Pursuing Peace E-Book

Robert D. Jones

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 356

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

A Guide to Resolving Relational Conflict You have conflict in your life—we all do. You encounter it in your home, your workplace, your school, or even your church. All around us tensions exist and disputes persist. Offered here is a step-by-step process for pursuing peace in ALL your relationships and a tool you can use to help others. This guide is: - BIBLICAL — relies on the absolute authority, sufficiency, and life-giving power of God's Spirit-breathed Word - CHRIST-CENTERED — depends on the forgiving and empowering grace of Jesus - PRACTICAL — provides concrete action steps, case examples, discussion questions, and suggested language to handle specific situations - PROVEN — offers tried and true methods from a pastor, professor, counselor, and certified Christian conciliator who has led couples, churches, and Christian schools to make peace for nearly thirty years Packed with wisdom and practical techniques, here is a manageable book on reconciliation that will send you on your way to pursuing peace while helping others to do the same.

Leseprobe

“Interpersonal conflict is a misery maker, stirring up chaos and the fog of war. Robert Jones carefully walks down the narrow road that makes peace and stirs up joy. His presentation is judicious, wide-ranging, balanced, biblical, and full of grace. Every counselor needs to know these things. Every struggler willing to take the time will benefit—and we are all strugglers in these matters. Speed-reading not allowed! Pursuing Peace needs to be slowly absorbed and would make a marvelous twelve-week study.”

David Powlison, Faculty,Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation; Senior Editor, Journal of Biblical Counseling

“Conflict comes in many shapes and sizes, so we need a variety of perspectives and insights into how to respond to it in biblically faithful ways. I am delighted that Robert Jones has brought his many years of pastoral and counseling experience to bear on this topic—providing a fresh perspective on how to approach conflict and estranged people in a grace-filled, gospel-centered way.”

Ken Sande, President, Peacemaker Ministries; author, The Peacemaker

“In a day when ‘us and them’ seems to be the default presumption with which our society confronts culture, politics, and religion, Robert Jones has provided us a scripturally sound and pragmatic path to follow to experience the peace for which most of us have a God-given desire. While the book may find itself in the syllabus of many Christian counseling classes, it is equally at home in the school of practical theology. Rich with biblical references and connected to practical application, Pursuing Peace will be helpful specifically for those dealing with issues of conflict in any arena of life, and generally for all who wish to gain a clearer understanding of how to interact with others in God-pleasing ways. With uncanny insights and sharp clarity, Dr. Jones addresses and then makes sense of normal, everyday conflicts and how they should be handled so that full resolution might be experienced. This book is indeed a helpful contribution to the culture of our day.”

Thom S. Rainer, President and CEO, LifeWay Christian Resources

“Robert Jones has written a most profitable and sound book in Pursuing Peace. Though I wish it were not needed in the church today, the fact is that the message and advice of this book are desperately needed even among believers. I urge all of God’s leaders in the household of faith not only to read this volume, but to discuss it as a guide for what to do the next time the peace of Christ’s church is disturbed. Such reading and discussion will save loads of grief and some future headaches, as well as possible loss of the joy of the Lord.”

Walter C. Kaiser Jr., President Emeritus, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

“Conflicts in relationship are inevitable. However, they do not have to be destructive. Pursuing Peace is a faithful, biblical guide that shows us how we can actually grow and mature spiritually, and find grace and peace on the other side. This valuable resource will well serve the body of Christ.”

Daniel L. Akin, President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

“Sinful human beings live in a broken and fallen world full of unwanted opportunities for painful and destructive conflict. Dr. Jones’s practical and biblical insights provide an excellent guide to navigate the realities of conflict in God-honoring and effective ways. This book is for everyone who struggles with the inevitable conflict that so deeply impacts our lives and relationships. Pursuing Peace promotes faith, hope, and love in the One who is the Prince of Peace. A must-read for every believer.”

