Seeking Peace

One of the most challenging aspects of being a follower of Jesus, no matter when you live, is trying to determine how to live out your faith when the surrounding culture is so antithetical to who we are supposed to be.

The Christians in Rome faced this all the time. They had an Emperor who said he was god and had to be worshipped. They were in a culture of debauchery. They were called “atheists” for believing in one God rather than the Roman pantheon. They were seen as a rival sect of Judaism rather than a new way of worshiping God. The list could go on. And it got worse the older the church got. They were surrounded with all kinds of reasons to go to war.

Can you imagine living in that context?

I raise this issue because of the time we live in as well. We have assaults on followers of Jesus from all sides. No one is ever happy with Christians today. We are either old fashioned or anachronisitic or legalists or socialists or “insert group here’ phobes. We live in a time when we are, seemingly, always on the defensive. And, to be honest, we aren’t always handling it in the best way.

Let’s be honest, being on the defensive isn’t fun. And the default position for someone who is on the defensive is to seek to counter punch. To engage in the same tactics that are being used against us. To fight. To inflict damage. I hear about this a lot. We need to defend God. Defend the Bible. Christianity is under assault. As if, by sheer force of will, the Church could fall or be defeated.

Last year, in the midst of a really rough season, as I was praying, the Lord reminded me of a promise. in Exodus 14:14. “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” This word came to Moses as the Israelites were departing Egypt and being pursued by the Egyptians. They had no need to defend themselves. God would handle it.

The whisper infuriated me.

My natural inclination is to fight. I like to mix it up. To debate. To fluster an opponent to the point of fury and then skewer them with the ridiculousness of their arguments. And to win. Oh, I like to win.

But that whisper, as much as it frustrated me, reminded me that when I get into those battles, as much as I would like to think so, I am not fighting for the Lord. I am fighting for myself. My pride My victory. And God isn’t glorified in me, when I am glorifying myself.

Shortly after, another verse, one I had memorized hit me between the eyes. And it’s that verse, and the verses in context with it, that I really sense the Lord wanted me to share with you today. Because, we need followers of Jesus who will go about their lives differently. And this church, because of our unique make up, are uniquely fit to do what God says to do in Romans 12.

(Read Romans 12:14-21 )

Paul writes this to a church struggling with division internally, but faced with persecution outwardly. And in verses 9-13 he tells them how to relate to one another. But beyond how they act towards one another, he is thinking of how they will deal with all these hostile outside forces aligned against them. So he gives them a path, and the linchpin of this path is in verse 18- live at peace as much as possible. That’s the verse I had memorized that I needed to learn to apply. And in the surrounding verses Paul gives us the blueprint to this way of life.

It starts with how we react. “Bless and do not curse.”

Our default is to give as good as we get, but Paul says this is the wrong attitude. When someone does us wrong, we bless them. The translation of this word bless is to honor them or praise them. We speak well of them. Rather than speaking poorly of them.

Romans 1. Among Believers (12:1–21)

The principle of nonretaliation for personal injury permeates the entire New Testament. It provides guidance when life brings us up against those who care nothing for us and are in fact opposed to all that we stand for. Ask that they might enjoy the blessings of God! Love inevitably desires the best for other people regardless of who they may be. The old nature says, “Curse them”; God says, “Ask me to bless them

That is SO hard. But when we begin to think that every person we see is created in the Image of God, we begin to realize that every person has something about them that is honorable. Even our worst enemies.

Then he says to rejoice or weep as those who are coming against us. We are identifying with them. We may not agree with them and they may have done us wrong, but they are people who are in a moment of either ecstasy or agony. And our calling is, partially, to sit there with them in that moment. Yes, our enemies. We offer them our presence in that moment. (Ghana story about the funeral)

Romans 1. Among Believers (12:1–21)

God’s will is that his children become a family where the joys of one become the joys of all and the pain of one is gladly shared by all the others. The Christian experience is not one person against the world but one great family living out together the mandate to care for one another. So rejoice with those who are rejoicing, and weep with those who are weeping

Paul takes this further in verse 16-17- Live in harmony. Be considerate. Take into account that you may have the fullest read or understanding of what is going on in their minds or lives. Give someone the benefit of the doubt. Don’t assume you are right. Be willing to lower yourself rather than pump yourself up.

