ADVENT CANDLE OF PEACE Sun. Dec. 10, 2023. 10:30 am
First Reader: Today we are thanking God that by knowing Him, we can receive PEACE that only Jesus can give. God sent Jesus into our world to give lasting PEACE. When Jesus brings PEACE to us, He reminds us that He knows exactly how we feel. He knows all the things happening in our world and in our lives right now, that cause us to feel afraid. God knows us completely and wants to give us His gift of PEACE this morning. God is just waiting for us to ask Him for PEACE. When we pray for PEACE, we are asking God to take care of things.
Second Reader: We know that we can place everything in God’s hands because we cannot carry it by ourselves. This reminds us how much we need Jesus and the PEACE that He provides. In knowing how much we need Jesus, we can be thankful that He is always there for us and that gives us PEACE.
Third Reader: Today we light this candle of PEACE knowing that God is real and having discovered that Jesus brings PEACE! We want to know this PEACE deep in our hearts. All of us need God’s PEACE. We thank God that knowing Jesus as “Prince of Peace” means that we are never without the promise of His PEACE. (Lighting of the candle of PEACE)
Fourth Reader: We will pray together, “Thank you God that we can have PEACE because Your Son Jesus has come into our world and into our lives. Thank you that the PEACE that Jesus gives is not just for Christmas, but for every day. Thank you that whenever we are afraid, we can exchange our fear for PEACE because Jesus is always with us. Every day, we want to know You more. Help us to become more like You. We want to receive Your PEACE and share Your PEACE with everyone. In Jesus’ Name. AMEN”
John 14:27 PEACE IS FOUND IN JESUS: “PRINCE OF PEACE”
Springford Baptist Church: Dec. 10, 2023.
27 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)
Jesus is the “Prince of Peace.”
Not only in the season leading up to Christmas, but every day is a time for sharing the PEACE that Jesus has given to us.
Jesus came into our world to give PEACE and He emphasizes that the PEACE He gives is different than what the world has to give.
True and lasting PEACE can only be found in Jesus! Do we believe that? Will this motivate and compel us to share the PEACE that we have received from God’s Son Jesus, “the Prince of Peace”?
Recently there have been lock downs in schools which have caused students and parents to feel understandably afraid. The response is to talk about increasing security measures.
We consider the tragedy of war and recognize that there is no ability to ensure that people are safe and that PEACE is maintained.
The world’s best attempt at PEACE is to try to have people feel safe and secure. But as we well know this is so very fragile and uncertain.
The world wishes for peace and tries desperately to negotiate towards peace, but the PEACE of Jesus is always real and present!
Even if we are experiencing a relatively safe and secure time in our community or neighbourhood, there are circumstances that can affect our personal or individual sense of safety and security. Seemingly predictable circumstances might ease us into a sense of peace and well being. But circumstances can change suddenly.
I think of the circumstance of someone who dies suddenly and unexpectedly or people we know who receive a troubling medical diagnosis followed by testing and then waiting for results to know what further treatment may be necessary. Or the reality of motor vehicle accidents that injure or claim lives.
If our PEACE depended on the guarantee of a trouble free life without any danger or illness or loss of life, then we all know that is impossible to achieve.
Again, the best that the world can provide is measures to try to reassure that we are relatively secure or that an illness can be cured or that for the most part our highways are safe to travel on.
This kind of peace depends on controlling various circumstances that just are not possible to control entirely.
So, if the world’s best attempts at providing PEACE fall short, what is different about the PEACE that Jesus, the “Prince of Peace” came to offer to us?
Jesus is prepared to give us PEACE that does not depend on circumstances!
This is profound!
When Jesus entered our world as a tiny baby, the angels announced, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth PEACE”! (Luke 2:14)
Jesus came to be the PEACE between us and God and this matters more than anything else.
Jesus can give us PEACE that is not diminished by danger or illness or even death.
In fact, the PEACE of Christ is highlighted in these situations.
Consider this:
If we feel unsafe and wonder about our own safety or the safety of loved ones, we can know that God has saved us for eternity and nothing that happens in the here and now escapes God’s notice or can take away our place in heaven forever.
If our experience of PEACE depended on good health with no intrusion of any complications then the reality of illness and aging and aches and pains would erase that possibility of PEACE very quickly. However, Jesus is available to accompany us, yes to be our constant Companion whatever our state of health. He does not leave us alone and often we are most aware of His loving Presence in our times of need. Literally, we are weak, but He is strong and that gives courage and PEACE, the PEACE of Jesus, “Prince of Peace.”
