Toney Salva, the Executive Director of The CEA (a regional church planting organization committed to establishing new churches throughout the Pacific Northwest), teaches from Matthew 5:9 and explains the difference between peacemaking and peacekeeping. He shares deeply moving personal stories and connects them to how Jesus sets the example of how we should make peace.
KEY POINTS:
- In the New Testament, the word for peace in Greek is irene. In the Old Testament, the word for peace in Hebrew is shalom. Peace today is usually thought of as the absence of conflict. In Hebrew and Greek, it carries even deeper meaning: to have the presence of the highest good in your relationships.
- Jesus is the way to make and create peace. He did this for us so that we can have the highest good, irene and shalom, in our relationships with God and one another.
- Peacekeepers often try to avoid conflict to keep the peace. They tend to skirt the issues to make sure there’s no presence of conflict. They are more prone to ignore issues.
- Jesus, in His Sermon on the Mount, calls us to be peacemakers. Peacemakers are creators, not passive. They can embrace conflict to make peace. They actively work on and through issues with the goal to repair, not throw away, relationships.
- In order to make peace in relationships, peacemakers:
- Tell the truth in love.
- Confront the issue, not the person.
- Apologize when wrong.
- Forgive and let go.
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
COMMUNITY GROUP DISCUSSION:
- What key idea stands out to you from the sermon? What could get in the way of implementing it in your relationships?
- Do you resemble the way of the world or the way of Jesus in how you tend to manage peace?
- Is there a relationship in your life where you are withholding forgiveness? Or, is there something else the Holy Spirit is stirring in you in response to Toney’s sermon?
- Spend some time praying for one another and resting in the presence of our Prince of Peace. Pray for what has been shared and for the things we are carrying in our lives that may not have come up but are known by and entrusted to God.