Rick Warren - A Faith That Plants Seeds of Peace (02/14/2024)
In times of chaos and injustice, Jesus declares blessed are the peacemakers who will be called children of God, and James 3:13-18 reveals that heavenly wisdom produces humble, peaceful relationships. Rick Warren teaches six practical seeds from God's wisdom to sow for harmony: purity, peacefulness, consideration, openness to reason, mercy, and freedom from prejudice and hypocrisy. Peacemakers who plant these seeds of peace will ultimately harvest a crop of justice.
Welcome and Series Context
Hello everybody, I am Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in California, author of The Purpose Driven Life, and teacher for the Daily Hope broadcast. And we are in a series that we have been going through on Principles For Living Through A Pandemic. A study of the Book of James on real faith.
The kind of faith that works when life does not. And today we are in part 13, so thanks for joining us. Now we are not broadcasting from my farm outside as you can tell today because it is raining outside, so we are actually in my garage.
Yes, this is a window that I had put in my garage. It looks pretty nice, but I like to see all of the view. If you have not downloaded the message notes, go ahead and do that right now, and then we will get started.
Believers Are Called to Be Peacemakers
You know, those of us who accepted God’s forgiveness, and salvation by faith and His grace we are called many things in the Bible. We are called Christians, you are called a Christian. You are called a follower of Jesus.
You are a disciple of Jesus. You are saved. You are called a believer. You have been born-again into God’s family, and you are now a child of God. These are all terms that relate to who you are in Christ, but did you know that Jesus said we are also to be known as peacemakers, yes, peacemakers.
One of the synonyms for being a follower of Christ, or being a Christian is to be a peacemaker. In the most famous sermon of Jesus the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said this in Matthew 5:9, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are the ones that God will call His children.
To be a child of God is to be a peacemaker. To be a peacemaker is to be a child of God. Now, I do not have to tell you how in these tense days our world desperately needs you to be a peacemaker because there is chaos and there is fighting, and there is conflict literally going on everywhere.
Addressing Injustice and the Need for God’s Direction
With all the recent injustice, and the brutal deaths of our black brothers and sisters there are real reasons for the protests that are going on against injustice in our system that allows for people to kill black people, and not be instantly arrested.
If somebody in your family was murdered, and two months later the murderers had not even been arrested, you would be upset, too. Honestly, if America ignored what is happening in the past few weeks, and went on with business as usual, without speaking up about this injustice, I would say that the soul of the nation is lost.
I do not hear anybody condoning brutality either by rioters, or by officers, but any citizen, including you, has a right to protest injustice without being blamed for anything else and everything else. So what is the way out of this mess that we are in right now? The chaos, the confusion, the conflict.
Well, it is the same answer that has always been the answer. Follow the owner’s manual for life. We need to turn to God, and we need to turn to His Word for direction.
James Chapter 3 – Secrets of Harmony
Now, as we come to part 13 in this series through the Book of James, I keep being astounded at how relevant the topic that James talks about each week in our weekly situation, how relevant it is to what we are going through during this COVID-19 pandemic.
And today in James, chapter three, we come to a passage that gives us the secrets of getting along together. It tells us how to live in harmony with each other. It tells us to have peaceful relationships. It tells us how to be wise in the way that we treat each other.
Now James, chapter three, is an extremely relevant chapter to what is happening in our world right now. Let me read to you James, chapter three, verse 13 to 18, as we look at a faith that plants seeds of peace.
Marks of True Wisdom in Relationships
A faith that plants seeds of peace, James, chapter three. Verse 13, If you are a truly wise and understanding person, it will be seen in your life by the good deeds that you do out of the humility that always comes from wisdom.
Now let me just pause there, and point out a couple things. First, God says that the first mark of real wisdom is seen in your relationships. Whether you are wise, or whether you are foolish is not what shows up on some test you take in school, but what shows up in how you relate to other people.
Wisdom shows up, God says, in relationships. So I do not care how much money you made in life, or how successful you are, if your relationships are strained, or they are weak, or they are hurting you are not very wise.
