Preparing Peace

Malachi 3:1-4; Luke 1:68-79; 3:1-6

Central Baptist Church, Lowesville, VA

10 December 2006

We are embroiled in a so-called “War on Terror”. There is ongoing genocide in Sudan. Burma is in the midst of armed conflict. Israeli-Palestinian conflicts continue. Pakistan is at unrest. Ethiopian troops have begun attacks in Somalia. We hear of unrest, war, and all kinds of conflict around the world and within our own schools and streets. Amid all the turmoil we hear many cries for peace. Why is peace so hard to attain? Why is peace so difficult to embrace and foster? We await the coming Prince of Peace. Is Christ’s peace somehow available now?

Malachi’s words reflect this yearning for peace and justice—a peace and justice stemming from Yahweh’s intervention among the people of Judah. These words of prophecy were cast some time after the return from exile, possible around the time of Nehemiah. Judah was still in disarray and under the control of foreign powers. The people yearned for peace, deliverance, and an end to the conflict that pervaded life. They desired rest and relief from the turmoil of life.

Malachi’s concerns were somewhat different than those of the people. Both parties wanted peace, but they disagreed about the process to that peace. While they yearned for an economic and political peace, Malachi yearned for righteousness in their worship and living. They decried turmoil as based on the political upheaval, while Malachi reminded them of their need to make peace with God as the basis for peace in life. They needed to turn in reliance upon Yahweh’s provision, honoring the covenant they had accepted in word, but discarded in deed. Judah indeed wanted the blessings of Yahweh’s covenant, but was not living up to the responsibilities it placed upon them.

There were voices crying for Yahweh’s intervention. Malachi warns that Yahweh’s intervention will come in an unexpected manner. The intervention and establishment of peace would require a change in the midst of the nation. The oppression of their needy had to end. Traditions of ignoring demands for righteousness needed reversing. Sacrifice and worship needed to express confidence that Yahweh would indeed provide for the needs of a faithful people. Honesty, integrity, and giving Yahweh full allegiance were the issues Malachi found calling for attention. When Yahweh sent his messenger to deliver peace, he would have to address these issues directly. Rather than placing blame for turmoil on foreign forces, the people would have to accept their own responsibility to live so as to prepare peace for others. Are we living to bring peace to our community?

During our time in Mexico, we worked for two weeks at refugee camps in Chiapas at the beginning of the Zapatista uprising. One village had left its home and moved into one of the camps as a group. They had left their homes, farms, cattle, and belongings to escape the fighting. Some of the men went back to rescue items they had left behind. They found their homes raided and belongings taken by erstwhile “friends”. Their turmoil was not simply from armed conflict. It went deeper to a culture of oppression and taking advantage of those in a weaker position. True peace would require a whole new way of living. Are we willing to prepare for peace with deeper changes in our lives?

Zechariah’s prophecy had peace in mind. He was thinking about national peace and sovereignty, but he recognized that peace began through a people’s turning to righteousness and service to God. His hope for peace, deliverance, and the fulfillment of God’s promise recognized the issue of responsibility to fulfill the covenant demands of holiness and righteousness. Zechariah recognized that sin brought with it the need for repentance, forgiveness, and restoration. He understood that the way of peace to be shown to the nation included a change in the people’s patterns of living. Peace would require remaking one’s life according to the path of peace that God would set forth. Are we ready for the renewal required that God’s peace might flow through us into all the world?

Rick and Ellen Burnette, CBF missionaries among the Palaung, work in northern Thailand with a refugee people struggling to rebuild life on foreign soil. They just represented CBF Global Missions in Burma, signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Myanmar Baptist Convention. This document outlines a ministry of cooperation for rural development ministries as well as partnering to meet leadership development needs. They work for peace, not by political means, but through the gospel’s means. Living and teaching principles of peace by meeting the needs of others, they hear the world’s cry for peace amid conflict. In a region torn by violence, they live to allow God’s peace to flow through them. Are we willing to become channels for God’s peace to impact a world in need?

A strange man in the wilderness went around preaching a disconcerting message. John was the son of a priest, but went around as an untamed figure preaching the need for a change of course. We are accustomed to people flocking to hear comforting speeches. We understand a desire to hear messages that entertain and soothe. John’s words were neither entertaining nor soothing. They demanded change, acceptance of guilt, and the assumption of personal responsibility before God. Crowds came to hear him, and John called them names. He was critical of his audiences, for he was aware of the nation’s corporate guilt in shying away from the demands of holy and righteous living. John was not very concerned with hurting their feelings. He was concerned with focusing their attention on the need to convert from faith in a heritage to a living faith of dependence on God. He allowed God to use his life as a vehicle for change—a change that might bring peace to the lives of many.

We left Brazil amid great personal turmoil. We did not feel that we were leaving a job, but our very lives. We had planned to serve until and perhaps beyond retirement. We had to leave friends, belongings, a sense of purpose, and the chance to invest our lives in a needy setting where others were loathe to go. Amid the pain and turmoil we experienced, however, we found a peace beyond the limits of our understanding. This peace was in no way an absence of conflict or turmoil. It was no cessation of hostility. It was not the end of being the brunt of hostile coercion. It was strength to face the crises of conflict without the need to bow to tactics unbecoming the gospel of peace.

Friends came to help us in our need and beg answers for why we were facing such turmoil from an agency that claimed to promote the gospel of Christ. They faced their own turmoil and conflict over what they saw us experiencing. Amid the crisis and conflict, we could claim the peace of Christ to be peace for others as they suffered and questioned alongside us. This was no peace of our making or that stemmed from our strength. It was simply the result of trusting God’s provision at our moment of need.

This is the peace we await this advent season. This is the strength for which we hope and await. It is the product of giving our lives to become peace for others as we trust God wholeheartedly to provide for our own need of peace and comfort. Do we hear the world’s cry for peace? Where will our actions and presence speak peace to those in need? Will we trust God for strength to become peace to others? The world is still waiting in turmoil, conflict, and strife. We are charged with spreading the peace the world so desperately needs.

—©2006 Christopher B. Harbin