Four Oaks Gospel Conference Introduction--February 25, 2011

Back in August 2010, as I watched my daughter, Alli, first prepare for and then depart for a two year mission to Caracas, Venezuela I recalled some lessons the Lord had shown me over the past twelve years from two overseas medical mission trips that I was privileged served on, from helping Larry Shingler establish a missions board at our church, then the very week Alli left we learned of eight medical missionaries and two of their translators being martyred by the Taliban in Afghanistan. It was with all those thoughts racing through my mind that I watched God call one of my precious girls to serve Him on a foreign field, especially one where the country’s leader, Hugh Chavez, absolutely despises America. It all came to a head the day she left when I received an e-mail from my dad [Alli’s grandfather] which stated, “I'm frankly worried about Alli being in Venezuela. While I'm very proud of her answering this very noble calling, I do know they don't much like Americans in that country. Just what protection do they provide for those Americans who teach there?” I’ll share with you a portion of what I shared with my daughter Alli and our family on the night before her departure.

First of all, I reminded her that those of us who have had the privilege of living as a citizen in this country have, in many ways, lived in a unreal world. Our ordinary experience would appropriately be described as surreal by most of the 7 billion people who live on our planet. Though most of us have lived out “the American Dream” it has also been accompanied by a bit of delusion. Most of us have begun to feel that life comes with certain guarantees. We have even created a false theology that validates our false sense of security. Peace and prosperity have become expectations … and many have been dumbstruck over the last three years in America to see that this isn’t always the case. Concepts such as sacrifice and suffering were left to describe only those who were living outside the blessings of God.

We live in an era of peace and stability though even the edges of that have become progressively more frayed … recalling the two wars in which we are now engaged and the brutal attacks of 9/11 that precipitated them. But even still, we hire others to fight for us so that we can largely be left unaffected. And even now this month as we see the Arab world seemingly coming apart at the seems, I think now even more this has led us to come to wrong conclusions regarding what the human spirit needs. You would think that what we need is certainty, the promise that everything is going to be all right, the guarantee that we’ll be safe. While I, like everyone else, would love to know that this is the life that God would choose to give my family and me, the security that we often seek is not necessary to living life to the fullest. And sometimes it can actually be the great deterrent to seizing our God-ordained moments.

In I Samuel 14 we read about Jonathan moving with God in a situation where his father, King Saul and his army was paralyzed by fear in a standoff with the Philistine army. Jonathan was certain about some things, and at the same time he was able to operate in the realm of uncertainty. He called out to his armor-bearer and said, “Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf.” You’ve gotta love that. In today’s vernacular he basically said, “Let’s go pick a fight. Maybe God will help.” Jonathan understood that not everything was guaranteed, that you don’t wait till all the money is in the bank. There are some things that you can know and some things that you will not know. He went on to say, “Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.”

God had promised Israel deliverance from the oppressive hand of the Philistines, and the way He would do it was by raising up an army of men who would trust in God and go to war against them. Jonathan was clear about one thing: he knew for certain that nothing could stop the Lord from saving, and God could use a lot of people or only a few people. The odds are always irrelevant to God.

Jonathan had an unwavering confidence in God’s capacity. He had absolute trust in God’s character. He seemed resolute about whether God could be trusted. That was all settled for him. His focus was not, What is God’s will for my life? but How can I give my life to fulfill God’s will? He had no certainty concerning his personal well-being. That he was moving in line with God’s purpose was the only certainty that he needed. He understood that to move with God is to accept a life full of uncertainties.

Our wealth and abundance of human resources have positioned us to accept a paradigm that provision precedes vision. This has been the foundation of our building a no-risk faith. This is a tragedy because part of the adventure is the discovery that vision always precedes provision. It may seem like a stretch to many, but it is always right to do what’s right, even if it turns out wrong. Jesus did the right thing when He left Gethsemane where He struggled to embrace the Father’s will and began a journey that would lead Him to the Cross. The consequence to Him was severe. Our response to His coming was to crucify Him. We should not be surprised, then, that a lifelong journey with God might bring us suffering and hardship. If the Cross teaches us anything, it teaches us that sometimes God comes through after we’ve been killed!

If we are going to seize divine moments, we must accept the reality that we have no control over many things. We have no control over when we die or even how we die. We must instead take responsibility for what we do have control over – how we choose to live.

Jonathan wasn’t choosing to die, but he was choosing how he would live. He left the consequence of his actions in the hands of God. He chose to do something that he knew was right. Again, God was doing something in history, and Jonathan gave his life to it. This realm of uncertainty is also the place of miracles. Sometimes the miracle is wrapped around the person we become, the courage and nobility expressed through a life well-lived.

When you move with God, He always shows up. It’s just difficult to predict what He will do or how He will do it. If you wait for guarantees, the only thing that will be guaranteed is that you will miss endless divine opportunities – that you can know for certain.

Lastly, I want to tell you the last thing I told Alli …the difference between Jonathan and us is though Jonathan had no idea whether or not God would act on his behalf, in that particular engagement, he knew who God was. He knew if he would seek God, he would live, even though he died in the trying. It is ironic then, that we run to God to keep us safe when He calls us to a dangerous faith. He will shake loose everything in which we place our trust outside of Him and teach us how to thrive in a future that is unknown. There is only One who is certain; everything else exists in the realm of uncertainty. To place our trust in anything other than God is nothing less than superstition.

And lastly before we pray I just want to publicly thank God for making Larry’s dream, my dream, Scott’s dream, Mike Sloderbeck’s dream a reality at Four Oaks. Nine years ago my family attended a worship service at John Piper’s church, Bethlehem Baptist, in Minneapolis and I was most struck by the back page of the church bulletin listing their homegrown missionaries and where they served all over the world. The entire page was full. I begged God to make that true of Four Oaks … amazingly, we are now almost there … so I am going to pray for two pages! Someone asked me a few years ago about how we are able to mobilize so many people to overseas missions at Four Oaks. My answer was if your church is full of members, you will get an occasional missionary. But if your church is full of missionaries [people on mission for God], well then, the rest is just about geography!

September 2008: Looking Into the Abyss

"There is carnage on Wall Street ... the shares of the major financial stocks are plummeting and triggering a major sell-off in the markets ... the damage is widespread ... the Dow Jones Industrial Average is plunging ... oil is plunging." You can hear them hollering on the floors of all the major stock exchanges. "We are down 260 points in literally a split second."

