December 24, 2009 Pastor Tim Pusey

THE ADVENT OF PEACE
Luke 2:8-14
Christmas Eve 2009

[Read Luke 2:8-14, NIV]

Peace on earth sounds so wonderful! We long for it, even though we seem to experience very little of it. Our problem is that our attempts at peace are based purely on our human effort. And the problem with every one of us is that we’re absolutely, involuntarily, irrefutably human! And as humans, we’re rather faulty creatures! And so our attempts at “peace on earth” always, always, always seem to fall short somehow—because they’re based on us—on faulty human beings!

So, it appears that despite great human effort, peace is elusive! Oh, yes, there are those who try their best to find it within themselves. We may quiet ourselves off from the rest of noisy humanity to meditate—which isn’t altogether bad, but the problem is that we still take our selves with us! And so still there’s no peace!

No doubt about it, there’s not much “peace on earth” during this Christmas season. It’s been a rough year for lots of people, and the global prospects of peace are about as remote as ever. And human attempts to find peace or create peace always seem too futile—like trying to nail jello to the wall!

No, you and I can’t create peace, but peace can come to us. It won’t happen by our own efforts, because the coming of peace is definitely a “God-thing.” It’s beyond human potential. Peace comes through the One Who has been called “the Prince of Peace.” And when this Prince of Peace comes to us, we are granted peace with God. We’re given a whole new relationship with God—and that is when we begin to experience the kind of peace that our Heavenly Father has desired for us all along. This is the beauty and the wonder of the Incarnation—God coming to us!
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.

It was Christmas Eve—probably 1987. As a pastor in the small town of Galion, Ohio, I had conducted our annual Christmas Eve Service. But after the service was over, our family of five got into our little car and hit the highway so that we could be at my parents’ home for Christmas that year. It was about a 6-hour drive, and we knew it would be late when we got there—so we got the kids in their warm pajamas (the kind with the feet in them), strapped them into the car seats, and took off—even from the church, I believe.

Our family has always did a fair amount of traveling—and, for the most part, enjoyed doing so. And this night there was the extra excitement of Christmas—and the fun of getting with family and the kids playing with their cousins! The Christmas lights were beautiful outside the houses we passed on the 2-lane state highway for the first 40 miles of the trip. Our journey then took us on the interstate through Columbus, Ohio, and then another two hours to Cincinnati before we’d cross the Ohio River and enter Kentucky and go another hour and a half to Louisville and eventually land in Elizabethtown, where my parents still live in the same house today.

But as we were journeying toward Cincinnati, I began to detect that the lights on the car were growing dim. I think most of you know by now that I’m not the least bit mechanically inclined, so I really didn’t have much of a clue—and, along a dark highway late on Christmas Eve, I couldn’t have done much about it if I had known, I suppose! I didn’t say anything for the longest time, because I knew Cindy would just worry about it—and I’m recalling that by the time we were approaching Cincinnati, most of the family, including Cindy, were sound asleep. But what little bit of car wisdom I had seemed to kick in as we were going through Cincinnati and I told Cindy what was happening and that I feared we might have an alternator problem. By then the lights had grown frighteningly dim. And, of course, we wouldn’t expect that there would be any auto repair shop open late on Christmas Eve—so we were trying to figure out our options.

We crossed the Ohio River on Interstate 71 just past the downtown of Cincinnati—and determined that we’d have to take one of the exits just beyond there where there were some hotels, figuring we’d stay the night and figure out what to do in the morning. The thought of spending Christmas morning in a strange hotel in a strange city was terribly disappointing—especially when we had hoped to be with family. But we knew we couldn’t risk going further—in another 10 miles we’d be out in the middle of nowhere for at least 90 miles, and we just couldn’t risk that on such a cold, cold night with our three little kids. Christmas or no Christmas, we had to abandon our plans!

We stopped at a gas station that happened to be open right off the highway. I went in and talked with the manager—explaining our problem and asking if he knew of anyone who might be able to help us mechanically. By now, it was nearly 11:00 Christmas Eve. To our amazement, he knew of a mechanic just around the corner that happened to still be at his shop. He called, and the man was willing to take a look at it. Amazing!

