War and Peace - Sermon for the 4th Sunday in Advent

Fourth Sunday in Advent - Rorate Coeli 
December 19^th, Year of Our + Lord 2021
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
War and Peace – Philippians 4:4-7

 War and Peace.  Our theme this morning is War and Peace.   Sounds like it could be a long sermon...  

      “Peace” is an obvious theme for today, since we heard this from Paul:  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Peace from God, which surpasses all understanding.  Better than we can imagine.  Perfect peace. 

     Peace is good to ponder, every day, and especially this morning, as we are just a few days from the song of the angels, sung on the night of Jesus’ birth: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men.”  Peace from God in the birth of Jesus, the peace that passes all understanding, a peace which will even guard and keep you.  Nice.

     Peace is an easy choice for a theme this morning.  But why choose ‘War?’  What kind of a theme is
this to consider, as Christmas draws near? 

      There has been no time since the invention of firearms that shooting wars weren´t going on.  As the New Year turns, Ukraine is bracing for an attack from Russia.  The Chinese in Taiwan are even more nervous than usual about the intentions of the communist Chinese government on the mainland.  Our war in Afghanistan has come to an end, for a while at least.  But the poor Afghan people are now firmly under the repressive and violent thumb of the Taliban.  It’s easy to join the lament of the carol writer: “There is no peace on earth,” I said...

      Including here in the United States.  From L.A to Portland, Minneapolis to Chicago, New York to Philadelphia, violent crime is up, and society is spiraling down.  Which is driving up real estate prices in the Black Hills.  Our decades long culture war is becoming more serious, and sillier at the same time. 

     Have you heard the news?  Records in girl’s and women’s sports are falling at a record pace.  But not because females are making great athletic advances.  No, rather the records are falling because we have recently discovered that men who say they identify as women have a right to compete against biological females.  Which means a right to dominate women’s competitions, with their male bone structure and muscles.  Reasonable resistance to the madness of our world seems to have less and less effect these days.  I fear that our society’s war with itself will only get worse in the years to come.    

    And we should not forget that there are far too many places in the world where it is dangerous simply to be a Christian.  We rightly rejoice that the Christian aid and missionary workers who were held hostage for 61 days in Haiti have been freed.  But that is just a news story that managed to rise to the top of our feeds.  Sadly, all around the world, people fear for their own safety, and for the safety of their loved ones, just because they believe in Jesus.  But generally their plight does not make the news.   

     It can be dangerous to be a Christian, or a baby in the womb, or a disabled or elderly person.  A few years ago the media published glowing reports about how Iceland has almost completely eradicated Down´s Syndrome.  Which sounds amazing, until you realize they did not do this by defeating this condition with some new genetic procedure.  Rather, Down’s Syndrome was “eradicated” in Iceland by a policy of destroying in the womb any developing baby found to have Down´s.  I mourn for all the joyful, smiling souls we are losing.  I fear for the soul of our culture.   

      There is indeed a war in our culture, a war largely driven by those who reject God´s truth as revealed in the Bible and so want to curtail, limit, and silence Christians.  They want to force us to do things against our faith, to force us to obey men,                                                                                          rather than God. 

      But shooting wars and culture wars are not the only wars we face.  Maybe not even the wars that you fear most.  Often worse are the wars we fight with the people we are supposed to love the most: strife in marriages; animosity between parents and children; bitter rivalry between brothers and sisters, friends and neighbors.  And there are the wars we fight with ourselves, wars against substance abuse and depression and pornography and gambling, and the worship of material wealth, wars that all too often seem to turn for the worst during this season that is supposed to be most joyful.

     None of this war talk is “Christmas-y.”  Nor peaceful.  But that doesn’t make it untrue.  And all the strife of life makes it pretty hard to take seriously Paul exhortation:  Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice!  Doesn’t Paul know how hard things are?  

