Today's message was planned months ago.
But I do think the. Lord has something for us today,
especially with sort of the days we find ourselves in during the
season in our nation and so on, so forth, and it's kind of cool
to see how His timing works. Out.
It might be a little bit longer today.
So thank you for your. Patience, if you you know if you
need to move and stretch around a little bit, feel free.
Just go on the back. Do some jumping jacks.
OK, that is just fine. I want to begin by sharing.
In late September 2025 S just a few months.
Ago the Marist Poll in partnership with NPR and PBS,
they. Conducted A nationally
representative survey. About 1500 adults were surveyed.
And one of the most concerning findings that they found.
Was attitudes towards political violence so when asking
Americans. If we need to.
Quote, resort to violence in order to get the country back on
track. 30% of adults now agree with that statement.
Which represents A notable increase.
From just 19 percent 18 months ago, so.
Agreement with the idea that violence may be necessary to get
get the. Country back on track has.
Risen 11 percentage. Points in just 18 months.
Like that's a that is a sharp. Increase that we're seeing here
in America. Now, that's not the only.
Concerning statistic, here's another one.
They also found that 62% of Americans say the country's
headed in the wrong direction, also an increase from a few
months. Ago, OK.
So with those two things in mind, let me.
Ask you what happens when more and more people are becoming
dissatisfied with where we're headed?
And. More and more people are open to
violence to get things back on track.
Does that sound like a recipe for success?
A little scary? This is the pulse of our nation.
This is where people's heads are at more and more open.
To violence. More and more discontent with
where we're headed. So today I want to ask the.
Question. How are?
Christians meant to respond to an ever increasing violent
world. What's our response to that?
More importantly, what does Jesus?
Have to say about that Jesus in the Beatitudes, which is the
series we're in right now, he says these unbelievably profound
words that just. Ring out in our cultural.
Moment today and we're going to be focusing on three of the
beatitudes found here in Matthew chapter 5.
If you have your Bibles, you can turn there beginning in verse 7.
These are Jesus's words. Let's listen carefully to our
teacher and Master verse 7. Blessed are the merciful, for
they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for
they will be called children of God.
These words as we studied the. Beatitudes.
We've spoken the last couple times.
How? The Beatitudes are not
necessarily a list of virtues that Jesus is.
Prescribing to us meaning. Go and be these things.
If you want blessing, be blessed in the Kingdom.
Rather than being prescriptive, we've said they're actually
descriptive, meaning these are the groups of people that, if
they enter into the Kingdom, will find.
Themselves to be happy, find themselves to be blessed.
Jesus mentions the merciful, the pure in heart.
And today I want to focus in on just this one.
Blessed are the peacemakers. Would you agree we need some?
Peacemakers today. Even though Jesus isn't
prescribing necessarily these things, again these represent
Kingdom. Virtues, those who will be happy
in the Kingdom. And all.
Throughout Scripture we see a call to peace.
Romans 12 encourage us to. Live at peace with.
Everyone as far as it depends on us, but I got to.
Ask what is it? About the human condition, where
we just seem to struggle so much with the idea of actually making
peace. The Greek word is Irene, which
is connected to the word. Shalom.
It's it's this idea that God wants to bring Eden like
wholeness. Back into creation, it's a.
Completeness and a wholeness in. Every area of life, including.
Our relationships with God. Our relationships with neighbors
and nations amongst itself. That Shalom is the goal.
But boy, we struggled with this, do we not?
In order to understand, I think we need to go back to the the
very birth place of. Violence.
Can anyone? Think of where that might.
Be in the pages of. Scripture.
It's actually in the. Very first pages of scripture we
see blood spilled in the very beginning.
So, long story really short, here's kind of an overview.
God out of his communal nature and relationship.
With the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, He creates all.
Things good in this universe? He places mankind in a garden
of. Eden, it's a paradise.
There's wholeness, there's perfection.
Mankind is deceived. By the serpent and what happens
is they. Choose to take.
Right for wrong in their own eyes, in their own mind, and
they rebel against a very loving and good and holy God as a
result. The ground is cursed.
Sin separates man from God, and we are seeing the.
Fallout of that decision play out in every area of our world
so far. You with me so far.
So Adam and Eve they get. Kicked out of the garden in
other. Words there there's a necessary.
