The Happiness Project: Peacemakers

Our custom in our church is to read Scripture aloud together. I encourage you to join your voices with me. We're reading from the NASB. If you don't want to read or that's not for you, you can close your eyes. There's something about hearing God's people read His word together that's very powerful. So let's join our voices.

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain. And after He sat down, His disciples came to Him, and He opened His mouth and began to teach them saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the gentle, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the sons of God." — Matthew 5:1-9 (NASB)

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

We're dipping back into the beatitudes, the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. We started the series right after Easter, and we went through the first of the beatitudes and we sort of paused, jumped into the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. I'm circling back to pick up this beatitude today on purpose.

We've just been reading through the Sermon on the Mount. We've read a couple of passages that are really challenging. Two weeks ago we studied about turning the other cheek, going the extra mile. Someone sues you for your tunic, give them your cloak as well. Last week, we read in Matthew about loving your enemies and doing good to those who persecute you. And so today, it seems very appropriate to circle back and sum all this up in this phrase: blessed are the peacemakers.

This beatitude—or as I've renamed it, beautitude (I'll explain that more in just a second if that's a new word for you)—but this story. In the eighteen thirties, a charismatic young man named Hong Zikwan built a political movement in Southern China. Earlier in life, he had come into contact with Christian missionaries who had introduced him and his family to the Bible. He read this and took it very personally. He was really taken especially with the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes in particular.

One of the beatitudes, this one in particular—blessed are the peacemakers—really grabbed him. He created the Great Peace Heavenly Army as a result. He was convinced that he was the younger brother of Jesus, imbued by God with the special destiny of ridding China of the conquering Manchu race and to lead his chosen people into their own earthly paradise. So he created an army. "Blessed are the peacemakers" was the slogan for his army.

This political movement gathered a lot of steam. In 1853, they took the city of Nanking, which is on the Yangtze River, and held it for eleven years until they were finally defeated. That city was what he called his great peace, New Jerusalem.

Now, of course, the irony of this entire movement—this Great Peace Heavenly Army—is that historians estimate somewhere between ten and twenty million people died because of either the battles or starvation caused by this political movement. They kind of missed the point, don't you think? I mean, really missed the point of "blessed are the peacemakers." It's anything but that.

And yet as we turn to this beatitude, this beautitude, this picture that Jesus gives us of what is the beautiful life, I think we likewise miss this one. I don't think we really understand it.

Don't you wish at times that you could edit Jesus? I know it sounds very sacrilegious for a pastor to say, but don't you wish you could sort of change what he said? I mean, "blessed are the peacemakers"—it would sound so much better if it was like, "I'm going to bless you and give you lots of peace. I'm going to make your life problem free." Blessed are the peaceful. Right? Like that's what I want from Jesus.

Truth be told, honest confession as a dad: all I want is peace and quiet. It's not that much to ask. Right? Just peace and quiet. I don't know about you, but I sort of want to live in a bubble or a library. I just want to come home at the end of the day and things to be peaceful. But is that what Jesus is talking about with this beautitude? This picture of the beautiful life?

The irony is that the things we want, the peace that I want, is a cheap imitation. It's kind of like a trinket knockoff of the real thing, of what God means by peace.

Maybe the word Shalom. Maybe it's the only word in Hebrew you know, but most people know the word Shalom. They know it as the greeting or the goodbye from the Hebrew language. It means peace. And yet it doesn't mean peace and quiet. It's a different kind of peace that God envisions. It's one of the most important words in the Old Testament.

The word "shalom" appears over 250 times in 213 different verses throughout the Old Testament. It's a picture not of a ceasing of fighting or a problem-free life. It's a picture of universal flourishing, of wholeness, of the way things ought to be. It's not just an absence of trouble; it's everything which makes for people's highest good.

Let's contrast my peace—the peace that I want, a little peace and quiet—with the peace that God envisions.

My version of peace is to be left alone. God's version is restored relationships.

My version of peace is a nap. God's version of peace is health and wholeness.

My version of peace is no conflict. God's version of peace is no more tears.

Do you feel that? My version of peace is fine, but it's so far short of what God envisions in this word "shalom"—His design for people in the garden and His design for people in the new heavens and new earth. This is His picture.

But listen to Jesus. Jesus says, "Blessed are the peacemakers"—not the peaceful, not those whose lives are filled with peace, but the peacemakers. Jesus is saying that in order to have peace, sometimes you have to step into conflict. Sometimes you're actually stepping into the rubble and the destruction of other people's lives in order to be an agent of peace. This is something bigger.

