captivity.” In other words, God turned around the
situation (restored) of Israel and freed them from political tyranny. That’s certainly part of what “shalom” means but by no measure is it
the most important part of “peace.”
Shalom, in the OT, like erene,
in the NT refers to a “condition of the heart.”
We would say it is an “inner peace,” rather than “peaceful conditions.” Biblical peace is not calm FROM the storm,
but calm in the MIDST of the storm. A famous painting titled, “Peace
In the Midst of the Storm,” by Jack Dawson, illustrates the Biblical idea of
peace. In the painting, the sky is dark,
the darkness shattered by occasional lightning.
Flood waters flow in torrents over a rugged clift. There are several hidden pictures in this,
the first painting in a series titled, “Seek and Find.” If you look closely, you will see a little
bird, resting safely on her nest in the midst of the chaos around her.
READ: Lk. 2:14; Psalm 85
READ: Lk. 2:14; Psalm 85
Our text of Psa. 85 gives
us four REQUIREMENTS to having peace.
1.
Receiving God’s PARDON (2-7)
2 You
(1)took away Your people’s guilt;
You (2)covered all their sin. Selah
3 You (3)withdrew all
Your fury; You (4)turned from Your burning
anger. 4 Return to us, God of our salvation, and (5)abandon Your displeasure with us. 5 Will You be angry with us
forever? Will You prolong Your anger for all generations? 6 Will
You not revive us again so that Your people may rejoice in You? 7 (6)Show us Your faithful love, Lord, and give us Your salvation.
The Psalmist
describes pardon from sin with six
different action words bringing about six different results: (1)took away. . .sin; (2)covered. . .sin;
(3)withdrew fury; (4)turned from. . .burning anger; (5)abandoned. .
.displeasure; and (6)showed. . .love.
The Dictionary
defines pardon as: a release from the penalty of an
offense. Biblically it involves
so much more.
A pardon excuses
someone from the “penalty of an offense.”
That’s why when we find out we have offended someone we say, “I beg your
pardon.” In other words, “I’m sorry
please forgive me.”
Well, in 1982 the
famed country western singer, Merle Haggard, was invited to a Presidential
shindig at the Reagan ranch near Santa Barbara.
Merle sang his typical country ballads, in addition to a new song that
talked about all the trouble an woes of the nation. When Merle Haggard finished the set with that
“offensive” song, he looked over at President Reagan and said, “I beg your
pardon one more time.” Reagan chuckled
at the singer’s statement because Reagan got the joke that most in the crowd
missed. Merle said, “I beg your pardon
one more time,” because ten years earlier when Reagan was governor of
California, he gave an executive pardon to Merle Haggard who had spent three
years in San Quentin Prison for burglary and escape charges. When Haggard began to be successful, he asked
Reagan for a pardon because as a convicted felon, Haggard could not tour
outside the U.S. Reagan’s first pardon “removed the penalty for the offenses” Haggard
had committed in 1960.
Christmas is not
about parties, but about pardon. The
angel of God gave Joseph very specific instructions on “what” to name the child
Mary was to give birth to, but also the “why.”
Matthew 1:20-21:
An
angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of
David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been
conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit. 21 She
will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, b because He will save His people from their sins.”
God’s pardon “removes the penalty” for sin which is
eternal separation from God in hell for all eternity. Pardon from God brings us “peace WITH God,”
and therefore the “peace OF God.” Pardon
is the first gift in the “peace package” from God.
If one misses this
part of the Christmas story, they missed the most important part. The gift of
pardon for sins can easily be lost when we are “partying in our sins.”
2.
Relying on God’s PROVISION (1, 12)
1 Lord,
You showed favor to Your land;
You
restored Jacob’s prosperity
………………………………..
12 Also, the Lord will provide what is
good,
and
our land will yield its crops
The word,
“prosperity,” is a greatly misunderstood word in the Bible and a word greatly
abused by so-called, “health and wealth preachers.”
Verse one is a
complicated verse to decipher in the Hebrew.
The Hebrew phrase means, “Because you favored Jacob [meaning the
nation of Israel] you turned her situation around.” The “situation” was that of being captive
slaves in Babylon for over 70 years with no political might, no real means to
economic gain, and no sense of security – or, to say it simply, “no peace.”
