So, do you remember your first car? Remember your first car? If you are not old enough to drive yet? It's something you get to look forward to the, the first car. My first car was a 1980 Ford Fiesta. That's right. And since the word fiesta in Spanish means party, that means my first car was a party on wheels, right? All right. It's the real deal. The fiesta made it happen. I was reading a story this week about a man who walked out to his yard. He went down to the end of the driveway, put some, some gardening tools and a rocking chair out there. He, he rolled his lawn mower and a bike and he put all those things down at the end of the driveway. His neighbor was standing over in the yard and he's like, hey man, you having a yard sale. The guy said, no, I'm, I'm not having a yard sale. No, my son, he just, he just bought his first car getting ready to go out on a, on a big date. And so since for years when I came home, I had to clean up bats and balls and bikes and toys just to get my car in the driveway. I'm just preparing the driveway for before he leaves on his big date. Yeah. Some people would call that payback. Uh, but maybe a more accurate way would be reaping what you sow, reaping what you sow. So, what are you sowing these days? What are you sowing in your life? What's, what's growing in your heart and mind? What's your attitude like? What are some of the choices and, and decisions that you're making? What are some of the priorities that you're making in life? What are you sowing in your life right now? And what will you be reaping in the hours and the days and the weeks and months and years ahead, we finish up our series, uh Navigating Life and what we've been doing is, is looking at some of the ingredients for making good, healthy, wise decisions in life. And we've been looking specifically in James chapter three in the, the book of James and James has been giving us ingredients that we need for making good decisions. And today he's going to wrap all of the recipe up with the most important cooking instruction we could ever need. It is the instruction that is needed most right now in your home, it's needed most in your marriage. It's needed most in your family, it's needed most in your workplace and most in your school and most in this church, most in this community most in this country. It's needed most up at the North Pole. It's needed most out on the islands of the South Pacific. It's needed most in the offices of the West Wing and it's needed most in the war torn streets of the Middle East. It is this one thing that we need most to do what we need the most in life. So, what is this one thing? Well, let's find out together. Our sermon title today is Turning Toward Peace. We're going to be looking in James chapter three, not verse 17. Hold for applause. Uh We're, we're moving out of 17 and into verse 18. We'll be looking at James three verse 18. And this is what James says and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace, wisdom from above the kind of wisdom that comes from the one true sovereign. God makes peace. Now in this world of, of war and political conflict of social hostility of religious battles of family tension, the very notion of peace sounds somewhat silly and, and somewhat impossible, but it isn't now is peace easy, not at all, but it's wise, peace is wisdom from above making peace, sowing. Peace is wisdom from above. What does that really mean though? Well, let's start from the harvest and work our way back. The harvest of peace. James says, the fruit of peace is righteousness. So what is righteousness? Well, simply put, we could say that that righteousness is what we receive and what we obtain when things are right between us and God. So are things right between you and God are things right today right now in this moment or things right between you and God? Have you had a, a clear defining moment when you turned away from thinking, uh sin's not that big a deal to believing that your sin would actually separate you from God forever separate you from all that's good and holy and happy and satisfying. Have you had a moment when your heart was so overwhelmed with your sin that you found yourself crying out to God, please God have mercy on me. Have you had a moment when you received and believed in the truth surrounding the birth and the life and the crucifixion and the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus Christ. Someone said that when it comes to being right with God, Jesus Christ is the only one who can stand in for you. He's the only one who can stand in and, and make things right? And Jesus is always absolutely willing to stand in for anyone who will put their trust, their full trust in Him. There is life in Jesus and you can have Jesus if you will trust in Him. So have you truly trusted in Jesus? Have you received his love, received his forgiveness? If so, it won't be hard to know and it won't be hard to see. Not for you first and most and, and, and not for others, look, none of us are perfect. But if things are right between you and God, it will be seen in your priorities, it will be seen in your choices, in your decisions. It will be seen in your attitude. It will be seen in the way that you spend your time and your money and your energy. If you've been truly saved, ultimately, you don't need to try to remember if you pray a sinner's prayer at a camp, you don't need to try to remember if you've been baptized, you don't need to try to remember the day that you were