WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.380 As you know, it's the first Sunday of Advent, which is a wonderful time for this church. 00:00:11.060 --> 00:00:13.439 It's a wonderful time for many things. 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:20.740 If you have had a rough 2016, you can give an early goodbye to 2016 if you want. 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:26.000 This is the first day of the new year in the way the church recognizes the year as we start 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:30.579 to look forward again through the events of Jesus' life. 00:00:30.780 --> 00:00:36.240 2016 has been a bit of an unusual year politically, internationally, culturally. 00:00:36.939 --> 00:00:40.019 You may be happy to wave it goodbye, and now is your opportunity. 00:00:41.380 --> 00:00:46.640 Advent, in fact, is a time to look forward, to begin to look forward and to have hope. 00:00:46.679 --> 00:00:50.920 And that's why we'll be doing a sermon series through a few passages in Isaiah. 00:00:52.100 --> 00:00:54.840 Certain hope for uncertain times. 00:00:54.840 --> 00:00:57.900 Certain hope for uncertain times. 00:00:58.600 --> 00:01:00.120 What can be our hope? 00:01:00.220 --> 00:01:08.260 After a year like this, after hearing people banter about politics for so long, 00:01:08.880 --> 00:01:13.580 what kind of a message of hope can possibly speak to our hearts right now? 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:15.500 If you hear words like, 00:01:15.859 --> 00:01:17.480 This is going to be better. 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:20.120 Or, I can make our country amazing. 00:01:20.760 --> 00:01:24.080 Or, you can be anything that you want to be. 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:28.319 At this point, you expect to hear after that, 00:01:29.079 --> 00:01:30.719 Paid for by so-and-so for president. 00:01:32.459 --> 00:01:36.840 Or, if it's a commercial break of some other sort, maybe just do the do. 00:01:36.840 --> 00:01:45.439 But, that kind of hope, by this point, is relatively lost on us, isn't it? 00:01:46.460 --> 00:01:52.240 Because there are certain limits that we have, and we feel it time and again as these kinds of hopes foul us. 00:01:52.280 --> 00:01:56.540 We know that as you hit certain stages in life, certain things are going to happen. 00:01:56.540 --> 00:02:01.219 Between age 30 and 40, your body will slow down. 00:02:01.719 --> 00:02:06.840 You may need to retire from professional football or basketball or what have you. 00:02:07.460 --> 00:02:11.700 When you hit 70, thereabouts, you may need to retire from your job. 00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:14.939 Eventually, your body itself will fail you. 00:02:14.939 --> 00:02:19.359 These parts of the arc of our lives are just going to happen. 00:02:20.599 --> 00:02:21.280 And that's okay. 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:22.359 You know, that's okay. 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:25.099 We can look forward to these other parts of our lives. 00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:28.060 We look across this broad arc of our life. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:33.360 We see things that are more or less most likely going to happen at a certain time. 00:02:33.460 --> 00:02:35.120 Certainly going to happen eventually. 00:02:36.120 --> 00:02:37.099 We can plan our lives. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:38.439 It affects us in certain ways. 00:02:38.439 --> 00:02:39.680 We save for retirement. 00:02:40.379 --> 00:02:46.620 We plan a certain, we have a certain character of living now, knowing what will happen in some ways in the future. 00:02:46.680 --> 00:02:52.280 And as we talk about hope, that's the kind of, that's the kind of arc of life that we're looking across. 00:02:53.139 --> 00:02:58.680 Hope in Jesus Christ looks forward to a certain future. 00:02:58.780 --> 00:03:03.780 A certain future that God will do very specific things in. 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:06.919 But that affects us in certain ways now. 00:03:06.919 --> 00:03:11.139 And so we're going to look across that arc of hope in this sermon series. 