I'd like to take this time in preparation for the Lord's
Supper to share a few thoughts from the Scriptures.
Obviously that's been brewing in my heart for the past few weeks.
You know, one of the beauties of walking with the Lord Jesus
Christ is that His Word can grip you in such a way, especially a
passage. It can be sometimes even a word
that you find yourself returning to it time and time again in
your thoughts and meditations. And that's what's been happening
recently from a recent morning reading in the book of Genesis,
as I revisited the story of the man whose name is Isaac, the son
of Abraham and the father of Jacob.
And what's interesting about Isaac is that out of all the
patriarchs, the three main ones, he lived the longest, 180 years
to be exact. That's a lot of life.
And yet the Holy Spirit, out of all the stories that he could
have preserved about Isaac, chose to give us the most
extensive chapter of his story regarding him digging wells.
I'm sure that in our culture today, cultivating wells has
very little to offer us in terms of practical or even spiritual
inspiration. But it's not about the wells
necessarily. It's what happened to Isaac
around those wells that deserve some attention.
What you'll find when you read Genesis chapter 26 is that Isaac
around his possessions and how he was treated by outsiders
turned out to be a wonderful model for a godly peacemaker.
Isaac was a peacemaker, and more importantly, what you discover
in that chapter is that the Lord loves, honors, and blesses
peacemakers. The Bible has a lot, a lot to
say about peace and has a reasonable about to say about
peacemakers. And even as I'm speaking about
this subject, perhaps the famous words of the Lord Jesus Christ
is flashing in some of our minds from Matthew chapter 5, the
Sermon on the Mount, where he said blessed are the peace
makers, for they shall be called sons of God.
I think most of us in here memorize that verse.
I'm afraid that those who are very familiar with it aren't too
sure what it actually implies. It's weighty.
Just by looking at Christ's words in that single statement,
we know something about peacemakers.
Whatever that is, whatever a peacemaker is.
It's an attitude that affirms 1's relationship with God, and
it is a testimony that relays and conveys to others that his
holy character is reflected in US.
Christians are to be peacemakers, and when we gather
all the scriptural data of what it means to be peacemaker, I
think you can come to this definition.
It's very simple. A peacemaker is someone who
actively seeks to reconcile and restore relational harmony,
somebody who actively seeks to reconcile and restore relational
harmony both with God and man. You see, in a very real sense,
we as Christians are peacemakers because we preach the gospel.
The gospel is a message of reconciliation.
And as the Lord sends us out to go and reach others with this
news, what we're essentially doing is calling those who stand
as enemies of God to be restored to the God of peace through his
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is known as what, the Prince of
Peace. So the fact that we have this
gospel in our hearts, in it leaves our mouths, makes us
peacemakers. You know, there's this wonderful
little statement or way of description that Peter gives
when he was preaching to the household of Cornelius, and he
describes the gospel in the following way.
Let me just quote it to you from Acts 1036.
You don't have to turn there. Just listen carefully.
Listen to how Peter describes the gospel.
As for the word that he sent to Israel preaching good news of
peace through Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all the King.
James I believe would say preaching peace.
When you witness to a Co worker, when you're sitting at the
dinner table, maybe around Thanksgiving, and are leaning
towards your cousin and telling you about the gospel, you're
preaching peace. You're telling them how they can
have peace with God. Isn't that remarkable?
We're peacemakers as Christians, but it's not limited to that
glorious calling. Being a peacemaker also includes
someone who seeks to mend relationships between men, and
that emphasis isn't primarily about us inserting ourselves
into every strained marriage or fractured relationship between
friends to try to bring resolution.
We have to be careful there. There's a proper time and
protocol and place for when and how we get involved with
conflicts that do not immediately involve us now.
Instead, the the primary meaning of us being peacemakers
horizontally is that we are called to be initiators in
receiving peace and accepting peace and granting peace when
there is animosity between US and others, when we know that
there's some kind of tension between people and us, being a
peacemaker means that we have that primary responsibility.
