Peace, Bro'!

Good morning!

I'm attending my first ornament exchange tomorrow night!  Yes, it's only early November.  No, this was not my choice of timing.  No, my house is not decorated.  Yes, I still love Thanksgiving.  Calm down.  The truth is, we are (ready or not!) hurtling inexorably toward the Christmas season.

Reading this morning's passage, one of my favorites, I thought about one of the common Christmas themes "Peace on earth, goodwill to men".  This actually is from Luke 2:14, and is part of the greeting the angels gave to the shepherds who were "keeping watch over their flocks by night" (2:8).  I thought of the Luke 2 passage because its message is the same as the message in today's passage.  Well, enough referring to it!  Here it is:

17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away—look, what is new has come! 18 And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His plea through us. We plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!” 21 God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (NET)

The peace on earth verse is the "star" of Christmas cards for generations, but most people misinterpret that theme.  They think it means that at Christmas time everyone should stop fighting with each other.   In fact, there are battlefield stories, passed down by soldiers, telling that on Christmas Eve the shooting and shelling stopped, enabling the members of the opposing sides to converse and wish each other "Merry Christmas"!  Still, while that is wonderful, this is not the true meaning of the verse.  When the angels made this proclamation, if you go back and look at it, they exclaim, "Glory to God in the highest"!, right before they proclaim "peace on earth".  Why is that?

The angels were saying, "Give God all the glory because He has made a way for mankind to have peace with God."  The emphasis was not on peace with the fellow man.  God was demonstrating His goodwill to all mankind by sending His Son, the only way to effect peace between God and man. Looking at Paul's words in 2 Cor. 5:18-19, Christ is God the Father's answer to reconcile mankind to Himself.  Only through Jesus Christ's substitutionary sacrifice are our "trespasses" not counted against us.

And, there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.

Acts 4:12 (NET)

Do you like to reconcile your checkbook?  It is a hideous task to me.  Yesterday, I ran into a couple of ladies in charge of an organization's finances and heard them delightedly exclaim, "they both agree"!  I commented to them that it's a fine thing when, in looking at a ledger, the columns "agree". That is what it means to "reconcile".  It means that both parties "get back in line with each other".  The 2 Cor. 5 and Acts 4 passages (and others, such as John 14:6) make that truth very plain.  When we submit to God by accepting Christ's blood sacrifice for our sins, He balances the ledger book.  He reconciles the columns.  We are made right with God.  Hallelujah!

The Greek word Paul chose for "reconcile" is katallaxantos, which was a term used in his day to mean "exchanging coins", or "to pay for something".  When we are "reconciled" to God, it is only through Jesus Christ, who "katallaxantos", paid the price, exchanged the coins with God the Father. Through His obedient death, burial and resurrection, He paid the price for our sins.
God made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.  So that there would be peace between each person and his God.  When there is peace between God and individuals, you don't have to worry so much about peace between people.  That tends to take care of itself.  Peace, Bro'!

Heavenly Father, all glory to You!  You are worthy of all praise, Father, Son, Spirit!  Thank you for making one and only one way for us to "get our peace in order".  Thank you for being the Author of Peace.  I pray that any reading this blog today will seek and find true peace by going to the Source, by running to You.  In Jesus' name, amen.