physically announced to be a member of a local church. If you wanna know if you are saved, you will know that you are saved because right now you are believing in and you are relying on and you are trusting in and you are clinging to Jesus as the one and only ultimate way to be right with God. Your ultimate affections in life are the glory of God and the, and the truth of God in Jesus and your ultimate aspirations in life are all wrapped up in loving and following and obeying Jesus. And why should we do that? Why should we only trust in Jesus? Why, why should we first and most love and follow and obey Jesus? I mean, don't all roads lead to heaven. Well, we boldly and graciously offer you these words from Jesus. And as we offer them, we, we hope that the Holy Spirit will quicken your heart to see that they are true. This is what Jesus said in John 14 6, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through May. And we boldly and graciously offer you the words of Simon Peter. And, and again, we hope that the Holy Spirit will quicken your heart to know that, that these words are true. Peter, standing up in front of a great crowd of people in acts four said this and there is salvation in no one else, no one for. He said, there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved. There's no other name, there's no other savior, there is no other help. There's no other hope for being right with God. Apart from Jesus Christ, he is the help. He is the hope. He is the name. He is the savior. He is the road and he's the only road 100 and 40 plus years ago. Octavius Winslow said this never was there before nor has there been since, nor ever will be again, such ancient marvelous stupendous love as the love of Jesus. And he says this, it is the astonishment of heaven. Heaven is astonished at the love of Jesus. It is the wonder of angels and in their best holiest and most self abased moments. It is the marvel of saints on earth and will be through eternity. Their study and their praise. I don't know exactly what we're going to be doing in heaven. But I do know there will be some kind of study and praise of the stupendous love of Jesus Christ. And we'll never get tired of it. It'll never get old. We'll never say yes, Jesus. I love you. But I'd rather play some golf. Yes, Jesus. I love you, but I'd rather watch TV. Yes, Jesus, I'd, I'd love you, but I'd rather go to the game. I'd rather go shopping or I'd rather celebrate Christmas and Easter. No, we will be overwhelmed with the stupendous love of Christ. It will be our infatuation. We'll be addicted to it and we'll love it. But we kind of can't convince our hearts of that. Now, we're just, we're too sinful. We're too selfish, but it's true. It's so true. Winslow goes on to say this, his condescending stoop to our nature, his descent from heaven's glory to earth's lowliness, his bearing our sins, his endurance of our curse, his suffering of our penalty, his exhaustion of our bitter cup, his resurrection from the grave and his ascent into heaven are facts which speak louder and sweeter than an angel's trumpet, the resurrection, the ascension, the promised return of Jesus Christ, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Everything about Jesus is stupendous, particularly his love. It's louder and sweeter than an angel's trumpet. You know what that means? It means. We don't need an angel's trumpet and we don't need to trump up our politics and we don't need to keep biting away thinking that everything is going to work out. It will not. There is no politician. No pastor, no preacher, no parent, no doctor, no lawyer, no accountant, no pro athlete. There is no girlfriend, no boyfriend, no husband, no wife, no child, no grandchild. That has the stupendous love of Jesus Christ. He is the hope. There is nowhere else to turn. Listen again to what Octavia said. Never was there before. Nor has there been since nor ever will be again. Such ancient marvelous, stupendous love as the love of Jesus never. And that's why we trust only in Him because every other person will let you down. They won't even try. They just will because it's who I am and it's who you are. You fail and I fail and you sin and I sin and you're selfish and I'm selfish. This is who we are. And if we can find in our hearts to acknowledge and admit that we'll begin to see how stupendous the love of Jesus is and we'll want more and we want to give more away. His love is ancient. It's marvelous, it's stupendous and it's the only love that can make things right between us and God. Maybe put another way. It is the love of Jesus Christ that makes peace between us and God. How Apostle Paul was writing to a church in a place called Colosse. And this is what he said about what Jesus has done, having made peace through the blood of his cross on the cross. Jesus Christ bore our sins in his own body. He endured the curse that has been set upon us for our sins, Jesus with his own blood, he sowed peace so that we could reap righteousness. This is what he did. Jesus has made a way for there to be peace between us and God. Only Jesus. Jesus has made it possible that when you put your faith in Him, there's no longer conflict between you and God. There's, there's no conflict. There's only the fruit of righteousness and that fruit was purchased by the blood of Jesus one day when I die and I wake up on the other side of death. When I breathe my last and, and I enter into eternity, I will enter into the greatest, most satisfying reality in the