We should be the ones who take the first step in building
bridges. And I want to tell you that
Matthew 59 is not the only passage that highlights just how
essential this is. Can I ask you something?
How many of us in this place consider the call to be
peacemakers? As Christians, we know that
there are many things that we are responsible for as
Christians, but I want to remind you that there is a great
premium. There is a high observation in
the Scriptures for us as followers of Jesus Christ to not
just preach the gospel, but to also see relationships healed,
especially the ones that we are involved in.
You and I understand that one of our identities as Christians is
to be salt, right? The salt of the earth.
And that's a wonderful picture, right?
But I always love to ask the question, what does that
practically look like? What does it mean for me and
you, because of our faith in Christ, to be agents of healing
and preservation in a society that is slowly decaying because
of sin? Well, there are many
ingredients, but I want to present to you at least one in
relation to what we're speaking about today that I think is
often overlooked. Let me just ask you this again.
When you think salt of the earth, what comes to mind in
terms of practical relational responsibility or duty or
discipline? What?
What right? You don't have to answer out
loud, but I'm just asking. Let me tell you what Jesus made
so clear. Now I ask you to go to Mark
Chapter 9 and your Bibles and look at verse 50 because I want
you to see it with your own eyes.
Mark 950. I'll wait for the wrestling of
the leaves to settle before I read it.
I'll read it slowly now. Salt is good, Jesus said.
But if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it
salty again? Have salt in your cells and be
at peace with one another. This is astounding.
Jesus is teaching that if you and I want to secure our
distinct Christian flavor and witness in this rotten world, we
must strive to be at peace with one another.
Our spirit empowered efforts to achieve and maintain harmony in
relationships is imperative to our witness.
And wherever there is a weakened community due to a lack of
tranquility and peace, you have a deficiency in their
effectiveness to testify to the world of why we're different and
how powerful this gospel is. Here's another verse to
consider, Hebrews chapter 12. Let's turn there now.
I believe in my experience, at least 90% of the time when this
verse is quoted, people cut out the first part.
Hebrews 12 verse 14 Strive for peace with everyone and for the
holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
In my experience again growing up in the church and even being
in ministry, when people come to this text, they usually quoted
in the following ways. Strive for a holiness without
which no one will see the Lord. Is that true of you?
You can't leave out the first part.
Before he says strive for holiness.
He says strive to be at peace with everyone, with everyone.
I wish I can expand on this first, but we got to stay on
track. You know what the word strive
means to pursue aggressively. It conveys the idea of running
towards the finish line, to be chasing something until you
catch it. It's an intense word.
Strive, strive to be at peace with everyone.
And the Holy Spirit through this wants us that that kind of
ambition for achieving enmity with everyone, everyone.
Your husband, your wife, your children, your coworkers, the
members of your church, the neighbors on your street, I can
go on. Let me just summarize with this
anyone who still has a pulse. You and I as peacemakers, so
strive to be at peace with them. And I want to examine this
further, but I have to 1st ask you to extend grace to me from
this point on, please. I'm fully aware that whenever a
preacher speaks on relationships, there are
countless situations that listeners may be facing, each
one requiring unique instructions.
And sometimes the example shared in a message may not directly
apply to your unique case. So let me be clear.
This sermon today will not attempt to cover every possible
scenario of strife complexities. Instead, I'm simply offering a
few insights from one single account.
And I ask that you would take it upon yourself to ask the Lord
how, in this brief message, one or most or all of these points
could apply and resonate with you.
And these will be quick looks for now.
We won't be able to cover these things at length, but I want, I
want to tell you is that Isaac is a wonderful illustration in
Genesis 26 of what peacemaking entails, what it looks like,
what it doesn't look like. And so let me give you the
background of Isaac's story. In Genesis 26, there was a
famine in the land, and so he felt the need to leave and to
plant him and his family in a place called Garar.
