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Does Christmas Bring Peace or War? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Happy Monday, and Marry Christmas. In this last episode before
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  Speaker 1: the holiday, we're coming in with a Christmas meditation on
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  Speaker 1: happiness and anxiety, all spurned by this question from a
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  Speaker 1: listener named Derek. Hello Pastor John, and Merry Christmas to you.
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  Speaker 1: During the Advent season each year, I love to sing
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  Speaker 1: the hymn Joy to the World. But the more I
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  Speaker 1: read my Bible, the more I wonder if Jesus came
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  Speaker 1: to bring world peace or not. It seems like the
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  Speaker 1: world is becoming more unstable and less happy. It has
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  Speaker 1: certainly never felt more fractured to me. Yet at his birth,
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  Speaker 1: a multitude of angels praise God by saying glory to
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  Speaker 1: God in the highest and on earth, peace among those
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  Speaker 1: with whom He is pleased. That's Luke two verses thirteen
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  Speaker 1: and fourteen. And of course it's carefully qualified, not joy
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  Speaker 1: to the whole world, but joy to those who please God.
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  Speaker 1: And then, of course, later in his ministry, Jesus said
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  Speaker 1: of himself, I think that I've come to bring peace
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  Speaker 1: to the earth. I have not come to bring peace
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  Speaker 1: but a sword. Those are his recorded words in Matthew
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  Speaker 1: ten thirty four. As we prepare to celebrate our Saviour's birth. Again,
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  Speaker 1: I have to ask does Christmas signal peace or war?
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  Speaker 1: It seems to be both, And so what kind of
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  Speaker 1: war did he start on earth? And what kind of
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  Speaker 1: peace did he bring to earth?
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  Speaker 2: I think Derek is right, absolutely right in everything he
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  Speaker 2: just said. And what I would add is that the
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  Speaker 2: dominant note that needs to be struck at Christmas time,
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  Speaker 2: at Easter time, and every other time in the Christian
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  Speaker 2: life is the note of God exalting happiness, happiness. Because
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  Speaker 2: the first thing the angel says to the shepherds in
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  Speaker 2: Luke ten to ten is behold, I bring you news,
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  Speaker 2: good news of great joy, huge happiness, big happiness, God
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  Speaker 2: sized happiness. That was the first word out of the
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  Speaker 2: angel's mouth. And I say God exalting happiness, because the
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  Speaker 2: first thing out of the the army of angels when
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  Speaker 2: they start talking in verse fourteen is glory to God
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  Speaker 2: in the hyst. So the birth of this baby is
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  Speaker 2: about your big happiness and God's heaven sized glory. That's
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  Speaker 2: the summary of what Christmas is about your big, big
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  Speaker 2: happiness in God's high high glory. That's the message of
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  Speaker 2: the angels at the birth of Jesus, God exalting happiness.
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  Speaker 2: That's the dominant note that I think needs to be
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  Speaker 2: struck at Christmas. Not the only note. Derek makes that
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  Speaker 2: plain in his question, but the dominant note, the note
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  Speaker 2: that needs to be struck, and comes a few verses later,
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  Speaker 2: is Luke two thirty four, where Simon says to Mary, behold,
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  Speaker 2: this child is appointed for the fall and the rising
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  Speaker 2: of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed.
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  Speaker 2: A sword will pierce through your own soul, also so
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  Speaker 2: that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. So
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  Speaker 2: the dominant note of Christmas, God exalting happiness. The subordinate
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  Speaker 2: note of Christmas. Many will reject this happiness and perish.
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  Speaker 2: We won't have this God exalting happiness if we prefer
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  Speaker 2: another kind of happiness. So the dominant note of Christmas
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  Speaker 2: to use John three seventeen. God did not send his
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  Speaker 2: son into the world to condemn the world, but in
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  Speaker 2: order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever
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  Speaker 2: believes in Him is not condemned. That's the dominant note
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  Speaker 2: of Christmas. The subordinate note is to keep reading in John.
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  Speaker 2: But whoever does not believe is condemned already because he
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  Speaker 2: has not believed in the name of the only Son
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  Speaker 2: of God. So the dominant note of Christmas, using Isaiah
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  Speaker 2: nine to six, his name will be called wonderful counselor
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  Speaker 2: Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of peace peace, and the
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  Speaker 2: subordinate note using Matthew ten thirty four. Do not think
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  Speaker 2: that I have come to bring peace on the earth.
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  Speaker 2: I have not come to bring peace but a sword.
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  Speaker 2: Whoever loves mother or father more than me is not
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  Speaker 2: worthy of me. Whoever loves son or daughter more than
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  Speaker 2: me is not worthy of me. In other words, he's
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  Speaker 2: the prince of peace for those who love him more
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  Speaker 2: than they love other paths to peace. So Derek is right.
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  Speaker 2: Christmas brings peace and Christmas brings war. And what I'm
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  Speaker 2: stressing is that when Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
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  Speaker 2: came into the world, his dominant mission was to glorify
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  Speaker 2: God by making peace with rebel human beings and giving
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  Speaker 2: god exalting happiness to everyone who would welcome the terms
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  Speaker 2: of his amnesty. So the dominant note is Christ brought peace,
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  Speaker 2: and the subordinate note is for those who will not
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  Speaker 2: receive this peace as their treasure, there will be war.