Judy Dabler, Reconciliation Specialist and Founder, Live at Peace Ministries; coauthor, Peacemaking Women: Biblical Hope for Resolving Conflict

“Robert Jones gives us both a grand, God’s-eye view of conflict and a down-to-earth, practical roadmap for healing in our relationships. The big picture keeps us coming back to the gospel again and again for fresh grace and wisdom, and the practical guidance brings it all home to daily life. This book has helped me personally and will be a valuable resource to me as a pastor as I counsel others through conflicts with spouses, family members, and friends.”

Mike Wilkerson, Pastor, Mars Hill Church, Seattle, Washington

“You do not need to read this book if you never experience conflict or do not know anyone else that does. If, however, conflict is part of your experience—as it is for the rest of us—you must read this book. Dr. Jones’s words are anchored in the words of Scripture, rich in the graces of Christ, and full of practical wisdom. This book will serve as a reliable guide to anyone interested in pursuing relational peace.”

Heath Lambert, Assistant Professor of Biblical Counseling, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; author, The Biblical Counseling Movement after Adams

“Pursuing Peace is an excellent guide for helping people biblically resolve conflict and is greatly needed in our world of inevitable conflict.”

Oletha Barnett, Conflict Resolution Director, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, Dallas, Texas; Attorney at Law

Pursuing Peace: A Christian Guide to Handling Our ConflictsCopyright © 2012 by Robert D. Jones

Published by Crossway

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Cover design and image: Josh DennisInterior design and typesetting: Lakeside Design Plus

First printing 2012 Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Biblica.

Scripture quotations markedESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from The New American Standard Bible®. Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN:    978-1-4335-3013-5 ePub ISBN:978-1-4335-3016-6PDF ISBN:978-1-4335-3014-2Mobipocket ISBN:978-1-4335-3015-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jones, Robert D., 1959–

Pursuing peace : a Christian guide to handling our conflicts / Robert D.

Jones.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4335-3013-5 (tp)

1. Conflict management—Religious aspects—Christianity. 2. Interpersonal relations—Religious aspects—Christianity. 3. Reconciliation—Religious aspects—Christianity. 4. Forgiveness—Religious aspects—Christianity. 5. Peace—Religious aspects—Christianity. I. Title.

BV4597.53.C58J66 2012

248.8'6—dc23                              2012009968

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

VP      24  23  22  21  20  19  18  17  16  15  14  13  12

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To my wife, Lauren,

and to my adult sons, Tim and Dan

“How good and pleasant it is

when brothers live together in unity!” (Ps. 133:1)

I am grateful to our Lord and to each of you,

my sister in Christ and my two brothers in Christ,

for the many years of peace and pleasure we have known

in Hurricane and Raleigh, the “good and pleasant”

blessing we have enjoyed together as God’s

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

1 Finding Hope in the God of Peace

2 A God’s-Eye View of Conflict

3 Keeping God Central

4 Getting to the Heart of Our Conflicts

5 Owning Our Sins before God Our Savior

6 Apologizing That Makes a Difference

7 Cultivating Grace Attitudes

8 To Forgive or Not to Forgive

9 Battling Bitterness by Grace

10 Redeeming the Art of Rebuke and Granting Forgiveness

11 Reconciliation in Action

12 When Nothing Works

Appendix A: Forgiveness on Two Levels

Appendix B: I Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins

Preface

Why am I passionate about pursuing relational peace? Because relationships wither without it.

In 2004 my wife Lauren and I and our two sons moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where I teach at nearby Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest. Having lived in apartments and then a church parsonage for nineteen years, we bought our first house. After looking at twenty-three options in two days, we settled on our top choice: roomy for our family foursome, modestly priced, and nestled in a traffic-free cul-de-sac. And to top it all off, it was situated on my ideal-sized property, a whopping .19 acres (yes, the decimal point is accurate; I figured I could handle mowing that size lawn, or paying a teen, when my sons moved out).

What we didn’t bank on was the condition of that little lawn. It was a weedy mess, a field not of dreams but of orchard-grass clumps. One of my sons tells of a 2:00 a.m. return home only to discover, as his car approached the house, that our little yard was a late-night hot spot for local deer. (We’ve contemplated posting a “Weed Buffet” sign and charging our dear deer friends a $9.95 all-you-can-eat fee.)