00:03:11.239 --> 00:03:17.239 And in particular, tonight, we'll be thinking about the hope of peace. 00:03:18.199 --> 00:03:23.199 Hoping for peace in our hearts, in our lives, in our communities. 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:25.899 I know that's important to you. 00:03:25.959 --> 00:03:27.159 It's important to me as well. 00:03:27.739 --> 00:03:28.979 Let's pray about it for a moment. 00:03:32.139 --> 00:03:35.639 Lord God, we need peace. 00:03:35.639 --> 00:03:38.739 We are anxious. 00:03:39.859 --> 00:03:42.559 We are at war with one another. 00:03:43.699 --> 00:03:45.159 We have conflict. 00:03:45.559 --> 00:03:48.439 And we need you to solve it. 00:03:48.839 --> 00:03:51.299 We need hope that there will be peace. 00:03:51.379 --> 00:03:53.479 We need hope of peace now. 00:03:54.039 --> 00:03:56.879 We pray that you will speak that to us tonight. 00:03:57.879 --> 00:03:58.439 Amen. 00:03:58.439 --> 00:04:04.020 So the passage that we're working with tonight is in Isaiah 2. 00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:08.280 If you have a Bible there, I believe the words may be on the screen as well. 00:04:08.620 --> 00:04:11.280 Just three verses that we're really working with. 00:04:11.340 --> 00:04:15.500 I'm just going to go through them again here to bring them back to the forefront of your mind. 00:04:15.579 --> 00:04:18.259 This is a vision of hope. 00:04:18.259 --> 00:04:26.899 It's something that seems in the future, but it's meant, as we look forward across the arc of life, to affect us right now. 00:04:26.920 --> 00:04:27.779 And here's what it looks like. 00:04:28.120 --> 00:04:32.699 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord, 00:04:32.699 --> 00:04:38.920 this is a great metaphor for God being high above everything, for recognizing God's authority, 00:04:39.019 --> 00:04:46.759 for recognizing him as creator, for recognizing him as the source of all things. 00:04:48.039 --> 00:04:52.180 And this shall be established as the highest of the mountains, shall be lifted above the hills, 00:04:52.360 --> 00:04:56.519 and all the nations shall flow to it, flow up this mountain, 00:04:56.519 --> 00:05:02.839 and many people shall come and say, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, 00:05:03.259 --> 00:05:06.120 that he may teach us his way, this is why they flow to the mountain, 00:05:06.219 --> 00:05:10.579 that he may teach us his ways, and that we may walk in his paths. 00:05:11.659 --> 00:05:16.899 For out of Zion shall go the law, as the nations flowed to the mountain of the Lord, 00:05:16.899 --> 00:05:22.419 and out flows God's law, the word of the Lord, his ways from Jerusalem, 00:05:22.420 --> 00:05:28.259 and he shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples. 00:05:28.759 --> 00:05:32.259 And here's these beautiful words, which I'm sure you've heard at some point. 00:05:32.340 --> 00:05:38.140 They shall beat their swords to plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. 00:05:38.860 --> 00:05:45.960 Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. 00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:47.900 Isn't that beautiful? 00:05:47.899 --> 00:05:56.819 You've heard it sometime, I'm sure, because it's so beautiful that when this verse was originally translated this way 00:05:56.819 --> 00:06:03.299 400 years ago in the King James Bible, they stopped changing it after that point. 00:06:03.419 --> 00:06:05.599 Many other things have changed in the translation of the Bible, 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:11.519 but this verse is basically the same as it was 400 years ago, because of the beauty of that passage. 00:06:12.239 --> 00:06:14.539 Swords to plowshares. 00:06:14.540 --> 00:06:21.600 If you're not sure exactly what a plowshare is, maybe, like myself, you think it has something to do with plowing. 00:06:21.980 --> 00:06:22.640 That's correct. 00:06:23.260 --> 00:06:28.460 A plowshare is sort of the plowy part of a plow that goes in the ground. 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:35.040 A pruning hook hooks onto things to prune them, apparently. 00:06:35.400 --> 00:06:37.060 It's basically a knife for a vine. 00:06:37.580 --> 00:06:39.540 So again, it's an agricultural imagery. 