We Experience God S Peace When We

The Source of Peace |Isaiah 9:2-7| December 7, 2014 By Dr. Steven Bezner. Week 2 in the series “Advent.”

Introduction

“Lord, may Your Word speak to us. Lord, may Your Word change us. We pray this is the name of Your Son, Jesus. Amen.”

If you have your Bible, I want to invite you to take it out at this time and open it up with me to the Book of Isaiah, chapter 9. We’ll be looking at verses 2 through 7, the same verses that were just read in the previous video. We’re in the season of Advent. Each week we look at a different gift that comes to us, that we wait for, during the season of Advent. “Advent” means that we are indeed waiting; waiting for that second coming, that return of our glorious King. We put ourselves in the place of those Israelites so long ago who waited for the Messiah to arrive for the first time. Now we remember that even though He came once, He will indeed come again. He will bring them the same gifts that He brought then. He will bring Hope, as we discussed last week, and He will bring Peace. Each week we have a letter that is here, and we’ll talk about these each week. Last week we had “H” (Hope); this week you see the “P” (for Peace). You see the crown of thorns and then the crown of majesty. We’ll speak of those things as we look at Isaiah chapter 9 this week.

It is interesting: Today is the second Sunday of Advent… the Sunday of Peace… and it just so happens to also be Pearl Harbor Day… a day on which you would not think about Peace. You might think how gloriously grateful we are for peace, as you think on that day. You might also turn on the news and see strife and protest filling our country and say, “How could we ever have peace in a place like this?” I’m here to tell you today that whether personally, inwardly, you feel as if you might not ever be able to experience or know peace… or if you are someone who would say, “I do not see how in this world we could ever have peace”… I have good news for you. The news is this: It is that Jesus Christ will one day bring His peace. It is described to us in Isaiah chapter 9… a prophecy given. We read in verse 7 that”of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end.” It is coming; God’s Word is true.

We Experience God’s Peace When We…

1. Flourish In Freedom (vv. 2-4)…

Whenever we speak of peace, what is it that we’re talking about? For most of us, “peace” simply means an absence of conflict. We think if people are not fighting then that is actually peace. For many of us, “peace” is sort of one of those bumper stickers that says, “Coexist”… that has all of the religious symbols on it. It simply means that we lived and we let live. We do not harm one another. The old Google slogan: “Do No Harm.” That’s what we think that peace truly is. But is that the peace that is discussed in Scripture? Whenever Scripture says, “that peace that surpasses understanding is given to us.” …Or that one of the Fruits of the Spirit is indeed peace. Is it simply that we’re not in conflict with someone? …Or is it indeed something else? I believe that there is more to it. In fact, in Isaiah chapter 9, I think we see some beautiful things about peace, starting in verse 2.

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined. You have multiplied the nation; You have increased its joy; they rejoice before You as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, You have broken as on the day of Midian.”

Now, when we speak of this sort of peace, we have to start with these images that are given to us by the prophet. For us to understand peace, we have to understand something perhaps even more. It’s a theological concept known as “The Kingdom of God.” Whenever Jesus first arrived, He preached “The Coming Kingdom.” He said, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” That meant, “at hand… it’s right here… it’s in this very moment.” That is true. When you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, when you step into the Gospel, you can know the fullness of who God is, right here and right now, in the middle of this broken world. The Kingdom is right now. But at the same

1 | P a g e The Source of Peace |Isaiah 9:2-7| December 7, 2014 By Dr. Steven Bezner. Week 2 in the series “Advent.” time, whenever we read Isaiah chapter 9 or whenever we look at some of the glorious visions given in Revelation 21, we see the Kingdom also has not fully yet been realized. It is now but it is not complete.

George Eldon Ladd, a great New Testament scholar who taught for many years at Fuller Seminary, described the Kingdom as this: “It is now but also it is not yet.” We live in the “Now” and we also yearn for the “Not Yet.” So when we think of the peace that comes with Advent, we recognize that Isaiah chapter 9, as Christians, we live in this constant tension. It is a moment of “Now.” We can know “Peace” right here, right now. At the same time, we look around and we recognize that peace is not yet complete. We have not yet fully known it.