"The Dow Jones Industrial Average is now over 500 points in decline in a single day." "The housing report is not only grim but this is shaping up to be the worst housing market in over a generation." "We are now into historic territories." "Investors are getting their heads handed to them as another U.S. banking institution nears collapse."

The President's Working Group is going into emergency session with the Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, and the Federal Reserve Board.

"President Bush's Chief of Staff, Joshua Bolton, is calling back in an hour ... he's with the president and he's going to want to know what I think we should do."

"This isn't Lehman Brothers Hank. This is too big to fail."

"This is just an insane situation."

"This is now!"

"There is about $70 billion out there in credit default swaps held by roughly 17 banks and we do not know where the bottom is. How much are you guys thinking?"

"At least 5."

"I think 6."

"Hank, I frankly think 'Harry' and 'Charlie' are low ... I think we are talking $7-$8 hundred billion."

"Selling this to Congress is the problem. They are going to want to know where the money is going. They will jawbone this to death."

"Scare 'em!"

"How?"

"Tell them the truth!"

"The government has got to restore confidence. It we don't stop the bleeding in three days half the banks in this room are out of business. In five days, we're all gone."

"Do you men realize what you've done here? You are asking for the biggest bailout in the history of this country. You're talking nationalization ... socialism. I have fought it all my life."

"And if we don't get it Hank, there won't be any history. The music stops ... the ball is over."

"It's 1929 but it will be get worse now because it will go much faster. Money markets will dry up around the world in less than a week. ATMs will stop spitting out bills. The Federal Deposit Insurance will collapse. Banks will close. Mobs will panic. It's going to be the end of the world Hank!"

Remember the $700 billion bank bailout passed on October 3, 2008??? Maybe George W. Bush saved the world after all!

Remembering Gordon Gekko & Leveraged Debt: Greed to the Max

"You don't know it yet but you are the NINJA generation -- No Income, No Job, No Assets, No Income ... You've got a lot to look forward to. Someone reminded me the other evening that I once said, 'Greed is good.' Now it seems to be legal.

But folks, it is greed that makes my bartender buy three houses he can't afford with no money down. And it's greed that makes your parents refinance their $200,o00 house for $250,000 and take that extra $50,000 down to the mall and buy a plasma TV, cell phones, computers or an SUV. Hey why not a second home while we're at it ... because gee whiz, we all know the prices of houses in America always go up. Right?

And it's greed that makes the government of this country cut the interest rate to 1% after 9/11 so we could all go shopping again.

They've got all these fancy names for trillions of dollars of credit ... CMOs, CDOs, SIVs, ABSs. You know I honestly think there maybe only 75 people in the entire world who even know what they are. But I'll tell you what they are ... They are WMD's ... Weapons of Mass Destruction. When I was away, it seems like greed got greedier with a little bit of envy mixed in.

Hedge-funders were walking home with 50-100 million bucks a year. So, mister banker, he looks around and says my life looks pretty boring so he starts leveraging his interests up to 40:1 even 50:1 with your money! Because he could. You're supposed to be borrowing, not them. And the beauty of the deal is that no one is responsible ... Cause everybody is drinking the same Kool-Aid.

Last year ladies and gentlemen, 40% of all American corporate profits came from financial services ... not production, not anything remotely to do with the needs of the American public. The truth is that we are all part of it now. Banks, consumers all moving money around in circles. We take a buck and shoot it full of steroids and we call it leverage. I call it steroid banking!

Now I've been considered a pretty smart guy when it comes to finance and maybe I was in prison too long. But sometimes it is the only place to stay sane and to look out through those bars and say HEY! Is everybody out there nuts?!?

It is clear as a bell to those who pay attention ... the mother of all evil is speculation ... leveraged debt. The bottom line is borrowing to the hilt. And I hate to tell you this but it is a bankrupt business model. It won't work. It is systemic, malignant and its global ... like cancer. It's a disease and we've got to fight back. How are we going to do that? How are we going to leverage that disease back? Well, I'll tell you. Three Words: Buy My Book" [only in America can this happen ... trying to make a buck off perhaps the greatest financial crisis in world history ... note that the only other time unemployment in the United States exceeded 9% for this long was the Great Depression ... which we still might yet be facing again anyway].

The Radical Righteousness of Jesus

The structure of the Sermon on the Mount is remarkably beautiful. It begins with the Beatitudes, which give us a penetrating description of the inner character or righteousness of those who are members of the kingdom of heaven. Next follows two brilliant metaphors -- salt and light -- indelibly impressing upon us the effect of such inner righteousness upon humanity. Then Jesus gives a summary description of the radical righteousness of the kingdom and explains exactly how this righteousness is in continuity with the Old Testament Law and Prophets. Each example, and there are six of them, is introduced with a variation of His formula, "You have heard it said ... but I tell you ... "

I think this significance of Jesus switching to the first person cannot be overstated as it makes it highly personal. In the Beatitudes Christ speaks in the third person: "Blessed are the ... " But in the final Beatitude and in the subsequent metaphors He switches to the second person: "Blessed are you ... you are the salt ... you are the light." Then in the applications that follow, He moves to the first person: "But I tell you ... " No scribe or rabbi had ever spoken like this. They typically spoke in the second or third person quoting the many rabbis that came before them who quoted the rabbis that came before them. Jesus' revolutionary style of teaching, especially concerning righteousness was, "I tell you." This was both radically personal as well as authoritative.

After Jesus had presented both the Beatitudes and the two metaphors, He sensed that some of His listeners thought He was advocating an overthrow of the Old Testament Law. So He gave His unforgettable disclaimer, which set down for all time His relationship to the Law:

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth shall disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished" [Matthew 5:17, 18].