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  Speaker 2: So what kind of peace and what kind of war.
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  Speaker 2: That's his basic question. When the angel armies said, glory
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  Speaker 2: to God in the highest peace among those with whom
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  Speaker 2: He's pleased, that peace, I think had at least three dimensions.
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  Speaker 2: Number one, first and foremost, it meant peace with God.
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  Speaker 2: God himself was creating in Christ a way for him
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  Speaker 2: to be reconciled with a rebellious world Tewod Corinthians five nineteen.
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  Speaker 2: In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not
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  Speaker 2: counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us. The
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  Speaker 2: message of reconciliation when rebel human beings lay down the
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  Speaker 2: arms of their rebellion and embrace the terms of God's
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  Speaker 2: reconciliation is amnesty. Here's what Paul says. Therefore, since we
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  Speaker 2: have been justified by faith, we have peace with God
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  Speaker 2: through our Lord Jesus Christ. That is a sweet phrase.
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  Speaker 2: Peace with God. That's the first and greatest dimension of
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  Speaker 2: peace that the angels announced. The second dimension of the
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  Speaker 2: peace that Christmas brings is between hostile groups of people.
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  Speaker 2: If He'sians two fourteen, he himself, Christ himself is our
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  Speaker 2: peace who has made us both jew and gentile, and
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  Speaker 2: all other factions in Christ, one that He might create
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  Speaker 2: in himself one new man in place of two, so
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  Speaker 2: making peace, and might reconcile us both to God, both
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  Speaker 2: together to God through the Cross, thereby killing the hostility.
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  Speaker 2: That's amazing in a world like ours. This is not
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  Speaker 2: getting along with each other without Christ. That's not the point.
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  Speaker 2: This is Christ, at the cost of his life, enabling
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  Speaker 2: hostile camps to get along because of Christ. In Christ.
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  Speaker 2: That's the second glory of Christmas peace. The third dimension
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  Speaker 2: of peace that Christmas brings is relief from anxiety. Philippians
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  Speaker 2: four six. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,
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  Speaker 2: by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, Let your requests be
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  Speaker 2: made known to God. And the peace of God, which
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  Speaker 2: surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds.
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  Speaker 2: In Christ Jesus. If conscience troubles us, we preach peace
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  Speaker 2: to ourselves. Because of Christ, he paid for our sins.
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  Speaker 2: They can't condemn us. And if circumstances make us anxious,
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  Speaker 2: we preach peace to ourselves because God promised it. He's
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  Speaker 2: going to give us everything we need for every situation,
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  Speaker 2: because He didn't spare his own son, but gave him
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  Speaker 2: up for us all. So the dominant note of the
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  Speaker 2: angels at Christmas is peace to those with whom He
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  Speaker 2: has pleased, that is, to those who comply with the
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  Speaker 2: terms of his amnesty. They lay down the arms of
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  Speaker 2: their rebellion, and they trust him. They treasure him. And
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  Speaker 2: the peculiar war that Christmas brings doesn't aim at the
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  Speaker 2: destruction of people, but at the destruction of what destroys people.
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  Speaker 2: We don't wage war against flesh and blood, but against
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  Speaker 2: principalities and powers and demonic forces. Or, as Paul says
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  Speaker 2: in Second Corinthians ten, though we walk in the flesh,
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  Speaker 2: we are not waging war according to the flesh. For
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  Speaker 2: the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh,
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  Speaker 2: that is not merely natural and human, but they have
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  Speaker 2: divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every
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  Speaker 2: lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take
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  Speaker 2: every thought captive to obey Christ. This is a war
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  Speaker 2: in which we are trying to rescue prisoners. We are
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  Speaker 2: trying to defeat God, diminishing unbelief. And therefore we make
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  Speaker 2: war using the weapons of the Gospel of peace. So, yes,
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  Speaker 2: Christmas brought both peace and war but oh, how dominant
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  Speaker 2: is the note that the angels strike God exalting happiness
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  Speaker 2: through peace with God and merciful warfare against everything that
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  Speaker 2: destroys people's God exalting.
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  Speaker 1: Happiness dominant indeed, to give us peace from our anxieties.
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  Speaker 1: So when we face the anxieties of our sin, preach
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  Speaker 1: peace to ourselves. Because of Christ, he paid for our sins,
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  Speaker 1: they can't condemn us. And when life's circumstances make us anxious,
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  Speaker 1: we preach peace to ourselves because God promised that He's
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  Speaker 1: going to give us everything we need for every situation,
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  Speaker 1: because He didn't spare his own son, but gave himself
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  Speaker 1: up for us all a man, such a beautiful, relevant
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  Speaker 1: cross inner Christmas meditation for us to enter the holiday
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  Speaker 1: week with think about John, and with that from Pastor John,
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  Speaker 1: from me your host, Tony Rank, and from the whole
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  Speaker 1: team at Desiring God, Merry Christmas. We'll see you on Thursday,