WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:22.480 Okay, here's the problem with introductions. 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:25.359 I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit. 00:00:26.239 --> 00:00:27.519 So over the top. 00:00:27.679 --> 00:00:29.440 Give me a break. 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:32.479 But I do, do love Ryan. 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:48.240 I am so glad to be here this morning because I was helping at the beginning of when Awakenings was forming, and Ryan invited me to go with a small group of you down to Aptos area, and we did a weekend retreat on building community. 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:51.759 And it's just fun to see now, years later, what's happened. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:53.439 And Ryan was hilarious. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:59.600 So all through the weekend, we're teaching about relationships and community and how long it takes. 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:04.319 And at the end of the retreat, he prayed, God, would you microwave our community? 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:06.719 I'm like, were you listening at all? 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:08.799 But it's just really fun to be here. 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:22.400 And I'm excited to step into your series on the Sermon on the Mount and spend a little bit of time this morning talking about blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God. 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:30.159 And I don't know about you, but after these last couple years, I could use a little more peace. 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:40.959 And what I'd love for you to do this morning as I'm talking is to just think about in your own life, where is a place that you could apply this to this morning? 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:44.079 Where are you feeling the need for peace? 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:50.159 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:56.319 Now, what's really important to understand is the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes. 00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:05.200 This wasn't a list of one-line adages that if you do each one of them, something amazing happens. 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:08.319 It's not at all what Jesus was doing here. 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:17.520 Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and in the Beatitudes was painting a picture of what life was meant to be. 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:24.319 It is a sweeping view of a place you never thought existed. 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:35.599 It is an invitation to look at the kingdom of God and to choose it over the world that we live in and integrate and bring the two together. 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:41.199 I think one of the big problems is that you and I were created for a perfect world. 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:43.199 That's in our DNA. 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:45.439 And we live in a broken world. 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:49.680 And I tell God all the time, this was not one of your best ideas. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:52.560 It's really hard to live in between those two. 00:02:52.719 --> 00:03:02.000 To have been woven into the fabric of our lives is Eden, and we are trying to recover it ever since it broke. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:12.479 That Eden is lost, and its loveliness remains in our hearts and in our imaginations, and we're always trying to find our way back. 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:19.759 So Jesus is painting a picture to say these aren't little adages to try to improve yourself. 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:23.680 This is a picture of Eden restored. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:30.800 And there ought to be a gravitational pull in us because of this DNA that, like, this is how I want to live. 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:42.639 I'm gonna date myself here, but is there anybody in the room that remake remembers a movie from 1971 called Soylent Green? 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:47.919 Yes! Three of us. 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:52.000 Okay, let me tell you a little bit about Soylent Green. 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:55.680 I'm gonna probably name two actors you have no idea of Charlton Heston, Edward G. 00:03:55.840 --> 00:03:56.639 Robinson. 00:03:56.800 --> 00:03:59.439 It was an apocalyptic movie. 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:02.479 Yep, they were doing those back, even back in the 70s. 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:06.400 And the world had turned gray and dark and awful. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:08.719 People had to live cramped together. 00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:12.000 There was no color, there was no life on Earth. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:16.720 They ate a paste called Soylent Green to keep nutrition up. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:21.360 It was like a nuclear holocaust had happened. 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:22.079 And Edward G. 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:26.000 Robinson and Charlton Heston lived together in this little apartment. 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:31.279 And one day, Charlton Heston came home looking for Edward G. 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:33.360 Robinson and he wasn't there. 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:43.040 And part of what happened in the government, in whatever country this was supposed to be, is they had a program of euthanasia because they needed to get less people on the earth. 