Prince of Peace: Christmas at City Church
(8 December @4pm and 6:30PM)
Shortly after WWII, a Washington DC Radio Station came up
with a festive idea. They called up a number of foreign
ambassadors based in the city, asking one simple question:
What would you like for Christmas? The plan was to
announce their answers in a special Christmas Day morning
programme.
You can imagine the answers that came back.
The French Ambassador said that he was hoping for “world
peace” this Christmas.
The Soviet Ambassador said he was hoping for Freedom for
all people enslaved by imperialism.
But our British Ambassador – bless him – a man named
Oliver Franks - simply replied: “Well, it’s very kind of you to
ask. I’d quite like a small box of crystallised fruit this
Christmas! Thank you”
What about you? What would you like this Christmas?
A small box of crystallised fruit?
(Picture of box of crystallised fruit on screen)
To be honest, I prefer the French Ambassador’s answer.
Peace.
And that’s what we’re going to look at briefly, from the
passage we’ve just had read. Three things for us to think
about tonight.
(i) Why we want peace.
(ii) Why we don’t have peace.
(iii) And how we can get peace this Christmas
1. Why we want peace
So first up, why we want peace.
Normally at a Carol service, the reading is from one of the
four Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The
eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.
But the reading we’ve just had was from the Book of Isaiah.
And that was written nearly 750 years before the birth of
Christ,
So it’s a book of prophecy.
And look at who this part of the prophecy is aimed at.
“Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those
who were in distress.
In the past he humbled the land of
Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will
honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea,
beyond the Jordan” Isaiah 9:1
Right at the start of the reading. The land of Zebulun and
Napthtali.
Now those were two places in the very north of Israel.
And what we need to understand is that when marauding
armies descended on Israel they always came down through
the north.
Assyria, Babylon (in modern day Iraq). It happened regularly.
And when the armies came they brought carnage and
desolation. Napthali and Zebulun were ravaged by war.
In the words of our passage, they were places of gloom and
distress. Filled with the cries of widows and orphans.
No wonder the promise of peace - end of our passage – was
so appealing to them.
It was like water in the desert.
And it’s appealing to us today isn’t it. Peace feels like a far-off
dream. Look at the headlines: the war in Ukraine drags on
into its fourth year.
Gaza and Israel are torn apart by
bloodshed.
Tensions bubble between North and South
Korea.
Paramilitaries maraud through Burkina Faso and Mali.
Peace, world peace – that would be so good this Christmas,
wouldn’t it?
But Christmas reminds us that we’re in need of peace closer
to home as well.
Christmas is full of fun and food and friends and family. But so
often it’s at those Christmas parties that old family feuds
bubble to the surface. The uncle who’s never invited.
The cousin who’s always making snarky comments. The
grandparent who gives withering looks.
And we feel the need for peace on a personal level too, don’t
we?
Christmas so often reminds us of our unfulfilled desires.
We’re not where we hoped to be. With who we hoped to be
with. We’re not having the good time that all the Christmas
ads tell us we ought to be having. We want peace with
ourselves; with our circumstances.
We feel the gloom and distress of Naphtali and Zebulun.
2. Why we don’t have peace
So why? Why don’t we have peace?
Well it’s tempting to point the finger isn’t it. Blame Vladimir
Putin. That’s why there’s war in Europe.
Blame Kim Jung Un or Joe Biden.
Blame Uncle Frank. If he hadn’t done that all those years ago,
we’d all be one happy family.
Blame your ex.
But our passage says something startling. Look at it.
The people were walking in darkness; they were living in a
land of deep darkness.
The problem’s much bigger than a few bad apples.
Let me explain.
Anna and I have three kids. They’re 18, 15 and 14 now, so
they ask for boring things for Christmas like clothes and
jewellery and Vitamin C gel. I kid you not.
But when they were younger, they used to ask for much more
interesting gifts.
