Not sure how to be a peacemaker…

 

A paragraph in today’s reading again reminds me of the importance of being filled with God’s Spirit  and living by His power. It says:

A cross Christian; an anxious Christian; a discouraged, gloomy Christian; a doubting Christian; a complaining Christian; an exacting Christian; a selfish Christian; a cruel, hard-hearted Christian; a self-indulgent Christian; a Christian with a sharp tongue or bitter spirit—all these may be very earnest in their work and have honorable places in the church, but they are not Christlike Christians.

I’m not to do my own thing. Being like Jesus is being joyful, at peace, confident in God’s care, thankful, careful, unselfish, soft-hearted, unconcerned for myself, thoughtful in speech, prayerful, understanding others, meeting needs… a long list of virtue and grace. It is not just serving others but loving from the heart, both my God and His people, and having a heart of mercy toward those still in darkness and bound in sin.

This week we experienced some time with people who do much for the Lord in public but in private they were disagreeable and not like Jesus in their attitude toward some of the people they serve. It was an awkward place to be. I wanted to defend those criticized and rebuke those doing the complaining, yet the complainers need mercy and grace too. Those they attacked have a deep faith in the Lord that was being misinterpreted. I thought of this verse:

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (Matthew 5:9)

How do I do that? How can those who justify their frustrations with their history of service be shown that good works do not make up for unkind accusations? How can I, who am also a sinner, tell others that their heart attitude is far more valuable to God than all that they do in His name? Besides that, these are people who name Jesus as their Savior and are not outsiders who know nothing about grace. For this You warn me:

Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. (Romans 14:4)

Tread lightly. Pray with compassion. Allow the Holy Spirit to do what needs to be done — and speak only if He tells me to speak. But most importantly, learn from this to be filled with God’s Spirit all the time, living by His grace and power for I don’t know who will ring the doorbell next, or who will phone or text, or who will ask me blunt questions. Life is not predictable. Surprises happen. The only way to be ready for anything is to keep focus:

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. (Isaiah 26:3–4)

This passage from the NT says the same thing, adding that a focus on Jesus also reminds me that my problems are nothing like what He endured. Focusing on Him keeps me from feeling sorry for myself…

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Hebrews 12:1–4)

PRAY: Jesus, right now You are not compelling me to “do something” but to pray and trust You to be the heart-changer. While being a peace-maker is appealing and the stuff of Christlike servants, it could easily take my focus off You and be an ego-builder for me. I wait on You for direction, yet hope for a lovely surprise. Those who seem to be walking in the flesh are Your children and You are able to make them stand. That also includes me.

A cost to making peace?

 

A Bible word search for peace pairs it with grace, mercy, righteousness and wisdom. Today, MacArthur points out that peace also is a partner of truth. That is, believing truth is important to inner peace. It is also important to being a peacemaker.

Peace is not merely the absence of conflict such as a truce or peace agreements. The hostilities may be averted but underlying issues are not solved. For one thing, the desire for power is not resolved. Also, the truce might hold but a cold war could still smolder.

The peace described in the NT is from God and His gifts are for those who put their faith in Him. Romans 3 describes the human condition without God by saying no one is righteous and no one seeks God or does good, not even one. This passage ends with:

Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Romans 3:14–18)

The contrast between the human idea of peace and God’s peace is expressed in the words of Jesus: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)

Not only that, Christians clearly have a choice. We have this peace but can ‘let’ fear into our hearts. Paul told Timothy, “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7) We need to make the right choice, not let fear control our minds and actions.

James also wrote about the connection between the Lord’s gift of peace and godly wisdom:

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:17–18)

His peace is different, but that does not mean Christians will never experience hostility. If we do as the Bible tells us, we will hold fast to the truths of God, and our stand for truth will make some people angry. Jesus knew this first hand. He even said “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34) Those who do not want to hear truth, particularly truth about their spiritual need, often react with hostility to the point of persecuting Christians. Sometime Christians resist truth as well. This means being a peacemaker can be costly.

I am not a true peacemaker if I try to maintain ‘peace’ with those who do not accept truth. MacArthur speaks of being called narrow-minded and divisive for dealing with controversial issues. He and other pastors and many Christians know what it is like to be misunderstood and attacked.

Jesus, You know it too, more than any of Your faithful servants. The cost can be high, even death, for defending our faith. I’m thinking of my own need to be faithful and a peacemaker . . . not someone who compromises to maintain peace, but who bring Your good news and Your truth to those who need to hear it, whether they will accept it or not. Being a peacemaker is evidence of being Your child, so grant me boldness to do it, and keep me burdened to pray for those who do not yet know Your peace and for those who suffer for their work as peacemakers.

