Peacemakers

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that rejects fear and promotes faith in God. It discusses the book of Job and its various interpretations. It explains that in the Old Testament, following God's commandments provided protection, while disobedience led to consequences. In the New Testament, Jesus paid for sin, allowing believers to have peace and a new life in Him. It emphasizes the importance of being peacemakers and spreading the message of Jesus. It also highlights God's love for His children and the security they have in Him, even in difficult times. The message concludes with a reminder of each individual's worth and the unconditional love of God. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of his word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to his perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org Job 25.2 Dominion and fear are with him. He makes peace in his high places. Job is one of the oldest books in the Bible in chronology. It is placed as occurring within the time of the patriarchs in a chronological reading of the Bible, often being inserted within the first few chapters of Genesis. Some scholars believe it was written in the 5th to 6th century BC. Others think Moses wrote it down, having heard the tale during his time in Midian, tending sheep. It is written in an incredibly complex and obscure Hebrew, which only muddies the waters and raises other possibilities. There are those who think Job lived before the flood. There is a rabbinical tradition placing Job as one of the three prophets consulted by the Pharaoh, who ended up throwing the Hebrew boys into the river. Job didn't agree with the plan. And others believe Job is a mythical figure, a metaphor to teach us that God's ways are above our own, that he is always just, and everything he does and allows is just, even when we cannot see it from our human point of view. Whatever the truth, or your personal belief, Job is a rich book full of colorful pictures of God, many of which are echoed elsewhere in Scripture. For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the assemblies of the saints. 1 Corinthians 14, 33 For he is our peace, who made both one and broke down the middle wall of separation. Ephesians 2, 14 God is peace. God is a peacemaker. He is the antithesis of fear. Like any good father, the Lord seeks the best for his children while not stepping on their free will. In Genesis 4, 3-12, Cain becomes jealous of his brother and thinks evil about them. God steps in immediately, saying in verses 6-7, The Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? Why has the expression of your face fallen? If you do well, won't it be lifted up? If you don't do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you. But you are to rule over it. God seeking peace between the brothers, but not forcing them to do anything. God is not promoting inaction or appeasement, but an active, probing act. Peace was wrestling with temptation and coming out the other side. Peace was not going with the flow, but setting one's face against evil. Cain did not listen, and he chose strife. God is often given a bad rap in the Old Testament. A God who smites. A God who is bloodthirsty. A God who hardens hearts in order to punish more. A God who wagers with angels on a whim. A punishing and wrathful God. But if any of that is a true reflection of His nature, then how could both Malachi 3.6 and Hebrews 13.8 say that God doesn't change? That He's the same yesterday, today, and forever? I mean, how do you reconcile all those pictures of an Old Testament God with the loving God who sends His Son? Now, while it's true that God's ways are far above our ways, and so we cannot always understand how everything truly works or is reconciled to everything else, Isaiah 55.8-9, I think the answer is wrapped up with sin. In the Old Testament, we are given a way to cover our sin, the sacrificial system. A way to try and live out righteousness, the law. And while you can, by God's own word, hold to each and every one of God's commandments in the law, it doesn't deal with the heart or our motivations. You cannot, on your own, keep the law perfectly in deed and in heart. That is why Jesus came. The whole system of the law was meant to show man that, number one, His actions are not enough on His own to achieve true righteousness, and two, that Jesus is the Messiah who can wipe out sin away forever. So in the Old Testament, we have a do-this-and-live attitude, because whenever you didn't follow the law, whenever you didn't obey the Lord, you put yourself outside of God's protection. You entered the wilderness where you were at the mercy of a curse. Bad things happen in a world twisted by sin. If you aren't protected, you get hurt. In the natural, this is proved simply by the weather. Stripped naked and head off into the landscape, you'll start to get damaged almost immediately and could easily die from exposure. Now in the New Testament, Jesus paid for sin, wiped it and the consequences of it away. Now we have a live-and-do-this attitude. Abiding in Jesus provides the propitiation for sin. Since we are free, we want to celebrate God and do what pleases Him just to please Him. We aren't bound by rules and consequences. We're motivated from love and worship. All through the Old Testament, this God that we stereotype as a bundle of smite seeks the best for His people. When the plagues came upon Egypt, He clearly warned the nation as Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt were challenged. Any Egyptian who obeyed was spared the damages. When the spirit of death came upon the land, the Lord was there preventing the entrance of death into protected homes. God is always a preserver of life. It is not Him who is sending the consequences on a whim. He's not choosing the negative. We're choosing