It seems clear enough from Jesus' own words that He came to fulfill the Law, not to annul it. However, some have actually taught that Christ came to destroy the Law. For example, the second-century heretic Marcion [see my December 31, 2010 entry: Mt. Sinai, Mt. Zion, and the Consuming Fire of God] rewrote the New Testament by eliminating its Old Testament references and simply removed this passage. And some of his disciples went even further by exchanging the verbs in the sentence so it would read: "I have come not to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, but to abolish them!" Two centuries later Dr. Faustus, a leader of the Manichees who also repudiated the Old Testament and its God, attacked Augustine. According to Harvey MacArthur, Augustine's Reply to Faustus became the classic answer to such thinking. In a nutshell, the answer was this: Jesus was not abolishing the Law when He countered the Pharisees saying, "You have heard it said ... but I tell you." Rather, He was correcting the perversions that the scribes and Pharisees had made of the Law.

In reality, Christ established the Law and the Prophets in six distinct ways. First and foremost He fulfilled their messianic predictions. Both the Prophets and Law pointed to Jesus. Here the terms "the Law" and "the Prophets" can be taken together to signify the entire Old Testament. Jesus Himself said, "For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John" [Matthew 11:13]. Thus the entire Old Testament had a prophetic function that was fulfilled in Christ. Some of it was clearly predictive [such as the predictions of His birthplace, Micah 5:2 and His crucifixion, Psalm 22:16] and other parts were not so clear [such as His call from Egypt, Matthew 2:15 and Hosea 11:1]. But whether obvious or hidden, Jesus fulfilled all the messianic predictions of the Old Testament. This was His principle fulfillment.

However, He also fulfilled the Old Testament in other ways. He fulfilled the Law by dying on a cross and satisfying the demands of the Law against those who would believe in Him. The entire sacrificial system in Old Testament times pointed to Him as they prepared the people by instilling in them the conditioned reflex that sacrifice meant death. A third area of fulfillment is that Jesus perfectly kept all the commands of the Old Testament Law. He was "born under the law" [Galatians 4:4] "to fulfill all righteousness" [Matthew 3:15]. He kept the Law perfectly, never falling short in a single point.

The fourth way Jesus fulfills the Law in His believers is by means of the Holy Spirit which, of course, was Paul's argument as stated in Romans 8:2-4: "Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." Thus we are able to fulfill the righteousness of the Law by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is exactly what Ezekiel prophesied: "I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws" [Ezekiel 11:19, 20].

Another example of Jesus' fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures is how He brought their great doctrines to fruition by His teaching and person. It has been said that the Old Testament is the Gospel in the bud and the New Testament is the Gospel in full bloom. Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets in such a multifaceted, dynamic way which in no way destroyed the Law, but rather completely superseded and fulfilled it. His claim to this effect is the most stupendous ever made! And we stand in awe at the matchlessness of Christ! He both the Author of the Law, and He is its Fulfiller. Nothing compares with the superb and mysterious authority with which He puts forth the truth.

Notice, too, the perpetuity of the Law: "I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished" [v. 18]. Jesus' language is compelling. "The smallest letter" is the Hebrew yod which looks something like an apostrophe. According to Albert Bengel, there are approximately 66,420 yods in the Old Testament. "The least stroke" is the Hebrew serif, a tiny extension on some letters that distinguishes them from similar letters. Not one of the 66,000-plus yods or innumerable little serifs will pass from the Law [which here includes the Law and the Prophets] until "everything is accomplished." Our Lord is here teaching the inspiration and immutability of the Old Testament. He is not only saying that the Old Testament contains the truth or that it becomes the truth, but that "the Scripture cannot be broken" [John 10:35]. Holy Scripture and its teaching will not change. Time and time again when our Lord quotes the Old Testament, He used the perfect tense, gegraptai -- "It is written" -- which means "it was written, it is written, and it always will be written." The Scriptures are more enduring than the universe. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away" [Matthew 24:35].

Now we must see the profound continuity between Christ's righteousness and the righteousness called for by the Old Testament. The radical righteousness Christ lived and taught, including here in the Sermon on the Mount, is not out of line with the Old Testament. His righteousness is not radical because it was new but because He actually lived it! No one else before Him or since Him has. Though we live under grace, the Old Testament is still very important. It instructs us in the demands of a righteous God and through it we see how high His holiness and standards are, and as such, we see how short we fall and how desperately we need His grace.

Verses 19, 20 give us specific advice as to how we should relate to the Old Testament: "Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Notice the word "great" ... in our society to be called "great" is not too remarkable or meaningful as the term has become so ubiquitous that it has almost lost its meaning. But when God says certain people will be called "great" -- megas -- big in the kingdom -- He means it! And we should take notice!

The keeping of the precepts of God as recorded in the Old Testament will make a difference in our eternal reward. Following Christ is not simply following subjective inner impulses. It involves knowing what He desires. We need to be in touch with the teaching of all of God's Word as to the nature of righteousness. We need the Holy Spirit. Jesus' words have set us up for a supremely radical call. True belief necessitates radical personal righteousness. "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven" [v. 20]. To the average man on the street, the Jews of Jesus' day, this statement was absolutely shocking! The scribes and Pharisees made obedience to God's Law the master passion of their lives. They calculated that the Law contained 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions, and they tried to keep them all. How could anyone surpass that? And how could such righteousness be made a condition to entering the kingdom? Jesus seemed to be saying, "Don't think I have come to make things any easier by reducing the demands of the Law. Far from it! In fact, if your righteousness does not exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees [your spiritual leaders], you'll never make it!"

Talk about a dilemma! Is there no solution? We must first understand that the Pharisees' righteousness was not as great as it appeared to be. It was merely external focusing primarily on the ceremonial. Its man-made rules were actually unconscious attempts to reduce the demands of the Law and make them more manageable. These rules were attempts to insulate them from the Law's piercing heart demands. This allowed them to be self-satisfied. A Pharisee could stand on a corner and look down on a publican, and say, "I thank God I am not like that man." Jesus was demanding a deeper obedience. The Pharisees saw obedience quantitatively [obedience to myriad little laws], but Jesus saw it more qualitatively. The righteousness that Christ demands is supremely radical. It is immeasurably higher than the rabbis' concept of righteousness. To further complicate matters, Jesus will end up closing this portion of His sermon with the demand to "Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect" [v. 48].

