Can't We All Just Get Along?, Part 2

September, 2002

by: Jack Hughes

• The Church and Church Issues

In the last Calvary Review we started to answer the question, “Why can't we all just get along?” We learned that Christians are called to be “war–makers” and to “fight the good fight of faith,” by preaching, teaching, and obeying the Word of God. When we do this we can expect to be hated and persecuted by the world and cause division. For this Calvary Review we want to take some time to answer two more critical questions, namely, “What is the nature of the battle we are called to fight?” and “In what way are we to be peace makers?”

The Nature of the Battle

First let's try to discover what the true nature of the battle is that you are called to fight as a Christian. The battle you are called to fight is a battle for the truth, for ideas, for philosophies in the minds of men. This is clearly taught in II Cor. 10:3-6, where Paul says: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.”

This text has been tortured by many who have tried to use it to support the modern spiritual warfare movement with all of its bazaar practices. Yet a simple glance at the text tells us what Paul is talking about. First, the text makes it clear the Christian's battle “is not against flesh and blood.” It may appear that we are fighting against men, but the real enemy is Satan and his demonic forces who work through deceived men. Second, Paul says we have weapons, which are “divinely powerful.” Third, we see that we are given divinely powerful weapons for “the destruction of fortresses.” Paul defines these fortresses further as, “speculations,” “every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God,” and “every thought.” We learn from this that the fortresses we fight to capture are lies and deceptions in the minds of men. We fight to break through the strongholds of error and deception by exposing men to the truth. Satan knows that truth is what saves, sanctifies, and enables men to give glory to God. This is why he labors to deceive people with lies and false doctrines. Fourth and finally, the goal of our military objective is “the destruction of fortresses.” Paul says we do this by “taking every thought captive in obedience to Christ.” This is only accomplished by hammering through the stonewalls of error and burning down the gates of deception with the Word of God and the truth of the Gospel (Jer. 23:29). The question still remains, “If we are called to destroy every lofty thought raised up against the knowledge of God, if we are called to be war–makers and divide people with the truth, if we are called to preach and live a Gospel which will cause the world to hate us, then how or in what way are we to be peace–makers?”

Blessed are the peace–makers

The Bible speaks of three basic kinds of peace–makers. First, there are texts, which tell us to seek peace with all men. For instance, Paul said in Rom. 12:18, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.” Christians must avoid being obnoxious, combative, and stubborn for selfish reasons for this causes conflict. The author of Hebrews, in Heb. 12:14 says, “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.” So we are to seek to be at peace with all men, but never at the expense of truth or in disobedience to God. We must pursue peace in “sanctification” or holiness.

Secondly, the Bible speaks of striving to maintain peace between ourselves and God. If we do not know God, and we have never repented of our sins and received Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, we are marching in Satan's army against God (Eph. 2:1-3). The solution is to be reconciled to God by faith in Christ. If we truly are saved, but have fallen into sin and rebellion, then we need to restore our relationship with God by confessing our sins (I Jn. 1:9). When a Christian turns to sin, he turns away from God. By sinning we show hatred to God, choosing to reject the relationship that He offers us in Christ. God is then forced to discipline us in order to bring us back into obedience to His Word (Heb. 12:4-11). The solution for the believer is to repent and confess all sin and thus establish the relationship that sin caused him to turn from.

Then we come to the third category of peace–maker, which I believe Jesus had in mind in the beatitude of Mt. 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” This is the kind of peace–maker we want to focus on in this Calvary Review. Hopefully you see a paradox between being a war–maker and being a peace–maker. And you are probably asking yourself the question, “How can I be both a war–maker and a peace–maker?” Shamefully, most Christians don't know the answer to this paradox. They think being a peace–maker means living like the world, catering to the felt needs of those who are worldly, tolerating all forms of behavior, or compromising sound doctrine. Many churches strive for peace like this but it is not the kind of peace that pleases God (Rev. 2:2, 14-16). A church which seeks to have peace at the expense of truth soon becomes liberal, dead, and ceases to impact the world for Christ. They become emotion–driven, lust–driven, self–driven, and man–centered rather than truth–driven, God–glorifying, and God–centered.