00:04:43.120 --> 00:04:51.120 So if you were old, you could opt to go into the hospital, be hooked up to an IV, and over 10 minutes pass away. 00:04:51.839 --> 00:05:07.120 And when you did, you would lie on a gurney in a surround sound theater, much like this, with screens all the way around you, and to the haunting strings of Vivaldi, they would show pictures of the earth when it was magnificent. 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:15.839 And there were rushing brooks and beautiful mountains with snow on them, and crashing waves and deer coming out to eat in a valley, and Edward G. 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:22.879 Robinson is lying on that gurney watching it beaming with tears in his eyes. 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:34.319 Charlton Heston begins to think, I bet he's gone to the hospital, and he starts to run fast and he runs into the room to stop the procedure from happening, and he is stopped dead in his tracks. 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:37.360 And he is right next to Edward G. 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:44.000 Robinson and he's leaning over and he's looking at the screens and his mouth drops open and he freezes. 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:47.360 Because he never saw the world that way. 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:48.160 Edward G. 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:50.319 Robinson was old enough to be remembering. 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:57.199 And then there's this great scene where he just shakes his head from side to side and says, I had no idea. 00:05:58.399 --> 00:05:59.839 I had no idea. 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:06.399 And I remember watching that, I don't even think I was in high school yet. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:09.600 And being so captivated by that moment. 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:12.879 I have that screenshot picture of Charlton Heston on my phone. 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:17.439 Because this passage that we're reading isn't a list of do's and don'ts. 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:21.360 It's not a map to a behavioral modification program. 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:26.240 It's an invitation to understand this is the way God made the world to work. 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:34.560 And if you fully understand the kingdom of God, your mouth will open and you will shake your head and say, I had no idea. 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:42.160 Spoiler alert, Sorlent Green, the paste they eat, is actually made out of dead people, but that's a whole nother sermon, so we won't go there. 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:44.879 Now y'all are gonna watch it, aren't you? 00:06:46.399 --> 00:07:03.199 So in this passage, Jesus is painting a picture and using the Hebrew and the Greek word shalom, which they would use to greet people like a hello, but it is such a rich word. 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:07.279 It really is a word that's depicted in soil and green. 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:19.920 It is, according to Cornelius Planiga, who's a Christian philosopher, shalom is this universal flourishing, wholeness and delight, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:24.720 In other words, the way things ought to be. 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:32.879 And I think it's really important this morning as we unpack what does it mean to be a peacemaker, that it sits in that context. 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:37.600 And when we do this work of peacemaking, it is divine work that we're doing. 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:39.839 It reflects the nature of who God is. 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:46.800 It reminds us that this is God's deepest desire, is for peace on earth. 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:53.120 So often in Paul's letters to the churches, he opens them up saying greetings from the God of peace and love and hope. 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:57.360 And he closes them describing God as a God of peace. 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:01.920 So for a minute, let's consider the words of Jesus. 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:06.160 Not just this one verse, but what he had to say throughout the Gospels. 00:08:07.759 --> 00:08:10.000 Blessed are the peacemakers. 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:15.680 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:18.800 No, I tell you, I came to bring division. 00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:22.240 Father against son, mother against daughter. 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:26.720 Blessed are the peacemakers. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:37.679 Upon reaching the temple, Jesus began to drive out all those who were buying and selling and overturned the temples, the benches and the tables in the temple. 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:41.200 Blessed are the peacemakers. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:46.480 Jesus looked around in great distress and anger at them. 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:50.000 How do we put all this together? 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:51.759 What does it mean to be a peacemaker? 00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:55.759 It's not as simple as we might think. 00:08:56.799 --> 00:09:00.639 Because Jesus said those words, but he also said the other words that I read. 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:05.919 So we're going to spend just a few minutes unpacking what does it mean to be a peacemaker? 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:10.399 It doesn't mean to be a peacekeeper. 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:12.720 There's a big difference. 