Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God (Matthew 5:9)
But what is involved in “making peace”? Is it merely “making nice”? We are, unfortunately, familiar with the term “wage war.” In the temporal realm we presume that peace is simply what happens when we stop waging war.
Yet in the spiritual realm, in the reality of man’s heart, it is peace that needs to be waged. Long after outward hostilities cease, conflict still rages. Scripture tells us that peace is not our natural state, that we do not need to wage war because we are already at war, both with God and with man. Warfare is our natural inclination, both temporally and spiritually.
Jeremiah warned Israel “They have spoken falsely of the Lord and have said ‘He will do nothing; no disaster will come upon us.'” He chastised the prophets and priests — Israel’s spiritual leaders — because they ‘have healed the wound of my people lightly (superficially) saying ‘Peace, peace’ when there is no peace.’ (Jeremiah 5:9 and 6:14). Israel merely claimed peace without waging it.
Similarly in the church today we cannot merely proclaim peace. We must wage peace. We must strive for peace. In Ephesians we are told to “be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace…speaking the truth in love” (4:3, 4:14). The terms used here imply a military striving to prevail in the warfare that would seek the destruction of peace. If conflict is the frustration of any goal or desire (Ken Sande, The Peacemaker), it could be something simple, in which case “love covers a multitude of sins.” But it could create resentment and bitterness.
In that case, Jesus tells us what to “wage peace.” In Matthew 18, we are told to go to our offending brother and report the matter. If he listens, you win your brother. If not, take two or three more. If he won’t listen to them, take it to the church. If he won’t listen to the church, put him out of it. Jesus’ method is certainly not passive — in which the conflict (breach of the peace) is ignored, hidden or glad-handed away — but is assertive, addressing the conflict head on and waging peace upon it.
Growth with God, and growth between men, does not come by claiming peace where there is none. Claiming peace with God prematurely or on the wrong grounds leads to damnation. Claiming peace with men prematurely or on the wrong grounds perpetuates warfare and conflict. Especially in conflict between men, growth happens when the causes of that conflict are recognized, addressed and resolved.
Waging peace is not easy. Sometimes it is not pleasant. It is certainly not “making nice.” But in contrast to a superficial truce — one that terminates the gunfire but perpetuates the anger– the difficulty and hard work of waging peace accomplishes a unity that is truly in the Spirit.
According to what they say familiarity breeds contempt.
And I suppose that in most senses they are fairly close with this assessment. The more we get to know someone, the more we see things we didn’t like and at first either didn’t see or didn’t want to see.
But if this truism were really true, then one would expect to see families blowing up all over the place. There are definitely too many dysfunctional families, in which relationships are strained, communication blocked, and occasionally outright hostility manifested in frequent visits by the local police. Yet if it were true to say that familiarity breeds contempt, then shouldn’t all of us be fleeing from one another?
What, then, accounts for the fact that family love and loyalty frequently exists — thrives, even — despite the full awareness of foibles, sin, disobedience and disappointment? What keeps most families out of rampant discord and hostility?
And it isn’t only biological or blended families that defy the truism. Something exists that enables people to overcome interpersonal matters of all sorts that would customarily produce ill will.
Along with increased awareness of the unlovely, in the family we also see more of the lovely. In the family we see the unattractive, but also the attractive; we see sin, but also righteousness; the fall, but also redemption. It is a cause (the cause of Christ that for believers demonstrates that God shows us his glory in part through the brokenness of men) that causes us to revel in the good while not excusing the bad, that develops loyalty in the face of contempt.
For Christians, familiarity with our brothers and sisters frequently does lead to contempt. But real familiarity, familiarity that is more familial in the truest sense of the word, leads past contempt to godly love and loyalty. It is the grace of Christ that enables us to be familial in this sense; to view those who are not necessarily under our roof as nevertheless somehow still in our charge.
God places great value on our passing his instruction on to succeeding generations. He told Israel not to forget what they had seen, but to
‘teach them to your children and to their children after them’ (Deuteronomy 4:9).
He required diligence in that instruction:
‘Teach them to your children talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates’ (Deuteronomy 11:19-20).
And Paul repeats the theme when he tells us
‘Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord’ (Ephesians 6:4).
Yet finding good curriculum for use in our churches is not an easy task.
Tell Us Some Stories!
