1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,960 On September 2nd, 1945, 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:07,480 how many of you were alive in 1945? 3 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:11,080 We wanna ask your age, but Jordan, yeah, you're there? 4 00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:12,640 Okay, good. 5 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:18,680 September 2nd, 1945, official documents of surrender 6 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:23,440 were signed aboard the USS Missouri by Japanese officials, 7 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:26,560 which effectively ended World War II. 8 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:31,200 A world at war would slowly return to relative peace, 9 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:33,400 albeit short-lived. 10 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:38,400 For many, peace was desired, peace was achieved, 11 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:42,880 but this peace was not free, it came at a great cost. 12 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:46,080 It is estimated that during World War II, 13 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:51,080 between 50 and 85 million people lost their lives 14 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:53,800 in the conflict, in the prison camps, 15 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:56,960 due to starvation and disease as a result of the war. 16 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:00,720 50 to 85 million people in World War II, 17 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:03,280 about 2% of the world's population. 18 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:06,480 Five short years later, 19 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,120 a conflict known as the Korean War broke out, 20 00:01:10,320 --> 00:01:12,280 and five years later after that, 21 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:14,880 another one known as the Vietnam War. 22 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:18,280 Now, some believe that humankind 23 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:20,840 is on a trajectory of betterment, 24 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:24,480 that we are more civilized and more intelligent 25 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:26,120 than our forebearers, 26 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:28,560 and that we are progressing toward a future 27 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:32,120 free of war, strife, or conflict. 28 00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:34,120 A famous songwriter wrote, 29 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:38,160 imagine all the people sharing all the world. 30 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:44,080 But history will not allow us to believe this unchallenged. 31 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:47,440 The Center for International and Security Studies 32 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:52,040 in Maryland estimated that 231 million people 33 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:54,560 were killed or allowed to die 34 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:58,720 due to human conflict and war in the 20th century. 35 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:02,400 In fact, historians are united on this fact 36 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:05,160 that the 20th century, from 1900 to 2000, 37 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:08,880 100 years in there, was the most devastating century 38 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:12,600 for conflict-related deaths in recorded history. 39 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:16,880 We have experienced in our lifetime 40 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:20,320 the most devastating century 41 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:23,000 in all of human recorded history, 42 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:25,240 and it's just a stone's throwback. 43 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:31,320 Now, have you ever felt a longing for peace in your own life? 44 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:37,080 More than simply peace from war and conflict, 45 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:40,440 but I believe that we are all searching for an inner peace 46 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:42,920 that quiets the restless internal struggle, 47 00:02:42,920 --> 00:02:45,760 that ever-present itch that needs scratching, 48 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:49,200 the never-ending loop of inner dialogue that says, 49 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:53,440 this is not enough, this can't be everything there is to life. 50 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:59,240 The problem is that there are really only two ways 51 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:01,560 for us to address this. 52 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:04,280 As one pastor put it, they are given to us 53 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:07,720 in the wonderful songwriting of Lennon and McCartney. 