What did we do? We added a truckload of topsoil, seeded it, and then did the various things that the experts recommended at the proper intervals—fertilizing, spreading lime, aerating, reseeding, and so forth. But the reseeding, we were warned, had to be preceded by another vital step. To sow grass seed on top of the weeds would yield little grass; we had to weed out the orchard grass.

Relational conflict is like that orchard grass. We long to grow relationships marked by trust and joy and goodwill and honesty, but as we pursue these we find patches of unreconciled conflict underneath. Few maladies plague our lives more than relational conflict. Whether in our homes, our workplaces, our schools, or even our churches, tensions continue and disputes quickly sprout. Conflicts happen in every relationship: husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, supervisor and employee, church member and church member—the list goes on. As a young counseling student I once asked a doctoral mentor whether I was unusual for having more conflicts with my wife than with other people. He assured me that my experience was quite common. Conflicts can mark, and mar, many of our relationships, even the dearest ones.

So what should we do? Your decision to pick up this book tells me three things about you. First, you are experiencing conflict in your life (or someone you care about is). Second, you are honest enough to admit it. Third, you are humble enough, or desperate enough, to seek help.

This book has two simple goals: to provide you with a step-by-step process for pursuing peace in all your relationships and to give you a tool you can use to help others. I wish to provide a clear path down which you and your friends and family members can walk with confidence and hope. It’s a biblical path, one that relies on the absolute authority, sufficiency, and life-giving power of God’s Spirit-breathed Word. It’s a Christ-centered path, one that depends on the forgiving and empowering grace of Jesus our Redeemer and one that imitates the life of Jesus our example. It’s a practical path, one that provides concrete action steps, case examples, and suggested language to handle specific situations. And it’s a proven path, one that God has enabled me to follow in my life (albeit imperfectly), and one down which I have had the privilege of leading many hundreds of individuals, couples, churches, and Christians schools for nearly thirty years as a pastor, professor, certified biblical counselor, and certified Christian conciliator and church-conflict interventionist and trainer.

My own interest in biblical peacemaking began in the mid-1980s when I graduated from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and, at twenty-six, became the pastor of a small church in Hurricane, West Virginia. The church had suffered a severe split, and the congregation I joined was the bleeding remnant. The aftershocks of that conflict were real, and I knew little about handling them. In time I became increasingly hungry to know how to better shepherd my people, so I began attending the annual biblical counseling training week provided each June by the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF) in a northern suburb of Philadelphia. As my wife and church family would attest, that training changed my life and ministry radically.

The guest plenary speaker one summer was Ken Sande, president of Peacemaker Ministries, who presented an early version of his Peacemaker seminar materials. As a young pastor I was attracted to both Ken’s wise, biblical content and his winsome, gracious manner. His teaching that week sparked a special interest that God has fanned for over two decades now. Along with my ongoing training in biblical counseling through CCEF, the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors, and Westminster Theological Seminary (DMin), I began to attend the annual conferences of Peacemaker Ministries. I soon entered their conciliator training program and was invited to serve on their church intervention teams. I continue to serve adjunctively with Peacemaker Ministries in various roles.

This book is based on a simple three-step model with a four-word memory hook: Step 1—Please God; Step 2—Repent; and Step 3—Love. In other words, focus on God, then me (and my part in the conflict), and then the other person. We begin with two introductory chapters. In chapter 1 we behold the “God of peace” and trace his peacemaking work through the book of Romans. There we meet him as the God who makes peace with us through the cross of Jesus, pours out his inner peace on us and into us, guarantees us future worldwide peace, and calls and enables us to pursue relational peace with everyone. Chapter 2 overviews a biblical way to look at conflicts from God’s vantage point. Conflicts are inevitable and sinful, but they also provide rich opportunities for spiritual growth for us and others. With chapter 3 we begin walking down the three-step peacemaking path, starting with a commitment, in response to God’s saving grace, to make pleasing him our life goal and our conscious pursuit amid conflict. In chapters 4–6 we unpack Step 2. We address what it means to humbly identify, repent of, and confess our sins—both our heart sins and our behavioral sins—before both God and others.

