Are You a Peacemaker or a Peacemonger?
Jesus promised, first to the eleven apostles sitting with Him and then to those who would believe on Him “through their word,” “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you;” (John 14:27; 17:20). Peace is a gift from God, and like all things that come from God, it is “good… and… perfect” (James 1:17). Even before Jesus came to this earth, the prophet Isaiah knew about God, “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You” (Isaiah 26:3). Jesus, the “Prince of peace,” (Isaiah 9:6), expanded the impact of an already “perfect peace” (Isaiah 26:3) on behalf of “the God of peace” (Romans 15:33; 16:20; Philippians 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 13:20) to the point that the peace of believers becomes “the peace… which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). Jesus allows us to have “peace with God” (Romans 5:1) in a way “not possible” under the Old Law (Hebrews 10:1-4). In fact, in taking away that “first” Law so that He could “establish the second” (Hebrews 10:9), He tore down a “wall of separation” between men, also “making peace” between them (Ephesians 2:14-15). What a blessing!
Christians have a further blessing though: we get to join the “God of peace” in the glorious work of making peace. In fact, this is what declares our relationship with Him. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” Jesus said, “For they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). Who exactly is the one calling peacemakers “sons of God”? Well, God does, for as peacemakers we are behaving like God and becoming “God’s fellow workers”; Jesus Himself, the Son of God, is “not ashamed to call [us] brethren” (1 Corinthians 3:9; Hebrews 2:11). Others do too, when they, “convinced by all” and “convicted by all… report that God is among you,” and declare, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel of Peace!” (1 Corinthians 14:24-25; Romans 10:15). And of course, we ourselves can; there is no work that brings us closer to God and His heart than peacemaking. As tellers of good news, we get to join Paul in saying, “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).[1] Again, what a blessing!
Peacemaking is the beautiful work of joining God in forming triangle relationships. A triangle relationship exists when: 1) we are at peace with God, 2) we are at peace with our fellow man, and 3) our fellow man is at peace with God. A triangle relationship is the only kind of relationship that we can experience both now on earth and later in Heaven. Unfortunately, sometimes in our zeal for peacemaking, we can convince ourselves or others that a triangle relationship exists even when one or more of the sides needed to form the triangle are missing. This is not peacemaking; it is peacemongering.
Peacemonger is one of those words that you type out on your computer and immediately squiggly lines form beneath it. It’s not really a word,[2] but it’s an excellent contrasting description to peacemaker. Google provides two definitions of “monger” when used as an ending: 1) “denoting a dealer or trader in a specified commodity”; 2) “a person who promotes a specified activity, situation, or feeling, especially one that is undesirable or discreditable.” While the first definition almost sounds good, the second one definitely sounds bad. In truth, they’re both bad. Peace is not a commodity to be obtained; it is a relationship to be enjoyed. If the relationship enjoyed is a triangle as described above, that’s peacemaking; if it’s anything less than that and we still call it peace, that’s peacemongering.
Perhaps we need to dwell a little bit more on the term “peace” as defined by God. You see, it’s altogether possible to say like the false prophets of old did, “‘Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace” (Jeremiah 8:11). When Jesus promised His followers peace, He clarified, “not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). The world is happy to declare peace the moment that there’s no obvious external conflict. The world declared peace in Berlin even as that city was split down the middle by a wall that was created by two spheres of power that wanted nothing to do with each other. Remember, Jesus came to tear down walls, but the world is content to build them and call it peace. The free world and the communist world were not at peace while the Berlin wall stood, and two people cannot be at peace until the walls, real or imagined, are torn down and there is a triangle relationship connecting both of them and their God. If God is not in fellowship with either of them, then even their peace with each other is not true peace (Ephesians 5:11; 2 John 1:9-11)
The process of peacemaking sometimes looks nothing like peace, at least not as the world defines it. Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). Is Jesus contradicting His New Testament and His very nature as the Prince of Peace by saying this? Not at all. In attempting to create real peace, sometimes Jesus creates real war. As He explains, “For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and ‘a man's enemies will be those of his own household” (Matthew 10:35-36). When a peacemaker, connected to God, comes to make peace, he or she must do so on God’s terms. God requires each peacemaker to remain true to Him as he or she seeks to create triangle relationships with others. Sometimes people won’t like us, sometimes they won’t like God, and sometimes they won’t like that we like God. Any or all of these things can bring down the sword of conflict and cut us apart, sometimes temporarily or, sadly, sometimes forever.