Recognizing the love kids have for storytelling, those who prepare children’s curriculum for Bible study focus on the narratives of Scripture, which can be especially powerful in conveying God’s redemption story if used properly.
A potential problem with prepared children’s curriculum is that the narratives are not given proper context: they focus on the faith, obedience, or attitude of the human actor in the story; how we should emulate (or not) the various characters; or some other secondary, peripheral or other theme that might not even exist in the text.
The story of Cain and Abel might focus on anger and brotherly love, rather than on obedience to God in worship. Noah and the ark might focus on Noah’s skill in shipbuilding and animal husbandry, but neglect explanation that the flood was God’s judgment on sin. And lessons on events in Jesus’ ministry might emphasize his love and compassion, but omit his demands of righteousness and obedience.
This leaves our children without the whole picture — or with an easily distorted picture — of God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus and of our need for redemption and God’s gracious provision. The church that desires complete biblical instruction for its children and youth, can look for several things to ensure that its content is complete and biblically sound and that it is faithfully and lovingly conveyed.
1. It must be comprehensive.
Most children’s curriculum repeat the same stories year after year, leaving kids with a stale knowledge of Noah’s Ark but will little understanding of God’s redemption story. By contrast, a two-year plan could easily accommodate teaching the complete Old Testament and New Testament story. Moreover, a plan to teach the basics, with other important materials, by grade six can be very effective. Any good education plan will be intentional about what material will be taught and on what timetable. 2. It must have Godward focus.
Most narrative focus on things other than that for which they were intended. Good curriculum will teach three things about each story: what it says about the condition of man, what it says about the character of God, and how it fits into the overall redemption story. Curriculum that focuses on other themes is in danger of treating God as cosmic magician or entertainer, performing great deeds for our amusement, or of treating stories as life lessons akin to Aesop’s Fables.
3. It must include memorization.
Children have great capacity to learn vast amounts of data, which they will, at some point, be able to assemble into meaningful understanding of redemption and of their own need for salvation.
4. It must include application.
All teaching should aim to affect at least on of the following: belief, attitude or behavior. Much teaching will involve all three. Children and youth should be taught in each lesson that God expects them to be different, in some way, as a result of what he has taught us.
5. It must be challenging.
Teaching for both children and youth must challenge them intellectually and morally. It must not be abbreviated, the difficult subjects adapted for teaching level but not diluted, and the unpleasant topics must not be avoided. If we tell children for more than six years that Jesus says “you are my friend” but they later learn that Jesus actually says “you are my friend if you obey my commandments” we have done them no service, and have created an integrity problem for ourselves. As youth get older and are able to use logic and rhetoric, they no longer will depend solely on narrative but their education should also include didactic instruction.
6. It must be taught.
Teachers must teach. They must believe the word, obey the word, live the word. And learners must learn. They don’t decide what they want to learn about and how it applies. Jesus said to “teach them to observe all that I commanded you,” not what they want to hear or what will make them happy.
Children and youth are capable of much more learning than we typically think. We should be good stewards of the mental and moral instruction and take advantage of the ability to teach them during their formative years. Our teaching should be intentional, it should be planned well, and it should be diligently executed.
The power of the social media phenomena is amply manifested by the fact that what once were merely proper names are now used as verbs, replacing such old-school phrases as “call me” with “facebook me,” although there is no small bit of confusion over whether the proper term for the 140-character version is “tweet me,” or “twit me,” or “Twitter me”, and, depending on the audience, any such variation carries the risk of earning a raised eyebrow or at the possibility of what has just been requested.
Social Media Outposts (Photo credit: the tartanpodcast)
Similarly, should I decide to send you a text over the phone (even the “dumb” ones can do this), you would likely know immediately what I meant if I included abbreviations like “bff” or “idk” or “lol” or “jk”.
There is much to commend about social media, particularly the powerful manner in which information can be disseminated quickly to vast audiences. Try that with carrier pigeons or smoke signals…
There are, equally, dangers of being “social” via the Internet, among them the very real peculiarity of a human being maintaining hundreds of “friends” without ever emerging from his home and seeing any of them face to face, or, for that matter, wearing any garment but his pajamas.
Those benefits and costs have been explored elsewhere, as have questions related to how social media affects the church and individual followers of Christ. This is not, however, a screed about how believers should unplug from facebook because reacquainting with high school sweethearts leads to the destruction of marriages (though it might).
Instead, social media might pose a less direct threat to the holiness of individual Christians for another reason.
