A New Imagination: Becoming Peace by Piece

This past Sunday marked the beginning of something significant at Passion Creek Church. As we kicked off our new three-to-five-year vision, we opened Ephesians 3–4 and were invited into what was called “a new imagination”—one that runs counter to the anxiety and reactivity that mark our cultural moment.

The message centered on one of the most quoted vision texts in Scripture: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20). But hidden within this familiar promise is a reality many of us have experienced: God will do more than we imagine, but not in the way or timeline we imagined.

The Modern Crisis

To understand why this vision matters now, we walked through three seismic shifts that have shaped Western culture, particularly in recent decades.

Freedom from Authority began as a good thing—think democracy, the Reformation, the printing press putting Scripture in people’s hands. But it slowly morphed into freedom from all authority, leaving us suspicious of anyone in power, even in the church.

Freedom to Be Authentic followed, liberating people from predetermined vocations and rigid social roles. Yet this freedom made our desires the true north for every decision. We look to others for reassurance but never for redirection. Truth becomes subjective, and ironically, we never feel fully authentic.

This led to the most damaging shift: Freedom to Define Reality. We no longer ask permission from anything outside the self—not tradition, not biology, certainly not historical theology. Reality becomes whatever we make of it.

As Mark Sayers writes in Platforms to Pillars, “What was meant to enable us to enjoy the freedoms of individualism instead entraps us.”

Two Tempting Responses

When God’s timeline feels painfully slow and secularism’s advance feels alarmingly fast, the church tends to react in one of two ways.

The Consumer Church sensed people were against authority, so it didn’t push it. People didn’t trust tradition, so it threw it out. People made decisions based on pleasure, so it repackaged everything to tap into those pleasures while hopefully redirecting them to the Bible. The aim shifted from maturing people to motivating people.

More recently, we’ve seen the rise of the Crusader Church. Composed of well-meaning Christians who’ve watched these cultural shifts hurt people they love, they’ve decided enough is enough. But the irony is stark: while decrying the sins of this age, they blindly apply the strategies of this age. They adopt tribalism, place hope in celebrity, and operate more from fear, rage, and hatred than from love, joy, and peace. They have an anti-vision more than a proactive one.

A Better Way: Peace by Piece

A crucial question was posed: Is there a better way forward? Can we rise above the anxiety without being so reactionary? Can we pair confidence with humility, passion with patience, truth with love?

The answer is yes—and it will happen peace by piece.

Throughout Scripture, peace isn’t a side theme but central to God’s story. Jerusalem means “city of peace.” God is called the God of peace, and the gospel itself is described as the gospel of peace. Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, peace is restored where it was broken—peace with God, within ourselves, and with one another. This transformation happens slowly, one day at a time.

The Ephesians Blueprint

Looking at Ephesians 4:1-13, three observations stood out.

First, notice the seven ones: one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father. In Old Testament literature, seven represents fullness. This poetic overflow tells us we have everything we need, and all seven are gifts we receive from outside ourselves.

Second, notice the body metaphor. Bodies don’t grow overnight. They require time and patience. We’re not a machine needing a few tweaks or a brand needing a better website. We’re a body that gets sore when stretched, grows weary, but also has incredible potential.

Third, notice the goal: “growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness” (v. 13). The goal isn’t good vibes or cultural dominance. The standard is Christ himself. But what does Christ’s fullness look like? Is it winning culture wars, packing auditoriums, hitting fundraising goals, or going viral?

Jesus himself gives us the answer in Matthew 11:28-29: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Lowly and humble. Far from our imagination of the good life—which is precisely why we need Ephesians so badly.

The Vision of Tranquility

We explored why saints in church history books looked so serious, almost bored. They were painted without smiles to communicate deep peace. These were people not “tossed to and fro” (Ephesians 4:14), whose very presence calmed everyone around them.

Psalm 112:6-8 describes this kind of person: “He will never be shaken. The righteous one will be remembered forever. He will not fear bad news; his heart is confident, trusting in the Lord. His heart is assured; he will not fear.”

This vision feels impossibly far away for most of us. We fear bad news. We live in constant disturbance and wonder why people don’t see Christ reflected in us.

Jacques Philippe, in his book Searching for and Maintaining Peace, uses the image of a peaceful lake reflecting the sun. The more peaceful the lake, the more perfect the reflection. The more ripples, the less you see the sun. He quotes Saint Seraphim of Sarov: “Acquire interior peace and a multitude will find its salvation through you.”

