Sowing in Peace and Bearing Righteousness
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October 14, 2018 |
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"But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace" (James 3:17-18).
Dr. Jaerock Lee,
Senior Pastor of Manmin Central Church
Chairman, The United Holiness Church of Jesus Christ
Permanent President, The World Christianity Revival Mission Association
Founder & Board Chairman, Global Christian Network
Founder & Board Chairman, World Christian Doctors Network
Founder & Board Chairman, Manmin International Seminary
Founder & Board Chairman, The Alliance Holiness Theological Seminary
Doctorate of Ministry, and Honorary Doctorate of Divinity
His sermons were broadcast by the Far East Broadcasting Company and the Asia Broadcast Station.
He conducted crusades in New York City, Washington D. C., Baltimore, Maryland, Los Angeles, and in Hawaii of the USA; Japan; India; Pakistan; the Philippines; Argentina; Honduras; Peru; Russia; Germany; Kenya; Tanzania; Uganda; the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Jerusalem of Israel; and Estonia.
If someone was angry, what do you think a wise man would do for the person? The wise man would be careful not to do or say anything that might provoke him and increase his anger. Otherwise, it would make the situation worse. Meanwhile, there are some unwise married couples that often blurt out that they should get divorced during quarrels on small matters.
Let's delve into how to understand and embrace others in any kind of situation and have peace with everyone with good words.
1. A Peacemaker, One Who Sows in Peace before God
When we accomplish all the aspects of the wisdom in James 3:17, which are being pure, peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy, we will be able to become like the peacemakers mentioned in the verse 18. 'Peacemakers' here refer to those who have peace with God, that is, those who do not have a wall of sin against God. Such people who can sow in peace before God can reap righteousness.
People sometimes mistakenly think they are wise because they have peace although they actually violate the truth and compromise with unrighteousness. They also violate the Word of God due to some kind of emotional attachment to others. A good example is a person who acts as the guarantor for another person's obligations or a person who lends money to others.
The Bible tells us never to be the guarantor of another person's debt (Proverbs 22:26) and have no debt but the debt of love (Romans 13:8). But if a close friend of yours asks you to be his guarantor or to lend him money for his business, some of you forget these words and disobey God. Moreover, if a brother in faith asks you to help him, you may not be able to turn it down. However, you must remember that it will just get you in trouble.
Of course, if you just give the money not expecting him to pay it back, it may be okay. But some of you lend the money and wait for it to be paid back. Meantime, if you get into some financial trouble, it may cause enmity between you and him. These things happen because people prioritize peace with other people over that with God. Thus, we need to clearly tell peace-seeking for the glory of God from compromising for our own benefits.
Daniel's three friends were taken captive to Babylon when they were young. They tried their best to live by the law of God though they were captives. So, God blessed them to be wise. One day, they heard that they would be thrown into the furnace of a blazing fire if they did not worship a golden image that the king set up. To have peace with the king, they could just bow down before the image once. But it is such a grave sin before God, so it would break peace with God. They chose to follow peace with God at the risk of their own lives by breaking peace with the decree from the king.
And what was the result? God greatly revealed their righteousness. The furious king had them thrown into the furnace heated seven times more than usual. But they were not hurt at all in the fiery furnace, nor was a single hair of their heads singed. The king who witnessed the miracle greatly glorified God and caused them to prosper in Babylon (Daniel 3).
When they kept peace with God, it was not only they who received the blessings. The king and the people who witnessed that miracle came to revere God. So, they became peacemakers between God and the people.
2. A Peacemaker Who Does What Is Right in God's Sight
Exodus 15:26 says, "And He said, 'If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight…'" It implies what is right in God's sight is different from what is right in men's sight.
For example, people think it righteous to revenge their enemy. But God tells us to love everyone and even love our enemy. It is righteous in His sight. People say someone is righteous if he or she does not give up his/her self-righteousness but God does not regard those who break peace based on their self-righteousness as righteous.
Say one has hatred, anger, jealousy, ill feelings, adulterous mind, and greed in his heart, but he does not reveal them in action. Then, people do not look upon the person as unrighteous until he commits sins in action. But God considers him unrighteous if he has evil in his heart though he does not commit sin.
As said, what is right in God's sight can be different from what is right in men's sight. The righteousness of God is to perfectly keep God's commandments telling us to do, not to do, to keep, and to throw away things (Ecclesiastes 12:13). However, most people just choose to do what is right in their own sight.
Proverbs 16:7 says, "When a man's ways are pleasing to the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." It indicates that when we first have peace with God we can have peace with other people, too. If we break peace with God to have peace with men, this is meaningless. That kind of peace can be broken any time and it does not benefit us in any way.
You may sometimes face with a situation where you should choose peace with God over peace with men. For example, let's say there is an ancestral rite during Korean holidays. You do not bow down before an idol, but according to how wisely each of you act, the result may be different. It means if you can persuade the family members with good and wise words by the help of the Holy Spirit, it is very good. But otherwise, you might as well just stay silent. If you quietly pray and accumulate goodness before God continuously, then the family members will have a chance to receive salvation.
But some people act in their haste and are not successful. They insist on their own opinions with strong words or have quarrels with heated temper to hurt the feelings of family members. No matter how right they think they may be, if they do something unnecessary and cause greater problems, it is not wise.