Do you find yourself
in a bad place? God can turn things
around. VERSE
12 clearly promises: “God
will provide.” This applies to
each of us individually, as well as to our nation. God can “turn things” around and bring a new
era of prosperity to our lives – but we must trust Him and (as I’ll show in a
moment) align ourselves with His purpose.
Prosperity has less to do with our wealth and more to do with being in the center of God’s will. Prosperity is not about constantly seeking more and more but in learning to be satisfied with less and less. Consider Joseph’s experience at the Inn in Bethlehem.
Prosperity has less to do with our wealth and more to do with being in the center of God’s will. Prosperity is not about constantly seeking more and more but in learning to be satisfied with less and less. Consider Joseph’s experience at the Inn in Bethlehem.
During the Christmas
season in Christmas pageants all around the world there is one character that
gets a really bad rap (besides the evil king, Herod). That is the Inn-keeper. Mary and Joseph needed a room, and the word
says: Luke
2:7
Then
she gave birth to her firstborn Son, and she wrapped Him snugly in cloth and
laid Him in a feeding trough—because there was no room for them at the lodging
place.
Immediately, we focus
on the inn-keeper’s poor customer service insensitivity to a young, pregnant
girl. Perhaps the inn-keeper deserves
the infamy he receives, perhaps not. The
Bible does not comment on the matter but only in passing.
What stands out
abundantly clear to me is this: God
provided a place for the family, even when the inn-keeper could not or
would not.
Now, notice what we don’t see in this story. We don’t see Joseph jumping up and down
screaming at the inn-keeper or Mary threatening to file a lawsuit with the housing
commission of Bethlehem because of the “unsuitable” stable they were offered as
an alternative.
No, Joseph and Mary
peacefully settled into the stable and made what preparations they could for
the coming child. The whole scene is one
of peace. Peace comes when we recognize that even though God may not give us all
we want in life, God will give us all we need.
Remember, Jesus
taught us to pray for daily bread, not
daily steak.
We can be at peace
because, God is called, “Jehovah Jireh,”
God Who Provides.
3.
Discovering God’s PURPOSE (6-8, 10)
Biblical peace refers
to having a vibrant, growing relationship with God. That’s true peace. Look at verses 6-8, and then verse 10:
6 Will You not revive us again so
that Your people may rejoice in You? 7 Show us Your faithful
love, Lord, and give us Your salvation. 8 I will listen to what God will say; surely the Lord will declare peace
to His people, His godly ones, and not let them go back to foolish ways.
………………………………….
10 Faithful love and truth will join
together;
righteousness
and peace will embrace.
Peace is found at the
intersection of “truth” and
“righteous—right knowing and right living. Peace comes when one discovers God’s purposes
and acts accordingly.
Biblical peace is
associated with the favor of God, not
favorable circumstances. God’s favor
comes as a consequence of obedience to God’s decrees in the Bible. Biblical peace, shalom, does not require political peace, or peaceful circumstances
This is precisely
what the angels sing about on that hillside the first Christmas:
LUKE
2 14 Glory to God in
the highest heaven, and peace
on earth to people He favors.
on earth to people He favors.
It is God’s favor
that puts the “merry” in Merry Christmas!
No favor means no peace. Peace is
a package deal and comes as a result of a God’s favor on our lives. God favor comes when we align ourselves with
His purpose. Jesus defined what that
purpose was in a succinct, short comment in Luke 19:10
“I
came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
This is why we have
Christmas in the first place—it fulfills God’s redemptive plan to save
mankind. Misunderstand God’s purpose for
your life and you will never find peace.
Peace comes as a consequence of God’s favor which comes as a result of
discovering God’s purpose for your life.
How do you fit into God’s plan to save mankind? Discover that, and you will discover real
peace.
In the movie Hugo, about a long-forgotten
automaton, or robot, the main character declares, “a machine has no extra parts.”
A machine, like Hugo, is created to function according to the purpose
established by its inventor, or creator.
A creation finds meaning when it is performing according to its
purpose. The sadness of a broken machine
is that it is not performing according to the purpose for which it is
designed. The greatest turmoil a human
soul can experience is “meaninglessness” that come from lacking a sense of
purpose.
