Peace Be With You

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Matthew 5:9

AS WE BEGIN

An intern recently asked me, “What is the most significant obstacle to peace in the church today?” At once, a flurry of clanging conflicts came to mind: petty jealousies, ambitions that disrupt unity, domestic strife that fractures marriages and results in divorce, and so on. But above them all emerged what might be the single greatest threat to peace in the contemporary church—political partisanship that prioritizes cultural values (many of them quite legitimate) over the Great Commission.

Today, many Christians correlate their political party with the manifest presence of Christ’s kingdom and take a partisan posture that makes slogans and fits of outrage the chief ways they identify themselves. Consequently, members on the opposing side not only represent a different position, but are viewed as a hideous evil. Such is the antagonism that now divides political progressives and political conservatives, even within the church.

Is it possible for the church to approach this battle royale differently?

DEVOTIONAL INSIGHT

Peacemaking is not simply being nice or kind. Nor is it extinguishing the flames of hostility. It is God’s divine plan for community living in which Christ fills our hearts and then, by extension, permeates the world.

OBSERVATIONS

The way God extends peace resembles the way he imparts justice—to us, in us, and through us. As Paul explains, God offers peace to the justified “through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). It is the setting of our minds on the Spirit that results in deep dimensions of peace within (Romans 8:6). And finally, it is our calling to let God’s peace flow through us by pursuing “what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding” (Romans 14:19). This sequence matters because we can’t offer what we don’t already possess.

Anxiety, however, can rob us of our promised peace. We have moments of anxiety and irritability—maybe for days, weeks, or a season—but thank God it does not last forever. Deeper and more basic than this inner turmoil is our identity as sons and daughters of God in union with Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Such indwelling subdues our hearts and leads us inexorably, if not haltingly, toward peace.

In practical terms, our call to peacemaking is simply the public demonstration of what the Spirit is doing in our heart—the cultivation and displaying of Christ at work.

APPLICATION

Instead of suspicion and infighting, what if we expressed patience and kindness, enduring all things in the name of Christ (1 Corinthians 13:4, 7)? What if we treated others the way we ourselves would like to be treated (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31)? What if we took Paul’s words, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Colossians 4:6) to heart?

Could we, for example, maintain a commitment to protecting the unborn and preserving God’s design for the family while also addressing racial injustice and helping the poor? This sort of peacemaking doesn’t require us to compromise our theological convictions. It does, however, require us to emulate our crucified Savior, the one who demonstrated love toward enemies (Matthew 5:44).

Our position as sons and daughters of God leads us more and more into the divine practice of peacemaking. Such peace doesn’t come easily or cheaply, but the God of peace, who raised our Lord Jesus from the dead, will surely cause it to prevail (Hebrews 13:20).