54 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:10,560 McCartney. 55 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:12,720 Paul McCartney. 56 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:17,720 Paul McCartney. 57 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:20,440 Lennon and some other guy. 58 00:03:24,640 --> 00:03:26,320 They are this. 59 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:30,840 We can work it out or help. 60 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:34,200 I need somebody, not just anybody. 61 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:40,000 We can try to fix or produce peace ourselves, 62 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:41,520 or we can admit that we're unable 63 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:44,280 to produce lasting peace, the kind of peace 64 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,200 that is deep within us that we seek, 65 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:50,000 and we need someone to make it happen for us. 66 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,280 And so this first way, we can work it out. 67 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:55,640 We can find the solution. 68 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:58,680 We can create the peace we so desperately seek. 69 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:00,240 We must get first in touch 70 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:02,080 with the deepest parts of ourselves, 71 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:04,640 and if we can discover the deepest parts of ourselves, 72 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:06,120 then we can do so. 73 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:11,120 In 1984, Robert Bellah, an American sociologist 74 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:12,720 and his colleagues, they published a work 75 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:14,840 called Habits of the Heart, 76 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:17,760 Individualism and Commitment in American Life. 77 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:19,960 This is 40 years ago, and in that book, 78 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:22,840 the author interviews a woman named Sheila Larson 79 00:04:22,840 --> 00:04:27,360 who describes her spiritual and personal faith like this. 80 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:28,840 I believe in God. 81 00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:32,400 I'm not a religious fanatic. 82 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:35,240 I can't remember the last time I went to church 83 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:39,240 that my faith has carried me a long way. 84 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:45,120 I like to call it Sheilaism, just my own little voice. 85 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:49,840 Just my own little voice. 86 00:04:49,840 --> 00:04:54,000 Just Sheila, and Sheila's God, and Sheila's faith, 87 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:55,400 and Sheila's voice. 88 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:58,120 It has gotten her far, she says. 89 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:01,520 But maybe we all have a bit of Sheila inside of us. 90 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:06,520 Sometimes we say, I know better than God. 91 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:10,640 But what happens when Sheila fails Sheila? 92 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:13,800 What happens when she falls short? 93 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:16,360 Sheila's expressive individualism may allow her 94 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:18,760 to construct her own faith and practices, 95 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:20,680 but what about truth? 96 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:25,040 Because this individual do-it-yourself religion 97 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:28,880 emphasizes inner feelings and subjective experiences, 98 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:32,040 and they call it something like my truth or my truths. 99 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:36,440 But they are nothing more than subjective truths, 100 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:40,320 and can you truly have peace on that basis? 101 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,960 On what moral foundation can you say one thing is wrong 102 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:47,880 and another thing is not wrong? 103 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:51,160 Because you feel like it's wrong? 