Ask Pastor Mike Fabarez

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Are you looking for some peace after the chaos of this year? Well, you're invited to pull up a chair and spend some time with Pastor Mike Fabarez for an informal Q and A session. It's time for our weekly edition of Ask Pastor Mike.

Welcome to Focal Point. I'm Dave Drewy, and we're taking time out today to grapple with tough questions from our listeners from a biblical perspective. Now, today's topic is one that's at the forefront of our mind because of recent events. Jesus came as the promised prince of peace, and yet all around us, we see divisiveness and conflict.

Are we missing something right now? Let's join executive director Jay Worton, who's with Pastor Mike Fabarez inside the pastor's study for a biblical look at peace on Earth.

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J.

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Well, thank you, Dave.

Pastor Mike, as the Christmas season rolls around again, we’re often reminded from Luke chapter two about the promised peace on earth.

But looking around, obviously we see our world is not necessarily peaceful. If Jesus' arrival was to bring peace on earth, where exactly is it?

Speaker 2

Right. Well, there's only one mention that is sometimes translated wrongly, as we'll see in the upcoming message. You know, peace on earth and goodwill to men. That, as we'll see in a later message today, is not what's going on in that text. And because of that mistranslation that became popular, people expect that. But everything else Jesus said, he made it clear, hey, in this world, you'll have tribulation.

Hey, Jesus said in Matthew 10, I didn't come to bring peace. I came to bring a sword of division. You know, right now in the present age, to create a group of kingdom followers in a world of people that are dominated by the kingdom of darkness. All we can expect is conflict. And there will be conflict. The people of Christ's kingdom, the little flock, as Jesus called it, is going to be embattled. It will be surrounded by wolves. It will be attacked by the enemy. It will be tempted and tried by Satan himself. So we shouldn't expect peace on earth.

As a matter of fact, we want to talk about the forecast for the world. Right? What does he say? Well, there's going to be wars and rumors of wars. And don't be alarmed by these things. These things have to be. So all we're doing is taking one text that's been wrongly translated, and that text has become the banner text because certainly secularists like that. They like that idea of, oh, Christmas, that's just about, you know, everybody get along and hold hands and Kumbaya and peace on earth. That's not what Christ came to do.

Christ came to bring a group of redeemed people together by his grace, forgiven. Now we are building his church, and the gates of hell certainly want to stop us. But they're not going to prevail against the growth of the church. But in the middle of all that, there'll be a lot of conflicts. Jesus warned from the very beginning, sending out his first-century disciples, hey, I'm sending you out and you're going to be like these innocent doves I want you to be. And yet you're surrounded by wolves. You're going to be in a hostile environment.

So Christians are in a hostile environment. You shouldn't expect anything different. And I know that doesn't play well, you know, for Coke commercials in the 21st century or whatever, but this is what the Bible teaches. And don't be misled by one extracted statement that, as I'll show you in the message that's coming up, is mistranslated. We've got to be clear that the forecast for now is going to be tough times. But take heart, don't be depressed. Don't be overcome with despondency. I've overcome the world. The good day is coming for the people of God, and there will be peace on earth when Christ comes back.

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But what are some of the dangers of holding onto an unbiblical expectation?

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Yeah, well, when it's something as profound as this, you know, talk about being disenchanted. If you think that coming to Christ is going to bring peace, right, to not only your life, but your environment and all your relationships.

And, you know, when Christ came in the first century, he came to bring peace. Well, he's doing a lousy job of it if that's what he came to do. Right? That is not what he came to do. That's not what he promised there in that passage that we'll be looking at. That's not what's going on.

And if you have that expectation, I think you'll be disillusioned, you'll be frustrated. You'll expect something that God's going to do for you and he doesn't do it.

And the illustration I always give, and maybe the listeners have heard me say this before, it's like that place I go to sometimes for lunch after church.

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You walk out of your car, you're.

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Going to the restaurant. But there's two places there. One is a spa and one is a gym. And people, they're dressed the same, it seems, and they got their gym bag over their shoulder, and you never know where they're going to go. It's always funny to guess when they get out of their car next to your car. They're dressed in gym clothes as they're walking in the direction of both the spa and the gym. At one point, they're either going to turn into the spa or they're going to pass the spa and go into the gym.

