UNSHAKEABLE: The Noble Peace Prize! You heard it right: noble, not Nobel. Our call as followers of the Prince of Peace is to be emissaries of peace, representing his priority agenda. Moreover, peacemaking is high on the kingdom platform of the One who is known as the God of peace. How else will the world surrender their worship to the God of peace, accept the Prince of Peace as their savior, and come under the rule of the kingdom of peace unless the subjects of that kingdom flesh out God’s all-encompassing peace in their everyday, ordinary, sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around lives? So your assignment today is peacemaking. Mine, too. There is no more noble pursuit. When it is possible, as much as it depends on you, pursuing peace is an effort worthy of the “noble” peace prize. Nothing is as prized by God as the noble efforts his children exert to achieve peace.
Unshakeable Living // Romans 12:18
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
No — you heard it right: noble, not Nobel … the Noble Peace Prize. Nothing is as prized by God as the noble efforts his children exert to achieve peace.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers!” That proclamation of blessing came from Jesus’ very first sermon — the Sermon on the Mount — found in Matthew 5-7. He was just launching his messianic ministry and in the opening lines (Matt 5:1-12) of his first public address, he spelled out his kingdom agenda in bullet form. These “kingdom talking points” have come to be known as the Beatitudes. This particular bullet point for blessing, peacemaking, along with seven others, reveals what God values most, what God blesses most, and what God expects most from his people as they expand his kingdom throughout Planet Earth.
God not only promises peace to his people (“and the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds” — Phil 4:7) and expects his people to allow peace to govern their relationships with one another (“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts since as members of one body you were called to peace” — Col 3:15), he also calls his people to be emissaries of his peace to a human race at war with itself, and with him.
Yes, that is our call — emissaries of peace, representing the agenda of the one who was known as the Prince of Peace. Peacemaking is high on the kingdom platform of the One who is known as the God of peace. (Rom 15:33, Rom 16:20, Phil 4:9, 1 Thess 5:23, Heb 13:20) How else will the world surrender their worship to the God of peace, accept the Prince of Peace as their savior, and come under the rule of the kingdom of peace unless the subjects of that kingdom flesh out God’s all-encompassing peace in their everyday, ordinary, sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around lives?
So that is your assignment today. Mine, too. There is no more noble pursuit. Will you be successful at achieving peace in your home, at work, while you are at school, on the highway in traffic, online as you swipe through your favorite social media platform, or in your little corner of the world? I don’t know, but I do know that if it is possible, as far as it depends on you, your life can be a powerful catalyst for peace.
And if you give that your very best shot, if you “keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me — everything you heard from me and saw me doing—then the God of peace will be with you.” (Phil 4:9). And not only will he be with you, he will bless you, for Jesus has promised blessings to those who are “the peacemakers,”
You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family. (Matthew 5:9, MSG)
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