Facebook, in particular, appeals to our emotive side by offering the ability to instantly express our feelings about a friend’s particular post or photo by simply clicking the “Like” button. Given the watching eyes of hundreds of our closest “friends,” there is no small pressure to join the chorus of “Likes” and go even further by typing a few words — almost certainly words of approval — in the comment lines.
What, you ask, could be wrong here? Imagine the following, unfortunately familiar scenarios:
Scenario 1: A married couple in the church presents the picture of spiritual health and vitality, between the two of them teaching and leading men and women in various ministries. Behind the scenes, their marriage fails, but they keep it to themselves and maintain the facade. Yet appearances cannot be maintained, and the truth comes out and the husband moves out, leaving the wife and children, who had depended on the husband’s provision, in hard conditions. It becomes apparent that the husband had no biblical grounds to divorce, and eventually re-marries shortly after the couple’s divorce is finalized.
You might astutely recognize that social media did not have a role in the couple’s marital problems. The difficulty arises when the husband posts photos of his second wedding ceremony on social media, which is seen by all the mutual friends he and the former wife had accumulated, many of which remained members of the church with the former wife. Those mutual friends post congratulatory comments, including such things as “You look so happy now!”
Church discipline, as well as the integrity of the church’s witness as God’s holy people, is undermined in such an event. Regardless whether he ended up re-marrying, the husband’s first order of business is being reconciled to the wife he abandoned and the church he betrayed. Repentance, contrition and forgiveness should characterize the aftermath of the separation and divorce, and where the husband does not initiate reconciliation, his church should take appropriate disciplinary action (Matthew 18).
Where there is no such reconciliation initiated by the offending husband, or discipline initiated by the church, social media provides too easy a forum for church members to affirm sinful behavior. In doing so, they neglect the image this presents to the wife and children remaining in fellowship, and leave the world to assume that they believe both the husband and wife are equally at fault, or that neither of them is at fault.
Scenario 2: A female young adult posts photos of her and her fiance online that can leave viewers with no other reasonable conclusion but that the two of them are living together and occupying the same bed prior to marriage. Both of them profess to be Christian, as do the parents of the fiance. Comments posted under the photos are all fawning, including those of the fiance’s Christ-professing parents.
The lack of consistent church discipline, both in the church at large and in individual church, leaves believers with no guidance regarding how to identify immoral behavior and what to do when they see it. In Scenario 2, the professing believers who approve of the female’s photos are giving to the entire social media audience implicit approval of fornication.
Church discipline does not merely aim to reform a believer’s behavior and effect reconciliation with his church home, though it does that. It also seeks to preserve the witness of the church and protect it from legitimate accusations of “hypocrisy” which frequently come from the watching world.
How, for instance, can a local congregation express its devotion to biblical standards of marriage as between one man and one woman — over against the culture’s vigorous war against that standard — when its members simultaneously approve sinful divorce and pre-marriage fornication?
If you profess the name Jesus, believer, take care that you do not approve sin (Romans 1:32) in social media.
How believers are to go about educating their children has been a matter of debate for many years, especially since the advent of options such as government schools, private schools, and all the other variations (“home schooling” was all there was, originally). Every parent should take the issue seriously, and thoughtfully consider all the biblical evidence that sheds light on how parents are to submit to God and make wise decisions in these areas.
Apple for the Teacher (Photo credit: George C Slade)
One viewpoint is that Christian parents should not use public, government schools at all (other options will be presented below). Douglas Wilson, author of Standing on the Promises: A Handbook of Biblical Childrearing (Canon Press: Moscow ID, 1977) argues that “Christian parents are morally obligated to keep their children out of government schools.” While I don’t necessarily agree with his conclusion, we should see in Wilson’s reasons the important issues that parents cannot neglect:
[The] Scriptures expressly require a non-agnostic form of education. Wilson bases this reason on Deuteronomy 6:4-9, which is the foundational biblical text for parents regarding teaching their children. Education is inherently spiritual in nature, and government schools increasingly claim that they are unable to address legitimate spirituality in their education.
[The] requirements involved in keeping the greatest commandment. Jesus requires His people to love the Lord their God with all their minds (Matthew 22:37).Similar to the first, this reason would prompt Christian parents to ask about their children’s public, government school (or other school, for that matter) whether it facilitates loving God with all their mind, or impedes it.