With chapter 7 we transition into Step 3—what loving the other person looks like—which covers the rest of the book. Chapter 7 summarizes key attitudes—relational graces—we need to adopt toward the other party. Chapters 8–9 explore forgiveness, starting with God’s forgiveness of us and then our forgiveness of others in both the attitudinal (unconditional) and the transacted (repentance-based) levels of forgiveness. We give special attention to dealing with the problem of bitterness. In chapter 10 we address the loving but oft-neglected practice of rebuke, answering a half-dozen when, how, why, and what-if questions. The last two chapters look at the final and ongoing steps, depending on the other person’s responses to our previous efforts. Chapter 11 focuses on how to strengthen a reconciled relationship, including principles of communication and joint decision making when you and the other person have a difference of opinion on an important matter. Chapter 12 gives counsel on how to relate—how to minister with God’s grace—to someone who hardens himself and will not be reconciled.

Acknowledgments

It takes a community to write a book. Behind this one lies such a body of influencers. I am grateful to the Lord for using countless people to train, challenge, and encourage me in my own pursuit of peace, in my work of conciliating and training others, and in my writing this book.

I think today of my past and present church families. Before coming to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary I ministered for nineteen years as the lead pastor of Grace Fellowship Church, in Hurricane, West Virginia. The leaders generously provided me with the time and expenses to pursue thorough peacemaking training. They patiently bore with my early attempts to teach the truths embedded in this book and to train our members. And they freed me to serve on and lead church intervention teams. After this, when I moved to Raleigh to teach at Southeastern, the Lord led my family and me to another first-rate church, Open Door Baptist, where I am privileged to serve as an elder and to lead our counseling and conciliation ministries.

Peacemaker Ministries provided the bulk of my biblical peacemaking training through their annual conferences, their writings, and their practical, professional-grade certification program and advanced seminars. Nearly every chapter of this book reflects the insights of Ken Sande and my “PM network” of friends and mentors. Thank you, Ken, Gary Friesen, Dave Edling, Rick Friesen, Annette Friesen, Jerry Wall, Paul Cornwell, Corlette Sande, Glenn Waddell, Lynn Pace, Ted Kober, Tara Barthel, Alfred Poirier, Kris Hart, and others who have modeled peacemaking, taught and encouraged me, and invited me to serve with you in various ways. In fact, if you and CCEF were ever to marry, I would not know which side of the wedding aisle to sit on. Your influence spreads far wider than Billings, Montana.

I thank God for the hundreds of individuals, couples, and families who have invited me into their struggles with conflicts and allowed me to apply the gospel of our Redeemer-Peacemaker. To that list I could add two dozen churches, Christian schools, and denominations who have allowed me to teach peacemaking seminars to their congregations and staff or to provide church-wide conflict intervention and leader-level mediation.

I am grateful also for my students. For seven years I have taught these conflict-resolution materials in masters’ and DMin classes as a full-time professor at Southeastern and as a visiting professor at other schools to men and women training for ministry. Their insights enlighten me, their questions stir me, and their enthusiasm for Christ-centered peacemaking propels me.

God has also blessed me and my Patterson Hall colleagues at Southeastern with a skilled pair of faculty secretaries, Billie Goodenough and Carrie Pickelsimer. Thank you, ladies, for reading each chapter, offering insightful comments, and helping me maintain my campus duties amid writing deadlines.

I am honored to partner with Crossway for this project, having appreciated for many years the Christ-centered emphases their publications champion. I’m especially grateful to Al Fisher for giving me this opportunity, to Jill Carter for her administrative guidance, and to Thom Notaro for his careful editing. Nothing humbles a writer more than receiving back his original manuscript and finding each page laced with suggested improvements. Thank you, Thom, for making this book much better than I deserve. (Except for his “sorry” pun early in chapter 6 and the split infinitives he kindly allowed, any other writing faults are mine.)

I am especially grateful for my wife, Lauren, and the twenty-nine years of marriage that our Lord has given to us. Thank you, Dearie, for showing me how to pursue peace and for creating a peaceful home. Even during our occasional marital clashes we have learned much about Jesus, ourselves, and each other, and I wouldn’t trade away a day of the joy, peace, and pleasure we have experienced together in Jesus Christ.

