Mr. Richard Pinelli
Sermon Transcript
November 2, 2002
Blessed are the Peacemakers
Blessed are the peacemakers. But if you look around you, peacemakers are extremely rare. In fact, conflict is basically everywhere on the face of this earth – because of religion, because of politics, because of just simple old bald-faced human nature, we have massacres and destruction and mayhem and wars all over this earth. Even our court systems seem to make everybody unhappy with the judgments that are rendered. And of course we hear many many things coming out of Congress that sometimes make you wonder just exactly what are they trying to do? And of course Cincinnati has become, in the last little while, renown for its conflicts as well.
Isaiah the prophet wrote these words, he said, "The way of peace they have not known, there is no justice in their ways. They have made themselves crooked paths and whosoever takes that way, shall not know peace." In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ gave us the Beatitudes, I’d like you to turn there with me this afternoon to begin the sermon. This is Matthew 5:3, when He begins to discuss with us the 8 beatitudes that are found here, 7 flow one through the other in the sense of the word of being a progression of thought and of course the 8th one simply seems to indicate that the 8th or the last one was persecution for righteousness, it describes something that happens to you, not an action on the part of a Christian. But when you go through all of these "blessed are, blessed are, blessed are" you come to the 7th one, it says:
Matt. 5:9 – "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God."
In Hebrew thought, the term "son of" can mean a person who epitomizes the characteristics described. For instance we found that there were disciples, later some of them becoming apostles who were called the "sons of thunder." They were epitomized as being a certain way, the sons of thunder. There were individuals who were called the "son of Belial" and there’s another place Christ talks about the "sons of the kingdom."
That peacemakers will be called the sons of God implies that they epitomize the characteristics of their heavenly Father, they are peacemakers. Jesus seems to be indicating that peacemaking is one of the most God-like qualities of His servant. It seems to indicate when you look at the Beatitudes; it seems to be one of the most God-like qualities of His servants. It requires love, it requires wisdom, it requires patience, it requires forgiveness, it requires faithfulness and most of all, it requires humility. Making peace must be more important it seems, than proving you are right. Let me repeat that for you. Making peace, apparently, must be more important than proving you are right.
Now when you look at some of the scriptures and the descriptions of God, we recognize there is a fantastic quality that keeps jumping out at us in the scriptures. For instance, Paul says, "Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen." He tells us in the book of Corinthians, he says, "Farewell brethren, become complete, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you." Paul went on to make this statement, "The things which you have learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you." He said to the Hebrews, "Now may the God of peace who brought our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, make you complete in every good work." There are other descriptions that we see concerning Jesus Christ – you know the scripture, we have read this a dozen hundred times when he said in Isaiah 9:6-7. Let me read it to you; you don’t need to turn there.
Isa. 9:6 – For unto us a child is born, and unto us a Son is given and the government shall be upon His shoulder and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
V. 7 – And of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end.
It also tells us in the prophecy concerning Christ that He would give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death and to guide our feet into the way of peace. Maybe one last one, in Hebrews 7 it talks about Melchizadek. Melchizadek is called the King of Salem, He’s called the Priest of the Most High God who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, to whom Abraham gave a tenth of everything and he was translated, this particular king, King of righteousness, but also, King of Salem, meaning King of peace. So what we see here in three different scriptures, we see the concept that Christ was Prince of peace, that He was to guide us into the way of peace, that He was the King of peace. His name reveals that He is King of righteousness and King of peace. Jesus Christ is both the Prince and the King of peace. You and I have been given a most wonderful calling, we’ve been called to participate in the kingdom of God, we’re called to come out of this society, with all of it’s problems. We’re here to be trained, we talked about that at the Feast of Tabernacles this year, being trained by Christ to assist Him in bringing peace to this troubled earth. Can we all understand that His bride, the Church, would have to know something about peace? Is there not something important about that seventh Beatitude when Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God?" I think this is a profound topic, I think it’s a wonderful topic, I think it’s a very desperately needed topic in this time and society that we live in and I am convinced that learning to be peacemakers, to make peace, to be exactly what God wants His Church to be focusing on, can be one of the most important things that we can do.
In 1996 when we were in Birmingham, Alabama, we talked about one of the most important concepts in the Council. They talked about; we have not always treated each other in a Godly manner. That was one of the most profound things that came out of that Birmingham Conference. Now the crisis that hit the Church involved much more than the day on which we keep the Sabbath. But everybody has to ask the question, Where is God’s Church? Who is going to be teaching God’s word faithfully? Would God’s people be known for conflict or for peace? I think we have to evaluate that today in this particular sermon that I’m placing before you this afternoon.
