Title: The Sharing Choice
Text: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.” Matthew 5:9
Thesis: We may be used of God to bring peace to others. When we share the gift of peace with others conflict may be transformed into harmony.
Series: Life’s Healing Choices (Saddleback Resources)
Introduction
In his reflections on the original meaning of the word peace in the Greek and Hebrews languages that would have been familiar to Jesus’ listeners, William Barclay understood peace to infer three things:
1. Peace was understood as what makes for the world being a better place for all people. In other words a peacemaker was someone who made the world a better place for all of us to live in.
2. Peace was also understood to refer to the inner peace of a person who had made peace with himself, so to speak. The peacemaker in this instance had dealt with the spiritual conflicts in his inner life and was now at peace with himself and God.
3. Peace was also understood as what we call right relationships between people. So a peacemaker was someone who helps resolve conflicts and establish right relationships or harmony between people. (William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Vol. 1, Westminster Press, PP. 109-110)
It is this third understanding of peace and the makers of peace that Jesus likely had in mind when he spoke the words, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.”
Given the nature of the world in which we live… the likelihood of harmony existing between everyone on the planet seems somewhat removed. However, despite our efforts to teach children early that we all have to learn to play in the same sandbox… the lesson generally gives way as we get older.
Despite the rancor and incivility we are currently experiencing in regard to Health Care reform, there have been more divisive times in our country when men, violently at odds, behaved civilly. On April 9, 1865, after four years of Civil War, more than 63,000 deaths, and over a million casualties, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at a farmhouse near Appomattox. They met, they talked like friends before General Lee, feeling a bit uncomfortable, brought up the terms of surrender. Grant explained the terms, and Lee asked if his men could keep their horses, explaining that they would need them for farming after the war. Grant agreed and when he learned that Lee’s army had been without rations for several days, arranged for food to be sent to the hungry men. The terms of the surrender were so cordial that some referred to it as “The Gentlemen’s Agreement.” Grant and Lee were peacemakers during a very contentious time in our country. Apparently the spirit of good will has not carried over to today. The Southern Legal Resource Center is urging southerners to declare themselves Confederate Southern Americans when they complete their 2010 census forms. On line 9 where we are asked for our race they are asked to check “Other” and write in “Confederate Southern American.”
However, despite all the identifying distinctions and differences of opinion among us, Jesus is a peacemaker. In Galatians 3:28 and Colossians 3:11, Jesus absolutely levels the playing field welcoming everyone into his tent, so to speak. “All,” according to scripture, “are one in Christ.”
Jesus is a peacemaker. You could arguably say that Jesus is the ultimate peacemaker. Romans 5:1 states that we have been justified through faith and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus has brought peace to the hearts and lives of many people around the world over the centuries. In John 14:27 he told his disciples that he was giving them a peace unlike any peace the world could give. And now in our text he states that those who are engaged in the work of peacemaking are blessed people who are doing a god-like work.
So if peacemaking is an activity blessed by God… what are peacemakers like and what do they do?
I. Peacemakers desire peace.
Quoting from the Psalm 34, Peter wrote in his epistle, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.” I Peter 3:10-11
The making of peace is one of the most daunting tasks in the world. It is huge and it looms large. However, we could argue that it would be easier to negotiate world peace than get Americans to agree on Health Care reform. Perhaps the Health Care debate is a perfect example of why we can never expect people to play peaceably in the same sandbox. .
And yet, despite the challenges and the differences, people still find the wherewithal to keep trying for Health Care reform and people still keep trying to stem the tide of global warming and people still try to bring aid to the Haiti’s of the world and people still try to get the Israelis and Palestinians to get along and people still try to feed the hungry of the world and people still try to find cures for diseases. People who have a desire to make a difference, do.
Toward the turn of the twentieth century a man named Alfred, a preeminent scientist and entrepreneur made a fortune inventing and refining explosives that were used constructively for building purposes. However his discoveries were soon used primarily in weapons for warfare.
