4/26/08
Peace Making
Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
Matthew 5:9
On the mountainside,
listening to the greatest sermon ever preached, are seated the multitudes. Included in this vast assembly are Jesus’
disciples, and three individuals whose lives will forever be changed as a
result of being here:
Abraham ben Ahzad, recently
converted Pharisee, whose life has been transformed by Jesus’ words.
Jacob the peasant listens
intently to Jesus’ every word, applying the principles of the kingdom to his
meager existence. As he does so his life
has taken on new meaning.
Zadok the fisherman, taking
in all that Jesus is saying, has been carried in his mind on a journey of
sorts. He has remembered things both
recent and distant. He has recounted how
at times he has fallen short of God’s ideal in his dealings with people. He has at times been short with people and
impatient. He has also given straight
answers to people when they asked him if what they were doing was right.
Zadok has been thinking to
himself that maybe he has been in the wrong for being honest and forward with
people so often. But the words that come
out of Jesus’ mouth next give clarity to his troubled spirit:
“Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.”
Matthew 5:9
“Blessed are the peacemakers
for they shall be called sons of God”.
Today we will learn to
recognize certain misconceptions about peacemaking, such as:
Peacemaking is peaceful
Peacemaking is easy
Peacemaking is fun
Peacemaking is popular
Peacemaking makes you feel good
The pen of inspiration
elaborates on this statement. In Desire
of Ages page 302, in the chapter on the Sermon on the Mount, it says,
“ ’Blessed are the
peacemakers.’ The peace of Christ is born of truth. It is harmony with God. The
world is at enmity with the law of God; sinners are at enmity with their Maker;
and as a result they are at enmity with one another. But the psalmist declares,
‘Great peace have they which love Thy law: and nothing shall offend them.’
Psalm 119:165.
According to this statement,
what brings peace is . . .
Truth
Harmony with God’s Law
In other words, the cause of
the lack of peace in people’s lives is being at odds with God and His law. So
peacemakers are those who help bring people into harmony with God and His law.
“Christ’s
followers are sent to the world with the message of peace. Whoever, by the
quiet, unconscious influence of a holy life, shall reveal the love of Christ;
whoever, by word or deed, shall lead another to renounce sin and yield his
heart to God, is a peacemaker.”
Sons and Daughters of God pg 306
This is very important to
know. Because there is a false idea out there about what being a peacemaker is
all about. There is a type of peacemaking that results not in helping others
come into harmony with God and His law, but actually enabling people to break
His law and damage their relationship with Him.
This false idea of
peacemaking has become very popular even in Christian theology. This type of
theology overemphasizes the grace
aspect of the gospel and uses the phrase, freedom
in Jesus, a lot. Churches and
preachers that teach this unbalanced gospel are very popular and make a lot of money because people
like the idea that you are free to do whatever you want and still be in good
with God. This is not a surprise. Prophecy foretold that this would happen. It
is one of Satan’s ways to trick God’s people so he can lead them away from God
and destroy them.
The reason why Christians
fall for this theology is because of a lack of an understanding of the gospel.
The gospel is a like a marriage. Several times in the Bible, Jesus is described
as a Groom and the church as His bride.
When a couple gets married
they have decided to stop playing the field and commit themselves to the one
person they have fallen in love with. When we learn about God and what He has
done to save us from hell by giving up His Son to die in our place, we accept
the salvation that He gives us through Jesus, fall in love with Him, and decide
to commit our lives to Him by getting baptized.
A baptism is like a wedding.
At a wedding, the couple vows to love, honor, and cherish each other, in
sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, forsaking all others, til
death parts them. There are also vows we take when we get baptized, spelling
out what we are going to do, out of a heart of love to God. The vows we take at
our baptism have to do with forsaking things too, and being faithful to God by
keeping His law.
When a couple keeps their vows
they have a good relationship. Here is a question. When spouses keep their vows
and remain faithful to each other, is it to get married to their spouse? No. It’s a ridiculous question isn’t it.
Spouses are faithful to each other because they are married. It’s just
as ridiculous to say that we obey God in order to be saved. No, we obey God
because we are saved, because we love Him. Obeying God in order to be
saved is legalism.
Discipleship vs. Legalism
Legalism is attempting to
work for, earn, or somehow deserve your acceptance with God.
Legalism is about
self-righteousness
Legalism is motivated by
fear, pride, insecurity, and lack of knowledge.
Discipleship fosters
righteous living without drawing attention to one’s own righteousness.
Discipleship accepts God's
saving grace, and is determined to obey the God who saves.
Discipleship is a response of gratitude to God for His salvation.