The second mark of wisdom is humility. He says the wisdom that comes from humility. Anytime I act in a prideful way I am being foolish. I am not being wise, and let me read it again.
If you are truly a wise and understanding person, it will be seen in your life by the good deeds you do out of the humility that always comes from wisdom, but if in your heart, you are selfish, jealous, or bitter toward others, that is relationship stuff, selfish, jealous, or bitter toward others, do not think you are wise, because it is a lie.
That is never wisdom from God, instead it is from the world, that selfishness, and that bitterness, and that jealousy, the envy. He said that is from the world, and it is from your unspiritual nature, and it is from the devil himself.
Now I want you to notice. The Bible says that if I allow selfishness, or jealousy, or bitterness in my relationships that I am being foolish and unwise, and those things do not come from God.
The Consequences of Earthly “Wisdom”
Now then James continues on in verse 16, he says this. For whenever there is envy or selfish ambition, you will always find, this is from the Amplified translation, confusion, unrest, disharmony, rebellion, and every kind of evil.
That is from the Amplified translation. Anytime you see any of these things in your home, or your work, or your school, or in society, confusion, chaos, conflict, all of the things we just read. He said anytime you see that it is because envy, and selfish ambition have raised their ugly head.
Now, fortunately, James then teaches us the secrets of how to be wise. How to be a wise peacemaker in relationships. This is going to be very practical, so I hope you are taking notes today.
God's Wisdom Described in James 3:17-18
James 3:17 and 18 says this. Real wisdom, that is the wisdom from God is pure, then peaceful, then considerate. He said real wisdom is submissive, full of mercy and helpful, and impartial and sincere, or without prejudice, and without hypocrisy.
When peacemakers plant seeds of peace the Bible says, they will harvest justice. Now this last verse, verse 18, it is so loaded with truth. When peacemakers plant seeds of peace they will harvest justice.
That is so filled with truth we are going to look at it for two weeks. I want you to circle the word peace, and I want you to circle the word justice because they go together. You cannot have one without the other.
You cannot have real peace in the world if you do not have real justice in the world. They go together, peace and justice. You plant seeds of peace you harvest justice.
Daily Sowing in Relationships
Now this week we are going to look at how do you plant the seeds of peace in your relationships. And then next week we are going to look at how do you harvest justice.
Now, again, James says this. When peacemakers plant seeds of peace, they will harvest justice. Everyday, and in every relationship that you have you are planting seeds in those relationships everyday of your life.
The only question is what kind of seeds are you planting? What are you sowing into your relationships? Are you sowing seeds of anger? Sowing seeds of distrust? Are you planting seeds of impatience or fear?
Are you always planting seeds of criticism, or nagging, or anything else? Whatever seeds I sow I will reap. And that is whether you are going to have good relationships, or bad ones, peaceful, or ones with conflict.
Now you are probably thinking, okay, Rick, I get it. How can I plant seeds of peace? Well, James tells us the answer. And he says it right there in verse 17.
And there he gives us six seeds. Six seeds to plant for peaceful relationships. If you are going to be a peacemaker in your home, in your work, in your family, in the world, you are going to have to learn how to plant these six things in the relationships that you begin and establish.
Now you know the reality is we often treat each other in very foolish ways in relationships. In fact, we often relate in unwise, and even self-defeating ways. A lot of the ways that you act toward people, actually provoke the exact opposite behavior of what you want.
The Six Seeds of Peace
So let us look at these six seeds of peace individually right now. You might even just consider it being a checklist. It is a checklist on how to have good relationships. How to plant seeds of peace.
And he says all of this comes from wisdom. If I get the wisdom of God, and if I am wise, he said, wisdom does this, this, this, this, this, and this. And he gives us six seeds of peace to plant.
Seed One: Purity – Do Not Compromise the Truth
Why do you not write these down, number one. You want to be a peacemaker in all your relationships, number one, if I am wise, I will not compromise the truth. If I am wise, I will not compromise the truth because in James 3:17 the first thing it says is real wisdom is first of all pure.