00:06:40.580 --> 00:06:41.600 It cuts a vine. 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:50.460 And it's powerful because for thousands of years, people knew exactly what the opposite of this was. 00:06:51.300 --> 00:07:00.460 Because year after year, as countries went to war, as nations, as kings, as just towns or clans went to war with each other, 00:07:00.520 --> 00:07:03.460 this is exactly the opposite of what they did. 00:07:03.459 --> 00:07:05.799 They took their plowshares. 00:07:06.019 --> 00:07:07.319 They took their pruning hooks. 00:07:07.479 --> 00:07:09.560 They took their hammers and sickles. 00:07:10.219 --> 00:07:11.379 They melted them down. 00:07:11.479 --> 00:07:12.099 They beat them. 00:07:12.159 --> 00:07:14.879 And they forged them into weapons of death. 00:07:14.979 --> 00:07:19.579 They took these tools of life and forged them into weapons of death. 00:07:22.459 --> 00:07:27.459 Swords and spears don't do quite as much good in modern warfare. 00:07:27.459 --> 00:07:41.799 But we are able to reallocate funds in a pretty similar way to build destructive machines that take away life when money could be used to give life. 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:45.560 It's a powerful imagery, isn't it? 00:07:46.139 --> 00:07:49.819 It's something that we do individually on our own also. 00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:52.060 This isn't just governments that do this kind of thing. 00:07:52.280 --> 00:07:57.600 We take our assets and our talents and we convert them. 00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:07.980 We melt them down and we forge them into weapons of domination and self-protection, into tools for war. 00:08:07.980 --> 00:08:11.740 Maybe you have a law degree. 00:08:12.960 --> 00:08:17.480 Have you used that as a license to tear people down with criticism? 00:08:19.840 --> 00:08:24.200 You have some kind of a know-how, something specific that you can do really well. 00:08:25.040 --> 00:08:28.800 Have you used that for you're doing it wrong? 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:40.320 Have you been the beneficiary of a beautiful conservative worldview of rights and property and wealth for many people? 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:51.460 Have you received this wonderful progressive vision of turning around injustices that have been in place for hundreds of years? 00:08:51.460 --> 00:09:11.820 Have you taken those things, those great tools and assets, and used them to silence conversation, to unfollow people on Facebook, to cast blame about who messed things up, whose fault it is, to separate people into the sheep and the goats? 00:09:12.600 --> 00:09:17.660 Have you used your tools of life for war? 00:09:17.659 --> 00:09:20.559 However, I know that I have. 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:22.939 I know that most of us have. 00:09:23.199 --> 00:09:28.500 If you're really honest, if you don't know that you have done this, we all do it unintentionally. 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:31.259 If you're married, ask your spouse. 00:09:31.459 --> 00:09:35.699 If you're not married, ask a close friend, a workout partner, a co-worker. 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:40.079 Sometimes work up the courage and ask an honest question. 00:09:41.139 --> 00:09:42.879 How do I come across to you? 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:50.200 Is there something that you have wanted to say to me that you have left unsaid, you've been scared to say? 00:09:50.840 --> 00:09:57.340 You may be surprised about what tools of life you have turned into weapons of war. 00:09:58.379 --> 00:09:59.639 And it's something that we've all done. 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:06.879 There's this great short story by Jonathan Swift, the writer from the 1700s. 00:10:07.500 --> 00:10:09.860 He wrote that pamphlet, Modest Proposal. 00:10:09.860 --> 00:10:13.139 He has a little short story called The Battle of the Books. 00:10:13.259 --> 00:10:16.680 And there was a debate at that time about, like, you know, what's more important? 