00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:24.799 Peacekeeping often involves being passive, being avoidant, creating pseudo-harmony. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:45.840 And here's the danger here is because we gravitate in that direction, we begin to have spiritual formation in following Jesus at an incredibly superficial level in our lives that doesn't withstand the trials because it's just veneer. 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:51.840 Under the guise of being spiritual, we will not say something when we ought to say something. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:10:06.080 We will make it our fault and say, it just must be me, and we won't move towards the other person to engage in the kind of difficult but restorative conversations that Jesus had over and over and over again. 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:18.320 And then we end up with pretend community and pseudo-harmony, and we wonder why, way down deep inside of us, we're not satisfied with following Jesus. 00:10:18.559 --> 00:10:20.960 We're not called to be peacekeepers. 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:24.080 We're called to be peacemakers. 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:26.399 And there is a big difference. 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:28.879 Couple of things about being a peacemaker. 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:36.559 Anytime you make something, furniture or bread, there are multi-step processes to it. 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:39.919 It's not very simply just a one-and-done type of thing. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:11:00.080 So if we are going to engage in the work of being peacekeepers, we have to be committed to a process that has many steps that will incall us to engage and confront and discuss and to move away and give space and time and reflect and to move back together again. 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:02.240 It's a process. 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:35.120 And this isn't just with each other, this is with God. 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:44.639 A few years ago at the church we were a part of on the peninsula, I did a sermon one weekend on the book of Psalm. 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:50.000 And it was fascinating because the word Psalms in Hebrew means praise. 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:57.919 But numerically, there are two-thirds more Psalms of Lament than Psalms of Praise. 00:11:58.639 --> 00:11:59.440 What does that mean? 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:05.679 I think what it means is the way to get to authentic praise is through lament. 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:11.840 Because then the praise is real and it's deep, it's guttural. 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:13.600 It will see you through. 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:16.320 It's not chirpy and mindless. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:24.399 And to that end, I don't know if this church does this, but back when I was growing up, we did something in church called responsive readings. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:27.279 Probably the same people that watch Soil and Green will know what I'm talking about. 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:33.120 But they would put psalms up on the screen or in your program and you would stand up and you would read them aloud. 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:37.440 And they always, every single time, pick the chirpy psalms. 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:41.519 Praise God with the harps and the lyres, for God is good. 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:48.720 And so when I was preaching on Psalms to make this point about lament, I had everybody stand up and we read three Psalms out loud together as a congregation. 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:52.639 May my enemy melt like a snail on a hot summer day. 00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:57.279 May my enemy's teeth fall out of his head. 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:04.240 May my enemy's first child be stillborn. 00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:08.559 This too is the word of the Lord. 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:10.799 What do we do with that? 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:13.759 We commit ourselves to a process. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:16.399 And that's what it means too to follow Jesus. 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:20.480 That the older you get, it doesn't get easier. 00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:24.399 You get invited into deeper and deeper levels. 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:35.600 So if we're going to be peacemakers, if this church awakenings is going to be a shining light in the Bay Area for people who are peacemakers, we have to be committed to a process. 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:43.679 Another step in anything that you make is there will be difficulties and mistakes along the way. 00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:46.159 It's tough. 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:51.440 And most of us, if we're really honest, want things to go really well the first time out. 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:55.039 And when they don't, we're not quite sure what to do with it all. 00:13:55.840 --> 00:13:59.200 There will be difficulties and mistakes, you will be misunderstood. 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:03.600 You will do something wrong that you need to apologize for. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:55.039 That unity around Jesus for us as Christians is primary and it is the apex, and everything else that we agree or disagree on is secondary and tertiary. 00:15:55.519 --> 00:15:58.240 And we have lost that ability. 