Real wisdom is pure. Now what is James talking about? He is talking about always telling the truth. The pure truth of God. Proverbs 15:26 says, The Lord delights in pure words.
Words that are truthful, not words that are dishonest. Not words that are false, not words that are lies. To be a peacemaker, the very first thing I have to do is I have to be wise.
And the way I must be wise is I have to always tell you the truth. If I am wise, in a relationship I am not going to lie to you. I am not going to cheat you. I am not going to trick you.
I am not going to try to take advantage of you. I am not going to try to deliberately deceive you. I am not going to try to mislead you. I will first of all tell you the truth.
Words that are pure, wisdom that is pure. Why do you think God mentions this first? I will tell you why. Because all relationships are built on trust. And all trust is built on truth.
There is no trust without truth. You cannot have trust without truth. And so in order to build relationship you have to have trust. In order to have trust you have to have truth.
So the first thing you have to do is you have to tell the truth. Honesty is the bedrock of all good relationships. This is what he means is that wisdom is pure. It is truthful, it is honest, it is real, it has integrity.
You probably do not know who Dr. Leonarde Keeler is, but you know what he invented. He invented the lie detector. And Dr. Keeler after testing over 25,000 people on the lie detector you know what he concluded?
He concluded this. Every human being is by nature dishonest. We are naturally dishonest. God does not want us to stay that way. That is why in Ephesians 4:15 he says the message.
God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth, and to tell it in love. He wants us to know the truth, and he wants us to tell the truth, and he wants us to tell the truth in love.
If I am wise, I am not going to compromise the truth.
Seed Two: Peacefulness – Do Not Antagonize Anger
Number two, wise peaceful relationships. Number two, if I am wise, I will not antagonize your anger. I will not antagonize your anger.
I will not compromise the truth, but I also will not antagonize your anger by the way I tell it. Second phrase in James 3:17 says this. Real wisdom is peaceful. It is not just pure, it is peaceful.
What does that mean? Wise people work at maintaining peace. They work at maintaining harmony. They are not always looking for a fight. They do not get offended easily, do you?
Do you get offended easily? They are not defensive all the time. They are not carrying a chip on their shoulder. Repeatedly over and over and over God says that if I am wise, I will avoid arguments, why?
Because I am not going to antagonize your anger because true wisdom, if I am wise, in our relationship I avoid arguments. I avoid antagonizing your anger, Proverbs 20:3.
Any fool can start an argument. The wise thing is to stay out of them. Mark of wisdom, you stay out of arguments. Proverbs 14:29, A wise man controls his temper.
He knows that anger causes mistakes. All kinds of mistakes. So, okay, I get it, if I am going to be wise in relationships I am going to avoid arguments. I am going to avoid antagonizing anger.
What causes arguments? Well, there is a long list of things that cause arguments. Let me just mention three that you need to avoid. Three things that cause arguments in any relation, marriage, friendship, or anything else.
Number one, comparing. The moment you start comparing, you are asking for an argument. Why can you not be like so and so, or you are just like so and so. Comparing always causes arguments.
Condenning, condemning. You know it is all your fault, or you should be ashamed of yourself, you lay on guilt, or you use phrases like you ought to, you should, you should not, you always, you never.
Do not compare and do not condemn. Number three, do not contradict. Contradicting causes us to get into arguments. What is contradicting? When you interrupt in the middle of a sentence to correct a detail, that is irritating.
Let me give you some advice. When you are in the middle of an argument do not sweat the small stuff. If somebody gets a detail wrong do not worry about it.
William James, a famous psychologist said, Wisdom is the art of knowing what to overlook, okay? You got to know do not make a big deal. If your spouse keeps getting the detail wrong do not correct them every time they get the detail wrong.
You do not want to compromise the truth, but you do not want to antagonize their anger either.
Seed Three: Consideration – Do Not Minimize Feelings
Number three. If I am wise, and I am going to plant seeds of peace I will not compromise the truth, antagonize your anger. I will not minimize your feelings. That is the next, that is the third seed that we plant in this list of six seeds.