Romans 1. Among Believers (12:1–21)

Paul admonished his readers not to be proud since it is pride more than anything else that destroys the harmony of the body

Romans 1. Among Believers (12:1–21)

There are both humble tasks and ordinary people who need our attention. To withdraw from either is to allow pride to control our lives. Cranfield writes, “It is always a sign of the worldliness of the Church when its ‘leaders’ no longer associate as readily and freely with humble people both inside and outside the Church as with those who are socially superior.” So the verse ends with the cogent advice, “Don’t think too highly of yourselves

One of the best pieces of advice I have ever received along this line is the following. When attacked or disagreed with, be able to state your opponents position in such a way that they would agree with your characterization. Until you can do that, don’t attempt to engage their argument, because you are not doing it in good faith.

This is SO important in our day and time, where we seek to turn those who come against us into enemies, demons, and antichrists. Not only is that not righteous, it is creating barriers for someone to the Gospel. We were not called to create enemies, but to call converts. To help people to repentance. We cannot do that if we are lying about them to win a battle that is not ours to fight.

We cannot “do what is honorable in the sight of all” if we are repaying evil for evil, and worse yet, we are connecting Jesus to those evil acts by saying we are doing it for Him! What does that say about His power to save?

Romans 1. Among Believers (12:1–21)

The early church understood the necessity of having a good reputation with outsiders (1 Tim 3:7). Although it is imperative that believers take pains to do what is right in God’s sight, it also is important that what we do, as long as it does not violate Christian ethics, is well thought of by the world (cf. 2 Cor 8:21). In so far as it is possible, we are called to live at peace with everyone. Wickedness is to be opposed and righteousness lauded, but Christians must be careful not to allow their allegiance to God to alienate them from the world they are intended to reach with the gospel. Jesus pronounced a blessing upon the peacemaker (Matt 5:9), and the author to Hebrews wrote that we are to “make every effort to live in peace with all men” (Heb 12:14).

That’s why Paul says to seek to live at peace with all people. Who do you go to when you have a need or a question? An enemy or a friend?

Now here is the kicker. Some of us, myself included, are bristling at all of this saying “So I am a doormat. I just wait for people to walk all over me and let them do it?”

Do you think God is going to let you go undefended? Do you think He is so impotent that He will let His saints go un protected? You are under His care! And even if it costs you your life, He is going to defend you, and be the avenger. He wants us to be the people, who even in our deaths, point people to Jesus.

(martyr story here)

And no one said to just stand by. We have actions we can take, they are just counter to what everyone else is doing.

When we are opposed we are kind. When our enemies are hurt, or hungry, or thirsty, or faltering, we offer them aid. They will not understand it. It may even make them angrier lol. But we do it, because that is what Jesus did for us. When we were His enemies, He did the greatest thing that could be done for us. (Romans 5:10)

Romans 1. Among Believers (12:1–21)

God has promised to “pay back trouble to those who trouble you” (2 Thess 1:6). He has no need of our help or advice. Genuine trust will leave everything in his hands. Rather than to take revenge we are to feed our enemies if they are hungry and give them something to drink if they are thirsty. In this way we will “make him feel a burning sense of shame”

And the result is we overcome. We see evil defeated. Our enemies lose, because they have no one to fight. They do not have a willing partner, and more amazingly, we see them come to the side of the Lord where we are.

Romans 1. Among Believers (12:1–21)

Verse 21 summarizes much of what has just been said. Instead of allowing evil to get the upper hand and bring defeat, win the victory against that which is wrong by doing what is right. Bruce comments, “The best way to get rid of an enemy is to turn him into a friend.” Our most powerful weapon against evil is the good. To respond to evil with evil is not to overcome it but to add to it. Believers are called upon to live victoriously in a hostile world by continuing to live as Jesus lived. Right will inevitably prevail against wrong. God is on his throne, and though all is not right in this world, he is the one who will avenge the wicked and reward the righteous.

What if we really put this into practice? Sought peace? Pursued reconciliation? Refused to name enemies and began to see people as those in need of salvation rather than condemnation?

How would that change the world you go about in every day?