Separation from both the. Holiness of God and the tree of
life that. Will keep them alive forever, so
now death is is entered in. After that, Adam and Eve.
They procreate. They have.
A man, a son named Cain and Abel if you know the story, Cain ends
up murdering his. Brother Abel, and here it is.
The first violence that we have ever encountered is found on
some of the first pages of Scripture.
Sin immediately takes lives. Cain kills his brother Abel.
And then Cain continues to. Reproduce.
Out of Cain's line comes a man named Lamech, and I want to
focus on Lamech for. Just a second here for a moment.
Lamech is found in Genesis. Chapter 4.
So again, first pages of the Bible.
And we see that things. Are just spiraling out of
control by the time Lamech rolls around.
We don't know a whole lot about him.
But what we do know is he wrote this sort of.
Song of Violence like a hymn dedicated.
To violence. It's called the.
Song of the Sword and what we see is like this is this is the
time in history where like metal is starting to be crafted for
technology and scholars believe this is where we see some of the
1st. Weapons that were ever starting
to be formed. Lamech is not a good dude in
Genesis chapter 4. Take a look.
At his, sort of. Mentality.
This is what Lamech. Says.
He says I have killed a man for. Wounding me.
Let's pause there. Lamech is bragging about in
this. Song of violence, he's.
Bragging about how someone hurt me but I turned around.
And I killed him. That's the type of Lamech I am,
right? He continues.
He says if. Cain is avenged 7 times.
Then Lamech 77 times. This is the idea that God had
his. Hand on Cain to protect him
after the poor decision. That he had made.
But Lamech is basically boasting in the fact that man, if anybody
wrongs me, I'm going to. Come at them even more
violently. He boasts about his bloodshed.
He he takes 2 wives for himself, going against God's order.
He's avenging people right like this.
Is a violent dude. I asked.
AII was like, hey AI, can you like help us to understand what
Lamech might look like in the 21st century?
Like a violent warlord, but like, mix it with ancient Near
Eastern, you know, garb and this is what it popped out.
I thought it was. Pretty good, right?
Yikes, right? Like that.
Blood lust and blood and violence.
Right, he's got the. The the guns he's.
Just out for blood. This is the spirit of Lamech.
I'm not going to avenge 7 times, I'm going to avenge 77 times.
You catching the catching the vibe, catching the vibe of
Lamech. What we see here is human beings
are beginning to. Spiral out of control.
You can take that off the screen if you want.
People are like, please. Take that off.
What we see is. Lamech represents an unlimited
violent retaliation and violence against.
His opponents. You hurt me.
I kill you. That's the spirit of Lamech.
So God does something about this, not only with the.
Flood and Noah. But eventually, God chooses his
own. Select special group of people.
He's going to call them his own, and he's going to teach them a
new way to live called the Israelites.
And God gives them structure. He gives them laws.
So that they can be different. From all the nations around.
Them this is very important. And one of those laws that he.
Gives to his chosen children to separate them from everyone else
and to stop this sort of violence, but getting more and
more violence is he gives them the law.
In Exodus verse 21 it says this, but if there is serious injury,
you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
etcetera. Now you may be thinking, how
does that help anything that also sounds violent?
But what we need to understand here is.
This this is called lex thalionus.
Which is the. Idea of the Law of.
Retaliation, and what its intended purpose is to do is
it's actually meant not to. Promote violence.
It's actually meant to put parameters around it.
It's meant to introduce justice. So rather than you hurt me, I
hurt you 10 times worse. This says no, no, no, no.
I for I tooth for tooth. In other words, what's done to
you gets done to the other, and then it's done.
Justice is served. Does that make sense?
This prevents families feuding especially.
In an honor shame society, right where your honor is.
Everything it prevents it from. Blowing out of proportion, so.
Lex tally on us represents. Keeping peace how?
Through retaliation. You with me so far.
You guys doing OK? It's meant to contain the self
perpetuating cycle of escalating violent revenge.
In other words, it's an equalizer of justice to purge
evil because if left unchecked, things go.
Awry. We don't have to look far to
understand this. OK, I I look to my own children.
And I see the need for something like this.
Let me give you an example. So we have like a little swing
in our basement that. Our kids love.
To play on. Both of them love to play on it
at the same time. You know where this is going.
