The Art of Peacemaking

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     To suffer for Christ also means to embrace the cause of unity within the body of Christ over against all forms of sectarianism and denominational prestige. It means carrying on our hearts and in our prayers the scandal of our divisions and working to remove them wherever possible.-- Suzanne de Dietrich in "Toward Fulness of Life."

     I suspect that most of our readers know by now that I am a great admirer of the Greek language in which the new covenant scriptures were written. It was divine providence which gave us the revelation at the very time when this versatile tongue was the medium of verbal exchange throughout the Mediterranean world. It was a style of dress best calculated to adorn, exhibit and enhance the message from on high. Will Durant says, "It was a noble tongue, vigorous, supple, melodious, as irregular as any vital speech, but lending itself readily to expressive combinations, delicate gradations and distinctions of meaning, subtle philosophical conceptions, and every variety of literary excellence."

     To pick a favorite word from such a glorious army would be like trying to select one gem from a truckload of precious stones, yet I am sure that any small collection of mine would certainly include the word eirene. This word occurs ninety-one times, in 88 of which it is translated peace. Once it is rendered quietness, and once rest. Our feminine name Irene is a transliteration as is our English word irenic, which means peaceful or conciliatory.

     It is one of the great terms used by the Holy Spirit, appearing in every one of the books of the new covenant scriptures, except 1 John. Paul uses it in combination with grace in the salutation of all his letters, using the additional word mercy only when writing to Timothy. When Greeks met, the customary greeting was "Grace." When Jews saluted one another it was with "Peace." Thus the apostle embraces both Jew and Greek at the very outset of each personal letter. Frequently he closes his epistles with a repetition of "peace."

     The corresponding Hebrew word was shalom. It conveyed the idea of wholeness, completeness or perfection. It has a variety of renderings, but generally there is a sense of completing a work, clearing away a charge by payment or restitution, or bringing a difficulty to a conclusion. It is in such a framework the Jews in an audience addressed by Paul would have understood peace.

     We limit peace, as we do many other words, when we think of it as a mere cessation of hostilities, or a lull between battles. Peace is a state or condition in which a proper relationship is maintained so that tranquillity prevails. I once knew a husband and wife who lived under the same roof for three years and never exchanged a harsh word. They did not exchange a kind word either.

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They were not on speaking terms. They slept in different rooms and avoided each other as much as possible. Their house was one of quiet, but not of peace. It was the quiet of the morgue or the cemetery. Just because they were not shouting or shooting at one another did not indicate peace. Both were churning with inner turmoil.

     I am writing about peace because I think that our sectarian squabbles are a disgrace to the faith which we profess, and our divisions are a scandal of the deepest dye. The very existence of our warring factions and belligerent parties is proof of how far we have forsaken the ideal of "the Prince of peace." In one Texas city I visited nine different kinds of "Churches of Christ." As we talked in the offices it was obvious that the constituents of each group knew nothing about the others. I was the only man who had ever made it a point to visit all of them. I saw brethren in the Lord who lived in the same block and had never met.

     There was not even a "restoration brotherhood" (whatever that is) in the city. There were nine separate and distinct "brotherhoods" and the members treated each other more like "hoods" than like "brothers." Imagine men getting into nine different pulpits in one day in one city, all of them behind signboards bearing the name "Church of Christ" and bitterly assailing other children of God whom they had never met and to whom they had not once listened. Surely the devil has manipulated us into doing his destructive work. Why should he personally labor to destroy the children of God when all of them are paying men a salary to use their facilities with which to do it so effectively?

     All we have done for a hundred years is to prove to the world that we cannot get along with one another in Christ. We treat those who have never made a profession in Jesus with greater politeness than we exhibit to a saint who differs with us over some minor point of opinion. Brethren who ate and drank together at the same table for years become victims of "clerical con men" who use the pulpit for rabble-rousing and turn them against each other until they begin to hate one another as a proof that they love God. Homes are broken up, families are ripped off, friendships are severed, and congregrations shivered to bits over false tests of loyalty dreamed up and drummed up by front men who often profit financially from exploitation of human misery and anguish.

     Our tragic divisions affect the whole world. Each faction, in a kind of unholy rivalry, sends "missionaries" to other lands, whose real mission is to line up adherents on some American-born issue. Natives who got along well as heathen learn to fight one another with gossip, innuendo and false accusations when converted to Christ. Exportation of our factional hangups and unwritten creeds poses a threat which will disrupt the whole Christian purpose. Surely such things ought not so to be!

     What can be done? Because the situation is so seriously mixed up there are those who simply throw in the towel, throw up their hands, and give up! They feel frustrated and futile in any attempt they make. They have seen previous efforts come to nought and are convinced nothing can be done. I deny that kind of pessimistic prediction. I refuse to be discouraged or frightened. I am not only convinced something can be done, I am persuaded something will be done.