Advent puts us in the place of those Israelites who waited for the Messiah, and even now we wait… We wait for Peace to come. “Lord,” we say, “How Long? How long until You come and You usher in this Kingdom that’s described here in Isaiah 9? How long before You give us this sort of Peace?”

What is “Peace”? The Hebrew word for “Peace” is the word “Shalom.” “Shalom” is this idea that’s actually more than simply just the absence of conflict. “Shalom” is the idea of complete and total flourishing. Think of Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2… before the serpent approached Eve… think of that sort of beauty… that sort of peace… that sort of “Shalom.” People doing precisely what they were created to do.

Think of Revelation 21… think of the New Jerusalem descending from heaven. Think of this idea of God being fully among His people, and He will be their God and they will be His people. Think of the light of the world coming forth from the presence of God. In the middle of that glorious New Jerusalem city…. that also would be “Shalom.” When there are “…no more tears, no more strife, no more disease, no more death.” Those places… those are “Shalom” places.

You see, peace is more than just not fighting. Peace is whenever we get to live as God intended for us to live… it’s whenever we get to experience the fullness of who God made us to be. That’s what we were created for. We were intended for “Shalom.” … living in absolute and total harmony was God’s intention for us. When God’s intentions match up with reality… that is indeed peace. We live that now as believers, those who are, and yet we yearn for it even more.

In Isaiah 9, there’s an interesting verse in verse 4, “…The yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, You have broken as on the day of Midian.” The thing about peace is that it can’t be something that is forced upon you. There’s this image here, that’s given to us in Isaiah, of someone who has a rod upon their shoulders. It’s this idea of being a slave, arms up over a pole, tied… you’ve been captured in that particular moment. He says that that will be broken. No longer will there be any oppression. You see, peace is something that only can be experienced completely and totally in freedom. Let me explain what I mean by that. If someone is forcing you to do something… that is not peace. Peace comes when you freely choose to walk within God’s intentions. If God made us do those things… if God forced us to walk in those paths, it would not be peace… but it has to be in freedom.

Why does that matter? It matters simply because of this: In Jesus Christ, those who believe… those who are in Christ… they’re given absolute and complete freedom. Listen to me… this is a glorious, beautiful truth. It is weighty, it’s powerful. Right now, you are free to never sin again if you are in Christ. Think on that. You are free to never sin again if you are in Christ. Now, if I just said that, you probably had a thing inside of you that said, “But Steve… I feel like sinning all the time.” (Laughter) Yes. Why is that? …Because while the sin nature was crushed on the cross and at the empty tomb, the flesh… it’s been trained for years to want sin… to want what is evil.

I don’t know about you but sometimes I actually feel almost as if I cannot help but sin. Have you ever felt that? You start to have the desire to something you know you ought not to do, and you kind of think about it a little bit, and you even have this thought process… “I know I should not do what I’m about to do… but I can’t stop it. It’s going

2 | P a g e The Source of Peace |Isaiah 9:2-7| December 7, 2014 By Dr. Steven Bezner. Week 2 in the series “Advent.” to happen whether I want to or not.” Has anybody else ever felt that before? (Laughter) Okay… a few of you. That’s good. Alright. The rest of you… I guess you don’t need to be here today. Sorry about that! Here’s the thing: In that moment, even though you feel as if you are caught in a tractor beam… even though in that moment, you feel as if there is gravity drawing you toward the very activity of sin… If you are in Christ, you are indeed free to resist. You have all the power you need, for you have the Holy Spirit of God in you. Whenever you choose to engage in sin, that is an act of total and complete freedom. Peace will come when the flesh finally is perfected… the flesh is finally glorified, put to death. In that moment, there will no longer be temptation to sin and so because of that, in complete freedom, we will choose only to live within the line, with harmony toward the intended purpose which we have been created for… that would be “Shalom.” That would be peace. That would be beautiful. Peace will be the moment when we are perfected by the rule of Jesus, and we will choose to never walk apart from the intentions of God ever again. That will be the Kingdom.

