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Sunday, June 16, 2013

“THINGS THAT MAKE FOR PEACE”

A Sermon Based Upon Colossians 3:15 Luke 19: 41-44
By Rev. Dr. Charles J. Tomlin, DMin
Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership
Pentecost 5, June 16, 2013

“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which you are called in the one body.”  (Colossians. 3:15).

It was early Easter morning before the tradition of sunrise services.   I heard an unexpected knock on the door of the parsonage.   When I came to the door and pulled back the curtain, there stood a school friend with a   bloody machete in his hand.   That’s not the way I like to start Easter.

After I hesitantly went out the door, I asked my friend what had happened.  “I think I might have killed my best friend”,  he answered.   My school friend had a knack for drama.   When we were in school he was always coming up to me trying out his new karate move.  Those were the days of Bruce Lee and Kung Fu, if you recall.  Since those high school days, I had gone off to college, but he had gone off to the army.   He told me that he had learned all kinds of judo and other fighting skills in the army.   He had been dishonorably discharged because he had pointed a gun at his commanding officer.   Now, he says he has attacked his ‘best friend’.   All else I need to tell you from this story is that within a year of later,  my school friend who was standing at my door with a bloody machete in his hand, was found murdered in the woods.

Conflict, violence, struggle, and unrest are part of our daily world.   And its not just what gets into the newspapers.   Hopefully the struggle and violence is not too close to your home in this moment, but sometimes it does ‘come close to home’ and unfortunately, someday it will.   For you see, the source of conflict and violence is not way out there somewhere in Afghanistan or North Korea, but the source of human conflict is much closer to home, if not ‘too’ close to home.   The source of human conflict says found in the human heart.

A MATTER OF THE HEART  
In Paul’s word about ‘peace’ as a Christian virtue, we find this very ancient point of view that the source of struggle, conflict, and unrest in our world resides in the human ‘heart’.   Now of course, we are not speaking about the physical heart, but about the metaphorical heart, that is, the psyche, the soul, the invisible seat and practically undetectable source of human feeling, emotion, attitude and behavior which we know today is part of how our brains are wired---(of course speaking of how our brains are wired is also a metaphor).  In the ancient world before the days of science, and still in these postmodern times after the rise of science, it is very common to speak of emotional, moral, behavioral, and religious issues as matters or habits of the heart.

We still use the ‘heart’ metaphor today because it still speaks of realities that remain beyond the reach of microscope.  It also speaks of realities that effect how we use that might use or abuse that microscope.    When I say “I love my wife with all my heart”, what I’m saying is real, not because it is provable or repeatable, but because it speaks of truth that can’t be fully detected or dissected in any laboratory.  Such matters of the heart are hidden, complicated, but they are also very consequential.  This is why Paul says, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart.”   This is also why Jesus said to those Pharisees, who were constantly worried about outward rules and rituals of hand washing before meals: "Are you also still without understanding?  17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?  18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles.  19 For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander.  20 These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile." (Mat 15:16-20 NRS).  Just because you can’t see what’s in a person’s deepest heart, soul, or mind, (ever how you label it) does not mean that it does not have real-world effect.  The heart matters---it matters as much or more than anything else we can see or imagine.

We all know that both in Scripture and at the core of Christian teaching is a ‘heart’ problem---not a physical heart problem, but a spiritual problem that can wreak havoc in matters in our emotional, psychological, social, and political health.   And when it comes to the ‘things that make for peace’ what is in our heart matters most.   We can go all the way back to one of the very first stories in the Bible, the story of Cain and Abel, and see that the source of human conflict is a conflict in the human soul or heart.   Cain killed his brother, not  because of what his brother did, but he killed his brother because of an unresolved struggle within his own heart.   Remember how the story depicts how the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen?  If you do well, you will be accepted?  And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is to have you, but you must master it.”   But Cain could not master it, and you know the rest of the story.  Cain killed his brother Abel, not because they had any kind of real conflict between them, but because of an inward, hidden, secret conflict that was going on between Cain and himself; or maybe even between Cain and God.   Because there was no peace in Cain’s heart, there was a war in his soul that had consequences in the relationship with his brother.

This idea that the source of all human conflict is a matter of the heart is not only true in biblical view, it is also true in the most all world views, including others views of the sacred and the secular.   Paul and Christianity prove they are in tune with ultimate reality when the say that peace a matter of the human heart.  If the heart is not at peace, you will soon know it somewhere in the body, somewhere in the family, somewhere in the community, and somewhere in the world.   It is what is within that defiles and endangers us the most.

During my early days of ministry, I came across a saying not from Christianity, but attributed to Buddha.   A form of this wise saying is said to have been finalized by Lao Tse, a Chinese philosopher of the 6th century.  He was an older contemporary of Confucius and founder of the spiritual way of Tao.   Who knows where this saying actually came from, but it rings true and complements true faith and wisdom:
 “If there is to be peace in the world, there must be peace in the nations. 
If there is to be peace in the nations, there must be peace in the cities. 
If there is peace in the cities, there must be peace between neighbors. 
If there is peace between neighbors, there must be peace in the home. 
If there is to be peace in the home, there must be peace in the heart.  (http://www.worldprayers.org/archive/prayers/meditations/if_there_is_to_be_peace.html).

Jesus and Paul could not agree with more.   The only thing they would add to this ancient wisdom is that for there to be ‘peace in the heart’ there must be peace and reconciliation with God.  At the heart of Christian thinking is that God has made reconciliation possible through Jesus’ death and resurrection.   But until we make our peace with God, there is little hope of peace with each other.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF RULE
So, how do people come to find peace with God, which can result in having peace with each other?  Paul suggests that this kind of reconciling peace only happens when people live under a different kind of rule of their life---which he calls the rule of Christ.  Only by letting Christ ‘rule’ our hearts can we maintain peace with each other in the body of Christ and live in peace with others in the world.  Our need for one who can lead us to this peace is why Jesus is called “prince of peace” (Isa. 9:6).    

But how do we come under the rule of Christ’s peace in this violent world?  How can Jesus bring peace to our world of struggle and conflict?   This kind of question brings us to this passage from Luke where Jesus desires to see Jerusalem at peace with God, with itself, and with the Roman political climate of his day.   Jesus came to show them a different way to win, a different way to do politics, and a different way to relate to both insiders and outsiders.  This was Jesus’ hope, but unfortunately, he did not see it become a reality.  In fact, Jesus sees the opposite happening.   He wanted to bring them a way to peace, hope and a future, without violence, without militant force, and without hate and destruction; but as they text says, “they would not”.   Are we any different?

Several years ago a new way of teaching Christian Ethics hit North America.   It was an ethical approach which attempted to find a way to a Christian ethic that would work in today’s confusing world.  Some have used the Bible as the basis for all ethical discussion—calling it biblical ethics, but the Bible has differing approaches.  Other used the Laws or commandments, calling it “Command Ethics”, but these two can be misused or abused.  Others would rather focus on Love, which is Situation ethics, but ‘love’ is also hard to define.   Still some choose to remain secular using words like the ‘greatest good”, saying “Just Do It”.   But John Yoder’s more recent approach rightly declares that as Christians we have only one foundation for our ethics and our rules of behavior; we need to make Jesus our Lord.  He called his way of ethical discussion ‘Messianic Ethics’ building the way every Christian should behave on the Lordship or ‘rule of Christ.’

But are we really ready for such an ethic---such a rule of Christ, as it is often called?   The Ten Commandments are hard enough to keep, but try the Sermon on the Mount, beginning with the Beatitudes.  Things like “love your enemy”, turn the other cheek”, “pray for those who curse you”, blessed are the poor, blessed are those that mourn, blessed are those who are persecuted, etc.   This is deep and difficult stuff.  Is a Messianic ethic practical, understandable, or realistic enough?   Every time I think of the Politics of Jesus, I’m reminded of something I read from a German Christian, also a Theologian and TV News anchor.   Franz Alt asked: “Did Jesus fail?  Jesus came to change people and change the world, but the world hasn’t changed that much.   Did Jesus fail?   The question is an important one.   In this age of atom bombs, when we have the power to destroy life on this planet, the question is more important than ever.   Did Jesus fail---fail to bring love, hope, and peace to the world?   Franz Alt continues to say that the answer to this question is even more important.  Did Jesus fail?   No, Jesus didn’t fail, Alt answers.  Jesus was a man for others, and a man like no other.  He treated people differently.  He treated the sinner differently.  He treated women with respect.  He loved the outcast.  He never used force on another.  He was critical of bad religion.   He suggested a different way to live, to love, and to deal with the problems of the world.   And Jesus was faithful to his message up to his end.  Did Jesus fail?  No, but we have failed, Alt answers.  We have failed to really try to follow Jesus.” You can’t say someone failed until his way has been tried and found wanting.   We haven’t really try Jesus’ way, yet.  (A summary from the Franz Alt’s book, Jesus: Der erste neue Man, Muechen, 1989).

Near the end of April, they dedicated the new George W. Bush library in Waco Texas.   Most presidents are respected and liked more after they are out of office.  George W. Bush is no different.   He just became a grandfather.  He is still loved by many, and for good reasons.  And even though there is still controversy surrounding his presidency, Bush did a lot of things right.  One of those was his ideas on Immigration.  What Bush suggested is now being implemented by the Obama Administration.   Still, some people, however, blame Bush for the bad economy.   Others blame the President who is now in office.   The problems may be more Wall Street than White House, but one issue that still stands out and remains most controversial in the former Presidents legacy is his decision to Invade Iraq.   Was it worth it?  Was the torture worth it?  No one doubted that Sadaam Hussein needed to go.  No one doubted that our leaders wanted to defeat Terror--for good reasons.  But also no one found any weapons of mass destruction.    I am not certified to debate political decision-making of a President on such matters.  I am in no position to comment on why or whether he made the right decision.   I believe President Bush did the best he could with the information he believed that the had.  But I still need to say something that we can all learn from War---no matter how right it seems to be.  War-making is never 'right enough.   It is very, very difficult to follow the way of Jesus, which is the way of peacemaking and also follow the way of war-making.  In the thick and thin of life it was hard for George W. Bush, and it is hard for me and you too.  It was also hard for those Zealots, like Judas and others who did not see Jesus’ way as workable.  So Judas betrayed Jesus, and Israel went it’s own way and within 40 years of failing to follow Jesus way of making Peace with the Romans, the nation of Israel, which decided to wage war with the Romans, was completely destroyed.   Jesus warned them this would happen.   Jesus told them that those who ‘live by the sword, die by the sword’.   But they did not listen.  We still have trouble listening to Jesus.  Jesus’ way of peace does not work,  and it does not work mainly because people have little patience for it.  Will we?

PEACE IS SOMETHING WE MAKE
Many people say that avoiding force, violence, or to work toward peace is to take the easy way of a coward.  But Jesus reminds us that choosing to make peace not war, or to turn the other cheek and seek reconciliation and peace with others is the hardest way.  It was the hardest way in Jesus’ day, and it still is in our own.  It is hard make peace without some kind of a show of force.  No doubt, the longest period of peace in the history of the world is known as the Pax Roma, or the Roman Peace, and it took place only because of the power and might of Rome, which everyone was afraid to go up against.   So, we must Christians, who claim to follow Jesus’s way of peace, need to at least hear the argument: The way of temporary peace in a sinful world may require guns, bullets, and bombs.  But the questions which always remain and haunts the world we live in are these; Whose bombs? Which bombs?  How many will it take?  And finally, how long until someone sets off the Big bomb, which makes everything in this world history?  This constant threat of the 'big one' makes the peace question very relevant, doesn’t it?   Can we find another way to peace, before it’s too late to try?  Can we find other ways to confront our adversaries, deal with threats, face our fears, and get rid of our enemies:  Could we not find a way to make our enemies our friends; or at least find a way to live in peace with them without resorting to bullets and bombs?  Is this way of Jesus something we really could or should at least try and how do we do that?