00:10:16.820 --> 00:10:23.740 The Greeks and the Romans, the ancient books, the old ones, or the new ones, or new modern philosophers and thinkers? 00:10:24.300 --> 00:10:29.600 And so he wrote this short story in which there's a library and two stacks of books. 00:10:30.120 --> 00:10:39.320 And the books literally, like, get off the shelves and start a war with one another and tear out pages and deface each other and chain each other to the bookshelves. 00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:42.520 It's, like, you know, bizarre satire. 00:10:42.800 --> 00:10:43.520 It's funny. 00:10:45.100 --> 00:10:48.800 But it's, like, exactly what Washington, D.C. feels like. 00:10:49.540 --> 00:10:52.260 Like books going to war with one another, doesn't it? 00:10:53.620 --> 00:10:57.940 People getting advanced degrees in order to tear one another down. 00:10:57.940 --> 00:11:00.740 That's what it feels like to me. 00:11:00.840 --> 00:11:10.520 And yet, in the midst of all of this, in the midst of all that we do, that we fall into again and again, here is this vision that verse 4 ends on. 00:11:11.560 --> 00:11:14.720 Neither shall they learn war anymore. 00:11:16.020 --> 00:11:18.480 Neither shall they learn war anymore. 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:21.620 How can we get to that point? 00:11:22.800 --> 00:11:30.519 We're going to take just a few minutes to try to follow what God has given us in this passage to see how we can get to that point. 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:34.820 Neither, we have a hope that neither shall they learn war anymore. 00:11:35.820 --> 00:11:40.940 In order to do so, I just want to bring your attention to an image that occurs here. 00:11:40.940 --> 00:11:46.080 It's actually a fairly recurrent image in God's word to us. 00:11:46.180 --> 00:11:47.840 It's something you may not have picked up on before. 00:11:47.940 --> 00:11:50.740 It's an image of a mountain and a river. 00:11:51.060 --> 00:11:57.000 There's this image of, like, a metaphor of, like, a mountain that represents God's presence, like we were saying, 00:11:57.240 --> 00:12:00.840 and God's authority being recognized, like a temple on top. 00:12:00.940 --> 00:12:03.400 God's presence is there, recognizing that. 00:12:03.399 --> 00:12:07.559 And then there's this river that comes down from it. 00:12:07.639 --> 00:12:12.279 And the river represents life and God's mission to the whole world. 00:12:12.539 --> 00:12:13.959 The river spreads out to the whole world. 00:12:14.039 --> 00:12:17.000 This happens actually again and again in Scripture. 00:12:17.199 --> 00:12:19.860 The first time is at the very beginning in Genesis. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:26.500 There's this Garden of Eden in the middle of the earth, and a river flows from it. 00:12:26.539 --> 00:12:29.500 The garden is like God's temple because God's presence is there. 00:12:29.500 --> 00:12:33.320 And this river flows out of it, so it must be on high ground. 00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:34.799 Flow goes from high to low, right? 00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:42.000 So the river flows out of it, and it splits into four rivers and waters the entire earth. 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:50.919 And it's sort of a physical picture of God's own charge to humans to go out from the garden, 00:12:50.919 --> 00:13:00.419 to fill the earth, and to spread God's will, and to spread God's ways through the whole earth. 00:13:00.919 --> 00:13:02.419 That's what God wanted us to do. 00:13:02.479 --> 00:13:08.939 And this river was kind of a symbol of that, and life going to the entire earth from God's authority. 00:13:09.799 --> 00:13:13.719 It comes up again sort of in the middle of the Bible, the book of Ezekiel, 00:13:13.860 --> 00:13:15.399 and the prophet has this vision. 00:13:15.500 --> 00:13:17.139 Again, it's a vision of hope going forward. 00:13:17.139 --> 00:13:21.220 There's a temple on a great mountain, and a river comes out of the temple. 00:13:21.580 --> 00:13:23.960 So God's authority on a great mountain, a river comes out. 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:32.019 And this fresh water river, as it comes down and hits the dead sea, highly salty sea, 00:13:32.439 --> 00:13:34.559 it makes the sea into fresh water. 