Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
My God and My Neighbor is a “Bible talk show” that looks at religious issues, Christian living and world events in light of the Word of God to give hope. This podcast is a ministry of Tennessee Bible College. TBC offers a bachelor's in Bible studies, a master of theology, and a doctorate of theology in apologetics and Christian evidences. TBC also provides Christian books, audio recordings on the Bible, and free Bible courses in English and Spanish. Tune in to My God and My Neighbor to experience the educational content that TBC has been delivering for nearly five decades!
Kerry Duke: Hi, I'm Kerry Duke, host of My God and My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee Bible College, where we see the Bible as not just another book, but the Book. Join us in a study of the inspired Word to strengthen your faith and to share what you've learned with others.
In Matthew chapter 5, verse 9, Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” We need this beatitude today. We need more people who will make peace and be peacemakers. We have enough conflict. We have conflict on every side. We have conflict in families. We have conflict at school. We have conflict on the job. We have conflict in churches. We have conflict in our communities and in our nation. And we've got conflict between nations today.
When you go back and read the Bible from beginning to end, you see that conflict is as old as mankind. When you read the book of Genesis, you begin reading just a few chapters until you see conflict in the first human family. That's in Genesis chapter four, where you read about the conflict between Cain and Abel. In Genesis chapter 13, you read about the conflict between the workers of Lot and the workers of Abraham. In Genesis chapter 16, you read about the conflict in the family of Abraham between Sarah and Hagar. There are many other examples in the book of Genesis.
You find in the Bible that conflict is man's creation. It's not God's creation. There is no conflict between God and Christ and the Holy Spirit. Conflict is from man. And that conflict really goes back to the devil himself. He's the author of it. God is the author of peace in 1st Corinthians 14:33. The Bible says God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. He wants peace, not conflict and fighting, because those things come from pure selfishness.
If you look carefully at James chapter 4 verse 1, you see that the source, the origin, of conflict is in selfishness. He talks about wars and fighting. He's not talking about physical, literal battles and wars. He's talking about the conflict between human beings. And he says that this conflict comes from the lusts which war in your members. In other words, there's an internal battle taking place in an individual's life and that manifests itself into selfish behavior and it causes conflict. Now, Jesus blesses us when we make peace. The Bible says, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” But we have to ask the question: what kind of peace?
We have to look at what this peace is and what it is not. So let's clear the air of some things that Jesus is not talking about when he says, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” This is another passage in the Sermon on the Mount that can be easily misunderstood. As a matter of fact, the Sermon on the Mount is probably one of the most misinterpreted and misapplied sections in all the Bible.
So let's make sure that we don't misapply what Jesus says about being a peacemaker. In the first place, Jesus is not talking about doctrinal compromise. Jesus said he did not come to make that kind of peace. Listen to what he said later. In Matthew chapter 10, verse 34. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of Me, and he that loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of me.”
Now, why is that true? Why is it the case that a man's foes shall be they of his own household [Matthew 10 verse 36] Because some in that house or family will accept and obey Jesus Christ and others won't, and that causes division. Now that is the kind of division that is right because it is wrong for us to compromise just to get along with our family.
Now of course Jesus is not against people getting along in their family. God wants peace in families. We've already talked about that. But we're not to have that kind of peace in families or anywhere else by compromising our Christianity, by going against what Jesus said. And sometimes people do that.
Sometimes people will compromise what Jesus said. They will disobey what the Lord has taught just to get along with their family. That's wrong. We have to put the Lord first. That's what he's talking about here. He's not saying that you're not to love your father, your mother, or anybody else in the family. He says what's wrong is when you love father or mother more than me or when you love your son or your daughter more than me. That's his point.
So, the Bible teaches that it is wrong to seek peace spiritually with the enemies of the truth. In Romans 16, verse 17, the Bible says to “mark them,” or to note them, “which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them.”
Christians are not to compromise to keep peace. We're to stand up for the Bible. In Jude, verse three, the Bible says that we are to “earnestly contend for the faith.” In first Peter's chapter three, verse 15, the Bible says to “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and with fear.”
