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As a teenager, I would watch Chinese kung fu movies where the main character used his martial art abilities for the good of society. You would never find him taking advantage of others. Instead, he would use his weapons, his hands and feet, only when he was confronted with evil and only as much as was necessary to restrain evil. The righteous character never showed fear in the face of evil, but had courage and self-restraint when dealing with enemies. It was usually the stubborn wickedness of the enemy that led to his own demise. The movies made me wonder how I would respond to my enemies if I were placed in a similar situation. Have you ever considered the difference between calculated self-defense and outright retaliation? There is a big difference and our hearts need to be right with God to know the subtle motives of our heart. We need to watch our hearts and not let our idols or emotions, like fear or anger, control us when we are in the slippery slope of conflict. By nature, our hearts are deceitful and corrupt (Jeremiah 17:9)! But God gives us the Word, the Spirit, and the grace to discern our hearts (Hebrews 4:12). Especially during conflict, it is wise for us to consider if our hearts are really fulfilling God’s command to love Him above all else and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40). Charl van Wyk, a missionary in South Africa, is a great demonstration of a gospel-centered, peacemaker. In 1993, terrorists showed up at his church and opened fire. They murdered 11 and injured 58. Charl understood his duty to defend lives and opened fire on the attackers with his .38 special revolver. This caused the attackers to flee the scene, which prevented even more deaths. It was later discovered that the terrorists had planned to kill the whole congregation. Charl’s heroic actions saved lives and the congregation was grateful for a fearless leader. But in the weeks following the attack, Charl struggled with unforgiveness in his heart. While many of his congregation had forgiven the attackers, Charl struggled with hatred and bitterness in his heart toward the terrorist attackers. Why should he forgive them if they were not repentant? But hatred destroys the holder of it. After seeking the Lord, Charl found freedom to love and forgive his enemies when he recognized how great a debt the Lord had forgiven him. God demonstrated his love for sinners by dying on the cross for their sins. Romans 5:10 explains that this demonstration occurred while we were God’s enemies! It was while we were his enemies that He loved us and reconciled us to himself by the death of his Son! Those having been reconciled to God can not go on harboring bitterness and anger toward others. Our ability to forgive others shows whether or not we are true Christians. “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” – Matthew 6:14-15. Our attitude should be, but for the grace of God, go I (1 Corinthians 15:10)! Praise the Lord for restraining me and giving me grace! As peacemakers, we implore others to be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20-21). We call others to know the peace and forgiveness that is available to them in Christ. Charl lived out the gospel in his actions. He felt called to take the gospel to his attackers, to show love to his enemies (Luke 6:35). This he did, and to this I say, “Wow! What a demonstration of Christ like love!” Praise the Lord for the example in his servant. If you have a few moments, check out Charl’s video testimony: Psalm 34 shows David, captured by the glory of God.
To magnify the Lord means to see and proclaim his greatness. What I am captured by becomes my talk, day and night. Here, David is captured by God and calls us to join him in magnifying the Lord. Notice from the last verse that a proper vision of the Lord results in boldness, being unafraid in the face of danger. Seeking God results in His answer and a deliverance from fears. In other words, when we go before God and cast our burdens on him (1 Peter 5:7), when we become enthralled by Christ, glorious God in human form (Colossians 1:15-20), we lose our fears. Fear is a cruel master. There is a lot to be fearful about. We can lose our money, house, health, job, respect… Frankly, there is much in life we can’t control and there is much that is unknown about the universe. But dear Christian, Christ came to destroy the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15). Why be subject to all the other fears that Christ came to conquer? Hasn’t God been faithful to you all your years? In his book, Overcoming the World, Joel Beeke recalls a conversation with his friend Dr. Peter Hammond.