universe. And it won't be because I'm a pastor and it won't be because I'm a pretty nice guy and it won't be because I'm a really good dancer. Ok? It will be because the righteousness of Jesus Christ has been credited to my account. I didn't make the deposit. I didn't earn it through faith in Jesus Christ. His righteousness has been credited to my account. Jesus has made things right between me and God. He has made peace between me and God. And because that righteousness has been credited to my account. My faith is not a prayer at camp many years ago. My faith because of the righteousness of Christ is an ongoing obedient faith in Jesus Christ because I have peace with God. You know another word for peace like that safety, save to have peace with God through Jesus Christ means you are safe with God. Are you safe today in your heart and mind? Are you confident that, that you are safe with God? There's, there's peace with God. We had friends that lived in North Africa for many years. They were there to, to share the gospel, to share the love and peace and freedom that comes through Jesus Christ. And I, I've shared with you before that, that when they first got there that Kim said it was the first time when they arrived in this hostile country, hostile, politically hostile, geographically hostile, religiously, it was the first time that, that they got there and in all of that hostility, she said it was the first time I understood what it meant to be safe in a place that that felt like there was nothing safe for me and my husband and my kids. It was the first time I actually discovered what safety really means. And she says being safe is being saved. Because if you are saved, if you are right with God. If there is peace between you and God, you are safe being rescued and redeemed and saved it fuses and, and welds and molds the righteousness of Christ and the peace of Christ into the deepest part of who you are. Like who you are is ultimately defined by the peace of Christ. Peace that's been brought between you and God by Jesus. We're no longer condemned. We're no longer known as enemies of God. We are no longer defined by, define by the divine judgment. Rather, we are defined with divine eternity. We're not destined for death anymore. We're, we're destined for life. We are destined to live forever and God's love and God's care and God's joy, this, this is what it means to be saved and that definition that destiny, so to speak, it impacts how we think and how we feel and how we act. It impacts everything that we do to be right with God, to have peace with God. It impacts everything, especially the call on our life as Christians to sow and make peace. We've been called to sow and, and make peace. Well, how do you sow peace? Well, how do you sow anything? But for most of my life growing up, uh the family farm around my grandmother's house was, was always cotton. I remember walking through the cotton fields when I was a kid and I think there's been times it's been corn and soybean and stuff like that. But we have a family friend that farms all that land and I guarantee you back in April and May, he wasn't sitting on the porch with his wife drinking lemonade and going, you know what, honey, I bet in five or six months that field is just going to be full of cotton. It's just magically going to be there. No, because in April and May, you know what he was doing, he was cultivating the land, he was sowing the seed, he was preparing for the harvest. Steven Cole says this. If you see a church or a home where there is peace, it is because the members have worked to cultivate peace, they have listened to one another, respected one another, judged their own selfishness and pride. Let's just stop for a second when you see peace. It's because I have judged my own selfishness and pride. If you see peace, it's because you have judged your own selfishness and pride. And can I just confess for all of us, we stink at that. Ok. We're not really good at judging our own selfishness and pride. But boy, if we were, if we were, what could God do in our lives, what could God do in our marriages and in our parenting in our lives within this church and our relationships with others, what could God do with the Gospel in our life and through our church? If you and I got really good at judging our own selfishness, our own pride that we didn't wait for someone else to tell us that we were being selfish and proud, what, what would happen, you know what happened? Peace. We, we, we would learn what it means to, to sow peace. K go on judge their own selfishness and pride and sought to live in accordance with Godly wisdom. Not worldly wisdom is sewing and making peace an easy thing to do. No, it would be hard. You know what? It's hard to judge your own selfishness and pride. All right, it's hard. It's, it's hard to, to sow peace, but it's wise, it may not be easy but sowing and making peace are wisdom from above. So the question is always is, what kind of wisdom do we want? Do we want to function in the wisdom from above or do we want to function in the quote unquote wisdom from below? Because it's not very wise if it's, it's from below, what are you sowing in your life right now? Are you sowing peace? If so, you will be reaping what you sow? Now? Does that mean that I just need to put on a at shirt with a peace symbol on it and go stand out in the streets of the Middle East and pass out water and bread and everything's going to be ok? No, that's not what it means. Does