Number two, when the Bible says that we're to be peacemakers, that does not mean to let people treat you wrong and not say anything about it just to keep peace. Now, of course, if it's a small matter, then obviously we would want to use wisdom and judgment and we would want to get along as much as we can if it's something that's small. But it comes to a point to where it is right for us to stand up for ourselves.
Here's what the Bible says in Luke chapter 17, verse 3. Jesus said, “If your brother trespasses against you, rebuke him. If he repent, forgive him.” What did Jesus say to do if somebody wrongs you? If somebody sins against you? Jesus said rebuke him. So, Jesus didn't say that you're just to let people treat you any way that they want to and that you don't have any right to stand up for yourself. Yes, Luke chapter 17 verse 3 says that you have that right.
Number 3, Jesus does not mean when he says “Blessed are the peacemakers” that a nation has no right to defend itself or to punish criminals with physical force. In Romans 13 verse one, the Bible says that “the powers that be are ordained of God.” Now, those powers are government powers, and he says that their authority comes from God himself. I realize that governments oftentimes abuse that power. But so do parents in the home, if you think about that. God gives that power, or He gives that authority, and it's up to government as well as individuals to use whatever authority that God has given to them.
Now, In Romans 13 verse 4, the Bible says that civil governments bear the sword. A sword is an instrument for killing. It's designed for that purpose. It is a symbol of the power to take life. And governments have that power from God.
So, governments have the power from God to enforce laws in a society. Now, that includes two things. Number one, it includes the fact that governments have the power to kill. That is, they have the right or the authority from God to punish criminals inside of the country. Number two, it means that governments can use that sword to protect its citizens from enemies without. So Jesus does not mean that governments don't have that authority, that capital punishment is wrong or anything like that, when he says, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
Number four, when Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” He does not mean that Christians can and should get along with everybody. Jesus didn't get along with everybody. As a matter of fact, Jesus disagreed with many people. As you read Matthew and Mark and Luke and John, you find that Jesus had enemies. There were people that didn't like Jesus. In fact, there were people that hated Jesus. So if that happened to our Lord, it's going to happen to us. Jesus said it this way in Matthew 10 verse 25. He said, “If they have called the master of the house,”—which is Him—"Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?”
The Bible says in Romans 12 verse 18, “If it is possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men.” Notice that the first word of that verse is if. If it is possible, then you live peaceably with all men. Sometimes it's possible. Sometimes it is impossible. There are some people that you cannot make peace with no matter what you do.
So all these things show that there are limits to what Jesus said in his words, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” So now that we've talked about a few things that this verse does not mean, let's talk about what it does mean. There is a peace that is good. There is a peace that God wants. And it is a peace that everybody should want.
There's something bad wrong when people want conflict all the time in their life instead of peace. But let's look at the good side of this. Let's look at some examples in the Bible of people who did what Jesus is talking about. He said, blessed are the peacemakers. And the first one that I'm going to is in Genesis chapter 13.
This is the story of Abraham and Lot. Now, Abraham and Lot were related. Lot was the nephew of Abraham. They'd done well for themselves. The Bible says in Genesis 13 verse 2, “Abraham was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.” And Lot had done well for himself, too, because the Bible says in verse 5, “Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents.”
Notice what the Bible says in verse 6 of Genesis 13. “Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together.” They had done so well for themselves that the Bible says there wasn't enough room for them to dwell together.
And you know what happens when people are too close? When people need just a little bit of room and a little bit of space and they don't have it, then conflict usually arises. And that's what happened here. The Bible says in verse 7, “And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock.”
So here we have a problem. We have a fuss, we have a disagreement, and it's very interesting to see how Abraham handled this situation. The Bible says in verse 8, “Abram said to Lot, Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brethren.”
So, the first thing that he does is to say, we're family and we don't need this problem. We don't need any kind of unnecessary trouble here. We need to stick together and we need to stay together. So Abraham was not willing to let this strife or this conflict come between him and his nephew. Now, Abraham, if he had been like a lot of people, could have thrown gas on the fire. He could have said, “Well, how dare you? What's wrong with your workers?” He could have blamed Lot's workers and Lot could have blamed his workers. They could have had a big fuss over this. They could have had a big falling out. But Abraham, being the older one here, used his head. He said we don't need to argue about this. We're family first of all.