The Missing Process

Here’s the core problem: We’ve forfeited the picture of tranquility because we’ve forgotten the process of transformation.

Being tranquil requires more than willpower. You can’t fake it—your nervous system won’t let you. It requires a long obedience in the same direction leading to true transformation.

But what’s our current process? Most think transformation happens if we read our Bibles, pray, and give. These practices serve us well in the beginning stages, and we never graduate from them. But at some point, we become disillusioned because there’s so much more of Christ’s fullness we need to grow into, and we have no idea how. So we give up and become crusaders or consumers.

A family puzzle analogy illustrated our frustration well. A daughter kept begging to work on a Gilmore Girls puzzle but got frustrated within 30 seconds every time. The picture on the box looked nothing like the scattered pieces on the table. Sound familiar? We love the idea of becoming more like Christ. We enjoy reading Ephesians and seeing the big picture of transformation. But then reality sets in—we look at all the pieces and have no idea where to begin.

The Five Pieces

This is why the next year at Passion Creek will focus on five key pieces that lead to peace:

1. Teaching
2. Community
3. Practices
4. Holy Spirit
5. Moments & Marathons

This change doesn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t happen by accident. It’s a slow process that is highly relational and intentional. It must happen at the level of the heart. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above everything else guard your heart, because from it flow the springs of life.”

If we don’t guard our hearts with the pieces found in Ephesians 4, we’ll be formed unintentionally by the pieces of this world.

But here’s the good news: we’re not left alone. Paul writes in Philippians 4:7, 9 that “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus… Do what you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Notice: the peace of God guards your heart, and what you do does something to you. Peace is something done for you and something done by you.

The Invitation

The invitation as we begin this journey isn’t to fix everything overnight or become experts. It’s simply to place yourself, week after week, under the slow, patient, transforming work of Jesus. To let Him put the pieces together. To let Him guard your heart. To let Him grow His peace in you.

We’re choosing to be a people who are not tossed to and fro. A people who are steady in anxious times. A people whose very presence slows a room down. Not because we are strong, but because we are being formed by Jesus—peace by piece.

You can take interactive notes here. At the end of the message, you can email the notes to yourself.

 Ephesians chapter three. We want you to know that God, the Father, really does love you, Jesus Christ.

Christ truly is sufficient and supreme, and the Holy Spirit can transform your life if you let him. So let’s let him this morning. Holy Spirit come. Ephesians chapter three, I’ll read in verse 20. Now, to him, who is able to do above and beyond? All that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.

Amen. Therefore, I, the prisoner and the Lord urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received with all humility and gentleness, with patience bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. Let’s pray. Father, that’s what we’re asking for, not only today, but this year is peace.

Would you raise our imaginations today? Would you give us a vision, not just for this church, but for every home that’s represented, for every heart that’s represented, would you stir our affections? Would you show us how we can truly be formed by you? In Jesus’ name, everyone says, amen. You guys can have a seat.

So every January, especially the last few years, we dedicate all month. To vision. We’re learning together and discerning together what God has for us in the new year. And so in 2023, uh, that was specifically about, uh, us moving into here, first of all, into the school, but also a three year roadmap centered around the nine practices of Jesus.

And then in 2024, um, who was here in 2024 when we did the hospitality, uh, ping pong board, incredible. What we did there was the, uh, how to make friends and love other people was the vision. And so every time you hosted a saint, stranger or sinner at your home, you’d come back on Sunday and mark your name and the day and put it in a ping pong ball display in the lobby.

And that was incredible. It truly did form us in an incredible way. In 2025, we centered our hearts. On Mark four, we were saying this feels like a fourth quarter moment, so it’s time that we become a fourth soil. And honestly, by the grace of God, I really believe envision Sundays envision months because.

They work. We have slowly been formed by Jesus together for others, sir. Sure we have a lot to go, but every single goal we’ve kind of like oriented our hearts around. We seem to be hitting and this year feels extra significant. Starting next week, we are entering into the next decade of our church. Uh, we’ll talk about it in the announcements, but our 10th birthday is next Sunday.

Come on. Uh, yes. We officially wrapped up our three year roadmap of the nine practices and we have proof of it ’cause we put it in a book that’s in the lobby over at the church merch box. And today. It’s so exciting. I’ve been dreaming about this the past year, honestly, because today is the start of the next three to five year vision of Passion Creek, and I probably couldn’t have picked a more cliche scripture to use on Vision Sunday than Ephesians three 20.