Christians are not called to suffer for suffering’s sake. We do not enjoy suffering. But neither are we afraid of suffering. God has purposes for our suffering (Romans 5:1-5). Certainly, if God has ordained a particular trial in my life right now, it is for my good and His glory (Romans 8:28). Certainly, God’s goodness to me is not measured in my pocketbook. Neither is it measured by my health or comfort. I forget God’s goodness to me when I forget that he came to die for sinners. He came to deliver me from death, the wrath of God, slavery to fears, and slavery to sin. If God brings me trials so that I can experience more of Him, who am I to complain (Psalm 73:25-26)? God is good. And he will give us ALL that we need for life and for godliness and nothing less than what we need.
If you haven’t seen the movie Fireproof, you should! The movie portrays the life of a married couple, Caleb and Katherine. They are caught in sin and about to get “an ugly divorce.” The movie depicts gospel truth, showing the need for the gospel to break through hard hearts before relational healing and peace is possible. Fireproof exhibited this truth: knowing the peace and love of God through Jesus Christ is a prerequisite for a great and God-honoring marriage. In this day and age where marriage is not esteemed, I was glad to find a rule breaker of a movie. It was so good that I saw the movie three different times with different groups of friends. (I’ll even admit that I cried each time, each time a little later in the sequence of the movie, but tears were shed nonetheless.) I particularly love the movie from a Peacemaking standpoint. When you see the movie, see if you recognize any of the seven A’s of confession, (thanks to Peacemaker ministries), when Caleb confesses his wrongdoing to his wife Katherine. Caleb’s repentance and confession to God led to peace with God and obedience to him. This in turn led to true brokenness and confession of sins to his wife. He owned his sin and accepted the consequences. Let it be known: there can be no peace with others, until there is peace with God. Peace is not simply the absence of conflict, but true relational intimacy, unity, and shalom. The movie did well in other categories as well. It contained clean humor, surprising twists, and distinct personalities that stay true to their character. Other notable points: 1. God used several characters to work in the lives of Caleb and Katherine. Ministry is a team effort of love. I finally have a moment to report to you my experience at the Peacemaker Conference and marriage mediation training. Having never been to Florida, I was happy to enjoy the long daylight hours and glad that it was not too hot and humid in late September. The trip was refreshing, reminding me about the centrality of Christ and the gospel, not some process, to bring about peace. It was the stories and the people I met that encouraged me the most. Hearing stories about reconciliation revealed to me my hardness and unbelief of heart in the power of the gospel. It was good to be convicted and reminded of the hope Christians have in the gospel. Because of the cross we can have peace. Since we have peace with God, we can have peace with one another! I was especially encouraged by the cross denominational support for peacemaking and the gospel centeredness of the conference. Forty of us were trained by five teachers to do marriage mediation. The teachers had various backgrounds. One was a wife and mother while others were attorneys. All five had a passion for ministry and were trained to help people understand the grace, forgiveness, and love that is available to them through Christ. The class role played a broken marriage where a husband was estranged from his wife. We addressed heart issues or idols of the heart. Mediators serve parties by helping them to bridge the gap between what they believe and how they act. They help them to see themselves in light of the freedom of the gospel, to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance, confession, and forgiveness are key ingredients toward a successful and redemptive mediation. (In both the vertical and horizontal dimensions.) I learned that it takes much effort to resolve a conflict. A good mediator will spend hours conflict coaching before a mediation to get the parties ready for mediation. It’s long and hard work, but peacemakers who sow in peace will reap a harvest of righteousness. Conflict is an opportunity to glorify God. And marriage is an arena for the display of God’s glory. To be a peacemaker, I need to be caught up in my love of God, a display of his glory, and a love for sinners, entangled by sin. There, but for the grace of God, go I. I was reminded that Jesus Christ was the good shepherd. Christians should imitate his love toward others by lovingly and willingly partaking in the search and rescue mission. Peacemaking should be lived out and applied in the local church. God is glorified when his people are united. Churches need to apply redemptive and loving church discipline to rescue, guard, and protect its flock. After the two days of marriage mediation training, the Peacemaker conference began. There were four different