Bible in 90, Day 69: Blessed are the peacemakers

Matthew 5-15

image courtesy of Sheila at stock.xchng

The other day, my oldest son had a friend snatch a toy from him.  He was quite upset and came running to me.  I asked if he could let the other boy have a turn with the toy.  He reluctantly agreed.  Later, I told him I was proud of his handling that so well and sharing.  He told me that after I had talked with him, he had gone to the other boy and told him he shouldn’t snatch toys.  The other boy said, “Oh, can I play with it for a while?” and Corbin said, “Yeah.”  I told my son I was proud of him for being a peacemaker.

Jesus said at the beginning of His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-8), “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”  The gospel is all about peacemaking.  Ultimately, it is about Jesus making peace between God and mankind.  If we fail to understand this, we will never be able to be peacemakers.  When we refuse to make peace and be reconciled to others, we are showing we don’t understand the gospel.

God does not want us to be peace breakers – creating conflict whenever we can.  When we attack in response to sin, whether it be slander, or even violence, we are breaking peace.  We are going against God’s demands that we pray for our enemies, and bless those who curse us.

God does not want us to be peace fakers* – avoiding conflict at all costs in the name of peace.  When we dodge problems, or pretend there is nothing wrong, we are faking peace.  We are lying to ourselves, to the other person involved, and to God.  We are still failing to pursue peace because we are not acknowledging the problem.  Pursuing peace must be active, not passive (Ephesians 4:2).

God wants us to be peacemakers.  This means when we are sinned against, we recognize the sin, call it sin, and confront the one who sinned against us in love.  We do not attack, but we do not hide either.  We seek peace, and pursue it, making every effort to maintain unity.  It also means that when we sin against someone, we recognize our sin, call it sin, and ask forgiveness from the one we’ve sinned against.

Let’s be peacemakers.  Jesus promises that we will be blessed for it.  When we pursue peace, making every effort to maintain unity, even if it costs us something, we are showing that we are God’s children.  We look at lot like Him when we make peace with others.

* the terms peace fakers and peace breakers are not mine, they originate with Ken Sande & Peacemaker Ministries

originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 37: If only there were a mediator!

Job 8-24

*image courtesy of creationc at www.sxc.hu

While Job’s friends hurl their insults at him, he realizes that there is only One who’s accusations and judgments really matter.  Job knows that he will stand or fall before God, the Judge.  He uses frightful imagery to describe this Judge in chapter 9.  He speaks of the Judge as Creator, the One who made the stars and constellations, One whose wisdom is profound and His power vast.  He portrays God as an unstoppable force.  He sums it all up saying, “If it is a matter of strength, he is mighty! And if it is a matter of justice, who will summon him?” (Job 9:19).

Job realizes his guilt before a Holy God.  He knows that even if he were “innocent” before man, he is guilty before God.  He knows that God is not a man that can be taken to court.  Job cannot summon Him before some tribunal, for He is the Judge!  God is God, and Job is not.  Realizing this, he cries out in desperation:

“If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both!” (Job 9:33).

Job knew that man cannot stand before God and hope to be found innocent.  He cannot stand before God’s holy judgment.  He needs an advocate, a mediator, an arbiter that can put his hand on both God and man.  This is the perfect picture of Christ’s mediating work.

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Timothy 2:5).

There’s a quote, the source of which I cannot find, that goes something like this, “Man had a debt he could not pay.  God could not pay a debt He did not owe.  We need a God-man!”  That is precisely who Jesus Christ is!  He is the God-man, a unique being in the universe, 100% God and 100% man.  He is the only possible mediator between God and men because He is the only one who’s on both sides!  Job cried out for someone who could lay his hand on both him and God.  In Jesus Christ, you and I witness the answer to that hope.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).  As God, He is holy, righteous, and just.  He embodies the righteousness of the Father.  As man, He can sympathize with our weakness, pain, and temptations.  He took on flesh and dwelt among men.  He is the go-between, the Mediator that Job hoped for.  For us today, He is the Mediator that we must turn to to gain access to God.

Let’s remember this great truth!  Let’s remember that we have the Mediator which Job desperately sought.  Let’s live in the knowledge that because of Jesus’ death on the cross, we can go and, as Job wised he could do, speak to God without fear of Him (Job 9:35).

*originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 24: Wisdom

2 Samuel 22 – 1 Kings 7

*image courtesy of

God asks you what you want.