I promise you, we’re not the only church reading this passage today, and it’s because it works. It’s an incredible passage that talks about the kind of vision God is calling us toward. We read it in CSB, but I love the NIV translation as well. It says in the NIV now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us.

That word imagine in the Greek is no way. Oh, can you say that with me? No way. Oh, it’s the ability to comprehend realities that are not yet visible. Uh, I love to do this when it comes to the church, when it comes to the future of what God is forming within people. I cannot do this with fiction. Anybody else just hate fiction reading?

Alone. Again, first service. Uh, no one was with me either. I tell my wife all the time when I read, uh, the, the, the director in my brain is like really low budget. So like when I’m reading about Narnia, it’s like stick figures and mountains with like two DI just can’t seem to grasp the vision. And for a lot of us, we struggle with that.

When it comes to the Christian life or the church, it’s kind of like all in 2D. Is this really something that’s incredible? But we have to trust the scriptures here. The vision that God has for you, for me, for us is immeasurably more than we could ever no way owe, but hit it in this text is a haunting reality to the modern year.

📍 God will do more than we ask, think, or imagine, but not in the way or the timeline. We asked, thought or imagined. Can the seasoned saints in the room give me a big amen on that one. And honestly that stress of feeling like you’re falling behind, like the vision hasn’t come to fruition yet. It compounds when you realize how fast secularism seems to be gaining ground in our country, our communities, our homes, and if we’re humble enough and honest enough, even in our own hearts.

And so what I wanna give you is a quick history lesson. So bear with me. I’m gonna nerd out for just a bit. In modern Western history, especially in our lifetime, we have witnessed what I would call 📍 three shifts towards the modern self. The first shift is freedom from authority. This happened. You see this a lot in the sixties, but also kind of big picture even in like the 15 hundreds.

Some of this isn’t bad, like at all, like freedom from authoritarianism, incredible shout out to America and the establishment of democracy. Much good has come from a government by the people, for the people, but to keep the scope within the church. The reformation, which was started by Martin Luther in the 15 hundreds, it was needed.

It was necessary because there was a vast, huge swath of priests who were corrupting that authority. They wouldn’t allow the people to actually hear or learn the Bible. Uh, it wasn’t translated in their common language. And so there was this hidden cloak between the truth and, and the priests would not do their job.

Some of them were good I think, but a lot of them were just trying to use that authority and, and abuse the gift of that position. And so thankfully we had like the printing press who started to print Bibles so that we can have not only the Bible in our own hands, but in our own common language. And it started to free people recognizing, oh.

That person in authority is not actually following the scriptures. And so we were able to break free from that bondage. Uh, but freedom from bad authority is incredible. But slowly what that has morphed into in the last few decades is freedom from all authority. You’ll see this common in politics and in life.

We tend to view those in power. As always, the oppressor. We, we, even within the church, we’ve lost the biblical worldview of redeemed authority. Yes, authority can be bad, but also it can be good. And that has led to the next shift. Historians argue is number 📍 two, the freedom to be authentic. Notice this is all happening in our lifetime.

In the past, most, uh, the world was born in like what historians would call like a conformist society. In other words, you had no real freedom in who you are and who you’ll become. And so if your dad was a farmer, guess what? You won the lottery. You’re gonna be a farmer. If your dad was a blacksmith, you’re gonna be a blacksmith.

I think that was my wife’s family. Their last name is Smith. So, you know, whatever you are like, that’s your identity. If your dad’s a pastor, you’re gonna have to, I am a pastor and my dad is a pa so maybe I’m a part of a conformist society. But thankfully we live in a time where we can pursue whatever career career we want.

In fact, we can shift in the middle of life into something else. But there’s also a dark side look around. Our desires have become the true North Star for all the decisions and commitments we make. We look to others to reassure us of who we are, but never to rebuke us or to redirect us. ’cause that doesn’t feel authentic.

Truth has become far more subjective. And ironically, here’s the fascinating part. Most modern people today don’t feel like they’re fully authentic to themselves. They’re still trying to figure themselves out, which has led to what I would argue the most damaging of all. 📍 Number three, this last shift we’ve seen in the recent decade is the freedom to define reality.

