Sermon preached by John A. Huffman, Jr.
December 25, 2005
Copyright © 2005, John A. Huffman, Jr.
All rights reserved.

For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7)

On this last Sunday in 2005, as we prepare ourselves for the New Year, I'd like to share two sets of preliminary thoughts before I share the major message of this morning.

First, I have followed with fascination the national media attention to the fact that some of the "mega churches" have canceled worship services this morning because this year Christmas falls on a Sunday.

In defense of their action, it is important to note that most of them, like St. Andrew's, had multiple Christmas Eve services last night.

On the other hand, I can't help but recoil at the suggestion that some Christians are practicing "Religion Lite," accommodating church schedules to the consumer/family values that eclipse Christmas along with Holy Week/Easter observances, which are the highest moments of celebration on our Christian calendar. My friend Rabbi Mark Miller, of Temple Bat Yahm here in Newport Beach, hit the nail on the head in his Daily Pilot newspaper article of December 24, 2005. In his tongue-in-cheek way, he questioned the faith depth of people who spend a day in the personal aggrandizement of receiving presents for themselves when in addition they could very well make time to " . . .offer their presence to the Church, giving thanks for what they profess to be the ultimate gift." He concludes, "Take it from a Rabbi: Christians should be in church on Christmas Day! For without the Incarnation surrounding the birth of Jesus, the rest of Christianity is simply . . .Judaism!"

Second, let me share with you some thoughts about preaching and the seriousness of us engaging the life-changing message of God's Word.

In 1875, Charles Finney, one of the great voices of nineteenth-century, American Christianity, wrote an article published in the Advent Review and Herald of the Sabbath (July 29, 1875), "How to Preach So As to Convert Nobody." It was adapted for publication in one of the Seventh-day Adventist magazines with this introductory statement: "Here are 42 tried and proven rules that are guaranteed to keep the sinners in your church comfortable and happy." Let me share several of these rules with you.

Rule one: "Let your supreme motive be to secure your own popularity; then, of course, your preaching will be adapted to that end, and not to convert souls to Christ."

Rule five: "Be sparing of thought, lest your sermon contain truth enough to convert a soul. Make no distinct points, and take up no disturbing issues with the consciences of your hearers, lest they remember these issues, and become alarmed about their souls."

Rule seven: "Denounce sin in the abstract, but make no allusion to the sins of your present audience. Avoid especially preaching to those who are present. Preach about sinners, and not to them. Say they, and not you, lest anyone should make a personal and saving application of your subject."

Rule thirty-four: "Make the impression upon sinners that their own safety and happiness is the supreme motive of being religious."

Rule thirty-five: "Do not lay much stress upon the efficacy or necessity of prayer, lest the Holy Spirit should be poured out upon you and the congregation, and sinners should be converted."

Rule forty-two, the final rule, is followed by these concluding words: ". . . churches whose ministers have steadily conformed to any of these rules can testify that such preaching does not convert souls to Christ. If souls are converted in congregations cursed with such a ministry, it will be by other means than the preaching."

I hope this morning that the Spirit of God will touch your life, and mine, in a way that agitates us to a deeper understanding of who Jesus Christ is and how He wants to work through you and me.

Isaiah, 700 years before His coming, described that Baby of Bethlehem as one upon whose shoulders the ultimate responsibility of all government would rest. He stated that His name shall be called not only Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father. His name would also be called "Prince of Peace." The angels heralded one of the greatest songs of all human history that star-filled night for those shepherds in those fields outside of Bethlehem. They sang, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!"

Peace. We all want it!

We remember World War II. We think back to the Korean War. We remember the bloodshed of Viet Nam with its concurrent violence on the streets of America. We now are experiencing the war in Iraq with the daily reports of military and civilian casualties.

Still, we yearn for peace. We want a permanent peace. But into this wishful yearning crashes reality of modern life. We have a sneaking suspicion that lasting peace is not possible.

And yet we see Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

Our young people are no longer marching in the streets the same way they did in the late sixties and early seventies, chanting, "All we are saying--give peace a chance!" Seldom do we see the "V" made by two fingers held aloft. Remember it? For some, it meant victory. They urged our country to move ahead and win the war, defeating our enemy in a way that would bring peace. For others, it was a sign of withdrawal from foreign involvements, ushering in a new era free from conflict.