104 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:55,440 What if I don't feel that it's wrong 105 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:59,360 to kick you in the face? 106 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:01,280 I'm just living my truths. 107 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:06,440 What about the different cultures and centuries and times 108 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:09,400 where different things were culturally allowed 109 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:11,640 or socially acceptable? 110 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:15,680 Are we calling them morally true and right and good? 111 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:18,080 Or are we calling them subjective truths 112 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:22,400 based on an inner feeling that many go in search of 113 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:24,880 to find peace? 114 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:29,880 The peace doesn't come from some absence of justice, 115 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:32,120 but from perfectly executed justice, 116 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:34,720 and true justice can only be established 117 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:38,080 if there is a concrete objective moral truth. 118 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:43,240 We can work it out, leaves us no better off. 119 00:06:44,280 --> 00:06:47,040 Maybe if we could separate from everyone else 120 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:49,840 and go up onto a hilltop somewhere all alone, 121 00:06:49,840 --> 00:06:52,080 we might find a level of tranquility, 122 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:53,720 but the problem is even there, 123 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:55,520 we would be constantly faced 124 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:58,480 with the inconsistencies of our own self. 125 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:03,840 Can anyone relate to the inconsistencies of your own self? 126 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:09,280 How you feel today may not be how you feel tomorrow. 127 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:15,920 And so we can work it out or the other option is help. 128 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:20,120 I need somebody, not just anybody. 129 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:23,440 The other way is that I must come to the end of myself 130 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:28,440 and cry out for help to somebody who can actually help. 131 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:31,760 We need a prince of peace. 132 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:38,160 Our scripture this morning comes out of Isaiah chapter nine. 133 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:39,840 We've been studying verse six, 134 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:42,880 but I'm gonna read it in context with that which is around it. 135 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:45,320 Isaiah chapter nine, beginning in verse two, 136 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:47,720 it'll be up on the board if you wanna follow along. 137 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:51,240 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. 138 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:55,320 A light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness. 139 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:59,360 You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. 140 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:01,240 The people have rejoiced before you 141 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:03,360 as they rejoice at harvest time 142 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:05,800 and as they rejoice when dividing spoils. 143 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:08,080 For you have shattered their oppressive yoke 144 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:10,240 and the rod on their shoulders, 145 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:11,920 the staff of their oppressor, 146 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,680 just as you did on the day of Midian. 147 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:16,880 For as you have broken the yoke, 148 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:19,640 our children will be born again. 149 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:22,480 For every trampling boot of battle 150 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:24,360 and the bloodied garments of war 151 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:26,880 will be burned as fuel for the fire, 152 00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:29,840 for a child will be born for us, 153 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:31,760 a son will be given to us, 154 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:34,160 and the government will be on his shoulders. 