There are no shortcuts, no get arounds, to Biblical peace. Perhaps this is why James said, “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable” (James 3:17). Why is it first pure? One explanation would be that if it is not pure then it is not truly peaceable. If peace is not defined as God would define it, then again, “There is no peace” (Jeremiah 8:11). Truly, peace is not the absence of evil; it is the presence of all that is good. Human relationships that can’t be described as triangle relationships are not good no matter how peaceful they may seem, as this implies that one or both of the people involved are lost.
The world abounds with peacemongers touting and celebrating their false concepts of peace. How can you know that you aren’t one of them and know that you’re a peacemaker instead? Here are some questions to consider:
Yes, the world abounds with peacemongers, but it desperately needs more peacemakers. Start being a peacemaker today!
Christians have a further blessing though: we get to join the “God of peace” in the glorious work of making peace. In fact, this is what declares our relationship with Him. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” Jesus said, “For they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). Who exactly is the one calling peacemakers “sons of God”? Well, God does, for as peacemakers we are behaving like God and becoming “God’s fellow workers”; Jesus Himself, the Son of God, is “not ashamed to call [us] brethren” (1 Corinthians 3:9; Hebrews 2:11). Others do too, when they, “convinced by all” and “convicted by all… report that God is among you,” and declare, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel of Peace!” (1 Corinthians 14:24-25; Romans 10:15). And of course, we ourselves can; there is no work that brings us closer to God and His heart than peacemaking. As tellers of good news, we get to join Paul in saying, “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).[1] Again, what a blessing!
Peacemaking is the beautiful work of joining God in forming triangle relationships. A triangle relationship exists when: 1) we are at peace with God, 2) we are at peace with our fellow man, and 3) our fellow man is at peace with God. A triangle relationship is the only kind of relationship that we can experience both now on earth and later in Heaven. Unfortunately, sometimes in our zeal for peacemaking, we can convince ourselves or others that a triangle relationship exists even when one or more of the sides needed to form the triangle are missing. This is not peacemaking; it is peacemongering.
Peacemonger is one of those words that you type out on your computer and immediately squiggly lines form beneath it. It’s not really a word,[2] but it’s an excellent contrasting description to peacemaker. Google provides two definitions of “monger” when used as an ending: 1) “denoting a dealer or trader in a specified commodity”; 2) “a person who promotes a specified activity, situation, or feeling, especially one that is undesirable or discreditable.” While the first definition almost sounds good, the second one definitely sounds bad. In truth, they’re both bad. Peace is not a commodity to be obtained; it is a relationship to be enjoyed. If the relationship enjoyed is a triangle as described above, that’s peacemaking; if it’s anything less than that and we still call it peace, that’s peacemongering.
Perhaps we need to dwell a little bit more on the term “peace” as defined by God. You see, it’s altogether possible to say like the false prophets of old did, “‘Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace” (Jeremiah 8:11). When Jesus promised His followers peace, He clarified, “not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). The world is happy to declare peace the moment that there’s no obvious external conflict. The world declared peace in Berlin even as that city was split down the middle by a wall that was created by two spheres of power that wanted nothing to do with each other. Remember, Jesus came to tear down walls, but the world is content to build them and call it peace. The free world and the communist world were not at peace while the Berlin wall stood, and two people cannot be at peace until the walls, real or imagined, are torn down and there is a triangle relationship connecting both of them and their God. If God is not in fellowship with either of them, then even their peace with each other is not true peace (Ephesians 5:11; 2 John 1:9-11)
The process of peacemaking sometimes looks nothing like peace, at least not as the world defines it. Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). Is Jesus contradicting His New Testament and His very nature as the Prince of Peace by saying this? Not at all. In attempting to create real peace, sometimes Jesus creates real war. As He explains, “For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and ‘a man's enemies will be those of his own household” (Matthew 10:35-36). When a peacemaker, connected to God, comes to make peace, he or she must do so on God’s terms. God requires each peacemaker to remain true to Him as he or she seeks to create triangle relationships with others. Sometimes people won’t like us, sometimes they won’t like God, and sometimes they won’t like that we like God. Any or all of these things can bring down the sword of conflict and cut us apart, sometimes temporarily or, sadly, sometimes forever.
There are no shortcuts, no get arounds, to Biblical peace. Perhaps this is why James said, “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable” (James 3:17). Why is it first pure? One explanation would be that if it is not pure then it is not truly peaceable. If peace is not defined as God would define it, then again, “There is no peace” (Jeremiah 8:11). Truly, peace is not the absence of evil; it is the presence of all that is good. Human relationships that can’t be described as triangle relationships are not good no matter how peaceful they may seem, as this implies that one or both of the people involved are lost.