I’d like you to turn with me to the book of I Corinthians, because the book of I Corinthians depicts a church that did not know how to be a peacemaker. There were very few peacemakers in that particular church. In fact, most of Paul’s admonitions that go through the entirety of the book have to do with the problem of lacking peace. I Cor. 1:11-13, let’s notice first of all:
I Cor. 1:11 – It has been declared unto me concerning you, my brethren, by those of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
V. 12 – Now this I say, that each of you says, "I am of Paul," or "I am of Apollos," or "I am of Cephas," or "I am of Christ."
V. 13 – Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?
So we see, he begins immediately in this book to show them there were contentions, there was strife, there were divisions. You go to chapter 3 and he talks about how he had to deal with them not as spiritual, but as babes. So therefore something that is spiritual must not be this way, those that are babes apparently, this was a major flaw in their character. But he said:
I Cor. 3: 1 – I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are you able. Showing that they simply didn’t have the ability to understand what they were doing to themselves.
V. 3 – For you are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you envying, strife and divisions, are you not carnal and walk as men? Or the word "divisions" here is simply another word for factions, for problems and difficulties.
Spiritual babes are recognized by envy, strife and divisions. Few sons of peace in Corinth, right? Let’s go over to I Cor. 6:6 and I’m going to read this to you in the New International Version.
I Cor. 6:6 – But instead, one brother goes to law against another and this in front of unbelievers!
V. 7 - The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means that you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged, why not rather be cheated?
So the apostle Paul then began to deal then with a third problem and that is, they were taking each other to court or to law, as we would say, instead of dealing with it properly in the sense of making peace, they were making war with each other. I Corinthians 7:15 tells us:
I Cor. 7:15 – If the unbeliever departs, let him depart, a brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, because God has called us to peace.
So again, another section that talks about believer and non-believer, peace and contention and trouble and difficulties. Notice I Cor. 11, I just want to bounce through a few of the scriptures to show you as an introduction to what I want to cover today, the importance of understanding that these people who were babes, were involved in envy and strife and the kind of problem that cause contentions between each other. They were not peacemakers.
I Cor. 11:17 – Now this I declare unto you, I praise you not that in that you come together, not for better, but for worse. First of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be schisms…or divisions…among you and I partly believe it.
V. 19 – For there must be also heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
Now sometimes we don’t understand this particular scripture but it tells
you simply that factions permit us to recognize who is approved. Therefore,
Paul is saying, factions must be, because we need to find out who is with the
program and who is not. We need to find out who is a peacemaker and who is not.
Think about that, that Paul said, these things must need be in order to show
who is approved, who is bearing good fruit and who is not. Because Paul went
on to say:
I Cor. 12:25 – There should be no schism in the body,
that all the members should have the same care, one toward another. I
Cor. 14:33 –let’s read another scripture, again, we can
talk about a whole lot of them, but I’m just showing you the concept of
the problem that was enormous in the city of Corinth. The apostle Paul writes
these words:
I Cor. 14:33 – For God is not the author of confusion but of peace as in all the churches of the saints.
Peace is a hallmark of all the churches of God’s saints. The approved are revealed, that’s what he is telling us in this particular book. Since Corinth had strife and division, they were spiritually immature, they were babes. And as the NIV puts the phrase, There should have been peace as in all the churches of God. I think that’s very instructive, I think that’s very interesting, because we would call them fruits, the fruits of the holy spirit.
So I see our focusing on peacemaking as very important, especially at this time in the history of the Church. When the subject of peace is usually discussed, and we’ve discussed it for years and years, from a biblical perspective, usually the subject is divided into three sections – peace with God, peace with other people, and peace with yourself, or peace of mind. But I find if you have the first two, peace with God and peace with people, the third is likely to be present. But God’s word states that peace with God and peace with other people are tightly linked, they are tightly linked. Listen, true peace involved reconciliation. If God is pleased with us, then we have peace. If God is not pleased with us, we don’t have peace with God – the solution is to be reconciled to Him. If our neighbor is upset with us, we don’t have peace with him or her. The solution is to reconcile with our neighbor. There are steps that God has given us in the scriptures by which we do this.
The first step is to take a peaceful step toward God. Let’s go over to Romans 5 for just a moment and notice this. Rom. 5:1. I have a lot of scriptures today and I do not apologize for that, but this is a topic that will take us down the road of many many principles that we need to look at. But I hope that if I’m going a little fast for some of you, that you’ll pick up the tape and give Larry Griffith a run for his money in this particular case!
Rom. 5:1-2 – Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
So we see by these two verses that when we are justified by faith, when we have the sacrifice of Christ and we have this peace with God, it is a part of the reconciliation process that we must be developing with God and then with men and that is the way God has intended for us to be. Let’s go over to II Corinthians 5 for a moment.