Christ's intransigence, His hard unbending words, were actually full of grace. When He said "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven," He was speaking as kindly as He ever spoke, for He was explaining in the most dramatic terms the impossibility of salvation apart from His grace. This then takes us right back to ground zero of the first Beatitude: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God" [5:3]. However you want to phrase it, "Blessed are those who are spiritually bankrupt, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" or "Blessed are those who realize they cannot make it on their own, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Do we really fully understand and acknowledge that there is no way but that of grace? If so, then we also see that Jesus' words in v. 17 are our only hope: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." This is our hope because Christ did what we could never do -- He fulfilled the Law. His righteousness far exceeded that of the scribes and Pharisees. And because He fulfilled the Law, He can give us a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. He fulfilled the Law by leading a perfectly righteous life. He fulfilled it demands against us by dying for us. And that is the gospel and our only hope.

Living as Children of the Light

The following is a reprint from my Shades of Life blog regarding Ephesians 5:8-14 from April 17, 2010 with some additional thoughts at the end regarding its application to Matthew 5:14-16:

It was the morning after the annual spectacular nighttime ceremony known as the Illumination of the Temple when Jesus, standing in the very place where the event had occurred only hours before, lifted his voice above the crowd and proclaimed the immortal words, "I am the light of the world" [John 8:12].

In ancient Israel, the Illumination of the Temple was the culmination of the annual Feast of Tabernacles. It took place in the Temple treasury before four massive candelabra topped with huge torches. According to Kent Hughes, the candelabra were as tall as the highest walls on the Temple, and at the top of the candelabra were mounted great bowls each of which held 65 liters of oil. There was a ladder for each candelabrum, and when evening came, the healthy young priests would carry the oil up to the great bowls and light the protruding wicks. Then huge flames would leap from the torches illuminating not only the Temple but all of Jerusalem. A modern day equivalent may perhaps be the Olympic flame but here there were twelve flames [perhaps one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel]. The Mishnah tells us that "Men of piety and good works would then dance before the candelabra with burning torches in their hands singing songs and praise and countless Levites would play on harps, lyres, cymbals and trumpets as well as other instruments of music." Imagine the spectacle of fire, oil, heat, smoke, and perspiration as the priests whirled and danced before the enchanted and dazzled throng. Hughes continues by reminding us that this exotic rite celebrated the great pillar of fire [the glorious Shekinah cloud of God's presence] which led the Israelites during their sojourn in the wilderness and spread its fiery billows over the Tabernacle.

Then imagine Jesus Christ standing in the same location merely hours after the fires had been extinguished, with the great charred torches still in place, lifting his voice and bellowing "I am the light of the world!" There could scarcely be a more emphatic way to announce the supreme truth of the universe. Christ was saying in effect, "The pillar of fire that came between you and the Egyptians, the cloud that guided you by day in the wilderness and illuminated the night and enveloped the Tabernacle, the glorious cloud that filled Solomon's Temple is me! ... "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." He is everything suggested by this sublime metaphor of light -- and so much more.

This immense truth that Christ is the very light of this world must be foundational to our thinking as we consider Ephesians 5:8-14. "For you were once darkness, but now are light in the Lord." [v. 8] We are light! It has been said by a number of preachers including Dr. Gary Barnhouse, and perhaps you have even heard it said, that "When Christ was in the world, he was like the shining sun. When the sun sets, the moon comes up. The moon is the picture of believers, the Church. The Church shines, but not with its own light. It shines reflected light. At times the Church has been a full moon dazzling the world with almost daytime light ... and at other times the Church has been a thumbnail moon, and in those days very little light shown on the earth. But whether the Church is a full or thumbnail moon, whether waxing or waning, it reflects the light of Christ. Our light does not originate with us."

But our text suggests even more than reflection -- we actually become light ourselves: "For you were once darkness, but now you are the light in the Lord." Hughes states that "our light is derived from him -- not a ray of it comes from ourselves. But somehow our incorporation in Christ allows us to actually be light, however imperfect." Peter says that we "participate in the divine nature" [2 Peter 1:4]. Hughes continues that "so authentic is our participation, so real is our light, that in eternity we will actually be part of the light ourselves." Jesus said as much in his Mystery Parables, "Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father" [Matthew 13:43]. C.S. Lewis even seems to concur as he writes "Nature is mortal. We shall outlive her. When all the suns and nebulae have passed away, each one of you will still be alive. Nature is only the image, the symbol ... We are summoned to pass through nature beyond her to the splendor which she fitfully reflects." The heavens do reflect the glory of God. But we share in the glory of the Father in Christ -- and we shall be more glorious than the heavens. As Christians there is a glory awaiting us that involves, in some mysterious way, shining [not reflecting]. Somehow we are going to enter into the fame and approval of God, and we will be glorious beings far beyond description. The mysteries of Christ are endlessly amazing to ponder indeed!

But there is a caveat! Because we are light, we have a huge responsibility in the world. How are we who have been transferred from darkness to light to live? Paul commands us to "Live as children of light [for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth] and find out what pleases the Lord" [vv. 8-10]. In a word, Christ's light as it passes through the prisms of our lives should produce a sterling character. According to F.F. Bruce, goodness here implies generosity. Righteousness is integrity in all dealings with both God and man. And finally, truth is the absence of falsehood and deception. These are the ethics of light. When the light of Jesus is refracted through the prisms of our lives, there will be sanctifying shades of life for others to see. In this we "find out what pleases the Lord," and so do others.

Jesus spoke as much in his Sermon on the Mount, "You are the light of the world" [Matthew 5:14]. The more luminous our integrity -- our goodness, righteousness and truth -- the brighter the light. How can we shine more brightly? We must spend time alone with Jesus -- the Light -- in prayer, exposing our lives like Kodak film in the pre-digital era, to his presence so that his image, his very character, is melded into ours. If we do this, we can become spiritually like Moses when he descended Sinai after being alone with God -- his face shone with the light of God.

Nevertheless, the foundational fact that Jesus is the light of the world is glorious, but it also suggests the equally foundational but inglorious fact that the world is in darkness. The physical earth is shrouded with dark clouds, suspended in dark space. The darkness of the world is a spiritual darkness that dominates the entire world system, but even more horrible is that the inhabitants of the world love the darkness! The Apostle John tells us, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil" [John 3:19]. Darkness by itself is one thing, but intentional darkness is far worse. To be subject to the darkness of the night before the dawn is one thing, but it is quite another thing to deliberately live in caves and refuse to come to the light. Why this preference for darkness? John tells us that the world loves darkness because its deeds are evil.