And while in Garrard, there were things that happened that
compromised his witness, and we don't have time to get into that
now. But Isaac chose to establish
himself in Garrard, and he decided to invest in land and to
build his resources. And what you find following that
decision is nothing short of a miracle from the Lord.
Now let's turn to our main text in Genesis 26, beginning in
verse 12, to see what I mean here.
It says here in Genesis 26, verse 12.
And Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a
hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, and the
man became rich and gained more and more until he became very
wealthy. He had possessions of flocks and
herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him.
Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the
wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham.
His father and Abimelech said to Isaac, go away from us, for you
are much mightier than we. We might think that this is
where the story ends, but I'm here to tell you it's just
starting. And from this point on, for the
rest of this chapter, we're going to consider 5 insights of
Peacemaking, 5 clues, 5 marks of being a peacemaker.
Consider this just as discipleship time from heart to
heart. Number one, to be a peacemaker
sometimes requires us to surrender our rights.
We need to be very wise with this point because the truth of
the matter is there are times when we need to fight for our
rights and not be passive with troublemakers.
The apostle Paul at times appealed to his legal
entitlements for the sake of the advancement and the integrity of
the gospel, right? He would often say, hey, I'm a
Roman citizen, you can't treat me this way.
And that's legitimate. However, there are also moments
where he did not wield his citizenship.
He did not appeal to his Apostolic prerogatives for the
same goal. So it's a case by case
situation. And there are times where we
also have to, especially in personal conflicts, choose to
walk away instead of choosing to fight, resist.
We're not told why Isaac gracefully dismissed himself at
the confiscation of his wells, but whatever his reason was, he
thought it to be the better option than digging his heels in
the ground and potentially getting into a war with the
Philistines. He refrained from retaliation.
And that's incredibly difficult for us to do, especially when we
are being mistreated, especially when we sense that we are being
treated unfairly. But choosing silence, refusing
to retaliate, and not wasting time or energy with something
that doesn't seem worth it can at times be the more righteous
path. And if you need any motivation
to trust in God's wisdom with that option, I believe Isaac
gives us the secret. You know why?
I believe Isaac could do this with great humility and
consistency. He believed in God's Providence.
So I want you to see this in verse 17.
Look what happens. So Isaac departed from there and
encamped in the valley of Gerar and settled there.
And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the
days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had
stopped after the death of Abraham, and he gave them names
that his father had given them. But when Isaac's servants dug in
the valley and found there a well of spring water, the
herdsmen of Gerard quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying
the water is ours. No, it's not.
That's my commentary. No, it's not.
It's not yours. So he called the name of the
well Isaac, because they contended with him.
Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also.
So he called its name Sitna. And he moved from there and dug
another well. And they did not quarrel over
it. So he called its name Rehoboot,
saying, For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall
be fruitful in the land. The Lord.
I'm recognizing God's leadership in this.
I'm recognizing God's provision in this.
I'm recognizing that even though this is unfair, God has blessed
me. And listen, you have to remember
here that these repeated offenses were beyond Isaac's
control. What did we read earlier?
The Philistines envied him. Have you ever tried to build a
meaningful relationship with somebody who envies you?
It's nearly impossible. Why?
Because they feel this anger and this bitterness towards you.
For what reason? Because God's blessing.
You're using you in a certain way.
It's very difficult to work with somebody like that.
What am I supposed to change? The Philistines envied him.
Despite that, Isaac realized that the Lord was able to lead
him to a broad place. Because the Scripture tells us
that even the wrath of man can praise God.
God can turn the wrath of man to a testimony in your life.
And that's what this man believe.
The Lord has made room for us. I recognize God in this.
I'm trusting God in this. And listen, if if anyone ever
unfairly takes something that belongs to you, could be a piece
of your reputation, it could be a possession, it can be even a
position. A peacemaker will step back,
calculate, pray, and consider the possibility of just walking
away and trusting God to deal with it.
This is a call for wisdom. How do I know when to stand and
to fight? And how do I know when that I
should just leave and let God deal with it directly?
You might think this sounds unrealistic.
It's not. It's found in a New Testament.