II Cor. 5:17 – Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, old things are passing away; behold all things are becoming new.
V. 18 – All things are of God who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us…the Church and the ministry, what it says here is simply…the ministry of reconciliation. Peacemaking is very much a part of that frame of mind. It says in going on and dropping down to V. 20:
V. 20 – Now then we as ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in God’s stead, be you reconciled to God.
So we recognize a ministry of reconciliation. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself and the question that we have to ask ourselves, Can those reconciled to God still be angry and fighting with each other? Is it possible? I don’t think so. So peace begins, first of all, with our being reconciled to God, but maintaining peace with God involves the forgiveness of others. Let me repeat that for you. Peace begins with our being reconciled to God, but maintaining peace with God involves forgiveness of others. Let’s go over to Matthew 6:12, notice Christ’s words here.
Matt. 6:12 – He said, Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
Our reconciliation to God is dependent on our willingness to forgive and to reconcile with others. Notice V. 14-15:
V. 14-15 – For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Jesus put it another way in Matthew 18, we don’t need
to turn there, I’m just going to quote the scripture because it’s
saying the same thing. He said:
Matt. 18:35 – So My heavenly Father will also do
to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespass.
So we see, as God forgives us and reconciles to us, we begin to forgive others and we begin to reconcile with them. This is how Jesus Christ would guide our feet into the way of peace. As you and I walk in peace with God, we also learn to walk in peace with others. Though it may take years, the one is certain of the other. Sooner or later, the Hatfields and the McCoys have to come off the mountain, sooner or later, ladies and gentlemen, they have to come off the mountain and I hope it will be sooner because sometimes taking years to come to some of these things is very sad. But one is the certain result of the other. God’s children are those who seek reconciliation, their relationship to their heavenly Father depends upon it as we see in Matt. 18:15, let’s go over there for a moment and read this statement, we’re going to come back to this section of the bible in just a few minutes, but I think we see that God’s children are those who seek reconciliation, their relationship to their heavenly Father really is very dependent on what is said here in chapter 18:
Matt. 18:15 – "Moreover if your brother shall trespass against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he shall hear you, you have gained your brother….very important principle.
But what if you hear that your brother has something against you? Just the opposite way, what if you hear that your brother has something against you? Well let’s go over to Matthew 5 and let’s notice something very interesting in Matt. 5:21-26. It’s really the first of six examples that Christ gives us in His particular teaching, but this is Matt. 5:21-26, notice the words that He tells us here:
Matt. 5:21-26 – "You have heard that it was said by them of old time, ‘You shall not kill,’ (that’s one of the Ten Commandments) and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever shall say, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has aught against you, leave there your gift before the altar and go your way first, be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly while you are in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary deliver you to the judge and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison. Verily I say unto you, you shall by no means come out hence til you have paid the uttermost farthing."
I think it’s very interesting, He begins with the examples of showing the importance of being reconciled to our brother. They were of old taught about the fact that they were in danger of judgment when they murdered someone. But Jesus was informing them of God’s judgments, not in the judgments of the country that they might be living in or the courts that they might be dealing with in that area of Jerusalem. We see Jesus was informing us of God’s judgment in this particular case.
The council, in this section here, saw the act, the act of murder. God’s judgment sees the anger. I think you begin to realize then it escalates from there. Jesus began to talk about more than just the murder, but He began to talk about the spirit of the law. Those of us that are in God’s Church understand that there is a letter and there is a spirit and we must come to understand that what you are seeing found here is a relationship that deals with the temple and it deals also with the courts. And both of them have to do with the concept of reconciliation. Raca, as it says in v. 22. Raca is from the Arabic word which simply means "empty." Or as we would say today, fool. We would say fool today, it is insulting talk, it is what we call trash talk. Then you come to the term raca which really means, in this sense of the word, "contempt for thinking" it means, You stupid oaf…that’s basically what it’s meaning is. Then we come down to the last part of the statement which says, "You fool." It is a contempt for character, it’s like calling someone a scoundrel, a person that’s lacking character. So we see things that are happening in this particular verse, verse 22 where it talks about raca and then it talks about fool and it’s showing us the concept of men in dealing with the problem of their anger and the way that they conduct themselves toward another human being in their words and in their attitude. Some just simply trash talk and some things just simply contempt for the individual to the point of lack of character.
