God Honors Peacemakers | Genesis 26:17-33 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

I'd like to take this time in preparation for the Lord's supper to share a few thoughts from the scriptures, obviously, that's been brewing in my heart for the past few weeks. You know, one of the beauties of walking with the Lord Jesus Christ is that such a way, especially a passage, it can be sometimes even a word, that you find yourself returning to it time and time again in your thoughts and meditations. And that's what's been happening recently from a recent morning reading in the book of Genesis as I revisited the story of the man whose name is Isaac, the son of Abraham and the father of Jacob. And what's interesting about Isaac is that out of all the patriarchs, the three main ones, he lived the longest, a hundred and eighty years to be exact. That's a lot of life.

And yet the Holy Spirit, out of all the stories that he could have preserved about Isaac, chose to give us the most extensive chapter of his story regarding him digging wells. I'm sure that in our culture today, cultivating wells has very little to offer us in terms of practical or even spiritual inspiration. But it's not about the wells necessarily. It's what happened to Isaac around those wells that deserve some attention. What you'll find when you read Genesis chapter 26 is that Isaac, around his possessions and how he was treated by outsiders, turned out to be a wonderful model for a godly peacemaker.

Isaac was a peacemaker. And more importantly, what you discover in that chapter is that the Lord loves, honors, and blesses peacemakers. The Bible has a lot, a lot to say about peace and has a reasonable amount to say about peacemakers. And even as I'm speaking about this subject, perhaps the famous words of the Lord Jesus Christ is flashing in some of our minds from Matthew chapter five. The Sermon on the Mount where he said, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

I think most of us in here memorize that verse. I'm afraid that those who are very familiar with it aren't too sure what it actually implies. It's weighty. Just by looking at Christ's words in that single statement, we know something about peacemakers. Whatever that is, whatever a peacemaker is, it's an attitude that affirms one's relationship with God.

And it is a testimony that relays and conveys to others that his holy character is reflected in us. Christians are to be peacemakers. And when we gather all the scriptural data of what it means to be a peacemaker, I think you can come to this definition. It's very simple. A peacemaker is someone who actively seeks to reconcile and restore relational harmony.

Somebody who actively seeks to reconcile and restore relational harmony both with God and man. You see in a very real sense, we as Christians are peacemakers because we preach the gospel. The gospel is a message of reconciliation. And as the Lord sends us out to go and reach others with this news, what we're essentially doing is calling those who stand as enemies of God to be restored to the God of peace through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is known as what? The prince of peace.

So the fact that we have this gospel in our hearts and it leaves our mouths, makes us peacemakers. You know, there's this wonderful little statement or way of description that Peter gives when he was preaching to the household of Cornelius, and he describes the gospel in the following way. Let me just quote it to you from Acts ten thirty six. You don't have to turn there. Just listen carefully.

Listen to how Peter describes the gospel. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ, he is lord of all. The King James, I believe, would say, preaching peace. When you witness to a coworker, when you're sitting at the dinner table, maybe around Thanksgiving and are leaning towards your cousin and telling them about the gospel, you're preaching peace. You're telling them how they can have peace with God.

Isn't that remarkable? We're peacemakers as Christians. But it's not limited to that glorious calling. Being a peacemaker also includes someone who seeks to mend relationships between men. And that emphasis isn't primarily about us inserting ourselves into every strained marriage or fractured relationship between friends to try to bring resolution.

We have to be careful. There there's a proper time and protocol in place for when and how we get involved with conflicts that do not immediately involve us. Now instead, the the primary meaning of us being peacemakers horizontally is that we are called to be initiators in receiving peace, in accepting peace, in granting peace when there is animosity between us and others. When we know that there is some kind of tension between people and us. Being a peacemaker means that we have that primary responsibility.

We should be the ones who take the first step in building bridges. And I wanna tell you that Matthew five nine is not the only passage that highlights just how essential this is. Can I ask you something? How many of us in this place consider the call to be peacemakers as Christians? We know that there are many things that we are responsible for as Christians.

But I wanna remind you that there is a great premium. There is a high observation in the scriptures for us as followers of Jesus Christ to not just preach the gospel, but to also see relationships healed, especially the ones that we are involved in. You and I understand that one of our identities as Christians is to be salt. Right? The salt of the earth.

And that's a wonderful picture. Right? But I always love to ask the question. What does that practically look like? What does it mean for me and you because of our faith in Christ to be agents of healing and preservation in a society that is slowly decaying because of sin?