Jane's older, she's 7, she's on the swing.
David comes up, he wants a turn. Jane, let me on Jane, you know,
casually. Jane doesn't give him a chance,
kind of pushes him away. Or what does David do?
David gets mad and he tries to get on the swing by force.
How does that go? Jane's older, she's bigger this
time. She maybe shoves him a little
bit. Oh.
David doesn't like that. What does David do?
He comes. Back with a haymaker.
Pow. All right.
But Jane's bigger. She's stronger, right?
She she can assert her dominance, right?
So she puts David in his place. On and on it.
Goes the cycle explodes, right? All of a sudden they're
screaming. All of a sudden we have to get
involved. And it is not fun.
Guys, I didn't have to teach them that.
At least I hope I didn't teach them that, OK?
I didn't have to teach them that.
Lamech is in their DNA. It's in our DNA, it's in our
bones. We're prone towards violence.
And so this law was meant to keep it in check and not have it
spiral out of control. OK, so.
God creates everything. It's good.
We see. Cain kill Abel, his son.
Or his descendant Lamech. His.
Violent, perpetuating violence, escalation.
God puts parameters in place through the law.
And now let's jump to Jesus's time.
This is the time of the Beatitudes that we read earlier.
Let's jump to Jesus. You see Jesus also.
Was experienced a quote UN quote peace during his time in the 1st
century. However, this.
Piece was known as what was called Pox Romana.
Anyone remember history? Pox Romana.
It's called the peace. Of anyone Rome Pox Romana was an
era in which Rome was occupying Jewish lands, and through the
use of soldiers and legions, they would keep the peace
through power and through might. Someone was revolting up against
Rome. They were acting out of line,
Rome. Said OK.
I'm going to put you on a cross. To send a message public
execution and So what we see here.
Is that? Revolts would begin to rise up
against Rome, but they would be squashed underneath Rome's boot.
So basically this would be the. Moment where like you're on.
Facebook. Or online and the comments
sections are getting out of control and people are fighting
and people are rebelling and and Rome.
Sort of just like drops. The ban and.
Blocks everyone, right they have the power to do that, to limit
that sort of free speech and just come in with an iron fist
and. What we?
See here is that POC's Romana was.
Keeping the peace as well. But they were.
Doing it through power, through fear, and through military
might. So the Jewish people under the
force of this, this sort of oppressive.
Imperialist empire. They would revolt.
You'd have people like Simon the Zealot.
Who? It's likely and possible that
Simon the Zealot was a part of an organization called the
Sakari. Or not an organization, but
rather this. This group of.
Men. They were called dagger men.
And the idea? Is that he would.
Be like this sort of far right insurrectionist, right and they.
The idea is they'd have. Cloaks.
And they'd have daggers inside their cloaks and they'd sneak
into the crowds and they'd pull out their daggers and they would
assassinate Roman officials. They would assassinate Roman
leaders and this. Was their way of.
Insurrection. They were rebelling against the
oppressive foot of the Roman Empire.
And so again, what we see was Rome was quote, UN quote,
keeping the peace, but it was through violence and
insurrectionist guerrilla warfare was popping into place.
OK, got it so far. Following along, here's the
point. Both Lex Thalianas eye for an
eye, law of retaliation and Pox Romana weren't working.
The Jews just used Lex Thalianas eye for an eye as an excuse for
personal violent vengeance for their oppressor.
And the Romans were using violence leading to more and
more rage. And so again we see.
Violence is just perpetuating lamex.
Violence in our DNA was winning and we see.
That happening still today. Do we not we see violence being
perpetuated? Doctor Martin Luther King, he
wrote it this way. The ultimate.
Weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral.
But. Getting the very thing it seeks
to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it
multiplies it. Returning.
Violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness
to a night already devoid of stars.
That language is powerful. A night already devoid of stars.
You and I, if you. Watch TV, on the news or you're
on social media, whatsoever. We need to understand something.
You and I are. Constantly being provoked to
anger. Have you recognized that?
Constantly being provoked to anger.
Ben Sasse in a book called them Why We Hate Each Other wrote it
this way. He wrote clicks are cash.
And so in our digital age, provocative social media is the
only profitable social media. Here's what he means.
He's saying when you're on social.
Media and you see a headline. It's intentionally trying to
incite rage. And anger.