I still remember staying in our little car, with our three pajama’d kids in their 3 car seats in the back seat, and feeling the car rise up on the hydraulic lift the mechanic used to get underneath the car. What a strange place to be on Christmas Eve—a grimy ol’ auto repair shop! The man informed me that it was indeed the alternator, but that he didn’t have the part and couldn’t get it that night. However, he was pretty confident that he could jerry-rig it so that it would make do for the remainder of our trip—if we went without the defroster, the heater and the radio. We decided to go ahead and take the risk, and called my parents to work out a back-up plan if we didn’t show up by a certain time—for this was before the days of cell phones. We felt we’d be okay as long as someone was coming after us if we broke down along the highway.

So eventually we hit the road again—now as bundled up as we could be because there would be no heater and the windows would have to be opened a little for ventilation! Everyone in the car but me fell asleep quickly, for we were all so exhausted! But there was no radio to listen to and no tapes to listen to, and the windows opened slightly made a steady noise that was almost mesmerizing. I was alone with my thoughts.

I was so tired I could hardly stay awake—though I will admit that the cold air blowing in on me was at least a little invigorating! That trip from Cincinnati to Louisville seemed like an eternity! I don’t remember a trip ever seeming so long! And beyond Louisville was another 45 minutes!

I was so grateful to the Lord for His help that evening—who would ever have expected to find a mechanic on Christmas Eve! But I was also praying constantly that the car would keep running and that the lights wouldn’t grow dim. I remember praying, “Lord, I’m so tired and this trip has already been so long. And while I’m grateful for your protection and your intervention already tonight, I’m ready to just be there. I know you’ve done lots of miracles before, so I know you’re capable of just one more. So Lord, when I blink my eyes, I’d be so grateful if when I opened them again I found that we were pulling into Mom and Dad’s driveway. Do you suppose You could just instantly put us there? Haven’t we had enough tonight? Would you do that for us…please?”

But my rather long, sleepy blinking of the eyes only revealed more stretch of highway. Mile marker by mile marker was as fast as we were going to go. I was ready for the trip to be over and I was ready for the joy of being with family again and I was ready to find a nice, warm bed at my folks’ house…but the trip only went as fast as our little car would take us. The family slept peacefully as I moved along the highway, mile by mile—knowing the Lord was with us and that He had obviously not deserted us that evening! But we weren’t where I wanted to be…yet!

So it is in our spiritual journey. Inherent in our human condition are the struggles we have in life. Pain and grief and stress and uncertainties are all part of life! We can’t escape them! Apart from God there simply isn’t any peace. Even when we’re in a relationship with the Lord and walking in fellowship with Him, we’re not spared the challenges and hurdles of life! Freedom from all those things would be heaven—and we’re not there yet!

I’m afraid sometimes we have tried to paint the picture that if we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and accept the forgiveness He offers and commit to walk with Him in a wonderful new relationship, that all of our problems will be over! Some of the old songs of the church even seem to proclaim it to be so! And the Lord does forgive us and accept us and He wants to cleanse us from sin and empower us for holy living!—and all of this is absolutely marvelous! But this does not mean that we will live without struggles in life!

The difference is that we no longer have to face such challenges alone! Sure, we may find that many of the heartaches and struggles we’ve had in life are self-inflicted and that, when we allow Christ to transform our lives, some of those problems seem to dissipate. But—we still have struggles and heartaches! The difference is that we no longer have to face them alone!
Peace that the Lord gives is not the absence of trouble, but rather the confidence that He is with us as we deal with them.
Peace consists not in the absence of danger but in the Presence of God. And that peace is such a wonderful blessing!—even though we long for the kind of absolute peace that heaven alone promises.

It is in the Advent Season that we remember the first coming of the Lord—when God sent to the earth His Son Jesus as a baby boy. It’s such a beautiful story—and the reality of the first coming of Jesus has changed my life! Through Jesus Christ, I have been invited into a wonderful relationship with the Heavenly Father—and I cherish the reality of being set free from my fears of condemnation; I cherish peace instead of judgment in my relationship with Him; I cherish the peace that comes from trusting Him with every challenge that comes my way in life! Many of you have experienced the same. And it’s a marvelous thing, isn’t it?!

If you’ve never accepted the peace that comes through sins forgiven, I invite you this evening to experience that peace as you welcome Christ Jesus into your heart and into your life. And if you’re walking with Him already but caught up in the bumps and hurdles of life and feeling tossed around a bit—let me remind you that He’s right beside you. He’s never left you. He will see you through this. He loves you so much. And, if we’ll hang on for just a while longer…He will bring ultimate peace into our lives…forever. May His peace come to you this beautiful Christmas Eve.