The Promise of Peace on Earth

Is there anybody in your life with whom you ought to be in fellowship but instead you are not on speaking terms? Are you trying to have peace in your life while there is trouble in your relationships with family, friends and co-workers? I say again, there can be no peace within us until there is peace between us. That is what Christ came to make possible: reconciliation among us. Christ came to give us the power to make peace among ourselves. We can speak the words of forgiveness. We can allow a person who has failed us once to walk on the path of second chances. Our lives will be so much richer and our burdens will be so much lighter when we set aside those things that stand between us and those who are closest to us. There can be no peace within us until there is peace between us.

The promise of the angel of Bethlehem was for "peace on earth." That does not mean prosperity for us and grinding poverty everywhere else in the world. That does not mean that some people have access to medical care while millions cannot afford to see a doctor. Peace can never be fully enjoyed by some when it is being denied or withheld or made unavailable or unaffordable for so many others. Whatever the angels were announcing that day in Bethlehem, they wanted all of the people on the earth to fully share in its benefits.

Finally, if peace is ever going to occur on the earth, we cannot wait for somebody else to make the first move; peace must begin with us. We must initiate the action and tell someone, "I am sorry." We must go first and tell someone, "I forgive you." We must lead the way, set the good example and start doing in our own lives those things we would hope to see others do some day. It was Mahatma Gandhi who said, "We must be the change we hope to see in others." If there is going to be peace on earth, then I have to be willing to initiate the action that can bring about that peace. The world will not be substantively changed if all of us simply wait for somebody else to make the first move. Peace must begin with us.

Now remember that we are not making the first move in the process of peace; God has already done that in Bethlehem. God did not wait for us to get ourselves together before He entered into human affairs. Paul says, "While we were still sinning" Christ died for the ungodly (Rom. 5:8). That verse can be translated in a verbal form so that the word "sinning" is emphasized as an ongoing act. Or it can be translated in a noun form so that "while we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly." Either way, God was not waiting for us to make the first move. God initiated the peace treaty and waited for us to respond. God has already made the first move; now all we have to do is respond in that spirit toward one another.

There was a member of our church who we had approached about 15 years ago to join the deacon board. That person declined our invitation because, as he put it, "I am not through sinning yet." We did not pursue any of the specifics of the issue in an attempt to find out what further sins he needed more time to perform. We simply took him at his word. As strange as that story may sound to you, that person is exactly the kind of person God is after. God seeks us while we are still sinners. God seeks us while we are still sinning. God goes first and then invites us to respond to what He has already done.

I have a friend named Wayne Snodgrass who has the most unusual message on his telephone answering machine. The message says: "This is Pastor Snodgrass. Now, you say something." In other words, he has made the first move, and the next move is up to the person on the other end of the phone. He has said all he is going to say; now the burden shifts to the other person. That is what God did for us in the Incarnation; God showed up in the person of Jesus Christ as if to say, "This is God. Now you say something. I have done My part. Now you do something. I have made the first move. Now you move in response to what I have already done."

That is how peace is made; somebody has to make the first move. A holy God made peace with a sinful world by coming in the person of Jesus Christ and taking away the burden of our sins. Now that same God looks to each one of us and expects us to respond. Make the first move and invite somebody else to respond. Reach out over some wall of division and challenge somebody to reach back in forgiveness and love. Do not stand by and wait for someone else to make the first move. Follow the example of my friend: "This is Pastor Snodgrass. Now you say something."

You do something. You give something. You change something. Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me!