We no longer ask permission from anyone or anything outside of ourselves. Reality is what we make it. We don’t like tradition. We don’t trust it. We don’t even trust biology. We certainly don’t trust historical orthodox theology. Again, we live under the mantra reality is whatever you make, it sounds super inspirational until you look around and see the damage it has caused in so many lives.

📍 Mark Sayers and his cultural analysis called the Platform to Pillars. He puts it this way, quote, what was meant to enable us to enjoy the freedoms of individualism? Instead, entraps us. Fuko, which was one of the modern thinkers that has influenced us tremendously. KO’s escape Hatch of freedom would become a prison cell history lesson over all that to say what happens to the church?

What happens to our church when God’s timeline is much slower than we ever imagined, and secularism timeline is much faster than we ever expected. It creates this angst. That most of us are familiar with within the church. And I think what it has done is it has triggered two reactions, and I use that word specifically.

I think sometimes it’s okay to react to situations, but we need need to mainly be proactive at some point. But 📍 two reactions from the church that we have seen in our lifetime as one, the consumer church, we, uh, the church has sensed that maybe, uh, people are against authority, so we don’t push it. Uh, we sense that people don’t like tradition, so we threw it all out the window.

We started to notice that our neighbors were making decisions based off the pleasure principle, what feels best. And so we’ve repackaged everything. In church to tap into those pleasures while hopefully pointing them back to Jesus. This is why things like silence is no longer common within a church because silence feels wrong.

It feels invasive, and so we are making sure everything’s loud and quick. Like the culture. The big biggest thing is the consumer church aims, not to mature people, but it’s reduced. Its aim to just motivating people hopefully have given you enough to last another week. This is so contrary to the vision of Passion Creek, that we added the tagline at the beginning of 2024.

We don’t make attenders, we make disciples. We crossed out the attenders because we believe we are more effective in our mission when we stay true to our distinction. The goal is not just how many people can we get into the cafeteria, it’s really what kind of people do we do, we then send back out into the world.

But I do think we’re in a moment, and I’ve noticed this with. And I’m getting to that age where I can say it with full authority. Younger people, I’ve noticed younger people starting to say they don’t they. They don’t like the consumer church either. But I think there’s been another equal and opposite reaction that also is devastating, 📍 which is number two, the Crusader church.

We’ve seen this throughout history and I think it’s finding footing today. And let me be clear, I think it’s composed of a lot of well-meaning Christians who, in their lifetime saw these three shifts seem to happen overnight. And so they’re thinking, enough’s enough. We can’t let the lies of this age gain any more ground.

It can’t hurt another one of my loved ones. So we’re gonna fight and crusader churches live for the fight, and we’re gonna study Ephesians this year and we’re gonna learn that there is a fight in chapter six. But here’s the irony of the Crusader Church movement. In my humble opinion, it decries the sins of this age.

But it blindly applies the strategies of this age. It adopts the strategy of tribalism. It puts a lot of hope in celebrity. It’s more of an anti vision than a proactive one. It’s fueled and, and money is thrown towards fear, rage, and hatred, and not so much animated by the fruit of the spirit being love, joy, and peace.

But most of us feel like we’re stuck. How do we answer this moment? Is there a better way forward? Is it possible to rise above the anxiety and not be so reactionary? Is there a way that we, the church, can pair confidence with humility, passion with patience, truth with love? Yes, and I believe this will happen peace by piece over the next few years.

Certainly this year, 📍 we believe the big vision for our church is piece by piece. Last year, fourth quarter, fourth soil this year, piece by piece. And we are hoping to equip to e train, to train you to embody this individually, but also collectively. It used to be in the early church when, when nonbelievers would encounter their one word to describe their gathering was peace.

May that be said of us throughout scripture. You’ll see peace is not a side theme. It’s central. Uh, Jerusalem, which you know is a pretty major city in the Bible. You know what Jerusalem means? J City, slo, Shalom, peace. The city of peace. God is called the God of peace throughout the scriptures. The good news we proclaim is often labeled as the gospel of peace throughout Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

By the way, we call him the Prince of peace. He came and conquered for us so that. It. Our peace that was once broken is now restored. And this peace has many different levels. We now have peace with God. We can commune with God, which truly is the authentic form of life that we’re called to live. We, not only that, though, we do have peace within ourselves.

