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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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The Prince of Peace |
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Isaiah 9:6-7 Fourth Sunday of
Advent December 23, 2007 Peace. Much time, much talk, and much energy is poured into our efforts to find peace, and, in spite of all our effort, peace eludes us yet. Our world is an armed camp, and still nations race to build better and more powerful ways to kill. Crime is an ever present reality in every city around the world, and even the rural areas have their share. There is strife at work. Many of the people I know are unhappy at work, and, if they are a true sample of workers across America, I would guess that the vast majority of workers in our country are unhappy in their jobs, and it is basically due to strife, inequities, and corruption in the job place. And the home, the family, designed by God to be a refuge from the stress and strife of the world, often has more strife in it than any other place. It is no wonder we now have “serial divorcers,” children divorcing parents, and parents neglecting children. Nor is the Church innocent or free of strife. We are all familiar with dirty dealings in the house of God, for wolves in sheep’s clothing dwell among us using the church for their own ends rather than God’s. And even Christians are yet sinners and imperfect in our understanding and practice of the will of God, causing strife even in the Church. All of this outer strife creates inner turmoil, and people are looking for inner peace as well as peace in the world. But like the country singer who was “looking for love in all the wrong places,” they often look for peace where there is no peace. They are turning to cults and phony gospels and self help gurus and toys and money and power, and the indulgence of every whim and passion they can afford, but there is no peace in these things. Solomon tried them all long ago, and found no peace in them, and modern Solomons following in his footsteps today will fare no better. There is only one path to peace. That path is a person. It is Jesus of Nazareth, that child in a manger, the man writhing in anguish on the cross. He is our peace. “My peace give I unto you,” He said. “Peace on earth, good will toward men,” sang the angels at His birth. He is so identified with peace that, 700 years before His birth, when God foretold His coming through the prophet Isaiah, His name was called, “The Prince of Peace.” His peace is first of all, peace with God. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, in short, summary form, is this; we have rejected the commandments given by God for our own protection. They were guardians of our peace. They were the user’s manual for getting along with others and with God. They taught us the ways of goodness and peace. But we rejected them. And by rejecting them we have caused untold misery for all mankind, including ourselves. In rejecting them, we have become the enemies of God. Yet, God chose to deal with us as friends, which means He had to bear the cost of our forgiveness and reconciliation. How could He do that? How could He bear that cost? He did it by becoming a man, and by giving His life on the cross of Calvary. It is through His cross that we have peace with God. I have preached often about this in the past, as I will also in the future, so I will not dwell long upon it today. I simply wish to make this point; the Prince of Peace gives peace with God. The Prince of Peace gives inner peace. What is the greatest cause of inner turmoil? Isn’t it the fear of death? Why do we fear death? It is more than just our instinct of self preservation. It is more than just a wish to keep living. The real and most basic cause of our fear of death is the fear that on the other side of life we will stand before a Holy God who knows our secret sins, and is willing to punish us for them. The fear of death is caused by the fear of hell. And why not? We know our sins. We know our failures. We know we ought to live holy lives of humble love and obedience to God, but we have rejected Him and enthroned ourselves in His place. We know we have offended against his holy laws, we have left undone the things we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and God has every right to be angry at us. Therefore we fear to stand before Him and have our lives reviewed at the bar of His judgment. That is why we fear death. The Prince of Peace removes that fear, because we know we will be received as friends, not condemned as enemies. We know that our sins are washed away by the blood of Christ, and we will be received as beloved children, not executed as trespassers and criminals. Therefore death holds no fear. Therefore, we have peace. He also gives inner peace by giving us the ability to cope with life. Christ develops a strength in the inner being that enables us to face our trials without fear. In this way we are able to overcome them. That inner strength comes primarily from trusting God with our lives. It comes from trusting Him to do what is good for us. It comes from the faith that says “all things work together for good to those who love God.” It comes from knowing, as the Apostle Paul learned, that His grace is sufficient for us. His grace enables us to face any thorn in the flesh we may encounter. We will stand. We will not be overcome. We will endure, we will persevere because His grace is sufficient. We usually believe inner peace will come only as the result of improving our circumstances. “Get me out of this …,” and you can fill in the blank with your own thorns in the flesh, “and I will be at peace,” we think. But God does not always give peace in that way. His peace generally is found not in the removal of the thorns, but in the grace to endure. The Prince of Peace gives peace on earth. The angels proclaimed this at His birth. We sing it in carols every Christmas. It means peace among people. Christ died to reconcile us to God and to each other. In Christ we learn to forgive rather than punish. In Christ we learn to do justice rather than oppress. In Christ we learn to love rather than hate. In Christ we learn how to treat others. But His teaching would be useless without a change in our inner being. After all, we do bad things because we have a bad streak in our souls. And we won’t begin to do good things until God Himself changes us inside; until He removes, or at least, lessens the power of our bad streak. The glorious thing about Christ is that He does just that. A person who is in Christ, has come under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit, who has begun and will continue to perform a kind of spiritual surgery on us, that makes us begin to hate our sin and love righteousness. He makes us begin to want to do right and to love God. And the result of this change, is peace. His reign of peace will be complete. One day we shall beat our swords into plowshares and study war no more. One day the whole earth will own Him as its Lord and King, and all nations will come together in worship and obedience to Him. His law will be our desire. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea. And there will be peace. The inevitable result of the reign of the Prince of Peace, is peace. Let us pray. O, Lord, Prince of Peace, let your peace reign in our hearts, and at this time of year when we celebrate Thy birth, bring through Thy sovereign grace, many souls into Thy Kingdom of Peace, in Thy Holy Name we pray. Amen. The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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