You remember what Paul told the Corinthians?
These Christians were taking each other to court.
And what did he say there in First Corinthians 6-7?
Hey, why don't some of you choose to rather be defrauded?
Why don't some of you just surrender?
Why don't you just give up for the sake of being salt?
You're going out to the world and you are bearers of names of
of Christ, and you're fighting with each other over temporal
things. This is a defeat for you.
Paul said suffer wrong. Surrender.
Your right. Sometimes to be a peacemaker
means that you have to do just that.
Isaac did that. We come to the second point of
what it means to be a peacemaker.
To be a peacemaker does not mean that we don't feel the pain or
the frustration caused by people's aggravations.
So again, you might feel like this is a tall order.
This seems unrealistic. You're asking me to walk away.
You don't understand. OK, look in verse 20.
I want you to notice that with each well that was taken from
Isaac, he named it something and in verse 20 we read that he
named the 1st wall Isec. You know what Isec means?
Contention and the next one sit now which means enmity.
So as much as we we can say Isaac was impressive in walking
away, he was also not living in denial.
It was painful. He did sense the injustice, he
was bothered, and he recognized that these interactions for what
they were. And I'm sure that there was some
kind of emotional processing when he named these wells.
Here's why this is important. You need to be free that you are
not harboring unforgiveness or you are not qualified to be a
peacemaker just because your heart is still bruised by the
carelessness or the selfishness caused by somebody else's
action. Just because it hurts doesn't
mean that you are not in the right.
It doesn't mean that you are not walking in faithfulness, doesn't
mean that you're not walking in faith.
It's a bruise, it's a wound, and sometimes bruises last longer
than others. So the presence of emotions that
are hurtful, memories that are painful does not mean that you
are not in the will of God, does not mean that you're outside of
Christ. Like character.
The Bible's so realistic. At the same time, you got to be
careful that painful memories don't blind you to potential
opportunities to be reconciled with those who have caused pain
in your life. There's a very fine line, right?
You can revisit those scenes and those words to the degree that
it calluses you to the point where it numbs you from your
calling to be a peacemaker. It should the opportunity arise.
If you've allowed your heart to become Diamond Hard, it'll
become much more difficult to be the initiator of reconciliation.
Isaac was realistic with how this whole thing made him feel.
But we come to point #3 to be a peacemaker does not mean you
abandon or ignore the truth for the sake of harmony.
So Isaac moves on and we read here.
We're going to skip a couple verses.
We'll look at them in a second, but look down at verse 26.
This is interesting. When Abimelech went to him from
Garrar without who's that? His advisor and Fee Cole, the
commander of his army. Isaac said to them.
Why have you come to me seeing that you hate me and have sent
me away from you? So we see here that Abimelech
and his top advisors pay Isaac a visit.
They learned about his new address and they thought, let's
go visit him and let's try to make a truce.
Let's try to make an oath with this man but the past behind us,
and to promise to never go to war with each other from this
day forward. But what I find so interesting
is that with this unannounced arrival, Isaac, before
entertaining any other conversation, confronts these
philistines for their behavior. What are you doing here?
Don't you hate me? You drove me away from you.
Now you might be wondering. I thought we were looking at
Isaac as model for peace. We are, and he is no less a
peacemaker here than when he walked away from his own wells.
Because, you see, a biblical peacemaker does not try to
appease others or excuse unrighteousness for the sake of
relational tranquility. A true peacemaker will invite
God's truth into a conflict and will surrender to what the
living God asks of both parties involved.
So we have to be reminded of this fundamental truth.
We never do away with the truth in the name of peace.
There are a lot of people who are tolerating evil and sin in
the name of being a peacemaker. That's not biblical peacemaking.
That's compromised calm. Now, this model here showing us
that we should never accept or rationalize evil so that someone
can feel accepted, That's unloving and deceptive.
You know, it was Jesus who said that I had not come to bring
peace to the world. What?
You're the Prince of peace? No, I did not come to bring a
certain type of peace of the world.
