Central Christian Church Lampasas

We live in a fallen world which has endured countless wars and incredible losses of life
.
“A Beastly Century”: It was a phrase used by Margaret Drabble, a British novelist, in an address to the Royal Society of Literature in London, on December 14, 2000 to describe the 20th century. In the full twentieth century, approximately 231 million people died in wars and conflict.

By far the costliest war in terms of human life was World War II (1939–45), in which the total number of fatalities, including battle deaths and civilians of all countries, is estimated to have been 56.4 million, assuming 26.6 million Soviet fatalities and 7.8 million Chinese civilians were killed.

War continues to ignite throughout the world.

Conflict is evident in our culture, politics, and society. Last year's holiday season red cups at Starbucks stirred up critics who accuse the company of waging a war on Christmas.

As a society, we cannot even drink pumpkin spice lattes and other overpriced coffee drinks in peace. Even in Lampasas, a relatively safe place, thieves have robbed businesses, cars, homes, and the mission.
With all this conflict raging in our world, what does it mean for Christ to be the Prince of Peace and for us to find peace?

Through Christ we have peace with God the Father

One of the greatest thing that Jesus ever did to bring peace into our lives is to provide a way for our sins to be forgiven. The Bible states clearly that at one time we were all sinners at odds and enemies with God. There was no way for us to have a relationship with God because of our sin.

One word for sin in Greek is the term for missing the mark in archery. We cannot perfectly obey God’s standards.

Our paycheck for sin is death. It is the consequence of our sin.

The price of sin is high, it costs blood to wash away sins; that is why there are sacrifices in the Old Testament. But, God had a plan to offer salvation to all people. God had a plan to offer a clean slate to anyone who would accept. He did that through Jesus on the Cross. Jesus made peace between us and God with His death. Jesus paid the price. If we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord, he will pardon our sin.

As the Prince of Peace, Christ has bridged the gap that divided us from God and has given us peace with God

We have a daily relationship with God that brings us peace.

Rule in your hearts - Preside in your hearts; sit as umpire there; govern and control you. The word rendered here "rule" - is commonly used about the Olympic and other games. It means, to be a director, or arbiter of the public games; to preside over them and preserve order, and to distribute the prizes to the victors. The meaning here is, that the peace which God gives to the soul is to be to us what the governor at the games was to those who contended there. It is to preside over and govern the mind; to preserve everything in its place; and to save it from tumult, disorder, and irregularity.

The thought is a very beautiful one. The soul is liable to the agitations of passion and excitement - like an assembled multitude of men. It needs something to preside over it, and keep its various faculties in place and order; and nothing is so well fitted to do this as the calm peace which Christ gives, a deep sense of the presence of God, the desire and the evidence of his friendship, the hope of his favor, and the belief that he has forgiven all our sins. The "peace of God" will calm down every chaotic element of the soul; subdue the tumult of passion, and preserve the mind in healthful action and order - as a ruler sways and controls the passions of assembled multitudes of people.

Jesus of Nazareth, the Prince of Peace, is the only One who can give us unshakable peace in a world of turmoil.

Last week we explored how Christ is Immanuel, God with us. If Christ is with us, then we have peace. Safety consists not in the absence of danger but in the presence of God. Peace that Jesus gives is not the absence of trouble, but is rather the confidence that He is there with you always.

We can do what others consider impossible when we focus on Christ.

We can have peace with other people.

It turns out that people can learn a lot from killer whales or orcas. The killer whale or orca is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. Killer whales have a diverse diet, although individual populations often specialize on their prey. Some feed exclusively on fish, while others hunt marine mammals such as seals and dolphins. They almost never attack people in the wild. The question is — why not? On a simple, biological scale they are bigger and stronger than we are, have sharper teeth, and they’re carnivores. Any similar creature might see humans as a tasty little snack, but not orcas.

Observation has shown that one answer may not be far from the ancient legend. Killer whales seem to follow rules that go beyond basic instinct and border on culture. Individual pods forage, communicate and navigate differently, much the way different cultures of people do. Researchers have witnessed “greeting ceremonies” between pods. They’ve even seen the equivalent of a funeral. It may very well be that within “orca culture” there is a social norm not to go after people.

A more scientific explanation might be that we’re simply not tasty enough to be included on the killer whales’ menu. Orcas, it turns out, have picky palates. The Southern Resident Killer Whales of Puget Sound dine on only the fattest Chinook salmon, even if it means allowing an entire school of skinnier salmon to swim by. Transient orcas, which have a broader diet, have shown similar selective behavior, in one case killing a gray whale but eating only its tongue.

A third possible reason is that we don’t resemble any food source killer whales typically depend on. There have reportedly been incidents where an orca attempted to hunt a human, but broke off the hunt immediately upon realizing it wasn’t a sea lion.

Okay, so we’ve established that killer whales are smart — they have a culture with specific behaviors, a picky diet, and they know that we don’t taste very good. Still, humans pump toxins into their water, we bombard them with noise, and sometimes we kidnap their babies and put them in aquariums. Orcas have a pretty good reason to hate us, perhaps even enough to want to extract revenge, yet they don’t. The answer here might be friendship. There are many cases where nomadic killer whales have gravitated to humans, bonding with them and playing games. Trainers at places like Sea World say very little goes into orca training. The whales seem to understand people, and are eager to cooperate and create bonds.

Through Christ we can have unity with other believers.

If killer whales can have a sense of unity and bonding, then through the power of the Holy Spirit so can we as believers.

Many of the passages in the Book of Acts focus on the unity of the believers.

Please note that the Bible does not say that we must be uniform or the same. We are all members of one body with different gifts and personalities. Just like the members of a basketball, football, or volleyball team; we have different positions but are on the same page.