Above all, I think today of my Savior God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—who has brought me the fullness of his multidimensional peace that chapter 1 summarizes. To that overview we now turn.

1

Finding Hope in the God of Peace

To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:7

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Romans 12:18

Maybe you can relate to Jen and Rick. Jen had been a believer in Jesus all her life. When she married after high school, she had high hopes for a happy marriage. The first two years sailed by blissfully. She and Rick both proclaimed the joys of marriage. But an assortment of ongoing conflicts soon developed. Should we have children, and when? How will we cover our expenses? What involvement should we have with our parents who seem so meddlesome, and why won’t my spouse stand up to them? Along with these questions Jen found herself increasingly upset over Rick’s workaholism and his lack of involvement in her life. Rick concurrently grumbled about Jen’s critical spirit toward him. His frustrations grew. He had become a follower of Jesus only a year before they married, and his dreams of a truly Christian marriage were fading fast. If this trend continued unchecked, Rick and Jen would soon become another divorce statistic.

Or maybe your conflict concerns your church. Having worked tirelessly in the children’s ministry for six years, Joanie had serious questions about the changes made by Gail, the new children’s director. Joanie tried to get to know her, to understand her, and to support her, but their brief conversations proved unfruitful. Gail’s answers seemed evasive, and Joanie increasingly sensed that her questions irritated Gail. Yet in the back of her mind her discouragement mounted. Doesn’t Gail know that changing the Wednesday night program will disturb parents? Does she even care? Worse, Joanie was not alone. Several of her co-teachers voiced similar concerns to Joanie and each other. And so Joanie wondered, Maybe it’s time for me to take a break from ministering to kids and to consider another ministry.

We could multiply examples not only from the arenas of marriage and church but also involving parents and children, roommates, and the workplace. Surely we and the many conflicted people around us need help with peacemaking.

But why a book on biblical peacemaking? Does the Bible really have something crucial to contribute to the real world of marriage fights, parent-teen breakdowns, job tensions, and church splits?

Yes, for two reasons . First, peace and conflict are Scripture mega-themes. The Bible is all about God and his peace-pursuing, peacemaking activities. Its story line from Genesis through Revelation records conflict— earthly and cosmic, natural and supernatural. The paradise of Genesis 1–2 disintegrates swiftly into the disaster of Genesis 3. There, as the Scripture’s curtain lifts, we see the war between God and Satan, and between God’s people and Satan’s people. Chapter after chapter in the Bible records victories and losses. The casualties are great; souls lie strewn across the Bible’s battlefield. The combat continues through human history—raging throughout Israel’s history, heightening at the Prince of Peace’s birth, intensifying at his cross and resurrection, and culminating in Revelation 20’s last battle, where we witness the final revolt, overthrow, and destruction of the Devil and all who belong to him. After that—but not one hour before—will the Peacemaker’s work be finally done, as fractured humanity enjoys flawless harmony. In short, the Scriptures breathe conflict out of every pore. Between the Bible’ s two bookend chapters—prewar peace in Genesis 1–2 and post-war peace in Revelation 21–22—lie nearly twelve hundred chapters of hostility, aggression, alienation, and betrayal. You cannot read your Bible well and miss its militant plot; it is the ultimate “war and peace” novel. We long for the eternal day when, as theologians and hymn writers put it, the church militant will become the church triumphant.

The second reason to view your Bible as indispensable for peacemaking is that Scripture is all about our relationships—with God and with others. Are you ever tempted to think that the essence of Christian living is vertical only? What really matters is praying unceasingly and communing continually with Jesus. If I can also have peaceful relationships, that would be nice too. But having God-pleasing relationships is not a dispensable luxury. It is more than icing on a good Christian’s cake. It lies at the heart of Christian discipleship. In his two great commandments, Jesus inseparably linked loving God with loving our neighbor, teaching us that the second is like the first and that the two together summarize all the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22:37–40). You simply cannot love God without loving your neighbor. The apostle John elaborates, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). To devour your Bible, enjoy rich corporate worship, maintain personal purity, and tell dozens of people about Jesus—the sum of Christian living for some people—is simply not enough if your interpersonal relationships crumble.

