The Coming Peace | Sunday, December 13, 2020

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

The perfect peace every heart longs for is found in one place—the Prince of Peace who came at Christmas.

A Telling Study on Mental Health

The other day Pastor Garrett sent me a link to a tweet from the Gallup research firm, one of the leading global analytics groups conducting ongoing studies for decades. One of these has to do with mental health, and their most recent findings in the United States are interesting. It will surprise no one that individual self-assessments of mental health declined in 2020. Overall, only 34 percent of Americans rated their mental health as excellent in 2020, down from 43 percent in 2019—a 21 percent decrease year over year.

If you were the financial controller of an organization and your revenue dropped 21 percent, you'd be scrambling to stop the bleed. In some respects our culture is trying to figure out how to deal with the mental health deficits resulting from COVID-19—and even more than the virus itself, from the associated governmental responses to it.

What is fascinating, however, is this: Democrats and frequent churchgoers showed the least mental health change. Of course, the mental health of self-declared Democrats would have been drastically different—and devastated—if the presidential election had not gone the way they wanted just 45 days ago, so you could scratch that group off the list. But here is the intriguing tidbit: from 2019 to 2020, only one group rated their mental health as having gone up. Every demographic group—Republicans, independents, men, women, whites, non-whites, married and unmarried, those above and below six figures, and every age group from 18 to 65 and up—saw a decrease, save one: those engaged in weekly religious services saw their mental health increase by four points. Surely there's no connection.

A Season of Mixed Burdens

I can tell you my own feelings of well-being increased in the last 72 hours, because both my wife and I are done with this last semester of school, and this is the last week before Christmas break for our kids. Many of you can relate—you've been going through finals, or guiding young kids through at-home learning for fifteen or sixteen weeks, and now there's a break and a weight is lifted. Yet in the back of our minds remain concerns about our country, the elections, where things are headed, and COVID-19. Mental health has been affected by all of these things.

One of the classes I took this last semester was on cognitive behavioral therapy, so I've been doing a lot of research, reading, and writing on mental health and well-being. It is a concerning reality that anxiety and depression have been on the rise. They were already rising before 2020, but like most everything in our society, 2020 has accelerated the trends. Just as we've seen online shopping rise, retail close, and church attendance decline at an accelerated pace, so the trends of depression and anxiety have increased.

It is unfortunate that people have been decreasing their engagement with religious services. I don't think it's coincidental that mental health disorders have risen over the last couple of decades at the same time people have disengaged from church. These things are connected, and in one way it affirms that the Scriptures are true—that going to church, being part of the body of Christ, reading the Scriptures, and setting your mind on things above have a positive effect on our well-being.

What Peace Really Is

Nearly 3,000 years ago the prophet Isaiah observed this:

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. (Isaiah 26:3)

I don't know anyone who doesn't desire peace—and not just peace, but perfect peace. When the Scriptures speak of peace, it is not merely the cessation of violence, hostility, or conflict. It is that, but much more.

Theologian Cornelius Plantinga Jr., former president of Calvin Theological Seminary, encapsulates the concept helpfully. In the Bible, especially the Old Testament, the word for peace is shalom. In Isaiah 26:3, "perfect peace" is literally shalom shalom in the original Hebrew—an amplification of this peace. Plantinga writes:

In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight—a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom He delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be.

I love that—shalom is the way things ought to be. It is the way God intended us to experience life when He breathed into humanity the breath of life in Genesis. It is the very thing Jesus speaks of in John 10.

What We All Really Want for Christmas

People have asked me several times what I want for Christmas—maybe you've asked your kids the same. If they could give it to me, this kind of peace Plantinga describes would be at the top of my list, and I'm sure you would want the same thing: flourishing, wholeness, and delight, not just for you but universally for all people.

I think many in our culture who demand change and cry out for social justice are actually wanting this perfect peace, though they may not realize it. They may naively think politicians and new policies will make it a reality, but you only have to live through a few presidential election cycles to realize such thinking is juvenile. You reveal your immaturity when you cry out for political systems to bring the perfect peace we desire.

Interestingly, the late psychologist Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of human needs is basically a visual representation of this desire for shalom. Maslow would say it is not merely a desire but a need—that for human beings to flourish, all these things must be satisfied. We desire and need the perfect peace the Scriptures speak of, with God as its source.

Is Perfect Peace Even Obtainable?

When so many are looking for shalom, is it unrealizable? Are we desiring something unobtainable? We seek it in riches, pleasure, politicians, and fame, thinking if we just get those things our desire will be satisfied. But we don't get it that way.

C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, writes about this:

Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy this desire, it does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.

So your desire for something unobtainable by earthly means does not mean it is wholly unobtainable—it means you're drawing from the wrong well. Anything that only partly gratifies this desire only arouses it more fully. Why would God allow us to remain unsatisfied if He has the ability to give it? I would suggest He allows it so that we would be compelled to seek what we deeply desire and need, because the search always brings us back to: You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You.

The Prince of Peace

Perfect peace is possible, but found in only one place. That is why I began with Isaiah 9:6—"unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given," whose name shall be called Prince of Peace. The prophecy of Isaiah, now nearly 2,800 years old, is a promise of a Child, a Son, who would bring perfect peace—the full human flourishing Plantinga describes.