One commentator writes it this way: "The peace which the Bible calls for, the peace the Bible calls blessed, does not come from the evasion of issues. It comes from facing them, dealing with them. What this beatitude demands is not a passive acceptance of things because we're afraid of the trouble of doing anything about them, but the active facing of things—the making of peace, even when the way to peace is through struggle."

Peacemaking is about addressing conflict, but doing so with peace on the inside of you.

The Picture of a Peacemaker

I want you to picture stepping into a situation of conflict. I know this is going to require a great deal of imagination from you. But use your imagination and try. Imagine you step into a room that's filled with tension—either the kind that's under the surface or where people are blowing up. And one person in the middle of that room seems like this: they're unruffled. Everybody else is shouting or slamming things or giving the silent treatment—all the different ways we have of indicating to other people that something is wrong. But one person in there is just chill. When that person speaks up, don't you want to hear what they have to say? Someone who's at peace themselves is able to enter into the conflict with other people.

I think if we had that, we might be able to navigate some of those situations we all face every day—in our families, in our relationships at home, in our relationships with friends, in our relationships at work—in a different way.

Unresolved Conflict as Termites

Unresolved conflict and resentment and bitterness is like termites in your relationship. Think about it: if you were going to shop for a new home, you meet up with the realtor. You've seen this house online and it looks gorgeous, and the price is unbelievable. You walk through and you're like, "Oh man, they got all the granite in all the right places and all the chrome in all the right places." It's got the perfect garage for your car. It's got all the stuff—whatever it is that you want in a home. And you ask the realtor, "Man, the price is just really good. Nobody else is here looking at this?" And they're like, "Well, you know, there's termites in the foundation."

I mean, you'd be crazy to be like, "Well, that's no big deal. The rest of it looks great, right?" No. The termites are not down there playing cards. They're eating away the foundation.

Yet we're filled—our relationships are filled with termites all the time—and we act like this is a great deal. We're doing just fine. Like, this is not anything to worry about. There are termites in the foundation, and they're not just playing cards.

Jesus tells us peacemaking is the beautiful life, and this doesn't make sense to us now.

Peacemaking Is Supernatural

I want to qualify this way also: peacemaking is supernatural. This is not natural, and I want to make a distinction between those kinds of people that we know—type B people—and the biblical idea of peacemaking. Those personality traits are different. We all know people who are chill, who are easygoing, nothing seems to bother them. That's not what I'm talking about here.

I had a friend years ago who divided the world into two kinds of people. Don't you love those kind of people? Like, there are two kinds of people.

She divided the world into two kinds of people. She said, there are two kinds of people: big dogs and little dogs. What she meant by that—big dogs are those people who just nothing bothers. Picture the big dog laying out on the rug, taking a nap. Nothing seems to bother them. The little dog, you know, alright, and she's like, "You know, there's some big dogs in my life, but Jeff, you are a pug. A little dog, running around."

I say it because the peace that the Bible defines here is not a personality trait. It's something much deeper. It's something supernatural. Listen to Jesus—those who make peace, it says in this beatitude, will be called sons of God. Not that we will be sons of God if we make peace. Remember, the beatitudes are not "we do this and God gives us eternal life." This isn't the divine vending machine. If I make enough peace, God gives me salvation. Rather, those who make peace will be called sons of God.

This doesn't have to do with our status with God. It has to do with our reputation with other people. That phrase "sons of" is a Hebrew idiom. It appears in multiple places in your Bible. If you describe someone who's a really bad person as a "son of wickedness," you get the point. It doesn't mean their mom or dad were wickedness itself. It means they're a wicked person. "You are a son of folly" doesn't mean your father was folly. It means you're a foolish person. So this idea that you who make peace will be called sons of God means that other people will look at your life and say there's something supernatural going on there. There's something about the way this person enters into conflict and deals with people and deals with situations that is not just human, that speaks of God's power at work in them.

This is really important. If we want to be in on the good life, if we want to be peacemakers, we have to start with God. Because our biggest conflict, whether we realize it or not, is with God Himself.

Making Peace Starts with God

We've been reading through the Sermon on the Mount. I want you to hear these words about enemies in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says in this chapter:

I say to you, do not resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him too. — Matthew 5

And then later on, we just read this:

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven. For he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good. He sends the rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same. — Matthew 5

I don't know if you think about this very much, and I don't know who you think of when you think of "enemy." Most Christians would say, "I don't have any enemies." So let me switch this up on you, because I know where we live. We're in the triangle, and I think some of y'all remember this. I know enough about our history in the triangle to know that the name Christian Leitner means something to many of you.