that mean that, that all we have to do is when we go to the voting booths, this just flash the peace sign and everything's going to be ok? No, that's not what it means. Does it mean if we just sit down with our, our spouse or our boyfriend or a girlfriend and, and we just say, hey, you know what, let's, let's just give peace a chance. Is that going to make everything ok? No, that's not what it means. What it means is if we're going to be wise, if we're going to be wise in, in making decisions and, and making choices in life, if we're going to be wise, then our wisdom must first begin with peace with God. The peace that only comes from the ancient Marvelous dependent love of Christ. And if we get that peace, if we have the peace of Christ, then we can. And we should, and we've been commanded to take that peace and sow it, take that piece and, and make it happen in our lives and around our lives now, will we sow peace perfectly? No, we won't. But are we even in the ballpark right now? I mean, are we in the ballpark of, of sewing piece? Do you know what it means to be happy and blessed and satisfied? Do you know how you get to be happy and blessed and satisfied? Well, this is what Jesus said, Matthew 59, blessed and happy and satisfied to be envied. The fortunate are the peacemakers, the peacemakers, the people who are sowing peace and, and striving to make peace. So, are you a peacemaker? Are you sowing peace in your life? When you look at your life at home, are you a peacemaker or troublemaker at home? Are you a peacemaker or a troublemaker at work? Are you a peacemaker? A troublemaker at school? Are you a peacemaker? A troublemaker in the church? Are you a peacemaker or, or troublemaker in traffic? Are you a peacemaker troublemaker on Black Friday? Is there, is there something that when people around you, there's, there's this sense that you know what? We were just around something different and someone different? What do you leave in your wake? What do people feel like after they've been around you? I'm going to mess this up. So I'm going to read it just like I put it in my notes. Do people feel like they've driven through a small town of mercy and gentleness and peace and wisdom that comes from above or do they feel like they've driven through a war zone of bitterness, pride, arrogance, and selfishness that comes from below? What do people feel when, when they're around? I'm not perfect. You're not perfect. We're going to be off, we're going to have our days. Ok? But generally speaking like, what do people say about you? Do they say gosh, do we have to go to dinner with them? He is such a jerk. Do we have to go to dinner with them? She is so negative she trusts no one. What do people say when they've been in our wake? Do they sense the grace and the mercy and the peace of Jesus or do they not when you look at your life this past week? Just, just go back. It's Sunday. What did you do Monday through Saturday? When you look back Monday through Saturday? Have, have you tried to sow some peace? I mean, can you look in some of the moments of life? And you said, yep, I tried to sow some peace there or do you look through the moments in life and said, yep, I don't trust anybody. And that's how I've been all week long or you know what? I, I'm selfish and I don't care, you know, I, I want what I want and this is how it should be done. You know, I, what is it that we give off in the moments of life? Most of our moments in life, wisdom from above so is peace and it makes peace. And I do think it's important to remember in this picture that in order for our family, friend to have the harvest of righteousness in order for him to sow what needs to happen for the harvest. He's got to stir up the dirt. Ok? He's, he's gotta get dirty and sometimes making peace means confrontation. It does this weekend we're, we're honoring our veterans around the nation and, and it calls to mind the, the words of a world leader for more than 60 years ago who said this peacekeeping is not a job for soldiers, but only soldiers can do it. In other words, sometimes peace requires confrontation. Why? Because in order for peace to happen, there has to be some confronting because someone might be violently abused or someone might be being mentally deceived or a host of other things. And, and just a reminder that type of abuse, that type of deception, it doesn't just happen in the Middle East. It happens in the middle of your home and it happens in the middle of this church and it happens in the middle of our government and it happens in the middle of every single place we go all day long. There are always moments and always circumstances where there is a need to sow peace and sometimes peace comes through confrontation, you confront to bring the peace, you confront to rescue you confront to redeem. Now someone may be thinking, hey man, you started this thing off saying that but this is about making decisions. What was all this sow and peace have to do with making decisions, CS Lewis and me, Christianity said this every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you. Ok? So when you make a choice, when you make a decision, there's no confusion. It's, it's all about you. When I wake up in the morning, I'm thinking about dinner. I mean, I think about Jesus first, but then I think about dinner second. Ok, I'm just a dinner guys. It's, it's on my mind. It's what I live for every day. So I wake up in the morning thinking about dinner. And so I'm, I'm thinking