00:13:35.019 --> 00:13:35.939 It's beautiful, isn't it? 00:13:36.419 --> 00:13:37.740 And it says this beautiful line, 00:13:38.500 --> 00:13:42.399 So where the river flows, everything will live. 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:44.740 This isn't just about God's mission anymore. 00:13:44.740 --> 00:13:46.039 This is about God's healing. 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:52.340 Trees along the side of the river, they come up with fruit. 00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:57.419 Not only do they come up once with fruit, but every month there's a new crop of fruit in the trees. 00:13:58.659 --> 00:14:01.200 God bring his life to bring healing to us. 00:14:01.259 --> 00:14:05.720 One more time, at the very end of the Bible, in the book of Revelation, same thing. 00:14:06.100 --> 00:14:10.320 There is a city on a mountain, and God's throne is there. 00:14:10.320 --> 00:14:12.400 It's his presence, his authority. 00:14:12.800 --> 00:14:15.900 And from there, a river flows, the water of life. 00:14:16.160 --> 00:14:19.440 Again, there's the trees with fruit that comes every month. 00:14:19.879 --> 00:14:26.840 And there's this tree of life there, whose leaves are said to be for the healing of the nations. 00:14:28.140 --> 00:14:29.000 It's beautiful. 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:31.379 And again, we have it here. 00:14:32.120 --> 00:14:33.580 In Isaiah 2, verse 2. 00:14:33.580 --> 00:14:41.879 It shall come to pass in those latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:44.360 His authority shall be lifted above the hills. 00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:45.820 Only here's the reverse. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:50.379 Instead of a river flowing out, here's a river flowing up the mountain. 00:14:50.920 --> 00:14:54.220 And the nations shall flow to it. 00:14:54.220 --> 00:15:04.519 The nations who have been at war, the nations who have been in combat to fight and to destroy and to turn their plowshares into swords, 00:15:04.980 --> 00:15:10.399 need to come back up the mountain to be restored by God. 00:15:12.279 --> 00:15:14.540 And finally, at the end of verse 3 here, 00:15:14.860 --> 00:15:16.779 Out of Zion shall go the law. 00:15:16.779 --> 00:15:23.420 This is the sort of unmetaphored image of what's going on. 00:15:24.700 --> 00:15:26.560 The river always represented this. 00:15:26.800 --> 00:15:29.720 Out of Zion shall go the law and the word of the Lord. 00:15:29.820 --> 00:15:31.779 The ways of God coming out of there. 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:35.480 And only then will the nations, will the whole world have peace. 00:15:36.740 --> 00:15:38.060 It's an amazing set of images. 00:15:38.200 --> 00:15:39.060 It's a lot, isn't it? 00:15:40.279 --> 00:15:41.399 So what are we going to do with that? 00:15:41.540 --> 00:15:43.560 What are we going to do with that vision of hope? 00:15:43.560 --> 00:15:46.519 Of recognizing God's authority and life coming from that. 00:15:46.740 --> 00:15:49.100 For the whole world, which brings peace to everybody. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:50.000 An end of conflict. 00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:53.200 What are we going to do with that vision of hope? 00:15:54.220 --> 00:15:58.840 I think that there's only one thing that we can do with it this Advent season. 00:15:59.560 --> 00:16:04.700 With this great image in mind, let me read to you these words from Jesus. 00:16:04.700 --> 00:16:07.080 Jesus said, 00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:09.420 I am the bread of life. 00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:11.960 He who comes to me shall not hunger. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:13.820 Jesus said, 00:16:14.040 --> 00:16:16.340 I am the light of the world. 00:16:16.460 --> 00:16:22.100 He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. 00:16:23.040 --> 00:16:25.620 I am the resurrection and the life. 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:29.220 I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:16:29.220 --> 00:16:31.279 Jesus is the life. 00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:32.879 Jesus is the river. 