Toward the end of his life he was troubled by the legacy he was leaving mankind and he decided he wished to be remembered for having made some contribution for the betterment of mankind. The bulk of his estate was then used to establish a series of international awards to be given each year to scientists, thinkers and leaders who worked for the betterment of mankind. The award given for the promotion of peace is known as the Nobel Peace Prize. Hundreds of people have received awards for the betterment of the people and some individuals have accomplished a great deal… but it would seem that the world is as frightening and violent and devoid of peace today as it has ever been.
Peace seems to elude the peoples of the world. And yet the desire for peace remains and people are passionate about it and work tirelessly for it.
The world has enough instigators and troublemakers. Mankind needs more problem-solvers and peacemakers. And God places a high premium on peace, so much so that we are instructed to seek it and pursue it.
Peacemakers not only desire peace, they work for peace.
II. Peacemakers work for peace.
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Ephesians 4:2-3
“Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14
The verses from Ephesians 4 and Hebrews 12 speak to the “effort” necessary to live in peace in the Christian faith community and in the world. The peacemaker’s life is characterized by humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, holiness love and hard work, i.e., effort.
Peace is an endless and often exhausting work.
Illustration: After months of deadlock and delay Russian and the US have agreed to lower the limit on deployed strategic warheads by more than one-fourth and launchers by half. The treaty imposes a new inspection agreement to replace one that lapsed this past December. On April 8 President Obama and President Medvedev will sign the new accord in the Czech capital, Prague.
This new treaty will replace the old Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty of 1991 and will be in force through 2020. Perhaps most important given our history of tension with Russia, this treaty sets a tone for better relationships with our Cold War counterpart. (Peter Baker and Ellen Barry, Russia and U.S. Report Breakthrough on Arms, The New York Times, March 24, 2010)
I cannot remember when the USSR and modern day Russia has not been perceived as a threat to our existence and way of life. The Cold War may not be as frigid as it once was but tensions remain and efforts to maintain a peaceful co-existence have been ongoing for decades.
People who desire peace work for tirelessly for peace.
In my preparations for today I read about a female CNN journalist who heard about a very old Jewish man who had been going to the Wailing Wall to pray, twice a day, every day, for a long, long time. So she went to check it out. She went to the Wailing Wall and there he was!
She watched him pray and after about 45 minutes, when he turned to leave, she approached him for an interview.
"I'm Rebecca Smith from CNN. Sir, how long have you been coming to the Wall and praying?"
"For about 60 years."
"60 years! That's amazing! What do you pray for?"
"I pray for peace between the Christians, Jews and the Muslims. I pray for all the hatred to stop and I pray for all our children to grow up in safety and friendship."
Praying for peace in our world and in our nation and in homes and workplaces and neighborhoods is part of the hard work of peacemaking.
In the final analysis, the answer to and responsibility for the elderly Jewish man’s prayer, returns to him. He must extend his hand to every Christian and to every Palestinians he meets.
Someone wisely said, “If you are going to care about the fall of sparrows, you can’t pick and choose who’s going to be the sparrow.” If you are going to care about and desire and work for peace, you can’t pick and choose who you are going to be at peace with.
Peacemakers make every effort to work for peace and the highest good in every relationship. That means we find ways to agree to disagree, be civil, support and encourage, love and care for the highest good for our spouses, children, parents, siblings, relatives, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and our counterparts in partisan politics.
Conclusion
The enormity of a task that man has not been able to accomplish in all of history…. Yet we do what we can in obedience to the way and will of God.
It’s an old a familiar story but nothing is lost in the retelling of it. A man was walking along a stretch of Florida beach where the receding tide had left thousands of starfish stranded on the sand. He noticed a boy coming toward him at some distance… boy stooped and picked up each starfish he came upon and flung it back out into the ocean. As the man got nearer to the boy he called out to ask him what he was doing and the boy said, “I’m saving the starfish because if they are out of the water very long they will die”. The man replied, “What you are doing is a really nice thing but you can’t possibly save all of these starfish.” And as the boy flung another starfish back into the ocean he said, “I know, but I can save this one.”
Of all the choices we make, certainly among them must be the Sharing Choice… deciding as much as it is possible, we share the gift of peace. It is not like any one of us is responsible for bringing peace and good will to everyone on the planet… there are just too many starfish. But we can impact the people in the place where we are.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are doing a god-like work.”