Christian Leitner played for the Duke Blue Devils back thirty years ago when Duke won back-to-back national championships over the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and over the University of Kentucky. Widely hated for two reasons: one, his athleticism—he was an amazing basketball player—and two, his cockiness. So lots of people in the triangle hate Christian Leitner, still hate Christian Leitner. You don't even know him, right? Like, that's really funny. But for a lot of basketball fans, that's an enemy. That's an enemy.

But this is what's funny to me. Jesus is more honest than we are often as Christians. Lots of Christians like to play nice, but Jesus is like, "Yeah, people have enemies. There are people that we do not like, that we avoid, that we would never say it but we hate. We have enemies." And here's what's harder for us to hear: God has enemies. God has enemies.

We don't like to talk about this, and this doesn't sound nice, but God has enemies. Listen to this: those who resist His will, those who refuse to worship the Creator, those who live in rebellion, those who steal glory from Him, those who treat His holiness with contempt, those who want to be their own lord and king, those who live in His world and refuse to acknowledge His presence, those who ignore His love, those who trample on His grace, who act like He is not real. That's a paraphrase of Romans 1, right? Who is God's enemy? By nature, all people are God's enemies. This is who we are. And we're not Christian Leitner kind of enemies of God.

I mean, Christian Leitner is like, you know, you can respect him. He's really good at basketball. You may not like him. That's how we like to think of ourselves as God's enemies. We're pretty great. But we're not those kind of enemies. It's much worse than that. We're not Christian Leitner enemies. We are Steve Stevens kind of enemies.

Now, that name may not mean anything to you right now, but in 2017, that was all America was talking about for about two weeks. Steve Stevens was a young man who on Easter Sunday saw an older gentleman in Cleveland, Ohio walking home after worship. A guy named Robert Godwin Junior. He pulls over his car, turns on his phone, goes up to the man and asks him to say a name. When Robert Godwin asked, confused, he shot him, filmed it, and posted it on Facebook. Godwin died.

This kind of shocked our country for those two weeks where people were talking about how could this happen? The public nature of such a murder. And I think what's remarkable about this for us is that we, while we want to think of ourselves as the kind of people who are Christian Leitner kind of enemies of God, we're much more like the Steve Stevens kind of enemies of God. Let me explain how that works.

Think about this: the one time, the one time the God of the universe made himself vulnerable to us—what did we do with him? From the moment he was born, he received death threats. Throughout his lifetime, at the beginning of his public ministry, he's reading from the scroll in the synagogue and people want to take him and throw him off a cliff by force. There was a plot to kill him from his cradle to his grave. When we finally did it, we did it. We killed him.

When the God of the universe made himself vulnerable to us, we killed him. But God is the best kind of enemy you could ever have. If you're going to pick an enemy to have, God is the best kind. Because what do we see with this God? We see Jesus loving his enemies. We see him not resisting those who intended evil for him. We see him offering his cheek to be struck. We see him offering up his tunic. We see him going the extra mile. We see him doing all this to lay down his life.

You know, people talk about something you're supposed to do at the end of your life. You're supposed to make peace with God. Have you ever heard that phrase before? You're on your deathbed, it's time—make peace with God. Nobody can do that. Nobody makes peace with God. God is the one who makes peace with us. God always takes the first step towards sinners. If it's up to us, it would never happen.

While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. How much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life? — Romans 5

He himself is our peace. In one body, He has reconciled us to God through the cross by which He put to death our hostility. — Ephesians 2

We don't make peace with God. God makes peace with us. This is the best enemy you could ever have because God is the one who makes the first step towards sinners. God is the one who initiates with us.

Just like Robert Godwin's family. Let me return to that story. Just like that murder was on full display on Facebook—it was filmed—I mean, how cruel? And yet also on full display was the amazing grace and forgiveness of that family, the children of Robert Godwin Junior toward their dad's killer. His daughter, Tonya Godwin Bain said, "Each of us, each one of us wants to forgive the killer, the murderer. We want to wrap our arms around him." Godwin's son said, "I forgive him because we are all sinners."

That's supernatural peacemaking. That's someone who knows I'm an enemy of God, you're an enemy of God, God has moved toward me so I can move toward you.