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:01.519 And Jesus said, hearken back to the people I chose. 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:03.679 I was trying to send you a message. 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:10.000 I can't even imagine Jesus walking in between these two guys, going down the road and listening to them, bicker. 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:13.120 And yet Jesus said, I want you on my team. 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:21.039 There will be difficulties and setbacks and mistakes that you made, and that will be part of your spiritual journey. 00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:24.000 I don't think Christians apologize enough. 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:34.879 I think at work, I think in your homes, in your friendships, if you're not saying a genuine I'm sorry, I was wrong three to five times a week, you're not even close. 00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:44.720 The truth is every single day we make mistakes, but when we don't own it, we disrupt the foundation of what could be a peacemaking process. 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:48.559 And so to own these difficulties and mistakes along the way. 00:16:48.720 --> 00:17:11.440 One of the things Ryan mentioned was that for about 11 years, I worked with an author and a business consultant named Patrick Lancioni, and he does corporate consulting, has this great framework, and he talks about how do you build trust on a team so that you can engage in conflict, which is necessary so you can make great decisions, so you can hold people accountable and get the results you're looking for. 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:13.359 It's just a lovely model. 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:18.079 But it includes conflict on the way to peace. 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:38.000 I remember in 2008, and I don't usually remember the year, but it was in the middle of the downturn in the economy, and my partner and I were working with a young team, and they had grown during that year 33% of revenue, which was pretty unheard of during 2008. 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:39.440 So I remember it pretty clearly. 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:43.440 Very young team, and they had been working together pretty well. 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:50.559 The first day of the offsite, we went through those five things that I just went through with you and talked them through. 00:17:50.880 --> 00:18:03.440 And what's funny about being a business consultant is that usually by lunchtime on the first day, everybody on the team has found a way to pull you aside to let you know who the problem on the team is. 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:07.200 In 11 years of consulting, it was never them. 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:13.200 I never once had somebody come up and say, you know, you're gonna find this out sooner rather than later, but I'm the problem on the team. 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:15.039 Nope, nope, nope. 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:20.319 I used to have a refrigerator magnet uh up that said, I didn't say you were wrong, I said I was going to blame you. 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:24.559 I'm just looking for somebody, it can be your fault, not mine. 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:36.400 And so Kent, my fellow consultant and I at lunch, you know, gathered together and, you know, on the count of three, said, and sure enough, this girl named Lisa, everybody on the team said Lisa was the problem. 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:40.880 So we kind of tucked that in the back of our mind, went through how do you deal with conflict. 00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:43.519 The second day we were working on strategy. 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:52.319 And Steve, the youngest member of the team, probably in his late 20s, was sitting in his chair, but he looked like a volcano ready to erupt. 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:54.480 And I had no idea why. 00:18:54.720 --> 00:19:03.119 And then Lisa started talking about a strategic decision that they were thinking about making, and he just interrupted her and blurted out in front of the whole team. 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:06.000 Lisa, you're a jerk, you never get your work done on time. 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:13.359 And I'm thinking, oh, that's not exactly what we meant when we talked about having conflict yesterday. 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:18.880 And I kind of froze a little bit, like, I'm not sure what to do right now. 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:24.880 So my, and I'm also thinking, we're not gonna get paid, they're gonna ask us to leave. 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:30.480 My coworker, Kent, who is sometimes I would put my fingers up to his neck to see if he had a pulse. 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:33.680 Like he was just the most calm person all the time. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:38.880 So he just kind of slowly unfolds his six foot five body and chuckles. 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:41.839 Well, that was interesting. 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:48.559 And then he said, Is Steve right? 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:51.680 And everybody just immediately looked at their feet. 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:55.279 When you're a consultant and people are looking at your toes, you know, you just hit pay dirt. 00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:57.839 You must dwell in that moment right there. 00:19:58.079 --> 00:19:59.680 Nobody would look at him. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:07.519 And he said, Well, he just said something pretty full of passion that she doesn't get her work done on time. 