2. In A Space That Has Been Made (vv. 5-6)…

So why does that matter? It matters because we have to understand that peace is when we freely choose to flourish as God intended. It’s more than just not fighting with each other. It’s when we live as God wants us to live. So how does that happen? Peace… you must understand… we can only flourish in freedom when peace is made. There is no peace that exists that has not been crafted, that has not been forged… that has not been created in that place. Look at verse 5: “For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.” Peace is made. The blood-stained garments are rolled up… they’re thrown into the fire. Other images that are given to us in Scripture… all the weapons are beat into plows… This idea that peace is forged… it is created. And how? …Because a child is given; a son is given. Peace is made.

In the Beatitudes… in the Sermon on the Mount… Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers…” I think that’s interesting that He says, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Do you know what He doesn’t say? He doesn’t say, “Blessed are the peacekeepers.” That’s funny. There’s a lot of us who are really good peacekeepers. You see people kind of starting to get after each other and we say, “Hey, everybody; let’s calm down. It’s alright.” We stop the conflict before it starts. It is very different though from a peacemaker. What is a peacemaker? A peacemaker is someone who steps into the midst of an existing bitter, painful conflict and attempts to create peace.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been in the middle of some of those conflicts before. As a child of divorce, I got to live in the center of some of those conflicts at a really early age, and you find yourself attempting to try and help one side understand the other side. Maybe you’ve had friends or family members who have been warring with one another, and you have attempted to try and be the individual to broker the peace. The reason that it is so difficult to make peace is that people who have been in conflict with one another for a long time reach a point where they can no longer understand one another. In peacemaking circles, this is known as the “dual-narrative problem.” What does that mean? That means that there are people who live in totally and completely different stories. This is the crazy thing: Those stories are actually true for both sides. So there are people who live in story A and they would say, “This is my experience. This is what I’ve seen and so therefore this is truth… this is reality.” And then there are other people who live in story B, and they would say, “This is what I’ve experienced; this is what I’ve seen… and so therefore this is truth… this is reality.” What’s funny is that both people from their perspective may be speaking entirely from within their heart… entirely truthfully as best as they know how. The reason that there’s always conflict is because the person in story A and the person in story B do not know how to understand one another’s stories. In the school of peacemaking, they discuss how peacemakers walk into and listen and understand both stories. They hear story A and they seek to understand it. They hear story B and they seek to understand it. You see, people who want to be at war with one another do not want to take time to understand the other side. But peacemakers will come in the midst and they will stop and they will listen and they will seek to understand. That might be why James tells us, “Be quick to listen and slow to speak.” …Because a peacemaker has to be someone who stops and hears and listens to what is actually being said.

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I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being a peacemaker. I don’t like to have to take the time to stop and to listen and to understand. I want people to know precisely what I’m thinking. Have you ever been in an argument… probably not… but if you’ve ever been in an argument (Laughter) and while the other person is talking you are already crafting a perfectly witty and biting response. Have you ever had that experience? Yes… a few of you are terrible people… I can’t believe…. (Laughter) This experience… this is the opposite of peacemaking. Why? … Because you are not seeking to listen and to understand. You just want to win the fight. There is a difference between making peace and winning an argument. You see, the thing that happens in Advent is that we begin to understand that there is a peace that comes when finally we understand the other. It’s not just that we are understood. That’s the thing that we want, right? “Nobody understands me. If you just understood my perspective...” Yes, that is essential; but peace will only come when we can also understand the perspective of the other. Peacemaking means that we stop trying to win a fight and instead we are willing to step into no-man’s-land, between the warring factions, and to attempt to understand.

In December of 1914, in World War I, something really unlikely happened. There was a truce on Christmas Eve… a true story… There’s actually been a full-length feature film created about it: The Christmas Eve Truce of 1914. Trench warfare on the eastern front; bloody, bloody battles taking place. But hearts were changed in the midst of that. A very short film, about 3-1/2 minutes has been made, actually as a commercial to illustrate this. I wanted us to watch this this morning, just to sort of understand this. We’re going to watch this film clip real quick to understand how peacemaking might be a reflection of the Gospel. Take a look at this.

