Dr. Scott McKee: Well, are nearing the end of 2025, and one of the top viral video categories is called porch pirate revenge. Have you seen these videos? A burglar approaches a porch, all caught on camera, and steals a package, but the package is a setup. And as soon as they take the package and start to go away, the package springs open or explodes open, and paint covers the would be thief and maybe their car as well. Have you seen these?
There are hundreds of them online with millions of views. And they're a little controversial because putting an explosive in a package could be considered dangerous. For most of us, we feel we're watching justice unfold in real time. Similarly, a very popular category is bully fails or bully beatdowns, where someone's being bullied, maybe beat up, a third party enters and gives that bully what's due them. Or maybe the person being bullied rises up and becomes a lot tougher than we think they're gonna be.
We love watching these videos. There's something in the human heart that longs for justice. New Testament theologian N. T. Wright says a sense of justice comes with a kit of being human.
The cry for justice is heard throughout the bible. You hear it especially in the prophets. The Hebrew word for prophet literally means to see. Prophets see what others do not see or refuse to see. And some of you are wired like prophets.
You wonder why more people aren't more outraged by injustice. And if that's you, you might have a prophetic gift, or you could just be cranky. It's hard to tell sometimes. The prophet Micah saw more than just childhood bullying. He saw unspeakable violence and injustice, and prophets like Micah would tell the people, a better day is coming.
God is gonna send a Messiah, a rescuer, a savior, and he will set things right. And this coming one would judge the pirates and the bullies of the world, and He would rule nations, and war would be no more. The prophets declared swords will be beaten into plowshares, meaning that someday, the vehicles of war, the instruments of war will not be necessary, so they will be reshaped into garden tools and farming machines and sprinkling systems and lawn ornaments. We long for that day. The prophets speak of this throughout the entire bible.
People waited and hoped and watched for the one that God would send. This from the prophet Isaiah. About this one, he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. Micah, the prophet Micah put it more pointedly, he will be our peace. And the prophets included a dizzying number of details about this one that God would send.
He'd be born in Bethlehem. He'd be born of a virgin. He would come as a descendant of David. These and many more details describe the one that we would later know as Jesus. And this is what we celebrate at Christmas.
The long expected Messiah has arrived. The Prince of Peace has come at last. And on that Christmas night, the angels proclaimed, we heard it read so well today, glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. And so at the end of 2025, it's a fair question to ask, where is the peace? 2025 didn't seem like a year of peace.
It's been a year marked by war, broken treaties, immigration battles, and mass shootings. Just as Jesus foretold, there always have been and always will be wars and rumors of wars. To say in the last three thousand years, there's only been three hundred years absent of war, and more than 8,000 treaties have been broken. So maybe the peace that Jesus brings is more of an inner peace. Maybe the peace available to us at Christmas isn't out there.
Maybe it's in here. And yet at the end of 2025, inner peace seems as elusive as outer peace. We constantly worry about our jobs, about our health, about our money, about our children. And for these reasons, there's never been a more stress ridden society than ours. Panic anxiety is the number one mental health problem for women in The United States, and for men, it is second only to substance abuse.
Stress has become a way of life. Peace always seems just out of reach. Why does peace seem so elusive? So on this fourth Sunday in Advent, I'd like to share three brief observations about the peace that Jesus brings. And the first observation is this, the peace that Jesus brings comes in the midst of the chaos.
This is the beautiful thing about the Christmas story, that Jesus shows up right in the middle of the chaos and the danger and the turmoil. Think about Mary and Joseph. Nothing about their birth was the way it was supposed to be in their culture. Instead of being at home, they were very far from home. Instead of being surrounded by family, they were surrounded by farm animals.
Instead of laying a baby in a crib, all they had was an animal's feed trough. Instead of a midwife being there to deliver, all they had was one stressed out husband. Reminds me of the nervous husband who phoned the maternity ward and said, I'm bringing my wife to the hospital. She's having a baby. And the nurse said, calm down, sir.
Is this her first baby? And he said, no. This is her husband. For Joseph and for Mary, it was a stressful situation in a stressful time. This whole census thing was really to satisfy the ego of an emperor.
In our day, a centrist means filling out a form and sending it in, but in that day, the whole world shifted. The whole world moved at the whim of a powerful and arrogant leader who built his empire on the backs of the poor. The world had gone crazy, political tensions were high, and in the midst of all of that, God breaks in. In the most unlikely place, God is present. In the middle of the storm, God shows up, and that is the miracle of Christmas.
