Churches as a Peacemaker

Evangelicals have loud, boisterous public voices. One would be hard pressed to find someone who didn’t know that Evangelicals do not support gay marriage, are pro-life, and are often Republican. Most evangelicals, since they are extremely connected with conservative politics, are then often associated with being pro-war. Is this a fair characterization of evangelicalism? Some would loudly decry the generalizations made, and others would silently agree or disagree. But, generalizations, while may contain inaccuracies, often have some truth to them. What is missing in this overgeneralization of evangelicals? Why are evangelicals only known where they stand in a few public policies?
I don’t have a great answer to that, but I suspect it has something to do with the way we orient our worldview. As Evangelicals, we profess with our mouths that loving God and our neighbor are the two greatest commandments, but do we actually seek to live these out? Implicitly implied in loving our neighbor would also mean that we should love our enemies. But, we don’t really love our enemies because we cannot love them on our own strength. When we try to love based on our own capacities, we will fail every time. It is not in our nature to love our enemies. But, Jesus commands that we love them. He doesn’t say, “Try and love your enemies.” He says, “Love [in the imperative voice] your enemies.” G.K. Chesterton has said, “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people." I think the church has lost some of the essence of what it means to love, not only our neighbor, but our enemies. In the core essence of loving another, we are being a peacemaker.
We might ask ourselves, what does loving our enemies even mean? We often think that love is just a feeling. But, as William Barclay has described agape (the Greek word for love used), it is much more demanding. He defines agape as it, “indicate[s] unconquerable benevolence, invincible good will. If we regard a person with agape, it means that no matter what that person does to us, no matter how he treats us, n o matter if he insults us or injures us or grieves us, we will never allow any bitterness against him to invade our hearts, but will regard him with that unconquerable benevolence and good will which will seek nothing but his highest good.” In this definition, how could anything but peace be present? When we love our enemies, our enemies cease to be enemies.
If the church is to have any real role as a public peacemaker, then she must be actively seeking to love her enemies. Since the church is comprised of Christians such as me and you, then you and I must seek to love our enemies. The only way that we can seek to love them, is by first seeking to love God. Through a relationship with Him is the only possibility that we can have a heart that not only feels love towards our enemies, but also loves actively. If the Church is to have any credibility about the issues it seeks to promote, then instead of being narrowly focused, we must be holistic in the range of issues. We must first seek a transformation of our hearts so that it breaks for the same issues that break the heart of God. When our hearts break for the same things that breaks the heart of God, it is then that we will be able to arrive at a place where we will be in a credible position of being a peacemaker.
Being a peacemaker will not be an easy task. It is a difficult, frustrating, and time-consuming task. It requires imagination to envision a third way to a solution in a world that is black and white. It will require compromise among all parties involved so that the solution will serve the greater good. A peacemaker may be well idolized, but it is usually is not a popular position for it is easier to raise the sword than to set it aside. If we have difficulties determining what a peacemaker’s role should be, we should always remember the examples of those who were peacemakers before us: Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., etc. We will not be the first to embark in the role of peacemaking and we will not be the last.
So, as we think about what it might mean for the church to be a peacemaker, we must remember that we are commanded to be peacemakers. Loving our enemies is the epitome of what a peacemaker will do. It may not always be the popular or safe position to take, but when we take on the role of a peacemaker, then we are taking upon ourselves a task commanded to us by God.

1.Barclay, William. The Gospel of Luke. The Daily Study Bible Series. Rev. ed. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975.