And frustration. So that you'll click on it.
Why? Because they make money through
ad revenue that way. And they know that if you're.
Outraged if you're. Frustrated by something you are
far more likely to engage? You're going to get in the
comments. That's going to drive algorithm.
Exposure, etcetera, etcetera. This is how it works.
Did you guys know this? In other words, as as the kids
say, you're constantly being rage baited.
All of us are being rage. Baited.
This is no different from those news stations, the 24 hour news
cycles that we see. No wonder it feels like peace
feels impossible. In our day and age, right?
No wonder it seems so difficult when we're being provoked and
antagonized all the time. Man, what do we do when peace
feels impossible and anger is encouraged?
All right, let's pause for a second.
Everyone take a deep breath in all the way out.
We need a new way of peace. We need a new way of making
Shalom of wholeness. We need to take on Jesus's way
in this. Passage.
We see that. Jesus was doing three things.
He was number 1. He was.
Proclaiming that the Kingdom had come.
There was a new kind of ruling reign.
With a new kind of authority and culture coming with it #2.
He wasn't just proclaiming it, he was manifesting it.
He was. Bringing Heaven.
On to Earth through. Healings and signs and wonders.
But he was doing a third thing as well.
He was teaching through the brilliance of the Sermon on the
Mount. He was teaching us.
How to be human. He was opening our imagination
and this is what we see here in Matthew 538.
Matthew 5 verse 38 Jesus is. Subverting the expectations.
Of the day and showing us how to live better.
You ready? Ready to learn from the Rabbi,
from from the teacher, the genius of of Jesus.
This is what he says, verse 38. You have.
Heard that it was said eye for eye and tooth for tooth.
Lex thalianus right? This is the understanding they
would have had. But I tell you.
Do not resist an evil person. Wow.
Do not resist an evil. Person.
What is Jesus talking about here?
Well. He's not talking about, you
know, intentionally putting. Yourself in danger or staying in
a. Abusive.
Environment or relationship or anything like that, What he's
talking about is he's talking about how?
To. Flip the offence on its head.
Let's continue 39 This is These are radical words, by the way.
These are Jesus words if. Anyone slaps you on the right
cheek, turn to them the other cheek also and if anyone wants
to. Sue you and take your shirt hand
over your code as. Well, and if anyone forces.
You to go one mile, go with them two miles, give to the one who
asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow
from you. Wow.
Do we live live by these rules today?
If someone slaps you on one cheek.
In other words, if someone insults you, don't.
Return insult back to them. Don't retaliate or go to the
authorities. If someone asks you to go.
One mile, go with them. Too.
OK, what's the context? Here well.
Back in the 1st century. Under Roman occupation, the.
Romans could force requisition of.
Aid for military purposes. OK, so can I?
Brett, can I borrow you for a second?
Is that OK? Give it up for Brett.
Thank you, Brett. OK, so Brett's a Jew.
He's a lowly individual. He doesn't have a whole lot of
power or influence. You don't have rights.
Sorry, you don't live in. America.
OK, I'm a Roman official, so I can look at Brett and I'd be
like you, Jew, follow me one mile.
Take my pack here. It's heavy.
And you have to by law, follow me for one.
Mile so I can. Go with him and he's following
behind me and I get to tell him what to do.
Yep, he's carrying the pack. Great job by the way.
Wonderful. OK, now.
I can reach a point. I reach a point where I'm like,
all right. Very well, you have you
fulfilled your duty, You fulfilled the law, you.
Have gone with me. One mile.
Thank you. You are free to go.
What Jesus says. It says hey, if someone does
that, offer to go with them a second mile.
In other words, you owe. Them the first mile maybe, but
then you give them the second mile for free.
So I might say, hey, your duties are done you may go home.
Thank you. I'll take.
My pack. And you say, let's.
Go, you say. No, I'll keep carrying it.
I'm going to go the second mile. So now, now all of a sudden I'm
a Roman citizen. This guy's.
Carrying my pack for free. He doesn't have to do this.
All of a sudden we're. Talking we're interacting, right
We're. We're I'm, I don't know what is
going on, but this guy's willing.
To do it. Out of his generosity.
OK. Give it up for Brett.
All right. Do you feel how the power
dynamic shifts in that moment like at at at first?
It's Rome who has the. Power.