But it is this reality of the world's darkness that makes Jesus' pronouncement so thrilling. "You [emphatic: you alone] are the light of the world [and no one else!]." For us to say such a thing about ourselves without divine precedent and sanction would be the height of arrogance. But Jesus said it, and it is easily one of the most stupendous statements to ever fall from Christ's lips -- especially realizing what we are like when left to ourselves.

Our Lord goes further when He dramatizes the function of light by giving two examples -- a city perched on a hill and a light set in a home. First, believers are to function like a city set on a hill. Jesus says, "A city on a hill cannot be hidden" [v.14]. Consider the city of Quito in Ecuador, it is a city situated at 10,000 feet elevation and is clearly visible from beyond 75 miles away in any direction. It cannot be hidden. Yet when one is in this great city itself, the light from the tiny villages higher above it in the Andes is easily seen. Cities on hills cannot be easily hidden. Believers are like this. They are visible. There is no such thing as an invisible believer.

In addition to being like a hilltop city, Christians are like an ancient household lamp. Jesus goes on to say, "Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it up on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house" [v. 15]. The point is unmistakable: the principal function of a household lamp and of a believer, is to provide illumination to all around. This simple metaphor is quite revealing in and of itself. Light reveals things as they really are. Light also promotes life ... both to plants in basements as well as to mending bones. Light is persistent ... it constantly assaults the earth and will penetrate the slightest crack. The darkest place is not safe from it if the tiniest opening appears. Light also awakens us.

Jesus, our Captain and our role model, did all these things and more by bringing spiritual light into the world. He did not make the darkness darker -- he simply made it felt. His life was such that men and women were made to feel what they could not feel before -- their sin, imperfection and impurity. Christ made possible a clearer distinction between good and evil. He eliminated the option of thinking ourselves good by comparison with others. He was and is the standard of comparison! At the same time, His perfectly beautiful life draws men and women to Him. We are lamps, and the Master of the House places us strategically so that it can shine to its best advantage. God does the placing. We are simply to shine where placed. In fact, it is in the darker and less promising places that light has its greatest effect.

Lastly, it is the facts and functions of light in our lives and world that bring us the greatest responsibility. Jesus was very explicit about this: "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" [v. 16]. This is a command, not a suggestion. Jesus is basically saying, "If you are light, then shine!" He didn't give us a different option. Let us keep the emotion of this imperative before us as we consider what He says. The mode of shining, He tells us, is "good deeds." The word He uses is kalos, which carries the idea of attractiveness or beauty, rather than the more common agathos, which means good in quality. Jesus wants our light to shine through beautiful, attractive works! And why should we be given to beautiful, shining works? " ... that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." All glory to God! As David said, "Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to Your Name be the glory" [Psalm 115:1]. May that be our prayer as well.

Perhaps Salt Isn't So Bad For Us After All

All we hear these days in the field of medicine is just how bad salt is for people and all the strides we must take to eliminate it from our diets. When I was in training we thought it good to have our patients limit their total daily sodium intake to four grams [basically not adding salt to their food]. The most recent guidelines circa 2011 have cut that down to 1.8 grams per day which translates into an active avoidance of foods containing sodium. But in Matthew 5, we see that Jesus has an altogether different perspective on merits of salt in our society and could that perhaps be why "the world" is so desperately trying to avoid it? Hmmm.

The Beatitudes of Jesus are sometimes called the "Beautiful Attitudes" because they describe the inner character of those who are members of the kingdom of God. Realizing that the Beatitudes are essentially internal, we might be tempted to think that they can be lived out in isolation -- away from the world that is so contradictory to the things of God. But actually it is impossible to live these eight norms of the kingdom in private. They are powerfully social and outward when put to work. That is why Christ crowns them with two brilliant and searching metaphors [salt and light] that tell us how those who live the Beatitudes must relate to the world. The first follows:

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men" [Matthew 5:13].

Since Jesus Christ spoke these words early in His ministry, when He had only a few poor, uneducated followers, His words no doubt appeared to some as presumptuous and even absurd. "You, you alone, are the salt of the earth -- not just of Palestine, but of the whole earth." The Lord was essentially saying that His disciples would perform a vast universal task that would affect all mankind. He was expressing a strange but great confidence in His followers. Stranger still, we know that they and their followers accomplished just that, despite their myriad shortcomings and inconsistencies.

As we examine this passage of Scripture, we will see an unforgettable description of the church's mission in a fallen world. To begin with, the church is to be a salty church. What did Jesus mean when He said this? Fundamental to understanding His meaning is the fact that in the ancient world the primary function of salt was its use as a preservative. There were no ice machines in those days and refrigeration was beyond men's wildest dreams. The only way to preserve meat then was to salt it down or soak it in a saline solution. In fact, this was common practice right into the twentieth century in the more remote areas of the world.

In view of this, the underlying implication of Jesus' saying, "You are the salt of the earth" is that the world tends toward decomposition and is actually rotting away. He was under no illusion about the world apart from Himself. When the world is left to itself, it festers and putrefies, for the germs of evil are everywhere present and active. This is the consistent teaching of Scripture and Biblical history. From the Garden to the Flood to a second chance and then to Sodom and Gomorrah, we live in a world that constantly tends toward decay. Moreover, this principle applies to both the physical as well at the spiritual world and is so well known that it has been codified as the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

This suggests to us the function of the church: The church, as salt, functions as a retardant to decay and a preservative in a disintegrating world. The church must be rubbed into the world -- into its rotting flesh and wounds so that it might be preserved. There is both a positive and negative side to the church's role as society's preservative. On the negative side, the presence of salty Christians retards decay simply because their lives serve as a reproach to the sin of those they are around. We all know there are certain people in whose presence a filthy story is naturally told, and there are others before whom no one would think of telling such a story. The salty believer is not self-righteous or condemning, but his or her life makes ungodly conversation seem shabby and inappropriate. And there is also a positive aspect. Not only are our lives meant to reprove evil, but they are also meant to elicit the best from those around us. To live a life that is so salted that others are drawn to God and want to live lives like ours is indeed beautiful!