155 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:38,840 He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, 156 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:42,840 Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 157 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:44,800 The dominion will be vast, 158 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:47,760 will reign on the throne of David over his kingdom 159 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:51,560 to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness 160 00:08:51,560 --> 00:08:53,840 from now on and forever. 161 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:58,840 The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this. 162 00:09:02,100 --> 00:09:04,600 We've been looking at the four titles that are given 163 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:07,640 to this Messiah King, this royal birth announcement 164 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:10,520 of the one who would come and establish his kingdom. 165 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:12,720 And through these titles, we've been exploring 166 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:14,560 what his kingdom will be like. 167 00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:17,680 And how it is fulfilled in Christ Jesus, 168 00:09:17,680 --> 00:09:21,640 wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal father. 169 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:24,160 And today we look at Prince of Peace. 170 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:26,800 But what does Prince of Peace mean? 171 00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:32,520 Prince comes from a Hebrew word that can mean commander 172 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:35,400 or representative or official. 173 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:38,860 And the word peace is probably a more familiar word 174 00:09:38,860 --> 00:09:45,040 in Hebrew, it's the word shalom, shalom. 175 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:47,800 And this word is multi-dimensional. 176 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:51,640 It's not simply describing an absence of conflict. 177 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:53,440 Not just an absence of conflict, 178 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:56,540 but the presence of something else. 179 00:09:56,540 --> 00:10:01,180 The presence of wholeness, the presence of prosperity, 180 00:10:01,180 --> 00:10:03,700 the presence of well-being. 181 00:10:03,700 --> 00:10:07,780 Shalom is not simply peace as in nothing is coming 182 00:10:07,780 --> 00:10:12,780 against me, but it's the presence of prosperity and wholeness. 183 00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:17,920 The Prince of Peace conveys the idea of one who commands, 184 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:22,660 executes and oversees true and lasting wholeness. 185 00:10:22,660 --> 00:10:26,540 One who guides and secures for us as we sang before 186 00:10:26,540 --> 00:10:30,460 in the final song unto him who can keep us. 187 00:10:30,460 --> 00:10:35,460 Who is the one who can obtain, execute and secure for us? 188 00:10:35,460 --> 00:10:39,040 Complete and total peace, wholeness in God. 189 00:10:41,340 --> 00:10:45,060 But even Isaiah who wrote Isaiah chapter nine 190 00:10:45,060 --> 00:10:50,060 as inspired by God and the prophecies he was receiving, 191 00:10:50,060 --> 00:10:52,980 he also could look and see that this peace 192 00:10:52,980 --> 00:10:55,940 that was going to come through this Messiah 193 00:10:55,940 --> 00:10:58,780 would be hard fought one. 194 00:10:58,780 --> 00:11:03,380 It would take a lot of energy and effort 195 00:11:03,380 --> 00:11:05,980 on someone's part and that someone's part 196 00:11:05,980 --> 00:11:09,780 is the one he identifies later in Isaiah 53 197 00:11:09,780 --> 00:11:11,820 as the suffering servant. 198 00:11:12,820 --> 00:11:16,780 Isaiah 53 lays out this idea of that promised child 199 00:11:16,780 --> 00:11:20,140 would grow to become the suffering servant of God 200 00:11:20,140 --> 00:11:24,260 who we know to be Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. 201 00:11:24,260 --> 00:11:27,420 And Isaiah 53 would describe him as one who was pierced 202 00:11:27,420 --> 00:11:31,420 for our transgressions, who was bearing our sin and shame 203 00:11:31,420 --> 00:11:33,700 so that we might have peace. 204 00:11:34,580 --> 00:11:38,420 Our shalom comes at the cost of his suffering. 205 00:11:41,420 --> 00:11:46,420 So how do we see this title fulfilled in Jesus Christ? 206 00:11:46,780 --> 00:11:48,140 If you are taking notes, the first thing 207 00:11:48,140 --> 00:11:50,700 I'll have you write down is we see it in that 208 00:11:50,700 --> 00:11:53,140 we have peace with God. 209 00:11:54,700 --> 00:11:58,540 Romans chapter five, 10 says that before we were reconciled 210 00:11:58,540 --> 00:12:01,620 to God in Christ, that we were enemies of God. 211 00:12:02,780 --> 00:12:06,140 We were rebels who had taken up arms against God. 212 00:12:06,140 --> 00:12:10,060 We don't want a God to whom we are accountable to. 213 00:12:10,060 --> 00:12:13,500 We don't want a God who has designs on human flourishing 214 00:12:13,500 --> 00:12:17,180 that must be obeyed and must be respected. 