We all like to pretend we're Christian Leitner kind of enemies of God. You know, the annoying kind, the frustrating kind, but kind of awesome at the same time. But we're really Steve Stevens kind of enemies of God. And this is what blows my mind: God makes himself vulnerable to us and we killed him. And that very act is what brings about our own reconciliation. God just gamed the whole system on us. Jesus is our peacemaker. He himself is our peace. This is how enemies become peacemakers.

I want you to think about the Godwin family, that son who said, "I forgive him because we are all sinners." How does a person become like that? That's not natural. That's not normal. So remember, as I said earlier in the sermon, this has nothing to do with our natural dispositions. Remember I talked about big dogs and little dogs? Now I'm going to switch the metaphor up and we're going to talk about turtles and sharks. Alright, so hang with me. But I think you can know where I'm going with this.

Turtles and Sharks: Understanding Our Conflict Responses

Want to talk about your natural tendencies with regard to conflict. Turtles are those who pull back when conflict comes. In the shell, pulling back when the conflict comes, a defensive posture, self protection—I'll just disappear. Let's pretend that didn't happen. It's no big deal. It didn't really even upset me. I didn't even notice. Not a big deal.

Turtles tend to minimize, tend to say it's not a problem. We give excuses for other people. Turtles think they are just believing the best about other people. And you fellow sharks in the room are looking at the turtles and you're like, y'all are crazy. That's what's wrong with turtles, right? Give me a break. They need to be more shark-like. After all, wasn't Jesus a shark? I mean, Jesus turned the tables over. He was constantly provoking things and stirring it up. Am I right?

Now, here's the thing about sharks: Did you know sharks can't swim backwards? Sharks always are swimming forward. They move ahead. Sharks are like, we're going to deal with this right now because sharks like to deal with everything right now. It's an aggressive posture. Let's attack the problem. Attacking the problem is always the right thing. Turtles don't deal with problems. Sharks attack them. They kill them.

And you turtles in here are like, yeah, the sharks drive me nuts. I mean, does everything need the same level of intensity? Does everything need to be attacked? I mean, give me a break. They need to learn to be like turtles. After all, wasn't Jesus a turtle? He was silenced before his accusers. He bore with others rather than attack them, right?

What Motivates Us?

I want to think with you about what motivates us. Because the Bible says our behaviors never just happen to come up and do. They always come from our heart. They always come from a deep place of motivation within us. What motivates turtles? What motivates sharks? Actually, they both do this. They both ask the same question.

Both of them ask: "What if?" Let me give you an example. Turtles act like turtles because of fear. What if I don't address this conflict? What if they don't like me anymore? What if they reject me? What if this is the end of our friendship? So a lot of fear. Turtle behavior comes from a heart motivation of fear.

And sharks, what motivates sharks to attack? Control. What if I don't address this conflict? I can control this situation right now, but what if I don't? I'm going to lose control. What if I don't address this right now, I'm going to lose my way. I'm not going to get what I want. Both play the "what if" game.

But for those who have received the grace of God, enemies reconciled by the cross, we have another way. Let me just ask this question. Turtles, is your turtle behavior working for you? How's that working out? I mean, do you ever wake up in the middle of the night just stewing, thinking, oh, this is eating me alive. You can't sleep. I wish I'd said that. I wish I could say that.

Or what about you sharks? How's that working? Attack. I mean, do you have a string of unreconciled relationships in your past? Do you have people that you don't talk to anymore because you've damaged the relationship?

There Is Another Way

See, there's another way. Colossians 3:15 says this:

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Since as members of one body, you were called to peace. — Colossians 3:15

Now, that is not some kind of sappy, sentimental statement that you cross stitch and put on the wall or you make into a refrigerator magnet. That's something really powerful. Listen to this. It gets really specific.

As those who have been chosen by God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience bearing with one another. — Colossians 3:12

That sounds like turtle behavior for you sharks. You put on a heart of compassion and kindness and patience, gentleness, bearing with. That's totally unnatural for sharks. But listen up turtles. It also says this:

Forgiving one another—whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. — Colossians 3:13

I mean, that's shark behavior. That's stepping into a conflict. That's naming that something's wrong. That's saying this needs to be addressed. That's being able to offer forgiveness and having a hard conversation.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts since as members of one body, you were called to peace. — Colossians 3:15

When you become a Christian, I want you to think about what you do. You don't just say Jesus is my savior. Jesus is my friend. You say Jesus is my ruler. He's in charge. I'm coming under his authority.