There are two illustrations given here, as I said, the first is from the temple and we would say today, going to church. We would say today, the relationship with a brother, one you would expect to be eager to reconcile. The second is going to court to answer charges against you, we still have courts today and in some cases it shows here that it was a relationship with an enemy or relations with an enemy and one you would not expect to actually be reconciled when it came to the courts of the land, and that’s what he seems to indicate in this particular scripture in v. 25 and 26. But there are similarities, of the two of them, the temple and the court, someone has something against us and we are instructed to urgently, immediately take action to reconcile, either in the church or on the way to court. That’s what Jesus was saying in this particular verses, from verse 21 through verse 26.
What it means simply is, Christians, as peacemakers, must do all they can to mend broken relationships. It means that a Christian takes the initiative to reconcile. Like one person said, I tried to reconcile with this person and the individual asked them, What did you do? Well I stood at the back of the church so she could approach me if she wanted to.
Now think about that, I stood at the back of the church so she could approach me if she wanted to! I don’t think so, I think there’s a great difference between standing at the back of the church for someone to approach you or for you to take the initiative to reconcile. We do have to learn to apologize for wrongs that we have done, we have to pay whatever debt we owe and when our brother or an enemy is displeased with us, we are not to let things fester, that’s what it means, to make peace if at all possible. It is more important, as we’re going to come to see, than other religious acts such as offering a gift on God’s altar. To avoid committing murder spiritually, God’s children must do all that they can do to live at peace with everybody. We have to try, we have to try a whole lot harder sometimes than people do.
Jesus Christ, through all of this, in this particular section, from verse 21-26, He drew all of this from the sixth commandment, You shall do no murder. So you see the importance of where Christ placed the emphasis with the overall concept that He intends. God’s servants are those who simply are reconciling with their brethren, even seeking peace as much as possible with their enemies. Notice Proverbs 16, let’s go to Prov. 16 for just a moment and read a statement that is made here.
Prov. 16:7 – When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
It’s an interesting scripture isn’t it? It tells us that we will have enemies, it tells us that we are going to have to struggle with that, but I think we should learn to not allow them, as much as possible, as much as lies within us, to have complaints against us. Is that not what I said last week in the sermon when I quoted to you from Romans 12:18 which says:
Rom. 12:18 - "If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men." The apostle Paul also went on to say that…the kingdom of God is righteousness and peace.
There is reconciliation with God and with man which does actually bring peace and it brings joy. That’s what the kingdom of God is all about, therefore I say to you, the sons of God will be peacemakers, they will seek to handle their affairs in the most peaceful way possible. If you’re not talking to someone it may be more peaceful than arguing, but it’s not peace, it’s generally a cold war that can sometimes turn hot. Peace involves acceptance, love, good-will, reconciliation. Still, I know there are conflicts that will arise, no one, not even Jesus Christ could escape conflicts. But the key point of the sermon this afternoon is this – that peacemakers have learned how to deal with conflict to produce a peaceful outcome where possible. Let me repeat, this is the key point of the sermon. Peacemakers have learned how to deal with conflict to produce a peaceful outcome where possible.
Now, let’s ask in the time remaining that I have in the sermon, how do we make peace? That’s what I want to focus on at this particular time in the sermon. There are two sets of conciliatory responses that we have to look at. Let’s first of all look at personal peacemaking. Let’s talk for just a few minutes at personal peacemaking. Let’s go to Proverbs 19:11. Probably the most effective way of avoiding conflict is found in the concept – simply overlook an offense. Overlook an offense. The personal peacemaking that we need to do more than not is to overlook an offense, this is probably the most effective way of avoiding the conflict.
Pro. 19:11 – The discretion of a man defers his anger, it is his glory to pass over a transgression. The New King James Version simply says…The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger and it is his glory to overlook a transgression.
Why glory? Because peacemaker seems to the most God-like quality of His servants. As I said earlier in the sermon, it requires love, wisdom, patience, forgiveness, faithfulness, it requires humility. Making peace must be more important than demonstrating how right or how important I am. Peacemaking simply is showing that we are able to demonstrate that we are able to carry this out instead of saying how right or how important I am. You know, when it comes to this particular concept, overlooking an offense, no one even knows the offense took place except God. He knows. So therefore, #1 we must look at in personal peacemaking is learning how to be able to overlook an offense.
The second aspect of personal peacemaking is discussion. Some differences can’t be overlooked – some things just simply can’t be overlooked and Jesus said the very same thing when He said, Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone, if he hears you, you have gained your brother. Now I read to you before in Matthew 5, let me just quote it to you one more time:
Matt. 5:23 - Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, go your way, first be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift.