MORE: Read Luke 12:51–53, noting how the gospel can bring division even among families. Also check out this LINK for prayer needs around the world for peacemakers who are suffering. The stories are hard to read but incredible examples of the cost of doing what God says.

 

 

Make peace, not war

The Holy Spirit convicts me today of being heartless. We have a neighbor who professes to be a Christian, yet her world is all about her. She listens to no one and is angry at or suspicious of most of the people on our street. We have been patient, but the last couple of days, not so much. 
 

God continually introduces us to people and situations that are at least inconvenient if not bothersome. It often happens when we are under other pressures, like moving. Unfortunately, unless I am filled with God’s Spirit and worshipping Him, the most natural thing to do is to respond with annoyance. 

If in that attitude I try to speak to fleshy Christians of God and how a Christian should behave, I will give them a truth or a verse like the jab of a spear. Instead of relying on Him for wisdom in how to deal with difficult people, I may even behave in worse ways that the person I accuse of thoughtlessness. To this, Oswald Chambers asks, who grieves God the most? Is it His immature child whose focus is always on herself, or His child who gets annoyed with the selfishness of the other child? 

Chambers uses that phrase, “the most natural thing,” to describe reliance on the old nature instead of the most unnatural thing of relying on God. When I rely on God, cares, tribulation, anxieties and even pesky people cannot get to me. When I recognize the abiding presence of Jesus Christ, worry cannot get in because God is with me. Such deep awareness of His presence and total reliance on Him is an effective barricade against all onslaughts.

God challenges me again. Instead of interceding for her and relying on God to provide grace and growth, I am frustrated that this is not happening. Instead of asking God for the right words to say, I’m blurting out my frustrations and hoping the poke of a strong rebuke will make stop her constant demands.

God calls me to live differently than that. While I am free in Christ and do not have “a list of rules for difficult people” I do have His Word telling me how to think and behave.

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:13–26)

I could make excuses, such as: if I was the pest, then I’d want the other person to tell me to stop doing it; or we are moving and cannot be the sole resource for someone who has turned off everyone else from helping her. I could say the Spirit didn’t give me anything to say. Or I can take responsibility for my own lack of living in step with the Spirit. If He gives nothing to say, that means I should shut up.

---

Lord, at this point, I know that You don’t want me to be heartless and that You do want me to rely on You for a right attitude and right words toward others.  I’m certain that right now, if I tried to apologize to this neighbor for my heartlessness, I would also push for one from her for her thoughtlessness. Actually, I don’t think she is even aware of how she acts and seems oblivious how her behavior causes others to pull away. We have refused to feud with her, and have helped her in the past. We have no intention of making war. Grant us the grace needed to do whatever You want from us, in the Spirit and not bothered by whatever treatment we get in return. Blessed are the peacemakers…

Pure > Peace-loving > Persecuted

Good communicators are careful to put sentences in proper sequence. Otherwise what they convey can be muddled and confused. Consider: Dog chases cat. Cat eats dog food. Cat and dog fight. Dog sees cat. Only by changing the order of these statements do they make sense.

Jesus ordered His statements too. Consider this portion of the Beatitudes.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:8–10)

The order is this: first pure, then a peacemaker, then persecuted. The order of the first two is confirmed by other Scripture such as, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere” (James 3:17).

That persecution follows purity and peaceableness is also described here: “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).

Spurgeon also notes the significance in the order of Jesus’ words. He says that purity must be in place lest “our peaceableness is not a compact with sin, or toleration of evil.” This is not about making peace at any cost, but by doing it the way Jesus would do it. That means that godly peacemakers set themselves against anything that is contrary to God and His holiness. That means purity must be a settled matter in my soul before I am fit to make peace with and between others, or introduce them to peace with God.

This is appealing, yet the next verse speaks of persecution. As Spurgeon noted, no matter how peaceable I am in this world, I will be misrepresented and misunderstood. This should not be a surprise. Response to Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is filled with division and misunderstanding. Although He loved people perfectly, even died for them, He was “despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” He said that I should not be surprised if I am also rejected. 

If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:18–19)

Purity means I will see God. Seeing God as He really is becomes part of being more like Him. John wrote, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).

As purity and seeing Him lead me to a greater likeness to Christ, my desire grows to want people at peace with each other, but also at peace with God. In any effort to proclaim or share how that peace is possible, I will meet resistance. Sinful hearts do not want to hear messages that challenge them to admit sin or give it up. Therefore, they attack the messenger. Godly people love peace, but may receive resistance.

*****

Lord, grant me the grace to be pure in heart. Continue giving me insight into who You are and what You are doing. Continue building my desire to see others at peace with You and with one another. I know that this will mean being misunderstood and even hated. I need grace for that too.