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:10.160 I think we need to know, is that true? 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:12.720 And so here's what I'm gonna ask you to do. 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:15.359 I'm gonna ask every one of you to answer me yes or no. 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:17.599 I don't want a story, I don't want an explanation. 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:20.079 Do you agree or disagree with what he just said? 00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:23.119 And I'm thinking, I I have no idea where you're going with this. 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:33.359 So reluctantly they started looking at him, and everyone except one person said, Steve's right, Lisa doesn't get her work on time and it hurts the whole team. 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:40.640 And the other person, who I think, in a very understandable attempt to be Lisa's BFF, said, No, she's great, there's no problem. 00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:45.039 And I'm like, you just told me before lunch Lisa was the problem on the team. 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:50.799 So again, this peacemaking journey has so many steps along the way. 00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:52.400 It is so awkward. 00:20:52.559 --> 00:21:00.640 So then Kent goes up to the flip chart with a red marker and writes up in the left left-hand corner, Lisa, you're a jerk. 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:03.599 And I'm like, oh, because we were gonna what, forget that he said that? 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:05.279 And why you picked red? 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:10.319 And then he walks over to the other corner of the flip chart and writes, you don't get your work done on time. 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:11.839 And then he said this. 00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:14.640 These are two completely different issues. 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:18.960 With your permission, we're gonna get back to the way he said it. 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:24.079 Because I'm guessing he's already thought of four different ways he could have said that better. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:29.200 But in the meantime, let's start with the issue, and then we'll come back to this. 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:32.880 And I'm thinking, oh, he's just brilliant. 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:35.039 Separate him out. 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:38.160 And so they spent a little time on it. 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:45.599 It was starting to hurt the team that Lisa was late consistently with her work, and finally, I mean, I wish it could have been in the room with me. 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:47.680 Charlton Heston's face was amazing. 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:49.759 Lisa's face was less than amazing. 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:52.240 She was beat red, she was fighting back the tears. 00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:59.680 She was that mix between furious and hurt, and she finally said uh I I the one person. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:04.480 On the team that said, no, you got your work done on time, said, Lisa, is there anything wrong at home? 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:10.720 Now that sounds like a really nice question, but this team had been feeling like Lisa was dropping the ball for over a year. 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:14.000 That is not a nice question, 365 days too late. 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:18.000 And so Lisa just said, no, nothing is wrong at home. 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:24.799 She said, We have grown 33% this last year, and I'm the only high-level administrator on this team. 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:28.400 Every one of you is handing me a third more work, and I'm drowning. 00:22:29.359 --> 00:22:34.880 Okay, first of all, how sad on a team it takes a year to unpack that. 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:40.400 But we're all, we want to hide the things that are hard, we want to keep acting like we're okay. 00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:46.799 And the CEO was kind of embarrassed because he said, We're making money. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:50.480 We, Lisa, you can hire somebody tomorrow to help you. 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:54.559 I'm sorry I haven't been checking in on you to find out what was going on. 00:22:54.720 --> 00:22:55.920 That's my fault. 00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:03.839 They started having this pretty amazing conversation that I could see already was starting to move towards healing. 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:09.599 And then Kent said, Okay, let's move back to the way he said it. 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:15.839 And Steve, 28, 29 years old, stands up and says to Kent, Take a seat. 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:18.240 I'm like, Oh yeah, I like the way you just talked to my partner. 00:23:18.319 --> 00:23:19.039 Take a seat. 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:23.119 He said, First of all, I gotta tell you, if my mother was here, she would have washed my mouth out with soap. 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:29.119 And I said to Steve, I was gonna ask for your mother's phone number when you said that, because surely you didn't get raised that way. 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:33.200 And then he said, I am so sorry, Lisa, looked right at her. 00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:36.319 And then he said to the team, I'm sorry I sit in front of all of you guys. 