[Mail call: “Jenkins… Knight… (“Silent Night” sung in German… then in English) One soldier bravely walks to the other side… “My name is Jim.” “My name is Otto.” “Pleased to meet you, Otto.” Impromptu soccer game ensues… (Distant bombing heard) Teams return to their respective trenches.”] (Clapping)

The crazy thing is that really happened. Right? I want you to think about the images from what you just watched, and which one of those do you think is the most beautiful expression of “Shalom.” Is it when they’re in the trenches afraid of one another and ready to kill, or is it when they’re on the field playing soccer together? I mean… there’s no doubt, right? Which one of those is the picture of human flourishing? Which one of those is the peace that’s intended through the gift of Christmas? There can be no doubt, I don’t think.

There’s actually a real image that survived from that day. It’s incredible. It’s these soldiers in their battle uniforms and they’re jumping and competing for a head ball playing soccer and you look at that and 24 hours later they were shooting at each other again. You see, to make peace requires someone who is willing to step into the no-man’s- land… Galatians 5:22 tells us that peace is a fruit of the Spirit. Philippians 4:7 tells us that we have peace that surpasses understanding. The funny thing is that most of us, whenever we think about peace that surpasses understanding, we think, “You know, when I get really stressed out, when things are really bad at work, whenever I’m really feeling harried and hurried, then I know that God will be my peace.” That’s true… I don’t want to play that down at all… absolutely that’s true… but God’s peace is greater than just for you not being stressed out at Christmas. God’s peace is the peace that goes to the enemy and extends a hand and shows grace. That’s the peace that comes from Christmas. Whenever Jesus Christ said, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” He didn’t finish there because Matthew 5:9 says, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.” Why will they be called “Sons of God?” …Because they will reflect the very nature of the vessel which gave peace in the first place… because peace comes through the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He is the One who makes peace. You see, Peace is only there when it is made. Guess who made peace? It was God’s gift: Jesus Christ on the cross.

This is the question I want us to ask today of ourselves. Do we believe that we have become so overcome by the God who gave us grace, that we are willing to find and to make peace with those who moments ago we would declare as our enemies? Are you willing today to say, “Let me understand you; let me know you. Let me love you so that I might give you peace which comes through grace.” The notion that in the midst of a vast and difficult conflict, that you can experience and know peace is a glorious truth that cannot be limited only to our own inward soul but

4 | P a g e The Source of Peace |Isaiah 9:2-7| December 7, 2014 By Dr. Steven Bezner. Week 2 in the series “Advent.” must also overflow because love and grace and also peace reflect the very nature of who God is in Jesus and then proclaim the Gospel from the tops of the mountains and to the lowest of valleys. Peace is made by the power of Jesus: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.” Peace is only crafted because God gives Jesus.

3. By The Power of Jesus (v. 7)

The final phrase in verse 7: “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” God’s zeal for His glory; God’s zeal for you… God’s zeal for His people to be demonstrated that people of all colors… that people of all nationalities… that people of all languages could be unified together in one Gospel. That is the zeal of the Lord because every tongue will declare that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. That is the peace of Christmas. (Clapping) This peace only comes because it was made… it was created… it was crafted by Jesus Himself. Romans 5:10… “For if while we were enemies of God… we were reconciled…” We were in a trench, firing at the Lord. We were His enemies. That is not my word. That is the word of Scripture. We were at odds with Him, and peace was brokered because Jesus Christ took on our very nature. He understood us. He heard our story. He experienced temptation as each and every one of us does. He stepped into no-man’s-land, and He climbed upon a cross and in that place He took every punishment that we deserved. And there peace was forged. That is a cosmic, metaphysical truth that when Jesus died on the cross, He brokered a peace between sinful humanity and Holy God. If you want to reflect the nature of Jesus Christ now at Christmas, you will do more than sing songs and you will do more than exchange gifts. You will strive to proclaim and also craft peace in the place where you live because it’s through crafting peace that you reflect the very nature of Jesus Himself. When you seek to understand the one that you would call enemy, you show peace. When you seek to understand the one who is different than you, you seek to demonstrate peace. That is what we do at Christmas.

