“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”

– Matthew 5:9 (NIV)

Part 4 (here are Parts 1, 2, & 3) dealt with the Spiritual aspect of the Biblical term “peace”. It is an absence of conflict with God that comes over a soul in a comforting way that can defy description. It is very much a vertical thing, God to man.

But what does that look like in the real world? Is it just some fluffy far off feel good dream? Or can it be real in our messy world?

Have you ever met anyone who seemed to always maintain their equilibrium no matter what mess the world threw at them? No matter what kind of chaos or nasty crap happened around them or to them, nothing seemed to rock their harmony? Or maybe when life shakes their foundation and knocks them down, they seem to get back up amazingly quickly?

That ability to maintain your harmony is what spiritual peace will look like. It can only come from God.

But let’s take it out of the hypothetical and look at an actual example of it in the Bible to see what it looks like. In Luke chapter 8 Jesus had had an exhausting day healing and teaching people. We’ll pick up the story in verse 22:

One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and started out. On the way across, Jesus lay down for a nap, and while he was sleeping the wind began to rise. A fierce storm developed that threatened to swamp them, and they were in real danger.
The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”
So Jesus rebuked the wind and the raging waves. The storm stopped and all was calm!
Then he asked them, “Where is your faith?”
And they were filled with awe and amazement. They said to one another, “Who is this man, that even the winds and waves obey him?” (NLT)

Now a couple things stand out to me in this story. First, it was totally reasonable for the disciples to panic, after all “they were in real danger.” Yet Jesus was so full of peace and calm during the situation that he kept on sleeping.

Now I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a storm at sea, but I have a maritime background and have. There are a couple things you’ve got to keep in mind during a storm on the water. The wind is pretty stinking loud. A boat, especially a small fishing boat of the era, tends to violently pitch and roll to point where it is hard to stand up. Oh, yeah. And it often rains. And even if it isn’t raining, there is usually enough spray blowing up that it might as well be raining.

It’s not exactly the best environment for your Sunday afternoon snooze.

Yet Jesus isn’t even ruffled by the chaos around him. He’s full of peace and sleeps on.

I find it interesting that the Bible doesn’t record what Jesus said when he “rebuked the wind and the raging waves.” Every time I’ve heard some one talk about this story and they get to that point they will yell out a big booming, “SILENCE!” at that point because after all it is God speaking and He’d be speaking with authority to be heard over the wind.

I imagine it might have been a bit different. Jesus was obviously sleeping pretty soundly. I mean you’ve got to be in a pretty stinking deep REM cycle to sleep in those conditions. I imagine when the disciples woke Jesus up what He said sounded a little more like what I might say as I reach for the snooze alarm. I think it was more of a moaning, half awake and I-really-want-to-sleep-a-little-more, “Uhhhh, be quiet.”

Think about it. It is God speaking. He doesn’t have to yell to be heard. Hello? He’s full of peace.

It’s kind of like when you pass a Corvette on the highway. That car can easily go 200+ MPH. Everyone knows it. Yet the driver is calmly driving at or slightly below the speed limit. He doesn’t have to prove himself. It is obvious what his car can do. You could say that the driver has sort of a “speed peace” about him.

Maybe not the best analogy, but I think this gives us a better understanding of how spiritual peace plays out in our day to day lives.

Enjoy!

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”

– Matthew 5:9 (NIV)

In Part 3 (here are Parts 1 & 2) I talked about the Social aspects of the Biblical term peace. Now I’m diving into the Spiritual side of the term.

From a spiritual understanding of peace, we are talking about peace between people and God. It is an absence of conflict with God that comes over a soul in a comforting way that can defy description. It is very much a vertical thing, God to man.

Here are some verses in the Bible that address this facet of peace:

Or else let them come to me for refuge; let them make peace with me, yes, let them make peace with me. (Isaiah 27:5)

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1)

It seems obvious then that when the Bible talks about peace the meaning for us should transcend far more than a reduction of interpersonal conflict. The Apostle Paul said the peace of God is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. I figure that if a great theologian like Paul couldn’t find the right words to describe Biblical peace, than I should get cut a little slack if I fall short in my explanation!