00:16:33.040 --> 00:16:36.860 Jesus is what this river was representing in this metaphor all along. 00:16:37.019 --> 00:16:39.139 Life being given to the whole world. 00:16:39.940 --> 00:16:45.620 Jesus is life from God because Jesus is from God. 00:16:46.279 --> 00:16:48.360 That's what Jesus was talking about when he said, 00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:53.700 Whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:17:01.639 The water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:06.059 This is what Jesus Christ has come to do. 00:17:06.700 --> 00:17:08.740 To be a river of new life. 00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:11.039 To pour forth across the earth. 00:17:11.299 --> 00:17:12.480 To end conflict. 00:17:12.839 --> 00:17:13.920 To give new life. 00:17:14.039 --> 00:17:16.099 To draw the nations to himself. 00:17:16.099 --> 00:17:22.959 Have you been forging weapons of war in your life? 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:28.219 Have you been turning your tools of life into weapons of death? 00:17:28.339 --> 00:17:32.359 Jesus has come to turn swords to plowshares. 00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:35.679 Jesus has come to turn your swords to plowshares. 00:17:36.339 --> 00:17:37.439 Are you exhausted? 00:17:37.959 --> 00:17:43.299 Jesus has come to give a new, refreshing, fresh water to you. 00:17:43.299 --> 00:17:46.220 Do you feel like a dead sea? 00:17:47.019 --> 00:17:53.419 Do you feel like you're stagnant and nothing's moving and nothing's happening in your life? 00:17:54.220 --> 00:17:57.899 Jesus is fresh water to make you fresh again. 00:17:58.940 --> 00:18:01.619 Do you feel lost and searching? 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:08.740 Jesus shows you the way to the high mountain that will direct your paths. 00:18:08.740 --> 00:18:13.480 Have you tasted, have you tasted God's goodness before? 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:15.740 But it has been so long. 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:19.120 It has been so long since you've tasted that goodness. 00:18:20.539 --> 00:18:27.940 Jesus is able to produce new fruit again and again every month for us. 00:18:27.940 --> 00:18:33.599 For us to taste the goodness of God and spread that productivity throughout our lives. 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:40.859 Are you lost in a sea of combat among your co-workers and among your family that simply will not end? 00:18:41.159 --> 00:18:45.939 Jesus has come to bring peace to the world and to your life. 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:55.519 If Jesus has come to bring that peace then, how then shall we be seekers of peace ourselves? 00:18:55.939 --> 00:18:58.439 Jesus has come for us to have peace. 00:18:58.440 --> 00:19:02.640 How can we be seekers of peace in Christ? 00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:08.680 We're going to conclude with just a few short answers to that question. 00:19:10.440 --> 00:19:13.220 How do we seek peace in Jesus? 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:15.779 One, here's the first one. 00:19:16.700 --> 00:19:25.220 Seeking peace is new life from Jesus as we are molded by God's ways. 00:19:25.220 --> 00:19:33.900 Seeking peace is new life in Jesus as we are molded by God's ways. 00:19:34.140 --> 00:19:41.600 That was the vision as the nations flow to Jesus, flow to God up the mountain. 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:45.480 That he may teach us his ways, that we may walk in his paths. 00:19:45.559 --> 00:19:46.539 That's the whole point. 00:19:46.940 --> 00:19:49.620 That we will be molded by God's ways. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:51.600 There are many ways for us to do this. 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:54.420 To simply read scripture on our own. 00:19:54.420 --> 00:19:59.440 Not only to read it, but ask ourselves questions every time that we read it. 00:19:59.500 --> 00:20:02.019 To ask, how does this impact me now? 00:20:02.200 --> 00:20:04.519 What might God be speaking to me now? 00:20:04.560 --> 00:20:07.360 What part of my life is affected by this now? 