I've actually come to bring a sword.
What did he mean by that in Matthew 10?
He meant that he was coming into the world with a saving message
that carried the potential of bringing division in different
circles because of one or more than one party accepting that
saving message. And in Christ's mind, if that
division occurs because of the truth being embraced, then that
division is worth it, because true peace can only come from
accepting the truth. James speaks about godly wisdom,
and he actually describes what it looks like in detail, the
qualities of godly wisdom, what godly wisdom, when somebody
possesses it, what does it look like?
And in it you have this wonderful equation, this
wonderful principle of even what true peace is all about in James
317, James says, But the wisdom from above is first pure, then
peaceable. What comes before peace, Purity,
purity, The renouncing of sin, the renouncing of compromise,
the renouncing of anything that compromises or contradicts the
truth. There can't be true peace unless
there is the honouring of purity.
What gave Isaac the courage to speak up in this way?
It's found in the verses that we didn't read when Isaac went up
to Beersheba. In verse 24 of Genesis 26 it
says this. And the Lord appeared to him the
same night and said, I am the God of Abraham your father, fear
not frying with you, and will bless you.
Multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake.
Sometimes it's a fearful thing to forsake peace for the sake of
the truth. Sometimes it's difficult, just
as a general rule, to approach anybody and to confront them for
their wrong or to stand for that which is right.
And I see that following this, Isaac was able to speak up
because God promised him his presence and God promised him
his reward. And you and I need to find the
same courage from that same place that when there are
situations in your family, at your workplace, where you have
to choose the truth, even if it means inviting turbulence, the
Lord is with me. The Lord sees me, He sees my
heart. He sees that I want to please
him above everything else. And He will honor you for that.
And we're told in Romans that as far as it depends on you, be at
peace with all men teaching us what it's not always possible.
Even though you're the peacemaker, it doesn't mean that
you're going to have guaranteed peace with everybody.
And one of the reasons why it's not always possible is because
there are many people who don't want purity.
They don't want to admit they're wrong.
They don't want to repent of their sin.
And so you've done your part by upholding the truth and yet
still trying to be a peacemaker, even though the results don't
come out the way you desire #4 to be a peacemaker means you
will do your part to achieve peace.
Let's read back in Genesis 26 what happens after Isaac
confronts the Philistines. And this is what I read a few
weeks ago in Genesis that made me realize how much Isaac shined
as a peacemaker. Are you there?
In verse 28 they said, this is the Philistines.
We see plainly that the Lord has been with you.
So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and
us, and let us make a covenant with you that you will do us no
harm, just as we have not touched you and have not done to
you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace.
Read that last part again. Have done to you nothing but
good and I've sent you away in peace.
So when I read this, I don't know if it was this last time or
a previous time. I put a green marked question
mark beside that phrase. What do you mean?
You've done nothing wrong? OK, I, I see here that you did
not touch him. That's true, but there's an
incomplete approach here. We've done nothing wrong to you.
Be honest. How would you react to that?
What kind of confession is that? To our surprise, to our
amazement, Isaac doesn't even address it, doesn't even comment
on it. He chooses to move on with the
proposal, which in principle means that he does not insist on
the faults of his offenders. And now we have to be very
careful of not miss applying this part, because Isaac is not
accepting reconciliation without repentance as he prepares to
make a deal with these men. That's not what he's doing here.
If you're carefully reading, you'll understand that he
acknowledges the effort of the Philistines and is willing to
bypass the weakness of their attempt for the sake of his own
conscience and the promise of peace.
And this is someone who recognizes the opportunity to
resolve something with his neighbors.
He does his part, and he leaves the details to God.
You and I can't be stubborn and expect to flourish as
peacemakers if we're truly peacemakers.
Then again, it depends on the nature of the relationship and
the dynamics of the problem. But a peacemaker will be on the
lookout for any opportunity to infuse peace in that strained
relationship. So in some cases it, it will
only look like this whenever you cross paths with somebody that
is at odds with you, that has maybe mistreated you with
unresolved conflict, your responsibility as a peacemaker
is to extend a greeting according to Jesus words in
Matthew, the extended greeting, because if you only greet your
brothers, you know, different than the Gentiles.