     When schism is rampant peacemakers are needed. Peace is not an accident. It does not just happen. It does not result from chance. Peace must be made. It must be waged as war is waged. This calls for a strategy of peace as others develop a strategy of war. The word peacemakers occurs only once in the sacred scriptures, but there is a blessing attached to it. Jesus pronounced that blessing, so peacemakers operate under divine benediction. They are called the children of God. Those who set up divisions are sensual, having not the Spirit (Jude 19). Those who promote peace labor with the

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Spirit, not in opposition to Him. Let me suggest a few essentials to the strategy of peace.

     It is not simple peace of mind, but "the peace of God which passes all understanding" (Phil. 4:7). It is not peace such as the world provides with pacts, programs, agreements or concordats. Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give it to you" (John 14:27). It is a fruit of the Spirit along with love and joy. Peace is the composure which comes from companionship with God, the calm begotten by closeness with the divine, the contentment produced by conquest of care. Peace is the inner conviction that one is a new creation, cleansed by the blood of Christ, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and justified by faith in Jesus. It lifts the one who has it above the fret and worry about earthly things where he can accept himself as he is, because God accepted him thus. He has no rivals. He is unique. He can accept others where he finds them, standing with them on any truth they may hold and using it as a basis for leading them to a closer walk with God.

     2. All peacemakers must begin with themselves. Since peace has to do with wholeness, completeness or maturity, a well-integrated personality must first be achieved. Sin fragments, explodes and disintegrates. Only Jesus can put us back together again. He alone can unscramble our brains, disentangle us from the thicket and put the pieces into the pattern of God's design for us. One who has no peace within can never help others have peace without! The would-be physician must first be healed before he can help heal others!

     In their commentary on Thessalonians, Hogg and Vine assert that peace is the result accruing from justification. I think this is correct. Paul says that "being now justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Justification is the act by which God treats us as guiltless. We are not guiltless and we can never become so. But our absolute trust in and reliance upon the blood of Jesus places us in such a position that God can declare us free from guilt. This is not because of any work of merit upon our part but because of the atoning sacrifice of Christ.

     A realization that God does not count our sins against us, nor impute them unto us, brings a freedom from guilt-consciousness. We recognize the restoration of a right relationship with the Father, and a sharing in eternal life. In such a state we can see the glory and majesty of a closer walk with God, of unity with the divine. With the love of God poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we crave for everyone a sense of unity and closeness. The disturbed and distorted community of believers needs to see an example of love which transcends artificial barriers, triumphs over differences, and is able to receive all of God's children without reservation.

     3. Peacemakers must see division among believers for what it is--a sin against the authority of God as expressed in the word of God. We should not be one merely because of policy. We should not be united simply because of the effect it will have upon others. We should be one because it is commanded of God. Our schisms exist in defiance of divine authority. They are works of the flesh like adultery, drunkenness and idolatry. We should no more continue in division than we should in these things.

     Division is an intolerable state. To condone it will condemn us; to de-

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fend it will destroy us. Nowhere does God's word pronounce a blessing upon division among the saints. Every time it is mentioned it is deplored and castigated. One who is a peacemaker in the kingdom is not merely trying to create a more amicable state of affairs. He is opposing an immoral, God-defying, Christ-denying situation. The devil has manipulated us into thinking that it is God's will that we come out from among the brethren as He told us to come out from among the heathen. Nothing can be further from the truth.

     Peacemaking is often a thankless task. Men prefer to be divided. It gratifies ego and pampers pride. It provides an excuse for hostility toward others under a guise of faithfulness to God. It makes possible all kinds of discrimination and defends it as "the best way" to do the will of God. But it cannot be defended honestly. It is a sin, a tragic betrayal of the body of Christ, and a frightening commentary on human perversity.

     We must believe that no heart is too dirty for the blood of Christ to clean up, and no human mess is too bad for the power of God to straighten out. Actually, what this means is that the true peacemaker will see with an eye of faith a united church. There can be no creation that did not first exist as a mental image or concept. The one who accomplishes God's purpose is the one who looks not at things that are seen, but at those which are unseen.

     I have an inner vision of the saints working together in unison. It does not embrace a picture of every one under the same roof or of the same opinion. But it does include a recognition of all who are in Christ Jesus, working together, praying together, and sharing in the dissemination of the truths concerning Jesus. I refuse to allow any circumstance to dim that hope. No one can throw enough cold water to extinguish the fire in my heart. I shall die before my dream is fully realized but I shall work as if it were going to come to pass tomorrow. One reason I do not become uptight about it is that I am seeing it work now on a minor scale in many places. The party spirit is eroding away.