The Son of Isaiah 9 is the one who brings the perfect peace of Isaiah 26:3 to those in darkness, burdened and in bondage. His coming is the advent of peace. We've seen that His coming is the advent of joy and the advent of hope; now we see His coming is the coming of peace. He is the very personification of peace, because peace is an aspect of the nature of God. This peace is not complete for us in this life, but we have the prophetic promise of its fulfillment in Him.

Wounded for Our Peace

This peace is possible because of another prophecy from Isaiah—chapter 53, the prophecy of the coming suffering servant. It's the very passage the Ethiopian was reading in Acts 8 when Philip preached Christ to him.

He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief... Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows... But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray... and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:3-6)

Isaiah, living 2,800 years ago, looked forward hundreds of years to the coming Messiah—the Child and Son of Isaiah 9:6, who is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. Jesus was born to be wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and punished on the cross so that you and I could have shalom—peace now in part, and in fullness when we are in His kingdom.

The apostle Paul writes similarly:

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation. (Ephesians 2:13-14)

He is not just something that brings peace; He is the personification of peace—He Himself is our peace. If you read Leviticus, you'll find page after page of peace offerings and sin offerings, all prophetic foreshadowings pointing to Jesus, the fulfillment of those offerings. As our peace offering from God, Jesus makes peace with God possible. Once you enjoy peace with God by His justifying work, peace in His future kingdom is sure and peace in this life is possible.

Two Questions to Close

Just as Gallup found, those engaged in connecting with God and His church have done okay—not great, but pretty good—even through challenging difficulties, because they have this peace, not perfectly or completely, but truly, and they look forward to a peace that is sure and complete in His kingdom. Whether you are white or non-white, rich or poor, male or female, right or left or in the middle, young or old—none of those things give you peace. Peace is found in Christ.

So I want to finish with two questions. First, have you received the gift of peace from the Prince of Peace? His peace is available as you put your trust in Him. He came and died so you could experience it. If you have never received this gift, read through the Gospel of John, see what the Scriptures say about Jesus, put your trust in Him, and simply pray, asking God to come into your life, forgive your sins, and fill your heart with His Spirit and presence.

Second, if you have received Christ, are you laying hold of this peace today? Many who came to faith long ago are struggling with peace right now, and I understand—these are distressing times. If He is the Prince of Peace, why have I not experienced His peace?

Trouble Is Certain, but Peace Is Possible

Jesus said to His disciples:

In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

This is one of those passages where the prosperity, name-it-and-claim-it teachers run into Jesus. He doesn't say trouble is a possibility; it's in the indicative mood—it's an absolute. In the world you will have trouble. But in Him you may have peace. Troubles in this life are certain, but peace even in the midst of them is possible in Christ.

How do we lay hold of it? First, recognize this peace is one of the benefits of having the Holy Spirit dwell in us. Galatians 5:22-23 tells us the fruit of the Spirit is "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." Peace is a byproduct of the presence of the Holy Spirit. So draw near to God through prayer, worship, His Word, and fellowship with other believers—even through a Zoom call if you're not comfortable in person.

Ask, and Pray with Thanksgiving

At the same time, pray a specific prayer Jesus encourages. When His disciples asked Him about prayer in Luke 11, He said:

If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone?... If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask! (Luke 11:11-13)

I'm a dad with four young kids, and during the holidays you hear a lot of wants. As a parent, even when we can't provide everything, so much of us wants to. And we, according to Scripture, are fallen and evil—not in comparison to the worst person you can find, but compared to God's perfection. If we know how to give good gifts, how much more will your perfectly holy Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? So ask: Lord, give me Your Spirit—Your peace, Your joy, Your patience, Your self-control, Your love.

Second, in Philippians 4 Paul describes how this peace can rule your heart and mind—your psyche:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Supplication is asking God for supply, just as Jesus taught us to ask for our daily bread. When our anxieties are heightened—and many of ours have been—one of the best ways to lay hold of the peace that guards our hearts and minds is by prayer. I have experienced this many times and counseled others in it for years. The gift of God's perfect peace, shalom shalom, can rule your soul by prayer.

Set Your Mind on These Things

Finally, Paul writes:

Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things... and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9)

This is an opportunity to test whether the Scriptures are true. First, put your trust in Jesus, the Prince of Peace, asking Him to deal with the enmity between you and God because of your sin, so you can have peace with God and peace with one another. Then, as a Christian, test whether His Word is true this Christmas season. God wants you to experience His peace through the presence of His Spirit, through prayer, and by setting your mind upon the Lord—so that your family, co-workers, friends, and neighbors would see this peace in you and be drawn to the Lord.

Closing Prayer

Father God, we thank You that You promised we can have peace. Jesus, we thank You that You are the Prince of Peace. I pray for anyone who hears this message, whether on the day it releases or months from now, that You would cause Your word to draw people to know You and Your peace. Lord, guard the hearts and minds of my brothers and sisters during difficult times, as anxieties are high and trials are many. I pray that we would be among those whose mental health, joy, hope, and peace have increased even in hard times, because of Your Spirit and Your grace.

Work in Your church, draw people to Yourself, and let them experience this peace. Prince of Peace, come again and establish Your peace in the world forever. We look forward to the increase of Your government and peace, of which there will be no end. But until then, help us, Your church, to be peacemakers. Jesus, You said blessed are the peacemakers, for they are the children of God, evidencing Your nature in this world. Help us to bring peace to others during this time, giving the gift of peace. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.