I quoted to you earlier what Paul said in Romans 1218.
If possible, it's not always possible.
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably
with all, just live at peace with people.
And in that same passage you have an insight of what that
might look like. This is this is the problem of
taking verses out of their context.
You, you miss out on the full meaning.
So most of us know Romans 12/18 and most of us know Romans
12/20, but have we ever considered how they're married?
What does it say in Romans 12/20 to the contrary?
If your enemy is hungry, feed him.
If he is thirsty, give him something to drink for.
By doing so, you'll heap burning coals on his head.
That's in context of being a peacemaker.
So peacemaker like Isaac will recognize opportunities to
sprinkle peace, maybe even on a person who's caused problems in
your life. That might look like an awkward
hello or may look like visiting somebody who is very sick, may
not have another day to live. This man convicted me.
He didn't get into a shouting match.
Oh, you did nothing to me. He just, he sees what this
relationship will entail. He's not marrying the
Philistines, He's not going to be working with the Philistines.
He's just agreeing on these terms of peace.
There'll be no retaliation, I'll give you that.
I accept your incomplete confession.
Lastly, being a peacemaker opens heavenly blessings.
Look at verse 30. So he made them a feast, and
they ate and drank. In the morning they rose early
and exchanged oaths, and Isaac sent them on their way, and they
departed from him in peace that same day.
I underlined those 3 words twice.
That same day, Isaac's servants came and told them about the
well that they had dug and set them.
We have found water. Stop.
Coincidence. Coincidence that on that very
day he made peace with his enemies.
Fresh water sprung from that land, shot out from the earth.
No, and Isaac knew it was in coincidence.
Look at verse 33. He called it Sheba.
Therefore, the name of this city is Beer Sheba to this day.
What does Sheba mean? Oath.
He memorialized as well and made a connection between its
arrival. It's a blessing, God's provision
and the oath that he made with the Philistines, you and I,
making the decision to be peacemakers, to be agents of
reconciliation and relational harmony will open God's favor in
your life, will win his smile. I give those insights to you.
They are now in your lap. And now I ask you, as we reflect
on the God of peace, who has made peace with us, who
initiated reconciliation with us, who in a sense surrendered
his rights so that he can reach down to us to ask how what we
just scratched may apply in your life.
I'll tell you, you convicted me. You did convicted me.
I'm not sure how much thought I've given as a Christian to be
a peacemaker. Yeah.
Living free from sin? Sure.
Reading my Bible? Absolutely.
Serving in the church. But peace making?
Strive for it. Pursue it if possible.
Be at peace with everyone you know.
Lord, we ask that you help us in this moment.
With all the unique predicaments, maybe the
intensity of the pain makes it even difficult to digest any of
these thoughts. Whatever the case may be, we ask
that you would give us the spirit of wisdom to know how to
apply what you have given to us through Isaac's life.
And now, though, we ask that you give us eyes to see if we lack
any motivation, the God of peace, who is our God, who did
not allow us to have our own way and to walk in our own way
without making an attempt to reconcile, to restore us.
We pray for our enemies as you commanded us to, Lord, even if
they were in the wrong, that you would forgive them, that you
would convict them, that they would see their errors so that
they can be ultimately reconciled to you and Lord.
We also ask that should the opportunity arise to extend
peace, it may look different. Show us with these different
options, different limitations, how to do that.
We want to please you. You are a reward, we love you,
we honor you in Jesus name, Amen.
If the praise team can join us and prepare us through your
gifts to sing to the Lord and reflect on these truths
together. If you're more comfortable
remaining seated so that you can better receive the truth that we
will sing, or maybe you're still dealing with the message and you
want to pray about it, you can do that for those who would like
to stand. Let's stand and let's sing to
the Lord before we partake.