I'm asking him to take charge of my life. And this requires from us a regular, ongoing, daily submission of ourselves to God. A regular practice of submitting your heart, your relationships to God to let the peace of God rule in your heart.

For turtles and for sharks—both turtles and sharks give up our natural tendencies to pull back or attack. We give up our peace faking, that's what turtles do. We give up our peace breaking, that's what sharks do, and we learn another way which is peacemaking.

Peacemakers who sow in peace, they reap a harvest of righteousness. — James

They step into things that are hard, not like sharks, not like turtles, but a different way. And God works in this to bring restoration.

A Doctor of Relationships

What does that look like in real time? Let me show you what it looks like when sharks and turtles let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. I want you to envision a doctor, a doctor of relationships. This is what I want us to be.

You know, when you go to your doctor, your primary care doctor, you have something that's bothering you, something that hurts, something that won't go away. If your doctor says, "Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna give you Tic Tacs and I want you to take Tic Tacs every day for a month and come back and see me"—will you ever see that doctor again? I hope not. Or if you go see the doctor and the doctor immediately says, "It's time for surgery" without any questions, I hope you're like, "I need a second opinion, because you're nuts."

No, what does a good primary care doctor do? Ask lots of questions. "Where does it hurt? What are you doing that is making it hurt? What have you been eating? Are you exercising? What are your patterns of rest?" All those kinds of questions that help the doctor understand what is really going on.

A good doctor in our relationships doesn't just respond like a turtle or a shark, but asks questions. If you go see your primary care doctor, they're going to try to figure out three things: Is this something I need to deal with? How do I need to deal with this? And when do I need to deal with this?

So they may say, "We're going to watch this. I want you to come back in two weeks. We're going to monitor this and see if there's any change. We may not need to do anything." Or they may say, "Okay, we're going to take a non-invasive approach to this." Or they may say, "No, this is actually really acute. This is extremely serious. We do need to schedule surgery for you."

They may take any of those approaches, but you know they're not showing up at surgery with a chainsaw. They're showing up with a scalpel. Because the purpose of the surgery is not to destroy but to heal. Let out the pressure, let healing in.

As we think about our relationships, we think about our conflicts, the places where there is no peace or there's fake peace—you can't just come in like a turtle or a shark. You have to become a student, a doctor of your relationships, who comes in and asks questions: "Is this something I need to deal with? How am I going to need to deal with this and when?"

Sometimes this means looking at the termites in your relationships. Looking at the termites that are eating away at something. You're saying, "I need more information. I need to ask more questions. I need to understand what's going on. Maybe I'm misunderstanding this situation. I need to ask a lot of questions."

Maybe it's a non-invasive approach where you're like, "Actually, I need to overlook an offense. This is me being petty about something that really doesn't require me to get all worked up over it. I'm over-interpreting the situation. I need to chill out about this. I need to let this go."

Or this is a conflict that I really need to address. I need to address it in the right way. I need to have a conversation. I need to confront this person in love. I need to speak the truth to them.

Do you see how different that approach is from just the turtle or just the shark? Our natural tendencies to attack or pull back.

If we are people who are living out of the reconciliation grace that God has given us in Christ, where God has come after us in our sin and called his enemies his own, taking that into us and living out of that in our relationships—this is what gives you the ability to be calm when the rest of the world is in chaos around you. Because God has made peace with you. You have the best enemy there is. He has made peace with you by virtue of his cross, and he calls you therefore to step into situations. You can step into them without being excited or avoiding like other people, but step in with peace on the inside so you can work peace on the outside.

You know, for years I heard this prayer by Saint Francis of Assisi, and I always had in mind my own version of peace about this—like peace and calm. I just want a little peace and quiet. I just want to live in the bubble or the library. But this prayer that Saint Francis prayed, that's been handed down over centuries, is actually a prayer for peacemakers. Not peace breakers, not peace fakers, but those who know peace with Christ and therefore become ambassadors or agents of peace. Listen to these words. I'll close with this.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. O divine master, grant that I might not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Would you pray with me?

Father God, we live in a world, in our personal lives, that are filled with conflict. It's in our extended families, it's in our workplace, it's in our social media, it's in our churches, it's in our homes, it's in our friendships. We confess to you that we fall back on patterns that are unhealthy and unproductive. We fall back on patterns of avoiding peace, peace breaking. We fall back on patterns of attacking and defending and controlling and peace breaking. Lord, we pray that you would teach us a new way. We pray, Father, that our church would be characterized as sons of the living God, known for that by the way we seek and make peace together. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.

Let's respond to God's word together in song.