speakers and many workshops to chose from. You should get a taste! Here’s a clip of Thabiti preaching on forgiveness. On Saturday, before the conference was over, Ken Sande updated us about some of the international work Peacemaker ministries was involved in. PM is trying to teach Peacemaking to ministry leaders in other countries. They hope that they will catch the vision, that they would be instruments in the Redeemer’s hand, helping to train rising-leaders by building a culture of peacemaking in seminaries. It was encouraging to hear about the conversion of a man in South Korea. Peacemaking skills were being taught to refugees that were coming to South Korea since many of the refugees didn’t have the people skills to develop interpersonal relationships, having been acclimated to an oppressive country. This man was converted to Christ through the class! He didn’t need to learn techniques or people skills, he needed an encounter with Jesus! God gave the man a new heart of flesh. He confessed that he was on a mission to South Korea to kill his refugee wife, who had been unfaithful to him when she left her country a few years earlier. Stories like this remind me of the power of the gospel. The gospel is for real life. Don’t you forget that! - There are over 1,500 want-to-be lawyers in Virginia. If ever there is a period in my life of monumental changes, it is now. In 5 days I will be graduating from Liberty University School of Law. In 12 days, I will be wed to Kerrie Anne. In the next month, I will have finished my 40-page jurisprudence paper on surrogate mothers, secured a new place to live in Lynchburg, a new bed to sleep on, changed my marital status, changed my living situation from sharing a place with a few guys to sharing a home with one beloved wife, gone to Yosemite on a breathtaking honeymoon, and started studying for the 29 subject Virginia Bar Exam. I will do all these things by the strength of the Lord. There is nothing like enjoying God-given life in the present. I do suffer moments of brief worry about the future, but over all, God has been good to remind me to trust in His provisions. I could easily let myself become ruled by worry and forget the tasks that the Lord has already set before me. Where will I work? I need money! In my zeal, I want to start earning money right away so that I can be a provider for my family. But the Lord is teaching me patience. God’s grace supplies all my needs. It is amazing to me how quickly I forget passages like the “Do Not Worry About Tomorrow” passages in Matthew and in Luke. God promises His own that if we seek first His kingdom, everything else will be added to us. My prayer has been that God’s kingdom would be glorified in my life. I want to build God’s kingdom, not my own. People often ask me if I am stressed. Nope, I am not. The reason why I can handle stress is because in this world of unknowns, I am known by the one who spoke galaxies into existence. Christ died for me, that I may live a life of faith. It is amazing to me how much of the Christian life is one of proper perspective and vision. Faith would have me jumping up and down at the goodness of God. He is so good! Luke 12:32 says it well: “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Because Christ died for me, I know that the trials of life will not flip my boat over. With Christ, I can weather any storm. I remember John MacArthur mentioning in one of his sermons that he never has trouble sleeping because of worry. This is the life I want to live!
So now, after this brief reminder to myself about finding rest in Christ, I am ready again to tackle that 40-page paper that God has set before me. I bid thee well, that you too will find rest in the storm. Eliot Spitzer, the governor of NY, is being scandalized by claims of involvement with prostitution. While parties are innocent until proven guilty, the evidence seems hard to beat. Picture the darkness and sin that drives the players: the prostitute, the ring leader, the client. Each has sinful lusts and desires gone out of control, which lead to darkness and death. Lust for sex, a quick thrill, power, physical pleasure, money… Each party involved thinks they are gaining the world, but in reality, they are forfeiting their souls and bodies. They reject God and believe a lie. They sacrifice their careers and reputations, risk jail and their health. They chose the path of death over life. They forfeit what could be their’s: true pleasures at God’s right hand. When I see the sins of others, it makes me sad. I am sad because sin brings so much misery… both to the wrongdoers and those they wronged. Think of all the spouses and women harmed! Seeing the ugliness of sin also makes me think of the gospel. I see what I could have been. I become grateful to God for his mercy. Praise be to God who has freed us from death and slavery. Without him, who knows where I would be?! I am not a good person, but I know the one who is! Today, one in four teenage girls has a STD. Half of all marriages in America end in divorce. Such was us… But we are a holy priesthood, called by God to give him praise. We are new creations! We are not slaves of sin, but rather, of righteousness!
