Fighters For Peace Series

One of the paradoxes of life is the fact that the peacemaker must

be a fighter to be effective. Edwin Markham just before his death in

1940 remarked that his fondest hope had not been realized. He had

wanted to write a poem that would dispense the armies of the world.

Unfortunately, peace is not achieved by poetry. It takes something

more than beautiful words. It takes risky and sacrificial action.

The peacemaker must take the same risks as the warmaker. It costs

Jesus His life to be a peacemaker, and this is the price many have paid

to bring peace between God and man, as well as between men. The

soldier of the cross is subject to all the dangers of the soldier in

physical warfare. The New Testament is filled with references to the

Christian life in terms of the military. Putting on the whole armor of

God; fighting the good fight, and other such phrases are common.

The Christians as peacemaker is in the midst of constant battle. He

would be useless and irrelevant where strive and conflict are absent,

but he is God's most relevant on the field of battle.

Christian, seek not yet repose;

Cast thy dreams of ease away;

Thou art in the midst of foes;

Watch and pray.

The Christian who is aware that peacemaking is as difficult, or

more difficult, than war making will recognize that diplomacy is not

enough. Diplomacy is essential, but sometimes it is like having a

bayonet when the enemy is ten miles away. You never get the chance

to use it. Such was the case of the experience of a banker in

Melbourne. He was out for a walk one evening, and passed a fence of

a shabby home where he heard screams in the back yard. Climbing

up on the fence, he saw a man attacking his wife with an ax. He

shouted at him, but this had no effect. He climber over the fence and

attempted to protect the woman. As he did, he was not only attacked

by the man, but the woman also turned on him as an intruder, and he

was lucky to get away without serious injury. The way of the

peacemaker is indeed hard, and often seems as futile as war. On the

other hand, though he received no thanks, he did end the quarrel by

uniting them against a common foe-namely himself.

So much of the peace between nations is due to their unity against a

common foe. Herod and Pilot even got together, and so did the

Pharisees and Saducees, over their common opposition to Christ.

Jesus in this beatitude says the peacemaker will stir up war against

himself, and will be persecuted. He will be slandered and called

everything but a son of God. It is important that we do not get a

superficial view of what it means to be a peacemaker. If we think it

means we will never be in the turmoil of battle, but always at a place

of calmness, we are deceived. Paradise needs no peacemakers; only

the battlefield does. That is why it is so hard and costly to be a

peacemaker. You have to be one who loves peace and who hates war,

and yet you must be in the midst of war fighting with everything you

have for peace.

John Foster Dulles said, "The world will never have lasting peace

so long as men reserve for war the finest human qualities. Peace, no

lest then war, requires idealism and self-sacrifice and a righteous and

dynamic faith." Christians often fail to be dynamic as peacemakers

because they feel it is futile. The Bible seems to indicate wars will

continue to the end until the Prince of Peace Himself comes to silence

all guns forever. This sounds like a logical basis for defeatism, but it

is not. J. C. Macauley in Moody Monthly said, "The fact that wars are

predicted in Scripture, and by our Lord Himself, does not mean that

Christians should encourage war! It is our privilege to put on the

brakes by demonstrating those attitudes which tend to peace." He

goes on to say these attitudes are to be the opposites of the world. The

worldly man delights in the suffering and defeat of the enemy. They

rejoice in retaliation. There is nothing Christian in such emotions.

Even enlightened pagans have known this.

Homer in the Illiad wrote,

"Curs'd is the man and void of law and right,

Unworthy property, unworthy light,

Unfit for public rule, or private care;

That wretch, that monster, that delights in war.

The Christian may be up to his neck in war, and may be forced by

circumstances beyond his control to participate in its horrors, but he

is no peace maker unless he hates it. If he enjoys it and finds