And then he did something else that a lot of people would not think about doing. Because many people, when there's a strife, only look out for themselves. They're not looking at the bigger picture. They're just thinking about their part in it. The Bible says in verse 9 that Abraham made an offer to Lot.
He says, “Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I'll go to the right. Or if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.” In other words, he said, you take the land that you want. So Abraham here was a very unselfish man. He was a selfless man. He wanted to make peace. Peace in the family, peace between him and Lot and between their families and between their workers was more important than who was going to get the best land in this deal.
Now, how many people today would do that? How many people would handle a situation like that today? Today, a lot of people would say, “Well, you need to go somewhere else because I want this land over here.” He didn't try to take Lot to court and sue him over nothing. He didn't try to broker a deal with him to clean him out. He didn't use his wealth to run over Lot. He said: Lot, You make the choice, and I'll take the land that you don't want. Abraham was not some kind of paranoid rich man, always afraid of losing his money. He was not a stingy man. He was a very giving and unselfish man. So the lesson here is that sometimes a little space will ease friction.
Now, we apply that principle on a lesser scale to children. Sometimes children need a little space, and you have to separate them. Sometimes adults may need a little bit of room, if you can get it, if that's possible. But somebody has to be the bigger person. Somebody has to be willing and ready to give like Abraham.
Making peace many times means that somebody has to give. Somebody has to sacrifice. Somebody has to be the bigger person and the adult. Now, that principle and this example works in the home, it works in marriage, it works at school, it works at churches, it works wherever you have human beings.
Now, here's another example of a peacemaker. Her name is Abigail, and the story is found in 1 Samuel, chapter 25. Now, here is a marriage of what I would call an odd couple. The Bible says that the husband in this case was a harsh man. His name was Nabal, and the name Nabal in Hebrew means a fool. She'll say something about that later.
That man was harsh, the Bible says, and evil in his doings. His wife's name was Abigail. She was a woman of good understanding and a beautiful appearance. So she was beautiful on the inside, beautiful on the outside, and her husband was just a mean man. And the Bible says that David and his men had helped Nabal and his workers out without Nabal knowing about that.
They had guarded his workers. They had guarded his sheep. So David sent a messenger to Nabal and said: We've done this for you. Would you give us some food? Because David and his men were on the run. Well, the Bible says that Nabal just scoffed at that. He said, “Who's David and who's the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master. Am I supposed to take my bread and my water and my meat that I've killed for my shearers and give it to men whom I do not know from where they are?”
And when David heard what Nabal said, he was furious. So he told his men, “Every man gird on his sword.” In other words, we're going to attack this man. So in the meantime, one of the young men, the Bible says in verse 14, told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master and he reviled them.”
But then this servant tells Abigail, “But the men were very good to us.” That is, David's men treated us good and we were not hurt. And then they added these words about Nabal. Remember, they're talking to the wife of Nabal. They're talking to Abigail. They said, “He is such a scoundrel that one cannot speak to him.” In other words, you can't reason with him. You can't talk to him.
The Bible says then that Abigail decided to make peace. The Scriptures say, in 1 Samuel, chapter 25, verse 18, that she collected a lot of food and said I'm going to meet David. She went to him, And the Bible says in verse 23, she quickly dismounted from the donkey, fell on her face before David, and bowed herself down to the ground. She fell at his feet, and she said, “On me, my Lord, on me let this iniquity be.” So, she made peace with David, and David said we’re not going to attack.
But had it not been for this woman making peace, then a lot of people would have died. Now Nabal died anyway a little bit later in this story, but there would have been a lot more bloodshed if this woman had not had the honesty and the courage to go to David and make peace.
And I emphasize again the fact that this takes courage. Anytime that there are feelings hurt and people are angry because of strife, it takes courage to work that out. It takes patience. It takes a lot of love. It doesn't take any patience and love to get mad at somebody and just let them have it. But it does take a lot of courage to sit down and honestly work through a situation.
So this is a story that all of us can learn from. It's the story of Abigail the peacemaker in 1 Samuel chapter 25. This is an example of what Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” And, of course, the greatest example of being a peacemaker is none other than the One who said the words, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” Jesus Christ himself.