I'm thinking to myself, can you imagine if you were with someone and you thought they were going to take you into the spa, and they take you instead into the gym? Well, in the spa, you get pampered and talk about peace. You get peace and tranquility and serenity. In the gym, you get pain and sweat and torture and frustration.

So all I'm saying is, what if you think you're going to go into the Christian life and experience all this great peace? By that, I mean the external relationships that people are talking about when they use the word peace. Everybody's going to get along, everything's going to be fine—love, unity, harmony in the world. If that's your expectation, you will be sorely disappointed because that is not what you're going to experience.

You'll get disenchanted. You'll think Christ is a liar. That's the risk. But that isn't what Christ said. Read the text, all of the text. Read this text and translate it carefully, and you'll see that that one little mistranslation has caused a lot of misplaced expectations, and that can be dangerous.

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Let's bring this a little closer to home. As the holidays approach, we've got friends and family getting together.

Certainly, our listeners may have their Christian beliefs get in the way of the other family members who don't necessarily believe.

How can believing families handle the unbelieving family members that are coming to join them to create some peace during this time and have a chance to share the gospel with their family members?

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Well, and again, it highlights the problem of the misplaced expectation. Because not only is the Bible sometimes misread and exclusively verses are cherry-picked and mistranslated, but people expect the wrong things. The culture now is expecting all of us to sit down like a Lexus commercial around a table, right? And everybody's there in sweaters, and they're all beautiful, and no one's overweight, and everyone's polite and kind, and their teeth are really white, and everybody gets along, and the dog sits there patiently for the leftovers. I mean, that is not real life. It's not, you know, to put it in old terms, it's not the Norman Rockwell experience at Christmas.

And because of that, even the culture now puts the expectation that everything's going to be harmonious. Well, here's the thing: it's no different in December than it was in August, right? If your trust in Christ and your resolve to follow Christ is going to be offensive to Cousin Vinnie, right, it's going to be offensive to him at the December meal at the holiday gathering. So all I'm saying is that the same principles that would govern your behavior in any other context should govern your behavior at Christmas time.

I think we need to be, as we always need to be, shrewd, wise, and diplomatic. We need to season our words with salt. That needs to be true whether it's evangelism in July or a conversation with my cousin in December. There are times when it's not the right moment to talk about Christ, not the time to talk about trust in Christ, because they know where I stand. It's only going to make them mad, and maybe that's not the time for that.

If I have a receptive cousin, though, or an uncle that's willing to listen, now it's time to sit down and strategically do as Christ did. He was very creative. He would take the situation, whatever it was, and find a way to bring it back around to Christ if those around him were willing to listen.

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And.

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And I think that's what we do. We just get creative. Sometimes we even have to isolate because we know if we share with an uncle who's receptive, you know, there may be a grandparent who's not, and he's going to, you know, start becoming belligerent in the conversation. Maybe I just need to step outside with my uncle and have a conversation about Christ one on one.

You know, we love our families. We love our extended families. We want them saved if they're not saved. We want to share the gospel. We just need to be wise, sensitive, diplomatic, and just be, you know, with great respect for the people that we're talking to, share as much as people will allow us to share.

And you know what? A lot of times you'll find that opportunity. It's not usually you preaching, you know, at the table, you know, between the meal and dessert. It's usually some conversation that takes place after the football game or something. But find the time, have the conversation, and get as far as you can get.

Speaker 3

Well, thank you, Pastor Mike. I trust this conversation will be helpful for those families who are gathering during the Christmas season. We're going to continue this topic with a message you gave called where is the promised Peace on Earth?

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Christmas, thanks to Norman Rockwell and Target commercials, is kind of popularized as a picture of an event that's supposed to be, in some ways, picture perfect. Right.

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You know, is that really what the.

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Bible leads us to expect? It's goodwill and it's, you know, peace on earth, that kind of stuff. I know. It's the mantra, the lyrical mantra of our day.

The Christmas carols all say it. Hark, the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn king. Peace on earth, right?