3. How to Sow in Peace and Bear Righteousness
Deacon Stephen, who appears in Acts 7 had no evil such that he prayed for those who were stoning him. He was stoned to death because he pointed out the evils of the people. He delivered the truth with the heart of righteousness, but evil people could not stand it since he pointed them out. His act was righteous in God's sight, but if he had acted wisely and avoided the situation, he would not have lost his life and could have revealed greater glory of God and performed a greater ministry.
Meanwhile, Jesus was perfect in words and deeds. He never blamed or criticized people and never did anything rude to anyone. He did many works but never caused any trouble. He quietly overpowered everyone and everything in goodness.
However, we may hurt others' feeling or break their hearts to the extent that our words and deeds are less perfect although we are trying hard to achieve the love of God. Therefore, we need to really think upon how Jesus acted and was able to apply wise solutions to every problem from His wisdom. In addition to choosing what is more right in the sight of God, we have to receive good wisdom in the methods. Then we can have answers and blessings more quickly and we can have peace with everybody.
Since Jesus was crucified as atonement for us, anyone can have the right to become God's children by faith in His crucifixion and make peace with God. Romans 5:1 reads, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." But being forgiven of sin and justified by faith is not the final step. We must grow our faith as true faith accompanied by work. That is, we must quickly cast away sin and evil and cultivate the righteousness of God in our hearts. If we do not grow to have faith accompanied by works and if we keep living in sin, then the peace with God will be broken.
God made peace with us even by unsparingly sacrificing His only begotten Son. So, once you are forgiven of your sin, you must do what is right in God's sight not to break peace with Him and build stronger trust relationship with Him. By doing so, you can bear abundant fruit of righteousness as Abraham the father of faith could do.
4. Blessing Given to Peacemakers
Abraham, the father of faith, had a beautiful heart in God's sight that could embrace many people. One day, Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had seized. And Abimelech said he did not know who had done it. Then, Abraham did not hold him accountable. The reason Abraham complained was not that he wanted to rebuke Abimelech or wanted any compensation. He just mentioned it to prevent such things from happening again.
Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant so that they would not have any misunderstanding. He pointed out Abimelech's fault but still pursued peace. While he sought peace, he still drew a clear line. When Abraham paid the price for the well to Abimelech who should have compensated for the damage, he surrendered to Abraham from the bottom of his heart. Afterwards, he stopped his servants from seizing the well again (Genesis 21).
Abraham dealt with everything very appropriately by the wisdom of goodness. He had peace with everybody and did everything in a way that caused no problem at all. If you have such wisdom of goodness to make peace, you can extend the kingdom of God more efficiently. That is, you can win the heart of those who oppose you by the wisdom of goodness and make them your supporters. This wisdom of goodness is given when you have a broad heart with which you can give what you have and do everything honestly without selfish motives.
In addition, Abraham had no falsehood and was truthful. He could obey everything as long as it was the will of God, so he had peace with God. That is why he did not hesitate nor lose heart but just obeyed when God told him to go forth from his country, from his relatives and from his father's house, to the land which God would show him (Genesis 12). Since he had such a heart, God promised him that He would greatly multiply his seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore.
Even when God told him to offer up his only son Isaac, whom he had gained at the age of 100, as a burnt offering like an animal, he obeyed without hesitation because he perfectly believed God who could bring the dead back to life. Because God knew he would obey Him, He prepared a ram so that he could give burnt offering with it instead of Isaac (Genesis 22).
Since Abraham only obeyed the Word of God, God was with him and he received blessing and prospered wherever he went. Also, when we have peace with God, God will lead us to have peace with other people. Since Abraham had peace with God, Lot who was with Abraham, received blessing.
The Israelites received forgiveness and mercy of God thanks to Moses the leader of the Exodus. When they complained and committed a grave sin of worshiping the golden image of a calf in the wilderness, Moses implored God to save them even if it meant his going to hell on behalf of them (Exodus 32:31-32).
As he did, when you lead other people to God and guide them to have peace with God, you can be said to be true children of God. It is just as Matthew 5:9 says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."
Joseph trusted God and diligently did his jobs even though he was sold as a slave to the Gentile country and imprisoned after wrongfully accused. God gave him the ability to interpret the dream that the Pharaoh of Egypt had. His dream was notice for the upcoming 7 years of abundant harvest and the following 7 years of famine. Moreover, God gave Joseph the wisdom to prepare well for the famine. In the end, he became the second ruler after the Pharaoh in Egypt. He saved Egypt from the seven years of famine and made the Pharaoh rich. He even saved his parents and brothers and eventually opened the way to forming the nation of Israel.
Those who have peace with God can receive the wisdom from Him. With the wisdom, they can comfort many people in hardship, give peace to them and guide them to the way of blessing. The wisdom of God is the Word itself recorded in the Bible. You can receive the wisdom from God when you achieve sanctification by keeping His commandments and casting away evil and are led by the Holy Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the wisdom of God is pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. You must remember and accomplish all the aspects of the wisdom. You should thereby have peace with God as well as peace with other people.
Peace with God is not just about our relationship with God but also relates to our faithfulness in all aspects. When we are faithful in all aspects with service, sacrifice, love, and virtuous generosity, we can have peace with everybody. Then, we can have spiritual confidence, receive whatever we ask for and bear the fruit of blessing anywhere.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will dwell in God's peace and blessing as peacemakers, reap abundant fruit of righteousness, and enjoy the glory like the sun in heaven.
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