Now we are numb. We don't know what words to chant. What signs to make. We hate the war in Iraq. Yet, both political parties endorsed it. We didn't want to capitulate to terrorism or even dictatorships like Saddam Hussein. Still, within each of us, there is that cry, "Peace, peace." And there is no peace. But wait. Piercing into our melancholy yearning for peace and resultant conflict comes the Word of God: "And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7).

Is this possible? Can it be true? Peace? Is this an illusion, or a real possibility?

The Bible speaks to the yearnings of your modern heart. God confronts the conflict of our day, bringing a thrilling word. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. The Bible says that you can experience His peace.

I think it's important for us to realize that just as in economics there is what is called "micro" and "macro" economics, there is a similar distinction when it comes to talking about peace. Micro economics deals with the financial facts of life as they apply to individuals. The Scriptures speak to the micro dynamics of peace in regard to you and the theme of the possible peace that you can have with God, with yourself and with your fellow human beings. The Bible also speaks about macro peace, the huge complex themes of warring nations, conflicting ideologies, and the age-long battles between truth and falsehood. Any discussion about peace has both the micro and the macro dimensions.

You can experience the peace of God. It's different from the world's view. Christ said, "'Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid'" (John 14:27).

Peace, as defined by men and women who have not been spiritually reborn through faith in Jesus Christ, is a negative. To the nonbeliever, peace is simply the absence of war. It is a removal of conflict. His endeavor to achieve peace suffers from a totally unrealistic view of human nature. It picks isolated statements from Jesus, calling us to "turn the other cheek." The interpretation is that if there was a total disarmament, an unconditional withdrawal of troops, an abolishment of the industrial-military complex, then we would have peace among men.

Jesus still urges you to be a peacemaker. We have the responsibility to analyze abuses of power. The Christian is responsible for questioning where his tax dollars go. We must set priorities, carefully determining how we can reach out and minister to the life-sapping hunger of millions, while at the same time providing defense against those who would rob our freedom.

It is for this reason that we must look at the macro dynamics of peace.

A number of years ago, I received a statement by then Senator Mark Hatfield titled "Reflections on Peace." He described what it was like to be in Hiroshima shortly after the atomic bomb was dropped. He described how profoundly moved he was by the realization that many people, buried in the rubble or scarred for life were, ". . .a part of me as members of the body of Christ." He told how that experience and others, ". . .made me want to be a 'peacemaker' among nations and between individuals." He noted that there are many idols that we worship. These idols keep us from peacemaking. Webster defines idolatry as, "excessive devotion or reliance upon a person or thing."

Hatfield noted that we continue to believe that peace can be achieved and security won through instruments of war. At the same time, what we spend in two weeks on military tools of destruction is enough to provide adequate food, water, education, health and housing for an entire year for half the world's population that goes to bed hungry every night. Hatfield concluded, "Reliance only on military might is idolatry!"

Do you have a conscience tug when you look at the theme of peace in its macro dimensions.

I frankly don't know quite how to talk about peace in its macro dimensions. All I know is that a healthy debate goes on. Thank God for the debate. Thank God for the Roman Catholic bishops, for Protestant theologians, for laypersons of varied backgrounds and for politicians of varying ideologies who are now engaged in the debate. Thank God for persons working in defense plants who are struggling with the ethical issues surrounding the development of weapons. Thank God for people like Bono and Bill and Melinda Gates, TIME magazine's "Persons of the Year," who are so determined to mount war on poverty and disease.

Yes, we must set priorities, carefully determining how we can reach out and minister to the life-sapping hunger and disease of millions while at the same time providing adequate defense against those who would rob our freedom.

You and I are called to be peacemakers. In our peacemaking efforts, I pray that we will never come to a point where our values are so watered down that they're not worth defending. War is horrible. War is an ugly thing. Even more ugly is a man or a woman who doesn't think that anything is worth fighting for, who depends on better men and women to defend their freedom.