God expects parents to provide for and protect their children…sending children into a intellectual, ethical, and religious war zone without adequate training and preparation is a violation of charity. Parents should recognize that public, government education is not neutral with regard to thought, ethics, values, moral and even spiritual instruction, and likely contradicts the biblical worldview in those areas.
[The] declared intellectual goal assigned to the Church in Scripture (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). Believers are to “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” The point of education is to glorify God, exercise dominion over the earth, and engage in spiritual battle in the realm of thoughts and beliefs. The goals of public/government education are quite different.
[The] continued presence of Christians subsidizes a lie [that government is independent of God in all things, teaching without submission to God and his word]. Wilson’s argument here is that by continuing to utilize government education, Christians implicitly agree with the government’s idea that education is God-free.
Whether or not you, as parent, agree with Wilson that government schools should be avoided, you should seriously consider whether these principles about education are what the Bible teaches, and, if so, how you will follow God in them while participating in government schools. This applies equally to private and/or Christian schools: the crucial criteria for any non-home school is whether the Christian parent can abide by God’s teaching on education while sending his children there.
Many Christians teach in government and other non-home schools. It may be appropriate to remain there, but Christian public educators, too, should be deliberate and intentional about how they will honor biblical teaching regarding education while working in a system that, by definition, will not honor that biblical teaching.
The Christian parent has significant responsibilities regarding his children’s education. The primary duty is to examine the Scriptures diligently regarding education, and submit to the Lord in what you find, regardless of how it changes your thinking or how it differs from the world or how it might change your life.
If the Christian parent concludes, after faithful examination of the Scriptures and diligent prayer over the matter, that public/government or private school is the way to go, he must recognize that God does not shift the primary responsibility of education to that public, government school, or even to that private, Christian school: the parent remains responsible to God to teach his children. The decision to send children away from home for schooling does not end the parent’s obligation to teach, or permit the parent to put the child’s instruction out of his mind; in fact, the parent may need to do more to ensure that such education is proceeding in a way that honors God.
The point is that God will hold parents accountable for how they instruct their children. If you are a Christian parent, examine the Scriptures for what God says on the subject. Humbly submit to that teaching, and pray for wisdom to apply biblical truth to your life. Once you make a decision, regularly review whether your choice remains the wisest and most faithful.
By “in-house counsel” I don’t mean that churches should have lawyers on staff. That might send the wrong message.What I do mean is that churches should strive to engage in biblical counseling with one another as part of its discipleship ministry, with the pastor serving as chief discipler/counselor. Fortunately, biblical counseling is not its caricature, of a professional setting in which someone reclines on a couch and tries to get in touch with his feelings. As many point out, biblical counseling is “intensive discipleship” or “applied discipleship,” and can occur informally — between believers over coffee — or formally — when a pastor works with a couple to avoid divorce.
Hand Study with Bible (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Biblical counsel is such a natural part of relationships, that we are counseling much more than we realize (some good, some not so good), especially if we claim to be making disciples of Jesus Christ. In fact, if we are discipling, we are counseling; if we are making disciple-makers we are making biblical counselors.I previously posted the problems that arise when pastors avoid counseling (article). Here are a few of the benefits that result when a pastor and the congregation are faithful and deliberate about biblical counseling:1. We confirm the biblical witness. Scripture encourages believers in our ability to “admonish one another” (Romans 15:14). We are even commanded to engage in counseling one another (Galatians 6:1, Colossians 3:16, 1 Thessalonians 5:14). This is a task that is not to be delegated en masse to “professionals” or to non-member counselors.
2. We affirm the power of the gospel. Scripture teaches that the gospel delivers us from the penalty of sin. But it also teaches that the gospel saves us from the power of sin, now, and the presence of sin, in the heavenly state. We preach the power of the gospel to save men from the penalty of sin on Sundays. Through biblical counseling, we preach on Monday through Saturday that the gospel is able to save men from the power of sin: anger, marital problems, parenting issues, addictions, fear of man, pride, gluttony…
3. We faithfully, biblically, disciple men. I fear that for many of us, “discipleship” is simply a matter of having a daily quiet time: reading the Bible and praying, and teaching others to do the same. But Scripture is clear that one aspect of discipleship is “putting off” sin and “putting on” righteousness. When someone has a need for counseling, there is sin to be put off and righteousness to be put on. Seldom are we able to accomplish that alone, for ourselves, which is where biblical counseling — intensive discipleship — comes in.
