“Let there be peace on earth and let it begin in me.” Now, before you start singing or humming the song, think about what a great reality it would be to truly have peace on earth. No wars. No arguments. No trauma. No conflict. No evil. What a great place this world would be if one could remove all of the threats to peace. Like the weather, everybody talks about peace but it sure doesn’t seem we like to do much about it. Sometimes I think we even enjoy the conflict. But is that how it is really suppose to be? Are we suppose to enjoy conflict? Are we designed to war with each other? Are we designed to war with God? In Isaiah 9:6, we have these words once again:

 6 For a child is born to us,
      a son is given to us.
   The government will rest on his shoulders.
      And he will be called:
   Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
      Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

    Jesus is the “Prince of Peace.” The word “prince” has four meanings in the Old Testament. Leader 2) Official Representative 3) Governor and 4) Royal King

The word “peace” in the Hebrew text means rest; safety; freedom; and security. Many of you have heard the Jewish word shalom as a greeting or salutation. Shalom means peace It is the precise word used here in Isaiah 9:6. Jesus is the ruler, leader, governor, and official representative of the rest, safety, freedom, and security that only He can give a person in life. The word peace is use over three hundred and fifty times in the Bible. When searching the Bible with the words God and peace, this combination appeared sixty-five times. We can search the scriptures for prominent passages on the topic of peace. What are some of those?

    Isaiah 9:6 is one of those. When the angels came to the shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus, this is how the shepherds were greeted:  14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” When Jesus was preparing his disciples for his death and ascension into heaven, John records these words:  27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” Paul is writing to the church in Roman when he says: “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.” In Corinthians, we find these words: For God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the meetings of God’s holy people.” When writing to the Ephesians: For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. Paul’s writings continue in his letter to the church at Thessalonica: Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. Finally the writer of Hebrews gives us this: Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. This is just a small sampling of the scriptures that speak to the subject of peace. I think most of us would agree that the world today is not at peace. It may be or may not be obvious that the primary reason is because many today are not at peace with God.

    God desires that everyone on the face of the planet be at peace with him. John records Jesus’ words in chapter 3:16-17: “  16 For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” God through his Son Jesus – through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross – through the resurrection of Christ from the dead, has created the opportunity for everyone to be at peace with God. God desires to commune with his creation. Jesus is our leader and he desires to give us the freedom of peace with God. He did that by coming to earth as a baby – he was incarnate – he is Emmanuel – God with us – John says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” This Prince of Peace came for the sole purpose of restoring that relationship with the Father, so that we could know true peace. One of the things that we seem to want to do is take the mystery out of things. Most of us can remember being a child – go back to those Christmases of long ago. Remember the excitement of seeing the gifts under the tree. You could hardly wait to discover what was in those wrapped packages – it was a mystery – and the mystery, you were able to ponder, what did I get for Christmas this year? Since we have been focusing on the gift of the Christ child this year, why not ponder the mystery of why Jesus came to earth for you?

    Jesus is the Prince of Peace – he came so that we could have peace with God. Not only that, but he came so that we could have peace with ourselves. Many have struggled for years to be at peace with themselves. I even find myself struggling with that. The angels sang to the shepherds, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” If we are in Christ, we should be at peace. Most of you have seen the bumper sticker “No Christ – No Peace; Know Christ – Know Peace.” We are told in Genesis 1:27: “27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” One of the characteristics of God is that he is a God of peace. If we are created in the image of God and Jesus – and Jesus is the Prince of Peace – then we should be a peace with ourselves.