The Bible says real wisdom is considerate. Any time I am inconsiderate I am a fool because real wisdom is considerate. Other translations say real wisdom is courteous. Real wisdom is gentle with people.
What is he talking about here considerate? Considerate simply means being mindful of the feelings of other people. That is all it means to be considerate. You are mindful of the feelings of other people.
You are not just thinking about your feelings, your agenda. You are not just thinking about your goals, your needs, your hurts, your interests. See, one of the most common mistakes that we make in every relationship, in marriage, in friendship, at work, at school, with our neighbors, one of the most common mistakes is if I do not feel the same way you do then your feelings must be invalid, or illogical, or unimportant because I do not feel them.
I do not have the fears you do. I do not have the concerns you do then they must not be important. Thinking about what we are going through right now the truth is if you have never been treated unjustly, or unfairly in all of your life because of your skin color, okay?
If you have never had anybody mistreat you, or treat you less than a human because of your skin color, and if you have never been afraid of being shot for jogging down a street then you are probably having a hard time understanding what people are protesting about because it is not in your world, but because it is not in your world does not mean it is not real.
And it does not mean it is not legitimate, and it does not mean it does not hurt. I would like to read you something that I wrote this week that maybe will help you be a little bit more of this third seed, the seed of consideration.
I wrote it, it is called Yes, But What About? Yes, But What About? Let me read it to you. One of the reasons so many marriages end in disaster, and so many kids are estranged from parents, and so many citizens are fractured in angry divisions is because most people have never been taught how to sit with someone’s pain without getting defensive about it.
How to sit with somebody’s pain without getting defensive about it. And it causes all kinds of problems. When somebody tries to express how fearful, or heartbroken, or angry they are about some deep, painful wound the most unloving thing, the most unloving thing, and the most unhelpful phrase you can reply with is this phrase, yes, but what about?
Yes, but what about? When they are in pain and you say that, yes, but what about? You see, you invalidate people’s feelings and their pain by immediately mentioning some other problem, or some other pain, or some other unfairness, or some other injustice.
Is that really your best response? No, I mean, could you not just sit for a minute, and validate their pain. You may not feel it, but you did not experience it, but could you not just sit for a minute, and validate their pain without being defensive?
Must you immediately excuse it away? Must you compare it to somebody else’s problem or pain? What about that, what about that? Can you not just be empathetic for a few seconds?
You ought to ask yourself why am I always so quick to change the subject when somebody expresses a negative emotion, or a hurt? Why am I so quick to change the subject when somebody expresses a negative emotion, or a hurt?
You see, they are not saying their pain is the only pain. They are not saying that their problem is the only problem in the world. They are not saying that the injustice done to them, or the injustice done to others does not matter because of what has been done to them.
They just want somebody to understand, and sympathize their pain. Anytime you respond to a hurt, or a fear, or a pain with, yes, but what about? And you mention something else, you communicate this.
Somebody else’s pain is more important than yours right now, or I can ignore your problem because other people have problems, too. Now this phrase, yes, but what about? Is particularly misused on social media by many, many people, and they do not realize how hurtful it is.
For instance, somebody will post something where they will express a concern about something that hurts them personally. And immediately 50 other people will minimize that hurt by posting but what about all the babies who are born? Or what about the people who are dying in that country? Or what about?
And everybody talks, nobody listens. That is foolish, it is not wise. Wisdom is considerate. When you are considering the alternatives for something, when you are looking for solutions, when you are trying to discover unintended consequences of a decision you are about to make the phrase but what about?
That is a very valuable tool. Anytime you are trying to find a solution, or an unintended consequence, or figure out what might happen, but what about? That is a valuable tool, but as a response to somebody expressing grief it sucks, all right?
It reveals your inability to empathize. It means you are unloving, and it means you are not being wise at that moment. Why do you not try this. This week when you see somebody express a negative emotion instead of getting offended, or getting defensive, or minimizing it, or changing the subject, just absorb their pain for the moment, okay?
Just absorb the pain that is called love. It is also called maturity. It is what Jesus does. He does it with you all the time. So when somebody brings up a painful hurt do not immediately try to equalize it out.