God is with us, and God is with us in the bad times as well as the good. There is a peace that is available that does not depend upon your circumstances. The Apostle Paul wrote these comforting words to the church at Philippi. He wrote, Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
There is a peace that transcends all understanding, And many of you here today have experienced this kind of peace. When the chips are down and things are tough, people ask you, why are you so peaceful? This has happened to me. Why are you so peaceful? And we say, I I I can't fully explain why.
I can only say that in the midst of loss, it is well with my soul. In the midst of terrible circumstances, God is with me. In the midst of opposition, I feel strength. God shows up in the middle of my mess in ways that I cannot fully describe. The peace that Jesus brings comes in the midst of it, in the middle of it, right in the sense of your circumstances.
A second observation about the peace that Jesus brings. The peace that Jesus brings comes as a gift. We're all pursuing peace. Millions of dollars are spent annually in search of peace. Every year, thousands of people seeking personal peace will flock to professional counselors.
Diplomats will fly all around the world seeking the peace among nations. Our court systems are jammed with cases from a breakdown of peace between individuals and corporations. But spending this money and all these various pursuits has not worked, because the truth is, in the end, peace is not something you purchase, it's something you receive. Peace, the kind of peace we yearn for, is a gift. It's a gift from a loving God who gave it gave the Prince of Peace to us at Christmas.
Peace is a gift to you. It's a free gift to you, but it came at a great cost to someone else. Again, from our prophet Isaiah, He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds, we are healed. By the wounds of Jesus, healing and peace are available to us. Jesus paid the price so that we could have peace with God.
If you really want peace, you must receive it, Or more directly, you must receive Him. He is our peace. You say to God humbly, God, I receive the gift of peace. I accept the gift of your son, the wonderful counselor, the prince of peace that the prophets promised. Through Jesus, set me in a right relationship with You, God.
Grant me Your peace. Now, that baby that came at Christmas didn't stay a baby. He grew up into the most insightful, powerful teacher of life this world has ever known. And Jesus, the adult teacher, told His followers this, peace I leave with you. My peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid. Jesus gives peace. It is His gift to us. A third observation about the peace that Jesus gives.
The peace that Jesus brings allows us to become peacemakers. Once I receive the peace of God, I am able now to become a peacemaker of God. I can become an instrument of God's peace. Following Jesus is not simply simply a matter of enjoying peace in my heart or even enjoying a relationship with God. Messiah calls us to join His revolutionary movement to bring Shalom to a broken world.
This Hebrew word Shalom, which we translate peace, means much more than the absence of conflict. It's much more than inner peace. It's much more than spiritual peace. It includes those things, but it's much broader than that. New Testament theologian Cornelius Planktica, right here out of Michigan, defines Shalom like this.
In the Bible, he writes, Shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight, a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts are fruitfully employed, all under the ark of God's love. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be. Shalom is the way things ought to be. It's the way God willed this world to be when he created it. No sickness, no hungry babies, no bullies, no death, no homelessness, no war, no oppression, no injustice.
Paradise. Shalom. And we are to work to restore shalom wherever it is broken. Wherever Shalom is broken, we are called to work to mend. The Apostle Paul put it this way, let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts.
For as members of one body, you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. This peace that comes from Christ, we are to let it rule in our hearts. We let peace rule in our hearts, and then we can become peacemakers. Throughout the month of December, we've been exploring God's Christmas list.
What would God want for Christmas? And I believe God would want you to receive His peace and to become a conduit of His peace. So this Advent season, do you have peace with God? Have you allowed God to give you His kind of peace? And have you heard and followed God's call to be a peacemaker?
Let's pray. Oh God, in this holy season, we pray for peace. We pray, Lord Jesus, that You would calm the storms that rage in our hearts and in our homes, that anxious thoughts will be replaced by a profound sense of Your presence. Be for us once more the God who is with us. Give each of us the humble courage to allow you to access the messy places of our lives.
Do the work that only you can do. We pray also for the peace of our world. We long for that day when weapons of warfare are no longer needed, when every refugee has a home, when terrorism is but a distant memory, when children grow up feeling loved and secure. Help us to be the peacemakers needed in our families, in our schools, in our workplaces, and throughout this world. This Christmas, God, we welcome once more the Prince of Peace, Emmanuel.
Bring your peace into our violence. Bid our hungry souls be filled. Welcome to our world. God, may we come to You faithful. Your people of peace, your servants, your people.
May we come to the manger and see your beauty once more. We pray this all through Christ our Lord. Amen.