We embrace our failures and our shortcomings. We know that shame has no place. We recognize who we are and who we’re not. And also though we cannot ignore this, this is why I love the local church ’cause it presses us towards this. We, because of Christ Jesus have peace with each other. We not, we may not always experience that peace, but it is a reality that we keep stepping into.

And what we want to preach all year long is this piece is possible, but it’s gonna happen piece by piece. How do we even begin to do that? Let’s look again at Ephesians chapter four now, for our time today, what I wanted to do is take a really high level 30,000 foot overview of this passage. So Ephesians is a masterpiece of theology and practice.

We can go line by line and be here all day, which we won’t do that. Okay. So we’re actually gonna get to lunch on time with this new service time. Amen. You’re welcome. So what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna properly exe this text this month. Like we’re gonna keep coming back to Ephesians four, really all year.

So for my purposes today, I just want us to see a, a big picture, at least part of it. We’re only gonna go to verse 13 for now. So let’s look at that big picture together, starting in Ephesians chapter four in verse one. Therefore, I, the prisoner in the Lord urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received with all humility and gentleness, with patience bearing with one another in love.

Making every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. And there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope at your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all who was above all and through all and in all. Now, grace was given to each one of us, according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

For it says, when he ascended on high, he took the captive’s captive. He gave gifts to people. But what does he ascended mean except that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth. And the one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens to fill all things. And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry to build up the body of Christ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s son growing into maturity.

With a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. I want us to just have a few observations just off those 13 verses. It won’t be on the screen, but notice number one, there are seven ones, one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all. That’s intentional Old Testament literature of which Paul knew a lot of, he is teaching us.

He’s communicating in more ways than one that this passage is all about fullness. Many of you know seven represents completion or fullness, and so this picture of grace is incredible. It’s saying when you step into the grace of King Jesus and are now a part of the church, all seven gifts are yours in Christ, and it is full, complete to the brim.

It is the opportunity to truly live in peace, to live in all that he’s called you towards. Later down in verse 12. Really it’s all throughout this passage. You’ll see, uh, the body metaphor. So notice that as well, the body metaphor for the local church. I think it’s easy for us to read this individually and I think there’s some helpfulness that way you can apply it individually, but also this letter was written to y’all.

Whenever it says you, it’s typically y’all. So it’s to all of us. The church is a body and here’s, here’s the truth. Bodies don’t grow overnight. Although I have a 10-year-old and it’s like every day I’m like, she looks like a teenager. She grew another three inches. It’s insane. Slow down. But what we all know about bodies is as it grows, it takes a lot of time.

We aren’t machines that just need a few tweaks. We’re not a whiteboard that just needs some new ideas. We’re not a brand that needs just a makeover and a better website. We’re a body. And eventually you stop growing this way and you start growing that way. Amen. You know, but we’re always growing and like a body, our church.

We get sore. When we stretch it. We, we grow weary, but also like a body, it has incredible potential. And the potential is look at, uh, the notice. The next part is the goal. The tell loss actually is the Greek word here in verse 13. What’s the goal? Growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.

So according to Paul, the goal of our church is not good vibes. The goal is Christ and him glorified, that we would actually image him, that we would actually become disciples who are formed by Jesus together for others. And so the obvious question is, what does that actually look like? What does it look like to be formed by Jesus?

And I think a lot of our cultural moment, we have different answers. How can we know we’re measuring correctly? What does it mean to live into Christ’s fullness? Is it winning the culture war? Is it packing out a cafeteria? Is it hitting our fundraising goals? Is it going viral online? I think a good place to start is where we started the whole form by Jesus vision a few years ago in Matthew 11.

Jesus describes himself often throughout the scriptures. He’s the shepherd, he is the, you know, the door, he’s the way, the truth of life. But only in Matthew 11 does he describe what his heart is like. In verse 28, it says, come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

In other words, peace. Lowly and humble, I think are far from our imagination. I imagine if you have a vision board, lowly and humble is not at the top. And yet this is why you and I so desperately need God to give us a new vision. And this is why we so desperately need to read Ephesians, not just once, but we’re hoping to meditate it all year long until recently.

Um, I, I, like, I went to Israel back in 2017 and I remember, uh, looking at a lot of the sites, but there was a, a lot of the art I did not like. Um, it was a old, you know, church history, art and showing different saints, and I just thought they looked bored, you know, like they looked sad. It’s like, Kent, I feel like if I was an artist back then, if I was painting St.