It's the official that has the power.
You must carry my. Pack but then once he.
Offers to carry your pack. All of a sudden.
The dynamic has changed. Isn't it all?
Of a sudden, it's almost as if. As if he's in control.
Of the situation. Through his love and His
generosity is willing to be able to suffer alongside of us.
Could Jesus? Be getting at something here, in
other words. The law.
Said you have to go one mile, but the disciple adds the second
for free. In other words, this is a way of
what's called compassionate resistance.
It's still. Resisting in a way.
But it's doing it through love and through generosity.
Michael J Wilson Wilkins puts it this way.
On a personal level, the disciples first responsibility
is to reverse the dynamic of the situation from taking to giving
Wow as disciples. We go from taking and we.
Choose instead to give and. What we see here.
Is that when it comes to turning the other cheek, letting someone
borrow your coat? Hand them over as well.
If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them too.
What we see here is that in each of these scenarios, Jesus
encourages peacemaking through nonviolent resistance.
Someone insults you at work in front of your.
Boss. You're up all night, you're
stewing over it. The next morning, you're
thinking about that perfect comeback.
Anyone ever had that moment before, right?
Like someone offends you and you're just like, oh, I should
have said that thing. I didn't think of it all when I
think of it. Oh, but next?
Time I see him. I'm going to say that thing to
him, right? I'm not.
Am I the only one? OK, OK, we're.
We're in good company here, right?
What is it that makes us do that?
Well, I think part of it is that.
By nature, our brains and our. Bodies need justice, do they
not? Like we need when there's an
offense, when there's vindicate, like we need to have some.
Level of justice and so we think about the perfect comeback or
vengeance or retaliation right and what we.
See In these scenarios is Jesus still is honoring the need for
justice. In each of those scenarios, but
he's just going about it a different way.
In other words, he recognizes that yeah, it is maybe not
right. That a Roman is forcing you to
go one mile but but you'll get justice by generously taking the
offense and going with them too. This is such an important.
Principle. Over and over throughout
Scripture, we see that Jesus and the other authors of Scripture
are far more concerned about advancing the Kingdom than they
are about our own personal vindication.
The the scriptures of writing are far more.
Interested in in. Doing everything you can to.
Promote the name of God and to promote the Kingdom than they
are about our personal vindication and our personal
justice, although that's still important.
What we see Jesus. Doing here is he's fulfilling
the law. He's fulfilling the law of Lex
Thalianus by loving your neighbor well and in doing so
he's restoring wholeness, he's restoring Shalom and he's
bringing peace. As a matter of fact, he's peace
making the apostle Peter had to learn this lesson the hard way.
How many you know that story where Jesus is being arrested?
They're. Coming at him with weapons and
Peter is. Freaked out, right?
They're about to grab his master and take him and do who knows?
What probably execute him, right?
He he freaks out, he sees a guy coming towards Jesus.
What does Peter do? Do you guys know the story?
He grabs a sword and he does what cuts his enemy's ear.
Off. The ear.
Falls to the ground, probably bloody kind of gross, OK.
But what does Jesus? Do.
Does he? Does Jesus say yeah, get him,
Peter. Way to go.
That's my boy. No, the answer is no.
Jesus picks his enemy's. Ear up off the ground, blood and
all. Places it.
Back on his head and heals it. He makes his enemy whole again.
He restores some level of Shalom.
Peter is retaliating, he is reacting, but Jesus is in
control the whole time. He knows exactly what he was
doing. The famous church father from
the 2nd century to Tulian. He wrote it this way.
In disarming Peter, Christ disarms all Christians.
It's from the 2nd century. This is how we make the world
whole again. It's not by chopping ears off,
it's putting them back on. Gandhi had this line where he's.
Like eye for an eye. Makes the whole world blind, I
tell you. Putting people's ears back.
On makes the whole world hear. Makes the whole world whole
again. Guys, this is just scripture.
These are this is just Jesus. Stuff.
This is what he was doing. These are his words.
OK, So what do we do then, guys? When we're confronted and we're
offended and we're attacked and we're slandered if we don't have
weapons to fight back and defend ourselves, what's our play?
How are we meant to absorb that kind of pain and offence in our
bodies and not retaliate? If we can't make a power play,
like what do we do? Jesus gives us the answer.