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:41.119 But I do think all of you have been feeling this way, and of course they start looking at their feet again. 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:43.200 And then he said, Lisa, listen to me. 00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:45.119 Here's what I wish I would have said. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:54.559 Lisa, I am growing increasingly frustrated this past year when I come to the team meetings and you're not getting your work done on time and it's slowing the rest of us down. 00:23:56.160 --> 00:24:01.119 Now, if you can't hear that, you don't belong on a leadership team. 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:05.440 If you can't hear that, you will never, ever grow. 00:24:06.160 --> 00:24:17.119 And here's the beauty of this story, and this was not a Christian team, but I'm watching spiritual formation happen in these people who probably all of them don't know God. 00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:19.759 I came back a month later to do follow-up work. 00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:26.640 That team was almost flawless because they had gone through something really hard together. 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:30.160 Somebody had finally spoken the truth very poorly. 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:31.759 That's okay. 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:37.920 Um, we need to give each other permission to do things poorly in order to do them well. 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:47.119 For any of you that have ever had a toddler, when they're starting to walk, I have a little granddaughter who is just turned one and she's just starting to try to walk. 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:50.799 She is wobbly, she falls down all the time. 00:24:51.119 --> 00:24:55.039 I really, I mean, I get down and yell, Francie, come on, come on. 00:24:55.200 --> 00:25:00.000 And what I should do because she's doing it so poorly, okay, honey, this is not working. 00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:04.559 Um, we're gonna outsource walking because clearly you're not getting it. 00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:13.680 But no, we get down and encourage all the stumbles and the falls because we know if she keeps at it, what's on the other side? 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:28.240 The same is true with our teams, the same is true with our families, our relationships, the same is true with God and following God and being able to say hard things to him because that's what it's gonna take to be a peacemaker. 00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:34.400 And then the other step in peacemaking is there is joy in the outcome. 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:36.000 It's worth it. 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:58.640 It is so worth it to try to restore Eden a little bit, to get back to understanding the way the world is meant to be, to having, oh my gosh, we just went through really horrible, really awkward, thought I was gonna die conversations, and something is emerging out of the other side of it that is richer and fuller and deeper and more real. 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:04.079 And I'm getting a glimpse, I'm getting a glimpse of the kingdom of God. 00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:20.160 So let's just spend the next nine minutes and seven seconds that we have left to talk about two simple things: that this peacemaking process is for us personally, and it's something that we offer others. 00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:25.759 Very simply, and I want to go have you go back to what you thought about when I first started. 00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:31.599 What was the thing you thought about when I asked you, where in your life do you need peace? 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:38.240 Where is there turmoil and anxiety and overthinking and frustration? 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:41.119 Because that's where we need peace. 00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:44.720 So, first, peace is personal. 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:46.720 Peace making is personal. 00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:49.599 We can't just go around helping other people make peace. 00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:57.039 The call initially is for us to find the way to have peace inside of our own inner world. 00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:04.960 And it's a really journey, similar journey to what I just talked about, but it's a really unique kind of peace. 00:27:05.359 --> 00:27:11.200 Paul put it this way in Philippians that the peace of God goes beyond all of our understanding. 00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:12.480 It makes no sense. 00:27:12.720 --> 00:27:15.920 And it will guard your heart and it will guard your mind. 00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:24.319 It makes no sense because if we go on this journey, it comes in the middle of circumstances that are anything but peaceful. 00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:31.839 Like many of you, I have gone through periods in my life that have been so difficult. 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:34.880 I've had a hard time remembering to breathe. 00:27:35.920 --> 00:27:45.680 And one of the things that my husband said to me as we went through some of this together was circumstances are a terrible foundation for our lives. 00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:54.319 It's like, wait, I know that, but what I want are circumstances to be right so that I can be peaceful. 00:27:54.960 --> 00:27:58.480 And you can try that, it will end up not working. 00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:02.880 When it does work, you've mistaken your circumstances for peace. 