Augustine, I would be like, you know, like all smiles with a thumbs up. Like, I love Jesus and I have joy. Instead, it’s all somber and like you don’t even see their teeth, which I imagine was horrific without the modern dentist that we have. So now I get it. But I learned from a mentor that me and Caleb have, he talks about this a lot.

He also used to not like those pictures until he realized the purpose behind the paintings. I’m pulling a Caleb. I’m talking about painting today, but that’s a inside joke for those of you who are here all last year. But what’s amazing about paintings of saints is they look so somber, but in reality they would call it dispassionate.

They would call it peace. They would, if I kept reading in verse 14, it’s a picture of someone who is not tossed to and fro by the lies of the age. What we truly need are saints, are you and me to become the type of people who are not anxious and, and. And, and twisted and turned and, and angry by every moment of the day.

They were a calming presence to whoever was around them. That was a picture of true maturity, and the more I learn about that and think about that, that’s more and more the type of person that I want to become. And if you know me, you know how far out of reach this is in my own power. A couple years ago, I stumbled upon Psalm 1 12, 1 morning and recognized, Lord, I, I remember praying this prayer.

Somehow, God let this be written on the tombstone of my life. Psalm one 12, starting in verse six, it says, and I interpreted it as like, what would this look like if I could be defined this way? He will never be shaken. The righteous one will be remembered forever. He will not fear bad news. His heart is confident, trusting in the Lord.

His heart is assured and he will not fear. I just wanna be clear right now, I don’t deserve to have Psalm one 12 on my tombstone. I am not like this on most days. In fact, I fear bad news so much. I have to turn off my phone completely when I go on vacation. ’cause in the past, when I’m with my family, I get one bad text, one bad email, and I’m no longer present in the moment.

I wanna become the type of mature at peace person that gets that news, huh? Sad. Pray and then move on with the rest of the day. But I am not there yet, but I so badly wanna become that man. And I wonder if you do as well for the sake of my wife, for the sake of my daughters, for the sake of our church, for the sake of the kingdom.

But why are we so removed from this vision of the Christian life? I don’t hear a ton of us saying that. That is the goal. One of the last books I read in 2025 was by this author named Jacques Philippe, and he’s written a lot of little books, which is my style. So I can like read five books in one week and feel accomplished, but it was only like 150 pages all together.

It’s this really small book on becoming a person of peace. And I knew I was preaching on peace all year, so I was reading it and he used this really simple illustration, a really good metaphor, but it has stuck with me. He talks about how the mature saint, which we can all become through the personal work of Jesus Christ, is like a peaceful lake reflecting the morning son.

When he was describing that, I remember we went to a mission trip one year to Alaska, actually the first year of our church. You know, we’re just really struggling for the Lord in Alaska, you know, in June. So, uh, it was beautiful. And this, the host had mules and they’re like, okay, just go to the very top of the mountain.

We’ll see you there. And I’m like, this is not, we have to hike and you have a mule. Not fair. Turned out to be six miles up this mountain. So we were exhausted. I thought I was gonna fall, all the things. But once we got to the top of that mountain and saw this lake, boy, was it worth it? I’ll never forget it, in my imagination, there was the sunrise and the sun was hitting the lake, and there was nothing touching the lake.

It was completely clear, completely. It was like glass. And that still is in my imagination. It was so worth all the disturbance, all the struggle to experience that. And this author, Jacques Philippe says, as followers of the way. We, when we encounter people, we should be so at peace. It gives a reflection of the prince of peace, and yet today it kind of seems like the strategy is to get riled up.

The strategy is to have waves, to throw stuff into the water, to get super angry, and then declare the truth. And we wonder why people are not drawn to the truth. It’s, we’re often repelled by it because we’re communicating a gospel of peace, but there’s nothing at peace within ourselves. I love how the Saint Seraphim Sav, which is what Jacques Philippe quotes later in that chapter.

He says, the following, 📍 acquire interior peace and a multitude would find its salvation through you. Now, to be clear, salvation’s in Christ alone, the what he means by this quote in Fuller context is when we pair the preaching of the gospel of peace by also being a person of peace. It’s amazing what God can do.

So why isn’t that a goal for us? Why isn’t that a typical conversation we’re having? Man? What’s your New Year’s resolution to become a person of peace? Why isn’t that happening? Well, I propose it’s because 📍 we have forfeited the picture of tranquility because we’ve forgotten the process of transformation.