For these reasons this book will help you handle your daily tensions with others. You have conflict in your life. You encounter it, admit it, and somehow endure it. You see it in your own home, in your place of work, and among your extended family. It flows through the water supply of your relational system. Conflict marks your parents, your children, your city, your coworkers, and even your church. (In fact, the odds are high that your church began out of conflict sometime long ago, as many do.) But you are not sure how to handle it, you too often contribute to it, and you sometimes mismanage it.

The Starting Place: Our Peacemaking God

So where do we begin? Like any subject, the proper starting place to think biblically about pursuing peace is God. And here is the central truth about God we need to start with: our God is the God of peace, his Son is the Prince of Peace, and his Spirit brings peace. And what has this God done? He has made peace with us, he pours out his peace on us and into us, and he calls and enables us to pursue peace with others.

The Bible links peace and God in at least four ways: There is the saving peace that God made with us at the cross, and the ongoing inner peace God gives us in our souls. These twin gifts in turn bring two more blessings for the Christian believer. They enable us to pursue relational peace with others in this life. Moreover, they guarantee us an endless life of future situational peace in the world to come, “a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:13).

From many authors in many passages, these four divine-peace provisions weave their way through the Scriptures. Let’s think about these promises in light of the whole Bible and along the way envision the help they give to Joanie, Rick, and Jen.

We will start with Paul’s first letter in the New Testament canon, the epistle to the Romans. Hailed by countless scholars as the greatest gospel treatise ever penned, it brilliantly describes and declares the peacemaking work of God. The reason is obvious: the gospel of Jesus is the gospel of peace.

Saving Peace with God

We learn from the opening verses of Romans that this letter is all about the gospel of God, which centers in his Son. It is the good news of God’s saving grace in Jesus for sinners like me and you. And that good news is all about God’s peace. Paul closes his introduction with this promise and blessing: “To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:7).

These words come to us as more than mere formalities. They declare life-giving hope to seize and believe. The apostle announces God’s stance—his posture of grace and peace toward us in Christ. Just as the words “loved” and “saints” point back to the designation of God’s people in the Hebrew Scriptures,1 so this promise of peace calls to mind the great Hebrew word shalom and the Old Testament vision of peace, fulfilled in Romans in the person and work of Jesus. It is no wonder that the formal worship liturgy in some Reformed churches frequently begins with an opening salutation, a word of greeting from God through the minister, often taken from texts like Romans 1:7.

Probably the most famous shalom prayer-promise comes from Numbers 6:24–26, the benediction assigned for Aaron and his sons to proclaim to God’s people.

The LORD bless you

and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine upon you

and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn his face toward you

and give you peace.

This peace is more than the absence of war and strife. It is the positive presence of harmony, salvation, joy, blessing, and reconciliation—“the state of perfect well-being created by God’s eschatological intervention and enjoyed by the righteous.”2 In the context of Romans, it is the reconciliation of believing Jews and believing Gentiles both with God and with each other—both vertical and horizontal. We taste it now whenever we enjoy the fruits of repentance, confession, and forgiveness with each other. One day we will experience it fully.

Who will experience this final peace? Only those who belong to God. The apostle both promises and warns, “There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism” (Rom. 2:9–11). Whether Jew or Gentile, the one who knows and follows the Redeemer God will treasure God’s saving gift of shalom. On the other hand, the unbeliever who rejects God’s “way of peace” (Rom. 3:17) will only reap God’s judgment.

How does someone gain God’s peace? Romans 5:1–2 replies, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” In this compact summary of gospel blessing, Paul tells us (1) that we now have peace with God; (2) that this peace is built on our justification through faith, God’s grace-work of declaring us righteous in Christ; and (3) that this peace produces deep joy. As hymn writer Francis J. Van Alstyne (1820–1915) exclaimed,

The vilest offender who truly believes,

that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Similar themes emerge in Ephesians 2:11–18, where Christ and his cross form the centerpiece of our peace.