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:12.800 We should ask our friends, how might God be changing my life now? 00:20:13.539 --> 00:20:15.820 In what way am I being formed now? 00:20:16.039 --> 00:20:19.300 We should be asking our pastors and our small group leaders, 00:20:19.800 --> 00:20:22.620 what might God be doing in my life now? 00:20:22.619 --> 00:20:27.699 This is how we learn God's ways within us. 00:20:28.699 --> 00:20:30.439 How else do we seek peace in Christ? 00:20:31.899 --> 00:20:39.479 Two, seeking peace is drawing others to the mountain of the Lord. 00:20:40.259 --> 00:20:45.779 Seeking peace is drawing others to the mountain of the Lord. 00:20:45.779 --> 00:20:47.920 This was the whole vision, wasn't it? 00:20:48.119 --> 00:20:51.839 The nations come flowing like a river up the mountain. 00:20:53.240 --> 00:20:57.759 Because the nations, the peoples, all of those around us need peace. 00:20:57.859 --> 00:20:58.500 They know it. 00:20:58.720 --> 00:20:59.259 We know it. 00:20:59.319 --> 00:21:00.480 We all need peace. 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:03.019 And if we are going to be seekers of peace, 00:21:03.259 --> 00:21:05.799 we need to draw others to the mountain of the Lord. 00:21:05.799 --> 00:21:07.379 Because they need life and healing. 00:21:07.380 --> 00:21:10.560 They need to learn God's ways. 00:21:11.980 --> 00:21:14.720 This can be embarrassing sometimes. 00:21:15.340 --> 00:21:16.620 Let me just encourage you. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:22.060 Let me encourage you that there are many opportunities to do so. 00:21:22.140 --> 00:21:25.280 I was at the doctor just the other day. 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:27.899 And the nurse who was seeing me. 00:21:28.180 --> 00:21:32.700 And she's trying to distract me as she's sticking various things in the back of my throat. 00:21:33.339 --> 00:21:35.579 And she asked me what my interests are. 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:37.200 She asked me, are you religious? 00:21:37.500 --> 00:21:38.899 I'm like, yeah. 00:21:39.259 --> 00:21:41.500 And she asked, oh, so what religion? 00:21:42.279 --> 00:21:42.680 Christianity. 00:21:42.680 --> 00:21:42.840 Christianity. 00:21:43.740 --> 00:21:46.420 And she keeps on asking me as she's looking around in my face. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:50.259 And what kind of, you know, was it Catholic or something? 00:21:50.340 --> 00:21:51.120 I'm like, oh, Anglican. 00:21:51.240 --> 00:21:51.759 What's that? 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:55.920 And so, you know, I'm trying to explain while she sticks something in the back of my throat. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:57.519 And I'm half gagging. 00:21:58.759 --> 00:22:01.240 And so I'm like, all right, you know, I've got something. 00:22:01.600 --> 00:22:03.259 Let's just push on this and see where it goes. 00:22:03.380 --> 00:22:05.539 I was helping preach at this church recently. 00:22:06.420 --> 00:22:07.940 And she's like, oh, that's interesting. 00:22:07.940 --> 00:22:13.600 And then she sticks a swab so far up my nose that she's got a culture of my prefrontal cortex. 00:22:14.680 --> 00:22:16.660 And then basically just walks out of the room. 00:22:17.019 --> 00:22:19.900 And, you know, nothing happened of that conversation. 00:22:20.039 --> 00:22:31.299 But when that happened, it made me think just like, man, it's so easy to work up these conversations, you know, to try to gather up all this courage. 00:22:31.299 --> 00:22:32.019 But you know what? 00:22:32.099 --> 00:22:39.980 Most people, for most people, it is actually entirely comfortable to say a few words about religion and God and move on. 00:22:40.139 --> 00:22:42.480 It's not that big of a deal for most people. 00:22:42.659 --> 00:22:44.839 Sometimes someone just walks out of the room. 00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:50.759 Sometimes it goes somewhere and you have an opportunity to be an emissary of peace. 00:22:52.579 --> 00:22:54.759 Thank you for entertaining that disgusting story. 