Proverbs 25:21-22
Matthew 5:9
Matthew 5:43-48
Matthew 6:10
Romans 8:19-21
1 John 3:1-12
Peacemaking children of God love unconditionally, which is exactly how
the Lord wants us to be.
In order to be true peacemaking children of God, we need to separate people
from their ungodly acts so that we can still love the people in spite of the
horrible things they may do.
We quite often hear from people who are trying to stop the terrific pain,
suffering, and death being inflicted upon animals, but at the same time they
want to inflict or have the same things happen to the people who do those
things to the animals.
Such feelings are counterproductive; for such actions are working at
cross-purposes with how Jesus teaches us to be.
Think about what Jesus teaches us in Matthew 5:43-48…
43. "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.'
Isn’t this essentially what those people wrote to us? But listen to what Jesus says next…
44. "But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute
you
45. in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He
causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the
righteous and the unrighteous.
46. "For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even
the tax-gatherers do the same?
47. "And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others?
Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
48. "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
NASB
Jesus is telling us to be exactly like God.
We are to stop following the ways of this corrupted world, and through our
love we are to encourage others to also be peacemaking children of God.
Even in the Hebrew text we are told the same things; note what we are told
in Proverbs 25:21-22…
21. If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;
22. For you will heap burning coals on his head,
And the LORD will reward you.
NASB
Another way of looking at this is to understand that by loving our enemies,
such as those who bring so much suffering upon animals, we are actually
causing them to be emotionally convicted of their sins to such an extent
that their ungodly acts would burn in them as if burning coals were put on
their heads until such time as they change their ways and also become
children of God.
Keep these things in mind as we look at 1 John 3:1–12…
1. See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
This is giving us part of the same message that Jesus told us in Matthew 5:9…
9. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons [children] of
God.
NASB
Jesus is telling us that if we are true peacemakers, we will be blessed;
thus, we should understand that if we are not peacemakers, we also lose this
blessing, or as John wrote, the Father has not bestowed this blessing upon
us.
The world is filled with people who either directly or indirectly cause the
pain, suffering, bloodshed, and death of millions of our fellow human beings
and billions of other animals every year.
Those of us who are peacemakers, and don’t harm or eat any animals, know
that the world hates what we stand for, and they spread all kinds of lies
about the benefits of killing and eating other living beings who want to
live and enjoy life just as much as we do.
This is why all of creation is anxiously waiting for these children of God,
for no other people can free it from its present corruption, which is what
we are told in Romans 8:19-21…
19. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing
of the sons [children] of God.
20. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but
because of Him who subjected it, in hope
21. that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to
corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
NASB
Only the blessed peacemaking children of God can free creation from its present corruption, because almost all the other people contribute to the continued corruption of this earth.
2. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is.
As we have talked about in the past, our future appearance may be a spiritual being with physical qualities, much like Jesus had following His resurrection, for He was visible and could be touched, but at the same time He could appear and disappear at will.
3. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He
is pure.
4. Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is
lawlessness.
We are not told what sins this includes or doesn’t include, but a good place to start is being the loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God who do no physical or emotional harm to any other living being.
5. And you know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.
And, we need to pray that He helps us remove any other sins we have in our lives that hinders us for being the children He wants us to be.
6. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.
Yet here on earth we still have a sinful nature, so there must be more to abiding in Him or no one could ever abide in Him here on earth, which is another reason for us to pray that the Holy Spirit guides us into this abiding relationship with God.
7. Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;
This is why we constantly encourage people to be the peacemaking children of God who do no harm to any part of creation, for this is the most encompassing way we know to practice righteousness, for in doing this we also find that we love one another as Jesus loves us.
8. the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
If we help free creation from its present corruption as these children of God, then we are working with the Lord to destroy the works of the devil; it is the devil’s evil works that corrupts creation and causes so much pain, suffering, bloodshed, and death to both humans and other animals.
9. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him;
and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
10. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious:
anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who
does not love his brother.
11. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we
should love one another;
12. not as Cain, who was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And for what
reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were
righteous.
NASB
Let’s look at this way of living in another way.
If our intention is to help free creation from its present corruption as
peacemaking children of God, then we cannot hate those who are sons of the
devil and cause the corruption and suffering, for that would violate the
basic premise that God wants us to follow…we are to love one another.
We can hate the sins that people do, but as children of God we cannot hate
those people, for children of God abide with Jesus and do the will of our
Father in heaven, just as Jesus taught us to pray for in Matthew 6:10…
10. 'Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
NASB
This isn’t some new teaching; this is what the Lord has been trying to get
all of us to learn from the very beginning.
This is the way we should all be living.
We are to bring heaven to earth and help restore creation to the way God
created it to be.
We are to be peacemaking children of God and have the capacity to love
unconditionally.
Amen.
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