Well, please open up your Bibles to Luke chapter 2. We're going to be in two passages this morning, as you may have seen in the bulletin. Maybe hold one finger in Hebrews chapter 12. We're going to be in Luke 2 and Hebrews 12. And next week, we're going to be more in Luke chapter 2. This week, we're going to be more in Hebrews 12. So hear the word of the Lord from Luke chapter 2 beginning in verse 8, and I'll read down to verse 14. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone round You know, when you only hear this in the King James your whole life, it's hard to read it in another translation. I'm sorry. Okay. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace. Goodwill toward men and on earth peace. Now go with me to Hebrews chapter 12. And we're going to look at two verses here this morning. Verses 14 and 15. Pursue peace with all people, and holiness without which no one will see the Lord, looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled." Again in verse 14, pursue peace. The grass withers, the flower fades, and the Word of our God stands forever. Peace on earth. Christ is said to have come to bring peace on earth. We just sang just a couple of moments ago that Jesus is called in the scriptures the Prince of Peace, but it doesn't always seem like it. Holidays are times when families get together, and follow my math here, but families are made up of at least two sinners. That's what makes up a family. And during the holiday times, when many families get together in one place, there are more sinful natures per square foot than there normally are on a regular basis. And therefore, this leads oftentimes to sins. There can be ruptures of peace. I have been at holiday get togethers that ended in shouting. I've been at holiday get-togethers that ended in someone getting crying and storming off and leaving. Thankfully, though, those are the exception to the rule, and so you don't have to be worried if we invite you for Thanksgiving or Christmas, that's a rare occurrence, okay? However, unthankfully, what happens more often than not, are those what we might call little offenses that don't end up like an explosion. There are little offenses that happen that don't get dealt with and there ends up being some backbiting or some bitterness throughout the year. I've seen this many times. And so the question is why? Sometimes it leaves us asking the question during the holiday season, well, where is the peace? Where's the peace? And beyond that, how do we get that peace that Jesus has promised to bring? So we're going to cover these this morning. We're going to talk about essentially two things. We're going to look at truths concerning peace. And then we're going to talk about how to accomplish peace or how to get peace or how to three ways that we can experience peace. So we're going to cover three truths related to peace and then three ways to pursue peace. So let's start with these three truths concerning peace on earth. The first one, very simple. Jesus came to bring peace on earth. Jesus came to bring peace on earth. Now the peace that Christ has brought and is bringing, and that's an important distinction. One of the things Pastor Mike mentioned in the last couple of weeks is that theologians often distinguish between the already and the not yet. It is true that Jesus brought peace, but it is also true that Jesus is bringing peace at the same time. We do not yet see the full reality of a comprehensive peace on the earth everywhere and in all places. And the peace that Jesus came to bring begins with peace between God and man. In the gospel, we were by nature children of wrath as everyone else that has been born into this world. We are sinners, we've rebelled against God, and God in his love, God in his mercy has sent his son to live a perfect life, to die to pay for our sins, to be raised from the dead, to ascend up into heaven, and to accomplish our salvation. And this is where peace on earth begins. It begins with peace between God and man, how God has sent his son to accomplish peace, that we are no longer enemies of God when we are in Christ. But that peace continues between man and man. It does begin between God and man, but it continues between man and man. I hear some people act like that's not what peace on earth is. All it has to do is with our salvation in Christ, which would mean that effectively what God has said is, I want you, my son, to go down there and save them. And then after that, it's OK if everyone hates each other for all of eternity. Well, that's not what we're talking about. That's not what God is talking about. That's not what peace on earth is. God does desire this peace on earth continues with man and man. Now, what may have popped into your head is Luke chapter 12, where Jesus says, I came not to bring peace on earth, but a sword. Now, if that came into your mind, let me just say that there's no contradiction here. I had that in my mind, too. I'm aware that that verse exists, okay? But what is Jesus talking about here? Well, in that text in Luke chapter 12, what Jesus is saying is that the gospel does divide, and it does bring division. That's true. I wouldn't in any way dispute that. And there are going to be times when you're going to have family disputes, sometimes because of the gospel. But that's not really what we're talking about when we're talking about peace on earth. Typically, when people are gathered together to celebrate the incarnation of Christ, they probably are, at least in some sense, professing Christians. So we're not talking about how the gospel tends to divide those that receive Christ and those that reject Christ. We're talking about, for the most part, within the household of faith. So Jesus did come to bring peace on earth. Listen to Ephesians 4.1. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another or putting up with each other in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Christ desires us to have peace with one another. Jesus came to bring peace on earth. Second truth, peace between man and man requires active participation. Look at verse 14 of Hebrews 12, if you still have that open. The first two words are pursue peace. Peace between man and man is not something that comes from a lightning bolt in heaven. There is not going to be this once for all event, at least in our lifetimes. where God sends something from heaven and we all of a sudden get along and nobody ever gets mad at anybody anymore. That's not going to happen. Interestingly, this word here for pursue is the exact same verb that is used of persecute in the New Testament. And it means to run swiftly to try and catch something. In other contexts, this is talking about persecution by unbelievers to those believers that love Christ, and so that is the same word, to pursue them with fervor. But here it's talking about the same thing with respect to peace. He's saying you ought to pursue with fervor peace with all people. And notice that this is a command. Pursue. It's not something that's optional. It's something that God requires you to do in the Christian life. You are required to pursue peace, and notice the qualification here in verse 14, with all people. It's something that you have to work for. It's something that requires active participation. I like Romans 12, 18. It's a helpful verse that is kind of along the same lines where Romans 12, 18 says, If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. It begins with this qualifier, if it is possible. And that's what we think. We typically wanna hang our hats on that, if it's possible. It's not possible to live with that person. God knows that we're gonna use this as an excuse and say, well, I've done everything I can do. It's just the problems with them. And so because he knows that we're gonna just hang it up and say, well, it's not possible with them, they're just a problem. He follows it up with this very, Very intense, comprehensive statement, as much as depends upon you. There have been many times when I have not had peace with someone, when I've had a conflict with someone, and maybe it wasn't really my fault, but I've still looked back at the end and said, you know what? Even though I wasn't really at fault with the conflict, even though I didn't start it, even though this person you know, sinned against me, I could have done more. I could have said this differently. I could have had perhaps more patience with this person. And so there have been many cases where you will have a conflict. You say, well, they're the one that did this, almost as if we're like children bickering and say, well, he started it. Well, yes, he did. But we could have done a whole lot more to pursue peace. So we can't hang up our hats on the first part of Romans 12, 18. We have to remember that God says, as much as depends upon you. A lot of times I think we need to look back after a conflict and say, was there anything else that I could have done better, that I could have said more gently? And I think we would see that much more depends upon us than we would readily admit. So peace between man and man requires active participation. And the third truth is the lack of peace brings defilement. The second half of verse 15 says, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this, many become defiled. Think about this word, defilement. Defilement is not really a word that we use very regularly, but sin brings defilement. And the defilement that sin brings doesn't necessarily mean upon the one who just who caused the sin, or who sinned, the guilty party, we should say. Now, I say that, if you look in Genesis 34, where Dinah is violated, it is said that she is defiled, she is raped, and even though she did nothing wrong, the Bible says that she was defiled, because sin brings defilement, even on those that are not the guilty party, upon the ones who were harmed in the process. If you were to go to war, many soldiers are killed in war or injured badly in war, not just because of the blast of a bomb, but because of the shrapnel that is thrown. And so even though the blast itself might not have caused the harm, shrapnel can cause just as much and sometimes more damage than the blast itself. And the same is true with sin, that when that blast takes place, sometimes the shrapnel is flung in so many directions that verse 15 talks about, many being defiled, many become defiled. It's not just between you and the person that was mean to you or the person that you sinned against. Sometimes whole families, sometimes whole churches, sometimes whole civilizations are ruined because of the defilement that bitterness brings. This bitterness, this not being willing and not forgiving others because of what they've done wrong. I love the imagery here that the author of Hebrews brings when he's talking about bitterness. He says, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble. Think about this image that he's giving here of a root. Roots are supposed to be underground and roots are very strong. But what happens when roots spring up? Well, if you've ever had a really big tree next to your house and that tree grows and grows and