“Peace Within. Peace Without” December 4, 2022
“Peace Within, Peace Without”
Psalm 72:1-7
Isaiah 11:1-10
Matthew 3:1-12
Let’s start out by recapping a section of our reading today from the prophecy of Isaiah. Isaiah 11:1-4)
”Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and strength,
The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord,
And He will not judge by what His eyes see,
Nor make decisions by what His ears hear;
4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor,
And decide with fairness for the humble of the earth;”
You know. it occurred to me while reading through this passage that if ever someone on the street were to walk up and ask, “So who is this Jesus guy that you people talk about all the time? What’s the big deal anyhow?” It occurred to me that if someone were to ask that, then this passage from Isaiah might just be the perfect answer. And if they followed up by asking, “What do you mean by righteousness or (Heaven forbid) “the fear of the Lord? “ Then I would think, all the better.
So welcome to this, the second Sunday in our Advent season. Last week in Amity I dropped the question, : Would Christmas be ruined If we took away Advent? And yes, it is a ridiculous question Because the answer is obvious: No, Christmas would not be ruined; not even close. But the beauty and the glory of this season is that it gives us a chance to step back And, through the wisdom of scripture, Remind ourselves once again that the son of God Was born into this world that we might know life eternal; and I would have to say, that is really a big deal. That fact, to me, Is perhaps why we still consider this four week period of waiting and anticipation to be enormously important. Once again. Isaiah tells us. “And He will delight in the fear of the Lord,
And He will not judge by what His eyes see,
Nor make decisions by what His ears hear;
4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor,
And decide with fairness for the humble of the earth”
This is the Christ child that we celebrate. I mean, this is, after all, the crux of our faith: Our God came to us in the flesh to show us the light and a way of being in community that we could not imagine. Righteousness, fairness. And with a definite penchant for justice: Christ personified these things but he didn’t cast some sort of vision from a high and lofty throne. No, he came to us in love and only strived that we might love him back. advent encourages us to wait, but while we’re waiting, there is Jesus; and he is waiting for us just as well.
now as you know, the season of advent is steeped in tradition. each of the four Sundays have a predetermined theme. These are hope, peace joy, and love. This second Sunday when we light the candle of peace is traditionally the time that we introduce John the Baptist, and for the life of me I’ve always marveled that This rather grody character should be the star of the show on the Sunday of peace.
we do get to read Matthew’s account of how John called the religious leaders of the day a brood of Vipers or children of snakes, depending on your translation. and that’s always fun, but how this ties into the theme of peace on earth—well, that can get tricky.
So how might we examine this thing called peace? What did Jesus really mean when he told his disciples in John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Are we to understand peace as being nothing more than the absence of conflicts from simple disagreements to all out war? Or is there more to it than that?
let’s go back to John the Baptist. Amidst all of his ranting and raving, he did have a consistent message: first was to announce the coming of the Messiah. Second, was his continual insistence upon repentance – true repentance- and this was coupled with John’s demand for change. and I’m not talking about change in appearance or change in behavior. No, John demanded a change of heart and a change of mind. You could say that John’s message was that of a total makeover deep down inside.
John spit and snarled that the ways of the world do not lead to salvation; John bellowed that judgment will come to those who refuse to produce good fruit. but the underlying message stayed the same: your savior is coming, 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” this is who is coming John tells us. and yes, I have drifted back into the Isaiah passage, but that’s the beauty of it all. we were told a messiah would come and we were told what to expect.
Isn’t it funny how all of the petty foibles and squabbles of this world seem to fade into nothingness when we consider This one simple truth: Chris the savior is born, Christ the savior is born.
So, I have to wonder; Is this enough to put our minds at ease? Is this enough to still our hearts. to calm our nerves. Or even to soothe the rage that seems to pop up when we least expect it? where is our peace? where is our joy? When Isaiah describes the nature of Christ, he uses language That catches a lot of folks off guard. In verse 2 we read, “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And He will delight in the fear of the Lord.” now how do you suppose that’s gonna go over with the man on the street asking about Jesus? “fear of the Lord. you say. Aw no, I don’t know about that,” he might say. “how in the Dickens are you going to find delight in being afraid of something?” and you know, he would believe that he has a valid point. but we who live in awe in the glory and the majesty of our creator; we see things differently. to be God fearing is to surrender. To be God fearing is to live in the light of a loving God that is eternal. And for the sake of our message here today, I would have to suggest that to be God fearing is to possess a soul that is at peace.
Now, some might consider that a bit far fetched, but it’s not. Look again at Isaiah’s Description of the nature of Christ:
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And He will delight in the fear of the Lord,
he will delight in the fear of the Lord. he will delight that God’s promises are true. he will delight that Gods statutes and commandments are worthy. and he will delight that we are loved by our God with a love that is so big and powerful and glorious that, quite frankly, it’s almost terrifying. Here is the picture that Isaiah paints of our Lord. And I can’t help but think that on this, the Sunday of peace, We might work to be more like the picture that Isaiah paints.
Paul put it well in his letter to the Romans 5:6 when he wrote: “ May the God of endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude toward each other, similar to Christ Jesus’ attitude. 6 That way you can glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ together with one voice.”
7 So welcome each other, in the same way that Christ also welcomed you, for God’s glory.
So who here would like a dose of peace in their lives? Where is the relief When every piece of late breaking news Only gives you heartburn? where is the relief When in the midst Of misinformation And name calling and just downright meanness you find yourself getting swept up in it all? where is the relief? where is the peace? The answer to that and to slightly modify an old phrase, I’d have to say what did Jesus do? What did Jesus do when all was against him? what did Jesus do To keep the peace in his heart when I’m sure he wanted to lay his head back and scream. what did he do? he found joy, that’s what he did. He found joy in the power of the spirit. he found joy in the love of the father. he found joy in the promise of life everlasting. /// he found joy in the fear of God. And with joy comes peace.
I’m not talking about World Peace or about peace in the valley or giving peace a chance even. No, I’m talking about the peace that rests inside us because the presence of Christ is with us always. As we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Lord, let’s hold on to that. Let’s celebrate the joy of believing and if that inner peace pushes to bubble out from time to time, then all the better.
I will close With the benediction of sorts from Paul’s letter to the Romans.
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in faith so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit
So where is our hope? it is in the Lord. where is our Joy? it is in the fear of the Lord. And where is our peace? It is in the presence of the Lord. May the gifts of the season continue to bless you and yours in the days to come.
Amen and Shalom
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