Discipleship is motivated by
love, gratitude, appreciation, respect, and honor for God
But, there is a sad thing
that happens to people when they embrace the false theology that downplays
obedience. What happens is that they judge all obedience as being Pharisaical
or legalistic.
DON’T BE CONFUSED
Even though there is legalism
and Pharisaism out there, there are truly devoted disciples who obey God for
the right reasons. When a truly devoted disciple of Christ is faithful and
obedient to God, it is not to be saved, it is because they are saved and
they love God for saving them. It’s not legalism, it’s…
CHRISTIANITY
It’s…
DISCIPLESHIP
If there is infidelity in a
marriage, would that marriage be very strong? How close is that relationship?
Now I’ve heard of some weird marriages where both parties have agreed to not be
exclusive, they fool around with other people and are okay with that. But is
that a real marriage? It may still be a marriage on paper, but the blessing of
a true, loving, marital relationship is not there. How is our relationship with
our Saviour when we are not loyal to Him? Not very good.
Jesus describes a good
relationship with Him this way:
“He who has My
commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall
be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him.”
John 14:21
On the other hand, here is a
description of a not-so-good relationship with God:
“He who does not love
Me does not keep My words…” John 14:24
In the Chapter “The Impending
Conflict” of The Great Controversy,
speaking of this false, modern religion, the pen of inspiration says,
“Infidelity
prevails to an alarming extent, not in the world merely, but in the church.
Many have come to deny doctrines which are the very pillars of the
Christian faith.”
The
Great Controversy, 583
This theology that denies God
by denying the true doctrines of the Bible does not bring peace. In Matthew
10:33 & 34, Jesus says
“Whosoever shall
deny Me before men, I will also deny Him before My Father in heaven. Do not
think I have come to bring peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:33&34
I would hate to be in the
shoes of the pastors and teachers who teach this stuff when Jesus comes back.
Even though some of my sermons aren’t the most popular or easiest to hear. I can be confident when I commune with
Jesus, and say, Lord, I spoke what you wanted me to speak. I preached the Bible
truth. I tried to be a peacemaker and bring people into harmony with You.
When the angels announced the
birth of Jesus to the Shepherds. They praised God saying,
“Glory to God in
the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” Luke
2:14, NAS
This is from the New American
Standard Version, a more accurate translation of the Bible. The Contemporary
English Version says it this way,
“Praise God in
heaven! Peace on earth to everyone who pleases God.” Luke 2:14 CEV
So we can see that for some,
Jesus is a source of peace, but for others, He brings not peace, but a sword.
And as peacemakers, if we truly love and care for the well-being of our
children, spouses, other family members, church members, co-workers, and friends,
we will try to help them be in the group that receives ultimate peace by being
right with God.
Parents, have you ever been
in a mall, or some other place, and one second, your child is beside you, then
the next second he’s gone? You start to panic and pray. You wonder if a
kidnapper has taken him. Your imagination goes wild with the worst possible
scenarios. You run around back-tracing
your steps calling out his name…
Then, you see someone, either
an employee of the store, or just a kind person walking toward you. You see
that they are holding your child and bringing him to you. You start to cry out
of happiness and relief. Your child is back where they belong, with you.
Now remember that emptiness,
that feeling of stark terror you felt inside because your child was lost? Well
God has lost children everywhere! And because the love He has for His children
is so much deeper than the love we earthly parents have for our children, His
pain and His longing for them is much more intense! And just the same way we
appreciate the help of that kind person who brought our child back to us, He
places those who reconcile His lost children to Him in very high regard.
“And those who
have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven,
and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars
forever and ever.” Daniel 12:3
On the other hand, about
those who do the opposite, Jesus said,
“Whosoever
therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men
so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven…” Matthew 5:19
I want to give you a real
life example of a peacemaker. King David, who God called a man after His own
heart, was very, very close to God. As a teenager, he spent most of his time in
the pastures taking care of his father’s sheep. It was in this environment of
the peaceful hills and the beauty of nature that David was able to be, as the
pen of inspiration writes, “…daily coming into a more intimate communion with
God.”
When He was right with God,
God did mighty things through him. God helped him single-handedly kill a bear
and a lion. Because God was with David, he, without anyone else’s help,
defeated Goliath the giant. When David was king, his army experienced victory
after victory when they battled against their enemies. And David was at peace.
It was during this peaceful time that he wrote psalms like,
“Blessed is the
man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of
sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of
the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season,
whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper.” Psalm 1:1-2
This was David’s experience.