The reality is, is tranquility. All of us would love it, but it’s so hard to get there. ’cause you can’t just be tranquil because you wanna be, you can’t rely on willpower to be peaceful of all things in life. You cannot fake it until you make it. Your nervous system won’t let you. True peace requires a long obedience in the same direction.

True peace requires slow transformation piece by piece. And if I were to go to a, just an average American Christian, maybe even to this room today, and if I were to ask, what’s the process? How do we, I become more like Jesus in my experience. Most people will answer with three things. Read your Bible. Amen.

Okay. Pray and go to church. And the formula for change, the formula for peace that we have been living in is if you do those three things and finally you give into the pastor and you start giving, you know, right? Then all of a sudden you’re transformed. But how’s that going for you? Let me be clear. I don’t wanna be taken outta context.

Those things you never graduate from huge part of the process, 10 outta 10. But at some point we get disillusioned and disappointed because there’s still so much more of Christ’s fullness that we need to grow into. And those four simple tools don’t seem to be producing the type of maturity Ephesians says to do.

So what do we do? I see it everywhere we give up and give. And we just fight the fight by either becoming a crusader church or a consumer church. But what if there’s a better picture? Over the Christmas break, we spent some time up in Pinetop, which we never have done before. And so we were driving and my parents were with me.

So it’s always weird to be the kid in front of my kids, anybody else with me, you know? So we’re just chilling in the shotgun and I see a Hallmark store and so I just yell. I said, dad, flip a ey, we gotta go to the store. He’s like, what do you, is it a gun store? No, it’s a Hallmark story. Like, what are we doing here?

Right? So we flip a U and we go in, well, for two years, I’m not joking. Um, my wife and I have been looking for a Gilmore Girls blanket. Like we see it on Instagram, we see it everywhere. It’s not at Ross, it’s not at TJ Maxx. It’s definitely not at Target. We don’t know where it is. But then I saw something the other day that Hallmark has all of it.

And so I saw Hallmark and I was like, I got Jordan a terrible Christmas gift. This will make up for it. So I was like, Hey, flip a ey. We go into Hallmark and sure enough, her blanket’s there and all of it’s glory. She loves it. Not me ’cause I’m a man, but we’re so excited for her. But then I’m like, well, I need something.

You know, I’m, I’m, anyways, and uh, so we get a Gilmore Girls puzzle. Of Stars Hollow. Okay. Thousand piece puzzle. This thing was like the size of our A-frames. I mean, this thing is huge. And so we buy it, it gives us something to do with the cabin. And so right away I taught the kids, Hey, you gotta always look at the box and then look at the piece.

Like, don’t get so caught up in the pieces. You forget what the box looks like. And every day, one of our daughters, I’ve learned not to say their name, um, they kept pestering us, like, let’s work back on the puzzle. Let’s not have a break, let’s get back to it. But what always shocked me and Jordan is like the moment, like 30 seconds into us working on the puzzle again, she’d get frustrated and throw the pieces down.

This was so, I’m like, you were the one who wanted to do this, and now you’re start, you’re so frustrated. But she was essentially saying the picture on the box looks nothing like the pieces on the table. How is this going to happen? And I think that’s how a lot of us approach the Christian life. Yeah. I, I get it.

I, I kind of understand the picture of what a Christian should look like, but then I look at my life and the pieces I have. And I have no idea how to get there. And sadly, we typically just say, well, read your bible, pray, give, go to church and something might happen. Shake the box up enough and maybe it’ll just all fall into place.

And we wanna say, and you’re about to explain it to you, that is a part of the process. But I would argue there is a bigger picture. There is a, there’s more pieces to this puzzle. And so we’re gonna take you on that journey this year, really in the next three to five. And what does it look like to become piece by piece?

Uh, this is anchored in Ephesians chapter four. We’ve been meditating on this for months now. It’s also saints throughout church history who have kind of described and traced how to actually form into becoming people of peace. And to be honest, it’s from our own experience on the leadership of our church.

This is how we broke through walls and truly are becoming more and more, we have so much more to grow, but where we really were able to be become more like Christ. And so we have determined there are five pieces towards peace or towards transformation. I’m gonna walk through those five and that’s really what we’re gonna do all month long.