215 00:12:17,180 --> 00:12:20,500 What we want is a self-made religion. 216 00:12:20,500 --> 00:12:23,900 We want a God made in our own image 217 00:12:23,900 --> 00:12:26,860 who will never disagree with me and will always tell me 218 00:12:26,860 --> 00:12:29,260 to do what feels right for me. 219 00:12:30,100 --> 00:12:33,020 That's the God we want and that's the God that many 220 00:12:33,020 --> 00:12:35,820 have gone around constructing in their own lives. 221 00:12:35,820 --> 00:12:38,340 It's a God who says, you're always right, 222 00:12:38,340 --> 00:12:41,340 I never disagree with you, in fact, everything you like 223 00:12:41,340 --> 00:12:44,100 for some strange reason, I like as well. 224 00:12:44,100 --> 00:12:49,100 And I never tell you no or stop that. 225 00:12:50,340 --> 00:12:52,620 This is the God that many people construct. 226 00:12:52,620 --> 00:12:54,460 But it doesn't work out. 227 00:12:55,340 --> 00:13:00,340 See, we are as humans, the state of humanity outside of God, 228 00:13:01,220 --> 00:13:04,380 we are religious and worshipers by nature. 229 00:13:04,380 --> 00:13:07,220 God baked it into the cake. 230 00:13:07,220 --> 00:13:10,340 We are worshipers by nature. 231 00:13:10,340 --> 00:13:12,780 So we are going to construct something 232 00:13:12,780 --> 00:13:14,580 in the absence of God to worship. 233 00:13:14,580 --> 00:13:17,660 We're going to set up some idol to worship. 234 00:13:18,620 --> 00:13:20,620 And that idol may go by the name of Jesus, 235 00:13:20,620 --> 00:13:23,260 and that idol may go by any name. 236 00:13:23,260 --> 00:13:27,140 That's all an idol means, at least in the present context. 237 00:13:27,140 --> 00:13:30,380 In the original context, it would be maybe a carved image 238 00:13:30,380 --> 00:13:32,940 of something that they would bow down to 239 00:13:32,940 --> 00:13:35,700 and hope that it would do something for them. 240 00:13:35,700 --> 00:13:38,340 But for us, the idols that we set up in our day 241 00:13:39,300 --> 00:13:41,820 might be something else, some other foundation 242 00:13:41,820 --> 00:13:44,140 that we want to build our lives on, 243 00:13:44,140 --> 00:13:46,660 hoping that it will last, hoping that it will provide 244 00:13:46,660 --> 00:13:47,980 security and hope. 245 00:13:47,980 --> 00:13:51,940 And as some of us move from one job to the other job, 246 00:13:51,940 --> 00:13:55,100 hoping that this next job will provide me the security 247 00:13:55,100 --> 00:13:57,660 that I'm looking for, that my salvation, my hope 248 00:13:57,660 --> 00:14:00,060 is in this job that I've got. 249 00:14:00,060 --> 00:14:05,060 If I could just get X, Y, or Z, I would be okay. 250 00:14:05,100 --> 00:14:07,940 And you're elevating it to a God-like status, 251 00:14:07,940 --> 00:14:11,260 an immutable, unchangeable status, 252 00:14:11,260 --> 00:14:13,260 and hoping and hoping and praying 253 00:14:13,260 --> 00:14:14,860 that it doesn't fall out from underneath you, 254 00:14:14,860 --> 00:14:16,740 and it always does. 255 00:14:16,740 --> 00:14:18,180 It always lets you down. 256 00:14:20,060 --> 00:14:23,220 Maybe then you pour yourself into a relationship 257 00:14:23,220 --> 00:14:27,100 and you say this relationship will be that immutable thing 258 00:14:27,100 --> 00:14:28,940 in my life, that thing that never changes, 259 00:14:28,940 --> 00:14:31,700 the thing that I can bank my life and my security 260 00:14:31,700 --> 00:14:33,860 and my emotions and my hope and my future 261 00:14:33,860 --> 00:14:38,860 on this relationship, and the relationship doesn't pan out. 262 00:14:39,260 --> 00:14:42,340 Or the person is crushed under the divine weight 263 00:14:42,340 --> 00:14:43,420 that you've placed upon them. 264 00:14:43,420 --> 00:14:45,260 They're not divine. 265 00:14:45,260 --> 00:14:50,260 They can't handle that level of pressure, 266 00:14:50,900 --> 00:14:53,500 and yet you've heaped it on them, 267 00:14:53,500 --> 00:14:57,420 elevated them to idle status, 268 00:14:57,420 --> 00:14:59,020 and you bow down at that altar 269 00:15:00,180 --> 00:15:02,460 until that idol comes crashing down. 270 00:15:06,420 --> 00:15:10,300 Be it a job, a relationship, or a circumstance, 271 00:15:10,300 --> 00:15:12,300 we will be left crushed. 272 00:15:12,300 --> 00:15:14,060 We will be led down by our God. 273 00:15:14,060 --> 00:15:15,140 Little G. 274 00:15:15,140 --> 00:15:19,340 But God, the God revealed to us in Christ, 275 00:15:19,340 --> 00:15:22,300 he shows us his infinite love. 276 00:15:22,300 --> 00:15:25,500 He shows his unchanging nature 277 00:15:25,500 --> 00:15:28,140 in his love for his creation, 278 00:15:28,140 --> 00:15:29,900 that while we were still sinners, 279 00:15:29,900 --> 00:15:32,540 while we were rebels and enemies of God, 280 00:15:32,540 --> 00:15:37,140 he launched a rescue mission to save his creation. 281 00:15:37,140 --> 00:15:38,300 He took on flesh. 282 00:15:38,300 --> 00:15:39,780 He made his dwelling among us. 283 00:15:39,780 --> 00:15:41,780 He took our sins to the cross, 284 00:15:41,780 --> 00:15:45,140 where he died for sinners, rebels, and enemies of God, 285 00:15:45,140 --> 00:15:48,620 as I was and as you were outside of Christ. 