Peace!
Sermon
Notes
December
7, 2008
Second
Sunday of Advent
Rev. Jim
O’Neal, Senior Pastor
(480) 895-8766
Isaiah 11:1-10 NRSV
1A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow
out of his roots. 2The spirit
of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the
LORD. 3His delight shall be
in the fear of the LORD. He shall not
judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; 4but
with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek
of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the
breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and
faithfulness the belt around his loins.
6The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the
kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall
lead them. 7The cow and the
bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat
straw like the ox. 8The
nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall
put its hand on the adder’s den. 9They
will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of
the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. 10On that day the root of Jesse
shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and
his dwelling shall be glorious.
II Corinthians 5:16-19 NRSV
16From now on, therefore, we regard no
one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human
point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17So if anyone is in Christ, there
is a new creation: everything old has
passed away; see, everything has become new!
18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through
Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is,
in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their
trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.
A.
Introduction
1. Peanuts Comic Strip
a.
One morning in the Peanuts Comic Strip, Lucy is angry with Charlie
Brown. Charlie Brown is running from her
wrath at top speed. Lucy is close
behind, shouting, “I’ll get you, Charlie Brown!
I’ll get you. I’ll knock your
block off!” An exhausted Charlie Brown
finally stops and says, “Wait a minute!
Hold everything! We can’t carry
on like this! We have no right to act
this way. The world is filled with
problems: People hurting other people,
people not understanding other people.
Now, if we as children can’t solve what are relatively minor problems,
how can we ever expect to…” BAM! And before Charlie Brown can finish his last
sentence, Lucy knocks him to the sidewalk with a sharp blow to his jaw. Turning to Linus she says, “I had to hit him
QUICK! He was beginning to make sense!”
b.
PEACE makes sense, and that is the theme of this our Second Sunday of
Advent.
2. Today’s Scripture: Isaiah 11:1-10 & II Corinthians 5:16-19
a.
The Messiah and peace are linked together. That is what Old Testament prophecy tells
us. Isaiah envisions the time of peace
in which the
b.
In Advent we celebrate the birth of the Messiah, who prophecy calls the “Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah
9:6 RSV, NRSV, NIV, etc.) Today we will look at what God has to say to
us concerning peace.
B.
War is not God’s plan for humankind.
1. M*A*S*H
a.
In an episode of the M*A*S*H TV show, a soldier comments, “War is
Hell.” Doctor Hawkeye Pearce responds,
“It’s worse than that. After all, is not
Hell the deserved punishment of unrepentant sinners given out by a just
God?” Whereas wars punish and hurt not
only the “evil doers”, but also soldiers, civilians, and children who are truly
innocents.”
b.
We know war is not God’s will.
2. Sadako
a.
In 1955 a thirteen-year-old Japanese girl named Sadako died of the “atom
bomb disease.” She died of
radiation-induced leukemia. She was one
of many children who suffered the after effects of the bomb our country dropped
on
b.
Anyone who has even read a little bit about the life and teachings of
Jesus in the New Testament knows that God does not want us killing or even
hurting other human beings. God wants us
to live in peace and to be just. God
wants us to treat each other with dignity and respect.
C.
We struggle with how to respond to evil.
1. The Holocaust
a.
During World War II the Nazis killed six million Jews in
b.
There were certainly many other reasons to resist and fight against Nazi
Germany. However, I would like us to
focus on the Holocaust.
c. Dealing with evil is not easy. How do we stop it, yet not become like it? This morning, I challenge you to think about
the appropriate response to evil.
2. Disturbed man swinging
a 4 X 4!
a.
When we lived in Fountain Hills, there was a neighbor who was a very
disturbed man. He had gotten “mad” and
physically assaulted several other residents.
He had intimidated the elderly and sexually harassed young women. One day he got angry with my boys. Jason and Matt had dared to cut through
another neighbor’s yard to go play in a vacant desert lot. This other neighbor had given permission, but
to the disturbed man they were brushing over the corner of his lot. One morning before school I was in the
backyard with two of my kids, and the man came charging at us with a 4 X 4
wooden post! He was bent on hurting
us. With fear and a prayer, I stepped
forward to meet him. The thought etched
in my mind was: “FAMILY!” My overriding thought was of my family and
protecting them. If I did not stop this
man, I knew he would go after my wife and kids.
