Peace With All Men

“If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men” (Rom. 12:18).

Paul  implies peace may not always be possible, but it is an object of desire. “As much as lieth in you,” that is, do your best to preserve peace. Don’t begin or originate a quarrel. Don’t stir up trouble over things of no vital importance. So far as we are concerned, we are to seek peace, but it doesn’t always depend on us. We may be attacked one day by snarling, biting dogs. We may be called upon to defend truth. Ours is to live peaceably. We start no strife, or contention.

It was not possible for Paul to live peaceable with all men. He will reference many times how he was among those who sought to do him harm (2Cor. 11:24-26). Paul referred to the wild beast in Ephesus. He said that “Alexander did me much harm” (2 Tim 4:14). Even our Lord did not find it possible to live peaceably with all men. He overthrew the table of the money changers on two separate occasions. He warned His own disciples, “If the world hates me they will hate you” (John 15:18). The Jews were determined to kill Him. Caiaphas said, “This man has got to die for the nation” (John 11:51-52). However, Jesus nor Paul went about looking to start a fight or stir up trouble.  When they faced the difficulty of living peaceably with others they made sure it was others who stirred the strife.

We ought to be a peace loving people. In fact, we are commanded to “seek peace” (1Pet. 3:11).  Peace is something we must pursue (2Tim. 2:22). Peace is to be a present characteristic of our life. We also need to pursue peace so that our lives may be tranquil and live at peace before God in the same way we live righteously before God. Peace is as foundational as faith, love and righteousness. It is not optional!  Yet, at times we find ourselves embroiled with others who just will not live peaceably and so we are left to contend for what is right or what is truth. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peace makers…” (Mt 5). That is an interesting concept. He did not say, Blessed are those who enjoy peace, nor, those that want peace, or even, maintain peace. But, instead, make peace. Making peace means there is a situation where peace does not exist. The Lord had in mind, first and foremost, peace with God.

So here is the real question. How do we do live peaceably?  Well, first we will not be able to live in peace with others until we live in peace with God (Romans 5:1). If we find ourselves enemies of the Creator we are not at peace.  Peace is found in salvation. Salvation is found in the Savior. The Savior brings peace. Enemies are reconciled to Him by His blood (Eph. 2: 13-14). There is no peace with God apart from Jesus. He is the Prince of Peace.

So for us, peace can be attained in this manner: “to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility” (Tit. 3:2).  See the family of words? They all form a unit. Get the point! We live peaceable with all men when we do not speak evil, when we are gentle and show all humility. Notice right before peaceable is to speaking evil of no one. How many times is peace interrupted because someone has a poorly thought out word? It only takes one word to do it.  Then notice what follows. What would be the impact on peace if we put gentle into the equation? Not a harsh word or action. What if everybody were gentle? Would that contribute a lot to peace? Would that make it possible to live peaceably with all men?  Then see, “showing all humility.”  Man is at the apex of all God created. Man is made in God’s own image. To depreciate man is to depreciate God. Humility is a chosen place in which one chooses to take second place to others. We let someone go before us. We give our self second place. We do that not because the other is better than us but because we think they deserve to be first.  We show humility because that makes us like God (Matthew 5:45). Did the Lord ask the  impossible of us?

Sadly, in spite of all this it is still not possible to live peaceable with all men. But, when it is not possible I need to make sure I am not the reason why. Sometimes we may have to fight a war to have peace. However, I need to make sure I am not just wanting to make war.  We have confused those who contend for the faith and those who are contentious. Contentious people like to fight. They do not care what the fight is about. Fighting for the faith is just a convenient excuse to fight. Some just like to stir the pot. They destroy unity, set everyone on edge, and make people suspicious of others. Controversy for the sake of controversy is not seeking peace. Ephesians 4:1-3 sets the tone and attitudes necessary for brethren to get along. Patience, forebearing, humility are the necessary ingredients. True enough we may have to be at war. The call to peace is a not a figure. It is a factual matter. We have been called to be peaceable people. The angels declared at the birth of Jesus that He would bring “Peace on Earth.” The prophets called Him the “Prince of Peace.” The people of Jesus follow that model. That does not mean peace over right or heresy. It means we have been called in a high priority matter to be peaceable, as much as we can, in all circumstances, and with all people. That is built into the peace that passes understanding (Phil. 4:7). It only takes one to disturb the peace. I can only control me and what I am pursuing. I need to make sure I am pursuing peace. I need to make sure I am fighting only when the fight is necessary. Can we carry grudges? Can we be a grouch to those around us?  Can we be obstinate and obnoxious so that we do not get along with anybody? Yes. And, we cannot say, “Well, that is just the way I am.” There are consequences if we behave that way. “Pursue peace with all men,” not just brethren. That is our call.

