I always like to say a prayer and drink to world peace.

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

Apology accepted. But only because you stammered.

True or False?

"Apologies are like monsters: They're only real if you believe in them."
~Justin Feinstein"

You're talking about stuff I haven't done yet in the past tense and it's driving me crazy.

We don't often get all political up in this piece and this isn't so much a political comment as more a rhetorical question to express incredulity.

By now you've heard that Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Normally, I don't get too concerned about these things because they're so subjective and often make little sense to my small brain.

But this time I have to ask one question: What was so impressive and peace creating about Obama's thirteen (13) days as president* that merited a nomination, let alone dominance over the rest of the planet of peace pursuers?

I personally made peace many times among my kiddos during 2008 where there was no peace and I didn't even get a nomination? That's an outrage!

Seriously, and interestingly enough, at least one commentator thinks Obama should turn it down. That might be a great PR move, actually. Rush Limbaugh thinks this is a "greater embarrassment" (for Obama) than not getting the Olympics.

P.S. I wonder if Kanye is going to show up at the award ceremony to suggest someone he deems more worthy.

*The deadline for 2009 nominations for said Nobel Peace Prize was February 1st, 2009.

No fightin' in the building. You got a grudge against someone, fight him Saturday afternoon.

Yesterday's sermon at Providence Church dealt with horizontal peacemaking (i.e., among humans), from Matthew 5:9.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." (ESV)

(click to listen)

“Peacemaking tries to build bridges to people. It does not want the animosity to remain. It wants reconciliation. It wants harmony.” -John Piper

I had essentially 4 points or contentions:

1. Be a peacemaker between yourself and others.

• This may entail being taken advantage of (Matt 5:38-41) and taking the initiative to love your enemies (Matt 5:43-48).
• However, as Martyn Lloyd-Jones notes, after conversion we see (a) ourselves differently, (b) others differently, and (c) the world differently (i.e., the purpose being the glory of God).
• So we forgive, as we have been forgiven (Col 3:13). We overlook an offense (Prov 19:11), knowing it is better to be wronged than to embarrass the church in court, for example (1 Cor 6:1-8). We may have to sacrifice our rights and privileges to live peaceably with the weaker or less mature Christians (Rom 14:13-19).
• Try to reconcile relationships as best you can (Heb 12:14; Rom 12:18), but even if the other party will not entertain the idea, you can always pray for softened hearts to allow for reconciliation in the future.
• Remember, fractured horizontal relationships jeopardize the experiential peace of the vertical relationship.(Matt 5:23-24; 1 Pet 3:7)

2. Be a peacemaker for others.

• Following Paul's example, we don't assume devout Christian people will work out their disagreements on their own. To prevent factions and threats to church unity, we must intervene to make peace (Phil 4:2-3).
• When you hear a Christian talking about another, bashing, belitting, and carrying on, suggest he/she talk with that person to get right the relationship. Offer to help them reconcile, though it be potentially costly and draining for you to do so.

3. Peace in the church glorifies God in the world.

• Sadly, the world does a better job of striving for peace than the church does. Ironically, the church knows the root problem is sin and the cure is the gospel. Until people have vertical peace, there's no chance for real horizontal peace.
• Sadly, the world puts a greater value on diversity than the church does. In contrast to the homogeneity principle, regardless of how much easier it makes church growth, unity in diversity around the cross glorifies God and gets the worlds attention. A good church for you is not necessarily one where there are many like you, but one where you can benefit from there being many unlike you.
• Christians in the church ought to handle conflict differently than the world does. Sadly, when there's a conflict in the church, the peaceful option is for someone to leave. Even in a Christian marriage, when conflict arises, someone will leave. But reconciliation of relationships is what glorifies God.

4. We do not pursue peace "at all costs."

• We do not pursue peace to the sacrifice of purity (Matt 5:8), of ourselves or the Gospel message. We do not contextualize to the point of espousing another gospel to get decisions or get along.
• We do not pursue peace to the sacrifice of righteousness (Matt 5:10-12) in behavior or doctrine. We do not sacrifice truth/doctrine to be ecumenical. J.C. Ryle wrote, "Never let us be guilty of sacrificing any portion of truth on the altar of peace."
• We do not sacrifice our relationship with Christ to get along with others, even family members (Matt 10:34-37).

Still prayin'! Still prayin'! Gettin' right with Jesus!

My sermon yesterday at Providence Church was on Matthew 5:9, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."

(click to listen)

Peacemaking is a characteristic of those who have been born again and are children of God, with all the rights, privileges thereunto from "sonship." I broke our peacemaking obligation up into two varieties, the vertical and the horizontal.

Yesterday we focused on making peace between people and God (i.e., vertically):

• positionally (e.g., Rom 5:1) - through proclaiming the peacemaking power of the cross in evangelism (Is 53:5; Col 1:20)
• experientially (e.g., 2 Thes 3:16) - through repentance, prayer (Phil 4:6-7), restorative church discipline (Matt 18:15-20), and church involvement (Heb 10:24-25)

Next week we'll focus on making peace between people (i.e., horizontally).

The following are a few quotes I shared in yesterday's sermon:

"It's been said that peace is that glorious brief moment in history when everyone stops to reload."
-John F. MacArthur, Jr.

"My pappy was a pistol; I'm a son of a gun. Dang me. Dang me. They oughta take a rope and hang me. High, from the highest tree. Woman would you weep for me?"
-Roger Miller, “Dang Me”

"even though by nature we are rebels against God and have committed high treason and are worthy to be eternally court-marshaled and hanged by the neck until dead, nevertheless God has sacrificed his own Son and now declares amnesty free and clear to any who will lay down their arms of independence and come home to faith."
-John Piper