Sunday Bible Study: Bringing peace to an increasingly unpeaceful world

This morning, Delaney and I were asked to speak at her church, via Zoom. Typically, I don’t actually write any kind of speech or talk I give — I’m a terrible reader — I usually simply outline, rehearse the outline, and see what happens. But a few asked for the transcript of the last time I spoke, and seeing as I didn’t have one, I wrote one down this time.

Below is the talk, which is on Matthew, chapter five, verse 9: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.

Enjoy 🙂

Good morning all,

It has been a while since I’ve been up here, and far too long since I’ve seen most of you. Quite a lot has changed in that time. A pandemic, and subsequent crisis, has flipped our lives upside down and inside out. Protests and riots and tension have found their way into most of our cities, further polarizing an already-polarized nation. One of the most divisive elections in recent memory increased our national temperature and voter turnout to all-time records — and who knows if that election is even over at this point. I also convinced Delaney to marry me! The latter is obviously a peace-bringing attribute of 2020 to me — I cannot speak for her parents — though the former few are, I think it goes without saying, not exactly harbingers of equanimity.

Amidst all of that, I was asked to speak on Matthew, chapter five, verse 9: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.

I was asked, essentially, to speak on how we can bring peace, to an increasingly unpeaceful world.

When discussing the topic of peace in a church setting, it would be easy to take the easy route, and one that is not inaccurate: Look to Christ, the Prince of Peace. There is a place for that here, but I feel like I would be doing a disservice if I simply left it at that, if I relied on a cliché and trite, if not true, answer.

In the midst of a year filled with more adversity than in most of our lifetimes, I’ve noticed a fascinating phenomenon: Millions have attempted to tell others how they can be at peace. It’s ironic, because most, in this wild and turbulent chapter of life, have not always been at peace themselves. To put it another way: Millions have attempted to heal the sick, without realizing they were sick themselves.

When I was asked to give a talk on this topic, I, too, looked outside of myself at first. How could we bring peace? Well, we could volunteer! We could donate! Raise funds for this cause or that cause! While nothing is wrong with that, that is also how so many seem to have been thinking: We look outside of ourselves.

There’s a common cliché in athletics, one that Delaney and I hear often as volleyball players: Control what you can control. Jesus put it another way, when discussing how we so often worry about the speck in our brother’s eye, while ignoring the log in our own. We’ve been trying to solve everyone else’s problems, trying to bring everyone else peace, before solving our own, before being at peace ourselves.

I invite you, then, I challenge you, to do some introspection: What brings you peace? Not your wife, not your kids, not your neighbors or co-workers, but you. Mediate on it. Pray on it. Journal on it. Think of the top three things that bring you peace, and try doing them every day, for a week. For me, my three are reading, writing, and working out, and, as a bonus, spending quality time with Delaney, like hiking around Yosemite. Obviously those won’t be your peace-bringing activities, especially for the parents in here, who are heroes for what you are able to do on three or four hours of sleep. But think on it, and try doing your three, every day. One week. That’s it. Note the difference it makes not just on you, but inevitably on those around you.

It will be so unusual in these times, a person living at peace, that people will ask questions. People will follow.

Because only when we are at peace ourselves can we genuinely bring it to those around us.

Have you ever been curious why Christ is so dang good at this peace thing? How he became known as the Prince of Peace? Because he was at peace himself. He knew what he was here for. He knew the big picture in a way we humans cannot possibly imagine. He could sleep through a storm, get interrogated by Pharisees, beaten by Romans, and still maintain his peace, because he was at complete and total peace with his life, his mission, his purpose.

So, how is it that we can attain peace ourselves? And then, once we have that morsel of peace, how can we maintain it, to hold onto it? I’d challenge you to look inward, not outward. Focus on that log in your eye, whatever it may be, so that your brother can then work out his speck. Be a living example of peace, not a bloviator of it. Parents, I think you can understand this better than anybody else in here: How often do you have to tell your children to do something? To put the dishes away? To not walk on the carpet with shoes? To not punch your little brother when he’s not looking? To not feed the dog under the table? How often do you have to wonder if they’re listening?

It’s often. I know because my parents had to tell me things no less than a million times and I still don’t do them. But when I was a kid, while I may not have been listening as intently as my parents would have liked, I was always watching. I was always watching, when my dad opened doors for my mom. I was always watching, the way he’d treat his friends with total respect and humility. I was always watching the way he’d shake every opposing coach’s hand after a loss, and tell them good game, and he’d mean it. I was always watching, the way he’d talk deep into the night with his father, the way he connected with people. I may not have remembered everything he said, but 30 years into my life, when I go home, many in my community often refer to me as “Little Jim.”

Because we follow examples, not commands.

It was James, my favorite book in the Bible, who said “I’ll show you my faith by what I do.” I am fortunate enough to have married one of the greatest living examples of that nine-word sentence.

When Delaney plays beach volleyball, she does so in a onesie bathing suit, for its modesty. She has never once judged another player for wearing a two-piece, nor has she taken to social media to preach the need for more modest clothing. She simply lives her example. The other day, a friend of mine in Florida texted me a picture of two girls he coaches both wearing one-piece bathing suits. Naturally, I asked if they were Mormon. He said no, they just saw Delaney playing, in an event she happened to win, and they thought it was cool. Though peace is not Delaney’s intent when she wears her onsies, I can assure you that the parents of those young girls will have a great deal of peace, seeing their girls voluntarily wearing a one-piece.

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It might seem weird, to think of yourself, and your own peace, first, before that of others. But looking inward is oftentimes the best way to make external changes.

As Christ said in Mark, chapter 7, verse 15: “Nothing outside a man can make him unclean, rather it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean.” Or in Luke, chapter 11, verse 39: “You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside, you are full of greed and wickedness.”

We cannot bring peace by cleaning the outside of our metaphorical cups. Look inside, to what makes you feel clean, at peace.

Then, by our examples, can we bring peace to a world in need of it.