Well, there are many ingredients, but I wanna present you at least one in relation to what we're speaking about today that I think is often overlooked. Let me just ask you this again. When you think salt of the earth, what comes to mind in terms of practical relational responsibility or duty or discipline. What what what? Right?

You don't have to answer out loud, but I'm just asking. Let me tell you what Jesus made so clear. Now I ask you to go to Mark chapter nine in your Bibles and look at verse 50 because I want you to see it with your own eyes. Mark nine fifty. I'll wait for the wrestling of the leaves to settle before I read it.

I'll read it slowly now. Salt is good, Jesus said. But if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another. This is astounding.

Jesus is teaching that if you and I wanna secure our distinct Christian flavor and witness in this rotten world, we must strive to be at peace with one another. Our spirit empowered efforts to achieve and maintain harmony in relationships is imperative to our witness. And wherever there is a weakened community due to a lack of tranquility and peace, you have a deficiency in their effectiveness to testify to the world of why we're different and how powerful this gospel is. Here's another verse to consider. Hebrews chapter 12.

Let's turn there now. I believe, in my experience at least, 90% of the time when this verse is quoted, people cut out the first part. Hebrews 12 verse 14. Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. In my experience again, growing up in the church and even being in ministry, when people come to this text, they usually quote it in the following ways, strive for a holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Is that true of you? You can't leave out the first part. Before he says strive for holiness, he says strive to be at peace with everyone. With everyone. I wish I can expand on this verse, but we gotta stay on track.

You know what the word strive means? To pursue aggressively. It conveys the idea of running towards the finish line, to be chasing something until you catch it. It's an intense word. Strive.

Strive to be at peace with everyone. And the Holy Spirit through this wants us to have that kind of ambition for achieving amity with everyone, everyone. Your husband, your wife, your children, your coworkers, the members of your church, the neighbors on your street. I can go on. Let me just summarize with this.

Anyone who still has a pulse, you and I, as peacemakers, so strive to be at peace with them. And I wanna examine this further, but I have to first ask you to extend grace to me. From this point on, please, I'm fully aware that whenever a preacher speaks on relationships, there are countless situations that listeners may be facing, each one requiring unique instructions. And sometimes the example shared in a message may not directly apply to your unique case. So let me be clear.

This sermon today will not attempt to cover every possible scenario of strife, of complexities. Instead, I'm simply offering a few insights from one single account, and I ask that you would take it upon yourself to ask the Lord how in this brief message one or most or all of these points could apply and resonate with you. And these will be quick looks for now. We won't be able to cover these things at length. But what I wanna tell you is that Isaac is a wonderful illustration in Genesis 26 of what peacemaking entails, what it looks like, what it doesn't look like.

And so let me give you the background of Isaac's story in Genesis 26. There was a famine in the land and so he felt the need to leave and to plant him and his family in a place called Gerar. And while in Gerar, there were things that happened that compromised his witness, and we don't have time to get into that now, but Isaac chose to establish himself in Gerar. And he decided to invest in land and to build his resources, and what you find following that decision is nothing short of a miracle from the Lord. Now let's turn to our main text in Genesis 26 beginning in verse 12 to see what I mean here.

It says here in Genesis 26 verse 12, and Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold, the Lord blessed him. And the man became rich and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants so that the Philistines envied him. Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father. And Abimelech said to Isaac, go away from us for you are much mightier than we.

We might think that this is where the story ends, but I'm here to tell you it's just starting. And from this point on, for the rest of this chapter, we're going to consider five insights of peacemaking, Five clues, five marks of being a peacemaker. Consider this just as discipleship time from heart to heart. Number one, to be a peacemaker sometimes requires us to surrender our rights. We need to be very wise at this point because the truth of the matter is there are times when we need to fight for our rights and not be passive with troublemakers.

The apostle Paul at times appealed to his legal entitlements for the sake of the advancement and the integrity of the gospel. Right? He would often say, hey, I'm a Roman citizen. You can't treat me this way, and that's legitimate. However, there are also moments where he did not wield his citizenship.

He did not appeal to his apostolic prerogatives for the same goal. So it's a case by case situation. And there are times where we also have to, especially in personal conflicts, choose to walk away instead of choosing to fight, resist. We're not told why Isaac gracefully dismissed himself at the confiscation of his wells. But whatever his reason was, he thought it to be the better option than digging his heels in the ground and potentially getting into a war with the Philistines.