Same Peter. Matthew 18.
Peter came to Jesus. And asked Lord, how many times
shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against?
Me up to seven times Rabbis likely debated this.
Some scholars say that likely rabbis agreed like.
Three times was probably. The maximum you should allow
someone to, you know, offend you and then you forgive.
Them 3 is probably the most you should do.
So Peter's being generous here. He's like 7 times Jesus.
He probably catches Jesus vibe and he's like, this guy's pretty
generous. Seven times like I'm.
Going to be a good student here, OK and.
What does Jesus say? Verse 22.
He says Jesus answered. I tell you not 7 times.
It's close, Peter, not. Seven times.
But how many? 77 times?
Not 7 but 77. Wait a second, church?
Where have we heard? Those two numbers side by side
before. Go to this next slide.
That's right, it was from Lamech.
So Lamech says if Cain has avenged 7 times, then Lamech 77.
Times. But then Jesus comes in, He says
no, no, no. When it comes to forgiveness, I
tell you, don't just forgive 7 times, but forgive 77 times.
I think Jesus knows what he's doing.
How do we stop the perpetuating vengeance filled?
Retaliatory cycle of violence, how do we stop?
The never ending feuding and bragging about vengeance that
lives. In the hearts of every single
man, how do we? Finally, have justice.
I'm going to tell you this today.
It is not by. Avenging 77 times, it is by
forgiving 77 times. That is the way of Jesus Christ,
our Rabbi and our Master, who teaches us how to live and how
to be human in violent, desperate times.
That is his way we stop the violent line of Lamech by taking
on the way of Jesus. Peter must have eventually
understood this assignment, probably after he saw his Master
and King be crucified for us and then rose again after he saw how
Jesus treated his enemies in the garden, and then how Jesus
treated his enemies on the cross, how he while he was.
Hanging there, he didn't say curse you enemies, how could
you? He said.
Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Peter must have seen. That or heard about that and
understood because he wrote these words later on in life.
First Peter 2 to this you were called because Christ suffered
for you, leaving you an. Example everyone say example.
What is our example that you should follow?
In his steps. He committed no sin, no.
Deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults.
At him, He did not retaliate when he suffered.
He made no threats instead. What did Jesus do?
It says. Instead, he entrusted himself to
him who judges justly. Wow, Peter Entrust.
Or Jesus entrusted himself. To the Father, Blessed are the
peacemakers, Jesus says, for they will be called children of
God. That's what he says, and they'll
be attitudes. They will be called.
Children of God, how did Jesus do it?
How did Jesus make peace? How did God's own Son, the child
of God, do it? He did it by forgiving his
enemies. He.
Bore the pain and the offence and the injustice in his own
body. Church violence and unrest will
always be a reality as long as evil persists.
The wages of sin is death. But with like Jesus rather than.
Jesus violently enacting justice and ushering in peace through
violence. Instead, Jesus took the violence
upon himself, and he did it for you and me because he loves.
US. He did it for you and me because
He understands how human beings are.
And to take away our sin, to take away the curse, if we
repent and step into that, Isaiah 53 reminds us He was
pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our
iniquities. The punishment that brought us
peace. That's that word again.
Peace. Shalom.
Irene was on him, and it's by his wounds that we are healed.
The violent justice that we had coming was done to Jesus instead
on the cross. Why?
How is he able to do that? Because he understood that God
will make all things right again.
God will make all things right again.
Lamech may say I have avenged, I am the man I have avenged 77
times. Vengeance is mine, Lamech.
Says But Paul in Romans 12 says, Do not take revenge, my dear
friends. But.
Leave room for God's wrath, for it is written.
It is mine to avenge. I will repay, says the Lord.
Did you catch that? God says I'm the one who's.
Going to make things right here. I'm the one.
Who's going to avenge? You don't have to, right?
Guys, I get it. None of this makes sense.
If the resurrection isn't real. None of this feels right if we
aren't. Going to one day.
Be killed, likely sometimes at the face of persecution,
sometimes martyrdom, sometimes just natural death.
If if we won't be risen. Back to life with Christ.
This stuff doesn't make sense if we don't believe that God will
one day raise everything back to life.
And make. All things new again and.
Ultimate justice will prevail. Then you're right, we have no
business. Doing nonviolent resistance.