What does this gospel assurance have to do with pursuing peace in our relationships? Everything. It fills us with joy, power, and confidence as we gratefully obey God in our relationships. It provides a model of grace to convey to others. And it reassures us that, even if the other people don’t respond in kind, our relationship with the most important and ultimate Person in the universe remains secure. Thanks be to God for Jesus our Lord!

The saving work of God in the Christian, however, does not merely consist of a right standing with God. In salvation God has done something not only for us, but also in us. Our Christian growth—­sanctification in its past, present, and future aspects—began with a decisive act by God of severing the spinal cord of sin and making us new people who are now inclined to love and obey him. The apostle Paul describes this internal transformation: “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God” (Rom. 8:6–8). The sinful mind is hostile to God, but the saved mind—the mind captured and controlled by the Holy Spirit—reflects the very life and peace of God’s Spirit, albeit imperfectly.

Isaiah pictures a similar reality with a vivid metaphor in Isaiah 57:18–21 concerning God’s own promise to restore his people.

“I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;

I will guide him and restore comfort to him,

creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel.

Peace, peace, to those far and near,”

says the LORD.3 “And I will heal them.”

But the wicked are like the tossing sea,

which cannot rest,

whose waves cast up mire and mud.

“There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

In other words—to join Isaiah and Paul—death marks the unbeliever; life and peace mark the believer.

Relational Peace with Others

The twin gifts of God’s reconciling peace through Christ’s cross and God’s inner peace through his Spirit lead to the third peace blessing, namely, relational peace with others. In one of the Bible’s most realistic texts concerning human relationships, Romans 12:18 exhorts us, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” In many ways, our entire book will address these themes.

We find a fourfold call in this passage and its context. First, we must pursue peace as our Christian duty. The apostle commands us to live at peace. To fail to seek peace with people is to disobey God. We have no option.

Second, we must pursue peace with everyone. The peacemaking charge in this text is comprehensive; we must address all of our relationships. Our Lord does not permit us to ignore even one relationship or dismiss any individual. As the apostle declares in Acts 24:16, “So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.” While this “with everyone” standard is admittedly high, God’s power makes his commands less daunting.

Third, as we actively pursue peace, the apostle urges us to leave the results to God. “If it is possible,” Paul reminds us, we should live at peace. He acknowledges that a peaceful result may not be possible; we have no guarantee that the other person will follow God’s peacemaking plan. As the old saying goes, “It takes two to tango.”

Fourth, keeping in mind the larger context, we must pursue peace in light of God’s mercy toward us in Christ. The entire twelfth chapter of Romans flows from God’s saving grace expounded in detail in Romans 1–11. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship” (12:1). In other words, we must apply Romans 12:18 against the backdrop of 12:1–2 and the preceding eleven chapters. Peacemaking is but one way we offer ourselves to God in sacrificial worship, and that obedience, like every other command in Romans 12, arises from the gospel of God’s mercy in Christ.

With whom must we seek peace? While the context of Romans 12:18 primarily concerns pursuing peace with non-Christians, chapters 14–15 address our relationships with each other in the body of Christ. In the middle of his discussion he tells us what God treasures above all in his church: “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men” (Rom. 14:17–18). Five observations about the peace that Jesus prizes flow from this passage:

Peace, in this context, concerns our relationships with one another, that is, horizontal peace with each other more than vertical peace with God.This peace is linked with “righteousness” and “joy” as central to God’s kingdom.Christ values these virtues over a person’s individual convictions related to disputed areas of conduct like “eating” (kosher versus nonkosher food) or “drinking” (wine perhaps associated with idolatrous rituals).This peace comes to us through the work of God’s Holy Spirit (as seen in 15:13 below).This peace concerns our relationships with one another (horizontal peace), and it pleases both God and other people.

Paul then inserts a summary challenge: “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (14:19). “Make every effort” translates a Greek word elsewhere used for pursuing, tracking down, or persecuting someone or something. Like a hunter relentlessly hounding his prey, we must pursue peace with both Christians and non-Christians.