In biblical times, as today, salt was not only a preservative, but also a spice, a condiment. Our faith is what brings spice and zest to life. The bland is made savory, and the unpalatable become a delight! Believers should be the ones who live life to its fullest ... they should write the best books, compose the best music, work the hardest, be the finest craftsmen, be the most courteous, and also the best students. All of which points to another result of being salty -- salt creates thirst. Jesus made people thirsty for God. Whenever anyone, whose heart wasn't hardened by selfish ambition and pride, whether a Pharisee like Nicodemus or outcasts like Mary Magdalene and Zacchaeus, that person became thirsty for God. Are we salty enough to make those around us thirsty for Jesus?

Also consider the fact that it doesn't take much salt to make its presence known. Just one bite at dinner can tell us whether the food has been salted or not. Just a pinch of salt goes a long way. Consider the example of William Wilberforce, whose life became the subject of the recent film Amazing Grace, and who virtually single-handedly brought about the end of the slave trade in England. Dwarfed by a chronic intestinal ailment [something I very much can personally relate to over the past 24 hours ... yet, he lived with it day in and day out for decades] he outwardly did not appear to be a person who would accomplish anything with his life. However, the English historian Boswell wrote of him, after listening to one of his speeches, "I saw a shrimp mount the table; but as I listened, he grew and grew until the shrimp became a whale." Tiny, elfish, misshapen, he was salt to British society, not only in bringing preservation but also enticement to Christ by his beautiful life. A little salt will make its presence felt.

Lastly, I wonder if there can be such a thing as a desalted church? Jesus indicates this is a possibility: " ... if the salt loses its saltiness. Some translations render this as "tasteless." In actuality, salt is an extremely stable compound and does not become tasteless. The consensus of most scholars is that Jesus is referring to it adulteration or dilution. The point being, it is dangerously easy for Christians to lose their salty, preserving influence in the world. While many believers remain pungent and salty, there are others who are virtually indistinguishable from the surrounding culture. I do not think that any of us can look at American or European Christianity or at our local churches or perhaps even into our very own hearts without admitting that the possibility of saltless, insipid, bland Christianity is very real.

The reality is, to use a different analogy, if we are not heating the world, the world is freezing us. We export our influence on those around us, but if there are more imports than exports, if there are not greater influences going out from us than are coming in, we will become like the world. If we are not salting the world, the world is making us rot. The great tragedy is that often the world does us more harm than we do it good! The Christian life that has lost its saltiness is good for nothing at all! There is only one thing to do with it -- throw it away and walk on it. We see testimony of this in church history. We search in vain for the once-great churches of Asia Minor with their flourishing parishes. The churches of Corinth and Ephesus are all but nonexistent. We look in vain for the church of North Africa where the great Augustine ministered. Seeing this, we must dispense with any illusion that the churches of western Christianity are eternal. The reality is that much of organized Christianity is already falling because it has lost its pungency. The best evangelical traditions are not immune from inconsistency, preaching that is barely Biblical, and a status quo mentality. Yet with all of this, Christ's expression of this metaphor is essentially positive. Jesus said, "You [emphatic: you alone] are the salt of the earth." He says, "I believe in you. I have called you." Jesus believes that we can have a healing, preserving influence on our own society as well as the world. He believes that we can bring flavor to life -- that we can make the world thirsty for Him. And so should we under the power of His Holy Spirit.

The Joy of Persecution

"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of God." Matthew 5:10

Joy are woe are part of the fabric of life that God weaves and lovingly fits as perfect clothing for His children. This is, of course, both mystical and paradoxical just as the seven Beatitudes that precede it. But we can take great comfort in the fact that God is the weaver.

Until now all the Beatitudes have been given in the third person -- "Blessed are those," and that is they way this Beatitude begins as well. But the repetition in verse 11 changes to the direct address of the second person -- "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you ..." The repetition of the Beatitude, its personalization, and it position at the end of the list tell us that it is of supreme importance for the church. Significantly, when stretched on the loom of adversity the church has repeatedly woven persecution and joy into garments of divine praise.

Supernatural joy amidst trial has been the experience of the church. When Peter and the other apostles were flogged before the Sanhedrin soon after Pentecost, "the apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering for the Name" [Acts 5:41].

Note that this Beatitude does not say, "Blessed are the persecuted, period!" Unfortunately, this is how is sometimes interpreted and those who read it like this delude themselves into thinking that any time they experience conflict, they are bearing the reproach of Christ. Sadly, Christians are very often persecuted not for their Christianity, but for their lack of it. Sometimes they are rejected simply for their unpleasant personalities ... they may be rude, insensitive, thoughtless or just plain obnoxious. Some are rejected for being proud and judgmental. Others may be disliked because they are lazy and irresponsible or perhaps piously incompetent. To those Christ's words must be read in their entirety ... "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness ... " The context for this righteousness may be found in the preceding Beatitudes as the world cannot tolerate such lives. Why?

First, poverty of spirit runs counter to the pride of the unbelieving heart. Those whom the world admires are the self-sufficient who need nothing or no one else, not the poor in spirit. Second, the mourning, repentant heart that sorrows over its own sin and the sins of society is also not appreciated by this world. Third, the gentle and meek person, the one who has the strength not to take up personal offense, is regarded as weak by those who do not know Christ. To the contrary, conventional wisdom has it that "meekness is weakness." Fourth, hungering and thirsting for the spiritual -- for Christ -- is both foreign and repugnant to a world that lusts after only what it can touch and taste.

Fifth, the truly merciful person who not only feels compassion and forgiveness but who gives it is out of step with the grudge-bearing callousness of our age and is thus, an awkward, embarrassing rebuke to the uncaring. Sixth, the pure, single-minded heart focused on God provides a convicting contrast to an impure, self-focused culture. Lastly, the peacemaker is discomforting because he will not settle or a cheap or counterfeit peace and has an embarrassing inclination to wage peace. The foundational reason such a person will be persecuted is that he or she is like Christ. This is Jesus' point when He completes v. 11 with "because of me" instead of "because of righteousness," used in v. 10. Everyone who lives like Jesus will be persecuted as Jesus says in so many words in John 15:18-20: "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed My teaching, they will obey yours also." Jesus is basically telling us here that since the wind was always in His face, it will be in ours too.