Even the thing of which we might be most afraid of -death- our own or that of someone we love, cannot rob us of the PEACE of Christ when we consider that our souls, the part of us that live forever, at the moment of death are set free from our physical bodies to be with our Lord safe in the place He has gone to prepare for us.
Yes, we are to live one day at a time, but as any of us would do when driving, we need to anticipate what is on the road ahead.
There is a challenging balance between looking at the present, living for God now and looking beyond now and it does provide PEACE to consider what is ahead.
Looking beyond gives us courage and hope when we wonder how we will carry on when we face the hard struggles of life.
Jesus, in the words He speaks here in John 14 is giving His disciples a gift for the days ahead.
He knows that they will experience the unspeakable agony of seeming separation from Him.
They will see Him arrested and sentenced to death on the cross. It will appear that all hope is gone, that there can be no possibility for PEACE. Even when He comes back to life, which they don’t yet understand, Jesus will then return to heaven. They will no longer be able to see, hear, and touch Him.
Only as they look beyond will they recognize hope and the possibility for the PEACE that Jesus promises. Only as they know that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for them in heaven and will return to take them there, is the possibility of trusting God available.
When Thomas asks an honest question, vs. 5 “Lord we don’t know where you are going so how can we know the way”?, Jesus has the answer.
What is an honest question that you have asked of God lately?In other words, what is something that has troubled you or seemed unclear to you?
PEACE does not come by overlooking what is.
What is something you really have not understood?
It is only when we ask God honest questions, questions that reveal what we are really thinking that we can receive answers.
This answer that Jesus gives to Thomas is actually an answer to every question that we have or will have.
Jesus responds that He is, “the Way the Truth and the Life.”(John 14:6) Jesus is the one we can trust for each step we take in this life here on earth and He is the one who leads us home to heaven to experience eternal life with Him forever.
The Way-the means of getting there and our guide on the journey
The Truth-dependable source of direction, able to be trusted
The Life-the Giver of life, the Preserver of life and the Source of everlasting life
Looking beyond to heaven should constantly remind us why we are doing what we are doing! It should constantly influence how we live when we get up each morning.
But here’s the thing. Sometimes any one of us can become so focused on the destination that we miss what is meant to happen on the trip there. When we are planning for a trip, of course we want to know where we will stay when we get there. Sometimes we stay with friends or family. Sometimes we make a motel reservation. Then we know that a place to stay is guaranteed. That is all taken care of and we can relax and feel secure about it. However, once this detail is settled, there is the journey to get there of which to make the most.
We would miss so much if we disregard here and now and just think about what lies ahead.
If Jesus had never come into our world to bring us PEACE with God, then we would have every reason to be afraid, but He has come and that changes everything. And His promise to never leave us alone but to be right with us gives us every reason for PEACE even when that seems the most unlikely response.
How can we keep this gift of the PEACE that only Jesus can give to ourselves?
Jesus took time to explain to his followers that PEACE, lasting PEACE was available to them. It was His intention that they would actively share PEACE with everyone around them.
What will Sharing PEACE, the PEACE of Christ, look like in our everyday lives, in our conversations and the way we act?
How will we live this PEACE that comes from Jesus our Prince of Peace, this week coming?
Some possibilities:
-being present with people in their fears or struggles and representing to them in a real way that Jesus is with them and they are not alone.
-looking for ways that we can respond to human need and help people to feel cared for and not forgotten or overlooked (eg. doing that through our donations to the Salvation Army helping families in our communities).
-being open about our faith in God who is in control when our world appears out of control
-reminding ourselves and others that ultimately our security is with God and that He has promised the safe destination of heaven, a place of perfect PEACE. We are only temporary citizens here. We can receive the PEACE that Jesus offers here and understand that one day we will know this PEACE completely in the place that Jesus, the “Prince of Peace” has gone to prepare for us.
Consider the last verse of the familiar Christmas carol, “It Came Upon The Midnight Clear”:
“For lo the days are hastening on, by prophets seen of old.
When with the ever-circling years shall come the time foretold.
When the new heaven and earth shall own the Prince of Peace their King.
And the whole world send back the song which now the angels sing.”
I want to hold on to the PEACE that Jesus came to give us, but I do not want to hold on so tightly that I am unwilling to share His PEACE with anyone looking for it!
And know for certain that many people these days are looking for real and lasting PEACE that only our JESUS the “Prince of Peace” can offer!!
Jesus said to His disciples and Jesus says to us,
“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)