Sermon Transcript
The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.
- Luke 2:8–20
- Peace on Earth
- Temporary Peace
- The Prince of Peace
- Peace with God
- The Terms of Peace
- Closing Prayer
Luke 2:8–20
Turn with me to the book of Luke, chapter 2. Justus already read it, but we’re going to read it again. Starting in verse 8, Luke chapter 2:
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
(Luke 2:8–20)
[audio unclear] that this is the day that we celebrate your Son’s entrance into this world. He truly is the King of kings and Lord of lords. We thank you, Father, for sending your Son [audio unclear] midst. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Peace on Earth
I want to focus on one word in this passage, and it’s the word that’s found in verse 14 of Luke chapter 2. That’s the word peace. So the heavenly host appears and they say, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.” The biblical meaning of peace is the idea of wholeness, well-being, prosperity, security, harmony, and unity. And this is what the angel announces: peace. Well, notice, where is the peace to be found? On earth. On earth. So God is restoring all things. A peace on earth—think about it—that hadn’t been seen since the days of Adam and Eve, before they sinned. And now God was bringing that peace in fulfillment back, and even more so. A peace that had gone away, but now is coming back. And who doesn’t want peace? You all going to family gatherings and stuff, right? And some of y’all just praying for peace. I mean, we want peace. Who doesn’t want peace? Every nation wants peace. Every church wants peace. Every family wants peace. Every individual wants peace. And now individuals and families and churches and nations, they’ve gone about getting peace in a wide variety of ways. Some of them good, some of them not so good. But at the end of the day, people long for peace.
Temporary Peace
Now interestingly enough, at this time in history, when Jesus was born, Caesar Augustus—we read about him just a couple days ago—[audio unclear] for pretty much all of its existence, and Caesar Augustus comes on and he is able to achieve peace, a peace that lasted actually for hundreds of years. So this time in Roman history was relatively peaceful. The gates of Janus—it was an ancient Roman tradition that the gates remained open during times of war and were closed only when Rome was at universal peace. And Augustus took great pride that during his reign, the gates closed three different times for years and years and years and years. Up to that point in Roman history, guess how many times those gates had been closed? In hundreds and hundreds of years of Roman history, the gates had only been closed twice. And yet in his reign, three different times, the gates were closed for years, sometimes decades. Peace was temporary. When we read about the Roman Empire, it’s in the past tense, right? That empire doesn’t exist anymore. So you can strive for peace all you want and still end up short in the long run.
During World War II, as Germany was starting its military campaign, one of the places they attacked was the country of Denmark. And Denmark fought back. You know how long Denmark lasted? A few hours. A few hours. And they surrendered. In part, because they wanted peace. And they got it, I mean, sort of. Denmark was a staging ground for invasions of other countries by the Germans. So it was peace [audio unclear].
The Prince of Peace
And think about it: once Jesus, when he appears to the disciples, there are two different times the first words out of his mouth are “Peace be with you.” And just about every New Testament letter begins with that introduction, and it will say peace. It’s not just a formality, no, it’s much more than that. It’s a theological statement of what God has accomplished through his Son, Jesus. So the angels announce in Luke, peace. I mean, if only it were that easy, right? Just announce peace and it’s there. But that’s what really happened, right? I mean, the angel announced peace, and what happens? The Prince of Peace comes into this world. Peace has arrived. And as a baby that grew to an infant, that grew to a boy, that grew to a man, that man Jesus achieved peace. Not just a temporary peace, but a peace that is offered to all that lasts for an eternity. The Prince of Peace achieved peace. Peace with him. Well, peace between us and God.
Peace with God
When we talk about peace, we normally think of wars. We normally think of nations fighting against nation. We think of things like that. But in the truest sense, when we talk about peace, we’re talking about a concept of a theological idea of us being separated from God. If you don’t have peace with God, what do you have? You’ve got war. And over and over the Bible refers to us as enemies. “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” Well, why are we enemies? Well, because we’ve sinned against him. We’ve essentially waged war against the holy God. And that’s what our sin does and announces every time we do it: we’re announcing a holy war against a holy God. And we think we can win. Why? Well, because we keep sinning and we keep putting ourselves on the throne. But what has to happen? I mean, and that’s why the Bible calls us enemies. Apart from Christ, we’re enemies. But what does Jesus do? This is why it’s so important. Listen to me. What does Jesus do? He wipes away that enmity, the hostility. He comes and he’s the one that brings peace. So when it comes to peace, we’re not talking like, oh, everything is great and fuzzy and fine down here. Clearly it’s not. We’re talking a peace that Christ himself brings between you and God. He is the only one that can do it. And God knew that. The Father saw it, and he saw the only way for the door to be opened was for him to send who? The prophets, prophet after prophet after prophet. Did that work? No. What did he have to do? Send his own Son. And what did they do? They murdered him. They murdered the Son of God. And yet, that was part of the plan. From the very beginning, the plan was for God to send his Son to lay down his life. Jesus comes willingly, the Father sends him willingly. And what happens? Christ brings back a peace that we can have with God the Father. It’s only through Christ’s death, his sacrifice, his resurrection that we can be made whole with God again. We can wave the white flag, metaphorically. Why? Because we’re at war. What do you do when you want to surrender? Well, you go to the greater power, the one that got the upper hand, and you say, hey, what are the terms? Does the nation that’s about to be crushed say, here are the terms? No, Denmark didn’t do it and no one else ever has either. They agree to the terms.
The Terms of Peace
Well, what are the terms that God set? He actually doesn’t have a lot of terms. It is surrender. Surrender your life. And how do you do that? By repenting of those sins, those things that have gone against God, the holy war that you’ve been waging, those sins, and turning back to your Father. How is that done? Through trusting in Christ. In Ephesians it says, by grace we are saved. We don’t do anything to save ourselves. God’s grace is what saves us. How does he do that? How does he get that grace to us? Through faith. And this not of your own doing. It is the gift of God, not by works, lest any man boast. God in his loving kindness sent his Son to bring peace. Interestingly enough, God is the one who approaches us and he says, I want peace, and here are the terms. In one sense, the terms are impossible to meet. It’s impossible. How do you please a holy God? Well, Jesus did it for us. He did what we couldn’t do. And in another sense, it is so simple, even a small child can come and be at peace with God. So I encourage you today to repent of your sins. Stop waging the holy war. Come to the terms of peace. It’s very simple: repent of your sins, trust in Christ, you receive the gift of salvation. Let’s pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we do thank you that through your Son we can have peace with you, the God of all heaven, the God of all earth, the God of this universe, the God who created it all. He has offered peace to his creation. And Father, I pray for anyone here still waging a holy war against you, that they’d come to terms of peace with you tonight. They would repent and trust in what your Son Jesus did, that it was enough. We thank you for the gift of your Son Jesus. We thank you that we celebrate it this Christmas Eve. You are a good and gracious God, and we love you. Amen.