Do not compare. Do not equate. Do not rush to a solution. Just listen. If you want to be a pro at loving people you need to realize that your ear is a far better tool for showing kindness and love than your mouth, okay?
You just show up and you shut up when other people are in pain. You do not try to say anything. You show up and shut up when they are in pain, and maybe, just maybe they will do the same for you.
It could save your marriage. It could save your family. Could save our nation. Romans 15:1 to 3 says this. We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak, and not please ourselves.
Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the insults of those who insulted you fell on me.
You know what, that may happen sometimes in your life. The insults of those who insulted others fall on you, and all of a sudden you get insulted, and you go, well, what did I do?
Can you just be like Jesus, and realize that sometimes the insults of those who insulted others fell on you, all right? Be Christlike in that. Galatians 6:2 says, Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
What is the law of Christ? Love your neighbor as yourself. All right, let us review. If you really want to be a peacemaker in the world blessed are the peacemakers, they will be called the children of God.
Peacemakers are wise in their relationships, and if I am wise, I will not compromise the truth. I tell you the truth. I will not antagonize your anger, and I will not minimize your feelings.
I will just listen to them without being defensive, or try to give a solution.
Seed Four: Openness – Do Not Criticize Suggestions
Number four, the next thing James says is this. If I am wise, in a relationship, I will not criticize your suggestions. Oh, man, could we save a lot of problems if we would just do this one.
The Bible says, the fourth thing, real wisdom is not defensive. Real wisdom is not defensive. Now the Greek word here eupeithes, eupeithes, it is only used one time in the entire Bible right here in this verse James 3:17.
Eupeithes literally means you are open, you are open. The RSV translation says you are open to reason. You are not defensive. Living Bible says it allows discussion, and is willing to yield to others.
King James Version says it is easily intreated. What does it mean to be eupeithes? To not be defensive means you are reasonable. You are open to discussion. You are willing to be persuaded.
A wise person can learn from anybody. A fool is shut down, you are stubborn, you are close-minded. Nobody could teach you anything, but a wise person can learn from anybody because you are willing to listen.
You are not set in your own ways. You are not set in your own biases. As I said you are not stubborn, that is wisdom. You are willing to listen, and you are willing to learn.
And you are a learner, and all learners are leaders. Oh, how this is needed in our world today. Nobody is listening to anybody else. This political party is not listening to this political party.
And this rabbit channel on TV is not listening to this rabbit channel. They are all just talking at each other. They are not reasonable. They are not eupeithes.
They are not open. They are defensive. Are you a reasonable person? Let me ask you, can your kids reason with you?
Can your wife reason with you? Can your husband reason with you? Are you one of those people that says do not confuse me with the facts my mind is made up.
No, if you are going to be wise in relationships, if you are going to be a peacemaker you have got to be open to reason. I heard about a new pastor, young guy, just graduated from seminary he went to his first church, and he was very nervous to preach his very first sermon, so he told everybody, I know I am not very experienced at this, I have not had much experience preaching, so I tell you what.
I would like your suggestions because I just want to get better. And so I am open to any advice that you have. Well, at the end of the service he is standing at the front shaking hands with people as they are leaving, and a man walks up to him and said, Pastor, I just want you to know your sermon stunk.
Your sermon stunk. Well, that is not very constructive criticism, but he is trying to be open about it and he goes, Well, okay, so I stunk, what specifically stunk? And the man said, Well, there are three problems with your sermon.
He said, First, you read it, okay. Second, you read it poorly. And third, it was not worth reading in the first place. The guy was feeling pretty bad after that, but another member came up later and felt sorry for him, and said, Do not worry, pastor.
Do not pay attention to old Jim. He only repeats what he hears everybody else say. Now, being open means you are not defensive. You do not take everything personally.
You do not get offended so easily. Proverbs 12:15, A fool thinks he needs no advice, but a wise man listens to others, okay? You want to be a peacemaker in your home.
You want to be a peacemaker at work. You want to be a peacemaker between races and in the world. Well, to be wise in relationships I will not compromise the truth. I will not antagonize your anger.
