The Good Life: A series through the Sermon on the Mount Good news for the peacemakers Matthew 5:9 Pete Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. Very, very few of us come from families where conflicts are resolved in a mature, healthy way. Most simply bury our tensions and move on. In my own family, when I became a Christian I was the great peacemaker. I would do anything to keep unity and love flowing in the church as well as my marriage and family. I saw conflict as something that had to be fixed as quickly as possible. Like radioactive waste from a nuclear power plant, if not contained I feared it might unleash Definition of a peacemaker Our distorted view of peacemaking is manifold: terrible damage. So I did what most Christians do: I lied a lot, both to myself and others. UNIFORMITY 2 (the new tolerance) D.A. Carson. The Intolerance of Tolerance. The old meaning of the word tolerance meant accepting the existence of different views. But the new tolerance suggests that actually accepting another s position means believing that position to be true, or at least as true as your own. 3 ALLEVIATION (just make it go away) Alleviating tension (ignoring it until it goes away, appeasing others) PASSIVE AGGRESSION (triangulating 4) Also known as, gossip. 5 PACIFISM Not all conflict can or should be avoided 6 Jesus said that he didn t come to bring peace, but a sword (Matt 10:34) HOSTILITY (love for conflict) The goal of the follower of Jesus is peace. But we are to admit that the means is not as clear. 7 Nor is it Lacking all the above (as if peace is simply the absence of bad things) The Biblical view of peace is positive. 8 Shalom: wholeness > circle 9 It means well-being in every direction and in every relation. However, it s not peace, but peacemaking that is in view here. A peacemaker is someone who makes things right, bringing reconciliation between warring parties 10 Illustration: Abby the peacemaker. 1 1 of 5
Christians and peace AP 1 Corinthians 7:15 - God has called you to peace 1 Peter 3:11 - Seek peace and pursue it Hebrews 12:14 - Strive for peace with everyone Romans 12:18 - If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all We re not supposed to look for conflict, and we re not supposed to avoid it when it comes. Conflict is a fact of relationships. We ARE called to pursue peace, and to navigate conflict. Blessed why? Truthfully, most of us either love conflict, or love avoiding it. Rare is the person who loves working through the hard stuff for mutual peace. No one wants to be the middle man. Why? Those top 5 pseudo-peacemaking descriptions? Those are the way we interpret peacemaking, but they are a counterfeit. It s a form of peace, but on our terms: self-preservation. Uniformity - Sacrificing truth for acceptance. Voiding everyone s position for an artificial harmony. Alleviating - Sacrificing conflict for acceptance. Voiding your feelings for an artificial harmony. Gossip - You don t care enough about said person to deal with problem. You tear them down. Hostility - Putting your rights above the other, so much so that you destroy them. Jeremiah 9:8 (ESV) Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully; with his mouth each speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he plans an ambush for him. To preserve yourself, you have to exclude others. These are all forms of exclusion. Miroslav Volf (Exclusion and Embrace) Exclusion names what permeates a good many sins we commit against our neighbors. 11 It s opposite of real peacemaking, which deals with difficult relational barriers, often at the expense of self, in the hope of reconciling. James 3:13-16 (ESV) Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. What we often do in the name of creating peace, is only good for us, and harmful to others. And as James points out, it robs us of an environment where we can flourish spiritually. But that s what we want. We want to protect ourselves, and the peacemaking that Jesus calls us to is unattractive. Yet, those who practice it are called, blessed. Why?????? 2 of 5
Blessed: God s peaceful reign has already come to bear on our needy estate. How so? Experience of the peacemaker Jesus brought peace in a time of tremendous conflict. When Jesus came, Zealots expected him to overthrow the government Isaiah 9:6 (ESV) For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Instead, he said, Blessed are the peacemakers. Then he died Colossians 1:19-20 (ESV) For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to But how does the cross bring people together? Ephesians 2:11-14 (ESV) himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. Well, one group (Jews) rallied around their observance of the Law (selfrighteousness, self-preservation, power). By dying, Christ removed their selfrighteous claim, and instead, united them around His righteousness, and not only Jews, but Gentiles. So instead of being unified around exclusion, we are unified around the Peacemaker. 12 Ephesians 4:3-4 (ESV) eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call. Effect of peacemaking James 3:17-8 (ESV) 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. Jesus disciples are simply acting out of this new freedom. When born again, and in-dwelt, He changes the way you view others. How? 3 of 5
Pathway to peacemaking Groupings of the Beatitudes 13 AP - The needy (#1-4) - The servants (#5-7) - The hurting (#8-9) The Need Beatitudes engage us deeply with God; the Help Beatitudes engage us deeply with people. The Need Beatitudes enlist us in all that we are not. The Help Beatitudes enlist us in all that we are. 14 Blessed: called sons of God 15 The sublimity of this promise comes from the fact that the title sons of God refers to character (cf. Luke 6:35). The peacemaker partakes of the character of God. He is like God in the way he lives. No wonder God says, blessed are the peacemakers. The proper question to ask next is, what title does God assign to us? 16 You are not a peacemaker if you regularly participate in gossip unresolved conflicts unforgiveness mean-spirited The immediate response some of you will want to take is to try harder, be nicer, etc. But these things are a part of your heart. What these things say about you is that there is a disconnect in your life from the kingdom life of God. So what do you need? To be renewed by the kingdom life of God. To receive Him, and let him rid from you whatever he wants. One of the best ways of starting is by meditating on the gospel. What has the Prince of Peace has done for you? 4 of 5
Works cited 1 Peter Scazzero. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. (Thomas Nelson, 2006) 32 2 Writes Scot McKnight, The peacemaker, as the person whom Jesus blesses, seeks to reconcile not by pretending there are no differences or by suppressing differences, but by creating love of the other that transcends differences or that permits the people to join hands in spite of differences. 47 3 4 D.A. Carson. The Intolerance of Tolerance. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2012) 3 See Herrington and Creech. The Leader s Journey. 5 The management guru and consultant, Patrick Lencioni, reveals a parallel of this truth in workplace team dynamics: When team members do not openly debate and disagree about important ideas, they often turn to back-channel personal attacks, which are far nastier and more harmful than any heated argument over issues. The Five Dysfuntions of a Team: a leadership fable. (San Francisco, CA: JosseyBass, 2002) 203 6 7 R.T. France. The Gospel of Matthew, NICNT. (Grand Rapids, MIL Eerdmans, 2007) 169 Scot McKnight. Sermon on the Mount. (SGBC; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013) 48 8 Kenneth E. Bailey. Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2008) 84 9 In English the word peace means usually refers either to an inner tranquility peace of mind or to an outward state the absence of war. But Biblical shalom conveys the picture of a circle; it means well-being in every direction and in every relation. (Bruner, 177) 10 Beyond a merely peaceful disposition to an active attempt to make peace (France, 169) 11 Miroslav Volf. Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation. (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1996) 72 12 Harold W. Hoehner. Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002) 367,373 13 This list was adapted from Fredrick Dale Bruner. The Churchbook: Matthew 1-12. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1990) 155-156 14 Bruner, 180 15 The word son is not referring to your gender, but in he Jewish world, was used to connect a person with an attribute or a person (McKnight, 48) 16 R. Kent Hughes. The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001) 68 5 of 5