We are to think through the most conciliatory approaches as possible. The bible says to be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove. I think we need to understand, you don’t walk up angrily and accuse, you don’t get in there and point your finger in somebody’s face, but to try to work with the situation that you find yourself in, try to see your brother’s point of view. The peacemaker’s goal is reconciliation, not vindication nor vengeance, and even not self-justification. I think you have to try to think about, where do I want to go with this, what am I trying to do? Am I trying to simply to accuse? Am I trying to get him? Am I trying to get my pound of flesh?
Years and years ago we had a problem in the church that I was the pastor and I had a person that wanted me to come over and stop a fight that they were having in their marriage and they called me about 5:30 on Sabbath afternoon and they said, "Mr. Pinelli, you need to get over here and get over here now!" And I said, "Why?" "Because I’m about to divorce my husband." And I said, "Oh? O.K." Then they went through their problem and I said, "Well, we have a problem here, you’re in the middle of a hot fight, one of the things that I’ve learned in this business is to give it 72 hours." "You mean you’re not coming right now?" I said, "No, don’t want to do that, we’re not ready, you’re not cooled off, it’s not going to work, you need to wait a little bit." So we talked and another 45 minutes later she said, "I get the feeling you’re not coming over." I said, "That’s pretty well right, I don’t think you’re ready to have discussion, why don’t all three of us go pray about it, take a couple of days and then I’ll come over and plan something when everything has kind of calmed down a little bit." "If you don’t come I’m not sure whether I’m going to kill him or whether I’m going to divorce him." I said, "Well, I’m sorry but I’m not coming." Finally, at the end of the conversation she said, "I believe you’re not coming, are you?" And I said, "No madam, I’m not." Well I left that church area and the final week that I left that church area she asked me to come over and what she had to do was to go after me and put me down for the fact that I did not go at that time and deal with the problem. And she needed to have her pound of flesh. And I simply said, "I apologize, I’m sorry that you and your husband had the problem and that I did not come, I felt that it was not right for me to come at that time because it just, in the heat of the battle, it’s just not the right time, this is basically an experience I’ve had in 35 years of ministry." And she had to finally give me what for and she had to take me by the throat and work me over, mentally speaking and so I let her do that, because I began to realize that she was needing vindication, she was needing vengeance, she was needing the need to ventilate in that particular sense of the word and I left it that way. And we were O.K. after that, but we never were good friends because I wouldn’t do it her particular way.
But I think you begin to realize that if you’re wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove, you try to not to angrily deal with or accuse someone, you try to see your brother’s point of view, you try to have reconciliation, not vindication or vengeance. And it’s a part of that frame of mind that you go in with and so the churches of the saints are those who are reconciling and they’re striving to have peace and they’re not trying to get their own way, but they’re trying to figure out what needs to be done to bring us together.
The third point on this personal peacemaking, the third conciliatory response is negotiation. This involves settling disputes with others, possessions, rights, responsibilities, conflicting interests, everything from an inheritance, who gets the grandfather clock, who washes and dries the dishes, you know, that type of thing that you run through. The apostle Paul tells us over in Philippians 2, let’s go over there for just a moment, that we need to look at the fact that we need to work our way through some of these things.
Phil. 2:1 – If there be any consolation in Christ, if there be any comfort of love, if there be any fellowship of the spirit, any bowels and mercy, fulfill you my joy, that you be like-minded, having the same love, of one accord, and of one mind.
V. 3 – Let nothing be done through strife…and that is again, this contentiousness that goes on sometimes between people or factious motives that occur…or vain glory…trying to get your own way in that sense of the word of trying to drive your particular agenda in life…but let each esteem the other better than themselves. V. 4 – I think this is a very important scripture:
V. 4 – Look not every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others.
So we recognize that it doesn’t mean that you forget your own interests, but carefully consider those of others looking, and that’s the key word – looking for a peaceful solution to avoid conflict. Again, it’s an attitude of a peacemaker as you see in verse 3 and 4. Daniel was a very interesting man in negotiating. Did you ever notice that in Daniel 1? When Daniel was taken captive, Daniel’s interests were different from the chief eunuch’s interest and Daniel wanted clean food, the guard wanted to keep his head. So what they did was, Daniel suggested a trial period of veggies only and it worked out, God blessed him, God took care of him and Daniel was able to work out a very peaceful, he negotiated a peaceful solution to the problem. It doesn’t always happen that way, but I think you see that in this particular case, in order to have peace, Daniel did something a lot of people don’t realize, and that is, you have to try to work the situation in the right way and Daniel put it forth to the chief of the eunuchs and the end result was a peaceful settlement.