I will not minimize your feeling. I will not criticize your suggestions.
Seed Five: Mercy – Do Not Emphasize Mistakes
Number five, if I am wise, here is the next one, I will not emphasize your mistakes. If I am wise, in a relationship, I will not emphasize your mistakes.
I will just cover them up, I will pass over them. James 3:17, the next phrase says, real wisdom, God’s wisdom, is full of mercy and it is helpful.
It is full of mercy, it is forgiving, it is gracious, and it is helpful. Are you quick to point out everything that is wrong in the world? Are you quick to point out what is wrong with everything in your home, or at your work, or in your church?
Do you jump on every mistake and error? Do you feel duty-bound that you have to remind people what did not work? Are you picky, picky, picky about everything?
Do you bring up the past, and go over and over and over, and get historical about it? And keep bringing up all the failures. You see, mercy, the Bible says is a mark of wisdom.
Mercy is giving people what they need, not what they deserve. When somebody stumbles you do not judge them, you encourage them. Mercy is treating people the way God treats you.
Proverbs 17:9 says this in the Living Bible. Love forgets mistakes. Nagging about them parts the best of friends. Love forgets mistakes.
That is what is wise to do in a relationship to forget mistakes. I remember hearing the story about one time a woman reminded the wife of Billy Graham, Ruth Graham, reminded Ruth of one of the big mistakes that her husband, Billy Graham had made.
And Ruth was quiet for a minute, and then she replied, and she said, Oh, oh, you know, I distinctly remember choosing to forget that. I distinctly remember choosing to forget that.
What are you choosing to forget out of love, out of mercy, out of wisdom? Emphasizing mistakes is not helpful, but mercy is helpful. Proverbs 15:4, Kind words bring life, but cruel words crush your spirit.
So let me just be real in your face about this. What do you need to stop bringing up with that person in that relationship? You need to let it go. You just need to stop bringing it up.
You see, if I am wise, I will not do these things. And I am not going to hang onto your mistakes.
Seed Six: Sincerity – Do Not Despise Differences
There is one more, the sixth thing. This is the sixth seed of peace to plant in all your relationships, number six. If I am wise, I will not despise our differences.
If I am wise, I will not despise our differences. Now this is a big one because one of the biggest sources of conflict in marriage, and every other relationship is that we want, and we expect other people to think like we do, to feel like we do, to act like we do, to have the same reasons and motivations we do.
We want them to have the same priorities we do. We want them to have the same outlook we do. We want them to have the same perspective we do. We want them to judge everything the same way we do.
What is the problem here? We do not want them to be who God made them to be. We want them to be who we want them to be. And that is a formula for conflict.
It is a formula for unhappiness. And it is a formula for disaster. Now the antidote is simply to wisely admit our own biases, our own judgments, our own prejudices.
And that is why the last seed of peace that James recommends that you plant for peaceful relationships, and to be a peacemaker in the world is this, James 3:17. Real wisdom is free from prejudice and hypocrisy.
That is Today’s English Version. Real wisdom is free from prejudice and hypocrisy. If I am hypocritical, or if I am prejudicial at that point I am a fool. I am not being wise, I am the opposite.
Now it is interesting this phrase. Free from prejudice and hypocrisy in the original Greek these two words are very, very similar, and they go together. They actually even sound a lot alike.
In Greek they are the words adiakritos and anypokritos. Adiakritos and anypokritos means free from prejudice or bias, and free from hypocrisy.
Would not that be helpful if we were all that wise? Free from prejudice and free from hypocrisy. Anypokritos you could hear the word hypocrite in there.
Anypokritos means not a hypocrite. That is a Greek word, hypocrite is a Greek word. In Greek theater thousands of years ago, one actor would often play many parts in a theater, and he would come out on stage wearing one mask, and he would play that particular character.
And then he would go backstage and switch masks, and come out and play another character. And then he would go backstage and switch masks, and he would come out and play another character.
And he would wear multiple masks throughout the story, and he was called the hypocritos because he always wore a mask. He was a hypocrite, he was always pretending. He was wearing a mask.
