Letting Peace Rule Your Heart

​1st Sunday after Christmas – C                                                                      LSB #’s 353, 366, 380
Text – Colossians 3:15a
 
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. 
 
LETTING PEACE RULE YOUR HEART
 
 
   At 1 Samuel 16:23 we read, “And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul,  David took the lyre & played it with his hand.  So,  Saul was refreshed & was well,  & the harmful spirit departed from him.”  (ESV)   Music can bring peace to a troubled heart, when that music is inspired by the Holy Spirit. 
“If Every Day Was Like Christmas” is a song popularized by Elvis Presley.  It opens with these words: “I hear the bells saying Christmas is near.  They ring out  to tell the world that this is the season of cheer.  I hear a choir singing sweetly somewhere  & a glow fills my heart.   I’m at peace with the world  as the sound of their singing fills the air.” 
Especially for the season of Christmas,  God’s Spirit has blessed us with many beautiful hymns  to teach the spirit & the meaning of Christ’s birth.  Those hymns can also bring us a few minutes of peace  as the words & music take our minds off the sorrows & the fears of this world.  That kind of momentary peace is a blessing from our Lord  even though it be  only temporary. 
The peace that Christ Himself earned – & gives  to all who trust in Him – that peace   is eternal.   That peace  is not fleeting or momentary,  & it does not depend upon the quality of the singing,  nor upon the lyrics of the hymn.   Simeon spoke of that peace  when he held the Christ child in his arms:
“Lord,  now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word;  for my eyes have seen  your salvation.”  (Luke 2:29-30 ESV)    Salvation is what every human being wants,  even when they don’t know it.  Salvation is what all of us are striving for each & every day.   You are instinctively aware  that your clock is ticking  & the day of your end  is swiftly on its way.  And the older you get,  the more aware of it  you become!   The realization grows that true peace  is not something you possess  so much as something you experience.   You could be holding a thousand pounds of peace in your hands one moment  & all of it can evaporate  instantly – gone like the wind!   Inflation,  cancer,  divorce,  murder;    peace – gone like the wind. 
The peace that surpasses all human understanding  is not something you are able to corral or contain.  It is not something that lives within you.   The source of the peace that surpasses all human understanding  is outside of you.   It is a fact  that has been declared by the same Creator who spoke you into existence: “Let there be…   & there was!” 
Once you are made aware of that peace,  every moment of every day  you either believe it  or you deny it.   Consider the effects of your belief or denial in this way.   I give you a shoebox that is covered with slime & mold.  It is greasy to the touch & reeks to high heaven.  Would you accept that gift & open it?  If you don’t,  does the check inside, for a million dollars, benefit you? 
The box & the check are entirely the same,  whether you accept the gift or not.  But only in one case  does the check benefit you.  Accepting the gift doesn’t earn you anything.  The value of the check was determined by the giver.  However,  accepting it  means  you benefit from it. 
In the Gospel reading, Simeon accepted the gift & benefited from the peace of God.  And what was it that brought Simeon peace?     “…for my eyes have seen your salvation…” (Luke 2:30 ESV)    Now,  Simeon was more than a novice believer.   It wasn’t merely that he had held the Christ Child in his arms. 
The peace Simeon received came from understanding what the Christ Child meant – God was reconnecting Himself to mankind in a way that had been missing  since Adam & Eve failed to believe God’s Word  when Satan questioned it.   Adam & Eve sinned  & forevermore  their descendants need,  & have been searching for,  salvation.  Christmas celebrates that Jesus has come  to do everything that you & I cannot do.    Who in their right mind  would deny that?   There’s the rub.   All of us,   you & me,  deny what Jesus has done whenever  we fail to put on “…compassionate hearts,  kindness,  humility,  meekness,  & patience.”  (Colossians 3:12 ESV)  Putting on four out of the five does not count – all five,  all  of the time. 
Jesus did that for us.  He did it all the way to the Garden of Gethsemane, & finally  to the cross: “…Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  (Luke 23:34a ESV)   Every single day  we struggle  with not knowing what we are doing,  but Jesus didn’t come to bring salvation & peace  only for heaven.  Jesus didn’t come to bring salvation & peace  only for you  or me. 
If it bothers you to be nice to others,  if it bothers you to be nice to your family or coworkers,  if it bothers you to be nice to ‘those’ people,   you might ask yourself why that is.  Dig into it.   Don’t just rake over the surface.   Get out the shovel  & thrust it into your heart  to learn why  it bothers you  to be compassionate, kind, humble, meek & patient. 
Christ came & has promised to change you in this life – not only in the next.  He begins that process through erasing all of your sins.  He doesn’t simply ignore your sin & tell you it’s okay.  He takes whatever baggage from your past,  you are still carrying,  & He obliterates it   in His holiness.  Your sins,  your baggage,  your regrets – gone like the wind. 
Unless,  of course,  you deny that,  & then His peace is of no benefit to you.   Since your sins are already paid for,  open that nasty, moldy, slimy, smelly heart of yours  & let the light of Christ shine in.  Let His salvation & peace enter there  & bring the joy of your forgiveness out into the open spaces of your daily life. 
