The Prince of Peace Seeks Peace
Text: Matthew 12:9-21
Introduction
Once upon a time the job of a soldier, the task of an army was clear-cut. We went, when our nation called us, to far away lands to defeat, destroy or drive out an enemy in order to achieve the security or political objectives of our national leadership.
I know one chaplain who has a sign on his wall that says "My job is to bring peace and love to an organization that exists to blow things up and kill people."
However many soldiers now look back upon those days of clear-cut definitions of defeat and victory as the good old days. Increasingly, our nation calls upon us to do missions with no such goal of defeating or driving out an enemy. In fact we’ve had to add a new phrase to our vocabulary to describe such missions, "Operations Other Than War," sometimes refered to as peace-keeping missions.
Now to those with a traditional view of soldiering and the purpose of armed forces, this has been a difficult transition. How can a force designed for war be used as an agent of peace? "Peaceful Warrior" seems like an oxymoron. And it is indeed a very difficult balance, one which all parties involved admit we haven’t been fully prepared for and we don’t really have a handle on even now. How do you train a force that might be called upon for war, but also might be called upon for peace?
It’s a dilemma all right, but we’re not the first ones to face this kind of dilemma. A few weeks ago I talked to you about how Jesus, the Prince of Peace, said that he came with a sword. Today the prophecy that Matthew quotes brings up to a similar issue, only this time the emphasis is not upon a Prince of Peace who brings conflict but instead upon a warrior, a conqueror who is gentle and peaceful. The point I’d like to make from this passage is that...
Proposition: Jesus is our perfect model of a Peaceful Warrior.
Interrogative: So what exactly does it mean to be a warrior with peaceful intentions? And what does it have to do with you and me?
Transition: I think the answer is found in the story we read today and also in the prophecy that Matthew uses to illuminate the significance of those events. As we consider Jesus as a peaceful warrior I believe we will also discover something about his expectations of us as we follow him as soldiers in the spiritual battle that we wage every day. There are two specific tensions that Jesus balances perfectly, the first is...
1. Declaration without Defiance
vv. 18-19 "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets."
Look at the juxtaposition here. It says "he will proclaim" in one breath and in the very next breath "he will not quarrel or cry out." Jesus fulfills the prophecy that the Promised One will boldly proclaim the message, but he will not do it stridently. He’s not itching for a fight. A fight may come because the message doesn’t make everybody happy, but He’s not looking for it.
This is modeled in the story that immediately proceeds the prophecy in two ways. First when the Pharisees try to draw him into a fight about healing the man on the Sabbath He doesn’t say "You people would love to see me leave this man in misery because that’s just the sorry kind of folks you are" Instead he reasons with them, "Look, I’m only doing what’s right, wouldn’t you pull a sheep out of the well on the Sabbath? And isn’t a person more important than a sheep?
Now they still get mad, because their hearts were hard, but it wasn’t because Jesus had provoked them intentionally. He simply spoke the truth about the situation.
This is further illustrated when after healing people He warned them not to go telling others who He was--that is they shouldn’t go out proclaiming Him as Messiah. Why not? well first of all because it wasn’t yet time for this to escalate, but also I believe because He knew it would cause a controversy that wouldn’t be helpful to the message of good news. As the prophet said "He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets." Declaration without Defiance.
And what does this say to us? That we should be bold in declaring the message of Christ, but we need not be defiant to do so.
Ephesians 4:15 tells us to "speak the truth in Love." That’s the model Christ gave us and it’s the goal we should strive for.
There are some Christians who think they’ve done a great thing to stir up controversy for controversy’s sake. They may be speaking the truth, but it’s not in love. Have you known people who wear their offensiveness to unbelievers as if it were a badge of honor? How can we ever win them if they don’t want us around them? That’s not to say that all the people will love us all the time, Jesus clearly said they wouldn’t, but he never said we sould make it a goal to alienate those precious souls for whom He died.
It’s also possible to speak the truth at the wrong time--Jesus understood this and it was part of the reason for warning those He healed not to proclaim Him publicly as Messiah. We all saw an excellent example of this right after 9/11. Two prominent Christian leaders said on TV that America needed to consider if our national imorality was in some way responsible for the tragedy. Whether or not the answer to that question is "yes," the time was all wrong to ask it, and the nation was outraged. Now I don’t say this to throw rocks at these guys because they both realized that their timing was bad and apologized publicly. But the case is an excellent one reminding us that sometimes timing is everything.
