Be A Peacemaker

Rev Gideon Lee

This morning, God laid this on my heart. To be a peacemaker. What does that mean? Does it mean that as a peacemaker you try to smooth things and not look at what's right? As Christians we are called to be a peacemaker. I want this morning to look at the scripture to see what it means to be a peacemaker.

The outline of my message is:

1. Do not let rage drive you.
2. To seek to be a peacemaker.
3. To speak to build others up.

One day there was a minister preaching in a church. He made a joke as an icebreaker. He said, I've been living with a woman for 17 years who's not my wife. It caught everyone by surprise.

Then he said, that woman is my mother. And he went on to preach a sermon on Mother's Day.

A preacher in the congregation heard his statement and he tried to say the same thing in his church on Sunday. He said I've a confession to make. I've been living with a woman for 17 years who's not my wife. But he missed the punchline. He stood there for 5 minutes and forgot what to say. So to remedy the situation, he said I've been living with a woman for 17 years and I've forgotten who she is.

1 Samuel 25:1-13

David, Nabal and Abigail

1 Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran.

2 A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. 3 His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings—he was a Calebite.

4 While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. 5 So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. 6 Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!

7 “‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. 8 Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’”

9 When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited.

10 Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. 11 Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”

12 David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. 13 David said to his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

David was driven by anger. Most of the time when we are angry we don't response. We react. I find that people in times like these tend to react in anger. He lost his cool and got angry. It could happen to anyone including me.

A study showed that most anger happens at home. The average man loses his temper 6 times a week while a woman only 3 times. Men gets angry at things while women gets angry with people. Men are more likely to react physically when angry. Like you see men hit the wall with their hand when angry. Don't know why they do that. Just hurting themselves. Most anger happens at home because that's where you are who you are. And usually it's towards those we love than to strangers.

Proverbs 16:32

Better a patient person than a warrior,

one with self-control than one who takes a city.

Anger is a normal human reaction. Even Jesus got angry. Anger is repeated more 300 times in the OT. But the Bible says do not sin in your anger.

Here Samuel the prophet just died and Saul did not like David. This rivalry between Saul and David was bad that David wanted to kill Saul. David was moving from hideout to hideout. David was in the wilderness. It was a dangerous place. There were robbers there. David chanced upon a man man called Nabal. He was not easy to deal with. Just not a nice person. David wanted to help Nabal. He gave protection to all the shepherds that Nabal had. There were no raiders because of this. But it was time for shearing and it was a custom back then for those that help, the owner will give a portion of the profit to these people.

David asked his people to tell Nabal what he can provide for them. But we all know when David's men went to ask, he said David was a nobody so why should I give him anything. He knows that he benefitted From David's protection. He was like an extortionist, collecting protection money.

1. Do not let rage drive you.

It leads us to do foolish thing. David decided to get his men to kill Nabal out of his anger. Sometimes we get into that situation. David got into the situation. He sent His 400 to kill Nabal. Our anger sometimes blind us.

Romans 12:17-19

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

We are to do what is right and that includes revenge. In your anger do not sin. Being a peacemaker do not let your rage drive you. It is not just justice but to show love and kindness. To seek unity and peace. Anger sometimes overtake us but as a peacemaker it is to extend mercy and grace.

2. To seek to be a peacemaker.

1 Samuel 25:14-19

14 One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. 15 Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. 16 Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. 17 Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”

18 Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead; I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

The moment Abigail heard what happened, she had more discernment than the husband. She had to make things right. He said David and his men had been good to us. That's why the Bible says he who finds a good wife finds a good thing.

She sent gifts ahead to David. She was preparing an atoning sacrifice to atone for the sin of her husband. Jesus became our atoning sacrifice.

1 John 2:2

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 4:10

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

For Abigail, she was to make peace and not justice. We let anger drive us and we don't try to make peace. She could have just let the husband do what he does and face the consequences but she didn't.

1 Samuel 25:20-30

20 As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them. 21 David had just said, “It’s been useless—all my watching over this fellow’s property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. 22 May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!”

23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. 25 Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. 26 And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal. 27 And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.

28 “Please forgive your servant’s presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live. 29 Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling. 30 When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel,

Abigail respected David, and told him don't let this small thing destroy his more important calling. Not to be like the foolish Nabal. Her words and actions disarmed David. And the last thing was that he reminded David that one day he will be king and not to taint it with murder. So David listened.

Proverbs 25:21-22

21 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;

if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.

22 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

When I first read this scripture, what came to my mind is that it was some form of punishment. Actually what it means is that God is asking you to do a good thing. Coal is needed to cook food so in ancient custom, even when your enemy ask for coal, you need to give them because it's needed to build fire for cooking. It is to show that even with enemies, we are to extend grace and mercy. To put aside the offences and help your enemy. It tells.me not to be driven by your anger and seek to be a peacemaker.

3. Speak to build each other up.

Nabal spoke to tear David down but Abigail spoke to build David up. She said God will protect and watch over you and bring his promises to pass. She said David will be king. May I encourage you to speak to build one another up.

That should be our goal to be a peacemaker. The tongue is a small part of our body but it can do good or evil.

So let's remember this.

1. Do not let rage drive you.
2. To seek to be a peacemaker.
3. To speak to build others up.

I pray that you'll choose to be like Abigail. Choose to be a peacemaker.

I stay in Setia which is a gated place. One day as I was coming home there was a car that was parked in the middle of the in entrance. Because he parked there all had to use the out entrance to go in and out. I was curious why this guy parked here. So I asked the guard. He said this guy was angry because he didn't have a sticker so was refused entry but he said he's a resident. So he got angry and parked his car at the entrance. The guard said he was doing his job and cannot let him enter because he had no sticker. The guard even tried to give him a sticker but he refused. The management even tried to talk to him but he refused. So the management called the police and the police issued a summon. He left the car there for a week. He refused and asked the management to pay the summon or he won't move his car.

The management tried to make peace but he would not accept any apology. Finally he moved his car and went to complain to MPPP. It inconvenienced the whole place because of his anger. Until today I know where he lives because of this. This morning are you holding on a situation so badly that it's not just affecting you but your  family? Let's be like Abigail. She's not just beautiful but also wise. Don't be like Nabal. Please be a peacemaker.

Let me read to you the rest of the passage.

1 Samuel 25:32-35

32 David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. 33 May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. 34 Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.”

35 Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request.”

Let's learn to be like Abigail. 

2 Corinthians 5:18-20

18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.