Regardless of my inability to nail it down, it obviously is about something well beyond an absence of interpersonal conflict!

Next time I’ll take a look at what Biblical peace might look like in the real world.

Peace!

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”

– Matthew 5:9 (NIV)

I’ve taken on a study of the above verse to determine what Jesus really meant. I decided to start by focusing on the Biblical term “peace” to get a firm understanding of how Jesus would have understood that word.

Reading through the hundreds of verses that refer to peace in the Bible, it seems to me that they can be roughly divided into two general categories, Social and Spiritual.

On the Social side of the ledger we are talking about peace between people. It involves a reduction of, or better yet, a complete absence of interpersonal conflict. It is a horizontal thing, man to man.

Some examples of verses that deal with the Social side of peace include:

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (Romans 12:18)

Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. (Jeremiah 29:7)

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)

People who have focused intensely on addressing the Social side fight to correct injustice, and often do so in particularly non-violent ways. Two examples of great men who were champions of non-violent confrontation of this sort would be Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Their willingness to stand up to governments without violence ultimately helped bring about peace in a social sense to millions of people. People who take a stand here and understand this facet of peace should be honored and can obviously accomplish great good by touching many lives in a positive way. But that’s not all there is.

Unfortunately I’m out of time for this morning. I’ll address the Spiritual side another time.

Enjoy!

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”

– Matthew 5:9 (NIV)

If I’m going to figure out what Jesus meant by the term peacemaker (assuming he intended “one who makes peace”), then I guess the place to start here is by trying to figure out what Jesus meant by the term which we translate “peace” in English.

My Scribner-Bantam English Dictionary defines peace this way, “1. freedom from or cessation of war; 2. friendly international relations; 3. any state of calm or tranquility; 4. public order”

Now we’ve got four slightly nuanced understandings for the same word. Did Jesus mean one of these? If so, which one? If not, what did he mean?

I mean did Jesus mean to say, “Blessed are those who make friendly international relations, for they will be called sons of God.”?

That seems a little silly and wide of the mark to me.

Because of the potential to misunderstand the actual intent behind the words, I’m not willing to just assume Jesus meant, “Blessed are those who make freedom from or cessation of war, for they will be called the sons of God” either.

If I’m going to get anywhere, I’ve got to go to the source. What is the Biblical understanding of the word peace? Throughout the Bible does the term peace simply refer to an absence of war, or does it mean something different?

And here’s where it may get interesting. A word search in my Bible software shows that the NIV translation of the Bible uses the word peace 250 times. The King James Version uses the word 429 times.

This is obviously going to take me some time. And then once I finally get an accurate understanding of the Biblical concept of peace, I’ve got another question to answer. Who actually are the sons of God? Because it is in that half of the statement that we see the blessing part of Jesus’ statement (i.e. the good stuff).

But right now I’ve got to go to work.

Enjoy!

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”

– Matthew 5:9 (NIV)

The whole discussion about the Christian Peacemakers Teams has got me thinking about this verse from the Sermon on the Mount. I don’t really agree with how the CPT chooses to do what they do. And I’m not sure I even agree with most of their basic premises, although I can’t bring myself to point my finger at them and say, “You are wrong.”

Perhaps I’m wrong.

I decided I need to spend some time looking at my whole understanding of that verse above and what Jesus really meant when he said it.

Now I’m no theologian. I’m not even especially smart. But I do know how to read. And I think I can ask some decent questions.

Who was Jesus referring to when he spoke this particular beatitude?
What do peacemakers look like? What do they do?
What does it mean to be called a son of God?

The good news is we have a whole ton of resources available. Our church is in the middle of a series on the Be-Attitudes. So I am obviously looking forward to the week we are taught about the peacemakers.

John Piper is one of my favorite current heavy theological thinkers. He has an article on the subject, appropriately titled Blessed Are the Peacemakers, which I think I will read a few more times before I get started.

That should give me enough to get started on in amongst all the other life obligations I have…

I’ve been having a running discussion with Dan Traube about the recent incident involving the rescue of three CPT guys who were rescued from their kidnappers the other day over at Stones Cry Out .