There’s another example, I’d like you to turn to in the book of I Samuel 25. This is a beautiful example of a lady who was able to intercede. It was the story about a man whose name was Nabal and he was married to a woman whose name was Abigail. Now Nabal was named for what he was. The word Nabal means fool. I don’t know why you’d ever want to give your kid a name like, Hey, fool, come here! I just don’t understand, to this day, I still don’t understand this when I read this example. But the point was, that all of the men of Abigail’s household were about to die because Nabal was acting churlish, he was just angry, he was telling them, no, he wasn’t going to give them a few tidbits of food because he just didn’t want to give them any. And so the men at one time were a wall by night, they were protectors to those who were shearing the sheep and I think you see in this particular case that Abigail recognized that there was going to be bloodshed, so therefore she tells us in v. 17:
I Sam. 25:17 – "Now therefore, know and consider what you will do, for evil is determined against our master and against all his household, for he is such a son of Belial that a man cannot speak to him."
But here you had somebody who came between David and Nabal. Now let’s understand David sometimes. If you really understand David as the warrior, when David was told that Nabal told him off and did what he did to him, David said, Strap on your swords, we’re going in there boys. And they would have gone in there and they would have wiped out every last one of them because David was a warrior and he was, the bible said, a bloody man. But this woman was very bright, this woman was very sharp because she recognized what the problem was and she said:
V. 25 – "Let not my lord, I pray you, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal, for his name so is…Nabal is his name, he’s a fool…and folly is with him." Now someone would say, well your wife shouldn’t talk about you like that. Well this was a matter of saving somebody’s hide, the question of whether people were going to die or not. So we read:
V. 32 - David said to Abigail, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you this day to me and blessed be your advice and blessed be you which you have kept this day from coming to shed blood, from avenging myself with my own hand." Beautiful example of negotiation. And David blessed her in her advice because she was a peacemaker. She negotiated peace and I think we must recognize that that sometimes needs to be done.
Assisted peacemaking has sometimes three other additional responses. Let me give them to you, as a part of this thinking process that we’re going through. If you remember, we talked about the fact that you have, overlooking an offense, discussion of the offense, negotiation.
But let’s go just a little bit more about assisted peacemaking in this
particular regard. There are three additional responses that we can have:
1. Mediation. Now let me mention what I mean. Matthew
18:16 says this:
Matt. 18:16 – "If he will not hear, take with
you one or two more that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word
may be established."
We see sometimes in making peace that you have to have somebody who will come
along and sometimes a wise brother can help. That this is not done often indicates
that we have not really understood how important it is to resolve conflict and
to seek reconciliation. There’s a second aspect of this that we need to
look at and that is:
2. Arbitration. There is arbitration. Now let me go to I
Corinthians 6:1-9 and I mention to you here the apostle Paul speaks
to this particular thing, of having a little bit of arbitration. Let me just
turn over there in this particular case and read it to you. I Cor. 6:1-9 are
the whole section, but I won’t read all of it, but just one small aspect
of it. The apostle Paul makes this particular statement, he talks about having
a matter with a brother and going before the unjust and not before the saints
and Paul says this:
I Cor. 6:5 – I say this to your shame, is it so
that there is not a wise man among you, even one, who is able to judge between
his brother?
So he’s talking about somebody who could come in and be of help to arbitrate
a wise man in the church and therefore, as verse 5 said, to begin to develop
that as well. The very fact that they have lawsuits among them meant that they
had been completely defeated already, that’s what Paul was saying here
in chapter 6. The very fact that they have had lawsuits among them meant that
they had not been able to reconcile their differences between brothers. But
he went on to talk about the fact, he said, Why not rather be cheated, instead
you yourselves cheat and do wrong and this you to do your brother. Now
the apostle Paul was realizing that as you deal with this particular situation,
that sometimes we recognize that peacemakers have to accept a loss. Sometimes
a peacemaker has to take it. That’s something that I think perhaps we
don’t always think about. I have seen over the years where people still
do want to have their pound of flesh. Sometimes mediation, sometimes arbitration
works fine, but sometimes you have to come to the place where Paul taught here
in I Cor. 6:7-8, that sometimes you have to take it on the chin. And so Paul
taught that sometimes peacemakers had to accept the loss.
But making peace often involves sacrifice. The very same verb, peacemaker, used
by Paul to explain what God had done through Jesus Christ is the same concept
that we think of when we deal with one another. So Jesus Christ tells us that
He has made peace by His sacrifice. It tells us that He has reconciled men to
Himself by making peace by giving His life. Sometimes it means that we have
to involve sacrifice. Peacemaking leads to reconciliation but sometimes it involves
sacrifice. Sometimes I tell ministers, you know what? You’ve just got
to simply take it. We have tried over the years to encourage ministers when
there is a difficulty to just simply accept it as a fact that they say to the
person, Look, I’m sorry, I will try to do my part to do a better job in
this case and most of the time it works. Most of the time it works because the
minister has decided in that particular case, because of the great upheaval
that it has caused, that sometimes he takes the wrong in that sense of the word,
and it does work. I can attest to three or four cases in the last seven years.