On the other hand I saw an excellent example this week of how Declaration without Defiance ought to work.
ILLUSTRATION: Jose Naputi was promoted this week. He chose to hold the ceremony here in the chapel. In attendance were believers as well as unbelievers. Woven throughout the ceremony, not only in what Jose said but in what others said about him was the fact that Jose’s commitment to Jesus Christ is the central pillar of Jose’s life and family and that Jesus Christ is to be praised for whatever success he has enjoyed. It was a declaration of what Jesus means to him, but it was not defiant. At the end of the ceremony, Jose told the folks who had gathered, that he wanted to take time to give thanks to the Lord for this gift of promotion. As he invited me to come and lead that prayer he said anyone who is uncomfortable with prayer was free to go downstairs and have first crack at the food. I didn’t see anybody leave, but I believe the witness was more effective because Jose told those non-Christians they weren’t hostages to his Christian agenda. It was Declaration without Defiance.
The second tension that Jesus managed perfectly is..
2. Kindness without Compromise
vv. 20-21 "A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope."
The picture is of a gentle Messiah, one who will not mistreat even a bruised reed. Reeds were used for various purposes including making flutes, but they weren’t useful if damaged in any way, typically they were cast aside. This is a metaphor to say that Jesus has a use even for those who seem broken.
It also says that he won’t snuff out a smoldering wick, the pictrue is of an oil lamp which has run short of oil. The easiest way to deal with this is to put out the lamp, add oil and relight it. But Jesus, doesn’t take the easy way, He slowly adds the needed oil and nurses the flame back until it is burning brightly again.
Then the verse concludes "till he leads justice to victory."
What we have here is a triumphant commander, a victorious warrior of justice, who has time for the broken, for those whose flame is flickering.
Here is a Gentle Saviour, humble and caring, but make no mistake He is the conqueror. He models Kindness without Compromise.
This is modeled by the fact that even as he has set his face toward the cross, even as the opposition has begun to plot his death (v. 14), he has time for those who are hurting. I think also here we have a foreshadowing of the fact that when his time comes to face the cross, he goes without a fight, as a lamb to the slaughter, he harms no one, the picture of weekness. But in reality they are not leading Him, but He is leading His way to victory as the cross becomes his ultimate weapon against sin and his final triumph over the grave.
What’s the message for us?I think this: That it is not OK in our focus on the big picture to forget the little guy. And because it’s a balance: In our caring for the little guy it is not OK to forget the big picture. Kindness is about remembering the little guy, compromise is about remembering the goal.
I heard the former General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Church share about sharing the gospel with a young waitress as he was traveling--here’s a guy who could’ve said, "I’m doing big things for the Lord I don’t have time for this," but instead he followed in the footsteps of the Gentle savior.
The Army Chief of Chaplains has made a policy for chaplains to stay in touch with ministry to soldiers no matter how high in the administration of the branch they go. I think that’s a good policy, one that reflects the ministry of Christ himself.
But it’s not just good for chaplains and ministers it’s good for all of us. All of us need to remember that the Lord puts hurting souls in our paths for a reason. Whether you spend 10 hours aweek in volunteer ministry or not, Jesus had time for bruised reeds and flickering wicks and you should too.
But on the other end you should not become so focused on meeting the physical, material and emotional needs of those hurting that you take your eyes off the prize of the gospel of Christ, for the Gospel is the most valuable thing we have to offer those in need.
ILLUSTRATION: In the early 1900’s through the 1960’s Broadway Presbyterian Church was a powerful witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Upper Manhattan, but from the 1960’s to the 1990’s a subtle change began to take place, a change in emphasis stole in as massive feeding programs for the homeless were undertaken church membership slipped from over 1000 to 120. In the soup kitchens, prayers were not even offered over meals out of concern that the clients might resent it. And it was discovered that the same people were coming through the lines year after year, there was no change taking place in their lives. (World Magazine, 26 January 2002)
What happened? The decisive point of the battle, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, had been surrendered. Free food doesn’t transform lives, The ressurected Christ transforms lives. But we run the risk of the same powerlessness if we do not hold in balance Kindness without Compromise
Conclusion:
It’s a tricky Business being a Peaceful Warrior but if we follow our commander’s lead we can accomplish the mission.
Declaring the Message without Defiance
Showing Kindness Without Compromising the Goal