But then David became careless and broke the broke the 7th
commandment. And to try to cover it up, broke the 6th. If you read the story carefully in 2 Samuel,
you will notice that after his sin the communication between David and God was
not like it was before. Because sin separates us from God. If your spouse has
been unfaithful to you, how close would your relationship be with him or her?
David used to be close to God, but not anymore. It doesn’t look like he even
tries to talk to God during this time. He knows deep inside that things are not
right between him and God. He’s the one who wrote,
“If I regard
iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” Psalm 66:18
David was not at peace. His
relationship with God was damaged and it really affected him. This is how he
describes this time in his life:
“…my bones grew
old through my groaning all the day long…My vitality was turned into the
draught of summer.” Psalm 32:3-4
But thank God for
peacemakers! Nathan the prophet, goes to David, and in a wise way he gets real
and honest with David. You can read about this in 2 Samuel 12;1-14. It wasn’t
an easy conversation. The truth is not always easy to say or hear. But because
of Nathan’s devotion to God, and his concern for David he was able to be used
by God to bring David to his senses. David acknowledged and confessed his sin
and repented. And the result was reconciliation between David and God. Being at
peace and harmony again with God, David was able to write,
“Blessed is he
whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered…I acknowledged my sin to
You…I said ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ and you forgave the
iniquity of my sin.” Psalm 32:1-5
True peacemaking saved
David’s life! True peacemaking helped
David experience repentance and the resulting forgiveness and cleansing of
God. True peacemaking brought David hope.
Where would David have been without a peacemaker in his life?
We should thank God for true
peacemakers in our lives—true friends—who will make the effort to pull us out
of sin and bring us back to God! It’s
not easy to appreciate a peacemaker!
A peacemaker, for instance,
will have the guts to tell us that we are sinning against God by breaking His
holy Sabbath. A peacemaker, even in the
midst of our complaining and our calling him/her a legalist, a judge,
whatever—a peacemaker will hang in there and explain to us that when we are
working on the Sabbath, or going to athletic or recreational events on the
Sabbath, or going to restaurants or to stores on the Sabbath, we are violating
Bible principles of how the Sabbath hours are to be spent.
A peacemaker will have the
guts and enough love to point out to us Exodus 20:8-11,
“Remember the Sabbath day, to
keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh
day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no
work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your
female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your
gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea,
and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD
blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
Exodus
20:8-11
And Isaiah 58:13-14,
“ If you turn away your foot
from the Sabbath,
From doing your pleasure on My holy
day,
And call the Sabbath a delight,
The holy day of the LORD honorable,
And shall honor Him, not doing your own
ways,
Nor finding your own pleasure,
Nor speaking your own words,
Then you shall delight yourself in the
LORD;
And I will cause you to ride on the high
hills of the earth,
And feed you with the heritage of Jacob
your father.
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Isaiah 58:13-14
And Exodus 31:13,
“Speak also to the children of
And Hebrews 4:9-11,
“So there remains a Sabbath rest for the
people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested
from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that
rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of
disobedience.” Hebrews 4:9-11
And if we are honest with ourselves, we will
know and understand that this person has brought these things to our attention
IN ORDER TO SAVE US AND PROTECT US! IN
ORDER TO BRING US BACK TO OUR LOVING FATHER IN HEAVEN, WHO WANTS US TO ENJOY
ALL THAT HE HAS FOR US!
Thank God for the peacemakers—the TRUE
FRIENDS—in our lives!
True peace is brought about
when we have the guts to share with people what they are doing that is
dangerous, unethical, immoral, disobedient, hurtful, wrong, or incorrect.
A true friend will not be
afraid to be honest with you
A true friend will take the
time to admonish you, exhort you
A true friend will be willing
to point out to you that you are breaking the Sabbath, or any of God's laws
A true friend will explain
that obedience to God's law is not legalism, but rather the only appropriate
response to being saved by grace.
A true friend will help you
to be a good disciple.
A true friend will encourage
you to do the things that please God.
A true friend will guide you
into a fuller committed relationship with God.
A true friend will not steer
you in the direction of comfort, ease, least resistance, sin, appetite,
carnality.
A true friend will steer you
toward discomfort, if it is the way of growth; the way of righteousness.
A true friend will steer you
toward health and sound-mindedness, and help you to deny your unhealthful
cravings and appetite.
In short, a true peacemaker
in our lives is a real blessing indeed!
A rare gem in a field of stones.
May God help us to appreciate
the true peacemakers in our lives, and to accept their guidance as from the
Lord.
May God equip us to in turn be a true friend
to those around us. We just might be the
one true peacemaker in someone’s life.