     So there is no use of you trying to discourage me. The indwelling Spirit of God has erased the word discouragement from the wall of my heart. Satan's graffiti has been expunged. I do not intend to be turned aside by anything. The purpose, pleasure and will of God is to bring all things together in unity in Christ. I am involved in that purpose, pleasure and will. I do not intend to be deterred by falsehood, threat or innuendo. If you are sitting in the shade waiting for me to grow tired of trying to promote fellowship across our silly lines, you might as well get up, mop your brow and get with it! I am more convinced today than I have ever been of the rightness of my plea for the unity of all believers. I am not about to give up. Really, I am just starting!

     I am fully persuaded that God's will should be done and I am absolutely convinced that it will be done. God is not the author of confusion but of peace. He

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does not want His children clawing and fighting one another. Whether I labor to fulfill His will is up to me. My hope of life depends upon me doing that will, but His will does not depend upon my life. I want to be a peacemaker because peacemakers are on God's side. They are called the children of God. I praise the Father for the lessening of every tension and the triumph of every irenic gesture or overture.

     5. Peacemakers must be persons of prayer. And they must pray without doubting. They must never become cynical or skeptical. They must never allow external circumstances to drain away their trust or to dilute it to the degree that it is no longer dynamic. I have seen many people who started out to work for reunion among the saints give up the fight, fold their hands and quit. When I first began to plead for real restoration of the new covenant unity in Christ a great many young men tried to tie their own strings to the MISSION MESSENGER kite. When they found out that I was not the least bit interested in forming another faction they faded out of the picture. I never hear from them anymore. I am not a cat's paw to pull partisan chestnuts out of the fire for any group in the church. I belong only to Jesus Christ who is my Lord.

     My own interest has not flagged. I place the outcome in the hands of God and leave it there. My task is to plant and water. God will give the increase. If the opposition throws up a roadblock I go around it. If an insurmountable impediment bars the way in one direction, I go another route, never losing sight of my real objective which is to achieve the purpose, will and pleasure of God--the unity of all things in heaven and on earth in Christ.

     I pray without a question about God's hearing. And while I am tremendously strengthened by the ever-increasing number of those who pray for me, I would still go on if I had to stand alone. It is not a matter of my indomitable will, for I am weak, but my conviction that it is His infallible will, which keeps me pressing toward the goal. His purpose has become my purpose. His will has become my will. His pleasure is my pleasure.

     Lately I have been immersing myself in the content of the letter addressed by Paul to "God's people at Colossae, brothers in the faith, incorporate in Christ." I am not one of God's people at Colossae. I am one of God's people in Saint Louis. But I am a brother in the faith and I am incorporate in Christ. I accept this letter, therefore, as speaking to my life and my needs. On this basis I ask God that I may "receive from him all wisdom and spiritual understanding for full insight into his will, so that my manner of life may be worthy of the Lord and entirely pleasing to him." I also ask that I "may bear fruit in active goodness of every kind and grow in the knowledge of God."

     I have especially been led through study and meditation to entreat God that "he may strengthen me in his glorious might, with ample power to meet whatever comes with fortitude, patience and joy." The apostle encouraged the saints "to persevere in prayer, with minds awake, and thankful heart." It will do little good to persevere in prayer if one has a mind asleep or closed. It will do no good to pray with an unthankful heart.

     We are divided strife-torn and ripped off because we have faced every newly arriving situation with minds asleep. Every such situation has been elevated to a crisis condition. We have not so much acted upon such conditions as we have reacted to them. Frequently we have reacted first and thought about it afterwards. I want to face each development, not upon the basis of a previous traditional slant or stance, but in the light of the scriptures. That we have developed certain presuppositions as a part of our historical development can hardly be denied. Even when we affirm that "we speak where the Bible speaks" we do not always speak as the Bible speaks. We speak as the words are filtered through our "restoration movement" screen.

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     This creates several tragic problems. First, it stifles original thinking, and creates an atmosphere of stagnation. Men become afraid to express themselves about their real views and either keep still or drop out. They must play politics in The System or they will be driven out and ruined. Every person who is "in on the know" can cite numerous cases where Church of Christism has operated to produce spiritual "blood purges" and brutally treated some of the finest people who were part of the movement.

     Secondly, the closed-mind status freezes ignorance at the current level. I hold that God revealed to man all of the divine thought essential to human welfare, happiness and wholeness. I do not think we have probed the depth of that revelation or completely exhausted the mother lode. It is an unenviable species of arrogance for any generation to feel that "we are the people and wisdom will die with us." It is hypocritical to urge everyone to study the Bible for himself and then shoot down those who do so and learn something we have not before discovered. I suspect you may say that with me the decision has been firmly reached as to the authenticity and genuineness of the sacred scriptures, but I am open to investigate any deduction drawn from the scriptures, which includes review and reinvestigation of my own fallible understanding.

