Sermon: "A Community of Peace"

Second in the "A Community of Light" series.
Delivered December 4, 2005 by Rev. John Schmidt.
Other sermons in this series - 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

Theme: We are celebrating Peace this Sunday in Advent. This peace is a state of well being and wholeness that comes from being in right relationship with God. Life and eternity is all about relationship.

The audio file of this sermon is available for download and listening in MP3 format.

Click to Download & Listen (3.3MB)

Well just about this time last year we had a disaster. You remember it: the tsunami that hit South Asia. It was a terrible tragedy. And since then think of all of the things that have hit us and have come our way. We have had on the gulf coast in an area around the southern part of the United States, we had Katrina. We've had Rita, Wilma. It has hit also parts of Central American and Mexico. All kinds of lives lost there too. All kinds of financial repercussions to what happened. People have lost their homes. Two parts of the world right there: four different events. But that isn't all for the year because then there was the earthquake in Pakistan and countries neighboring it. And here's a situation where even right now we can't be sure how many people, millions are exposed to the elements, to the cold, they don't have sufficient shelter or food. Each one of these disasters has come to our hearing and one of the things that's typical of people is when we hear of a terrible thing like this, we respond with generosity. Our church responded to these things. Other churches did, people all over our culture, people in other countries. All over the world people responded to this need that was so apparent in each one of these disasters that have come up. But the fact is, that the response that comes out of our hearts usually comes in those first few critical weeks following the disaster. The disaster comes and there is an outpouring, a flood of generosity and concern. But what happens as time goes by? Inevitably, its only human that after time our attention starts to wander. We feel this intense emotion, but you can't sustain it. We can't sustain that level of hurt and compassion and concern, and certainly other things start to happen, other events happen and our attention moves aside. It might be a personal crisis or it might be another world crises; one after another coming at us just this year. And so there is an outpouring of concern and generosity, but after those early weeks it dies out and so we've come to understand in human relationships that when it comes to getting help, time is our enemy. We need to get help as fast as possible because soon people's concern will cool and no help will be coming.

It's the same way in our commitments that we make to one another. If I was talking to my mother and I said "Okay Mom, I will come and I will paint the kitchen." I would probably say it like that if she asked me. Now she would be waiting and for those first few weeks she would be thinking, "yeah he really will," but after a month of so she would start to wonder. After two months she would start to think "you know he's done it again." And the only way she would feel after two or three months, the only way that this is going to happen is if she calls up and reminds me again to do it, because time is the enemy and if we don't follow through there is this feeling that maybe we never will follow through.

It's the same way in politics. People make all kinds of promises and maybe in that first year or two after they are elected to office some of their promises are fulfilled, but then there are others that wait, and the longer we wait the more we become convinced that they will never come through. Were they serious at all? We don't know.

And so here we are as a church we are in Advent and we are celebrating that Jesus Christ came, but we are also celebrating that he is coming again. We have been celebrating this now for nearly 2,000 years. For almost 2,000 years we have been waiting for Jesus to come again. And so, inevitably the question arises that if we have waited this long, is he really coming? Because our experience in human relationships tell us that they longer you wait the less likely it is to be true. So how should we think about this? Well this is not a new problem for the church. Even in the very early life of the church they began to wonder what does it mean to still be waiting for Jesus to come again? And so we are going to look at a passage in 2nd Peter, 2nd Peter Chapter 3, verses 8 to the start of verse 15. We are going to read that together. Listen as I begin at Verse 8:

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed it's coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation."

Let's pray. God we thank you for this your word and pray now that as we hear it, that you will touch each life wherever we need to be touched so that we might respond to you now with the obedience that comes through faith. For we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

2nd Peter is a letter written to the early church that helps him deal with some false teaching that was happening and one of the things that the false teachers were saying is that they were actually making fun of the church waiting for Jesus to come again. They scoffed at the idea saying, you know practically since creation everything has been going on like normal. What's this whole idea that God is going to intervene and do something drastic like Jesus coming again and the earth being burned up and things like that. This is a silly thing to be concerned about. And so this book is writing the church to help them deal with this kind of struggle. And so there is an answer to that kind of thinking that comes up in the passage that I just read and I would like to walk us through that passage and look at some of the things that we have learned.

