Luke 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

What is our relationship to God? Most of us prefer to take a Deistic view, or to give man the upper hand and say man is searching for truth about God.

The Bible says we were at enmity. We did not receive spiritual things, because we could not. The message of Christmas is that God has come looking for man – he has come to make peace.

A. God had to make Peace for Us

We did not come looking to make peace with God for the same reason that a criminal does not come looking for the police.

God has paid the debt that we could not pay, and he has dropped all the charges against us. Now it is safe for us to come and be reconciled to him, we can come now with the assurance that he will receive us with love.

A Christmas Carol, Scrooge’s sister comes to him and begs him to come back home with these words – Daddy isn’t angry anymore.

B. We must receive the Peace

You must believe you need a gift before you can receive it.

If you are dieting, and you receive a bag of chocolate covered cherries for Christmas, you won’t receive them, you will give them away, or take them back to the store. But you do not believe you need it, so you will not receive it.

Will you receive this external peace with God. If you have it, then all the other kinds of peace are possible. If you refuse this peace, then you will only have the ignorant oblivion of not thinking about things. Your peace will be temporary, or just settling for something less than you want.