Peace is not the absence of trouble. It is hard work. It deals with our spirit, our heart. It is attainable. The Lord expects it. We are to pursue it. Here is a novel idea, “Let’s give it a try and see how it works.” The fruit is better (Jas. 3:17). The church will be better. Our homes will be better. Society will be better. I will be better.  The path to heaven is through Christ. He provides peace. Give His way a try.

In about 840 B.C. Jehu violently ended the rule of wicked Ahab’s family and instituted political and religious reform in the Northern Kingdom. Taking part in that reformation was a man named Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, a Kenite (2 Kings 10:15-17, 23). Sadly, Jehu’s reforms were  incomplete; he rid Israel of Baal worship, but he failed to fully separate Israel from their idolatry. 2 Kings makes no other mention of Jehonadab, but Jeremiah 35 introduces us to his family, the Rechabites, around two hundred and forty years after Jehu’s reforms.

Jehonadab (or, Jonadab, as he is called in Jer. 35) had commanded his family to distinguish themselves from the Israelites in whose land they lived. He commanded the Rechabites to live in tents, to not farm the land, and to abstain from wine. The family had obeyed their patriarch for over two hundred years.

In about 600 B.C., God told Jeremiah to bring the Rechabites into the temple chambers and serve them wine. Jeremiah obeyed, but the Rechabites refused to imbibe, saying, “We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, ‘You shall drink no wine, you nor your sons, forever’” (Jer. 35:1-6).

The point of all this is seen in Jer. 35:12-17. God asks Israel, “Will you not receive instruction to obey My words?” He declares to them, “But although I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, you did not obey Me.” He adds that His many prophets had warned them to turn from their evil ways and quit their idolatry, but Israel had refused to hear and obey. He states in contrast, “Surely the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them.” The children of Jonadab served as an example of the kind of loyalty and faithfulness God wanted, but was not getting, from His own children.

What can the Rechabites teach us, God’s children, today? Let me suggest three things:

1. They teach us that it is possible to be in the world without being of the world. The Rechabites were doing what many say cannot be done – they were living in the world without living like the world. That is what Jesus prayed for His apostles in John 17:14-16, and that is what John later reinforced as God’s will for us in 1 John 5:18-19.

How did the Rechabites pull it off? Through determination! They made up their minds to be faithful to their father’s charge. Paul wrote in Rom. 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Obedience begins in the mind. If we get our minds right – focused on what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God – our eyes, our ears, our feet, and our hands will follow along.

The moment our minds tell us that it is impossible to be moral in an immoral world, to dress modestly in an immodest world, to tell the truth in a lying world, or to be kind in an angry world, that is the moment we will begin to conform ourselves to a disobedient world. Can we be obedient to our Father in a disobedient world? If the Rechabites could, we can!

2. They teach us how to say “no.” In the Reagan years our society learned that our youth must be educated in how to “just say no” to drugs. The point of the “Just Say No” campaign was that it is not easy to say “no” when everyone else is saying “yes.”

So, how did the Rechabites “just say no” when Jeremiah said, “Yes”? Note that they made up their minds well beforehand that they would not defile themselves. They did not have to call an emergency meeting to decide what they would do. If we wait until the world’s temptation is upon us before we decide what we will do, we are likely to make the wrong decision.

They knew why, and told why, they were obligated to turn down Jeremiah’s request. If someone offered you a glass of wine today, would you know why you ought not to accept it?

And they appealed to what everyone knew to be righteous – the command of their father. I learned at an early age that when someone asked me to do something that I knew was forbidden and all arguments of logic failed, “My father said I couldn’t” was the ultimate answer. Who can argue with that? And when I became an adult, I learned that if I substituted the little “f” in father with a capital “F”, it is still the ultimate answer.

3.They teach us that time does not dull what is commanded, and need not dull our conviction and determination to obey. Two hundred and forty years? “Chronological snobbery” (C.S. Lewis) would have suggested that Jonadab had attained “old fogey” status well before then, and that more enlightened minds were now in play. But Rechabite determination to obey had not been dulled by time. “Thus we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us” (Jer. 35:8).

Do we really think that New Testament truth has an expiration date? Do we really believe that two thousand years has given us some kind of increased sense of awareness, that we can see what Peter, Paul, James, John, and even Jesus missed? Has the world really become a more sophisticated place, so that ancient truths have no relevance in our lives?

John wrote of “the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever” (2 John 2). Sorry, but the Father’s commands to us do not spoil with age and neither should our determination to be true to those commands. “Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God; on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you will be cut off” (Rom. 11:22; see also 1 Cor. 15:2 and Heb. 3:14).

