Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

A traveler in the South found himself stranded in a small town on Saturday night.

Wondering around, he noticed there were two Baptist churches.

He couldn't understand it, so he asked someone why it was that such a small town would have two Baptist churches?

The local man said, "They just couldn't agree.

One of the churches believed that Pharaoh's daughter found Moses in the bull-rushes.

The church claims, that's what she says.

Man has always been a creature of strive, even there is nothing really to fight about.

Horace, the ancient writer, refers to a controversy in his day as to whether goats hair should be called lana or wool, and he says of the contender, "He wrangles about goats wool, and donning his armor, fights for trifles."

Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet writes of one, "Thou!

Why thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more, or a hair less, in his beard than thou hast?

Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes."

Thomas Jefferson, who associated with a great many men, spoke out of experience when he said, "An association of men who will not quarrel with one another is a thing which never yet existed."

Even the 12 Apostles argued and disputed about who was going to be the greatest.

It ought not to be surprising then that professor Quincy Wright in his book, A Study Of War, shows that in the 461 years from 1480 to 1941 various nations had this record: Great Britain 78 wars, France 71, Spain 64, Russia 61, Austria 52, Germany 23, China 11, Japan 9, and the U. S. 13, plus 110 wars with the Indians within the U. S. Certainly it is not necessary to labor the point that peacemakers are desperately needed.

They are the rarest creatures ever to see the light of day on this planet of strife.

Nevertheless, peacemakers have had far more power than war makers.

Practically all the peace treaties ever signed have been broken.

They have been ineffective, but there is one peace that was established that is still in effect, and has been more powerful than all the wars of history combined.

It is the peace of the Prince of Peace-the peace of the cross.

The greatest conflict in history was and is the conflict between God and man.

The consequences of this conflict were far more dreadful than all the horrors of human warfare.

In fact, this was the source of human strife.

Jesus became the peacemaker of all peacemakers by reconciling God and man.

In Col 1:20-22 Paul writes of this reconciliation.

"...Making peace by the blood of his cross.

And you, who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before Him..."

The peace of the cross is the only universal and everlasting peace ever established, and all through the centuries in every part of the world men have been able to say with the Apostle Paul, "Therefore, being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

The peace of the cross not only reconciled men of faith with God, but it became the basis for peace on earth among men of good will which the angels sang of at the birth of the Prince of Peace.

The cross has ended so much hostility that there is no way to measure its influence in history.

It has broken down walls that all the bombs and bullets of all the wars ever fought could not dent, let alone demolish.

Paul writes of the great power in the peace of the cross in Eph.

2:13-14.

"But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ.

For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility."

Jesus demolished every wall that separates men, and made peace possible for all men with God and each other, if they will come to the cross.

Billy Graham wrote, "In regard to racial peace let me say that for true Christians there is no race problem!

The ground is level at the cross and there are no second-rate citizens with God."

This is true in every other area of conflict also.

The peace of the cross is powerful enough to solve any conflict if men will come to the cross.

The peace of the cross is also proof that both sides in a conflict can be satisfied, and both can win if one is willing to pay the price of being a peacemaker.

It doesn't cost anything to be a peace lover or a peace talker, but to be a peace maker calls for sacrifice.

Jesus had to humble himself to the degrading level of dying like a criminal, but He did so, to be a peace maker.

No conflict can ever end in a satisfying peace unless one of the contenders humbles himself.

It Jesus had not done so, as the innocent party in the conflict between God and man, there would be eternal enmity with no solution.

Jesus had to lose for us to win.

The same principle operates in our society, and in our homes.

A man wrote,

Because my wife and I are loathe

To let a quarrel last too long,

It's over just as soon as both

Of us admit that I am wrong.

This may be funny, but it is true.

It may even be that the least guilty in a conflict has to pay the cost of peace, and humble himself.

This is what the peace of the cross is all about.

The innocent have a greater responsibility to be peace makers than the aggressors.

With God and man there was no choice.

It was up to God, or nothing could bring peace.

It is true among men also.

The aggressor and the man of strife is far less capable of bringing about peace than the meek and poor in spirit, for he is a victim of sin and is in bondage.

The more free a man is because of victory over sin, the more responsible he is for being a peace maker.

John Chrysostom said, "If the peace makers are they who do not contend one with another, but reconcile those that are at strife, they are rightly called sons of God, seeing that this was the chief employment of the Only Begotten Son, to reconcile things separated, to give peace to things at war."

We can hardly claim to be followers of the Prince of Peace if we are not striving to become peace makers.

Therefore, we want to look at some things that will characterize us if we are fulfilling this most important role in a world of strife.

The first thing will take an entire message it is so important, and it is-

I. DIPLOMACY

We have diplomats all over the world whose job it is to promote our country and prevent hostility.

They have to be men or women who can foresee conflict and head it off.

Abraham had this quality, and saw that his men and Lot's men were headed for a clash, so he said to Lot, "Let there be no strife between me and thee," and he very diplomatically suggested he move elsewhere, and he gave him the best choice.

A man less wise would have said, if you can't keep your men in line Lot, my men will run you off the land.

Then the battle would begin.

Diplomacy has been defined as the art of saying, "nice doggy," until you find a rock.

There is truth to this, but it is also true that one may want to say, "nice doggy" until the dog likes you, and becomes, in fact, a nice and friendly dog.

That is being a peace maker.

The peace maker uses all of the other attitudes of the beatitudes to gain peace.

Because he is poor in spirit and humble he does not fight in pride, but is willing to sacrifice and even suffer if the advancement of others extends the kingdom of God.

Because they are comforted in their mourning, they seek to be a comfort to others who mourn, and strive to bring peace into strife-filled lives.

In meekness they do not feel the need to dominate or destroy opposition, but rather, to build up and unite.

They hunger and thirst for what is right, and not for their brothers blood, and in mercy they even forgive the injustice and folly of others to bring about the peace of reconciliation.

The peace maker will not always succeed in making peace, but he will always be a success, for in being a peace maker he is being what God wants him to be.

Paul says in Rom.

12:18, "As much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men."

Many times we ignore the clear teaching of the Bible, and feel obligated to be God's protector; so we stir up strife over all kinds of issues.

We need to pray with Alexander Pope:

Let not this weak, unknowing hand

Presume thy bolts to throw,

And deal damnation around the land

On each I judge thy foe.

Your response to pressure can deeply influence another.

A wife in Michigan came to Christ before her husband.

He resisted the Gospel, but one day he dropped his tool box in the living room and tools spilled out.

Before her conversion he knew his wife would have raised the roof.

Now she was undisturbed, and she helped him pick up the tools.

That did it; it was the turning point.

Her peace made him want to know the Lord of peace, and he too opened his life to Christ.

She became a peace maker by receiving into her own life the peace of Christ.

Many are the records of history that show Christians trying to serve the Lord with a zeal without knowledge.

Diplomacy is the art of making peace before the war even begins.

It is preventative rather than curative, if possible.

A peace maker is quick to confess his own faults and blunders before someone else does.

He is one who is aware of the power of humility.