📍 Number one is teaching. This is crucial and this is not a shock to any listener in the room. America, we, we understand this teaching’s important. Worldview is so valuable. Some of us are making bad decisions because we don’t understand the truth, and so we need to be taught the truth. We’re doing more of that, not less in the coming year.

📍 Number two is community. Community, man. It’s one thing to like watch a sermon online. It’s another thing to be with the gathered saints, and it’s another to actually be in groups. You’ll see your life actually change as you learn to love each other in the everyday goings of life. 📍 Number three are the practices.

You probably have heard of the practices if you’ve come to our church for any length of time, but it’s things like Sabbath and witness and fasting. It’s these things that we do to open up ourselves so that God can do what only he can do. That’s still a major part of our transformation. 📍 Number four is the Holy Spirit.

It’s been so fun to watch our church grow more and more into listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. We’ve seen healings this past year. We have seen and discern the voice of God, take us to some incredible places. We wanna train you and equip you. How do you keep living a life that surrender to the promptings of the Holy Spirit?

📍 And number five is moments and marathons. This is our theory of transformation moments and marathons. I think we’re in a cultural moment where we’re all looking for the big moment. We’re saying revival happens when like everything, like a great worship service and yes in Amen. But I believe more and more revival is how you and I endure over the marathon of life.

We wanna equip you with that. We wanna help you get a paradigm. You look at the picture behind me, this is what we are looking at. It’s the five different components that leads to a life of abundance. But this doesn’t happen overnight and hear me, this doesn’t happen by accident. First and foremost, this has to happen at the heart.

We are seeking to, as a church, continually be changed at the core of our being. Proverbs 4 23 above everything else, guard your heart because from it flow the springs of life. That’s the image behind me. You’ll see us as a church. We are looking, what does it look like to guard our heart and from it, we believe these five streams are what bring change to us and those all around.

But here’s the warning, if we don’t guard our heart, it’s not like nothing happens. It’s not neutral. If we are not intentionally guarding our hearts, the world to flesh the devil, the systems of the age, all of that will form us into not like Christ, into not like peace. But the good news is we have all that we need in Christ to guard our hearts and to truly become the type of people at peace.

Paul puts it this way in Philippians. I can’t help but think he was thinking of Proverbs four when he wrote this and he said, and the peace of God. Which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. But I love the balance. Look at verse nine. Do what you have learned and received and heard from me and seen in me.

This is discipleship and the God of peace will be with you. I love how it says in verse seven, the peace of God. And then verse nine, the God of peace. Notice there is this correlation working together. I’ll put it this way. 📍 Peace is something done for you and something done by you, and that’s our focus of the year.

We’re gonna take a journey together to learn about all the peace of God done for you in Christ Jesus, and on the cross. When he says it is finished, it is yours and mine for forever. But at the same time, the journey of discipleship is realizing is also something that you do. So our hope is that this year we encounter the God of peace, but also we embody the peace of God.

And so starting next Sunday, we’re gonna slowly go through all five pieces. So next Sunday I’m gonna make a case for you to become a person of peace. We need teaching. I’m gonna help. We’re gonna throw everything at you. Here’s what it looks like to learn. Here’s the value of teaching. Here’s how we can learn the Bible better also.

So then the next week’s community, you get it, and it’s just so on and so forth. So this is gonna go through a little bit of February. Also, this year we typically do three practices. This year we’re gonna do two, but it’s based in Ephesians chapter four. We’re gonna start, uh, mid-February with the practice of scripture because we are believing Paul’s words here that we shouldn’t be tossed to and fro.

By the wind of every teaching, we’re gonna equip you. How do we not do that? How do we anchor ourselves in the realities of scripture? But also we’re gonna talk about in the fall, the practice of peacemaking. We did this a couple years ago. We’re excited for a fresh iteration of this. What does it look like to make peace with those around you, with your past, the present, and the future?

All of that to say what we truly wanna become are people who are at peace, not tossed to and fro people who are steady in the anxious times. Whose very presence changes the atmosphere of a room. And it’s not because we’re strong, it’s because we’re weak and we give ourselves to be formed by Jesus together for others.

And so I’d love for us to stand. I just have one simple invitation for you to consider. So as you’re standing, I just have this, this plea for you to possibly take up, which is to place yourself week after week, under the slow patient, transforming work of Jesus. Will you go on that journey with us this year?

Will you go on that journey with us the next three to five years and see what God can do in, in and through you? Let’s pray.