12.09.2012 - Zechariah's song: How to Experience Peace

SermonAudio

We are doing the second ‘song’ of the Christmas story – the prophecy of Zechariah.
Lord, thank You for all You’ve given us – and the Christmas season – and as that song said, - Pleased as man with men to dwell – God with us – it is incomprehensible to us – the depth of love to leave the heavenly realms and to suffer a death at the hands of those You created. May this ring in our hearts. May we live, knowing this is true. Speak to us now. Thank You for the opportunity to sing these great hymns and carols – written with such depth.
Luke 1: 67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:

68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a horn[a] of salvation for us in the house of his servant David 70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), 71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—72 to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham: 74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
He speaks of this long wait that is being fulfilled – and they are the generation that gets to see this take place. Today we lit the candle of peace –
77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit[b]; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.
Peace is a big concept – encompassing many different aspects.
When we think of peace, we tend to focus on ‘peace on earth’ – and there are many songs about this – and the end of military conflict – but that is not the aspect we will focus on today.
First, peace with God – and second – the peace OF God. There are other aspects of peace that are very important – but that is what we will talk about today.
Peace with God
Romans 5:1
Being in right relationship with God – to have peace in our relationship with God. This is one of the most important aspects of peace – but one of the most misunderstood. We may think this is easy – yeah, we get this – Billy Graham wrote a book 40-50 years ago – Peace with God – but out there – this is misunderstood. The reason this is misunderstood is because it is something that is true – and one of the most important truths of the universe – God loves all people John 3:16 – There is this concept that because that has been expressed – people think that God is love – yes, that is the major characteristic of God – but if God is love, they think that God is okay with everyone. And THAT is not reality. In reality, people are alienated from a relationship with God – they do not have peace in their relationship with God. The relationship has been severed.
Colossians 1: 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of[g] your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