grows, sometimes those roots can grow into your foundation and do a lot of damage to your house when they spring up, when they come to places they're not supposed to be. When I was a kid, we had this gigantic pine tree right next to our driveway. And when we moved in there, there was a little crack in the driveway. You know, we knew that the roots were probably causing some problems in the driveway. But over the next five, ten years, eventually it got to be where those roots pushed up so much that you couldn't even drive a car up that part of the driveway because the concrete had separated so much. You see, when roots spring up, they can be tremendously destructive. They're not supposed to be above ground. And when you don't deal with bitterness, when you leave sins undealt with and when you leave sins against you unforgiven, they can spring up and many become defiled. So it requires active participation, and sin brings defilement. This peace that Jesus came to bring can cause defilement if it's not dealt with. So then we ask the question, how do I pursue peace on earth? And so I wanna give you three ways. And the reason I'm bringing this is because a lot of times what happens at family get togethers is we don't really know how to deal with some of these things. We know aunt so-and-so is gonna, we know, you know, you've got an aunt so-and-so in your family, and you know she's gonna make a comment about your kid saying this, and so we don't always know how do we deal with this when it comes. And so, of course, this has application in work, it has application in your home and everyday life, but particularly around the holidays, when we gather together as families, we wanna cover these things. So three ways. How do we pursue peace on earth? How do we walk in obedience to this command that we're given in Hebrews 12? And the first way is by forgiveness and forgiving others. Now, there are two things, essentially, that I think we need to think about with forgiveness. The word forgive or forgiveness that's used in the New Testament is a release, typically, of a debt. That's what the word essentially means, that when God forgives us of our sins, He releases us of the punishment that was due to us. Of course, he placed that upon Christ. Christ bore that in his body on the bloody judgment tree when he died. But God releases us from the punishment that we deserve. That's part of what forgiveness is. But forgiveness is also a promise to not remember, to not remember something, or we might say to forget something. Remember that Jeremiah 31, 34, one of the glorious promises of the new covenant is the forgiveness that comes, and it is described as God remembering your sins no more. We're told in the Bible that as far as the East is from the West, So far has the Lord cast our sins away from us, that He remembers them no more. They are buried at the bottom of the ocean. And so when we're saying that we're forgiving someone, that we're actively choosing to forgive someone, we're essentially saying three things. That we're choosing to not remember it against it, to that person, or to others, or to ourselves. so that when you forgive someone, you're making a promise, I'm not gonna keep bringing this up before you to your face, I'm not gonna remember it against you. And then we're also saying I'm not gonna remember it to other people, not gonna bring this sin that you've committed up to other people, nor am I gonna bring it up to myself in my own mind. I'm not gonna replay this video of when we got in the argument, you know what? I believe if I would have said this, man, that comment would have really ended the argument and I would have really shown you at that point that I was right and that you were wrong. These are things that we do. These are the ways that we let roots of bitterness spring up. This is how we put Miracle-Gro, how we cause the sun to shine and the rain to fall on bitterness. is by refusing to forgive. Now, there may be exceptional circumstances where bringing up something is necessary. If there is some kind of illegal activity or something really heinous that needs to be dealt with, then you can forgive someone, but it still needs to be dealt with in the proper circles. I do want to add that clarification in there. But by and large, when we're talking about forgiveness, we're making a promise saying, I'm releasing you from what you've done wrong, And I'm not going to bring it up to you anymore. I'm not going to bring it up to others, and I'm not going to bring it up to myself either. In Proverbs 19, 11, one of my, I think a very helpful passage that just demonstrates the grace of God in the Christian's life to live this way. Proverbs 19.11 says, the discretion of a man makes him slow to anger. So this is someone that is exhibiting the slowness of anger that God has, the grace of God. It says, the discretion of a man makes him slow to anger and his glory is to overlook a transgression. There are some Christian writers who say, no, no, no, you don't forgive someone unless this takes place or unless they do this or something like that. But that's not what the Bible says. And that's not what Proverbs says. It is the glory of a man to overlook a transgression, to just not hold it against them, but instead not requiring anything of them, but instead to overlook their transgression, as Jesus did on the cross when he said, as they were gambling for his clothes, casting lots for his clothes, and Jesus said, forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do. This posture of forgiveness with Christ, even in the