diff --git a/server.go b/server.go
index fd7f8e96..49d71ae2 100644
--- a/server.go
+++ b/server.go
@@ -1205,16 +1205,29 @@ func (s *server) broadcastMessages(
 func (s *server) SendToPeer(target *btcec.PublicKey,
 	msgs ...lnwire.Message) error {
 
-	// Queue the incoming messages in the peer's outgoing message buffer.
-	// We acquire the shared lock here to ensure the peer map doesn't change
-	// from underneath us.
+	// Compute the target peer's identifier.
+	targetPubBytes := target.SerializeCompressed()
+
+	srvrLog.Tracef("Attempting to send msgs %v to: %x",
+		len(msgs), targetPubBytes)
+
+	// Lookup intended target in peersByPub, returning an error to the
+	// caller if the peer is unknown.  Access to peersByPub is synchronized
+	// here to ensure we consider the exact set of peers present at the
+	// time of invocation.
 	s.mu.RLock()
-	targetPeer, errChans, err := s.sendToPeer(target, msgs)
+	targetPeer, err := s.findPeerByPubStr(string(targetPubBytes))
 	s.mu.RUnlock()
-	if err != nil {
+	if err == ErrPeerNotConnected {
+		srvrLog.Errorf("unable to send message to %x, "+
+			"peer is not connected", targetPubBytes)
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// Send messages to the peer and get the error channels that will be
+	// signaled by the peer's write handler.
+	errChans := s.sendPeerMessages(targetPeer, msgs, nil)
+
 	// With the server's shared lock released, we now handle all of the
 	// errors being returned from the target peer's write handler.
 	for _, errChan := range errChans {
@@ -1259,37 +1272,6 @@ func (s *server) NotifyWhenOnline(peer *btcec.PublicKey,
 		s.peerConnectedListeners[pubStr], connectedChan)
 }
 
-// sendToPeer is an internal method that queues the given messages in the
-// outgoing buffer of the specified `target` peer. Upon success, this method
-// returns the peer instance and a slice of error chans that will contain
-// responses from the write handler.
-func (s *server) sendToPeer(target *btcec.PublicKey,
-	msgs []lnwire.Message) (*peer, []chan error, error) {
-
-	// Compute the target peer's identifier.
-	targetPubBytes := target.SerializeCompressed()
-
-	srvrLog.Tracef("Attempting to send msgs %v to: %x",
-		len(msgs), targetPubBytes)
-
-	// Lookup intended target in peersByPub, returning an error to the
-	// caller if the peer is unknown.  Access to peersByPub is synchronized
-	// here to ensure we consider the exact set of peers present at the
-	// time of invocation.
-	targetPeer, err := s.findPeerByPubStr(string(targetPubBytes))
-	if err == ErrPeerNotConnected {
-		srvrLog.Errorf("unable to send message to %x, "+
-			"peer is not connected", targetPubBytes)
-		return nil, nil, err
-	}
-
-	// Send messages to the peer and return the error channels that will be
-	// signaled by the peer's write handler.
-	errChans := s.sendPeerMessages(targetPeer, msgs, nil)
-
-	return targetPeer, errChans, nil
-}
-
 // sendPeerMessages enqueues a list of messages into the outgoingQueue of the
 // `targetPeer`.  This method supports additional broadcast-level
 // synchronization by using the additional `wg` to coordinate a particular