In that freedom,  as one chosen by God,  Paul is not talking about what we must do  to be Christians.  He is describing the life of faith that flows from the presence of God in your heart.  Yes,  all manner of evil still flows out of the hearts of God’s children,  but at the same time  the Spirit of God lives there & is working to clothe us with the righteousness of Christ.   Isaiah wrote of that already in the OT: “…for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness…”  (61:10 ESV)   It’s in that context that Paul writes:
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy & beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, & patience, bearing with one another &, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other…”  (Colossians 3:12-13 ESV)   Your Savior is the one trying to clothe you with those gifts. 
When Paul writes, “Put on then…” he is encouraging you  to allow God to clothe you in those gifts.  Paul is encouraging you to accept & not deny the blessings of your Lord & Savior.  Compassion, kindness, humility, meekness & patience may look no more appealing than a moldy, slimy shoebox,  but those are the characteristics of Jesus who died for you  on the cross. 
 Here’s what that can look like in real life.  I was at the national youth gathering in 2001.  One event was riding a paddlewheel boat up & down the Mississippi River from 11 PM to 1 AM.  The top two decks were filled with over a thousand teenagers being fed pizza & caffeine while listening to loud music.   After an hour,  I needed some peace & quiet.   I went below decks. 
Since I had served in the Navy, I thought it’d be interesting to see the engine room on this boat.  After taking a look around, I noticed a young lady sitting by herself on a bench where the paddlewheel was going round & round.  She seemed out of place, so I stopped & talked with her for 15 minutes or so.  When we finished, she thanked me for taking the time to listen. 
At that moment,  I had no clue,  but looking back on it,  Jesus was clearly there  clothing those minutes with garments from His cross & resurrection.  He gave me the opportunity,  in real life,  to wear compassion, kindness, humility, meekness & patience.   I don’t know what opportunities Christ will give you to wear those clothes.  What I do know  is that God is preparing those moments in advance  so that you might wear them to His glory & to the benefit of whomever Jesus brings  into your path.   If,  at that moment,  you are not allowing the peace of Christ to rule in your heart,  it is very likely  that Satan will steal that opportunity from you.  He will blind you & distract you,  to keep you from wearing the clothing of Christ. 
“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…”  (Colossians 3:15a ESV)   Our hearts are filled with many things.  Our thoughts are pulled in many different directions.  We are confronted with decisions  hundreds of times each day.  Paul encourages us to allow the peace of Christ to act as judge or referee in our hearts.  Satan wants anxiety to rule in your hearts. 
It’s more difficult to be nice to others  when anxiety is ruling your heart.  All of us know that from our own experience.  Paul is not telling us what we must do  to follow Jesus.   Paul knows that he never did, until Christ entered his heart to claim him.  Instead, Paul is showing us a picture of what life can be  when the Holy Spirit is at work in our hearts. 
Even though we are mostly unaware of it, salvation is what all of us are striving for every day.  And none of us  can ever  achieve it.  We are sinful, corrupt & broken.  Only the Creator can restore  what He created.  Simeon got to see that as he held the Child who would recreate the human race.  God enabled the peace of Christ to be ruling in Simeon’s heart at that moment. 
The heavenly Father wants that peace to rule in all of us.  Because we think of ourselves more highly that we do of God, we frequently deny that peace.  We refuse to open the gift.  Paul is calling believers to change their behavior, to live differently.  That is always difficult.  
Our culture has elevated anger to the status of a moral virtue (“outrage” or “being offended”), & evil insults & shameful speech are the order of the day on social media.   We, however, have a different life, one not created or preserved by our faithfulness, our consistency in living differently – even though we are called to such living.  Our life is accomplished by Christ, & now hidden with Him  in God.  When our hearts are focused on what Christ has already done, & upon what He will one day do – the only response we can possibly make to the urgent call to full repentance  is faith’s response, “Yes.”  It is in that “Yes” that children of God find the joy & peace of perfect harmony with our Creator & Savior. 
If you ever make the effort to dig into, or thrust the shovel into your heart  to learn why  it bothers you  to be compassionate, kind, humble, meek & patient,  you will find that the reason is idolatry.  When we idolize ourselves, when we make me, myself & I number one,  it will always bother us to be nice to others.  Jesus came to take that self from us  & kill it  on the cross. 
That is where  anyone can find salvation.  Jesus makes us right again.  Lord,  let us now depart in peace, according to your word;  for our eyes have seen  your salvation.  Amen. 
 
 
 
It came upon the midnight clear,  that glorious song of old,  from angels bending near the earth  to touch their harps of gold: “Peace on the earth, goodwill to all,  from heaven’s gracious king.”  The world in solemn stillness lay  to hear the angels sing.    All you, beneath your heavy load,  by care & guilt bent low,  who toil along a dreary way  with painful steps & slow: Look up, for golden is the hour,  come swiftly on the wing,  the Prince was born to bring you peace;  of Him the angels sing.     For lo, the days have come to pass  by prophets seen of old,  when down into the circling years  came Christ as was foretold.   His word of peace shall to the earth  God’s ancient promise bring,  & all who take this gift will hear  the song the angels sing.  Amen.  LSB 366:1, 3-4.