God saved us not only
to make us fit for heaven, but God saved us to make us “fit” here on
earth. Salvation restores our sense of
purpose. Listen to Eph 2:10
10 For we are His creation,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared ahead of time so that
we should walk in them.
There is no mention
in this verse about being “created for heaven” (though that is a part of our
Peace Package) but we are “created for
fulfill the purposes of God here on earth.”
Too many believers
sit on the sidelines when God wants them to play in the game. Too many Christians treat Christianity like a
“train station” instead of a launching pad.
We sit idly on the station benches waiting for the Heavenly Train to
arrive to take us to heaven. Oh, what a
horrible way to view Christianity.
4.
Trusting God’s PROMISE (13)
Notice
verse 13: 13 Righteousness will go before Him
to
prepare the way for His steps.
God has a plan and a
major part of that plan is a “promise to bless those whom He has chosen.” No matter what may come in the future, God
has a plan and our welfare as His children is absolutely secure.
Thirty-four years ago
my first daughter, Amanda, died shortly after birth of what now is mostly a
minor complication. Thirty years ago
Shari and I were in a small hospital in a remote mountain town. Tragedy struck on a day that should have been
the most exciting day of our lives, shattering our sense of peace.
While preparing to
conduct Amanda’s funeral, I sat down with my guitar and wrote a song. The first verse says:
This
road that I travel on // seems so rough and steep
The rivers I must cross // seem so chilly and deep
The rivers I must cross // seem so chilly and deep
But
there’s one thing I am sure of // I’m always in my Savior’s love
And I can’t go anywhere, Jesus hasn’t already been.
And I can’t go anywhere, Jesus hasn’t already been.
I didn’t have Psalm
85 in mind at the time, but verse 13 could well have been the
inspiration for my song. God has
promised:
Righteousness
will go before Him to prepare the way for His steps.
Righteousness here
poetically refers to God. No matter
where we may find ourselves going in life, if we trust in God, He will already
be there before we get there with what is needed to assure our success and
promote our wellness. That’s God’s
promise.
PROMISES
ARE IMPORTANT, at least for one kidnapper! A Kansas
couple hostage in their home while fleeing from authorities is suing them,
claiming they broke an oral contract made when he promised them money in
exchange for hiding him from police. Jesse
Dimmick of suburban Denver is serving an 11-year sentence after bursting into
Jared and Lindsay Rowley’s Topeka-area home in September 2009. He was wanted
for questioning in the beating death of a Colorado man and a chase had begun in
Geary County. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that Dimmick filed a breach
of contract suit in Shawnee County District Court, in response to a suit the
Rowleys filed in September seeking $75,000 from him for intruding in their home
and causing emotional stress.
Dimmick contends he
told the couple he was being chased by someone, most likely the police, who
wanted to kill him. “I, the defendant, asked the Rowleys to hide me because I
feared for my life. I offered the Rowleys an unspecified amount of money which
they agreed upon, therefore forging a legally binding oral contract,” Dimmick
said in his hand-written court documents. He wants $235,000, in part to pay for
the hospital bills that resulted from him being shot by police when they
arrested him.
Evidently this
kidnapper believes what the Bible says: “You have not because you ask not!”
One of the gifts in
our “Peace Package” we receive from God is a whole book of promises. I find great peace reading all the thousands
of promises God has given us in His Word.
How many promises are
there in the Bible? I’ve never counted
them, but according to Herbert Lockyear (All
The Promises in the Bible) there are 8000!
Whatever the exact number, there’s a lot. And all we need is one promise that God has a
plan for our lives and that’s enough to provide us with peace—no matter what
storms are raging in our individual lives or in our world. Grab a promise and hold on!
Peace is a promise
wrapped up in the package of God’s pleasure,
which we receive through Jesus Christ.
Many different blessings from God converge to create a river of peace in
our lives.
Christmas is God’s
“Peace Package.” God wrapped up the gift
of peace and placed it in a manger over 2000 years ago. At that event an angel declared:
LUKE
2 14 Glory to God in
the highest heaven, and peace
on earth to people He favors.
on earth to people He favors.
Even centuries before
God delivered Jesus Christ as the “Peace Package” to the world the Psalmist (Psalm
85) declared:
VERSE 8: surely the Lord
will declare peace
to His people, His
godly ones
This
Christmas may you find peace for your journey.
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