Frenchman Henri Lardon shared with me his experiences in France prior to World War II. He described how France was caught up in a quest for peace. Workers demanded higher wages. The nation was paralyzed by strikes. During this social revolution, the Germans were rearming at a rapid pace. Finally came the day of reckoning. Unimpressed by the French desire for peace, the Nazis, on September 3, 1939, made their move against the nation incapable of defending itself. Within eight months, France had fallen. Peace, seen simply as the absence of conflict, can lead to a naive optimism.

The peace of God is different. It is not simply the negative concept that defines itself strictly as the absence of conflict. Biblical "peace" is primarily a positive. It covers every single relationship of life. It captures the Old Testament "Shalom." It carries on into the New Testament concept of that ideal state of life--wholeness, well-being, harmony. It embodies a totality of life that is available when a person or a nation is right with God.

This peace is dependent upon a right relationship with God. It admits the presence of sin within the human race. It emphasizes God's necessary judgment upon sin. Peace is tied in with salvation. Christ came to bring peace. But His peace is no easy harmony. The biblical scholar, Alan Richardson, writes:

. . . the peace of unbroken union with the Father in the midst of adversity, which is the supreme gift of Jesus to the disciples and which is to be distinguished from all forms of worldly security (John 14:17), is dependent upon His final victory over the chief enemies, sin and death (John 16:33). Hence it is that after the resurrection the Lord greets His disciples with "Peace," shows them the marks of the passion and passes on to them His own mission and victory over sin (John 20: 19-23, 26).

The life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus is God's Gospel of peace for all men and women. It came not out of some "nirvana," some narcotic stupor of insensitivity to pain. It came out of God's willingness to be expendable in the Person of Jesus Christ. It came out of Christ's passion--His suffering, His death, His resurrection--providing you and me with a fullness of life, a well-being, a oneness with our Creator that is otherwise impossible.

This peace, which Christ promises to you, passes all human understanding. It is not determined by material and political circumstances. Human understanding would be inclined to say that peace can be identified with material affluence. It is equated with the ascendency of one's own political views.

Many young persons do not understand this fact. During the peak of violent student demonstrations in the late sixties and early seventies, I had an opportunity to engage a number of these young radicals in intimate one-to-one conversation.

One of them was a young woman of seventeen. She described her inner yearnings for peace. It led her to join The Weathermen, the radical wing of the Students for a Democratic Society. "It's too late to bring peace by peaceful means. The only way to save America is by revolution--a violent overthrow of the government which will involve the annihilation before a firing squad of the ruling capitalist class." From under her halter she pulled an ice pick. Brandishing it, she said, "I'm prepared to use this to bring peace!"

Another held a Master's Degree from the University of Chicago. He was an articulate young man. He echoed the same concern, stating that our nation needed to be turned over to the people. Peace would only come when the revolution was complete and all men and women had access to the wealth.

These radical responses came out of a genuine desire for peace. What these two could not understand was that this peace of which they talked would be forever elusive until the return of Jesus Christ. What these young revolutionaries, and revolutionaries of all eras, do not realize is that the peace of God passes all human understanding. It is totally independent of one's material resources. I emphatically declare that some of the most pathetic individuals I've ever seen are the affluent who have everything that money can buy but are spiritually empty. Peace can be lacking even in the center of tranquility.

Interestingly enough, peace can be present even in the heart of conflict, crisis and deprivation. History shows that the "blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." The real quality of a man's or a woman's dedication to Jesus Christ is shown not in times of plenty but in times of want.

Nothing would thrill your heart more than to read the letters I receive from Bernard Muindi. This black pastor from Kenya, who has preached here in our pulpit at St. Andrew's, has experienced the peace of God even in the midst of severe religious persecution. Bernard describes sensing the presence of Christ even when his life was threatened daily by oath-taking terrorists.

Flash back years ago to a Taipei, Formosa, hospital room. There stretched out on his bed is missionary Norm Cook, ill with encephalitis that should have taken his life in a matter of hours. At the same moment, one of Norm's mission colleagues was flying across the Pacific Ocean, preparing to preach the funeral message. By Norm's bedside was his precious wife Muriel and their two daughters. Talk to Muriel today about those moments in which she prepared to be a widow. Confusion? Frustration? Turmoil? No! Peace! The peace of God which passes all understanding gripped her life. It enabled her to surrender Norm to the Savior's loving care. She thought her husband would die. He didn't. Much to the doctor's amazement, Norm eventually rallied. Today, he is once again serving our Lord. The key is the peace which Muriel sensed when she thought she was losing her husband. The world doesn't understand that serenity.