Hear also Paul's advice to Timothy: "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" [2 Timothy 3:12]. Paul also warned the Thessalonians, "You know quite well that we were destined for trials. In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know" [1 Thessalonians 3:3, 4]. Likewise, he told the Christians in Antioch, "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God" [Acts 14:22]. Everyone who lives righteously will be persecuted. There are no exceptions.

The logic, then, is revealing. Since the first seven Beatitudes describe the character of the true believer, we must therefore conclude that ostracism, persecution and rejection are just as much signs of the believer as being poor in spirit, meek or merciful. We should, therefore, not be surprised when persecution comes but rather, be surprised when it does not. Moreover, if we, who claim to be followers of Christ, never experience any persecution at all, we may reasonably wonder if we are really Christian at heart. Of course, we should be careful not to condemn ourselves if at the moment we are not undergoing persecution. Few, if any, are persecuted all the time. Also, we must be careful not to imagine persecution in overly dramatic terms. Most of it is mundane, and some is even quite "civilized."

R. Kent Hughes relates that the word rendered "persecuted" in Matthew 5:1o bears the root idea of "pursue" or "chase." A good translation would be "harass" -- "Blessed are the harassed." The reiteration of the Beatitude in v. 11 amplifies this idea: "Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely." This casting of insults means literally "to cast in one's teeth," so that the sense here is of throwing insults in one's face. Persecution can go to physical extremes as the church's bloody history records; but most often it is verbal harassment, sometimes audible, sometimes whispered, sometimes direct, sometimes innuendo. Verbal abuse and social ostracism may at times call for as much heroism as braving the arena.

These are hard things. But the tragedy today is not that they happen to believers, but that very often, they do not. One reason for this is that too many Christians are isolated from the world. They go to a church that seekers do not visit, attend Bible studies populated by the same crowd, attend Christian schools, exercise with believers garden with churchgoers and golf with believers -- their lives never intersect those who do not believe -- and thus they are sealed from persecution. Others keep their Christianity so secret so as not to make waves with non-Christian associates. The tragedy is that hidden Christianity may not be Christianity at all. But by far the greatest reason there is so little persecution is that the church has become almost indistinguishable from the world. If we want to get along, the formula has become quite simple. Approve of the world's morals and ethics -- at least outwardly. Live like the world lives. Laugh at its humor. Immerse ourselves in its entertainment. Smile, at least outwardly, when God is mocked. Act as if all religions converge on the same road. Don't mention hell. Draw no moral judgments. And above all else, don't share our faith. Follow this formula and life will be smooth sailing.

But the fact is, the church must be persecuted or it is no church at all. People need to be told that if they follow Christ, there will be a price to pay. It will affect how they get along in school. It will affect their profile at the club. It will affect how they make their living. The early church had no doubt about where the believer's duty lay. One hundred years after Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, a man approached the great Carthagian church father Tertullian with a problem -- his business interests and Christianity conflicted. He ended by asking, "What can I do then? I must live." To which Tertullian replied, "Must you?" When it comes to a choice between loyalty to Christ and living, Tertullian holds that the real Christian chooses Christ. And so should we.

Peacemaking: Our Highest Calling

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." Matthew 5:9

War is one of the great constants of history and has not diminished with either civilization or democracy [we have seen the truth of this statement unfolding again with the events of this past week in Egypt and with the threat of a major conflagration continuing to grow in the Middle East as the conditions become increasingly more unsettled]. In fact, in the last 3,463 years of recorded history only 268 have seen no war. That is a chilling statistic and would, no doubt, be even worse if the facts of unrecorded history could be known. Sadly, war is the constant reality of this life.

There have been myriad solutions proposed for this dilemma over the millennia but the outcomes have been sadly wanting. Many felt that if one nation could emerge from the Cold War as the supreme superpower, which the United States did when the Berlin Wall was dismantled in 1989 and the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, that war would be outlawed and a Pax Romana of sorts would be revived. Of course, the Pax part has certainly failed to materialize and the United States was almost immediately challenged by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait provoking the first Gulf War. Bill Clinton was subsequently elected president and almost immediately chose to drastically reduce our military in both size and scope as a result of what has subsequently proven to be a fraudulent "peace dividend." This was quickly followed by 9/11 and we've known nothing but war ever since.

The more naive progressives among us, however, have proffered the belief that the world must merely come to the conclusion that war is simply not profitable and thus refuse to fight. They offer not much more than simple slogans such as the bumper sticker, "What if they had a war and nobody came?" Still others suggest that nations must challenge the evil precedents of history and live by the Golden Rule. This idea at least touches on the solution, but it does not go far enough as the answer to war is not simply a matter of bootstrap ethics; it is profoundly theological. What is needed is a radical change in the human race if there is to be peace. No one can live by the Golden Rule by mere human will. No one can master even one of the Beatitudes in his own strength.

Thus the grand relevance of the seventh Beatitude: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." This divine pronouncement if understood, taken to heart, and applied by the Holy Spirit, can not only bring inner peace to our troubled hearts but also make us instruments of peace -- peacemakers. It has the potential to give us peace within and to make us mediators of peace in the lives of those around us and in society at large.

Fundamental to understanding what Christ is saying is the precise meaning of the exquisite word "peacemakers." Taking the first half of the word, peace, we understand it to mean much the same as the Hebrew word shalom, which bears the idea of wholeness and overall well-being. When a Jew said, "Shalom," he was wishing another more than the absence of trouble, but all that made for a complete, whole life. God's peace is not narrowly defined. It is much more than the absence of strife; it encompasses all of the person -- it is positive.

The second half of the word, makers, demands that we understand that the person is not passive but is a source of peace. It is a dynamic, active word bursting with energy. Both parts of the word "peacemakers," taken together, describe one who actively pursues peace in its fullest sense. He pursues much more than the absence of conflicts; he pursues wholeness and well-being.

Bearing this in mind, we can then understand what a peacemaker is not. A peacemaker is not, as is commonly supposed, the kind of person who is easygoing, goes along to get along, laissez-faire, who does not care what anyone else does so long as it does not directly affect him. Neither is the peacemaker always tolerant -- "you do your thing and I'll do mine." Nor is the peacemaker an appeaser -- the kind who wants "peace at any price." Appeasement does not make for peace; it just puts off the conflict. The history of Europe during the 1930s is the classic example of this. The true peacemaker, contrary to what most people think, is not afraid of making waves.

