We cannot give what we do not have — that’s the reality of the Christian life, said Dhati Lewis, pastor of Blueprint Church, Atlanta, and vice president of Send Network with the North American Mission Board.
“And if we cannot show the reconciling power in the body of Christ,” he asked, “what can we give to a world that’s divided?”
Christians are called to pursue reconciliation, Lewis said, preaching from Matthew 5:9 — “blessed are the peacemakers” — at the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors Conference in Birmingham on June 10.
“We can’t just be promoting what we’re against; we’ve got to start promoting who we are for,” he said. “It is when we recognize who He is and whose we are that we recognize that we are the King’s kids and we join in the family business which is about peacemaking. It’s about reconciling.”
When followers of Christ bring reconciliation to broken relationships it’s then they begin to carry on the work of Jesus, Lewis said.
He called Christians to do three things in pursuit of peace:
1. Reflect personally.
As humans we don’t naturally come to a relationship objectively — everyone has his or her own history, hunches and negative generalizations about other people, Lewis said. It’s important to know what those are.
2. Empathize corporately.
“Find environments and places where we can hear the stories of other people,” Lewis said. “Let’s hear each other’s story and leave the door open for reconciliation.”
3. Pursue reconciliation.
When something happens in the national community that could cause division in the church, Lewis’ church tackles that conversation head on — but always with the purpose of reconciliation.
“We’re going to come and wrestle as a church and we run to the tension,” he said, because if peacemakers are called to make peace, that means they have to work in the places where there is tension.
“We want to be advocates. We want to be pursuing the heart of God to reconcile,” Lewis said. “Justice without reconciliation is what the Bible calls hell. If we only get justice those who have not been reconciled to Christ will spend eternity in hell. The goal of the Christian isn’t justice; the goal of the Christian is reconciliation.”
With that in mind Christians should work toward reconciling with each other so they can take that reconciliation to the world, he said. “My prayer for us is that one day we would really be able to embrace this … and truly represent Christ.” (Grace Thornton)
Share with others: