Matthew 5:9 says, "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God."

What is a peacemaker?

Should we not know what "peace" is first?

I like this from EGW:

"This peace is not the peace that comes through conformity to the world. Christ never purchased peace by compromise with evil. The peace that Christ left His disciples is internal rather than external and was ever to remain with His witnesses through strife and contention." {AA 84.1}

Interestingly, the test I quoted in my opening post with peacemaker in it is the only time the word is used in the whole Bible.

I looked the text up in the SDA Bible Commentary and came across this statement:

quote:

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Christians are to be at peace among themselves (1 Thess. 5:13) and to "follow peace with all men" (Hebrews 12:14). They are to pray for peace, to work for peace, and to take a constructive interest in activities that contribute to a peaceful state of society.

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One answer then to my question is that a peacemaker is a person who is at peace with God first resulting in being at peace within further resulting in being at peace with others.

Mind, Character, and Personality Volume 2 --439

"Do Not Discuss Grievances."

--"Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God."

Who calls them so? All the heavenly intelligences. Then do not encourage any tempted soul to tell you the grievances of a brother or a friend. Tell them that you do not want to hear their words of censure and evil speaking, because your Counselor has told you in His Word that if you cease to stir up strife and become a peacemaker, you will be blessed. Tell them that this is the blessing you are craving.

The Story of Jesus--- Teachings of Christ--- 62

"Blessed are the peacemakers." Matthew 5:9.

"He who has the meek and lowly spirit of Christ will be a peacemaker. Such a spirit provokes no quarrel, gives back no angry answer. It makes the home happy, and brings a sweet peace that blesses all around."

Manuscript Releases Volume Nineteen---
" Trust God, He Will Set Things Right"--PG- 147

"For what is the Christian to live? The answer comes, He is to live in this world of sin, and strife, and variance as a peacemaker, doing all in his power to advance the work of God." [James 3:13-18, quoted.]

Based on what Charlene appropriately quoted here, it sounds like there are not very many peacemakers in our midst, if any, for we are so prone to be defensive, and so prone to be judgmental.

These are not good attributes of peacemakers.

I am presently doing a word search where EGW used the word peacemakers.

The following reminded me of my previous post:

quote:

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Gentle Words and Smiles for the Family.--
It is not only our privilege but our duty to cultivate gentleness, to have the peace of Christ in the heart and as peacemakers and followers of Christ to sow precious seed that will produce a harvest unto eternal life.

Professed followers of Christ may possess many good and useful qualities; but their characters are greatly marred by an unkind, fretful, faultfinding, harshly judging temper.

The husband or the wife who cherishes suspicion and distrust creates dissension and strife in the home. Neither of them should keep his gentle words and smiles for strangers alone, and manifest irritability in the home, thus driving out peace and contentment.
--Lt 34, 1894. (HC 179.) {1MCP 156.2}

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How we (and I include myself here) post here, in tone and choice of words, in the various topics of MSDAOL, some of which can be and are sometimes controversial, reveals whether or not we are truly peacemakers as revealed in the above EGW quote.

Here are additional important quotes on this topic:

quote:

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May the dear Saviour be a welcome guest in your heart. If Christ is abiding in your heart, you will manifest Christ in your words, the law of kindness will be upon your tongues, and you will have peace within. Then all will be peace without, and you will make melody to God in your hearts. {OHC 239.3}

A blessing rests upon the peacemakers. . . . O that the Lord would imbue me with His Holy Spirit, that I shall ever be what Christ calls a peacemaker! I do not love the atmosphere of strife and contention. I want to be able to say the Lord's Prayer, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." Oh, how can we utter this prayer and be unforgiving? . . . {OHC 239.4}

To judge our brethren, to allow feelings to be cherished against them, even if we feel they have not done exactly right toward us, will bring no blessing to our hearts and will not help the case at all. I dare not allow my feelings to run in the channel of hunting up all my grievances and telling them over and over, and dwelling in the atmosphere of distrust, enmity, and dissension. . . . {OHC 239.5}

"Blessed are the peacemakers." Matthew 5:9. He who has the meek and lowly spirit of Christ will be a peacemaker. Such a spirit provokes no quarrel, gives back no angry answer. It makes the home happy, and brings a sweet peace that blesses all around. {SJ 62.2}

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Lots of words of wisdom in the above quotes.

