The Peace Pressure: Should peace be our biggest value?
Should peace be our biggest value?
One of the biggest pressures Christians face is the pressure to get along. Romans 12:8 says that we are, so far as is possible, to “be at peace with all men.” Many in the Christian world and beyond like to use verses like this, and others (such as Matthew 5:9, “blessed are the peacemakers…”) to put on the peace pressure. The world wants nothing more than a church that will live at peace with its surroundings.# The ClaimsFrom the perspective of the world, or the huge crowd of liberal and neo-conservative Christians, peace should be one of Christianity’s highest values, and is always worth the cost. After all, Christians are peace-lovers, Christ was a peace-maker, and the church is a peace-friendly organization, right? The last of the labels we want placed on us are ones like mean-spirited, hateful, violent, or war-mongerer. Doesn’t God expect peace among the nations? Wouldn’t peace between the denominations be beautiful? Can’t we just put aside our differences as Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, or Catholics and just love the Lord? We hear the claims from the unchristian world, “If Christianity is a religion of peace, why have so many wars taken place in the name of Christ?” Some in the political world say, “If we would just be nice to terrorist nations, they would have no motivation to harm us, and all would be well.” Other politicians say, “We must sit down with despots to talk reasonably with them, so we can convince them to lead peacefully.” Many say, “All churches love God, let’s just put aside our differences and pray, worship, and help people!”# The CasualtiesBecause we have believed these kinds of claims, there are three major casualties. First, Terrorist nations bully their neighborhoods and beyond. Too many Christians fail to recognize that the nature of man is depraved and that this depravity sets his heart toward wickedness, can only be changed by conversion, and causes him to reject both the law of God and the Spirit of God (Romans 8:7-9, 1 Corinthians 2:14). Terrorists, like leopards, do not change their spots (Jeremiah 13:23). The pressure for peace has caused us to be far too leery to “call a spade a spade.” When Ronald Reagan called theSoviet Unionan “evil empire,” criticism from the peace pressurists was strong. Frank Reynolds, on ABC News, March 8, 1983, told viewers, “The President reverted to the coldest of cold war rhetoric.” The House of Representatives had passed a resolution calling for “an immediate mutual and verifiable freeze” of nuclear weapons. Reagan called the freeze “a very dangerous fraud.” The peace-pressure was on! He, though, stated that he refused to take the Soviets at their word because “simple-minded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly.” For this talk, he was considered a war-mongering fanatic. A second casualty is that timid Christians fail to speak the truth, thinking this behavior is truly an act in love. Knowing that if they speak their mind, they will cause controversy, they simply keep their mouth shut. Anything controversial has become an anathema for the Christian community. We shy from offense like a cat from a bath! If a preacher begins to say something offensive or even slightly controversial, he can see the congregation squirm. If one believer in a small group speaks up about truth, another will quickly change the subject to move past the awkward silence that ensues. We’ve so convinced ourselves to be “at peace with all men” that we keep quiet. Finally, tepid churches have no clear message. To avoid controversy, we only speak loving, encouraging, and positive message of blessing. In the process, mission work has lost its meaning. Because the cross is a stumbling block and an offense, we have redefined missions as any activity which promotes social justice and the welfare of humanity.# The CriteriaRomans 12:18 says that we are to “be at peace with all men” only “so far as it depends on
you.” What should be your personal criteria for peace? Let me make a few suggestions. There can be no peace that involves a compromise of the truth. From time to time, we try to build peace upon a falsehood, and it never works. Do you remember when Abraham lied and said that Sarah was his sister? He did this to keep the peace—mainly to keep him out of an unpeaceful situation. Abraham is just one of a long-line through history who tried to bring peace through falsehood. One form of falsehood that is often used to bring peace is secrecy. Make no mistake, secrecy of the truth is a compromise of the truth. I was once confronted with an issue which would solve itself peacefully if I would go-along to get-along. I refused and a battle ensued. I was not “at peace with all men” because I was not willing to build truth on falsehood. There can also be no peace that requires disobedience to proper authority. Unless authority has gone out-of-bounds set in Scripture, then we are under that authority. To devise a peace-plan that replaces, disregards, or by-passes God-ordained authority is to devise a mess! Peace cannot be built upon rebellion. There is no peace that is built on timidity. Peace is not maintained by bullies. When we, in timidity, refuse to speak our feelings and convictions to the face of the bully, we may bring a momentary peace, but it will be false. I believe that timidity is the reason Paul instructed Timothy not to let anyone look down upon him because of his youth. Sometimes we are quiet because to speak would cause a battle. We’ve been so brainwashed into prizing peace above all other values that we just remain quiet. Peace in which I (or you) do not get to speak my mind, is no peace at all. There is no peace that does not include the grace of Jesus Christ. His peace is different from the world’s peace. The world’s peace has always been a house of cards, sure to collapse with the first wind.# Peacemaker or Troubler?In 1 Kings 18:17-19 King Ahab, who won the booby prize for bad kings, called Elijah the Prophet the “troubler ofIsrael.” Sometimes you need to be a troubler to be a peacemaker! The next time you are pressured toward peace, ask yourself these four questions:1. What is the truth? If the truth must be compromised or quarantined, be a troubler rather than a peacemaker.2. Who is in authority? If you are pressured to subvert proper authority or remove yourself from under proper authority, be a troubler instead of a peacemaker.3. Is the peace real? If you are only “buying time” or building a house-of-cards, be a troubler instead of a peacemaker.4. Am I at peace? If you cannot be confident you have been right before God, be a troubler instead of a peacemaker.In this world of peace-pressure, I am convinced we are in desperate need of some troublers! We need men without compromise; Pastors who could not care less about their image and congregation size, and could not care more for truth and its proclamation; churches with distinct identity which they hold unashamedly; and politicians who will call evil exactly what it is.