The first comes up in Verse 8. Verse 8 says, "Do not forget this one things dear friends, with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day." The first thing we learn from this passage is that time is not an issue with God. A day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. It makes no difference with God. It's easy to think about God just like we think about people: that if he is really serious about something that he is going to do it immediately. But here we have this Jesse tree over here, and what do we celebrate on that? We celebrate that there is generation after generation of God working inside the life of the people preparing for a day that Jesus Christ would come. Year after year, century after century, God working. All kinds of people that we know within the church and are famous among us because God answered their prayers. God responded to them. God pulled them in to his will and all of them part of a long lineage that leads to Jesus Christ. It took time.

Even in individual lives God doesn't do things immediately. When the prophet came and anointed David as king we would think that the next day, at most the next week he is going to become king, but it doesn't happen that way. Years go by before David actually assumes the office of king after the promise. In the life of Abraham, he was given the promise that he would have a child, but it doesn't happen immediately. It happens years later when his wife bears a child in her old age. And then through that child God gives a promise that eventually there would be a numerous people, a large group that would take the land that God was promising and it took centuries before God fulfilled that promise. So one of the things that we have to remember is that faithfulness for God has nothing to do with how much time has passed. God's promises are 100% assured now after 2,000 years, as it was when he first made the promises. It's the first thing we learn.

Let me go the next verse. Verse 9. "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." The second thing we learn is that God's delay has a purpose. God is delaying; God is waiting in order to give room for grace. He doesn't want any to perish. Now you have probably seen a movie like this. I haven't picked out a specific movie because this image comes up in so many different movies. This one comes from a war movie. There is a bridge that has to be blown up because the enemy if they cross that bridge they are going to get the advantage. And so the people go out and they set the charges on the bridge and they hook up the wires and they run the wires back to a certain spot where they hook it in to a box that has a little crank on it and there is the person crouching in safety and getting ready to crank it, but they don't. Even though the enemy is getting closer, they hesitate. Why do they hesitate? Because there is a child on the bridge or a family on the bridge. There is somebody on the bridge that shouldn't be there. It happens again and again. And so, they hold up. They take the chance and someone runs out and grabs the people and drags them to safety and once that person is to safety they crank it. The bridge explodes and the heroes win. God is waiting because he wants to show mercy, the widest possible mercy that he can offer. And so his delay has a purpose and its God's delay that gives the church purpose.

The church wouldn't exist if God wasn't delaying that day that is coming. There is a day coming of judgment. There is a day coming when people's plans and motivations will be laid bare, but God is holding back on that day and so during that time we have a purpose as a church. Until then we have a mission to share the message of Jesus Christ with as many people as we can. To call them to turn from living a life without God and to follow Jesus Christ and to accept God's gift of forgiveness through him: a new life. During this time we are called to live out life in a certain way showing God's compassion and justice in this world, so that as a church we can be a little glimmer of a kingdom that's coming and then at the same time we are called to build up the people who respond to the message of Jesus Christ, strengthening their lives so that they can experience peace and a fellowship with God now and be part of what God is doing in the world right now. We are called to do all of those things as a church and we are doing them because God is patient and his delay has purpose.

So while God delays the end, we have a mission and that's why Central Presbyterian Church has been engaged from its start in worldwide mission. Just this year we have given about $560,000 to $565,000 to concerns outside the walls of this church. That's because God has given us a mission and that's to be engaged with what he is doing throughout the world. For the same reason we support through these monies about 70 different missionaries or organizations. We have sent 2 or 3 people out in just the last two years to take part in God's world embracing vision. We are also involved in mission here because that's on God's heart. We have been involved in Sandtown building houses with Habitat for Humanity. You can't see any of the details on it, but we got an award as a church and I will put it out maybe next week in the concourse, but it's a recognition that this church has been faithful for a number of years in building houses down in Sandtown. Eleven houses and we are dedicating one of those this month. Why? Because God is delaying, God has patience and God has a mission right now in the world and we want to be a part of it. And that's why we have a vision to be a church without walls, moving people towards Christ where we live, work and play, because that is what our purpose is while we wait. We have this opportunity to share this incredible message and to reach out in love to the people around us. So God's waiting has purpose and we have an opportunity to join God while he waits, yet while he's at work in the world.