Can you think of any good Bible examples of a peacemaker?

Here also is some good counsel from the pen of EGW:

quote:

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You see the truth, and then you mark out how this one and that one should practice it; and if they fail to come up to the mark you set, you feel to draw off from them. You cannot fellowship them, and love dies out of your heart for them, when in reality they are just as near right as you are. You make yourself enemies when you might have friends. You are ardent and positive in your temperament, and when you see points of truth, you carry matters to extremes. You thus repulse persons, instead of winning and binding them to your heart. You look upon the objectionable features in the character of those with whom you associate, and dwell upon their seeming inconsistencies and wrongs, overlooking their redeeming traits. I was referred to this scripture: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Here, dear sister, you may meditate and speculate with profit. Dwell upon the good qualities of those with whom you associate, and see as little as possible of their errors and failings. You possess too much of a spirit of war, and throw things into confusion and strife. You must change your life and character if you are ever classed with those who hear the words: "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." Let nothing but kind, loving words fall from your lips concerning the members of your family or of the church.
{2T 437.1}

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How much division and strife would be avoided in our churches, in our homes, and here in cyberspace if we would follow the above advice.

Here is one excellent example of a peacemaker:

quote:

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Kindness and Peace--
The piety of Abigail, like the fragrance of a flower, breathed out all unconsciously in face and word and action. The Spirit of the Son of God was abiding in her soul. Her speech, seasoned with grace, and full of kindness and peace, shed a heavenly influence. Better impulses came to David, and he trembled as he thought what might have been the consequences of his rash purpose. "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." Matt. 5:9. Would that there were many more like this woman of Israel, who would soothe the irritated feelings, prevent rash impulses, and quell great evils by words of calm and well-directed wisdom.
--PP 667. {VSS 356.1}

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If she hadn't have gotten involved, David would have killed a great number of them, if not all of them.

The literal Greek reads, "Blessed are the peace-doers."

Advent Review and Sabbath Herald---- 01-16-00
As Much as Lieth in You, Live Peaceably With All Men

"We are required to be Christlike toward those who are our enemies; but we must not, in order to have peace, cover up the faults of those we see in error. The world's Redeemer never purchased peace by covering iniquity, or by
anything like compromise. Though his heart was constantly overflowing with love for the human race, he was never indulgent to their sins. He was the friend of sinners, and he would not remain silent while they were pursuing a
course that would ruin their souls,--the souls that he had purchased with his own blood. He was a stern reprover of all vice. He labored that man should be true to himself in being all that God would have him, and true to his higher
and eternal interest. Living in a world marred and seared with the curse brought upon it by disobedience, he could not be at peace with it if he left unwarned, uninstructed, unrebuked. This would be to purchase peace at the neglect of duty. His peace was the consciousness of having done the will of his Father, rather than a condition of things that existed as the result of not having done his duty."

Daryl,

Thanks. This is a most needed topic for our study these days. I have had a burden for some time now since focusing on the text in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 about the ministry of reconciliation. This past fall my study group took on the topic of reconcilliation and being peacemakers as a focus of study. It is an outgrowth of our series of studies on grace.

My group had spent about 12 weeks on a focused study of forgiveness from a practical theology perspective. After completing that study it was obvious that the end goal is reconcilation and forgiveness is half of the equation. I started a search for a good book on Christian reconcilliation. I was disappointed that I was unable to find one by an Adventist author. (It seems not to be a topic of Adventist focus. )
When I did a search on Amazon for a book on reconcillation I came up with over 300 hits! After refining it to "Christian reconcilliation" it narrowed the search to a little over 100 books! I was still overwhelmed. In the end I narrowed it down to a couple books and someone gave me another recently published book on forgiveness and reconcilliation which looks like the best one I have seen. Unfortunately, I don't have them with me right now. I will post the titles later, when I have them in front of me.

Tom

We have a book written by James Rafferty from Malo, Washington called "Ministry of Reconciliation" I believe. I'd have to go look in our bookcase but he is an SDA and the book is excellent for study. I am sure it is still in print also as they print their own books.

Debbie,

You said "they" print their own books. Who are "they"? That would tend to explain why none of my searches turned up this book or identified this author. I would be interested to know more about the book, so do tell us more.