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Mercy mild.

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Luke, chapter two. You might get a little context here by reading with me those familiar words that we've heard so often. They might be given to your memory at this point.

Start in verse 8, after the description of the birth of the Christ child. It says, there were shepherds, verse eight, that were living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them. And the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

But an angel said to them, do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy. Aha. There you are, Pastor Mike. Right there. That will be for all the people.

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Ha ha.

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I told you more on that in a minute. Because every time you see all, you need to ask the question, is it all without exception or all without exclusion? Then he says, today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you.

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He is Christ the Lord.

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This will be a sign for you. You'll find the baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

Suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host or army appeared with the angel. These are the angels saying, right, praising God and saying, here's the quote: "Glory to God in the highest."

If you have an NIV, it reads this: "And on earth, peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and...

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Gone into heaven, the shepherds said to.

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One another, let's go to Bethlehem, see the thing that had happened the Lord has told us about. They hurried off, found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about

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Okay?

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Upon earth, peace. And because it's in the nominative form, we know it means peace upon earth. Because the order has to do with emphasis and not with sorting out the subject. The subject is here. Peace, nominative case. Peace upon earth. Got that?

Now we have the preposition in N. This is an easy one to memorize. Means in. That's easy. And then you have this. Anthropois. Anthropois is the word for men. And sorry, ladies, I don't mean, you know, it's not just men. It is the generic form for people, the dative case. Okay? So in men, because in takes the dative and we have anthropoids. So, so far, peace upon earth or upon earth, peace in men.

Now the conflict. Now here's the problem. If you're copying this manuscript in the 5th century and you leave off the sigma and all the other copies from your copy leave off the sigma, you can still read this sentence because the Greek language is highly inflected. That means the endings and sometimes the prefixes determine what role that word plays in the sentence. Did you follow that? Depending on how the case endings are.

Now, this word right here, let's forget case endings. What's the root of the word mean? Right. U doiki os or U doiki. Ah. U doik.

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Right.

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Let's just use that means well pleasing. It's a compound word. Ooh. If you've been around here very long, you know, you hear, we talk about the word euangelion, the evangelism, the good news. Oo always means good. The eulogy at a funeral is the good word. Oo is good, dokos is pleasure. Pleasing. The word at its root means well pleasing. Oo doikos.

The question is, what role does this word play in the sentence? It's all determined by the sigma. If the sigma is there, it means one thing. If the sigma is not there, it means something else. Okay, track with this. Now, if it's got a sigma at the end of this word, it's in the genitive case. And genitive case, just for simplification, it means it qualifies something. Okay? It qualifies its antecedent, which in this case is the noun anthropoise. So whatever anthropoise is, it is qualified by this word well pleasing.

If it doesn't have the sigma, then it's in the nominative case. And if it's in the nominative case, it's just like Irene, just like peace, which means, now we're starting a new phrase. Here's a new clause. And that clause means that it is going to identify something that the men get. Either it qualifies men, people, or it is something that people, the men, get. And the sigma makes all the difference here.

Okay, if we're going to translate it, here's what we would be saying. Upon earth, peace in men. Now, means what? Who are well pleasing? What kind of men get the peace? Well, the kind of men that get the peace are the guys that are well pleasing. The people that are well pleasing to who? Well, we have to supply the subject to God. Okay, that's one way to read it.

If it's a genitive, if it's in the nominative case, that first line stands on its own. Peace upon earth. Upon earth, peace. Then we translate this one separately. In men, well, pleasingness, which is not a word, I know that, but in men, well, pleasingness. In other words, if peace goes to the earth, then we get the earth, everybody gets peace, and the men there get well, pleasingness, which is not a word. So we use words like goodwill. May they feel good, may they have good experiences.

Now, either the angels came and said, peace on earth. Oh, to men on whom God's favor rests, or well, pleasing to God. Or they said, hey, peace on earth to everybody. And hey, good feelings for everyone. Goodwill to all men. Now, which one does Macy's prefer? The latter, right? I mean, that's Norman Rockwell, but that's not really what we find in the text, nor is it what we understand to be contextually the case.

