Living Towards Peace

The following video transcript has been lightly edited

 Hi, today as we celebrated Advent, we lit the peace candle. I don't know about you, but peace is always something that I desire in my life, but feels like it's a wrestle to get there. No matter who you are, I think that each of us as individuals have things that prevent peace from being there. Whether it's something physical or something mental, something emotional. Something relational. And that's true about our families and our workplaces. Peace seems like something that comes and goes, but at times the friction that exists for us as human beings.

Then I think when we look even beyond that in our community and our world, we see all kinds of brokenness and hurt and pain and strife, and so while we all desire peace, it can feel sometimes far away.

This week what I want to talk to you about is I wanna talk to you about how peace can be something that we experience, not because we ignore all of the brokenness and suffering, nor because it will all go away, but rather because the vision that God offers us up from the prophet Isaiah is a vision for a future, which when we understand that that future is coming and has already begun in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

Then we can lean into that and experience peace in the midst of the challenges of life. So in Isaiah 11, Isaiah is telling a future vision in which God will come, that there will be a person who sees rightly. That leads with wisdom and understanding and justice, and it'll be good for the poor and the meek.

It'll be bad for the wicked, and the vision ultimately is one in which there's no more war. There's no more division. The lion will lay with the lamb. There'll be a sense of wholeness to the whole world.

And while we wait for that, I think we can lean in to that kind of peace through three things. One, we can rest in God's ability to bring restoration. Two, we can trust that God will ultimately bring justice. And three, that death does not have the final reign. And so as we engage each of these in different habits and behaviors, I think we can experience peace in our own life. So when we think about God's ability to bring rest and restoration, one of the things that I think brings anxiety or unsettledness in our life is we know we're not in control of everything. We know we can't fix everything. We know at times, we don't have all of what it takes to get it done. And so we have this sense of uncertainty. But what Isaiah sketches out is that that's not something we have to be afraid of, but rather that God will bring restoration. And we see that power in Christ's ability to conquer death.

So the God of the universe comes into human history. That's what we celebrate in Christmas, but instead of losing to death he conquers death through the resurrection. And so that gives us this hope of this promised future. And so you and I, as we pursue restoration in the lives around us, can experience peace ourselves because in the midst of that, we get lost in thinking about ourselves and wrestling with ourselves and being worried about ourselves.

We'd rather get caught up in the transcendent. Let me give you an example. The other day I was at the grocery store and I'm standing in line and this, you know, nice little old lady in front of me says, my, you're tall. And I never really know what to say to that because it is true that I'm tall. Is that a compliment? Is that just a reality? Should I say, Hey, you're very observant. Anyway, I think I said thank you. And she said, you know, and you're also really big. And I was like, yeah, I, I guess I am big. And I thought to myself, well, you've been doing some work on that size over Thanksgiving and holidays are coming up and you are naturally a big guy. So that, I guess that's just how it all goes. Anyway, as she was being checked out, she asked the cashier if he could open the Tostitos jar for her because she lives alone. And if she gets home and no one opens it for her, she doesn't have anyone to open it. Well, the cashier couldn't do it, so of course this sweet old lady looks at me and she's like, I bet you he could do it.

He's huge. And so sure enough, I could open the tos jar of salsa. As I checked out and left, I thought to myself, you know, it's really interesting because this woman was telling me about how tall I was and asking for help with the Tostitos jar, really, just because I thought, you know, she goes home and she's alone, and this was a chance for her to create connection. That's what she wanted. And my willingness to participate in that maybe more fully than I otherwise would, gives her an experience of restoration.

See, that's a beautiful thing as the scriptures say in Isaiah, there's a stump that is Israel and our world can feel like a stump, but a shoot and a branch come out of that stump. And that's God's faithfulness. That's God bringing about restoration even when there isn't any or what doesn't feel like there's any insight. And so as you and I sort of have that vision to see in that second level, we get to participate in restoration. And as we participate in restoration, we will find ourselves experiencing peace because we'll see the wholeness, the goodness, the connectedness in the world. So we wanna rest in God's ability to bring restoration.

And second, what we want to do is we want to trust in God's ability to bring justice. So it's NBA basketball time, and NBA refs sometimes get the calls wrong. And now because of instant replay, we can watch them again. And sometimes NBA players don't believe they've committed a foul or they believe they've been fouled and they ask for a replay only to be shown that they have not.

Isaiah tells us the person who will come will not be fooled. That they don't just see with their eyes and the ears what they see with their heart. You know, our world is filled with injustice. And the truth is, you and I sometimes perpetrate injustice, and other times we are the receivers of injustice.

And that is a really difficult thing for us as a human being, and it steals our peace because we want things to be fair. As soon as we're little, we begin to say, well, that's not fair or that is fair. And yet we can also be honest enough to admit that we have a much keener sense of when something isn't fair to us.

And we do have when it's not fair for others. And so one of the things we do is we pursue this future justice where the world is set right, and the wicked are punished and the meek are taken care of, and the poor are taken care of, and things are set right. By pursuing that now. And that's why every year around this time, we raise money for our three local partners because they're doing that work of justice out in the community, and we get to participate and join in.

And so what are the ways that you might be able to bring peace in your family, in your workplace? Because as you pursue righting wrongs and, and allowing for there to be peace in your relationships and your workplace, you yourself will experience it because rather than holding on to being right or what is fair, you trust that God will be the one who brings justice and fairness.

And as you let go of some things and maybe pick up some other things, there's a chance for connectedness that you wouldn't otherwise have. So what could that look like for you this week? Engage that to experience peace.

Finally, what we want to do is we want to deny death's reign. And by that, I think one of the things we can do is we can just celebrate the vision that Isaiah sketches out for us is one in which the lion and the lamb will be together, that there'll be no more hurt, there'll be no more destruction, there'll be no more division.

And when we read that, it just makes sense to us. 'cause it feels like that's what the world should be like. I think one of the things we can do in the midst of the broken world that we live in to anticipate that future is to celebrate the good now. So we deny death by celebrating life, and that's in the best way what this season can be all about.

As you enter into your Christmas parties and your holiday gatherings and you maybe decorate the tree with your family. See all of these as opportunities to celebrate life because God has come and the person of Christ has arrived into human history so that we might have life and have it to the full.

And his death and resurrection, he has defeated death and that one day that will be completely wiped away. And so we look forward to that day. It has begun, but it is not here yet. And so while we wrestle in the darkness, there's light in the future. And as you and I make choices to celebrate life, the little things in the big things, we're denying death at the as the ultimate reality.

So with that, as you go through this week and the hustle and bustle and all the strain and stress, and you feel peace slipping away, remind yourself that a future is coming in, which all things are set right. And so you can rest in that restoration and pursue it with others. You can know that God will bring about justice so you don't have to clinging to it, and ultimately you can deny death's reign by celebrating life.

Hope you have a great week and look forward to celebrating Advent and the Christmas season with you. Take care.