the negative. He's trying to prevent the negative from affecting us. I mean, why did people die in punishment? Why were nations driven out and slaughtered to the last living resident? Sin. The Lord was protecting His people from sin. Sin is a disease. It spreads worse than cancer. It has a 100% mortality. You cannot escape it. It will poison a person or a nation with the same unfeeling passion. In the Old Testament, a sacrifice could stave off some of the effects because God is merciful. But animal sacrifice is not enough. It only lasted for a period of time. See, it can't do it. It will not do, because while flawless to the eye, the animals were still part of fallen creation. Nothing fallen can wipe away the mark of fallenness. It takes a perfect sacrifice for that. Jesus, the Anointed One. Until sin was dealt with, humanity had to deal with the consequences of it. Obey, live righteously, and have protection. Disobey, live unrighteously, and pay the price. It was simple. In the New Testament, it is also simple. You can be a disciple of Jesus or not. You can recognize and believe He paid the price for sin, believe that the Father resurrected Him to life again, confess Him, Lord, over your life, and be baptized into new life in Him, in Jesus. Or you can deny Jesus and live on your own terms. It's funny because people fight God with all their might in order to be free of Him. Meanwhile, God is fighting with all His might to save people from themselves because if you win and reject God, you die. That's not much of a victory. Don't have that view of God? Don't think He fights for you to be free? Ask yourself what the message of the angels was to the world when Jesus is born. Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill toward men. Luke 2.14 God wants peace with humanity and for humanity. Giving up a part of yourself to pay for something you not only had nothing to do with but gave everything needed for avoiding that thing? That sounds like God is fighting pretty hard to save us, especially since He upholds our existence and could snuff us all out in a moment. Hebrews 1.3 He must love us very much to put up with so much from us. That mercy is what He wants to spread. The good news? We no longer have a wall between us and God. We no longer need to experience death. How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of Him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, Your God reigns. Isaiah 52.7 And having fitted your feet with the preparation of the good news of peace, Ephesians 6.15 God wants us to spread the news of His peace. That perfect love drives out fear. 1 John 4.18 Jesus addresses it in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5.9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. He wants us to be as He is, peacemakers. Now the personality of a peacemaker is clear, Matthew 5.3-8 Not proud in spirit, repentant, gentle, seekers of righteousness, merciful, and pure in heart. To be as Jesus is. We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in Him. In this, love has been made perfect amongst us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Because as He is, even so are we in this world. 1 John 4.16-17 A peacemaker doesn't seek to manipulate. They are not ease-going. This is not peace at any price. They are not appeasers. This isn't about avoiding trouble, but actively seeking to produce peace. Since we cannot have peace while covered in sin, we must become new in Jesus. Spreading peace means spreading Jesus. Making disciples of all men is about peacemaking. A peacemaker isn't sensitive. They are never on the defensive. Their feelings won't be hurt because they are delivered from self. They are not concerned with themselves, but with Jesus. They aren't sensitive people. They can't be, because a peacemaker never approaches a situation looking at how it may affect themselves. Look to the apostles and Acts as they spread the word. They felt they had no rights, just Jesus. They didn't think in terms of whether they were persecuted. They spread the word and took with joy what came next, good or bad. In today's world, we're all about rights. Human rights, gay rights, abortion rights. You name it, there's a right. And we're all about telling each other what our rights are and what we think other people's rights are. And I suppose, in purely human terms, establishing rights and norms and laws based on those rights is about the only hope we have to achieve any kind of order. But in the eternal scheme of things, in the spiritual scheme of things, we have no rights. We have Jesus. We have God. God determines the boundaries of behavior. Not us. God determines what is necessary. Not us. And since we were the ones that betrayed Him, and we were the ones who fell, the fact of the matter is, we cannot hope to get back to where we are supposed to be without being in Jesus, without giving up what we see is our right to be what Jesus says we can and should be in Him. So, you see yourself as A, and you say, I am this. And because of that, I have these rights. And God is standing there saying, give up that and abide in Me. You'll have more reward, more victory, because Jesus is the victory over this world. You'll have satisfaction. You'll have peace. You'll have relationship with God, because in Jesus we become righteous, and righteousness is necessary to be before the Father and to present yourselves to Him. There's just no other way to do it. So, Jesus tells us that we need to kill the self. Now, it's not easy, but it needs to be done. It is simple. He said to all, if anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it. But whoever will lose his life for My sake will save it. Luke 9, 23-24 So, we're to give up what we hold so dear as our feelings, as our rights, as our identity in ourselves, and instead, take up the identity of Jesus. Take up