Churches that seek to acquire peace at the expense of truth quit preaching sound doctrine and cease to call sinners to repentance because “those things are offensive and divisive.” They adopt a “peace and unity at all cost” policy. What does this mean? Think about it, if the truth brings war and division and you want to have peace and unity at all cost, then what do you have to get rid of? You guessed it — you dump the truth! You quit preaching and teaching the Bible, you stop insisting on sound doctrine, you quit calling sinners to repentance and soon the world loves you and you have “peace” — but not with God.

The Word of God is clear, “Friendship with the world is hostility toward God” and “whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4). It is common for churches who have adopted the world's view of peace–making to accuse Bible believing, preaching and obeying churches of being “divisive,” “unloving,” “intolerant,” “legalistic,” and “forsaking unity and peace.” But in reality, the opposite is true.

Their siren cry is “let's be tolerant and show some compromise!” But their tolerance is nothing but a facade to cover their hypocrisy. Truth be known, they really don't want to practice tolerance. If they did, they would tolerate churches that believed, preached, and obeyed the Bible. Instead, they are intolerant of the very kind of church that God requires every church to be! What they really mean by “tolerance” is “Put aside the Bible, put aside sound doctrine, put aside holiness, accept us in our false doctrine and rebellion, then we will be glad to accept you and be at peace with you.” This helps us understand why Puritan preacher Thomas Watson wrote over 300 years ago, “By toleration we adopt other men's sins and make them our own.”

So, how does a Christian become a peacemaker of the third category mentioned above? First you must understand that the Scriptures teach in Isa. 48:22; 57:21, “there is no peace for the wicked.” Those who do not know God have “no peace” — with God. They are “hostile to God” and “the wrath of God abides on them” (Jn. 3:36; Rom. 8:5-8; Eph. 2:1-3; I Jn. 3:6-10). Men who live in rebellion against the truth of God may be at peace with men, Satan, and this world, but they are enemies of God.

The third way God wants you to be a peace–maker is by leading people to faith in Jesus Christ. I believe this is what Jesus had in mind in Mt. 5:9 because immediately after saying “blessed are the peacemakers” he said, “blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” Jesus is talking about receiving persecution for preaching the Gospel and living for Christ in the world. In other words you are a peace–maker by being a war–maker.

We have already learned that a war–maker is a person who preaches, teaches, and models the Gospel and sound doctrine. A peace–maker is one who preaches, teaches, and models the Gospel and sound doctrine. The peace–maker seeks to bring men, who are enemies of God and hostile to Him, into a relationship of peace and reconciliation to God through faith in Christ. The war–maker seeks to fight against the world forces of darkness by proclaiming and living the truth taking every thought captive in obedience to Christ. The two categories are one and the same. Their difference is in orientation, not function. Being a peace–maker is a reference to those who wish to see men reconciled to and at peace with God. Being a war–maker is a reference to those who battle the world forces of darkness with the truth of the Gospel by capturing hearts and minds for Christ.

This is why Paul, in Acts 10:36 defined his peace making efforts as “preaching peace through Jesus Christ.” In Rom. 5:1 Paul explains how we attain peace, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We cannot have peace with God by laying aside the Bible, doctrine, or the Gospel. When Paul described the believer's armor in Eph. 6:15, the armor that every Christian must wear as a war–maker, he says this, “having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” Notice that if you want to be a peace–maker, you need to be a war–maker, put on the armor, and “shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” The Gospel of peace is what God uses to save sinners so that they can be reconciled to and at peace with Him.

Are you a peace–maker? Are you boldly proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that men might believe, be saved, be reconciled, and be at peace with God? Are you being a war–maker and fighting against speculations and every thought raised up in defiance against God? We must not compromise the truth, tolerate error, accept wicked behavior, or put aside sound doctrine in order to be peace–makers. We need to preach the Gospel of peace so that men can have peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ. As many churches get led astray from their call to be both peace–makers and war–makers, may we remember that the truth of God's Word achieves both purposes. May we never lay down the sword of the Spirit in order to achieve a peace, which is hostile towards God, and may we fight the good fight against Satan for the souls of men.