most difficult circumstances. And there are some times when Christians, when you talk to them, well, you need to forgive somebody, and they'll say, well, I can't let it go. Well, I think if that's the case, if that's the posture of your heart and you're saying, well, I just can't let this go. then you probably need to be reminded of Matthew 6 15 where Jesus says, but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. So we need to ask the question, if you're unwilling to forgive someone, well, are you unwilling to go to heaven when you die? Do you want to remain under God's wrath? Do you not want to express the forgiveness that God desires and God requires of you? Well, then you ought not to expect God to forgive you of your sins. Now, this is not to say that us forgiving others brings about the forgiveness of God, but what this does say, what this does indicate is that a true heart that has been changed by the grace of God is going to result in a desire and a growth in forgiving others, expressing that same forgiveness that God has shown to us toward others. So the first way that we pursue peace on earth is by forgiving others. When someone makes the offhand comment about you, about your children, about your failures, about your successes, or whatever it may be, practice forgiveness. The second way we pursue peace on earth is by prayer. This is certainly not the most comprehensive scripture about prayer. but it is in my top two favorite scriptures about prayer, and that's all that matters, because I'm the one up here this morning, so you have to deal with whatever I want to talk about. But one of my favorite scriptures on prayer is right when Jesus is about to go to the cross, right when his disciples need him most and Christ knows the disciples are about to endure the worst temptation that they've ever endured and probably ever will endure because Christ is going to the cross and he's going to leave them. Christ tells them in Matthew 26, 41 and other places, watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. He gives them this command. And He says, listen, here's what you should be doing right now, because you know temptation is coming, or at least Christ knew, watch and pray so that you don't enter into temptation. And I think the disciples had something of an idea of what was going on, but certainly they did not grasp the full weight and the full reality of what was going to happen to Christ. I think that's clear from the Gospels. They didn't realize what kind of temptation they were about to endure. They were somewhat ignorant. But we, on the other hand, sometimes we know exactly what kind of temptation's gonna happen at the family get-together, at the Christmas Eve dinner, whatever's going to happen. We know that Aunt So-and-so, again, there's Aunt So-and-so, you know she's gonna be there, and you know she's probably gonna complain that you didn't make enough deviled eggs, or whatever's gonna happen there. I mean, she's gonna make some sort of negative comment about you, or your children, the way they're acting, or something like that, and yet, We still don't approach those situations the way that God has told us. There have been times when we've gone to family get-togethers and we have spent weeks praying and saying, God, we know that this is going to be a problem. Please protect us from this as we go. And this is, you know, really the final one of the petitions in the Lord's Prayer. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And what we pray in this is that God would keep us from the temptation first and foremost, but if we are faced with that temptation, that he would support and deliver us in that temptation. And this is what ought to be, this ought to be in our minds as we approach certain gatherings like this, that we want to see peace on earth. We believe Christ came to bring peace on earth. We of all people ought to appreciate this the most. And when we see that there are times when there are probably going to be ruptures in the peace, Because we know there are going to be difficult situations, or comments made, or things like that. Again, remember the math problem. More sinful natures per square inch than usual. Then what we ought to do is approach those situations with prayer. Prepare by prayer. And ask the Lord, say, God please help us not to be caught up in any of the mess that's going to happen. God, keep us from participating in any of the gossip. That if cousin so-and-so or aunt so-and-so or uncle whoever... begins gossiping or begins saying a derogatory comment about us and our family and how many hundreds of children we have, and yes, we know how it happens, and all these things that we know are gonna come, that we wouldn't say anything derogatory back, that I would not respond in the same way, but that we would respond with kindness and love and mercy. So, prepare by prayer. The first way that we pursue peace is by forgiveness. The second way by prayer, and thirdly, by patience. Patience. You know, I have a hard time talking about patience because I think it is one of the Christian graces that I am the weakest in, is patience. And I actually prefer the way that the New King James more often than not translates this word patience is by long suffering because it really expresses what the word really means which means to suffer for a long time. And you know, oftentimes I don't even want to suffer. I'll be impatient or not long-suffering when it's not even suffering. And so God doesn't just call us or command us to just suffer. He does call us to suffer. That's what patience, this requirement to be long-suffering is. It means that we're called to suffer. And not just that, it means that we're called to suffer for a long time, which means that God calls us to endure when someone is being ungodly toward us. When someone is maybe persecuting us, when someone is making derogatory comments, when someone is criticizing us unjustly or in any number of ways, we are called to suffer for a long time in those situations. And when I find Most unhelpful, and when I say unhelpful, I mean, I don't like that the Bible says this, but it does, is that what is oftentimes coupled with longsuffering is the word kindness. 