Our influence is important. God has always expected the righteous to see themselves as examples to the world. That is why Jesus referred to us as the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We are the Lord’s Rechabites today. May He give us the strength and courage to remain true to the Father’s commands.

I recently read two passages that provide an interesting contrast.

Is anything too hard for the Lord? (Genesis 18:14).

And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief (Mark 6:5-6).

In the first instance, the angelic visitors reassured Abraham (and an eavesdropping Sarah) that God indeed could give the elderly couple a child, even though he would be 100 years old (and she 90). But in the second instance, the text of Mark 6 says that Jesus could do very few miracles in Nazareth.

From one perspective, God’s power is not limited by man’s faith. God can do anything He wants to do. And even though Abraham and Sarah literally fell down laughing when God told them He intended to keep His promise and give them a son of their very own, He kept His word. So God’s power is not inherently dependent on human faithfulness.

At the same time, there are some blessings made possible by divine power that God does choose to dispense on the condition of faith. Many of Jesus’ miracles of healing fall into this category. Jesus told the woman He healed of the bleeding disease in Mark 5, “Your faith has made you well.” His power was the basis of her healing; her faith was the means of her healing.

And that apparently is the reason Jesus could not perform many miracles in Nazareth. It wasn’t as if His power suddenly vanished, or that He was thwarted by some evil force. He could not do many miracles there because there were not many believers there – a fact which amazed Him.

Salvation is another example of a mighty work of God that is contingent on our response. God did not have to make salvation conditional – He’s God! But He has chosen to give us a choice – to allow us to accept or reject the work of redemption. And how He must marvel at the refusals of a dying world to accept eternal life through His Son.

Take up Your Cross

By Austin Shearer

Jesus foretold his death three times in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke), and every time he did, Jesus taught a lesson about discipleship. Not only did Jesus teach about discipleship, but he also made clear the cost that comes from following Jesus. In Luke 9:21-23 Jesus said, “if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Those are hard words to hear. If you want to be Jesus’ disciple, if you want to follow him, Jesus offers a grim reality, it will involve the cross. That’s what discipleship is really all about, imitating Jesus. Jesus came to do the will of the Father, no matter the cost to himself, and that is exactly the self-sacrificing journey that he is calling his followers to embark on. And yes, it is often painful.

After all, Jesus says that his disciple will take up a cross. The cross was a horrifying instrument of execution. It’s method, and cruelty was widely known; and death, while sure, was usually long and excruciating.

It would be tough to read Jesus’ words there in Luke 9:21-23, if we couldn’t also read the words that follow in verse 24, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” The final destination on the way of Christ is not the cross – it is an empty tomb and a glorious new life. And so, when we take up that painful cross and follow Jesus, we are also grabbing hold of the resurrection of our Lord, and glorious end to our journey.

The Fields are White

By

Austin Shearer

John 4:35 – Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.

Jesus’ statement in John 4:35 comes on the heels of his incredible interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well. This interaction is astonishing not simply because Jesus interacted with a woman in a meaningful way, but also because she was a Samaritan. As far as the Jews were concerned, she and her kind were outcasts and repulsive because of their heritage, and immoral due to their insistence on worshiping on Mount Gerizim instead of Jerusalem. But Jesus shatters social norms and asks her for a drink of water. Not only that, but Jesus also offers her water in return, water that only he could offer to her. This interaction with Jesus had such a profound impact on this woman that she can’t help but run to the city and tell everyone about Jesus.

As she runs off to the city, the disciples come back carrying food for themselves and for Jesus. As they offer food to him, Jesus tells them in 4:32 “I have food that you do not know about.” Per usual the disciples are slow to understand and begin questioning each other about the source of Jesus’ food, but Jesus immediately provides his source of sustenance in 4:33 “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work.” It is at this point that Jesus says that the fields are white for harvest, and not only that but the one who reaps is already collecting wages and gathering fruit. Jesus is actively working in the fields because that is the will of the father.

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Jesus’ words are meant to provide his disciples with an understanding, not only of his mission, but their mission as well. They are meant to reach all people, regardless of nationality or gender. It is no surprise, then, that the very next section in John 4, recounts for us that many of the Samaritans in that city, where the Samaritan woman lived, believed in Jesus. Jesus came not only to break down the laws on where God’s people could worship, but also to break down the laws separating Jew from Samaritan from Gentile. God’s message is for all people! Therefore, Jesus says, “…look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.” In other words, the time is here, all people need to hear the saving message of the gospel, so go to work.

This account, I think, needs to prick our minds, and push us to deeper action in the Kingdom of God. The fields are white, and yet too often we remain planted in our pews, and we make no effort out in the fields. All people need the words of life, how can we keep it from them. Let us take the words and the actions of Jesus to heart, and begin working in the fields, for they are, “white for harvest.”