The world abounds with peacemongers touting and celebrating their false concepts of peace. How can you know that you aren’t one of them and know that you’re a peacemaker instead? Here are some questions to consider:
- Am I at peace with God as defined by the Bible?
- Is there anyone in my life who is not at peace with God as defined by the Bible? If so, have I prayerfully made a meaningful appeal “on Christ’s behalf” to that person to “be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20)? Not everyone will respond favorably to every appeal, and not everyone will bring down a sword in his or her rejection of an appeal. Perhaps the real question, to borrow from the hymn, is this: is there anyone in my life who could say to me on the day of Judgment, “You never mentioned Him to me”?
- Is there anyone in my life who used to be at peace with God but who appears to have become entangled once again in “the pollutions of the world” (2 Peter 2:20)? If so, have I attempted to “restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness” and turn “a sinner from the error of his way” (Galatians 6:1; James 5:19-20)? Or have I acted as though nothing were wrong?
- Is there anyone who does not feel at peace with me? Is this because of the Gospel, or is it because of my sins and failures? If the former, this is to be expected; in fact, Jesus says it is actually a cause for rejoicing (Matthew 5:10-12). If the latter, have I tried to “agree with my adversary quickly,” seeking reconciliation before even offering my gift of worship to God (Matthew 5:23-26)?
- Is there anyone with whom I do not feel at peace? Is this because of pettiness or personality that I need to forbear and forgive (Colossians 3:13), or is it because they have sinned against me, breaking God’s law (1 John 3:4)? If they have sinned against me, have I sought them out and followed the Biblical pattern to bring about their repentance (Matthew 18:15-20)? If they have asked forgiveness, have I not extended it, placing my own relationship with God in jeopardy (Matthew 6:14-15; 18:32-35; Mark 11:25-26; Luke 6:37; 17:3-4)? Can I confidently pray to God, “And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us” (Luke 11:4)?
- Are there people in my life who are in Christ but who are not at peace with each other? A peacemaker is not simply called to maintain his or her own triangle relationships but to promote and bring healing to others. Jesus did not simply desire people to be united with Him and God; His dying desire was for all believers to be united with each other (John 17:20-23). When Paul saw that Peter was not behaving in a way that was “straightforward about the truth of the Gospel” towards Gentile Christians, he “withstood him to his face” (Galatians 2:11-14). Have I likewise worked to promote straightforward, Gospel behavior amongst all my Christian friends?
Yes, the world abounds with peacemongers, but it desperately needs more peacemakers. Start being a peacemaker today!
-Patrick Swayne
patrick@tftw.org
patrick@tftw.org
[1] Some balk at applying this verse to Christians today who aren’t apostles like Paul was. While ambassador can be used in a formal/official sense and while that sense of the word certainly did apply in a unique way to Paul and the other apostles, the ideas that surround it, “the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18) and being “ministers of God” (2 Corinthians 6:4), are ideas that describe the work of all Christians and not just biblical apostles.
[2] I first came across this made-up word in a book by Peter Steinke, who himself was quoting Edwin Friedman. I’m probably using it just a little differently than Friedman, who may have coined the term. Friedman says of the peacemonger that he is “a highly anxious risk avoider, someone who is more concerned with good feelings than with progress, someone whose life revolves around the axis of consensus, a ‘middler,’ someone who is so incapable of taking well-defined stands that their ‘disability’ seems to be genetic, someone who treats conflict or anxiety like mustard gas – one whiff, on goes the emotional gas mask and they flit” (Peter L. Steinke, Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times [Herndon, VA: The Alban Institute, 2006], 77).
[2] I first came across this made-up word in a book by Peter Steinke, who himself was quoting Edwin Friedman. I’m probably using it just a little differently than Friedman, who may have coined the term. Friedman says of the peacemonger that he is “a highly anxious risk avoider, someone who is more concerned with good feelings than with progress, someone whose life revolves around the axis of consensus, a ‘middler,’ someone who is so incapable of taking well-defined stands that their ‘disability’ seems to be genetic, someone who treats conflict or anxiety like mustard gas – one whiff, on goes the emotional gas mask and they flit” (Peter L. Steinke, Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times [Herndon, VA: The Alban Institute, 2006], 77).
Posted in Bible Study, Christian Living
Posted in Peacemaker, Peace, Peacemakers, Matthew 5:8, John 14:27, Conflict, Forgive, Forgiveness, Jeremiah 8:11
Posted in Peacemaker, Peace, Peacemakers, Matthew 5:8, John 14:27, Conflict, Forgive, Forgiveness, Jeremiah 8:11
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