Are you a peacemaker or a troublemaker? We live in a world full of troublemakers. You cannot escape the reality that our society is filled with conflict and violence of every sort. You cannot escape it. Most often, we think of the conflict happening around us today, but it has always been so. In 1968 a major newspaper reported that there had been 14,553 known wars from 36 BC to date. Since 1945 there have been over 70 wars and more than 200 significant outbreaks of violence. From 1958 over 100 nations have been involved in one way or another in armed conflict of some kind.

There has always been conflict. Many believe there always will be. Someone had said, “peace is that glorious moment in history when everyone stops to reload.” We should say that conflict has continued in spite of a multitude of peace organizations. Is it that the message is not being heard? Or is it that we do not heed the message we hear? Perhaps it is a deeper problem. Could it be that the external conflict in our world is merely a reflection of the internal conflict in all of us? How can we make peace when we have no peace ourselves?

When Jesus said “Blessed are the peacemakers . . .”, it must have sounded strange to their ears. Certainly almost all listening to Jesus that day were Jews struggling to live under the dominion of Rome. Many of them wanted to see Rome defeated and run out of their country. There were Zealots among them who believed that the only way there would be peace in Israel was through hostility. Now they were being called to be peacemakers.

We haven’t changed much over the years. We still struggle with the turmoil around us. We have our own conflicts. Each one of us deals with hostility all the time. We run in to rude people who try our patience. Sometimes we find ourselves in volatile situations that might explode in some sort of conflict. And we run into our share of troublemakers. The temptation, of course, is to jump right in and become like them. When we are barked at, we like to bark back. It is all too easy to adopt the little slogan “don’t get mad, get even!” But these kinds of responses only escalate the conflict. Let me ask you again: “Are you a peacemaker or a troublemaker?”

You see, we have been made right with God. For those who have come to Christ, the conflict is over. We have peace with God. And because we have peace with God, we should be those who do His work of peacemaking. Jesus call to be a peacemaker is a call to see ourselves as agents of reconciliation. By being agents of reconciliation we actually enter into the very ministry of Christ. This is our challenge. Therefore we need to consider the implications of Jesus’ statement in order to understand how we can become peacemakers.

Jesus’ statement implies that we need peace. And considering the presence of conflict in our world, this implication should be obvious. But it is important to understand the characteristics of this peace about which Jesus speaks. We must be clear both about what it is and what it is not. When Jesus speaks of peace, He is not simply referring to the absence of conflict. Peace is not some sort of vacuum in which we all exist, isolated from one another. In such a state you would certainly have peace. Cemeteries are peaceful places too. Peace is not a void.

Neither is peace agreeing simply to agree. Peace is not to be found in compromising truth and righteousness. If we compromise the key issues which make life meaningful and valuable, the result is not peace even if it is done for the sake of peace. If “peace at any price” is the slogan of the day, true peace is precisely what you do not get. Peace sought in this manner will ultimately result in future conflicts, perhaps of a worse variety than you have now. Peace is not the absence of something, rather it is the presence of something. True peace is the presence of righteousness. Peace is a positive result of people submitting to righteousness of God. It is facing the truth and yielding to it.