Here, we must finally return what Paul called “letting the peace of Christ rule our hearts”.  What does Paul mean?   Truly, Paul is not speaking about a world solution, but perhaps he’s speaking more about a local solution, even the way to peace in a local church congregation or in first finding peace in our own hearts.  Paul is surely not telling us how to find peace in the world until we find peace right where we live, in our community, in our family, in our homes and in our own hearts.   How can we let this ‘peace of Christ’ rule in our hearts, right where we live?  How can we find peace in our own hearts---so we will at least ‘want’ to have peace with others around us?

Jesus answer, perhaps we might say that Jesus’ rule of ‘peace’, which comes directly from the Sermon on the Mount, is that peace is something we make.  Peace is not something out-there that trickles down from heaven, but peace is something that begins with our own desire, our own decision-making, and our own dogged-determination.   Peace comes from the inside-out, not from the outside-in.  Peace is a matter of Christian discipleship.  Peace is a matter of the heart that submits to the rule of Christ and lives that peace out that as a rule for daily life.  Again, peace is, according to Jesus, something we, as his disciples, must make, but how?   How do we do the ‘things that make for peace’?

The late, great preacher Ernest Campbell once said that there are two fronts on which the human heart craves peace---We want peace within ourselves, and we want peace among ourselves---with other people.   We all know that peace within begins with faith in God.   Jesus said, “My peace I leave with you, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:7).  Peace comes from knowing that we have nothing to fear from the God we love and who loves us.   Have you made that peace?  This is the first peace we must make.  

Secondly,  Dr. Campbell said that we want peace among ourselves.  How do we make peace with each other?  Where does this kind of peace come from, especially when people have so many different opinions, viewpoints, even different interpretations of what it means to believe in God?    Listen to what Dr. Campbell wrote at the close of a sermon he wrote about peace-making back in 1972 at the Riverside Church in New York.    “I am growing more and more into the conviction that we are never more the church that Christ would have us be than when we turn outward toward the world for which He died.  Frequently I have seen in business places a sign that reads: "We service what we sell." On still other occasions I have seen a "revised standard version" of that sign which reads: "We service only what we sell."  In other words, if you didn't buy that cheap vacuum cleaner here, don't bring it in to us when it breaks down. There is a hint of snobbishness in that. "We service only what we sell."

The business of the church historically is to service what we do not sell.  We do not sell drugs, but we service the addicted!  We do not sell poverty, but we service the needy! We do not sell trouble, but we service the distressed!  We do not sell oppression, but we service the aggrieved!  This is what makes for excitement.  Frankly speaking, and off the record, some churches are just plain dull. Watching them is like watching a battleship getting painted. Because we are involved in making life better for people, church gets exciting and peace breaks out all over the place.   Because of service to each other, we start talking to each other and then we start understanding each other in new ways.  When communication lines go open, people become more aware and more hopeful, and less afraid.   When we do deeds and works of service we make peace.”
(http//ia600804.us.archive.org/18/items/sermonthingsthat00camp/sermonthingsthat00camp.pdf)

I sincerely hope that knowing that serving each other is how we make peace with God, within ourselves, and with each other that we will follow this rule of Christ which makes for peace.  As we come to know what we need to do and we do it, we make the world a more hopeful, helpful,  and much less scary place.   Let’s do these things we need to do for ‘peace’s sake.  We need to do them.  They need us to do them.  We have something that the world needs more than ever.  So, as we serve God, let’s give this world the peace we can make ourselves which begin in ourselves.   Of course, we can only make this kind of peace with God's help.  Amen.  

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