Like the year one of them received a Lego Technic car.
(Picture of Lego Technic car on screen)
I was thrilled! I’d loved LEGO as a boy and couldn’t wait to help build
it. But instead of following the instructions, I decided to wing it.
How hard could it be?
Well it was an absolute disaster.
Now the Bible says that’s what we’ve done with our lives.
We’re living in the world God’s created.
But we’ve thrown away the makers’ instructions. And we’re
pretending we know what we’re doing.
And that - that has consequences.
It’s why there’s global conflict.
It’s why there’s family breakdown.
And it’s why – it’s why we don’t have peace within ourselves.
Because behind all that, we don’t have peace with the God
who made us. Who loves us. Who is for us.
Imagine you bought a family member some wonderful
presents this Christmas. Exactly what they wanted. And you
wrap them up carefully, with beautiful wrapping paper, a big
bow and a lovely handwritten note. And on Christmas Day,
the family member rushes to the tree, grabs your presents
and takes them to their room. And you never see them again -
never.
Well, that’s what we’ve done with God.
And it’s why we don’t have peace. It’s why, according to
Isaiah’s prophecy we’re in deep, deep darkness.
3. How can we get peace this Christmas?
So how can we get peace this Christmas?
Well look towards the end of our passage:
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the
government will be on his shoulders. And he will be
called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace”. Isaiah 9:6
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the
government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace”.
That’s how peace comes.
Through the Mighty God stepping into our world.
It’s what the author CS Lewis called The Grand Miracle.
But did you notice the surprise: “For to us a child is born”.
The best presents in life are always surprises, aren’t they?
And this is the surprise to beat all surprises.
The awesome God of the universe came to earth as a child:
weak, helpless, crying for his mother’s embrace.
Get your head round that.
And you know why? You know why he did that?
Well, think about it.
If the problem; if the root of conflict in the
world was something outside of ourselves: a few tyrants here,
a few especially wicked people there; then God could have
come as a warrior.
In the language of our passage, his warrior’s boot could have
stamped out the problem from the world.
But if the problem is in each and everyone of us. Well, that
would be a very different sort of Christmas if he came as a
warrior. That would be the Nightmare before Christmas.
Which is why God came as a child.
Peace has come not through power; but through weakness.
Victory has come; not through God crushing his enemies but
through God being crushed by his enemies.
You see, the child born in the manger 2,000 years ago grew
up to be a man. And just as his mother carried him through
the streets of Bethlehem on that first Christmas, one day
Jesus would carry a cross through the streets of Jerusalem.
It was there - on the cross - that the Prince of Peace brought
peace to the earth.
It was there that he ended hostility - the hostility between us
and God - as he received the punishment we deserve for our
rebellion. It was there that he made it possible for us both to
be forgiven and to forgive others.
It was there that he won inner peace for us. Restoration,
completeness. And by his resurrection, he showed that it is a
peace which – as our passage says - has no end.
So how will you respond to that peace? Notice in our passage
it says “to us a son is given”. Not a son appears or even a son
is born. Given. Jesus is a gift.
And the thing about gifts is they require humility to accept
them. Think about it. Kids and adults approach Christmas
very differently don’t they.
Kids come expecting to receive
and receive and receive.
But if you’re an adult, you receive a gift this Christmas, what
will you do?
Well, if you’re anything like me, you’ll make sure you give a
gift back– you reciprocate - and your gift is likely to be a very
similar value to theirs.
But that’s not a real gift is it. It’s an exchange. A real gift – well
that’s freely given, and it needs to be humbly received.
And that’s what the gift of Jesus is like. If you accept it –it will
mean recognising you need him more than anything else in
the world.
And it will mean recognising you can give nothing in return.
Just like the kids here tonight, it will mean coming with open
hands to God this Christmas and receiving him joyfully.
Jubilantly.
So are you ready to receive the gift of Jesus this Christmas?
Let me pray.
