We are in week 4 of our series “His Name Will Be”. It’s been a powerful series as we have looked at some of the NAMES that Jesus was given or described by, in advance in our text…

So far, in this series, we have covered “Wonderful Counselor”, “Mighty God”, and “Everlasting Father”. Today, I want to talk about our “Prince of Peace”.

Take a look at your life.How would you describe it? Contented? Rushed? Exciting? Stressful? Moving forward? Holding back? At PEACE? On the outside we smile and say “Merry Christmas”. But be honest with yourself this morning. How many people in this room feel trapped, stressed, overwhelmed? Do you want PEACE? Have you ever looked for it in the manger? What does it mean that this baby IS our Prince of PEACE?

In Hebrew, Prince of Peace is 2 words, Sar Shalome. Sar, it means the one who was in charge. It means the captain. It means the Lord. It means the chief. It means the general. The Romans, they use this word Sar, and it became C-z-a-r, then it became Caesar, like Julius Caesar. It was the one that was in charge. Jesus is the captain, the chief, the Lord, the Sar of Shalome. What does Shalome mean?

Shalome was actually a greeting that one person would give to another. Shalome means rest. It means tranquility. It means wholeness. It means completeness. Jesus is the Sar Shalome. You could say He’s the Captain of rest. He is the Lord of tranquility. He is the Chief of contentment. Jesus is the Sar Shalome.

Now, as part of this series, we’ve been having fun with names.

Today, I thought it would be fun to talk about aptonyms. An aptonym is defined as “People whose names and occupations or situations have a close correspondence.”Here are some classic examples:

· Jules Angst – German professor of psychiatry who published works..about anxiety.

· Lance Bass – bass singer for NSYNC

· Sara Blizzard, Amy Freeze, Storm Field, Dallas Raines and Larry Sprinkle were all meterologists. Coincidence? I think not.

· Usain Bolt was a sprinter, Nathan Leeper was a highjumper, Prince Fielder was an infielder for the Brewers, and boxer Joe Flanagan named his two sons Bob and Weave.

· How about Todd POPE becoming a pastor? Also, I went to Bible College with Kevin Bishop and Tim Priest…so there is that.

Now, before I really get too far along, I want to acknowledge that THIS is a significant weekend because it is right before we celebrate the birth of Christ, not just that He is a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manager. But rather, it’s THAT moment in history when God…invades our world and…becomes a man in the person of Jesus Christ, and begins His journey to the cross to die for your sin and my sin, as our sacrifice. That’s a significant moment in history. Don’t MISS THAT in the midst of the parties and the presents. This was a real baby that was born to real people for a very real purpose…PEACE. He came to bring PEACE. But as many of the Christmas Hymns are peaceful, don’t be confused. The original Christmas was NOT peaceful!

A teenage girl named Mary finds out she’s pregnant, and God’s the baby's daddy. That’s tough to explain at the country club. You know, “God got me pregnant.” “Oh, yeah. Good. Congratulations.” So the very beginning of that is just not peaceful. Then you travel through her journey, and at some point, she’s nine months pregnant and they decide they’ve got to travel across country on a donkey. Nine months pregnant on a donkey. Nothing peaceful about that.
They pull into town, and you know she’s freaking out. Streets are crowded, businesses crowded, everyone’s in a hurry. Sound familiar? I can’t say that one can experience “road rage” driving a donkey or camel, but I would think it could be worse than from within a vehicle! The people you shout at might actually hear you! Bethlehem is full of strangers due to a census imposed by someone everyone hates. The out-of-towners hate being in Bethlehem and the local folk hate all the traffic brought by the out-of towners. And they both hate the Romans.
Bethlehem is not a peaceful place. Perhaps Mary raises her voice: “Get me a place to stay, Joseph. I’m about to have this baby,” and so Joseph goes to do his deal, and he like pulls into every hotel, and everything’s booked up. No Motel 6, no rush flea bag place, no nothing, and she’s, “Find me a place now!” And so finally, Joseph negotiates a deal with some guy and says, “Man, there’s not a room in town, but you can stay in the barn.” “Oh, good. Okay. So we can have the baby in a barn. That’s what I always pictured, with animals, and animal stuff. Perfect,” and so here you’ve got this little girl, nine months pregnant, traveled all this time on a donkey, in a barn. She gives birth, and there is no epidural. Can you say, “No epidural, no peace,” okay? Jesus is born. The Prince of Peace enters planet earth. This doesn’t sound like the origin story of the Prince of Peace does it?

And yet, when angels appeared to lowly shepherds, what was the message they gave announcing the Messiah’s birth?

It’s pretty clear when you look around our world today that we do not have PEACE. Did the angels feed us a LIE? Not a chance. What did they say again?

“PEACE on earth TO THOSE…”

If there is a present under the tree and the card was made out… “To all Cubs fans…” I would know that present WASN’T for me. In fact, I would know that present was in the wrong house! The card is made out to a specific group of people that I am not a part of. This present of PEACE isn’t promised to the whole EARTH. The promise is:

“PEACE on earth to those...with whom God is pleased.”