of what my choice is going to be for dinner. That choice says something about me. It just does, you know, and I'm just telling you, I don't go to chains. All right. I just don't, you gotta be local. I want, I want a local spot. Now I'll go to the greasiest local spot in the world. I, I love that but I'm probably not going to go to a chain. I, I like a local spot and sorry, I don't know if do we have anybody that works at a chain? Oh, I'm sure we got some Chick Fil A folks. Sorry. Chick Fil A is great. That's fine. You know, I'm not saying chains are bad. I'm just saying it's my choice, you know, and, and I know how I choose things all of us when we make a choice. It says something about us. It says something about who we are. Lewis says every time you make a choice, you're turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses into something a little different from what it was before all your life long. You are slowly turning the central thing either listen to this either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature, either into a creature that is in harmony with God and with other creatures and with itself or else into one that's in a state of war and hatred with God and with its fellow creatures and with itself, each one of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other. So which way are you progressing? Which, which way are you, are you turning? It's not hard to see. Not hard to see for you. You know, just, just for you forget what other people just for. It's not hard for you to see. Look at your decisions, look at your choices, look at your attitude, look at how you do things when we look at our lives. Which way are we progressing more toward a heavenly creature or a hellish creature? It's, it's not hard to figure out. The, the math is, is not hard. I've always been real thankful for the prayers of, of Scotty Smith, longtime pastor in, in the Tennessee area and, and you can find his prayers on the gospel coalition dot org or wherever you buy books, they've been collected in some, in some prayer books. But, but I came across one a few weeks ago that just, just really helped my heart think through some things and I just wanna share part of that with you. He says this Jesus, keep me mindful to the peacemaking you have already accomplished between yourself and us while we were your enemies. You died for us, destroying the hostility and replacing the enmity with your lavish stupendous love and your eternal peace. You have reconciled us to yourself through the cost of your life. The price of your blood and there is no greater love and the coming harvest of perfect fruit is not the least bit in doubt you will bring to completion the good work you have begun in each of us and in your whole creation. Don't let me lose sight of this hope for one nanosecond. That's so important. No matter whoever gets elected to any office everywhere, anywhere, no matter who, your coach or your teacher or your pastor or your accountant may be. Don't for one nanosecond Christian think that God will not perfectly accomplish his purpose, which is ultimately your salvation. He's going to do it. Don't, don't quit believing that for one day in a second. And then Scotty writes this perfect relationships, define our future, just chew on that just for a second. Perfect relationships define our future. I had the weirdest dream the other night, shared it with my mom. I said, mum, I said I had this weird dream that, that we all went to the beach together like all of my family. You know, my, my three sisters, all of their families and my mom and God let my dad come from heaven to go to the beach with us. And my mom, when I told him, mom, said, well, you know, dad never wanted to miss a week at the beach. I mean, you're right, mom. Good point. And I said, you know, mom, it was, it was, it, it was just this great week. You know, everything was fun. Everything was super. It was, it was grand. And I said, but I could tell there was a little something off, I couldn't, I couldn't quite do the math and there's a little something off with that. And on the last day, I just said, hey dad, I said, we've, we've loved having you. But, but I've noticed there's, there's a little something off and he said, well, he said this has been a great week, but I'd rather be there rather be there. And my mom said that sounds just like something he'd say. You know why? Because you will never have a perfect relationship here. Your spouse is never going to get it right. Your parents are never going to get it right. Your kids are never going to get it right. We will never be perfect here. But peace with Christ means it'll be perfect there and our future is nothing but perfect relationships. Don't forget that for a nanosecond. So where does that lead us? This is what Scotty says. So Jesus, give me your patience when peacemaking takes much longer than I hope when it requires more emotional currency than I have when it demands more forgiveness than I wanna offer. Give me courage when you send me to people and situations I want to avoid like a highly contagious disease. And then He says this, give me more of your mercy and compassion because Jesus, you have called me to love people. That's our call love God first and most love people in the same way that we love ourselves. So with the strength that God supplies, let's keep the driveways clear. Let's with the strength that God provides, Let us sow peace. Let us make peace and by God's grace, we will reap what we saw.