Tom

James Rafferty and his partner Ty Gibson run Light Bearers Ministry out of Malo, WA; some info on them is at

http://www.outpostcenters.org/publishing/light_bearers.html ,

including a phone number and e-mail address. Though their own web site, http://www.lightbearers.org/ , doesn't seem to be up and running right now (it's in 'coming soon' status).

They also appear on 3ABN fairly often, on the "Lift Him Up" program. Four times during the month of March.

Hopefully Debbie can tell more, from the book jacket or something --

Thanks John. That would explain why at the time I was searching for a book, someone said to look for a book by Ty Gibson. Unfortunately, I found nothing from any conventional book search.

Debbie, was Ty Gibson a co-author? The person who told me said he had written a book by that same title.

Tom

The book is authored by James Rafferty of Light Bearer Ministry located in Malo, Washington. I'm sorry I can't give more information. They are on 3ABN regularly, but his book about reconciliation is a really good one.

He and Ty Gibson work together a lot, I know that much. I think the title of the book is "The Ministry of Reconciliation" or something close to that.

To continue on with our study.

With these examples from the Bible, etc., why do we have such a problem in this area within the church, or do we?

Brother Daryl

Yes, I believe that we do have this problem within the church.
I think the reason is because some of us are still "of the world".
"Not born again"
Have not had the "gethsemene" experience.
Are not converted. We find ourselves in Peter's shoes.

db: 4RH
pt: Advent Review and Sabbath Herald
dt: 01-31-93
at: Seek First the Kingdom of God (Continued)
pr: 3
*********************************************************************
Those who are wavering between Christ and the world, need the
converting power of God. When they see what sin is, and what is the
righteousness of Christ, they will no longer dwell in the cave of
unbelief. God calls upon them to come out of the cave, and stand with
him. No longer question your need of a personal Saviour. The heart, as
well as the understanding, must be enlarged. It is not enough to have
an intellectual knowledge of the truth; there must be a heart work
done. The soul temple must be cleansed from the buyers and sellers, and
must be opened for the indwelling of the Spirit of God. Christ drew a
decided line of distinction between his disciples and the world. Listen
to these words from his prayer offered just before his agony in
Gethsemane: "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."

db: 6ST
pt: The Signs of the Times
dt: 11-11-97
at: Peter's Fall
pr: 6
*********************************************************************
Peter denied the Man of Sorrows in his acquaintance with grief, in
the hour of his humiliation; but he was filled with shame and sorrow
for his act. With blinding tears he made his way to the solitudes of
the Garden of Gethsemane, and there prostrated himself where he had
seen his Saviour's prostrate form. He remembered with remorse that he
was asleep when Jesus prayed during those fearful hours. His proud
heart broke, and penitential tears moistened the sod so recently
stained with the bloody sweat-drops of God's dear Son. He left the
garden a converted man.

God help us!
We need to think more in terms of "how can I 'woo'
my brother/sister."
When we continually look in the mirror of God's law, and see our own defects, we will be less inclined to critcize each other.

Sister Midge

Only converted people can truly be peacemakers.

When then is a person actually converted?

But what if one is a peacmaker like Aaron in the Old Testament, who let the Children of Israel build a golden calf to worship while Moses was up in the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments. I have a fault of being too easy going, like my dad, who didn't care what anybody did as long as they weren't bothering him. I'm too non-judgmental, too permissive. I've had to join myself closely with the Holy Spirit to change my ways and learn to say No to people. And learn to speak up and speak out when I should. I practiced on little things and people not too close to me, then worked on it with more powerful people who could make trouble for me. I practiced step by step until now I sometimes have to try to be more tactful about opposing people. I think there needs to be a middle place where one can be bold and assertive to oppose someone doing wrong, but also be kind about it when the time and place is right for that.

Amen, Restin!

As far as Aaron goes, a real peacemaker doesn't compromise truth, but uses tack in upholding truth.

Amen to that!

Here's one of my favorite passages in this regard:

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"Jesus prayed that His followers might be one; but we are not to sacrifice the truth in order to secure this union, for we are to be sanctified through the truth. Here is the foundation of all true peace. Human wisdom would change all this, pronouncing this basis too narrow. Men would try to effect unity through concession to popular opinion, through compromise with the world, a sacrifice of vital godliness. But truth is God's basis for the unity of His people."
{RH 04-12-92 para. 19}

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