Gloria Dei Lutheran Church | Urbandale, Iowa

Advent Sermon "Peace on Earth - Personal Peace"

Pastor Phillips’ Sermon

Advent Service, December 4, 2008

Grace, mercy and peace be with you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

One of the last things that Jesus said to His disciples, He appeared to them after His resurrection and it says He breathed on them and He said, “Peace be with you.” Peace be with you. I imagine, at that time, they needed peace. Remember, Jesus had died on the cross. They saw all that horror and they suffered with Him. And then they saw Him as He rose from the dead and appeared to people and, yet, He also was telling them He was going to depart. He would ascend to the Father and be with them no more. They needed His peace to deal with what would come.

And we need His peace, too, to deal with today. In our world, it’s hard to find peace. There are so many struggles going on around us and just symptoms that are so obvious that people do not have peace in their lives and peace in their hearts.

I saw a show on CNN the other day and it was all about this struggle the author was pointing out. She had an on-line survey for women and 500 women responded to this on-line survey and it revealed that 91% of those who responded, 91% of these working women battled depression. They didn’t have peace. They had anxiety and worries and just all kinds of problems. Only 7% of the people who responded said they told their boss. 52% of the people didn’t even do anything with their depression. They simply suffered.

Peace. It’s hard to find. And we know it for the women who work, it’s an extra challenge. They’re full-time workers, full-time moms, full-time wives, full-time homemakers. But tonight, I want to tell the women and I want to tell everyone that God is the God of peace and He does not want you to simply suffer. He wants you to experience His peace and peace in your life.

When we want to understand this problem and this struggle to have personal peace, first we have to figure out what is it that’s taking our peace away. What are the things that block us from sleeping at night? What are the things that keep us from resting and knowing that everything is in good shape? We may have anxiety over a number of things. We may be concerned about employment. That’s a big issue in today’s culture. We may be worried about our retirement and the investments and savings that are being affected so much. We may be discouraged about the overall economy or our personal finances. Or maybe we are worried about things we have done in the past. Maybe that’s what’s robbing us of our sleep. Or maybe we’re concerned about the future and some of the challenges that are yet to come. These are the things that take away your personal peace. These are the things that keep you tossing and turning at night. These are the things that have that impact on your life that make you negative and critical. They’re the things that stand between you and a better life, filled with all the blessings God intended for you to have. God is a God of peace.

Remember as we read the Old Testament reading from Isaiah, one of the names for Jesus is Prince of Peace. So somehow there’s a connection with Jesus and our personal peace. I want to tell you that it’s part of the identity and character of God to make peace and bring peace and to be a God of peace. It’s who He is. It’s part of His DNA. When He created everything, He called into existence all that is in existence, He created it in perfect harmony. There was absolute peace. That was His design. It wasn’t until sin entered the world that all these problems came along, all the worries and anxieties that we now experience.

But the biggest problem that we have isn’t the economy or our employment or our retirement. The biggest problem that we as individuals has to do with our relationship with God. It’s a problem we’re pretty familiar with. It’s called sin. And if we were to take a moment to list our sins, it’d take more than a moment, wouldn’t it? It would take quite a while to list all the thoughts and words and the actions that we do that are wrong in God’s sight.

Think about the Ten Commandments. Oh, my gosh. And all the ways that we violate those. You shall have no other gods. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy. Honor your father and mother. You shall not kill. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not lie or bear false witness. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. All these commandments and, you know, as Jesus taught them, it was much more than just this literal letter but the spirit behind each commandment that He was teaching His God’s way.

These are the things that stand between us and having personal peace with God. These are the things that stand as evidence against us for deserving eternal life in heaven. These are the things keeping us from having a relationship with our loving, heavenly Father. But again, God is a God of peace. And this list of our sins is the reason He sent His Son, Jesus, our Messiah. The biggest need we had was for forgiveness and God took care of that when He sent His Son whose birth we’re about to celebrate, that beautiful baby born in Bethlehem and all the wonderful things we think of at Christmas time, the most wonderful is that this child is the Savior of the world. This child is the key to us having peace with God.

God has taken care of our greatest need. He’s canceled out the debt of our sins and He’s guaranteed us forgiveness and eternal life in Jesus’ name. Knowing that He’s taken care of our greatest need gives us confidence to approach Him with all these other things, all that list of things that cause you to lose sleep, things you sweat about, things you agonize about, things you argue about, that whole list that stands between you and peace, God gives us instructions on what to do with it, whether it’s our employment, our retirement, the economy, our finances, past mistakes, future challenges, no matter what it is, listen to what God says to do with that list, “Do not be anxious about anything.” Not the test coming up, not the doctor’s appointment, not the bills to be paid. “Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” The author of this scripture is the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul. Why do you think Paul could write that? He has experienced it. He had experienced God delivering him and helping him and guiding him through all those different things as a missionary. And what he’s telling us is, “Don’t be anxious about something this big because God is this big. He can do it.” No matter what’s on your list, you give it to Him. He can do it.

This scripture gives us a plan and here’s how the discipline works. Every time you start to worry, feel yourself falling in that direction, sweating out the details, agonizing over things that are really beyond your control, take that and hand it to God and, as you’re handing it to Him, think of all the times He has helped you in the past. Remember the blessings He’s given you and how He has provided, even when you couldn’t imagine where it was going to come from, how He has provided for you. God is a God of peace. He’s your loving, heavenly Father and He will care for all of your needs.

I remember when the girls were little, they would bring me their broken things. I’ve shared that with you before. They’d bring me Barbies with no heads, stuff like that, and thinking somehow, “Dad’s going to fix that.” Well, they had faith in me and I was pleased that they did. And sometimes I could fix the things and sometimes not. But that’s the kind of faith that I pray God will give you this Advent season, that as you worry about that list and agonize and don’t sleep, that God will send His Holy Spirit to you. He will strengthen you in your spirit, to give you that childlike faith so you can experience the peace that surpasses all comprehension in Jesus’ name, Amen.