286 00:15:49,700 --> 00:15:52,620 And he made peace between us and God. 287 00:15:53,660 --> 00:15:55,780 Romans chapter five, verse one says, 288 00:15:55,780 --> 00:15:59,060 therefore, since we have been justified by faith, 289 00:15:59,060 --> 00:16:03,740 we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 290 00:16:04,500 --> 00:16:06,140 No longer in rebellion, 291 00:16:06,140 --> 00:16:09,060 we have been brought into a right relationship with God, 292 00:16:09,060 --> 00:16:14,060 a condition of peace that runs deeper than our circumstances 293 00:16:14,380 --> 00:16:18,540 to the very inner life we experience. 294 00:16:18,540 --> 00:16:23,420 Not an external peace or a situational tranquility, 295 00:16:23,420 --> 00:16:27,300 but a supernatural peace that cannot be shaken, 296 00:16:27,300 --> 00:16:30,580 the fruit of our adoption into God's family, 297 00:16:30,580 --> 00:16:33,020 the fruit of the spirit, peace. 298 00:16:33,020 --> 00:16:36,860 We also see this fulfilled in Christ, 299 00:16:36,860 --> 00:16:38,260 in that we have peace with God, 300 00:16:38,260 --> 00:16:41,060 but also we have peace with one another, we're told. 301 00:16:42,380 --> 00:16:46,620 Christ can take people who would never otherwise 302 00:16:46,620 --> 00:16:51,620 be able to live together and make them one in Christ. 303 00:16:52,140 --> 00:16:53,900 And that is his church. 304 00:16:53,900 --> 00:16:56,100 That is the glory and beauty of his church, 305 00:16:56,100 --> 00:16:58,500 that God has taken people who would never otherwise 306 00:16:58,500 --> 00:17:01,580 be able to live together, never otherwise be able 307 00:17:01,580 --> 00:17:04,860 to live together, never otherwise to choose one another 308 00:17:04,860 --> 00:17:06,900 to hang out with or spend time with. 309 00:17:06,900 --> 00:17:08,820 And he can bring them together 310 00:17:10,420 --> 00:17:12,540 and make them one in Christ. 311 00:17:14,300 --> 00:17:17,380 In Ephesians chapter two, Paul says that there was a time 312 00:17:17,380 --> 00:17:21,900 for all of us when we were outside of God's chosen people. 313 00:17:21,900 --> 00:17:24,660 We were far away and unable to be accepted 314 00:17:24,660 --> 00:17:26,900 on the basis of our rebellion, 315 00:17:26,900 --> 00:17:30,340 but that in Christ, all of that is changed. 316 00:17:30,340 --> 00:17:32,580 Listen to the way Ephesians chapter two, 317 00:17:32,580 --> 00:17:35,700 beginning in verse 13, how Paul puts it. 318 00:17:35,700 --> 00:17:39,700 But now in Jesus Christ, you who were far away 319 00:17:39,700 --> 00:17:42,980 have been brought near by the blood of Christ, 320 00:17:42,980 --> 00:17:47,220 for he is our peace, who made both groups one 321 00:17:47,220 --> 00:17:50,460 and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. 322 00:17:50,460 --> 00:17:53,980 In his flesh, he made of no effect the law 323 00:17:53,980 --> 00:17:57,180 consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, 324 00:17:57,180 --> 00:18:00,460 so that he might create in himself one new man 325 00:18:00,460 --> 00:18:03,420 from the two resulting in peace. 326 00:18:03,420 --> 00:18:06,780 He did this so that he might reconcile both to God 327 00:18:06,780 --> 00:18:08,740 in one body through the cross, 328 00:18:08,740 --> 00:18:12,020 by which he put the hostility to death. 329 00:18:12,020 --> 00:18:14,860 He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you, 330 00:18:14,860 --> 00:18:17,780 who were far away, and peace to those who were near, 331 00:18:17,780 --> 00:18:20,700 for through him, we both have access 332 00:18:20,700 --> 00:18:23,060 in one spirit to the Father. 333 00:18:23,060 --> 00:18:26,420 And so then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, 334 00:18:26,420 --> 00:18:28,460 but fellow citizens with the saints 335 00:18:28,460 --> 00:18:30,500 and members of God's household, 336 00:18:30,500 --> 00:18:33,380 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, 337 00:18:33,380 --> 00:18:36,900 with Christ Jesus himself as this cornerstone. 338 00:18:36,900 --> 00:18:40,940 In him, the whole building being put together 339 00:18:40,940 --> 00:18:43,580 grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 340 00:18:43,580 --> 00:18:46,380 In him, you are also being built together 341 00:18:46,380 --> 00:18:49,340 for God's dwelling in the spirit. 342 00:18:50,740 --> 00:18:52,980 Paul is here describing how Christ has, 343 00:18:52,980 --> 00:18:57,380 how we've been brought together to make the church, 344 00:18:57,380 --> 00:19:00,260 that Christ is recreating society, 345 00:19:00,260 --> 00:19:03,700 that he is building a new humanity in the church, 346 00:19:03,700 --> 00:19:06,260 that he has taken those who were far away 347 00:19:06,260 --> 00:19:08,660 and brought them near and given them entrance 348 00:19:08,660 --> 00:19:11,380 into his very presence, and that through us, 349 00:19:11,380 --> 00:19:13,860 he is building something amazing and beautiful 350 00:19:13,860 --> 00:19:16,660 so that the world can see what he is doing, 351 00:19:16,660 --> 00:19:19,140 that those who are far away and hostile to God, 352 00:19:19,140 --> 00:19:21,180 that dividing line can now be brought, 353 00:19:21,180 --> 00:19:23,100 they can be brought near in Christ 354 00:19:23,100 --> 00:19:25,060 and through faith in Christ. 