But then it says in Verse 10 that the end will come; that this is only a season, that what we wait for in Advent ultimately will come. In Verse 10 it says, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief." No warning, no phone call ahead of time saying hey folks get ready, it's coming next week. It will come like a thief, unexpected, a total surprise. And we the church are waiting for that day; a day that the earth as we know it is judged, a day when accounts are balanced and motives are exposed and a day that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father.

So if we are waiting for a day like this, then Verse 11 asks us a question that we all have to ask. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you be? What kind of people should we be? If we are waiting for an end like this, a consummation, a completion of what Jesus has begun, then what does that mean about our lives now. Now we don't have to guess because some of the answers are written right here in this passage. At the end of that sentence it says, "You ought to live holy and godly lives." Holy and Godly; two words that talk about having a special consecration of our lives to God; being set apart in a special way to a relationship with God and to God's purposes. And so in this special commitment to God there is a change that happens in our lives. So this word godly means that we don't any longer live as if we are alone in the world and are responsible for everything. But God is responsible, and we are accountable to God, so not only do we not have to worry like we did because God is in control, but we are also under authority and that's all wrapped up in this idea of living godly lives instead of godless lives.

And then it goes on to say, "make every effort to be found spotless and blameless." Those two words are more moral words. They have to do with our purity: spotless and blameless. But he begins by saying "make every effort." I think this is the hardest part for us to understand. This is not optional stuff for the church. Make every effort to be spotless and blameless. This is not a call that goes out to the spiritual heavyweights, the upper 10%. This is a call to the whole church: make every effort. Because if the world is going to end this way, if things are indeed going to be judged, then this isn't a game and we are called to make all the effort possible to live now in the light of what God has promised about the future.

It says we are supposed to make every effort about one other thing. It says, "Make every effort to be at peace with him." It's a relational phrase. We are called to be at peace with God. There is a wholeness of life, a fullness, a healing that comes if our life is in proper relationship with God and that is called peace. It also means that there is an end to hostility; that we are no longer hostile to God and trying to keep God at arms length. Instead, we are saying, "No, God, you belong at the very center of who I am, because you created me and saved me." It also says that God can put aside the judgment and the punishment that could have been visited on us; could have been given us because in Christ he has done it already. And so there is now a peace where God can embrace us and his purpose in us can be gentle and loving and full of peace. So God calls us to be at peace.

Part of what we read during Advent are things that come from the Gospels, verses like Luke, Chapter 2, Verse 14. "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, to those on whom his favor rests." That's peace now, as well as a peace in the future. And this peace is what we celebrate this second week of Advent. Peace with God. A peace with God that then becomes a wholeness of life that allows some measure of peace with other people and lived out well would allow peace even among nations. God's peace.

And so this is the message that we proclaim to ourselves and to the world around us. Paul puts it this way. In 2nd Corinthians 5: I am going to read it from the New Century Version. 2nd Corinthians 5, Verse 18 forward.

"Through Christ God made peace between us and himself and God gave us the work of telling everyone about the peace we can have with him. God was in Christ making peace between the world and (went blank here for a second or two). God did not hold the world guilty of its sins and he gave us this message of peace. So we have been sent to speak for Christ. It says that if God is calling to you through us, we speak for Christ when we beg you to be at peace with God. Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin for us so that in Christ we could become right with God."

A message of peace. It goes out first to those of you who have maybe never made a response to Jesus Christ. You have considered these things and it's maybe something you might consider would be real, but you have never responded to that reality by turning over your life, turning your life around and turning over your life to God and trusting what God has done in Jesus Christ. So if you haven't done that, the word of peace goes out to you from the church. It comes across 2,000 years of history. It comes from the mouth of Paul and it comes from the mouths of Christians today: be at peace with God, be reconciled to God. God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin in your place so that you in him might have all the righteousness of God. Be at peace with God.

But the word also goes out to those of us who already are walking with God and have a history of faith, because there is an urgency in this passage that says that we should never take for granted what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. And so I want you to hear again the words from this passage. "Make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him."

Let's pray. Gracious God we thank you for this offer that we have in Jesus Christ. And we pray now that whether it is our first step with you or whether we are continuing a long walk with Jesus, whatever it is Lord we pray that we would take the next step of faith, in a journey of growing closer to you and experiencing more of the peace and security and love that you offer us in Jesus Christ. For it's in his name that we pray. Amen.

© 2005, Rev. John Schmidt
Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD 21204 410/823-6145
www.centralpc.org