We have no business. Doing the Jesus Day way it.
Doesn't make any sense. But if we believe, if we believe
that God is on the throne, and if.
We believe that vengeance. Belongs to him.
That allows us, then, to make room for his justice.
You know what? I teach my kids.
When they're fighting and they're bickering and they're
arguing over the swing, the. First thing we try to teach them
is kids. Please try to find a way to make
peace. On your own, through your words.
Parents in the room right like don't just come run into mom and
dad right away try and. Figure out on your own.
Do you got any parents? Try and employ that.
Tactic doesn't always work. Does it right, but they know
they're supposed to try and figure.
It out and make peace on their own first.
But here's the thing. But then.
We teach them the second. Thing which is this but.
If you guys can't work it out. Then come find us and let us
deal out any discipline that needs to happen.
You with me so far, you catching.
In other words, if you can't work it out on your own, then
come and let Dad handle. It you don't hit back, you let
dad usher out proper discipline guys in the similar way
Christians and there are many instances.
Where if we can't make peace with one another?
We need to step back and we need to let Dad handle it.
We need to let our Heavenly Father handle it.
Why? Because we're children of God.
Go to Dad, he knows. He's got it.
So I want to ask. You a question as you think
about your own life and your your relationships and stuff
like that question for us today is whose name are you carrying?
Whose name are you carrying? Is it Lamex or is it Christ's?
Are you living as children of God or are you living as
children of Cain of Lamech? Living as children of God means
2 quick things you guys have been great thank you for your
patience today. Living as children of God Two
quick things #1. It means making peace.
With God making peace with God, Jesus was the ultimate
peacemaker, and he came and was crucified to make allow us to
have peace with God, to allow us to be reconciled.
And he did it by absorbing the pain upon himself to bring the
two back together, Colossians 1 writes.
For God was pleased to have all of his fullness dwell in Jesus
and through him to reconcile himself all things, whether
things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through
his blood shed on the cross. So the first thing I want to ask
you is, do you have peace with God?
You'll never have peace with other people if you, if you
don't have peace with God first. Do you have peace with God?
Have you have you trusted Jesus's sacrifice on the cross
for you? He made a way so that you could
come back in and, and have Shalom, have peace with, with
God himself. And if you haven't made that
decision, today is that day for you.
That's the first thing. And then the second thing is
this. Not only are we called to make
peace with God, but we are called to proactively make peace
with others. First Thessalonians.
Live in. Peace with each other.
Make sure that nobody pays. Back wrong for wrong but.
Always strive. To do what is good for each
other and for everyone else. Guys, if Jesus could.
Turn enemies into family. If he could take a man like
Simon the Zealot this dagger. Man who?
Was an insurrectionist against the Roman Empire.
He could take a man like Simon the Zealot and he can put him.
Together with Matthew the tax collector.
Who is stealing? From his own people and giving
it to Rome. If he can bring those two people
around the table and make friends out of enemies, he can
do the same right here, right now with us today.
And he did it through love, He did it through sharing, He did
it through truth. And he calls us to do the same.
We are called to be like Jesus. So a question for each of us is
who do you need to bury the hatchet with?
Are there any daggers that you're?
Carrying in your cloak. Any, any areas of resentment or
bitterness with anyone in your life, man, they're just like
thinking about it every day, like, oh, they wronged me and it
just bothers you. Maybe for some of you, there's
almost like a root of bitterness that's begun to take root.
And maybe even as I'm speaking, you're like, yeah, it's there.
And I get it, right. Like there's I've had, I've had
this last year, I've had opportunities to forgive people
over and over and over again, doing everything I can to say,
Nope, I'm not going to let that sink in.
I'm not going to let that offence that happened a long
time, time ago, even though it hurt, even though it was.
Was painful, even though it wasn't right.
It's not justifying what happened, but I'm not going to
let that that take root. I'm not going to keep my dagger
in my cloak. I'm going to bury the hatchet,
you with me. I'm going to let it go.
Practically speaking, I want each of us to kind of wrestle
with this. Like, what is your peacekeeping
philosophy? Like are you operating under?
Lex. Talianus retaliation.
You get me, I get you back. You go around.
Go around me to the boss. I'm going to find a way.
To get to the. Boss that way or.
Maybe it's PAX? Romana right?