New King James, which may be newly printed and newly redone, but it's still based on the newfangled Greek manuscripts, says, on earth, peace, comma, goodwill toward men. There it is. But if the sigma belongs there, that is, then it is not how it reads. It would read, based on the old time Greek manuscripts, would read this: on earth, peace to men. No, comma, on whom we're now going to qualify. Men, his favor rests.

That's what your NIV says. The ESV, popular among some of you, says, on earth, peace among those with whom he's pleased. Same concept, New Revised Standard. On earth, peace among those whom he favors. Do you see the difference between those two? Luke 2 should be understood in light of Luke 12.

So let's look at Luke 12. Look at verse number 49. Let's start there. Luke 12:49. I have come to bring fire on the earth. Well, in the fireplace, with some stockings.

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Hanging, maybe a little eggnog.

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No, that's not the kind he was talking about. Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? Oh, good. Because we've been wondering about whether that sigma belongs there or not.

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Answer.

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No, I tell you. But division, that's what I came to bring. I came to bring a division. Look at this. Verse 52. He says, from now on there'll be five in one family divided against each other. Three against two, two against three. They'll be divided, Father against son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law. Merry Christmas.

The reality is, when you ask Jesus, "Hey, did you come to bring peace on earth?" and you say, "Well, isn't that what the angels said?" No, that's not what the angels said. This is not indiscriminate peace on earth. I came to bring. If you want to talk about the multitudes, division, and sometimes that division strikes right to the heart of your Christmas Eve dinner.

Right. Important for us to recognize that the promise the angels gave to the shepherds, which is the promise of heaven to earth, is peace. But it's an exclusive, defined, qualified kind of peace.

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And let's try and understand it.

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When we think about the fact that I just said that God said you're going to have problems with people. You follow me? You're going to have problems with people. As a matter of fact, they're going to be exacerbated and intensified. The promise was for peace, but peace in men on whom his favor rests, who are well pleasing to God, on whom God has laid his favorite.

Let's put it this way. I mean, that's the real peace that came with the first advent. It was peace with God. That's the point. The good news of great joy for all the people, Jews and Gentiles, people from all walks of life can have this good news. And the good news is peace in lives of people on whom God's favor rests. That's huge. That's big. That means peace. But that's Romans 5 kind of peace.

Let's look at that one real quick. You want to know what to celebrate on Christmas? Don't go into it thinking you're going to have picture perfect dinners. Go in rejoicing that if you trust in Christ, you've got peace with the most important person in the universe. Although your relationship with your sister-in-law may not be what you want it to be.

Okay, Romans, chapter five, verse number one. Since we have been justified by doing good works and giving lots of money to the Church. Is that what it says? No, that's not the message of the book of Romans. How do we get right with God?

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Faith.

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We trust in Christ. Since therefore we've been justified through faith, we have—underline it—peace with God. That was what the prophets looked forward to. The punishment that brought us peace was laid on Him.

But what that means is the God that looks at you as an enemy because you're laden with sin will take your sin away and punish Christ instead of you. And now He can look at you no longer as an enemy, but as your friend. The God that is hostile toward you, that should, because of His holiness and your sin, take His mighty finger and poke you into the lake of fire for eternity—because that's what you and I deserve—will no longer be your enemy. He will draw you close as a friend because you can have peace with Him because of Christ, who came and lived a life you couldn't live and didn't live, and died a death you should have died, taking away our sin.

That's the point of the passage. We have peace with God through our Lord, the boss, Jesus, Yeshua, the Savior, Christ the Messiah. That's what Christmas is all about. Is it about peace on earth, goodwill toward men? And what that means is no more war and a lot of good feelings? No, it's not about that. It's about a kind of peace where your Maker is no longer your enemy, where you are now adopted into the family and loved as though you were the perfect son of God, Christ Himself.

That's something to rejoice and get excited about, right? That's Christmas. That's the message.

Speaker 1

Peace in our hearts now and on earth in the future because of Christ. What an encouraging perspective. You're listening to Focal Point, the Bible teaching ministry of pastor and author Mike Fabarez.

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