But what if you’re not a believer? What if you would say, “I’m here pondering these things… wondering if they might be true.” Then you, right now, are in a trench and you are an enemy of God. Romans 5:10 is past-tense for those of us who are in Christ Jesus, but for those who have yet to receive Jesus Christ, it is present-tense… you are still an enemy of God. You are rebelling against your intended purpose. You are not experiencing “Shalom.” I do not care how much money you make. I do not care what it is that you have as your possessions. I do not even care what sort of prestige or position you have in this world… if you have yet to receive Jesus Christ, you are not experiencing “Shalom” because you are an enemy of God. You are living outside of your created purpose.

Last night, I don’t know why… I couldn’t sleep. The Lord had Isaiah 9:2-7 on my heart, and I just started to think through it. Those first phrases were going across my mind. “Those who are walking in darkness…” There are some of us in this room right now that we would say, if we were honest with ourselves, “I am in darkness right now.” There are others of us, whenever we get to verse 4 that talks about the rod of the oppressor, we would say, “I feel as if I am a slave to something that I cannot control. I feel as if I am controlled by something else. I want to walk in freedom but I haven’t been able to do so.” You are here today, not by accident but by divine appointment, so that you may hear this truth: “If you are in darkness, you might know light… And if you feel as if you are a slave, you can know freedom…” because God gave Jesus for you so that you could know peace with God but also so that you could have peace with those around you. The reason that you find yourself in conflict and in heartache at this season and in other seasons of your life is because you do not know how to make peace. Do you want to know why you don’t know how to make peace? ...Because you have never understood that God made peace with you first. The reason that we’re able to make peace is because we understand that God made peace with us. Only when I understand that the Gospel is a radical nature… a radical story… a radical truth of God taking on human nature so that He might better identify with us and proclaim who we are so that then we might have peace with Him… so that all of my sin might be placed upon the broken body of Jesus… Only then can I know what true love is. Only then can I know what true peace actually is.

A moment ago when we ate the supper… we said, “This is My body… broken for you.” Why was it broken? It was broken because of this: God must punish sin, so He took all of the sin of the world and placed it on His Son and then

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He crushed His Son. “It pleased Him to crush Him,” Isaiah tells us. Why the cup? Why the blood shed for omission of sin? …Because, Scripture tells us, there is no remission for sin without the shedding of blood (Book of Hebrews). Jesus’ blood was shed. Your sin is only forgiven because Jesus died, but you must receive that truth. You must say “Yes” to that truth; if you have yet to say “Yes” to God, then you are an enemy of God and you cannot know the fullness of “Shalom” – the peace that God intended. I beg of you… I implore you. Do not leave here until you say “Yes.”

And for those of us who are already believers, we cannot bury our heads in the sand and think that somebody else will work out all those problems because we are not peacekeepers. We are commanded to be peacemakers… to step into the places that look ugly and impossible and to hear two stories, to bring warring factions to the table because in doing so we reflect whenever God and Jesus Christ brought warring factions of sinful humanity to the table with the holy God and brokered a peace through His shed blood and His broken body. This is the peace that we get at Christmas. This is the peace that God intends. This is the peace for which we wait and we yearn and we hope when He returns gloriously one day. Amen… and amen.

Let’s bow our heads together. I just want to ask… if you would say that today you do not know the peace of God in Jesus Christ… if you are not a believer in Jesus Christ and you are considering the possibility today of giving your life to Jesus Christ, I want to pray for you right now. If that’s you and you’re praying over that… you’re considering that, would you raise your hand… no one is looking… so that I might pray for you? If that’s you and you’re thinking about giving your life to Christ, would you raise your hand? Alright… one young man there. Who else? Okay. Let me pray over these. “Lord, for these that are considering saying ‘Yes,’ I pray that You would draw them to You today; and Lord, for these who need to make peace, I pray that You would do so through Your Son Jesus. God, I pray that they would demonstrate peace to those they have called ‘enemy,’ and I pray, God, that they would do that in the name of Your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.”

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