Evangelism Part 27: Peace Making, Faking, and Breaking
Matthew 10:13 January 21, 2024
Recap
Matthew 10:5-13 “5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among
the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at
hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received
without paying; give without pay. 9 Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, 10
no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his
food. 11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay
there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 And if the house is
worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to
you.”
o Luke 10:6 “And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not,
it will return to you.”
Peace Making Behavior
Go listen’s to Niko’s sermon last week on peacemaking
Double click on central aspect of peacemaking – humility
o Isaiah 66:2 “…this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in
spirit and trembles at my word.”
Actions of a Peacemaker
o Overlooking offenses
Proverbs 19:11 “Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to
overlook an offense.”
Let offenses go – forgive (future sermon(s))
Proverbs 17:9 “Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats
a matter separates close friends.”
don’t gossip, don’t overlook continuous offense (time to be a
peacemaker)
o Mediation and Counsel
Proverbs 24:6 “for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in
abundance of counselors there is victory.”
Proverbs 12:15 “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man
listens to advice.”
Proverbs 1:5 “Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who
understands obtain guidance”
o Church Discipline
1 Corinthians 5:12-13 “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it
not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those
outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”” (quoting Deuteronomy
13:5)
Our peacemaking concern within the body is coming alongside our
brothers and sisters and helping them to become more like Jesus
o See Matthew 18:15-20
o Proverbs 12:1 “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but
he who hates reproof is stupid.”
A non-believer who does not want to know about Jesus should not be
“corrected” in their sin – it is pearls before swine (see Matthew 7:7) and
will not bear fruit without sincere repentance and turning to Christ for
salvation, which must be our first and primary goal with non-disciples of
Christ.
Galatians 6:1 “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you
who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep
watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”
Our evangelistic concern is to come alongside anyone
and help them overcome the lies/deceptions that they
believe, the circumstances/temptations in which they
are caught, repent and turn to Jesus
Sadly, church discipline can be undertaken without the
admonition to be gentle and loving (see Ephesians 4:15)
when doing it or it is not received by the one being
lovingly disciplined, and they run away (peace faking,
see below)
Hebrew 12:7-11 “7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is
treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not
discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have
participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9
Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we
respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of
spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it
seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may
share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful
rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of
righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
Jesus is example of perfect peacemaker, always walking in humility:
o Overlooked offenses against him (see 1 Peter 2:22, Mark 15:3-5, Luke 23:34, at
his trial did not give a defense, on cross asked for their forgiveness)
o Gave wise counsel to those seeking truth (see Mark 9:33-37, Matthew 20:20-28,
if anyone would be greatest let him be least of all and servant of all with disciples
generally and with sons of Zebedee after mother’s request)
o Sought to correct those who claimed truth, but were deceived (see John 21:15-
19, with Peter after denial)
Called to humility, enemy constantly seeks to get us to give into fleshly, selfish pride
through 2 avenues:
o Fear which leads to peace faking
o Arrogance which leads to peace breaking
Peace Faking Behavior
Rooted in fear of man – guided by the opinions and standards of the people around you
that you wish to gain favor with or to not be looked down on by
Fear of man manifestations = people pleasing, reputation seeking, peer
pressure acquiescing, culture conforming
o Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is
safe.”
o Galatians 1:10 “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I
trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant
of Christ.”
Classic Signs
o Hypocrisy (Gk. hypokrites) = actor or stage player; literally “interpreter from
underneath” (a mask)
Biblical Example = Judas (see Luke 22:48), Ananias and Saphira (Acts
5:1:11), Pharisees, Scribes, Sadducees (Matthew 15:7-9)
Mask of Denial
o Matthew 15:7-9 “7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of
you, when he said: 8 “‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”(quoting
Isaiah 29:13)
Ignoring elephant in room, sweeping problem under the rug,
choosing not to change even though “agreeing” they are wrong
Mask of Escapism
Runing from:
o Conflict avoidance, lying/deceiving, withdrawal, quitting,
acceptance, conformity, tolerating ongoing sin
Revelation 2:20-21 “20 But I have this against you, that
you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a
prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to
practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to
idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to
repent of her sexual immorality.”
o According to the book Crucial Conversations, as described at
the website below “new research has revealed that employees
waste an average of $1,500.00 and an 8-hour workday for their
employer for every conflict-centric conversation they avoid.”