If they were reconciled – it means that they were once alienated.
We are born into this world separated from God. But most people think – well, not me! God is LOVE and I am OKAY! And He is okay with me! The Christmas story is all about restoring the broken relationship. And it takes place ONLY through His blood on the cross. The only way to restore relationships is His blood on the cross.
God is Love. God is also Just. God is also Holy. And God must judge evil – but people say, I’m not evil – I’m not a murderer or terrorist.
Were Adam and Eve terrorists? What did they do? They ate a piece of fruit! But God told them don’t eat it – so evil is disobedience to His commands. If anyone is honest, he would admit that he has lied, or coveted, or stolen, or lusted – go right through the top ten… - everyone has failed at some point. And because of that – we have Jesus coming to earth to become one of us – that is where God’s love comes from. He died to pay for our sins to bring us into right relationship with God.
There are those who do not have a right relationship with God – and if they die without that right relationship – God must punish evil – even if they are nice people.
Second – the Peace OF God. This is really fitting for Christmas time. Because Philippians 4 says this:
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
When we talk about the peace OF God – there is this assurance, confidence, rest, freedom from stress and release from fear and fretting. We tend to be really good at these things – fretting, stressing, and worrying about everything.
Paul gives 4 directives – steps to obtain the peace of God which surpasses understanding – Rejoice in the Lord is first. The context is suffering and relational conflict. The verses right before this – Paul urges that these women stop fighting.
With those things in mind – suffering and relational conflict – this will cause anxiety and fear. Relational conflict – you know how hard it is to sleep when there is unresolved conflict in a relationship.
So he says – Rejoice. Not just rejoice – but rejoice in the Lord. Don’t rejoice because you are having conflict – Hallelujah, I lost my job! No – rejoice in the Lord. Come to the Lord and rejoice in Him – in the fact that even with all this going on – there is a God who loves me and is in control. Not rejoicing in the lord with just feelings of happiness, but turn your attention and focus on Jesus when everything else is falling apart. How to do this? Remember the blessings that God has done for you. Start with the relationship you have with Him – what He did to bring you back to relationship with Him – and all the benefits you get from that. If you can learn to rejoice in that – and learn to rejoice in that at all times – that is key step number one to being released from anxiety and fear.
We need to remember and rejoice in what God has given us and what He has done for us. Learn to sing praises. Not just on Sunday – but learn how – when stressful circumstances come up – to sing praises. Christmas carols – are ways of singing praises to God. And they are all over the place right now!
Let everyone see your gentleness. We think of soft – but it speaks of being gentle in relationships. Let your forbearing spirit be known – in the context of relational conflict and persecution – he is telling them – do not respond in kind. When relationship is going wrong – the tendency is to think – I’ll show you! – Or two can play at that game! There is accusation – and we defend – and counter-attack. That is how relationships work – accuse! Defend! Attack! Violence never ends violence, it only extends it. Same with accusation! To be forbearing means to yield your rights, desires, and preferences – as long as you are not yielding them in a harmful or sinful way. That is what Paul is calling us to do – this is the best marriage verse – you want good marriage advice – learn what it means to be forbearing – easily entreatable.
Someone says a negative word – what do you do? Erupt, retaliate, and escalate the problem? We know how well that works in the long run. But the second way is just as bad – closing out the other person – to bury it and allow it to fester. It will eventually come out – because the person will do the same thing at some point – and that will bring up the other circumstance – and then they do it again – and it accumulates all those circumstances – and when it happens – the “You always do this!” – but that is because you buried it and never dealt with the conflict.
A better response – Acknowledge the wound – that hurt – don’t just cover it over.
Second – recognize your own offense – this is critical – remove the log from your own eye – we all have logs in our eyes – and we cannot approach the offense without doing that.
Restore the person’s humanity in your own mind – the person who offended you – remember they are a person that Jesus loves and died for on the cross. This is a critical step. When someone offends us, they become a monster. In God’s eyes – they are a sinner – but one for whom He died.
Then – address the issue. You must address it – but in a way that is constructive – and that is critical.
Remember the Love and Respect series – he talked about people of good will? We want to love one another – but we offend one another. It can be unintentional – but when you are the one who does that – rather than – when the person comes to you – and says, that hurt me – our tendency is to defend. A simple, helpful, practical response is this: I’m sorry. That goes a long way. “That was not my intent – but I recognize that my actions and words offended and hurt you.”
Sometimes we are just clumsy – if you trip and fall and knock someone down – you don’t jump up and say, I didn’t mean to do it – you first say – oh, sorry – how clumsy of me! We are relationally clumsy – and we need to recognize that.
Okay – the third directive here is in verse 6 –
Do not be anxious about anything
Fourth – in every situation – through prayer and petition let your requests be made known to God. – PRAY! We rejoice – we forbear, we pray. And he is saying – bring the situation, the stress to God – and request what needs to happen – and then by faith, leave it there before God. Too often, we pray and then just bring it back to us. The purpose of prayer is to give God opportunity to get involved in the circumstance. It recognizes his involvement and gives him a chance to work. We go back and our mind keeps going – and we forget that our mind is involved. We are leaving it in His hands. Very simple – leave things in His hands – because He is God! That is His role.
8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Let your mind DWELL on these things.
One of the keys to getting over anxiety – the psalmist says – when my anxious thoughts MULTIPLY within me… - anxious thoughts multiply. One thing goes wrong – and in your mind, forty-five other things go wrong! You need to learn to focus on good things – excellent, pure, commendable things. Let your mind be filled with those things on a continual basis.
A part of that – a trick that I am learning – in order to think of these things – I need to eliminate negative and bad input. As much as possible. Stay – at work – rumors and gossip occur – people are stressed out – and rumors start to fly – and what does it do to you? Does it make you satisfied with your work environment? Maybe you just need to eliminate that. Take the gossips out back… - just kidding – seeing if you are awake.
I think the news media are experts at stressing us out. We worry so much about the economy that we will continue to listen to their news. You know – emotionally – how they bring you in – it sucks you into it – and the emotions begin stressing. Yes, we need to keep up on things – but there are ways to do that without being pulled into the anxiety. Learn how it pulls you in – and learn to eliminate those things.
Psalm 27: One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock.
We need to learn to dwell in the secret place of God. Yes, it sounds touchy-feely – but it is saying simply this – when the world around us – the storms, conflict, anxiety – we need to find a place in our soul and spirit – how to get alone with God. Even if there is a lot of people around – and that takes place inside. And then – in that presence of God – to quiet our minds, our spirits – our emotions – the psalmist says – Cease striving and know that I am God. Though the earth erupts – cease striving.
Isaiah – the steadfast of mind will be kept in peace.
Psalm 91:10 – he who dwells in the shelter of the most high abides in the shadow of the Almighty – I will say to the Lord – My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.
When things are going wrong out here – God wants us to come into His presence – this about the imagery – when he says he lifts me up on a rock – what image comes to mind? Or you are in the sea, drowning – and you get put on a safe spot. We need biblical imagery – so that when the seas swell in our mind – we can go to our quiet place with God. They did that – the ones who wrote this book. God is on our side – think about the shadow of His wings – when someone comes against you – do you think of this giant wing in whose shade you abide? Let’s pray.