I'm going to turn to the book of Luke to look at two examples of how Jesus made peace. Luke chapter 9, beginning in verse 46, is where you have a dispute between the disciples. Now, remember, these disciples spent a lot of time with Jesus. They heard Him. They walked and talked with Him. They traveled with Him. They were with Him, oftentimes, on a daily basis. And you would think that if Jesus Christ were in the midst of a group of people that they wouldn't have any problems, that they would always get along. You might think if Jesus Christ were here today that we would all get along with each other in our families and churches and communities and so forth, and that's just not true.
The disciples heard Jesus’ teaching. They saw his miracles often, and yet they sometimes didn't get along. Now here's an example. In Luke chapter 9, verse 46 [and this will not be the last time that this happens]: “Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest. And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him, and said to them, ‘Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me, and whosoever receives me, receives him who sent me,’ for he who is least among you will be great.”
Jesus put them in their place by pointing to a little child. He said if you really want to be great, then you need to be like a little child. You need to have the same kind of humility and the same kind of attitude that a little child has.
Well, I said this wasn't the last time and you'll see it again in Luke chapter 22. Now this is the night before Jesus was crucified, and they're arguing again about the same question. And their timing could not have been worse. Think about all that was on Jesus’ heart, weighing heavily upon His soul the night before He was crucified. And on top of all that, you have His disciples getting into an argument.
Here we have it again in Luke chapter 22, beginning in verse 24. “Now there was also a dispute among them as to which of them should be considered the greatest.” And Jesus said to them in verse 25, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors, but not so among you: on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table or he who serves? Is not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as one who serves.’” I really have more authority than any of you. Obviously, I'm your master. That's basically what He's saying: And yet I am serving you. So Jesus is rebuking them here on this occasion. And not only did He teach them by words, He also taught them by example because that night he also washed their feet. You don't read about that in Luke chapter 22, but you do find that story in John chapter 13. So what did Jesus do? He found that his disciples were into it with each other and He made peace.
Now, let's talk about how to have that peace. Let's look at some common sense and some very plain passages in the Bible that tell us how to be peacemakers.
In the first place, watch your tongue. Watch what you say. Watch how you say it. And be careful who you say it to. In Proverbs 15, verse 1, the Bible says “A soft answer turns away wrath, but harsh words stir up anger.” In Proverbs, chapter 16, verse 28, the Bible says to be careful about saying things about other people. Here's what it says [Proverbs 16, verse 28]: “A perverse man sows strife, and a whisperer separates the best friends.”
In other words, you can lose a good friend by talking out of turn. The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 10, “For he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it.”
Number two, watch your temper. In James chapter 1, verse 19 and 20, the Bible says, “Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” Oftentimes today, people are quick to speak. They're short tempered. The Bible says that we need to be slow to speak, slow to wrath.
If we want peace in our lives, we're going to have to curb our temper. The Bible says in Proverbs 19 verse 11 that “the discretion of a man defers his anger.” It doesn't stir it up. Wisdom says that we need to control it. The book of Proverbs also says this, “A wrathful man stirs up strife, but he that is slow to anger appeases strife.” That's Proverbs 15 verse 18. You find a similar statement in Proverbs 29 verse 22. “An angry man stirs up strife.” So, if we're going to have peace, then we had better control our temper. We need to watch our tongue and watch our temper first because Solomon said there's one thing to say about a person who's quick tempered: he's going to stir up strife—unnecessary strife.
Number three, watch your attitude. Watch your attitude toward yourself. Watch your attitude toward other people. In Proverbs chapter 13, verse 10, the Bible says, “by pride comes only contention.” What causes contention? What causes disputes? It's because somebody has pride, and it may be more than one person. It may be that both sides are prideful, but pride causes division, and this is what happens in congregation sometimes. Somebody is prideful, some people are prideful, and it causes trouble.
It happened in the New Testament. The church at Corinth had a lot of problems and one of them was that Paul said you are puffed up. They were prideful. And so the first problem that Paul addresses in the book of 1st Corinthians was division. He said, there are contentions among you. And he uses that expression “puffed up” more in the book of 1st Corinthians than anywhere in the New Testament.