00:22:55.259 --> 00:22:57.319 But it was an encouragement to me. 00:22:57.919 --> 00:23:00.879 Third point, how do we seek peace in Christ? 00:23:01.820 --> 00:23:02.940 And this is a difficult one. 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:03.740 This is complicated. 00:23:05.040 --> 00:23:08.120 We have this great vision of peace, of what will be. 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:14.380 As we look across the arc of our lives, the arc of history, and this impacts us in so many ways right now, 00:23:14.740 --> 00:23:18.940 peace is a major concern for us because it's part of our entire lives. 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:21.460 It's what this vision is, peace. 00:23:23.140 --> 00:23:24.220 We have this vision. 00:23:24.220 --> 00:23:28.000 So does this mean, like, we can never, like, argue with someone? 00:23:28.100 --> 00:23:30.060 Does this mean, like, we can't confront someone? 00:23:30.059 --> 00:23:34.539 Does this mean, you know, we have to be a pacifist because of this? 00:23:35.659 --> 00:23:37.679 And I think the answer is this. 00:23:37.879 --> 00:23:44.819 Sometimes the Bible, especially in the Sermon on the Mount, makes strong statements in order to draw us to peace. 00:23:45.319 --> 00:23:47.519 But sometimes it recognizes the complexity. 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:50.980 And so I think the answer is this. 00:23:50.980 --> 00:23:57.059 For us now, peace is not an expectation, but it is a way of life. 00:23:58.059 --> 00:24:05.639 Peace is not always for us now an expectation of what will happen, but it is a way of life for us. 00:24:05.640 --> 00:24:09.960 There's this great verse in the book of Romans. 00:24:10.680 --> 00:24:15.940 It's an exhortation to peace, but it totally recognizes the difficulty we have in actually pursuing peace. 00:24:16.020 --> 00:24:16.240 It says, 00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:24.200 Like those qualifiers. 00:24:24.200 --> 00:24:29.019 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live in peace. 00:24:29.019 --> 00:24:32.220 This is the whole way that you should walk. 00:24:32.220 --> 00:24:37.059 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you. 00:24:37.140 --> 00:24:41.200 There is only so much you can do with the results. 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:47.759 But there is so much that you can do in the way that you walk your life out. 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:51.200 There are many things that you can do. 00:24:52.319 --> 00:25:00.660 You can seek peace by seeking new life in Jesus, day in and day out, to be molded by God's ways. 00:25:00.740 --> 00:25:05.920 You can seek peace by drawing others to the mountain of the Lord. 00:25:06.680 --> 00:25:09.779 It is complicated, but it is a way of life. 00:25:11.379 --> 00:25:15.559 In conclusion here, our world needs peace. 00:25:15.799 --> 00:25:17.240 Our country needs peace. 00:25:17.240 --> 00:25:19.660 Our souls need peace. 00:25:20.559 --> 00:25:22.000 Our families need peace. 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:24.640 We all probably recognized that this past Thursday. 00:25:25.640 --> 00:25:33.779 We have a wonderful hope of peace because of Jesus Christ that informs us, even now, 00:25:34.299 --> 00:25:41.880 that this great consummation vision of peace, swords to plowshares, affects us even now. 00:25:42.019 --> 00:25:43.960 It's a way of living even now. 00:25:43.960 --> 00:25:45.180 So let's take this. 00:25:45.180 --> 00:25:50.240 Let's take this as an asset and as a tool of life, peace and hope. 00:25:50.840 --> 00:25:53.080 Let's not forge it into just another bludgeon. 00:25:53.799 --> 00:26:00.759 It's easy to take things in the Bible and Christianity and to forge them into bludgeons against people as positions. 00:26:00.759 --> 00:26:05.980 Let's keep it as a tool of peace and hope. 00:26:05.980 --> 00:26:15.140 Let's keep it as a tool of life, peace and hope, and use it to bear with people, just as Christ has borne with us in our difficulties, with a humble and an open hand. 00:26:15.140 --> 00:26:22.400 As the poet Robert Frost has said, to be social is to be forgiving. 00:26:23.660 --> 00:26:26.140 So let us forgive and live in peace. 00:26:27.040 --> 00:26:27.280 Amen.