Making Peace

I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!”

—John 16:33

Our hearts break for so many reasons. We are in desperate need of God’s holy healing touch providing a fresh infusion of His peace, and we are called to carry the gospel of peace out to the world effectuating change within our sphere of influence. So while we are brokenhearted and we may not feel like acting, we must nonetheless act.

After healing people, Jesus sometimes said, “Go in peace” (see Luke 7:50 and Luke 8:48). As He prepared to surrender Himself to die He said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you” (John 14:27), and a little while later He said, “I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” (John 16:33), combining thoughts of peace and conflict in the same breath.  

Where do we find peace? Jesus says we find peace in Him.  

The concept of peace in Scripture is much broader than mere absence of conflict. The Hebrew word shalom, translated as peace in English and eirene in Greek, conjures images of righteousness, blessing, Godly tranquility, wholeness and relationship with God. Peace is one of the characteristics of communing with God (see Galatians 5:22) and is found in Jesus, which is why in the statement first quoted above, Jesus suggests it is possible to live in peace while facing conflict.

Jesus also tells us that those who make peace will be blessed (see Matthew 5:9); however, He does not promise the process will be peaceful. Peacemaking requires change from the status quo to a new condition. It involves individuals meeting Christ Jesus, surrendering to Him, communing with Him, following His lead and acting to transform human systems towards righteousness, making them closer to heaven on earth.  

God calls us to go and carry out His mission on earth. He calls us to go making disciples of Christ and His mission frequently involves discomfort. As Jesus sent the disciples out as missionaries to preach, “the kingdom of heaven has come near” to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:6-7), He described problems they would face along the way. After that the Prince of Peace whose message is the gospel of peace said, 

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.  Matthew 10:34-39

How can the Prince of Peace say He did not come to bring peace twice in a single sentence? Many have an image of Jesus as some sort of a soft-spoken, mild-mannered hippie passing out flowers while singing Kumbaya, intent on avoiding conflict, but the Prince of Peace possesses awesome power and is a revolutionary seeking to transform the world one heart at a time. As He sent out missionaries to effectuate change He focused on the process of change. While the gospel of peace should always be communicated in loving gentleness and respect (see 1 Peter 3:16), the process required to transform systems towards peace is not always easy or even peaceful.  

His statements about peace, the sword and relationships are hyperbole, driving home the point that at times the changes necessary to bring about peace cause conflict. Jesus regularly challenged people in authority. Scripture describes Jesus cleansing the temple twice and confronting religious leaders for maintaining the appearance of piety while failing to help people in need and failing to promote justice (see Matthew 23). And He calls His followers to be out in the world as His agents of change, serving as His salt and light, and through Jesus’ example we see that change is not always peaceful.

Scripture contains many examples of God’s servants facing conflict. For two, consider Jonah and Paul. Jonah’s conflicts were internal; Paul’s were external.  

Paul. It seems that Paul was routinely running for his life, escaping one town and traveling to the next only to be treated with hostility again, but he continued preaching the good news of Jesus Christ every place he went. In one of his letters to the church in Corinth, Paul gave his resume of sorts describing the times he had been beaten, flogged and shipwrecked, and he continued describing the danger he faced saying he was 

on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. 2 Corinthians 11:26-27  

Later he described his narrow escape from Damascus saying,

In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.  2 Corinthians 11:32-33

Jesus said that the world hates Him and because of affiliation with Him, the world will hate His followers as well (see John 15:18-19). People who go out in the world serving God’s glorious mission should expect conflict. As Paul’s examples show, at times the conflict is external; however, at other times our conflict may be internal.

Jonah. Jonah demonstrates internal conflict. God called him to serve as missionary to Nineveh. We have long known the story but I fear many get so caught up in whether God actually employed a large fish into His service as described in Scripture that they miss the beautiful points of the book.

Nineveh was a large city known for its wicked ways and when Jonah heard God tell him to go there to preach God’s holy word, Jonah fled. He did not want to serve God the way that God desired, so he got on a boat heading away from Nineveh. A storm threatened the boat, sailors threw Jonah overboard, the storm stopped, a fish swallowed Jonah and after three days and three nights the fish spat Jonah out on the shore near Nineveh. God repeated His call and Jonah walked through the city saying the words God instructed him to say, and the entire city repented. The king ordered fasting, repentance and prayer; God showed them mercy; and Jonah was angry with God for treating them with mercy.

Jonah was God’s prophet, yet his heart was so filled with hatred that he tried to run from God rather than deliver God’s holy word to the people in Nineveh. Jonah believed they were too wicked, unworthy and beyond deserving redemption. Jonah knew that God is “gracious … and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing” (Jonah 4:2). He knew that if he went to Nineveh and preached God’s holy word, God would treat them with mercy, and he could not bear the thought of seeing God forgive a city as wicked as Nineveh. Jonah believed they deserved God’s wrath, not mercy, and he was angry with God for His pardon.

Isn’t it ironic? After Jonah ran, God showed him tremendous mercy and grace, and He used Jonah in His redemptive mission on earth, and while Jonah happily received the benefits of God’s mercy, he was angry with God for showing mercy to others. Jonah must have felt entitled to God’s mercy, but judged the wicked people in Nineveh to be unworthy. Don’t we often respond in the same way?  

In the story God employed a storm on the sea, a large fish, the sun, the wind, a bush, a worm and an angry, judgmental man, all in His glorious service. As I think about the worm I am reminded of a friend who once said with a twinkle in his eye, “I find hope in the worm. If God can use a worm in His service, maybe He can use me also.” We are each far from perfect, yet God desires to use each of us in His glorious service, and while that may sound great, and it is, He may call us to serve people we would not choose.

And if He does so, it may reveal evil hidden in the dark shadows of our hearts that we did not realize was there, allowing us to deal with it, to remove it from our lives and to move closer to God. Jonah’s conflict was within his heart and he needed to confront the hatred he possessed.

God’s holy word explains that hatred is inconsistent with love. If we possess hatred in our heart we are unable to truly love.

Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.  1 John 4:20-21

Jesus tells us that we find peace in Him. If we are to be peacemakers, we must go out into the world effectuating change, proclaiming the good news of Christ Jesus, introducing people to Him and helping them along the path towards discipleship. We must truly love God and, through His love dwelling within us, truly love others.

We each have a sphere of influence. May you serve God’s glorious mission on earth within your realm of influence. Go in peace, Amen.