Dan seems like a really great guy and our discussion has helped me get my mind around what was bugging me when I first looked into the whole issue of their initial apparent ingratitude for the rescue of their workers. I appreciate the time he took to go back and forth with me. I summed it up this way:

The trouble is the only direct action [the CPT] are willing to take is to “get in the way” of the US and her allies. By routinely interfering with predominately only one political bent, they demonstrate clearly that they are really a political protest organization hiding behind Christian missionary language.

The CPT supporters are quick to emphasize the bravery of the teams that go into dangerous places. There’s no doubt they place themselves in danger.

But is it bravery when they attempt to disguise their political activism as Christian missionary work knowing full well the people they protest most strongly will take a more kindly view of them as missionaries then as political activists?

And that whole discussion, my friends, quickly spins off into the political realm. And we all know that I am steering away from politics here these days…

I know I promised to steer away from political stuff. But since this deals with fellow Christians, I am going to go there.

Four men from a group called Christian Peacemaker Teams, in Iraq basically protesting what the US & Coalition forces are doing, were taken hostage back on 26 November. It should be pointed out that the people who kidnapped them were the very people these four guys were supporting, not the people they were protesting against. Their self proclaimed goal was “documenting and focusing attention on the issue of detainee abuses… but the current focus of the team has expanded to include efforts to end occupation and militarization of the country.” The CPT motto appropriately is “Getting In the Way.”

Suffice it to say that I fundamentally disagree with their core purpose which “seeks to enlist the response of the whole church in conscientious objection to war.” I do understand the principles behind genuine conscientious objectors, and I respect Christians who hold those beliefs strongly. I happen to disagree with those who claim that war is never the right answer for Christians, though. There are times when evil must be resisted, and in our fallen world that means that there are times when violent force must be used. Now getting into the specifics of the current situation in Iraq gets too close to politics so I’m not going there today.

But that brings us back to the four guys from CPT who got in the way and found themselves kidnapped by the very people they went there to support. One of the four, happened to be the American of the group, was found dead on 10 March 2006. Based on intelligence gathered from a captured enemy combatant, a commando raid went in yesterday and found the other three alive and brought them out of captivity.

CPT posted a press release on their web site initially headlined, “CPT: Celebrates the Peacemakers Release.” In the second paragraph, after claiming that their guys were released, they said, “We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq.” (UPDATE: I found the original wording of the statement again here)

It seems obvious to me that these folks don’t have a firm grasp on the English language. It is readily apparent to most folks that the only way these guys would have been “released” by the kidnappers who held them is in the same manner that the American was “released” a couple of weeks ago, with a bullet in the head. They were rescued by violent warriors who were willing to put their own lives on the line to see that the ingrates were not executed by their captors.

Now, since they received such a backlash from their fundamental misstatement and obvious total ingratitude of what was done for them, they have revised their press release to say that their guys were, get this, “freed.” It seems a weasely choice of wording to me, but I guess if they actually came out and said the truth, that their people were rescued, then they would have to re-think their fundamental beliefs about violence never being the right answer. No point in examining a core belief, is there?

Perhaps part of the answer can be found in the wording of Statement of Conviction which the guys who were kidnapped (one of whom was killed)signed, which says in part

“We reject the use of violent force to save our lives should we be kidnapped, held hostage, or caught in the middle of a violent conflict situation. We also reject violence to punish anyone who harms us. We ask for equal justice in the arrest and trial of anyone, soldier or civilian, who commits an act of violence, and we ask that there be no retaliation on their relatives or property. We forgive those who consider us their enemies. Therefore, any penalty should be in the spirit of restorative justice, rather than in the form of violent retribution.”

So basically they forgive those who are their enemies. That part makes sense to me. But unfortunately their reaction to this whole chain of events crystallizes what can be seen throughout their web site, namely that they’ve twisted the concept of “forgive your enemies” to the point where part of it for them now includes, “resent your friends.”

I’m sorry, but that doesn’t work for me. It’s simply not what I find when I read the Bible.

But hey, at least they stayed true to their motto. They certainly got in the way.

UPDATE:

I’m having a running debate with Dan over at Stones Cry Out about whether the CPT guys really have a balanced view of things. Interesting for me anyway…