I mentioned last night that this is a difficult time of the year for preachers…this and Resurrection Sunday…preparing for both a Christmas Eve and Christmas day sermon…trying to share something new about an event that’s been preached on for over 2000 years.
Living in America, who doesn’t know the Christmas story?…so it leaves the Pastor in a difficult position of trying to introduce a new twist to a topic that’s preached every December 25th …what more can you say that hasn’t been said?
One of the distinguishing characteristics of the Christmas story is when the angels appeared to the shepherds they proclaimed “Peace on earth.”
One of the prophecies about Jesus is that He is referred to as “the Prince of Peace” [Isaiah 9:6] ]… something that was written about Him 700 years before He was even born…four times He is referred to as the “God of Peace” [ Rom. 15:13 / Phil. 4:9 / 1 Thess. 5:23 / Heb. 13:20].
That idea is one of the most dominant themes of the Advent season…you see it posted everywhere…peace on earth.
Last week we lit the fourth advent candle…referred to as the Angels candle but also known as the peace candle.
This time of year it’s normal for us to think of Jesus as the sweet baby in the manger…even our songs refer to His innocence…laying down His sweet head and no crying does He make.
Unfortunately for some Jesus has never left the manger…so many times we fail to see a picture of what He’s gonna look like when He’s no longer that baby in a manger.
People tend to imagine Jesus as an adult in the same way they viewed Him as a baby…as the sweet… mild…gentle natured Son of God.
That’s the way we like to depict Jesus especially at Christmas…BUT…this Christmas I’d like for us to have a better understanding of who it is we’re worshipping…to do this we’ve got to get Jesus out of the manger.
We think that Jesus came to establish peace…to be an end to conflict and strife… to make our lives more comfortable…more safe and secure…along with the misguided idea that He also came to give you your heart’s desires…BUT is that accurate?
In Matthew…Jesus makes a statement that is in contrast to what we have been told all of our lives concerning Jesus’ mission in coming to earth.
Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.
I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. [Matt. 10:34]
That’s contrary to everything we preach about Jesus…but in Matthew 10 Jesus expounds on that idea…after selecting His 12 disciples Jesus sends them out on a mission to heal the sick and proclaim the kingdom of God throughout the villages and towns of Israel.
Knowing what they are about to encounter He warns them that contrary to what they might think…they will be persecuted…hated…despised and sent away… even Jesus Himself was given no better response.
Mark records when Jesus healed the man possessed by an evil spirit …the response of the town’s people was not to sing praises…they didn’t build a hospital in His honor…instead they sent out a committee to ask Him to leave.
Jesus had just commanded demons to leave a man and enter into a herd of pigs who ran down a hill into a lake and were all drowned.
There was no concern or compassion for the demoniac man…they didn’t celebrate his return to normalcy…they were upset about the loss of the pigs… that’s something that would affect the local economy…so He was asked to leave.
The world…and even some Christians say… ‘Well I certainly wouldn’t have treated Jesus like that’ …but the reality is…most people do…and do it on a regular basis because Jesus said we would…that is what is meant in the saying:
Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division. [Luke 12:51]
Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.
I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. [Matt. 10:34]
Jesus didn’t come for the purpose of causing division…it’s His very presence that divides people…His coming to earth started a revolution.
Christmas is the anniversary of a revolution…and the manger scene is the revolutionary symbol…a revolution that continues on today.
That is why secular humanists don’t want Christ in Christmas…in the public schools…in our court system…in the hallways of Congress…or in any thing that suggests there is a God because Christmas suggests that the Divine has come to earth…and that’s just not popular…wonder why our country is the way it is.
BUT…that was Jesus’ intent in coming…He came to divide…He didn’t come to bring peace but a sword…the problem is…this doesn’t fit with our view of the sweet…innocent …meek…and mild baby Jesus in the manger…this doesn’t fit with our cultural view of the ‘Jesus who just loves everybody.’
The divisiveness that started in a manger 2000 years ago continues on today… what are we to make of that? …what happened to the Prince of Peace? What happened to “good will on those on whom God’s favor rests”?
Said this last week and I’m saying it again…Peace with God and the favor of God is not directed at all people…only those that trust in the name of the only begotten Son of the God experience the peace God brings…and are described as “those on whom his favor rests.”
In Revelation 19 Jesus is described as a conquering rider…and from His mouth comes a sharp sword to strike down the nations [Rev. 19:15].
So again…what happened to the baby in the manger…and the songs of ‘Glory to God in the highest, and to men peace on earth?” What kind of Christmas message is this that depicts the Prince of Peace who has become the executor of God’s wrath?
How do we reconcile our view with the fact that Jesus says He has come to bring a sword? What does He mean?
Never in Scripture is Jesus pictured wielding a sword…even the text about Jesus having a sword coming from His mouth is not referring to a literal sword.
The sword is a metaphor…in Scripture the Word of God is always referred to as a sword…Jesus is proclaiming the Word of God…that’s the sword.
Isaiah 49:2a: “And He [God] has made My [Servant’s] mouth like a sharp sword.”
Isaiah 11:4b: “And He [Messiah] will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.”
Psalm 2:9a: “You [Messiah] shall break them with a rod of iron,”
Isaiah 63:2-3: “Why is Your [the Lord’s] apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? ‘I have trodden in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment.’”
This mild…compassionate Jesus will one day return as the conquering Warrior-King who will ‘strike down the nations’ who are in rebellion against God…a vision that awaits a future fulfillment.
Here we see one of the most fascinating attributes of God…a description of the two natures of Jesus.
ONE…As the Lamb of God Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost.’ [Luke 19:10] …that’s you and me…at one time we were all hopelessly lost… with no ambition or way to be united with God…that is the reason Jesus came to earth… you and I are the reason for the season.
Simply celebrating Christmas is not making a choice for Jesus…God’s favor is on those who have a belief and acceptance of Him as God’s Son…it is a decision that must be made by each individual person.
SECONDLY…As the Lion of Judah He is a conquering warrior who will bring God’s ultimate consuming wrath on those who have turned from God and not trusted in Him.
Jesus came to restore all that we lost in Eden…when God created man he was at peace with God…himself…and everyone else… however that peace was lost when he turned against God.
That baby in the manger wrapped in swaddling clothes was born to live a life that you and I can’t… the cute baby who would become unrecognizable at His death even by His own mother because of the brutal…horrendous death He died.
During the Christmas season we celebrate the birth of Jesus…not as an historical figure…but as God Himself who came to reverse the curse that we brought upon ourselves.
This Christmas as you give and receive gifts I hope you take a moment and appreciate Christmas for what it really is…not only as the baby who is God in the flesh…not only as the Judge of all the earth…but the One who is the assurance that as Christians we are His children and one day Heaven will be our home.
That should encourage us all to look at Christmas in a new way this year.
To look forward to when Christ will come back to establish God’s kingdom on earth…when God’s revolution will be complete…that should cause us to live today in light of that hope.
The peace God brings is so we can not only experience peace with Him…but with one another…overcoming our divisions and move toward one another in love and understanding.
That’s all encompassed in the lighting of the fifth candle.