(see
https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2016/septemb
er/4091216.html)
o Flattery, telling someone what they want to hear
Proverbs 29:5 “A man who flatters his neighbor spreads
a net for his feet.” (see also Romans 16-17-18)
Psalm 55:20-21 “20 My companion stretched out his
hand against his friends; he violated his covenant. 21 His
speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn
swords.”
o apathy/lack of effort, staying arm’s length or surface level
Romans 12:9-11 “9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is
evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with
brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing
honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit,
serve the Lord.”
Running to: substance abuse, dopamine abuse
(exercise/pornography/video games/social media), distraction with
hobby or experience
o Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 “1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test
you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was
vanity. … 10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from
them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found
pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.
11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I
had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a
striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under
the sun.”
Other biblical peace fakers = Abraham (allow Sarai to deal harshly with
Hagar, see Genesis 16:6-14, half-truth about his wife see Genesis 20) and
Hezekiah (see 2 Kings 20:16-19, not caring about the destruction of Judah
at the hands of Babylon so long as his kingdom was safe)
o World says things like “healthy coping mechanism”, “live and let live”/“you do
you”, “don’t poke the bear” – bible says to be a peace maker and not a faker, nor
a breaker
Peace Breaking Behavior
Rooted in selfish, arrogance –guided by the ingrained belief that “I’m right” (smarter,
stronger, wiser, etc.), or “I’m entitled”, so I will demand my way, my prerogative, my
perspective, my pleasure, my opinion…whatever I want, need, or deserve.
o Proverbs 26:12 “Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more
hope for a fool than for him.”
o Proverbs 3:7 “Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from
evil.”
Classic Signs
o Aggression
Outward anger that results in argumentative conflict, physical domineering
or violence, insults and demeans the one getting in the way of the peace
breaker’s selfish desires
Proverbs 29:22 “A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to
anger causes much transgression.”
Proverbs 15:18 “A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is
slow to anger quiets contention.”
o Manipulation
Seeking to spiritually, emotionally, and verbally twist and contort to get
your way, rationalize and logicize your way to getting what you want,
coercive ego which drives one to obtain what thing your selfishness desires
Proverbs 21:6 “The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting
vapor and a snare of death.”
Matthew 5:37 “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything
more than this comes from evil.”
Many biblical examples: of evil peace breakers (See all kings of Israel and most of Judah,
Jezebel 1 Kings 19-22), Peter cutting off ear of temple guard (see John 18:10-11, Luke
22:49-51) and arguing with Christ (see Matthew 16:22-23)
How does pride keep us from counsel and on the path of a peace faker or breaker?
Following taken from Jon Bloom, Right in Your Own Eyes, April 1, 2021
(www.desiringgod.org/articles/right-in-our-own-eyes)
o We underestimate our ignorance:
Therefore, the wise man listens to advice even (and especially) when he
thinks he knows what’s best.
o We avoid appearing weak:
Therefore, the wise man seeks out and listens to advice that helps him to
fear the Lord more than he fears appearing weak, and to love people more
than he loves his reputation.
o We predetermine the counsel we’ll accept:
Therefore, the wise man does not pack the jury or skew the evidence, but
listens to advice offered by honest advisors from multiple perspectives who
have heard all the relevant information.
Conclusion
Both peace breaking and peace faking isn’t just done with people, we can also do it with
the Lord
o The Lord can handle our anger, fear, and selfishness – but He always calls us back
to Himself in humility and repentance that we would once again rest in His peace
(Shalom) so that we can know peace and be an instrument of peace with those
around us.
Jesus needs to be the peacemaker of our souls so that we can have the courage to come
before the throne of grace
o Hebrews 4:14-16 “14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed
through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For
we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let
us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”