Thankfully, God has not left us alone in pursuing relational peace; he promises to be with us. The apostle rounds out the larger unit with a hope-giving wish prayer in Romans 15:13: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” The joy and peace the gospel promises come to us solely as God’s gifts. They come to us from God himself, the triune God of hope and peace. They come to us through the Holy Spirit’s power, since “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,” and so forth (Gal. 5:22–23). While this text could refer to inner peace (below), it likely refers to relational peace between members of the body.4

How do we actually receive these gifts? Do they somehow drop down from heaven or automatically pop up inside us? No. Romans 15:13 says that you receive these gifts “as you trust in God.” While the cooperative working between God and the believer is a delicate subject, we must not overlook the fact that these blessings do not come to us apart from our faith. Only as we trust God will we experience his joy, peace, and hope in our relationships. By faith we can know these gifts in increasing measure. And as we practice biblical peacemaking—as we “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3)—we will experience the Holy Spirit’s help.

Inner Peace Enjoyed with the God of Peace

Our next two peace texts in Romans fasten our eyes on God himself by calling him “the God of peace” (15:33; 16:20; see also 1 Cor. 14:33; 2 Cor. 13:11; 1 Thess. 5:23; Heb. 13:20–21). In Romans 15:33, Paul again brings a wish prayer for God’s people, a glorious benediction flowing from God’s grace: “The God of peace be with you all. Amen.” While the context does not specify the kind of peace Paul has in mind, his similar reference to the Lord as the “God of peace” in Philippians 4—a passage of promised blessing—suggests a reference to an inner peace of mind.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. . . . Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. (Phil. 4:6–7, 9)

Paul first refers to the “peace of God”—the internal peace that God gives, in contrast to anxiety, as we pray and follow the apostle’s life and teaching. Then he ends the section by designating this God as “the God of peace” who will be with us. If God himself is filled with peace (and he is), and if we are connected to him by faith (and we are), then we can and will experience this inner peace—his peace—in all its fullness. Here Paul echoes the promise of our Lord Jesus, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27). As J. I. Packer puts it, “There is no peace like the peace of those whose minds are possessed with full assurance that they have known God, and God has known them, and that this relationship guarantees God’s favour to them in life, through death, and on for ever.”5

Future Global Peace Established by the God of Peace

Lastly, as the God of peace, he promises one more mighty shalom blessing: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom. 16:20). Here the apostle Paul spans salvation history—from start to finish—in a single verse. He alludes to Genesis 3:15 and God’s first redemptive promise to bring forth the “seed of the woman” (a reference to the Messiah) to destroy Satan. And who, says Paul, is the God who will act to fulfill salvation history? Paul explicitly calls him the “God of peace.” In other words, it is God both as Redeemer and as Peacemaker who sent his Son to complete his saving program, destroy the Devil, and end the warfare begun in Genesis 3. In his return the Lord Jesus will bring about the final situational peace of paradise restored on earth. All our conflicts will be over forever, and books like the one you are reading will be unnecessary. “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).

God: Our Hope for Peacemaking

Until then, what is our hope? God. Our God is the God of peace. He has made saving peace with us through Jesus Christ, he pours out his inner peace on us and into us, he promises future global peace, and he calls and enables us to pursue relational peace with others. There is not a person on the planet—including your spouse, child, parents, or business partner—with whom you cannot pursue peace. Herein, then, we find our own identity as we walk in the ways of God our Father. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” said Jesus, “for they will be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:9). As we pursue peace in all our relationships and help others do the same, we reflect the character of our peacemaking God.

What does this look like for Jen, Rick, and Joanie? In Jesus and the power of his Spirit each one of them can find help and hope in this fourfold perspective: First, amid their conflicts with others, God has already acted to bring them peace with himself. However much they have failed, God has accepted them, forgiven them, adopted them, and declared them righteous in Christ. However many people may be against them, God is for them. Second, God has given them in his Word all the wisdom they need to know what to do, and God has given them in his Spirit all the power they need to do it. The rest of this book will unpack that wisdom, but humming in the background is the promise of God’s enabling Spirit. Third, God promises by that same Spirit to grant each of them inner peace, the assurance that he is with them as they trust in him. Fourth, all their peace pursuing in their daily relationships is but a precursor to the final global peace that God will one day bring about, in his timing. Their current conflicts will all be resolved.

Conclusion