     There is a war on.  It seems there always is.  What are we Christians to do?  Shall we fight?  Certainly there seems to be a place for resisting, or at least protesting that babies in the womb and Christians around the world ought not be persecuted.  And yet, that doesn’t seem very promising, as if we are going to win the fight against the way of the world.  The cultural trendlines seem to all be against traditional Christianity.  However, do not despair.  If you study history, you’ll find they almost always are.  And yet here we still are. 

     Of course, fighting is hardly what you and I want to be doing as we gather with family and Church at Christmas.  Perhaps we should withdraw, retreat from the world and just try to maintain a way of life for ourselves, separate and insulated.  That seems attractive some days, doesn’t it?  Could we find peace by withdrawing? 

     No.  The first problem with this idea is that God has not called us to withdraw from the world.  Christians are not to be of the world, that is, we are called to live differently, to build our lives around God’s Word.  But we are also to be in the world, for the sake of the world, for the sake of love, and for preaching the Gospel.  Remember, God in Christ crucified has loved the whole world, not just the Church.  We are called to share that message, because God through the message seeks to convert, to save, more and more sinners.  

     The second problem with withdrawing to try to find peace is that even if we find a good hiding
place, we will bring the war with us.  We can complain about how the world is always working against God and His Church.  But each one of us Christians in this world is still a sinner, still resisting God’s Way, even as we seek to walk in it.  Still causing strife and discord, even as we seek to live as we are called.  For all the outside pressure on the Church, most of the problems we face as Christians are not caused by enemies on the outside, but rather by sin on the inside.  Trying to withdraw to find peace is both contrary to God’s Mission, and it will not work. 

     No, our most important response to the wars we face is not to be found in fighting, nor in withdrawing.   Rather, our answer is in the Lord.   Paul’s call to rejoice is not some formless, wishful thinking kind of exhortation, not some Biblical “Don’t worry, be happy.” 

     No, Paul says “Rejoice in the Lord always.”  Rejoice in the Lord, that is to say, dig deeply into the wonder of the Lord who came to save, who comes to forgive, who became a human in order to give His life for the peace of the world.  And not just for the peace of the world: Jesus gave His life AS the peace of the world.  The forgiveness of sins and the peace that only forgiveness can bring are literally found in the flesh and blood of this Jesus who was born in a stable.  He is our peace. 

     All the culture wars, all the shooting wars, all the personal wars every family faces, all these things are symptoms of the real war, the fundamental problem that is at the root of every other problem we face:  mankind, every man, woman and child descended from Adam, is by nature at war with God.  The whole point of Christmas is God’s Son coming to bring an end to that war, the eternally losing war that mankind declares against God every time we sin. 

     And Christ did not end this war by hiding away, or by calling a ceasefire.  Rather Jesus ended this war by calling down all the firepower of His Father, against Himself, on the Cross.  All of God’s just anger against sin has been absorbed by Jesus, so all those who are by faith joined to Him are forgiven, counted by God as righteous and holy.  This why we celebrate this Baby born in Bethlehem.  He is our peace.    

 

     This is also why the readings of Advent take us so far from Bethlehem.  The best way to prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ is to understand exactly who He is, God in the flesh, and why He came, to save us from our sins.  And so in the weeks prior to Christmas we hear from Moses, and John the Baptist, and we hear of Christ coming again, to put a final end to all wars, forever.  Rejoicing at Christmas does not depend on lights or trees or toys or great food.  These are wonderful, but they are only adornments to our true joy.  True rejoicing that brings lasting peace depends on hearing and believing who Jesus is, and receiving the gifts He has won for you, forgiveness, life and salvation, delivered to you through Word, Water, Wheat and Wine.    

     The deeper meaning of Christmas is very specific.  The wood of the manger foreshadows the wood of the Cross.  But fear not for this Child.  Evil fails and the war ends in what appears to be the worst of losses, the death of Jesus.  Peace prevails in His resurrection.  This is the promise of Christmas, and this is the Peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, and will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

A Merry Christmas, indeed, Amen.