Prince of Peace

December, 2010 Sermon by Pastor JR. Fields

Isaiah 9:6—For unto us a child is born, unto us a a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called

Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

For the next few Sunday mornings I want to preach on each of these names given for our Savior. I will not follow the names as they are given in this verse, I will choose the one I feel led to pick. This morning I will be speaking on the Prince of Peace. I chose that one because of this stressful time of the year. It is a dog-eat-dog time of the year and one of the most stressful times we have all year. I am not wrapped up in the worldly stuff that goes along with Christmas, but I am thankful for what this time of the year represents. The songwriter says, “Let there be peace on earth and let is begin with me.” But, how do we get that peace?

If I told you how to find it would you do it? Turn back to Ecclesiastes 9:7-9…Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart, for God now accepth thy works. * Let thy garments be always white, and let thy head lack no ointment. * Live joyfully with the wife whom thy lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity; for that is thy potion in this life, and in thy labour which thou will take under the sun….

Solomon was a very wealthy and brilliant man. Whatever Solomon wanted, Solomon got! But with all his brilliance and wealth he found out his life was empty; that there is no peace or happiness with material things.Later in life Solomon found out that there is no price tag on peace.

How do we find peace in this stressful time…Verse 7—Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart. God is the answer to our peace. Listen to this! This may shock someone…If God is the giver of life, then why not enjoy the life He has given us? Why do we have to change things…God says, “Enjoy your life.” But we cannot enjoy life if we are caught up in the rat race of life. You must stop and sniff the roses along the way. Eat your food with joy. Even if all you have to eat is a bowl of soup beans eat them with joy. Whatever you have enjoy it. Don’t grumble and complain about it. Thank God you have that bowl of beans, you could be like many around the world and have nothing to eat. Drink your wine with a merry heart. Now, some of you are thinking, “I knew it! God doesn’t care if I drink.” Well, no that is not right and here is the reason why…Biblical alcohol added twenty-parts water to one-part alcohol. That small amount was only added for purification and to keep it from going sour. That small amount would not make anyone drunk.

The main thing is to live in a way that is excepted by God. There is no real peace without the peace of God. He says, “I give you food, I give you drink, I give you peace.” Some of you might say, “I know people without God who are at peace,” But are they really? When they are alone at night do they have peace. When they lay their head on their pillow do they go to sleep peacefully and with no fears?

I think I am right when I say they cannot know peace if they do not know the Prince of Peace. The first thing in knowing the Prince of Peace is that you must be with peace with God. Let thy garments always be white and let thy head lack no ointment. So many Christian people secretly struggle with not having peace within themselves. Things from the past, whether it be bad decisions or bad habits rise up and haunt them. Throughout the scripture God tells His children to be nice to yourself. What God has cleaned up is no longer present in your life. There is something very spiritual about garments of white. White is the color of purity.

· Let thy head lack no oil. David said,“Thou Anointest my head with oil” In old Bible, oil was poured upon the kings as approval before the Almighty God. If you want to be at peace with yourself, then you will have to walk in a lifestyle that is approved by God. Let’s be real for a second…What happens when a Christian yields to sin? We become angry with ourselves. When you live up to the standards that God demands not only are we at peace with God, we are at peace with ourselves.

· Finally, we are at peace with others. Solomon was a glutton for punishment. Not only did he have three-hundred wives but he had that many mothers-in-law, not to mention the number of girlfriends he had. Ole’ Solomon had a way with the women!!! I’ll tell you one thing, I would not want Solomon to councel me if I was having trouble with Lisa…But, what he finally found out is to give your heart to one woman and love her joyfully all your life. I used to call Lisa “doll” until Eddie Statom told me what a doll was. I don’t call her that anymore. Eddie said he used to call Connie a doll until he looked it up in the dictionary and found out the difinition for a doll. He said a doll is a “Stuffed idiot.” So Eddie doesn’t use that term anymore either... I am not sure which changed his mind, whether it was Eddie learning the meaning, or if it was Connie who found out what it was. Why can’t we be at peace with the people we surround ourselves with? I have no hard feelings towards anybody. I have a wonderful family and I love all of Lisa’s family. I love all my church family…YOU… That is a wonderful thing to be able to say. The Lord says anyone that says he loves God, yet hateth his brother, is a liar. Who is your brother? The answer to that is simple…Your neighbor is your brother. The people you associate with on a daily basis. So why is Jesus called the Prince of Peace? Jesus says, My peace, I leave with you.

Yes, we will become frustrated when we go shopping this Christmas, but we must rely on our inner peace…The Prince of Peace that comes from having our sins forgiven.