God’s Simple Peace Process

By Edwin Crozier

Jesus' audience had heard the law. Murder was wrong (Exo. 20:13; Deut. 5:17). Those who murdered would be tried and condemned (Num. 35:30, 31). Jesus did not have a problem with the state­ments, but with the meaning of those who touted them.

FIRST, the legalistic Pharisees reduced the law to mean as long as they didn't actu­ally commit murder, they were fine. They could speak slander and sedition, mar repu­tations and ruin livelihoods, but as long as no lifeblood was shed, all was good. No harm, no foul.

SECOND, the Pharisaic reductionism missed the real problem with breaking the law. To them, if a person committed murder, they might be guilty before the court. Eter­nally there was little problem. They might be executed for their infraction, but their souls would be fine.

The Heart Of The Problem: -- Jesus was not saying that murder shouldn't be viewed as sin. It is. Nor was he saying that human courts should not judge murderers. The should. Jesus was saying that such is not the whole picture. The kingdom citizen living according to the beatitudes is held to a higher standard, a righteousness that sur­passes the legalistic, line drawing Pharisees who seemed to be certain they could never do anything to endanger their resurrected souls. Righteousness begins in the heart. If the heart is bad, it doesn't matter how pure the actions seem. Further, the danger of corrupted hearts is not the rulings of hu­man courts, but the ruling of God's final court. Our anger, hatred, bitterness, resent­ment and seething malice endanger our souls, not just our lives.

Jesus' teaching does not conflict with Eph. 4:26. Paul says we can be angered without sinning. Jesus is not saying all anger is sin. The use of passive verbs in both texts dem­onstrates the anger is caused by outside sources. We will never stop it completely (though as we grow in the beatitudes we will learn not to be easily provoked). The con­text of Jesus' statement demonstrates He is dealing with anger that is not quickly or properly resolved, even if it never actually leads to violence or murder. Both passages teach the same principle. When we are an­gered, we need to respond quickly. Other­wise, we are allowing Satan's foothold in our lives.

Attitudes & Consequences: - When some­one has sinned against us, angering us, we do not go to them as judges intent on put­ting them in their place (Matt. 7:1, 2). In­stead, we go as brothers and sisters, con­cerned for their souls. We do not merely see the hurt against us, but their sin against God. Thus, we come in gentleness ("blessed is the meek") to restore them (Gal. 6:1, 2). We come alongside to help bear their bur­dens. As Jesus went to the cross to provide forgiveness for those who hung Him there, we sacrifice ourselves to help those who have made themselves our enemies so they might be saved (Matt. 5:43-48).

Sometimes, however, the sin does not lie with others. Let's face it, we all sin. Just as others will sin against us, we will sin against them. Sadly, even when we are at fault, we sometimes want to wait around for our of­fended brother to let us know. After all, we convince ourselves, how can I really know I was offensive unless they tell me? We even act as if we are taking the high ground by relying on Jesus' previous principle, explain­ing that Jesus gave them the responsibility to talk to those who had sinned against them. It is their responsibility, not ours. Yes, they have responsibility, but so do we.

The Humble Path Of Peacemaking: - Jesus says we should immediately go to the brother or sister we have hurt and reconcile with them even if it means leaving our gifts at God's altar (Matt. 5:23, 24). We often say this means we should reconcile before we worship. This is not the exact picture. The sacrifice Jesus mentions is not a picture of worship, but seeking forgiveness. Trying to reconcile with God does us absolutely no good if we won't reconcile with our breth­ren. Before we seek God's forgiveness, we must get up off our knees and go to our neighbor. Seek peace with them and then we can seek peace with God. This should not be hard for us if we are truly peacemakers (5:9).

We are all heading for God's tribunal. The only way we will hear good news in God's court is if we have reconciled with our op­ponents and walk in the courtroom as friends (5:25, 26). Yes, I know we can only do so much (Rom. 12:18). But we had bet­ter be doing what depends on us.

Kingdom citizens walk a narrow path. When wronged, we offer forgiveness without reservations; when having wronged, we seek forgiveness without excuse, and we do both without delay.—Biblical Insights, Vol. 8, No. 4, April, 2008.

Consistency - Modern Style

By Guthrie Dean

A man argued with me thirty minutes that it is wrong to debate.

A lady told me that it doesn't make any difference what a man believes, and then tried to enroll me in a program to fight Com­munism.

Some parents told me that they liked to let their children make up their own minds about going to church service, but whipped them because they didn't want to go to school.

A member argued with his neighbor that the church of Christ is right because it ob­serves the Lord's Supper every Sunday, but he missed the next Sunday himself and went fishing.

A family, figuring income tax, showed a 10% deduction as contribution to the church, and when the collection plate came around on Sunday they dropped in a total of one dollar and a dime.

A man, opening a fresh pack of ciga­rettes, explained to me that he didn't have money to buy his mother some badly needed medicine.

An individual griped because the sermon was so long, then went out in the cold the next night and spent two and one half hours on the hard bleachers watching a ball game.

A member didn't come to services Sunday morning because it looked like rain, and then waded out to his neck in ice water the next morning before dawn duck hunting.

A lady stayed at home Sunday morning with a pain in her left ear, and went to work early Monday morning with a pain both ears.

The whole family had to stay at home with the sick child on Sunday, then left the child alone and went their respective ways on Monday morning.

A member gossips to the preacher's back about the preacher not having the "spirit of Christ."

Some members want the WHOLE gospel preached until you start preaching on church cooperation, the work of the church, the all-sufficiency of the local congregation, the evils of the social gospel, the danger of the pastor system, the importance of speaking as the oracles of God, the un-scripturalness of man-made religious frater­nities, the importance of giving as pros­pered, worldliness, discipline, bringing up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Oh yes, and steer clear of the marriage question. What's left to preach to the members of the church? Why, BAPTISM, of course. I've never seen a "baptism Chris­tian" yet whose religion didn't remind me of WATER - weak, shallow and stagnated.

People who resent the preacher trying to tell them how to run their business or office, but at the same time try to tell the preacher how to run his.

Let us all practice what we preach (Rom. 2:1).—Eastland Message of Truth, Vol. 5, No. 4, October 1986 &