1 Corinthians 13.5, the great love chapter begins with this, or excuse me, 13.4. The description of love that God gives, that the Apostle Paul gives, the Holy Spirit gives through the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 begins with, love suffers long, but he doesn't stop there. He couples this other word with it. He links them together so that he's not just talking about long suffering or being patient. He says, love, here's what love does, suffers long, and is kind. Meaning, God is not just commanding us at our holiday get-togethers this year to just suffer a long time and shut up. What he's saying is, you're required to extend kindness while suffering for a long time. And this isn't the only place that this is coupled together. Fast forward to Galatians chapter 5 and verse 22, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, or long-suffering, kindness. There it is, coupled together again. Patience or long-suffering and kindness. So that the fittest description we have of love in the Bible, in 1 Corinthians 13, 4, begins with love suffers long and yet extends kindness while suffering. while being sinned against. And then the fittest description that we have of the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer's life couples together long-suffering and kindness. All throughout the Bible, this is what we see, suffering and yet while being sinned against, while being hated, while being slandered, while being whatevered, extending kindness to that person. It's already hard enough just suffering, just putting up with it, not fighting back, not wanting to argue, not wanting to rebut the person and whatever they say, that's hard enough. But yet when God calls us even further to be kind, to express love, to do good, to be patient, to be gentle toward that person, that's even harder. And yet, that's what God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, has called and equipped you to do. So you can't get out of it. You can't make any excuses. You can't say, well, I can't do that. Because if you say, I can't do that, what you're saying is, I don't have the Holy Spirit. Which is essentially saying, I'm not a Christian. And the truth is not that we're unable to do these things because God the Holy Spirit has called and equipped us and made us able to do these things to extend kindness while suffering long, while being sinned against. The truth is we don't want to. We don't want to do what God has called us to do. So what we need a reminder of is what God has done for us. so that when we say, I don't really want to forgive, I don't really want to suffer long and yet extend kindness, then here's what we need to do. We need to remember one thing, the gospel of Christ. When you don't want to forgive someone else, you need to remember that Christ forgave you. When you don't want to be long-suffering, remember God's long-suffering, His patience toward you. that when you were rebelling against God, sinning against Him, hating Him, seeking to knock Him off His throne so that you could live in the way that you want to, rather than submitting to His will. And every time we sin, that's exactly what we're doing. When you do this to God, yet he extends kindness to you. He gives you life. He lets you go to those family get togethers and eat delicious ham and turkey and all those other things. He gives you all sorts of blessings. And beyond that, not just those temporal blessings, he sent his son to pay for that rebellion, to take the punishment of that rebellion that you deserve. And all of the offenses that we've done are far greater than any offense that aunt so-and-so or uncle so-and-so or cousin so-and-so has done to us, have done to us. So this ought to be our motive, the great forgiveness that God has given to us in the gospel, the peace on earth that Christ came to bring that begins between God and man. It doesn't just stop there, it does go to man and man, but that's our motive for everything. I heard someone say one time, and I've repeated it many times, that the gospel is not a class that we take and then after that, once we become Christians, we take the gospel class and then we move on. That's not how it works. The gospel is the schoolroom in which everything else is learned in the Christian life, so that your forgiveness of others, your patience with others, your living for God through Christ is all about the gospel and how God has shown grace to you. So this year, As God has come to bring peace on earth in the person of his son, remember that this is extended through Christ as you live to pursue peace between man and man with your family. Amen? Amen, let's pray. Oh God, we thank you for the gospel. for the forgiveness that you have given us. And we thank you for your patience toward us. And we ask that you would help us to remember the greatness of your love toward us when we are tempted to be impatient with others. In Christ's name we pray, amen.