And you're just, you just come in with authority, either in
your home, with your employees, maybe it's just even, even your
own mind. You just dominate them in your
mind. What is your peacekeeping
philosophy? Or is it the third way through,
through suffering love, through bearing the pain, choosing to
forgive, giving it over to God and allowing him to take care of
it? What is your peacemaking
philosophy? Are you aware of it?
Does it look like Jesus every one of us is called to?
To incarnational living, embodied.
Living so much of of the. Issues that we're facing today.
Is that it's just this this digital world where we're kind
of just bouncing ideas and offenses off each other, little
comments here on the Internet and right, it's all just like
fake and it's agitating and it's it's rage baiting, right?
But my question is, what does it look like for us to more and
more be a presence into each other's lives, embodied?
What does it look like to share meals even with your enemy?
You don't like that? Person on the other side of the
political aisle, Have you tried inviting them over for dinner?
Why not? In person contact gets us out of
the perpetual cycle of provoking us to anger in the digital
sphere. That's how Jesus did it.
He didn't just stay in heaven and and lob truth at us, right?
He he came, and he made his dwelling among us, and he had
meals with enemies, and spoke truth.
And then they became reconciled to God.
Why can't we do the same? We are called to be like Jesus.
In other words, we need to get. Out of.
Screens and into stories. Get out of your screen and get
into people's. Lives actually hear their
history, actually hear their philosophy, hear their
background, share, talk live. Start just in your neighborhood
with with your next door neighbor.
OK, I'll bet. You'll find that you have a lot
in common with. Them you may radically disagree
on things I I radically disagree with a lot of people if I if
I've. Shared my full view views.
On everything going on, you all would be offended.
But you'll love me anyway, and I love you too, because we choose
peace and we choose to follow Jesus's way.
That's why I'm not up here. I'm not up here, just giving one
my thoughts on what's. Going on in this world.
Because you have enough people telling you what to think.
How about instead we make a commitment to, to see what Jesus
thinks and to follow him and to follow his wisdom and to trust
that he actually knows what he's talking about.
What if instead we got out of the screens and got into the
word and we made disciples of Jesus Christ?
Like I, I, I'm going to start preaching guys like we have to
follow the rabbi. He knows what's best.
He knows how to live. These times are not new.
They're just different. They just look a little bit
different. Jesus knew what he was talking
about. Man, I wish we.
Would be a church more and more and we will be a church that is
just dedicated to following Jesus's way at all costs.
That is listening to the. Spirit's voice and say God,
whatever. You call us to do.
We will be those people. God, even if it means so much,
so much. Sacrifice and and suffering in
our own lives and our own body. God we are.
Willing to do it because. You did it first, Jesus.
You made enemies into. Friends, somehow Jesus and
you've. Called us to do the.
Same. And so we.
Want to step into that? We want to live into that line.
We want to live into the family name if we're going to be
children of God. That's the invitation.
I would rather see change through revival, not through
revolution. I would rather see God do
something radical in our midst by raising up people of love who
are willing to go into the darkest places and.
Be with people and help. Them and share with them than
than violent revolution, you know what I mean?
Like, isn't that a better? Way.
So shouldn't we all be committed to making?
Disciples and following in Jesus way.
I hope the answer is yes and I know, I know I'm coming off as
passionate today. Don't don't confuse my passion
for anger. I'm not angry at all.
I'm not angry, I'm passionate. I'm doubling down on the Jesus
stuff. You know what I mean?
He, He is the way all of us are called to model a cruciform
lifestyle, a cross shaped lifestyle, absorbing the pain
and allowing God to redeem Him. Lamech may be in our.
Blood. But Lamech is not our Father.
God is our Father. So live as children of God.
Live as children of God. In a world that tries to manage
violence through retaliation or domination, Jesus calls us to a
third way, peacemaking through nonviolent, transformative love
that breaks the cycle of escalation and reveals us as
children of God. This way will require the full
strength of God himself and the Spirit living in US.
It requires us to embrace a constant death to self.
A daily. Picking up of our cross and it
requires an unwavering trust that God will avenge.
He has seen every injustice done and He will advocate for those
who are oppressed and those who are hurting, those who are in
need, those who are desperate. He will prevail.
In other words, Dad will handle it.
And we are called to live as children of our father, but we
are not to avenge.