Reconciliation
Jesus has a goal for me. It is to be a peacemaker.
Peacemaking is a big goal given to us from Jesus. Jesus says “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9)
Peace means reconciliation, and God is the author of peace and of reconciliation.
If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. ~Apostle Paul | Romans 12:18
Jesus prayed for the oneness of his people. He also prayed that they might be kept from evil and in truth. We have no mandate from the Messiah to seek unity without purity, purity of both belief and conduct.
If there is such a thing as ‘cheap reunion’, there is ‘cheap evangelism’ also, namely the proclamation of the good news without the cost of discipleship, the demand for faith without repentance.
These are forbidden short cuts. They turn the messenger of good news into a fraud. They cheapen the good news of Jesus and damage the cause of the Messiah.
It is hardly surprising that the benefit which attaches to peacemakers is that ‘they shall be called sons of God’. For they are seeking to do what their Father has done, loving people with his love, as Jesus is soon to make explicit. It is the devil who is a troublemaker; it is God who loves reconciliation and who now through his children, as formerly through his only begotten Son, is bent on making peace.
I can’t make peace if I don’t have peace myself. That is the first task, find peace in Jesus. Then, I can make peace by proclaiming His word and carrying on with His deeds.
Indeed, the very same verb which is used in this happiness prescription is applied by the apostle Paul to what God has done through the Messiah.
Through the Messiah God was pleased ‘to reconcile to himself all things, … making peace by the blood of his cross’. And the Messiah’s purpose was to ‘create in himself one new man in place of the two (i.e. Jew and Gentile), so making peace’. (Colossians 1:19-21)
Wonderful! So often we equate peace with nothing more than the absence of conflict. So we do all we can to avoid conflict, never really finding peace because we lack the reconciliation needed to bring it about. Thanks for the teaching!
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Amen! Well said.
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Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
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Good post! The peace that we bring is proclaiming the way of reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ. Most would read Matthew 5:9 and assume it was referring to the temporal world’s understanding of peace.
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Good post.
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