     I intend to continue to pray that the Father will help me properly relate to all of His children in a manner which is for their edification and growth. I will move among all of them regardless of their hostility toward each other. If I am reviled I shall try not to revile in return. I will not seek revenge but always leave a place for divine retribution. I am resolved not to pay back evil for evil, and so far as it lies within me to live at peace with all men. In the New English Bible translation occurs the beautiful gem of truth: "The wisdom from above is in the first place pure; and then peace-loving, considerate and open to reason; it is straightforward and sincere, rich in mercy and in the kindly deeds that are its fruit. True justice is the harvest reaped by peacemakers from seeds sown in a spirit of peace" (James 3:17, 18).

     The wisdom from above is first pure! Brethren with whom I grew up actually used this statement to cancel out everything that James wrote in this gloriously irenic passage. They interpreted it to mean that anyone who did not agree with our partisan projection was offering an impure doctrine, and since it was not pure in the first place, we should not seek even to try and be at peace with him. Instead we should challenge him, debate him, and even attack him verbally from the platform, allowing him no opportunity to present his own defense.

     I do not believe the God of all grace was intimating that we should not be "peace-loving, considerate and open to reason" with one who did not see the millennnial question, the instrumental music question, or the issue of cups, classes or colleges as we did. We sucked that kind of meaning out of our factional thumb. One does not become impure in doctrine simply because he does not see everything as we do. We are not infallible and our interpretation is not infallible. To lift out a statement about the heavenly wisdom first being pure and then use it as justification for boorish and unprincipled treatment of a brother who honestly disagrees with us is about as sectarian as you can become. But as Canon Farrer has pointed out, "Even out of this strong condemnation of contentious dogmatism, the universal misinterpretation of scripture has extorted an excuse--nay, an argument--for intolerance."

     The "wisdom from above" is contextually contrasted with wisdom that is "earth-bound, sensual and demonic." The passage begins with a question, "Who among you is wise or clever?" James declares that real wisdom is manifested by wise behavior and a proper attitude. "Let his right conduct give practical proof of it, with the modesty that comes of wisdom." He then zeroes in on the man who

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thinks he is clever and who resents others. "But if you are harboring bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, consider whether your claims are not false and a defiance of the truth."

     This is plain! Regardless of how much wisdom one thinks he has amassed, if it leaves him bitterly jealous and selfish, instead of modest and humble, he needs to review his claims to see if he is not off the track. The kind of wisdom which produces jealousy and selfishness, does not come from above. It is earthly in origin, sensual and demonic. James puts his finger on the basis for most disorder and schism when he writes, "For with jealousy and ambition come disorder and evil of every kind." I am persuaded that more of our divisions are promoted and prolonged by preacher jealousy and selfishness, and by clerical ambition than by any other factor. If these could be utterly eliminated most rifts would be healed and we would all be working together before the year ends.

     In contrast with earth-bound wisdom which produces jealousy and selfish ambition, is "the wisdom from above which is in the first place pure." That is, it produces pure and wholesome motivation, untainted by base selfishness. The first thing such wisdom does is to purge the heart of earth-bound considerations of greatness and power, of sensual desires and lust for control, of demonic struggle for eminence and dominion. Although it is true that the wisdom from above would be doctrinally correct and infallible, the consideration here is the motivation and attitude which it creates.

     One who would be an instrument of peace must first be pure or free of political considerations, "and then peace-loving, considerate and open to reason." I thrill to the description of heaven-sent wisdom of which James writes, "It is straightforward and sincere, rich in mercy and in the kindly deeds that are its fruit." That is beautiful! It spells out what I would like for my weak and unworthy life to be. But it is the next sentence which makes my heart palpitate with real joy. It defines true justice, and in these days especially that clarification is needed.

     "True justice is the harvest reaped by peacemakers from seeds sown in a spirit of peace." There must be proper seed, a proper spirit of planting, and a reaping time. The seed of peace brings forth fruit and the harvest that is gathered in is true justice. The implication is that only peacemakers will fill their baskets with such fruit because they alone will plant the seed. I would like to go up and down the land like a new Johnny Appleseed, leaving the seed of peace deposited wherever I find a place. And I would like to know that long after my departure, others will gather the fruit of true justice.

     We will not get too many peacemakers. The field is not crowded. There is room for another. There is room for you. Start where you are, make peace with God, make peace in your family circle, make peace in the community, make peace in the congregation. Resolve never to create another faction. Do all you can to alleviate the distress caused by those already started. To be a peacemaker is to be called a child of God. I eagerly pray that you will become such a person today!