Don’t for a second envy the world. And if you do, run to Christ, for in him is forgiveness, true joy, and life everlasting. God’s word and those before me say it best: Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” – John 4:13-14
My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Jeremiah 2:13
How beautiful it is to picture the grateful woman who wet Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair! (Luke 7:36-50.) What a lesson of gratitude for us! Evidently, this “sinner” saw her sinfulness, recognized the Savior for who he was, and received forgiveness. Her gratitude was a result of godly conviction of sin and repentance. I often act as though I don’t need forgiveness. Take for instance when I have offended another person. I try to explain why I spoke or acted the way I did and ask for understanding, rather than forgiveness. But if I saw that Christ has paid my debt completely, I would be honest about my sin. Like the sinful woman, I would be grateful for God’s forgiveness. I have nothing to hide. In fact, confession of my sin would bring God glory! This is why he came to die. Knowing God’s forgiveness means that I should be real with myself and others, after all, God knows my thoughts fully (Psalm 139), yet still loves me—He died to make me clean! Often, I am not open with my sinfulness, because I make an idol of holiness and want to look clean before others. I act like a Pharisee, wishing to establish my own standing before God, rather than acknowledge the beauty of the Savior. When I act as though I don’t need God’s forgiveness, I lack a conviction of sin. I am ungrateful for God’s work. I am prone to become an idolater. But what a contrast the sinful woman shows. She is thankful. Thankfulness is a remedy against idolatry. When I am thankful, I am least prone to lust after women, to lust after the praise of men, and to lust after money. When I have forgotten that sin is my greatest enemy and why Jesus came to die, I go down a trail of sin: pride, ungratefulness, and self-pity. How much better it is to receive the words of the Shepherd, who has power to forgive! Jesus said to the woman “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” – Luke 7:50 Being ungrateful is a result of forgetting my status. Instead of trying harder to make myself holy, I should be grateful for redemption, accomplished and applied through the Son. His death brings me forgiveness, full and free.
Anger is a moral matter. By its nature it makes judgments and seeks to eliminate injustice. God wants me to exhibit righteous anger. I should be rightfully outraged at gossip, theft, murder, and child abuse. But too often, my anger is not holy. The fruit of my anger shows me that unrighteous anger has mastered me. Powlison says it well: “The clearest gauge of whether anger is right or wrong in its expression is whether it acts to condemn or to offer help.” (Journal of Biblical Counseling, 14:1, p.50) As a peacemaker, I need to be ruled by righteous anger. Temptations toward unrighteous anger abound. I am tempted to become fed up with the inconsiderateness of counselees who call me at odd hours, when I am busy or tired. Why does the counselee bother me now? I hear the problems of people in conflict and am tempted towards escapism. I tell them to just trust in God, but say this with a lack of faith, believing that this particular individual lacks faith, just wants to vent, and is hopeless. Or perhaps I feel that a counselee wants me to pronounce a judgment over his wrong doer. I become fed up with the sins of the counselee and offer a stern rebuke, lacking in grace and mercy. I may avoid a verbal conflict with my counselee, but all is not well in my own heart. My mind races to my own needs and my ears are not attentive to him. I need peace and rest! James 4 says that I have conflicts because of the desires that battle within me. God’s word turns on the lights. It tells me that I have not watched my tongue or my desires. When I examine my desires, I notice that I have become frustrated because I have created idols. My desires for peace and quiet have reached the status of “lords.” Perhaps I am driven by fear and worry that because of the time taken up by this counseling session, all will not be well tomorrow. I forget that God is faithful. I forget that God is concerned about changing me more than my circumstances. He wants to make me patient and compassionate. He wants me to stand with those that have been wronged and remind them that God is their refuge. He wants me to breathe grace to my counselees and encourage them to walk in love and forgiveness. The Lord shows me that instead of seeing my counselee as a roadblock to my goals, I should see myself as an instrument in the Redeemer’s hand. The Lord has been patient with me, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. (Psalm 103:8.) Praise the Lord. |
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