    Part of the problem is that many of us don’t even like ourselves. We forget that Jesus loves us and that he cares about us. I believe that Jesus can even help us like ourselves. Why do I say that? The reason that many are not at peace with themselves, is they don’t like themselves. I struggle with this – I’m sure that you struggle with it too. The only one who can help us with this struggle is Jesus – he is the Prince of Peace. He is the only one who can offer real peace inside. I’ve told you once before of the struggles of Kerry Livgren – Songwriter and former keyboardist and guitarist for the band Kansas. Throughout his younger years, Kerry struggled to find peace – what he was lacking was the Prince of Peace in his life. He tried all the other exotic religions, thinking he would find peace, but none of the other religions even came close. I remember on one of the last albums before he came to know the real Prince of Peace, he wrote these words:

The empty page before me now the pen is in my hand
The words don’t come so easy but I’m trying’
I’m searching for a melody or some forgotten line
They can slip away from us so quickly
Don’t be unkind, I’m not complaining
I only feel it needs explaining
And though I’ve said it all before I say it once again
Everyone needs something’ to believe in.

Just two years later, after discovering the Prince of Peace, he wrote these lyrics:

Underneath the sky of blue, it’s a time of choosing
Everybody’s holding on, to what they’re losing
But it all works out okay, if you give your life away
To the one who’s holding fast, it’s a promise that will last

Everybody faces it, now or later
You can’t get around it, ’cause it’s human nature
And deep within the hardest heart
There is something there that knows
There’s a hunger life can never fill
‘Til you face the one who rose

You’re caught in a crossfire
Of a greater love than man has ever known
Caught in a crossfire
And you’ve got to choose which way you’re gonna go
Caught in a crossfire
In a world of darkness turn to the light

Time’s disappearing, all that you’re fearing
Dreamers awaken, chances are taken
There’s no pretending no other ending
All is forgiven, if you are living anew, living anew

So the question is, have you asked Him to be the Prince of Peace in all areas of your life or are you the keeper of the peace for yourself? God desires for you to be at peace with yourself. There is another piece to this peace puzzle: If there is no peace with God, then peace with yourself and others will prove difficult. No wonder the world struggles with this. Since so many are not at peace with God and not at peace with themselves – no wonder there is a lack of peace in our world.

    Jesus gave us a commandment about love – which is a key component of peace. Jesus Himself said we are to, “…love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And to love our neighbors as ourselves.” In a related teaching – Jesus’ disciple John wrote in his letters “If we say we love God and don’t love each other, we are liars.” One of the things that we should be known for as Christians is being people of peace. To be sure – I am not advocating peace at all costs – but that we should be people of peace – with everything we have we should be 1.) trying to reconcile people back to God through our lives, witness, and testimony and we should 2.) trying to reconcile to others.

    In just the last week, it has been interesting (to say the least) to watch the reaction of President-elect Obama and his choice for a pastor to pray at the inauguration. He selected Pastor Rick Warren. Mr. Obama is taking heat from both sides. Here is how Pastor Warren responded to all the criticism.

I commend President-elect Obama for his courage to willingly take enormous heat from his base by inviting someone like me, with whom he doesn’t agree on every issue, to offer the Invocation at his historic Inaugural ceremony.

Hopefully individuals passionately expressing opinions from the left and the right will recognize that both of us have shown a commitment to model civility in America.

The Bible admonishes us to pray for our leaders. I am honored by this opportunity to pray God’s blessing on the office of the President and its current and future inhabitant, asking the Lord to provide wisdom to America’s leaders during this critical time in our nation’s history.

    What’s more is that there are Christians who (for lack of a better description) are literally bashing Pastor Warren for even thinking of acknowledging the invitation. This kind of action has simply frustrated me over this past week. The old song goes, “They will know we are Christians by our love.” As I said before, love is a key component of peace. In fact both are part of the fruits of the Spirit:  ”22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”

    What will it take for you to be reconciled to others you are in conflict with? The Prince of Peace – Jesus Himself – enables us all to live at peace with everyone and we are commanded to do that as Christians.

    God’s peace never lessens. God’s control over all things, including us, never gets weaker. His peace and His Kingdom will always be available and will always increase with time. His love and life, His help and hope, His rulership and peace will never, ever end.

    The gift of Jesus Christ, God’s One and Only Son – The Prince of Peace – He will never break. He will never wear out. He will never go out of style. Will you unwrap the gift of Jesus this Advent?