There’s a third aspect of this particular thing so far as what we describe
as additional reconciliation recourses and that is:
3. Church discipline. Matt. 18:17, let’s
go there for just a moment. The statement by Jesus Christ is dealing with a
section of scripture that is hard for people to understand.
Matt. 18:17 – "And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector."
What we see here in this particular verse is that you have gone through the processes. One, you have gone to your brother to be reconciled. Two, if he doesn’t hear, you take a witness in the sense of the word of trying to create a conciliatory type of situation and then number three, it just simply says that when all of those things fail, then sometimes you have to take it to the church. While on earth, Jesus was only quoted as using the word "church" in two places. Matthew 16:18 – "I will build My Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." And number two is found right here in Matt. 18:17 which simply says, "And if he refuse to hear them, take it to the church." Those who refuse to hear the church would be treated as outsiders, that’s what Christ said. Remember, Jesus always treated outsiders kindly, but He recognized they were not spiritual brethren. If you cannot reconcile even with the help of others, this becomes the responsibility of the church. Peacemakers will understand the need for that at times when you have to take it to the church. The apostle Paul said, "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace in all the churches of the saints." And sometimes you just simply have to realize that non-peacemakers will shrink back from following this clear instruction from the Prince of Peace and I think we see, people find every excuse possible to avoid instruction, but in the end it will not be a good course. So we have to look at all three of those particular concepts that we look at in dealing with this particular topic and they all are found in principle in Matthew 18.
Now so much for peacemakers, let’s go to the final aspect of the sermon. What about peace fakers? Escape responses, let’s go there for a few minutes since I have about 10-12 minutes left of the sermon and I have at least two hours in my notes, let’s see if we can conclude this in the next few minutes. What about peace fakers, what about what I call escape responses? Denial, let’s look at denial for just a moment? Problem? What problem? I don’t see a problem. You want to see a conflict? Picture one mate who sees a problem while the other one denies that there’s one there. You’ve got yourself a conflict. This is not peacemaking, this is peace faking and sometimes you can see hypocritical approaches by human beings in this particular way.
You know, Neville Chamberlain in his School of Peacemaking, said this: "Sure, he’s building planes, he’s building bombs, he’s building ships and building artillery and everyone is goose stepping in black shirts, but he’s a nice guy." That was speaking of Hitler and so the end result is sometimes you realize that that’s just simply the way it is. People deny that there is a problem there. Now there are times when a problem should be left alone, I call it benign neglect, but that’s not denial. God seems to have built into the world that we live in, a frame of mind or situation so that denial usually means things just get worse and worse and that’s usually what happens, it’s kind of like a snowball rolling down the hill, it grows and it grows. I think we recognize our nation is in denial over the moral crisis, which continues to grow rapidly. The bible is simply very honest when it told us in Numbers 32 that if you do not so take note, you have sinned against the Lord, be sure your sin will find you out. Sooner or later it all comes back to haunt you, what you’ve sown, you will reap, that’s the bible principle.
The second aspect of what we call peace fakers is flight. Just run away. End the friendship, quit the job, divorce your mate, join another church or maybe start your own and if you think that’s not true, you ought to see what some of these people have said in the independent groups. Oh yeah, just go ahead and start your own church, I couldn’t believe it, what the man said. There are times to run from danger and from wickedness, I don’t think there’s any question about that, but peacemakers seek reconciliation where possible. In the world we live in, suicide is a growing ultimate escape; it’s a growing trend among certain people, especially the aged and among some of the teenagers. Perhaps to escape, perhaps for vindication – "See, I told you I was upset." And therefore you see that type of thing occurring. The spiritual equivalent might be living on a mountaintop in Montana; this is the spiritual equivalent, you and your dog living on a mountaintop in Montana. He likes me, my dog likes me, he listens to me! Ever had that happen? I’ve seen that happen to people. You can keep telling yourself how right you are and how bad everybody else is and then you can mail them bombs, those whom you have conflicts with, that’s the way it happens in the world, but we’re not to be that way. Just simply recognize that’s not right. Let’s go over to Proverbs 18 for just a moment. This is in the New King James Version, the Old King James doesn’t really get the point across so I’ll just read it in the Old KJV and then I’ll read you the NKJV. It says:
Prov. 18: 1 – Through desire a man having separated himself seeks and intermeddleth with all wisdom. Really doesn’t do it much justice, let me read the NKJV for you: A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment.