355 00:19:26,180 --> 00:19:28,260 The power of the gospel of Jesus 356 00:19:28,260 --> 00:19:30,740 is not just personal forgiveness, 357 00:19:30,740 --> 00:19:35,380 but it is also the power to reconcile relationships. 358 00:19:35,380 --> 00:19:39,860 It is actually, it includes a charge for us as his people 359 00:19:39,860 --> 00:19:44,420 to do just that, to be about the reconciling 360 00:19:44,420 --> 00:19:47,060 of relationships, that which sin has broken, 361 00:19:47,060 --> 00:19:48,860 God wants to restore. 362 00:19:48,860 --> 00:19:52,460 And notice too that he is the one who is doing it all. 363 00:19:52,460 --> 00:19:55,460 He makes peace with God for us. 364 00:19:55,460 --> 00:19:58,420 He makes one new family out of the two. 365 00:20:00,060 --> 00:20:02,460 Where else in the world can you find people 366 00:20:02,460 --> 00:20:05,260 who would never otherwise unite, 367 00:20:05,260 --> 00:20:08,660 yet who have become family in Christ? 368 00:20:08,660 --> 00:20:11,340 The church is that place if we truly live 369 00:20:11,340 --> 00:20:12,820 in light of the cross. 370 00:20:14,380 --> 00:20:16,620 As Pastor Tim Keller said, 371 00:20:16,620 --> 00:20:19,780 Pastor Tim Keller said, if you understand the cross, 372 00:20:19,780 --> 00:20:22,180 if you truly understand the cross, 373 00:20:22,180 --> 00:20:25,540 any two people should be able to get along. 374 00:20:27,060 --> 00:20:30,620 If you truly understand the cross and what it means 375 00:20:31,660 --> 00:20:35,460 that I was separated from God in rebellion 376 00:20:35,460 --> 00:20:37,940 and Christ made a way that I could be one, 377 00:20:37,940 --> 00:20:41,660 I have no right, no business whatsoever 378 00:20:41,660 --> 00:20:43,500 to be made right and yet he made it. 379 00:20:43,500 --> 00:20:46,340 If that's true, then there's not a person on this planet 380 00:20:46,340 --> 00:20:49,660 that I can look at and go, hey, we can't reconcile. 381 00:20:49,660 --> 00:20:50,860 We can't be made right. 382 00:20:50,860 --> 00:20:52,300 We can't get along. 383 00:20:54,100 --> 00:20:56,180 If you truly understand the cross, 384 00:20:59,940 --> 00:21:02,460 ethnically, socially, and culturally, 385 00:21:02,460 --> 00:21:06,540 the cross demolishes divisions and hostility. 386 00:21:07,620 --> 00:21:10,380 History proves that we cannot achieve 387 00:21:10,380 --> 00:21:12,140 a lasting peace on our own. 388 00:21:13,020 --> 00:21:15,260 Our hearts confirm our need and longing 389 00:21:15,260 --> 00:21:18,020 for a deeper, lasting peace. 390 00:21:18,940 --> 00:21:23,780 Jesus accomplished this peace for us at the cross 391 00:21:23,780 --> 00:21:25,500 and at great cost. 392 00:21:26,460 --> 00:21:31,300 Our peace would be at the expense of his peace. 393 00:21:32,660 --> 00:21:37,100 Our reconciliation is found only in his alienation. 394 00:21:37,100 --> 00:21:40,220 Hostilities have ceased between God and man 395 00:21:40,220 --> 00:21:43,580 only because he himself bore the cause of them, 396 00:21:43,580 --> 00:21:47,820 our sins in his own body on the cross 397 00:21:47,820 --> 00:21:50,700 and there became to the fullest 398 00:21:50,700 --> 00:21:53,140 what Isaiah chapter 53 described 399 00:21:53,140 --> 00:21:56,140 as the despised and rejected man, 400 00:21:56,140 --> 00:21:59,700 a man of sorrows acquainted with a grief. 401 00:22:02,660 --> 00:22:07,300 This Christmas and as we celebrate this Prince of Peace, 402 00:22:07,300 --> 00:22:10,740 I wanna invite you to see him for who he is 403 00:22:10,740 --> 00:22:14,300 and understand that in Christ we have been reconciled 404 00:22:14,300 --> 00:22:16,900 to God and we are reconciled to one another, 405 00:22:16,900 --> 00:22:19,780 but it's one thing to have the status change. 406 00:22:19,780 --> 00:22:23,060 It's one thing for God to do that on our behalf, 407 00:22:23,060 --> 00:22:25,340 but it's another thing for us to keep it. 408 00:22:27,580 --> 00:22:29,380 We have to keep it. 409 00:22:29,380 --> 00:22:31,580 That which Christ has bought with his blood 410 00:22:31,580 --> 00:22:35,140 that came at such great cost, you and I must keep it. 411 00:22:35,140 --> 00:22:37,060 We must keep the unity in the faith 412 00:22:37,060 --> 00:22:38,420 with our brothers and sisters. 413 00:22:38,420 --> 00:22:40,380 We must reconcile with those 414 00:22:40,380 --> 00:22:41,540 that we have fallen out of. 415 00:22:41,540 --> 00:22:44,500 We must go to them and on the basis of the cross 416 00:22:44,500 --> 00:22:46,580 and the truth of what Christ has done for us, 417 00:22:46,580 --> 00:22:48,500 go and find a way to make it right 418 00:22:48,500 --> 00:22:52,100 because it reflects the glory of the cross in our lives. 419 00:22:53,420 --> 00:22:57,420 We have to continually bow the knee to Christ 420 00:22:57,420 --> 00:23:01,860 and come to him in faith and allow him to lead us. 421 00:23:03,060 --> 00:23:05,460 And in doing so, we'll experience 422 00:23:05,460 --> 00:23:08,300 what the Prince of Peace has brought. 423 00:23:08,300 --> 00:23:10,620 Peace with God, peace with one another.