Travel back with me to Moscow in July 1960. Meet my pretty "InTourist" guide, Ludmela. She's one of the privileged class in post-revolutionary Russia. She's part of the Communist Party, and therefore she enjoys privileges withheld from those who profess faith in Jesus Christ. Ludmela's face is not marked with happiness. She argues by the hour, describing the accomplishment of her Socialist Republic, while her non-verbal communication suggests a high degree of unhappiness. Move on with me to a Baptist church hidden away in a remote part of Moscow. There is standing room only. Hundreds of committed Christians, at great sacrifice, are willing to stand up and sing their hymns of faith. Look into their eyes. You see the peace of God which passes all human understanding. You witness that totality of life, that wholeness, that well-being, that harmony that puts any human substitutes to shame.

I hate war. I pray for peace. How I yearn for peace. Yet I know persons throughout the world who have experienced the carnage of war at its very worst who, in the midst of their tragic circumstances, are experiencing the peace of God which passes all understanding.

Take Ted Bridis, ex high school football star and graduate of the Citadel, who lost two legs and an arm in Viet Nam. He returned to the United States early in 1970. Talk about peace. His wife described the help God gave them through it all. How they lived with the situation? I was with Ted three years later. By this time, he had three artificial limbs and a special wheel chair equipped to propel him. Sour? Bitter about being destroyed by a war unappreciated by so many? No. He was radiant with the love of Jesus Christ. He was joyous in His service.

Can you match this difficulty? Have you experienced this peace? Perhaps you're screaming inside, "No, it's impossible!" A college classmate of mine flung these words at me, "Your religion is a narcotic geared to dull the pain of the reality of life." How I pitied him. He was stubborn, unwilling to experiment with the possible peace of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Prince of Peace.

The Bible says there is no permanent peace without Jesus Christ. That shouldn't discourage our endeavors to find peace. We should make every effort to that end. Jesus, himself, said, "Blessed is the peacemaker" (Matthew 5:9). But you must never forget that the very Prince of Peace, himself, predicted that there will be:

". . .wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birth-pangs." (Matthew 24:6-8)

This peace of God which passes all understanding, ". . .shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

This is a exciting phrase. Another translation states that this peace, ". . .shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." This peace which comes through a right relationship with God, through the Prince of Peace Jesus Christ, is a "warrior peace." It sets up guard duty. It protects you. Your whole life is secured by it. It enables you to understand the basis for living. It helps you confront the fact of your own death with the assurance that Christ has made provision for you, and you are released from the judgment which leads to hell. You have the assurance of eternity with Him in heaven. When the Scripture says that this peace shall keep you heart and mind, once again it is referring to your very being--not just your body and intellect but all that is you. You are more than a biological accident. You are created in the image of God. This broken image defaced by sin is restored if you put your confidence in Christ.

This peace, this micro dimension to peace, has but one simple condition attached to it. It's a condition of trust. The previous verses read, "Do not worry about anything, 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 your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).

Let me conclude this Christmas Day message with a greeting e-mailed to me this week by a dear friend, John Vallely, who is courageously battling cancer. Today, I've told stories of people in my past, but this man is a present friend, a golfing and skiing buddy, who has every reason to be down on life and God but who is claiming the Lord's peace and help to make it through one day at a time. It reads:

Today . . . I wish you a day of ordinary miracles --

An unexpected phone call from an old friend.

Green stop lights on your way to work or shop.

I wish you a day of little things to rejoice in . . .

The fastest line at the grocery store.

A good sing along song on the radio.

Your keys right where you look.

I wish you a day of happiness and perfection--little bite-size pieces of perfection that give you the funny feeling that the Lord is smiling on you, holding you so gently because you are someone special and rare.

I wish you a day of Peace, Happiness and Joy.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them.