Jesus' Spirit. You see, a peacemaker isn't blaming others for how they act. Having killed the self, they know that others act the way they do because they are ruled by self, not by God. To be a peacemaker, you need to give up self and be ruled by God. And so we know, as peacemakers, that to change the way that other people act, those people have to change who is in charge of their life. True peace only comes from God. Anything else is temporary and a pale imitation. As peaceful as this world ever gets, as secure as you ever can feel, it is nothing compared to the peace of God. It is true for who you think you are. It is true for your inner self. You might look at it and say, but I can't give that up. I don't want to be different. I want to be this way. But the reality is that every single thing you become in Christ, by grace, through faith, is better than anything you can be on your own. You're not giving something up. You're letting go of something that is broken, and you're holding on tight to something that is pure and whole and works. To be true peacemakers, then, we have to see things from God's point of view. We have to view people His way. We have to see the situation His way. It isn't easy, but one of the first steps to achieve it is to keep our mouths shut. Jesus followed that policy. For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak. John 12.49 We must control our tongues. Proverbs 18.21 We need less of us and more of Jesus. John 3.30 If we view everything in light of the gospel, we will seek to diffuse every situation we are in, to be lovable, selfless, upright, righteous, and humble. It is not us doing anything. It is not our attitude. We're dirt and not worthy of anything. It is Jesus in us that is worthy. It is Jesus in us that gives us righteousness. By grace, through faith, we have received everything. Not of ourselves, but of Him do we achieve victory. Peacemakers are reflectors of God's character. We are light shining in the darkness of this world, beacons of discipleship where people can come to be transformed by Him. We never ask what we want. We ever seek the Father's will. This is the role that all the body of Christ have been called to. It is not enough to tell people about Jesus. We are to make peace. Same idea, but vastly different modalities. Anyone can spread the words of the Bible. Anyone can talk about Jesus. But peacemakers model Jesus as they share the message of Jesus. It is what we were told to do by Jesus Himself, to be peacemakers in a world that will persecute us for our peacemaking, to preach this good news to all creation. God made a way, His Son, Jesus. We can be righteous in Him. We can be saved through Him. We can stand before God presenting ourselves as living sacrifices to His glory. We can be true peacemakers. It is never too late to start. Shift your lifestyle to that of Jesus. Renew your mind in the Word. Abide in Jesus. And watch as He transforms the world around you, through you. Our daily affirmation of God's love is Matthew 5.13. We have been given an amazing opportunity because God loves us. God is like any parent. When He gets really excited about something, He wants His kids to be part of it. In this case, He is really excited about what He is about to do. Whether in books like Revelation, the poetry of the Word, or in things Jesus Himself spoke, we know that tough times are headed to the earth. God is not excited about that. He is holding it back and waiting for as long as He can. But sooner or later, the consequences of the choices of humanity are going to come on them. That grieves Him. He is holding them back because if we all choose Him, much of them would be unnecessary. However, humanity is not doing that. While many, many people are coming to knowledge of the Lord God as Savior, many others resist. So the consequences of not choosing the Lord are coming. The consequences of disobedience are on the way. What is God excited about then? The way He is going to care for His kids. For those who are believing and seeking Him, there is nothing to worry. The failure of the supply chain, the failure of banks, the switching of the world to a new paradigm, the upheaval of social systems, of governmental systems, even of borders, neighborhoods, and homes. Through it all, the sons and daughters of the kingdom will be secure. If we are seeking Him, devoting ourselves to Him, listening to Him, and being obedient to His voice, then all will be fine. Imagine the impact that will have. That is what God is excited about. The opportunities His children will have to witness by their lives and their generosity within their blessing to everyone around them. Why do you have food? Jesus. Why aren't you worried? Jesus. Do you know what's going on? Well, no, sorry. Why not? Jesus. The storm will be raging, but we won't feel it. We will see the travails of the world, but we will be aloof, observing, but not participating. Proverbs 3, 25-26, Psalm 91, 8-10. Are you seeking the Lord with all your heart? Is He your fortress and high place? If not, start today. God is eager to have you part of the witness He is about to make in this world. As we close, remember that you have worth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today, God loves that I, now you, fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love and no end to the things about you that He loves each and every day. Pick one. And remember, the Lord loves you just because you're you. 1 John 4, 9-10 tells us, By this God's love was revealed in us, that God has sent His only-born Son into the world, that we might live through Him. And this is love. Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin. And it casts out our fear too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because He first loved us. He just loves us. Can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.