Believers are frequently compared with those in military service in the Scriptures. Paul describes the spiritual warfare that followers of Jesus Christ wage, instructing us to “put on the whole armor of God” (Ephesians 6:10-18). We are told that we are like the “good soldier of Jesus Christ,” and that “no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits” (2 Timothy 2:3-4). Even our thoughts, beliefs and opinions come within the sphere of military imagery (2 Corinthians 10:4-6).
How does that imagery affect our gathering together for services on Sunday and Wednesday, or in small groups and Bible studies at other times?
Detail of a manuscript illustration depicting a knight carrying the “Shield of the Trinity.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Jesus sent out seventy-two disciples on a pre-resurrection reconnoissance mission (Luke 10:1-12). The men on this mission were to be very focused, undistracted, and singularly occupied with accomplishing the purpose Jesus gave them. They were to travel light, like military scouts, carrying “no money bag, no knapsack, no sandals.” And while many versions say the disciples were not to “greet” anyone on the road, the King James says they were not to “salute” anyone, which fits the tone of Jesus’ instructions. As he would later tell them, “all authority” had been given to him, and should his disciples be tempted to salute anyone else on the mission — submit to the authority of another — their allegiance to Christ would be diluted, the chain of authority confused, and the mission compromised.Later, the disciples returned and reported to Jesus what they had experienced, and how the mission was accomplished (Luke 10:17-20).
Followers of Jesus Christ today are also on a mission. But too often we allow ourselves to think that our mission happens only on Sundays and Wednesdays, for a couple of hours, and we fail to consider that the entire week, every week, every year, is a mission deployment for the King.
Consequently, when we gather, our prayer requests are about sickness. We rarely report our difficulties with marriage, parenting, employment, relationships, witnessing, evangelism or personal holiness, or even our successes in those areas. But spiritual warfare is happening all the time in each of those areas of our lives.
We can recover a whole-life view of discipleship — following Jesus into spiritual battle — if we remember that part of the reason that we gather together is to Report, Re-fuel, Rejoice, and Re-deploy.
1. Report
It’s easy to report sickness. It’s much more difficult to report our battles in marriage and parenting, personal holiness, or even in evangelism and disciple-making. But when we don’t, we risk treating the vast proportion of our lives as outside the mission we live for Jesus Christ. In practice, we begin to think and act as if the mission isn’t even relevant to those things. We don’t want to hear everyone’s “dirty laundry” every week, but treating daily difficulties (and successes) as part of the mission enhances everyone’s service to Christ.
2. Re-fuel
“Fellowship” for many believers is fried chicken and a devotion. But biblical fellowship involves much more, including encouragement, instruction in the Word, praise and “agitation” to good works (Hebrews 10:23-25). As we fight spiritual battles at work, at home, and within our heart, our hope can be deflated, our vigor drained, and our motivation sapped. Just like the advance scouts who can carry no purse nor money bag, we need to return to “base” frequently to get supplies. Hearing the Word, praying, and praising with other believers re-stocks the tools of our mission trade.
3. Rejoice
When the disciples returned from their advance scouting mission, they rejoiced with each other and with Jesus at what had happened (Luke 10:17). It is crucial for believers to hear how God is working fruitfully in the spiritual lives of others, whether that be progress in killing personal sin, knocking over proverbial idols, reconciling relationships, or proclaiming the gospel to unbelievers. Even when we think we are unable to rejoice in our own situations, we can rejoice in hope, and rejoice that our mission is sure to succeed because the King has guaranteed victory.
4. Re-deploy
Unfortunately, the Christian life is not lived in the sanctuary. Devotion to Christ is not fulfilled in the prayer closet. Worship, prayer, Bible study and fellowship are part of following Christ, but there is a reason that worship services and small group meetings don’t last all week. Our mission is to keep taking assignments and keep deploying into the field of operations. You may have seen the sign, posted above the exit of the sanctuary, that says “You are now entering the mission field.” That’s good, but it’s more accurate to say “You are now starting your mission.” When we leave Sunday worship, or Wednesday prayer meeting, or our small group fellowships, we are re-deploying with a set of mission objectives to accomplish, in our personal holiness, our family life, our employment, our disciple-making.
The mission doesn’t always go as well for us personally as the seventy-two disciples reported that it went for them. But we still rejoice that our “names are written in heaven,” and that we are privileged to serve Jesus Christ in our mission.