That begs the question, doesn’t it? With whom is God pleased?

People who BELIEVE, people who have FAITH…please Him. To them, He gives HIS PEACE.

Remember WHO Isaiah said He was? The Prince of PEACE. The Sar Shalome. As long as we are under Christ, we can have His peace.

When we bow to the PRINCE, we can experience His PEACE

Does that mean that we can do anything we want and still have peace? Well, of course not.

· Can you live in blatant disregard to God’s moral commands in Scripture and then go to church and have peace? No, because you are not submitted to the PRINCE.
· Can a married couple get in a big hairy fight and go ballistic and call each other names that embarrass their kids, and then all of a sudden expect to have the peace of God? Well, of course not. Why? Because they are outside of the WAY of PEACE laid out by the Sar Shalome.
· Can a person charge up all their credit cards and spend more money than they make, and then just expect to have peace? No, because they are doing their own thing, they are not submitting their finances to the Sar Shalome.

When we bow to the PRINCE, we can experience His PEACE

Remember whose peace it is that He promises! It’s the:

PEACE OF GOD

This kind of PEACE is the calmness of confidence in God. It is the opposite of anxiety. The Lord is called “the God of PEACE” 5 times in the NT, which tells us that He is the SOURCE of true PEACE.

Philippians 4:7 – NLV - “The PEACE OF GOD is much greater than the human mind can understand. THIS PEACE will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

God can give us His peace –This peace cannot be comprehended.

This is the PEACE that keeps us anchored when our world is crumbling. This isn’t the type of PEACE that means all of our circumstances are quiet or peaceful. Let me illustrate that:

Two artists set out to paint a picture representing perfect PEACE. The first created a scene depicting a carefree schoolboy sitting in a boat on a quiet lake without a ripple to disturb the surface.
The second artist painted a raging waterfall spewing out its spray in every direction. But above the waterfall, on a limb overhanging the swirling water, a chick sat quietly in her nest WITH her mother.

PEACE is not the absence of trouble, it’s the presence of God WITH you in the middle of it!

That’s real peace, and that’s the kind of peace Jesus promises to all who follow Him.

Anyone can be peaceful when your life is in order and your sitting on the white sand beaches of some Caribbean island sipping non-alcoholic umbrella drinks, which we will be doing in about a week. Sorry. Had to…;)

But the PEACE that God can give comes when your job is going nowhere, the kids are driving you nuts, the finances don’t add up and you are being battered with the storms of life. WE CAN have GOD’S PEACE in THAT space!

When we bow to the PRINCE, we can experience His PEACE

Doesn’t that sound good? It IS amazing! So, here is the question: How can we have this PEACE OF GOD? What do I need to do to experience that type of PEACE? Remember who the PEACE was FOR according to the angel? “PEACE on earth TO THOSE with whom God is pleased.”

If we constantly sin and mess up, or we have just sinned ONCE, we are sinners and God is NOT pleased. So HOW do we come to a place where we PLEASE GOD? We surrender to Him and we make…

PEACE WITH GOD

It is not possible to have the PEACE of God without PEACE with God. This kind of PEACE is harmony with God. A reconciliation (or PEACE treaty) had to be signed. God’s PEACE treaty was signed with the blood of Jesus Christ. Through His sacrifice we are reconciled to God.

When we put our complete faith and trust in Jesus Christ our salvation is settled and we have PEACE with God.

If you want the PEACE of God you have to make PEACE with God through belief in Jesus Christ.

Until that occurs we may have fleeting moments of PEACE, but we’ll never have the PEACE that passes understanding. Here’s the truth:

You will not experience TRUE PEACE if you bow to another prince

Some people bow to other princes and wonder why they don’t have PEACE in their life. Princes like:
· Obvious ones like drugs, alcohol, pornography
But also the not so obvious princes, like
· An orderly house, well behaved kids, perfect grades, everything going your way.

Some of these are good things, but they have to be subject, they have to bow to the Prince of PEACE.

There are no substitute PRINCES! Only Jesus, the PRINCE OF PEACE, can make PEACE between God and us.

If Aaron Rogers gave you a present, it’s yours. Let’s say its tickets to the Super Bowl this year between the Packers and the Chiefs. But they are wrapped in a box. You don’t know what they are. You don’t understand the value of what’s in the gift. The gift has been given to you, but you are NOT going to that game unless you open the gift. We open this gift FROM GOD with FAITH. By BELIEVING in our heart that Jesus rose from the dead.

Have you opened the gift that Jesus left for you?

Now, like the Super Bowl tickets, there is a time element to this gift. If you open the present from Aaron after February 2nd, the value of the gift becomes worthless. You had tickets to an event that now has passed.

There will be a time when our event is passed, that the ticket will no longer do us any good. Don’t wait to open the gift, because unlike the Super Bowl, we don’t know the date when our event will pass. Will you open that gift today? Will you receive Christ and make PEACE WITH GOD? As a result you can experience the PEACE OF GOD.

When we bow to the PRINCE, we can experience His PEACE

Will you bow, will you submit your life, will you surrender to the Prince? If you do, you can experience His supernatural, spiritual PEACE.