00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:07.839 And it's okay to have good circumstances in life sometimes and be grateful for them. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:16.400 But this piece that Paul's talking about that goes beyond understanding, that makes no sense and is really protective of your heart and your mind, is in the middle of difficult circumstances. 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:19.359 Circumstances are a terrible foundation for your life. 00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:30.880 And part of this journey to find peace personally, at least for me, is 72 times a day having these conversations with God. 00:28:31.839 --> 00:28:48.480 I'm trying to build a little place inside of my soul where God lives deeply, where I meet with Him, and then inevitably I walk away from it during the day, and my job is to find my way back, find my way back, find my way back. 00:28:48.960 --> 00:28:52.960 Jesus said in John chapter 16, I am never alone. 00:28:54.079 --> 00:28:55.839 The Father is always with me. 00:28:56.000 --> 00:29:02.799 You know, I don't have time to go into this, but lots is being written nowadays about the loneliness epidemic, and I think it's important to pay attention to. 00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:04.319 I think it's critical. 00:29:04.559 --> 00:29:16.160 I think part of what's missing as part of the solution is not just connecting with other people, and that's important, but it's how do I develop this place inside of me where I'm never alone. 00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:25.839 I'm always safe because this is the place in my soul I'm gonna need when life gets hard and when death comes. 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:28.880 So, what is the personal work that I'm doing? 00:29:29.440 --> 00:29:32.400 The inner breath sometimes that I have to take. 00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:43.920 Way back when my kids were in high school, I used to do this thing called kidnap day, and I would show up at my kids' school, I would call them out of class, and I would just take them out of school the whole day, and we would go do fun stuff. 00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:47.279 I said, I just can't be the room mother that brings the cupcakes. 00:29:47.359 --> 00:29:47.920 I can't do that. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:49.839 I can't get on the bus with the field trips. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:51.680 I will do kidnap day with my kids. 00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:52.720 And they just loved it. 00:29:52.799 --> 00:29:53.920 It was so much fun. 00:29:54.079 --> 00:30:12.079 And at the end of one of the days, my oldest daughter Laura and I were going to see a movie before we went home, and I was running a little late because I jammed too much stuff in the day, and I was in a hurry to get the tickets, and there was this young, probably 16-year-old, skinny, acneed teenage boy selling the tickets. 00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:17.359 And he was kind of slow, and I was kind of rude. 00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:28.160 You could drop the word kinda out because I was in a hurry, and I wanted to get my daughter in to see the movie, and I knew she didn't notice. 00:30:28.720 --> 00:30:39.440 So we got into the movie and sat down and watched the previews, and about four minutes into the movie, she leans over and she said, Why were you so rude to the guy that was selling the tickets? 00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:41.200 Huh. 00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:43.279 She didn't notice. 00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:45.039 Darn it. 00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:51.839 And I sat through the whole movie having an existential, existential crisis with God. 00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:53.599 It wasn't that big of a deal. 00:30:53.759 --> 00:30:55.599 It was 20 seconds. 00:30:55.920 --> 00:30:57.200 He was slow. 00:30:58.079 --> 00:30:59.680 This is ridiculous. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:02.720 Because I want to deflect and defend. 00:31:02.960 --> 00:31:09.519 I don't want to admit that something's wrong with me, but what I forget is that is the way to peace. 00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:10.960 Super counterintuitive. 00:31:11.039 --> 00:31:13.440 You think that's not the way to peace because it's not feeling peaceful. 00:31:13.599 --> 00:31:15.200 It is the way to peace. 00:31:15.519 --> 00:31:23.359 So when we got out of the movie, I brought Laura back over, and the poor kid saw me coming, and he must have just been like, oh no. 00:31:24.319 --> 00:31:25.279 Go away, lady. 00:31:25.359 --> 00:31:27.759 And I just said, I have to tell you, I'm really sorry. 00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:29.119 Oh no, that's okay. 00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:31.039 No, I'm I'm really sorry. 00:31:31.119 --> 00:31:32.160 I was so rude. 00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:33.680 And I was the one that was late. 00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:35.119 It was not your fault. 00:31:35.359 --> 00:31:36.559 I was rude. 00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:39.920 And then he again deflected and said, No, no, really, it's okay. 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:41.519 And I finally said, look at me. 00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:43.680 Look in my eyes. 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:45.440 I was a witch. 00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:47.680 And Vanna, could I buy a B? 00:31:50.880 --> 00:31:53.359 And I am so sorry. 00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:54.559 Will you forgive? 00:31:54.720 --> 00:31:56.400 Will you accept my apology? 00:31:57.680 --> 00:31:58.640 And he did. 00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:10.000 And I don't know what he went home feeling or thinking, but that's the kind of work that personally is going to allow us to be peacemakers in our own souls. 