What then is a peacemaker? To begin with, he or she is characterized by honesty. It there is a problem, he or she admits it. The prophet Ezekiel warned those who act as if all is well when it is not, who say "'Peace,' when there is no peace" [13:10]. Such, according to Ezekiel, are merely plastering over cracked walls. The plaster obscures the cracks, but when the rain comes, the true state of the walls is revealed and the walls crumble [vv. 10, 11]. Jeremiah, employing similar phrasing, put it this way, "They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace" [Jeremiah 6:14]. The peacemaker does not do this. He is painfully honest about the true status of relationships in the world, in the society in which he moves, and in his own personal dealings. He admits failed relationships. He admits that he is at odds with others if he is so. He does not pretend. He refuses to say, "Peace, peace!" when there is no peace.

Next, a peacemaker is willing to risk pain. Any time we attempt to bring peace personally or societally, we necessarily risk misunderstanding and failure. If we have been wrong, there is the pain of apologizing. On the other hand, we may have to shoulder the equally difficulty pain of rebuking another. In any case, the peacemaker has to be willing to take a risk. The temptation is to let things slide. It is altogether too easy to rationalize that trying to bring true peace will "only make things worse."

These two qualities of the peacemaker -- honesty about the true status of peace and a willingness to risk pain in pursuing peace -- beautifully anticipate the next quality, which is a paradox: the peacemaker is a fighter. He makes trouble to make peace. He wages peace.

God's Word enjoins such peacemaking, telling us to "make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" [Ephesians 4:3] and to "make every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification" [Romans 14:19]. "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone" [Romans 12:18]. That the peacemaker is a fighter in no way justifies a verbal "license to kill." He should never be thoughtless or pugnacious. Rather his personality must be permeated with the shalom of God. He is gentle. James wrote, "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness" [3:17, 18]. The peacemaker is positive. He is tolerant in the best sense of the word. He realizes that we are all of fallen stock and so does not demand perfection of others. He is humble. His ego is in check. But most of all, he is loving.

How beautiful true peacemakers are. Filled with peace themselves, they are honest about the state of relationships around them, whether personal or in the church or in the world. They are honest about what is in their own hearts and sensitive to where others are. They refuse to be satisfied with cheap peace, to say "peace, peace" when there is none. They are willing to risk pain and misunderstanding to make things right. Peacemakers will even fight for peace.

Our Lord Himself is, of course, the supreme peacemaker. He is the glorious "Prince of Peace" prophesized by Isaiah, the messianic fulfillment of the new covenant of peace [see Isaiah 9:6; 52:7-10; Ezekial 37:24-28]. At his birth the angels celebrated this fulfillment, singing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests" [Luke 2:14]. What we must see is that there was nothing cheap about His peacemaking. The Apostle Paul wrote, "For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in Heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross" [Colossians 1:19, 20]. Jesus saw the gravity of our problem, and He refused to sweep it under the rug. Only a drastic solution would suffice, and so He "made peace" [the root word being the same as in Matthew 5:9 for "peacemakers"] "through His blood." Christ is thus our supreme example of sacrificial aggression in bringing peace.

He also became the source of peace among all men. "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made the two one and has destroyed the barrier; the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the Law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near" [Ephesians 2:13-17].

By becoming "our peace," He thus dispenses His shalom in our hearts. "Peace I leave with you," said Jesus, "my peace I give you" [John 14:27]. This, in turn, enables us to promote in each other everything that makes for well-being. The cost of this enabling power is beyond computation! It was attained for us "with the precious blood of Christ, a Lamb without blemish or defect" [1 Peter 1:19]. Jesus not only made possible peace with God and peace among men -- He gave us the example of how a peacemaker goes about his work. "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death -- even death of a cross!" [Philippians 2: 3-8]. In obtaining our peace, our Lord didn't grasp His glory and dignity, but instead He humbled Himself. His example stands for us who are called to peacemaking. This is incredibly expensive! It costs greatly to make peace. Peacemakers are willing to lower themselves, to even lose their dignity in order to bring shalom to life. This is the way peacemakers have always been.

I don't think we can overemphasize the radical nature of the call to be peacemakers. Peacemaking, as commended by Jesus, is not a natural human quality. It is above human nature. In fact, in the flesh, it is virtually impossible. As such, it is a wonder that this Beatitude has been a favorite text of those who know very little about Christianity. Secular pacifists love to quote Matthew 5:9 along with Isaiah 2:4, "They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." They argue that the Beatitudes, and especially the seventh, are the "real gospel;" if only men would practice them, the world would be renewed. Of course, they are correct, as far as they go. For if the Beautiful Attitudes were really practiced, war would be no more. However, peacemaking cannot occur without a radical change in the human heart and the enabling of the Holy Spirit.

The radical nature of Christ's call to peacemaking demands a remaking of human personality. One must first have a profound experience of the shalom of God. No one can become a true peacemaker until he has found peace himself. The tragedy is that so few people actually go to the heart of the matter. Without grace, we are not only natural enemies of God but also of each other. Our hearts must be fundamentally changed. We cannot give to others what we do not possess ourselves. This inner change, coupled with a complete dependence on the Spirit, is what makes a peacemaker. The Holy Spirit molds the character of peacemakers' lives so that their ethos becomes increasingly gentle, humble, and loving. He elevates their integrity so that they can honestly evaluate the development of peace in their personal lives and society. He steels them not to say there is peace when there is no peace. The Spirit leads them to risk pain and misunderstanding in the pursuit of peace. He also leads them in developing the divinely aggressive spirit that wages peace.

So what is the benefit of becoming a peacemaker? "They will be called sons of God." They, in fact have a divine paternity, an inheritance from above. The meaning here is absolutely breathtaking. Again, as in the previous six Beatitudes, the pronoun is emphatic. In the Greek the word order is, "for they sons of God shall be called." The idea is that they, and no others, shall be called God's sons. Moreover, the passive voice indicates that it is God, not man, who assigns the title "sons." The sublimity of this promise comes from the fact that the title "sons of God" refers to character [see Luke 6:35]. The peacemaker partakes of the character of God. He is like God in the way he lives. No wonder God says, "Blessed are the peacemakers."