Wise people, the Bible says, are anypokritos, which means free from prejudice. What does that mean? They do not despise differences. They celebrate differences.
Just because somebody is different from you does not make it bad. Everything that is different is not demonic, it is just different. And wise people see God’s wisdom in making us all different.
We think different, we look different, we talk different, we have different values and priorities, we have different skills. If we all liked to do the same thing a lot would get left undone in the world.
The first mark of this part of being a wise peacemaker is you are adiakritos, you are free from prejudice. Why do you not ask God to help you become free from prejudice this week?
And you say, well, I am not a racist. I did not say you were, you are not a racist, but everybody has prejudices. Everybody has prejudices. Everybody has biases.
You cannot be a human being and not have a bias. You see things a certain way, which are different from the other ways people see things, which is why there is conflict, but God says I love all the differences.
And he says I want you to be free from prejudice. And then the second thing he says that wise people are real about he said they are genuine. They are anypokritos, they are authentic, they are honest, they do not fake it, they are not hypocrites.
He says it is dumb to pretend that you are somebody you are not. It is even more dumb, it is even more foolish to pretend you are perfect. That is foolish, why?
Because everybody already knows you are not perfect. I mean, who do you think you are fooling? You are not fooling God, you are not fooling everybody else.
People actually appreciate honesty more than they do trying to pretend like you have got it all together. And when you are honest with other people, when you are adiakritos and anypokritos, when you are free of prejudice and hypocrisy, and you are open and honest about your own faults it makes them more open too.
Practical Application and Closing Invitation
So here is my homework for you this week. Talk to somebody different from you this week. Somebody of a different culture, a different age, a different religion, a different race, and become wiser.
Do not try to solve anything. Just listen and learn and love. Use your ear not your mouth. Now, of these six different seeds of peace how do you rate on James’ wisdom test?
You say, well, not so good, I need more wisdom. Well, yeah, we all do, okay? We all need more wisdom. That is the starting point to admit that you need it.
Until you admit it you cannot get anymore. How do you get more wisdom? Here is the secret. Get to know God, and get to know His Word.
Get to know God, and get to know His Word. The more you know God, and the more you know His Word the wiser you are going to be, the more seeds of peace you will plant, the more fulfilling, and successful your relationships will be.
How do I get that wisdom? Well, start, first step one, get to know Jesus Christ. Look at this verse, the last verse on your outline.
Colossians 2:3 from the Bible it says this. The secret, the secret to what? Wisdom, the secret to wisdom is Christ himself. In him lie all God’s hidden treasures of wisdom.
The secret to wisdom is not a principle. It is a person, it is Jesus Christ. And whatever you need, wherever you need wisdom he has got all you need.
And if you want peace in your relationships, and you want peace in the world the starting point is to invite the Prince of Peace, that is Jesus Christ into your life.
If you have not done that I want to invite you to do it right now. It is the starting point on the path to wisdom. It is the starting point of harmony, and peace in relationships.
If you have had bad relationships all your life this is a starting point. Start getting the wisdom of God in your life by inviting Christ into your life.
Every service at Saddleback, we end by recommitting our lives to Jesus. I am going to do that right now, and I invite you to follow me in this prayer, okay?
So just bow your head and say this:
Dear God, I need your wisdom, just say that. Dear God, I need your wisdom. I make a mess of my relationships, just say it. I make a mess of my relationships. And I am going to keep making a mess unless you help me. I need your wisdom. I want to be a peacemaker not a troublemaker. I want to plant these seeds of peace, but to do that I need your wisdom. And to get your wisdom, Jesus, I need to get to know you. I would like to get to know you. I am opening the door of my life to you right now. I am saying come on in. Make yourself at home in my heart, and in my mind. I want to build a friendship with you. I want to learn to trust you and love you, and follow your direction. I want to know your purpose for my life why I was made. So as much as I know how, Jesus Christ, I say yes to you, and I want to follow you from this day forward. Please save me, and accept me into your family. I pray this humbly in your name, Amen.