Made for More Peace

If we look around we see things that dont seem like peace. We see war/unrest in the middle east always, we see various soical groups pit against eachother and even when one group says their about peace other groups still attack.

Sometimes I think we think the definition of peace is for everyone to believe the same thing… the same thing I believe, right?!

And didn’t Jesus come to bring peace?

But what about when he says, “I have come not to bring peace but the sword?” in ?

Why is there this constant turmoil in our lives. Where one day we feel at peace but then the next we feel so out of it?

So what exactly is peace? How does the Bible define it? How can we obtain it? And how can we keep it?

to be hale, whole, complete

N.t.—>

Peace is a “state of being”

One of the amazing things that happens when we accept Christ as our savior is that Jesus promised our sins, the thing that has separated us from God, are whipped out and we are now able to go before the THRONE OF GOD with confidence knowing that we can be in His presence.

However we know we are not whole dont we.. There is something in our souls that’s missing. Or else we wouldn’t be asking what is the mean of life, what’s my place in this world, what are we striving for, and we wouldn’t have this sense some days that there is something missing.

So we try to find our peace in things, people, creation. But the more we strive, the more we are left longing… we try to stay busy so we don’t have to feel the emptiness.

We have an insatiable appitite for more and cannot get enough.

That’s why I believe social media is so addicting. B/c we can seemingly never come to the end of it. Once we scroll through our endless list of friends on FB, we switch to Insta, when we get tired of looking at other peoples lives through the camera we move to SnapChat and send puppy dog faced pictures of ourselves to our friends (or now I guess its the gender switcher). It never ends and we’re addicted to it b/c we think if we just keep looking we’ll find what we’re missing.

Break down the fact that this culture and the things of cannot/will not bring us peace

The things of this culture cannot/will not bring us peace

Since PEACE is a ‘STATE OF BEING’ it can be taken from us like my dog takes a toy from my kids’ hands.

So since PEACE is a state of being and can be taken from us. We have to look deep within to figure out why it’s being taken from us.

If we trust in money/things and we don’t have it our state of being will turn into stress and our actions will follow suit.

Let’s take a look at what James tells us...

V.4 Perfect and Complete “Lacking in nothing” Means WHOLE=PEACE.

Even though it doesn’t say the word peace the phrase defines it.

V.5 Tells us how to get that peace= Putting our trust in God our father.

The truth we uncover about peace in James is

Our ‘state of being’ shifts, depending on where we place our trust.

Now here is the thing, you may think.. “Ah, I do put my trust in God, but sometimes I don’t feel peace”!

That is because in those moments when we lose our peace we aren’t truly trusting our full lives to God.

This past week, tuesday was amazing. The next day, Wednesday was awful.

So I asked myself why, what changed?

It was b/c tuesday I had started the day by saying Jesus I am trusting you with everything. Whatever comes my way is not as important as my taking time to reside in you.

Wednesday I didnt get that time. I got up late, I had a few things to do early so I didn’t have my time of prayer or scripture. I was focused on physical things (purchasing someting, permitting). And my whole day I was more suceptible to the worries of this world. And I’m not even a worrier!

So why didn’t I have peace? B/c I allowed my roots to stem from the things of this world.

V.6-8 Tells us that when this happens we are allowing ourselves to be swayed by natural thoughts. We aren’t allowing faith to take root. That we are allowing other things to become what we are trusting in.

If we trust in money/things and we don’t have it our state of being will turn into stress and our actions will follow suit.

Money/things will never satisfy. It may help us for a minute but money cannot be there for us to comfort us or to love us.

If we trust in our family/friends and are at odds with our state of being will be turmoil and our actions will follow suit.

All of the things above makes our state of being contingent on what we have or how things are going.

If we put our trust in anything other than Jesus our ‘state of being’ will be blown around like the wind blows the grass of the field.

We will be tossed and blown about if we take root in anything we’re not supposed to (kids, spouse, men, women, social media, money, things, nature) we will be blown away like the grass.

what do we know about grass? In order for it to grow it needs to take root in soil.. God created plants to grow in soil.

In order for our peace to grow in us we must be planted in the right soil.

Again James says that is faith in Jesus Christ. How can we gain more faith in Jesus Christ? But seeking more of Him and not as much the things of this world.

Can we get to the point where all we need in this life is Jesus?

I wanted the next best thing (iPhone, watch, etc.)

I wasn’t satisfied until I got it.

What is it for you?

Relationships?

Babies?

401K?

Job?

Climbing the ladder?

Vacation

We have an insatiable appitite.

But if it’s misplaced like mine was it will lead to [destruction]. My wife being frustrated b/c I would do wahtever I could to get them.

I would scheme ( i would get real creative)

WE will all die. The only thing that will save us is J.C.

Not money, relationships, etc. (These are just a few blessings that God gives us sometimes)- Paul had a lot of money and he had none.

Jas 1:9-11

We are all on the same page.

How can we possibly have peace knowing that every breath we breathe leads us one step closer to death...

B/c we trust in a savior that has defeated sin/death. (Can money do that?)

Where our life takes root determines our state of being.

What we trust is where our PEACE comes from.

Grass will not grow on concrete, it will not grow in plastic. It will only grow in good soil. Why? B/c it is able to take root and gain nutrients from the soil. *And actually with good soil it can grow through concrete or plastic.

True lasting peace comes when we root our lives, our trust in the thing that will nourish our souls.

That is Jesus Christ.

How do we keep peace?

So I asked myself why, what changed?

It was b/c tuesday I had started the day by saying Jesus I am trusting you with everything. Whatever comes my way is not as important as my taking time to reside in you.

So why didn’t I have peace? B/c I allowed my roots to stem from the things of this world.

We have to understand (find) it, be about it, give it.

Understand it- What I mean by understand it is to find it. We must find it. We must experience it. To be able to keep peace we must first find it and experience it for oursevles. We have to remember that Jesus has calmed the storm before. He has taken care of our problems before and He will do it agian and again.

Then we must be about it. Like the Apostles we must go get Jesus just to be in HIs presence. Sometimes that means going into the depths of the boat when we are in the depths of our problems. We have to practice it. says we must be steadfast meaning through the ups and downs we must keep on keeping on putting our trust and fulfillment in God’s hands.

In the times we feel the urge to do whatever habit we are in to try to fulfill our soul’s longing we need to buckle down and remember that our peace our fulfillment comes from God. And then turn to God.

When we feel like we need to go to that guy or girl to get fulfillment we need to remember only God can fulfill us.

When we feel the need to lie or steal or cheat to gain fulfillment we must remember that only God can fulfill our every need.

How do we turn to God?

Let’s just look at this past ‘Sermon Series’. Remember we are MADE FOR MORE WORSHIP: PRAYER: COMMUNITY. How do you get better at something? How do you achieve your goals? You practice, because practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes perminent.

Finally the way to solidify peace in our lives is that we give it. One of the biggest ways Peace is used in the N.T. is through the act of giving it. Almost all of Pauls letters opens or closes with ‘PEACE BE WITH YOU’. The first Century Church gave peace to people who were out to kill them.

WE need to give it to the people around us. Even when we don’t want to. Even when we don’t think they deserve it. Even when we’re not feeling it. So that others might possibly experience the peace that Jesus gives from us.

At IMPACT FAIRFAX lets be people of PEACE. People who remember where we’ve put our trust and who is in the boat with us.

If you feel Christ urging you to put your trust in Him, and you’ve never given your life to Him and been baptized, maybe you’ve been running from Him, maybe you’ve been trying to find that peace in the things of this world. Come forward during our response time