I think that’s most interesting, the concept of the guy hiding, spiritually speaking on the mountaintop, just me and my dog, he understands me, nobody else does. Another peace faker who can’t find the way to make peace in this life and is storing up trouble for the next one. If you notice all of these are "me" responses, protecting oneself, but there are also "you" responses, there are also "you" responses that occur.
Finally, let’s look at the last aspect of this peace breaker, these are what I call attack responses. These people don’t want peace, they want victory, so we start out with the one thing we know in our society better than anything else – litigation. I’ll see you in court. Right? That’s what people say; I’ll see you in court.
emember what Paul’s words were in I Corinthians 6 – instead one brother goes to law against the other in front of the unbelievers. The very fact that he said you have lawsuits among yourselves means you have been completely defeated already. So why be wronged? Why not be cheated, he said. This is not the response a peacemaker seeks. The courts seldom produce reconciliation. Conflicts are usually increased after a verdict. You want to see that happening? Go back to the O.J. Simpson trial, that’s priceless, you talk about the conflicts that occurred there.
Peacemakers seek reconciliation even if it costs them a few bucks. Sometimes members want a minister to act as the judge, that’s another part of the thinking of people from the past. A minister should be helping toward reconciliation, if members are seeking reconciliation, we should try to help. Let’s go over to Proverbs 12:20, you’re probably fairly close to that right now. This is the statement that is made by Solomon again in this particular case, when he says:
Prov. 12:20 – Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil, but to the counselors of peace is joy. Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but counselors of peace actually have joy. (That’s the way it is translated in another translation.)
So if you want vindication, if you want vengeance, probably you have the wrong goal and you probably have the wrong helper.
The second thing that we see is assault that occurs because people can’t make peace. Peace and domestic violence. As the old expression goes, sometimes about a fight that’s happening in a marriage, it says, "Their marriage, you better wear a flap jacket if you go in there." And so that’s what happens sometimes. Frankly this is almost non-existent in our fellowship and I appreciate that very very much, but verbal assault is all too common. The attitudes and the actions of the slanderer the devil simply are there, you find this goes on. There’s a tremendous amount of words that slander either other people or your mate or whatever.
The word devil basically means verbal assault. The Greek word is diabolos, it means slander and assault from my dictionary of words. And so we recognize that this is one of the things that he does, the devil uses what I call the sowing of discord and one of the things he does, he doesn’t do it privately with other people gathered in, he does it simply between you and another human being. Verbal assault, and it’s not necessary. People, they turn the air blue with their epithets, they turn the air blue with their swearing, cannot believe how many people do that but it is definitely a part of the thinking of people when they have verbal assault. The tongue is probably the number one enemy. Assault includes force and intimidation and that goes on on a regular basis among people and of course you know that murder is a part of the thinking, if you can’t get your way, kill them. Remember the story about the cheerleader’s mom, Long Island Lolita and of course is O.J. really looking for the real killer - that type of thing and you begin to realize we’ve got some interesting problems.
We in the Church are concerned about the spirit of the law. I read that to you in Matthew 5:21-26. Every spring you and I come to the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. This provides a great opportunity to give attention to being reconciled to God. But does it stop in the spring? Do you have peace the rest of the year with God and with your brothers? I think this is something we need to think about in our dealings. Job and Solomon were very interesting individuals, when they first began they were close to God but later they weren’t so close. Job was displeased and he felt separated and he stomped his foot to reconcile.
Solomon was content with alienation and he preferred the ladies. Never got the problem resolved in his particular case.
So, the question is, are we reconciled to our brethren? And that’s a biggie. We need to be thinking about what I said today in the sermon, recognize that these scriptures have been there for years and years. We have to learn in God’s Church, how to deal with and work with the things that keep us separated from each other. It’s not going to get any easier in this society and we had better think about what we need to be doing.
Let’s close with John 17:20-23. Notice Christ’s words:
John 17:20-23 – "I do not pray for these alone (I’m reading from the New King James Version) but also for those who will believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one as you Father are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You have sent Me. And the glory which you gave Me, I have given them, that they may be one just as We are One. I in them and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me."
That’s a profound scripture, I don’t think we’re anywhere close to it, I don’t think we are, I think that when you look at the greater Sabbatarian world, we’re a mess. When you look at the United Church of God, sometimes we’re the untied Church of God. I think it’s time for us to think about this, I preach the sermon for that reason, for us to think a little bit about what needs to be done. The greatest single Beatitude is found, the seventh Beatitude, and it simply said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God." It perhaps is the highest quality that epitomizes a true Christian, the peacemaker.