00:32:10.720 --> 00:32:21.119 And then besides personal, we have been called communally to help each other, like Steve and Lisa eventually did, communally, to bring peace on the earth. 00:32:21.440 --> 00:32:26.160 Colossians 1.20 is one of many places where we are given the ministry of reconciliation. 00:32:26.240 --> 00:32:31.359 In Jesus, in Christ, all things are reconciled by making peace. 00:32:31.680 --> 00:32:32.480 Love you back. 00:32:32.640 --> 00:32:34.240 The heathens do that. 00:32:34.720 --> 00:32:35.839 You get no credit for that. 00:32:35.920 --> 00:32:37.359 That's love 101. 00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:42.480 I have a cousin who I grew up with, was like a brother to me. 00:32:42.880 --> 00:32:58.960 And life has just taken us both on really tough and good things, and we've stayed in touch all these years, and we could not be at opposite ends of the spectrum on politics, on all kinds of things. 00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:03.359 And most people would say, Well, it's family, just don't talk about it. 00:33:03.599 --> 00:33:07.119 And we just decided that wasn't going to be the rules for our relationship. 00:33:07.359 --> 00:33:08.880 We decided we're going to lean in. 00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:14.319 He'll tell me what he thinks politically, and I'll think, I say to him, Kenny, grandma is rolling over in her grave right now. 00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:18.319 And then I'll tell him what I think, and he'll say, You're just an idiot. 00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:19.440 Yeah, I know. 00:33:19.599 --> 00:33:21.599 That's true, but not about this. 00:33:21.839 --> 00:33:24.559 And we have a few minutes of that, and then we change the subject. 00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:27.279 Then we talk about our kids and the weather and our work. 00:33:27.759 --> 00:33:30.000 And we love each other. 00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:31.759 And all the ways, and it's not many. 00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:38.319 Jesus offered to us this ministry of being reconciled, to being pulled back together. 00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:53.279 And often what we do when somebody confides in us, what somebody else did that hurt them, is we side with them immediately instead of to ask questions and to consider the other person's point of view and to hopefully help along the way as we've been helped. 00:33:54.559 --> 00:34:00.160 Blessed are the peacemakers, sounds so sweet and lovely, but it's hard work. 00:34:00.880 --> 00:34:09.519 It's so worth it, both individually for your own relationship with Jesus and together with the kind of community we're trying to build here. 00:34:09.599 --> 00:34:14.000 Because the bottom line is peace is not the absence of conflict or pain. 00:34:14.400 --> 00:34:22.960 It is not the absence of conflict or pain, but rather the power and presence of Christ in the midst of our struggle. 00:34:23.760 --> 00:34:39.840 I'm going to invite the band up and I'm going to read for you a quote from a man named Faber, who talks about what I think is really necessary for peacemaking, and that is patience. 00:34:40.159 --> 00:34:44.239 And he talks in this paragraph about the slowness of God. 00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:50.320 In the spiritual life, God chooses to try our patience first of all by his slowness. 00:34:51.039 --> 00:34:54.480 He is slow and we are swift. 00:34:54.639 --> 00:34:58.639 It is because we are for but a time and he has been for eternity. 00:34:59.039 --> 00:35:02.239 Thus, grace, for the most part, acts slowly. 00:35:02.800 --> 00:35:12.480 He works little by little, strongly and sweetly, he compasses his ends, but with a slowness which tires our faith because it is so great a mystery. 00:35:12.800 --> 00:35:17.440 We must fasten upon this attribute of God in our growth in holiness. 00:35:18.639 --> 00:35:23.599 There is something greatly overawing in the extreme slowness of God. 00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:27.679 Let it overshadow our souls, but not disquiet them. 00:35:28.079 --> 00:35:37.599 We must wait for God long, meekly, in the wind, the wet, the thunder, and the lightning, in the cold and the dark, wait, and he will come. 00:35:38.320 --> 00:35:40.239 He never comes to those who do not wait. 00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:42.000 He does not go their road. 00:35:42.320 --> 00:35:44.639 And when he comes, go with him, but slowly. 00:35:44.800 --> 00:35:46.239 Fall a little behind. 00:35:46.559 --> 00:35:51.039 And when he quickens his pace, be sure of it before you quicken yours. 00:35:51.119 --> 00:35:53.119 And when he slows, slow at once. 00:35:53.199 --> 00:35:55.599 And do not only be slow, but silent. 00:35:56.159 --> 00:35:57.360 Very silent. 00:35:57.920 --> 00:35:59.199 For he is God. 00:36:00.480 --> 00:36:01.679 Let's pray. 00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:10.480 Father, maybe in the Silicon Valley more than anywhere else in our country, we are in a hurry. 00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:13.840 Maybe it's not just the Silicon Valley. 00:36:14.079 --> 00:36:16.000 Maybe it's our own restless souls. 00:36:16.159 --> 00:36:18.719 I am in a hurry all the time. 00:36:19.840 --> 00:36:25.679 And I cannot be a peacemaker in my own soul or with other people that I care about if I'm rushed. 00:36:25.760 --> 00:36:39.280 And so I pray that you would open my eyes to the invitation you have of the way life is, the peace that is available to me, even if I have to go looking for it 72 times a day, I will find it. 00:36:39.760 --> 00:36:44.639 Thank you for being a God of peace in Christ's name. 00:36:45.119 --> 00:36:45.760 Amen. 00:36:47.519 --> 00:36:49.760 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:36:49.920 --> 00:36:54.400 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:36:54.559 --> 00:36:56.639 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:36:56.800 --> 00:37:02.719 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.