Repeatedly I dodged his swing, and threw him to the ground. I was forty then and the disturbed neighbor
was sixty something. I could have chosen
non-violence, or non-resistance, but I did not.
I could have seriously hurt this man, but I did not. I defended myself and my family. I chose with restraint to fight evil. Eventually I disarmed him, and threw his
“weapon” over the fence. At that point
he ran home.
b.
What would you have done in this specific situation? And in general, how do you respond to
evil? Some people of faith believe that
it is wrong to either fight back or wage war against those doing evil. Some believe that individuals have the right
to defend themselves. Some believe we
have an obligation to defend victims and stop mass murderers. What do you think? People of faith struggle when it comes to
“how” to respond to and against evil.
D.
We are called to be peacemakers!
1. Christmas Eve 1914
a.
It was Christmas Eve 1914 and all was quiet on the Western Front from
the English Channel through
b.
Christmas reminded both German and British soldiers that God calls us to
be peacemakers. It is often not an easy
task to get along with our fellow human beings.
The first soldiers to step out into no-man’s land on Christmas Eve 1914
were taking a risk. Peacemaking is not
easy. You may get ridiculed. You could even get killed. Still we know that this is what our Lord
calls us to do. After all in His Sermon
on the Mount, He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called
children of God.” (Matthew 5:9 NRSV)
2. Shoe Comic Strip
a.
In the Shoe Comic Strip one Christmas, Santa is sitting in front of his
computer typing away. The caption above
reads: “’Twas the morning of
Christmas, and all through his house,
Not a creature was stirring, except Santa’s mouse. For there at his screen, the old fat man
designed; the ultimate gift for a tattered mankind. He squirmed and he puzzled as all through the
night. He polished the concept to get it
just right. The formula worked! The old guy was wired! At last, Peace on Earth! Step One: Some assembly required.”
b.
Peace will never come easy. Our
own sinfulness, our own selfishness, and our own bent toward being warlike must
be overcome. As Christians we know that
the first step to peace is a heart ruled by Jesus Christ. So the first step to peace is to make Jesus
the Lord of our own life. The next step
is to be His disciple. We must truly
follow the teachings of Jesus. We must
live a life that demonstrates the truth that all people are created in the
image of God. We must practice peace and
strive for justice in all that we do. We
have to proclaim that all people have a right to be here on God’s earth.
c.
And we must not be naïve. There
is evil in our world. And there are
those who have given themselves over to the way of evil. We have persons in our world who refuse to
accept anything, but their own way, who are filled with hate and desire to kill
all those not like them. We are called
to love these “unrepentant sinners” as God loves us “forgiven sinners.” We are called to try to persuade people to
follow the Prince of Peace.
d.
Again, I say peacemaking is not easy.
It is hard work. God’s peace is
more than the absence of hostilities.
Oppressive dictators have “peace” in their lands. But people are treated cruelly. God’s peace always includes justice. God wants people treated fairly, to have
human dignity and basic human rights.
This is what we, also, seek. And
the truth is that our actions, as we try to obtain “Peace on Earth”, will
vary. Some could never use force. Some will see force as a last resort to
protect the innocents from those bent on evil.
But whatever we do must be based on our desire to obtain God’s
E.
Conclusion: Recap
1. War is not God’s plan
for humankind.
2. We struggle with how
to respond to evil.
3. We are called to be
peacemakers!
Isaiah 11:1-10 NRSV
1A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow
out of his roots. 2The spirit
of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the
LORD.
3His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or
decide by what his ears hear; 4but with righteousness he shall judge
the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the
earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill
the wicked. 5Righteousness
shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
6The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the
kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall
lead them. 7The cow and the
bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat
straw like the ox. 8The
nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall
put its hand on the adder’s den.
9They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth
will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. 10On that day the root of Jesse
shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and
his dwelling shall be glorious.
II Corinthians 5:16-19 NRSV
16From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view;
even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no
longer in that way. 17So if
anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation:
everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18All this is from God, who
reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of
reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world
to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the
message of reconciliation to us.
Peace!
1. War
is not God’s plan for humankind.
2. We
struggle with how to respond to evil.
3. We
are called to be peacemakers!