There's a man named Diotrephes in 3rd John verses 9 and 10. The Bible says that he loved to have the preeminence. In other words, he liked to be in charge whether he was supposed to be or not, regardless of what other people said or thought or whether he had the right to tell them what to do. He was going to be the boss and it caused a lot of trouble. Watch your attitude.
Number four, nip a problem in the bud by making peace quickly. Matthew 18 verse 15 says this, “If your brother trespasses against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he will hear you, you've gained your brother.” And then he says that if he won't hear you, in other words, if he will not apologize, if he will not repent, then you take one or two more with you, and hopefully they can restore the man.
If he refuses to hear them, then you tell it to the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, then let him be to thee as a heathen or a publican. Now, what that means is that you take it in steps. But the basic thing that I'm pointing out here is that you do address it. You take care of it. You don't just get behind a person's back and start talking about something bad [and I mean, really bad, not just some kind of neglectful omission in his life, but something really wrong that he's done to use an individual]. The Bible says that the way to deal with that is to go to him directly and to talk to him about it between you and him alone. If more people would do that today, churches would get along better.
One of the problems in churches today is they're not following what the Bible says about church discipline. And when you hear church discipline, you usually think of withdrawal of fellowship, which most churches today are falling way short in as well. But even before that last and final step in discipline in a church, you find that Christians are falling way short on the steps before it, and that is what we would call instructive discipline, where people are trying to work things out.
And if Christians would follow what the Lord says, if churches would do what the Lord teaches on this matter, they would have a whole lot more peace. So Matthew 18, 15 through 17 is really a pathway to peace because it tells us what to do when somebody has done us wrong. Now, in Matthew chapter 5, the Bible talks about a situation where you realize that you've done wrong to somebody else.
Matthew 18 verse 15 through 17 talks about somebody doing wrong to you. But in Matthew chapter 5, 21 through 26, Jesus discusses a situation where you realize that you have done wrong to somebody else. And he says that you need to make peace. You need to agree with your adversary quickly. You go and you restore that situation. You have that duty.
Number five, if we want to have peace, we must respect and follow God's delegated authority. What do I mean by that? I'm talking about the fact that God has delegated authority to certain people on earth. For instance, in the home. God gives the authority in that home to the husband first of all who is the head of the wife, but secondly, to both parents, to the husband and the wife, the father and the mother, over the children.
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” There's no way to have peace in a family when everybody wants his own way. Authority in the home is absolutely necessary to having peace. The same is true in the church. The Bible says in Hebrews 13 verse 17, “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls.”
That means that members have the obligation to submit to the elders. If everybody in the church has to have his way, you're going to have trouble. You're going to have absolute chaos. God has set a certain structure, a certain organization, in the church, as well as in the home, and that's the only way that you're really going to have peace and get as much done as you ought to.
Now that doesn't mean that you're not going to have problems in the church just because you have elders and just because you have people submitting. People are human. People are weak. People sin. But at the same time, it's going to be much better when people realize what their role is and what their relationship is to others in the church.
And the same thing is true in a nation. The New Testament teaches that we are to submit ourselves to the authorities in first Peter, chapter two, verse 13: “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man.” Romans 13 verse one: “Let every soul be subject to the higher powers,” that is, to government. There can be no peace where everybody is a law to himself.
Judges 21 verse 25 talks about a time when every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And when you have anarchy, you're going to have confusion and you're going to have war.
Number six, we need to learn to accept differences in the church over matters of opinion and matters of conscience. You'll read about that in Romans chapter 14 and in other passages of Scripture. So many times people get into an argument in churches over things that they think are important which are actually matters of opinion. And the reason they do that is because they really don't understand the Bible. There are some things that are taught in the Bible that we must do. But then there are matters of liberty. And so many of the problems that we have are a result of not being able to tell the difference between a matter of Bible teaching and a matter of opinion. So, these are just a few lines of thought that I would encourage you to pursue further by your studying the Bible.
And remember Jesus words as you do, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”
Thank you for listening to My God and My Neighbor. Stay connected with our podcast on our website and on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever fine podcasts are distributed. Tennessee Bible College, providing Christian education since 1975 in Cookeville, Tennessee, offers undergraduate and graduate programs.
Study at your level, aim higher, and get in touch with us today.