Pleading with Rehoboam to get wisdom

James 1:5

Bible in 90, Day 22: Carried to the Table

1 Samuel 28 – 2 Samuel 12

*video via freezetag12345 at youtube.com

After all the warring between the household of David and the household of Saul (both before and after Saul’s death), you’d think that David would hold nothing but hatred for the whole lot of them.  However, he remembered both his faithfulness to the Lord’s anointed, and his promise to Jonathan (1 Samuel 20:8-17).  In 2 Samuel 9, David has Jonathan’s remaining son brought into his house in order to show him kindness and take care of him all his days.

There is an amazing parallel between the story of David’s treatment of Mephibosheth, and that of God’s treatment of those of us who have come to Him for mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.  Mephibosheth, a man who is crippled as a result of a fall early in life, is helpless.  David has every right, culturally speaking, to destroy him for the enmity between their two houses.  Instead, he has him brought to his very table, the place of acceptance and fellowship, and vows to provide for him the rest of his life.

The video above does a great job of illustrating the parallels.  If you were not familiar with the story of Mephibosheth, you would assume the song is merely about Christians and God.  Now, with this background, you can hear echoes of both stories throughout the song.

Let us remember our helpless state.  As Paul reminds us in Galatians 2-3, all that we are in Christ is because of His righteousness and work, not ours.  Let us never forget where we came from, how we got here, and who accomplished it all.  We began with the Spirit, let us continue in Him.

Bible in 90, Day 11: Poor Moses!

Numbers 8-21

*image courtesy of Rene at www.sxc.hu

There are several recurring themes in today’s reading – complaining, God being furious, leadership challenges, and Moses & Aaron on their faces. And Moses really takes a lot in this passage!  Every time you turn around, someone is asking why Moses and/or God brought them out to the wilderness to die, or trying to usurp authority from Moses, Aaron, or even God!

The people complain that they are sick of manna.  They actually wish for the “good ol’ days” back when they were slaves in Egypt!  In one of my favorite lines in the Old Testament, God declares that they will have so much meat it will come out of their nostrils and they will loathe it!

Tee hee! God humor!

True Love Doesn’t Wait

Did I really say that?

I’m going through some random books until I kick off the Bible in 90 Days Challenge on Sunday.  I don’t want to get out of my habit, so I’m upping my listening time for the next few days and going through some shorter epistles and minor prophets.  Today was 1-2 Peter, Jude, and Haggai.  Try those in one shot sometime!

God grabbed me right away this morning in 1 Peter 1:22-25.  I’m reading The Peace Making Pastor by Alfred Poirier, and in chapter 1 he makes a great connection between truth and love.  He says on p. 22 “First, the Christian faith unites truth and love.  Second, it is love of the truth that supports true love.”

Dizzy yet?

He goes on to say of 2 John, on p. 23 “The apostle roots the call to love like Christ (peacemaking) in the truth about the person of Jesus Christ (Christology).”  So, with all this swirling in my head, I hear the apostle Peter say, “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart”

Again, truth and love are interconnected!

In Greek, this passage’s syntax is somewhat ambiguous.  The phrases are all over the place, so if you survey the different translations, you’ll find several ways to translate it.  I think the NIV is headed in the right direction when it says “obeying the truth so that you have sincere love…” because the Greek preposition eis is used.  Roughly, this is “obeying the truth unto/towards an unhypocritical love.”  It is because of our understanding of the truth that we have this sincere (unhypocritical) love towards our brothers and sisters.  Beyond this, it is because we have applied (obeyed) the truth.  So how do I justify a statement like “true love doesn’t wait”?

Love is a verb.

Love is what we do, not just how we feel.  Here, Peter tells us that sometimes love begins in our understanding (“the truth”), is strengthened by our actions (“obeying”), and then moves to our emotions (“love one another deeply, from the heart”).

So true love doesn’t wait.

True love doesn’t wait until it feels like loving someone.  True love is rooted in the truth of Christ’s love, and acts in response to that love. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” (1 John 3:16.)

True love doesn’t wait until someone is lovable.  True love sees the beloved as Christ sees them and loves like Christ loves.  “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

When true love has the opportunity to show itself, true love doesn’t wait.  Are you a true lover?  Am I?  Today, I will not wait.  I will show love where I see the opportunity to do so.  I will not wait until I feel like.  I will love.  “God is love” and so I must be love.  If I am not a true lover, I do not truly know God (1 John 4).