He refrained from retaliation. And that's incredibly difficult for us to do, especially when we are being mistreated, Especially when we sense that we are being treated unfairly, but choosing silence, refusing to retaliate, and not wasting time or energy with something that doesn't seem worth it can at times be the more righteous path. And if you need any motivation to trust in God's wisdom with that option, I believe Isaac gives us the secret. Do you know why I believe Isaac could do this with great humility and consistency, he believed in God's providence. So I want you to see this in verse 17.

Look what happens. So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley Of Gerar and settled there. And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them names that his father had given them. But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen saying, the water is ours.

No, it's not. That's my commentary. No, it's not. It's not yours. So he called the name of the well Esek because they contended with him.

Then they dug another well and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah. And he moved from there and dug another well and they did not quarrel over it so he called its name Rehoboath saying, for now the Lord has made room for us and we shall be fruitful in the land. The Lord. I'm recognizing God's leadership in this. I'm recognizing God's provision in this.

I'm recognizing that even though this is unfair, God has blessed me. And listen, you have to remember here that these repeated offenses were beyond Isaac's control. What did we read earlier? The Philistines envied him. Have you ever tried to build a meaningful relationship with somebody who envies you?

It's nearly impossible. Why? Because they feel this anger and this bitterness towards you for what reason? Because God's blessing you or using you in a certain way. It's very difficult to work with somebody like that.

What am I supposed to change? The Philistines envied him. Despite that, Isaac realized that the Lord was able to lead him to a broad place. Because the scripture tells us that even the wrath of man can praise God. God can turn the wrath of man to a testimony in your life.

And that's what this man believed. The Lord has made room for us. I recognize God in this. I'm trusting God in this. And listen, if if anyone ever unfairly takes something that belongs to you, it could be a piece of your reputation.

It could be a possession. It can be even a position. A peacemaker will step back, calculate, pray, and consider the possibility of just walking away and trusting God to deal with it. This is a call for wisdom. How do I know when to stand and to fight?

And how do I know when that I should just leave and let God deal with it directly? You might think this sounds unrealistic. It's not. It's found in the New Testament. You remember what Paul told the Corinthians?

These Christians were taking each other to court. And what did he say there in first Corinthians six seven? Hey, why don't some of you choose to rather be defrauded? Why don't some of you just surrender? Why don't you just give up for the sake of being salt?

You're going out to the world and you are bearers of names of Christ, and you're fighting with each other over temporal things. This is a defeat for you, Paul said. Suffer wrong. Surrender your right. Sometimes to be a peacemaker means that you have to do just that.

Isaac did that. We come to the second point of what it means to be a peacemaker. To be a peacemaker does not mean that we don't feel the pain or the frustration caused by people's aggravations. So again, you might feel like this is a tall order, this seems unrealistic, you're asking me to walk away, you you don't understand. Okay.

Look, in verse 20, I want you to notice that with each well that was taken from Isaac, he named it something. And in verse 20, we read that he named the first well, Esek. You know what Esek means? Contention. The next one, Sitnah, which means enmity.

So as much as we we can say Isaac was impressive in walking away, he was also not living in denial. It was painful. He did sense the injustice. He was bothered. And he recognized that these interactions for what they were, and I'm sure that there was some kind of emotional processing when he named these wells.

Here's why this is important. You need to be free. That you are not harboring unforgiveness or you are not qualified to be a peacemaker just because your heart is still bruised by the carelessness or the selfishness caused by somebody else's action. Just because it hurts doesn't mean that you are not in the right. It doesn't mean that you are not walking in faith.

It doesn't mean that you're not walking in faith. It's a bruise. It's a wound. And sometimes bruises last longer than others. So the presence of emotions that are hurtful, memories that are painful, does not mean that you are not in the will of God.

Does not mean that you are outside of Christ like character. The Bible is so realistic. At the same time, you gotta be careful that painful memories don't blind you to potential opportunities to be reconciled with those who have caused pain in your life. There's a very fine line. Right?

You can revisit those scenes and those words to the degree that it calluses you to the point where it numbs you from your calling to be a peacemaker. And should the opportunity arise, if you've allowed your heart to become diamond hard, it'll become much more difficult to be the initiator of reconciliation. Isaac was realistic with how this whole thing made him feel. But we come to point number three. To be a peacemaker does not mean you abandon or ignore the truth for the sake of harmony.

So Isaac moves on, and we read here we're gonna skip a couple verses. We'll look at them in a second, but look down at verse 26. This is interesting. When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzath, his adviser, and Phichol, the commander of his army, Isaac said to them, why have you come to me seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you? So we see here that Abimelech and his top advisers pay Isaac a visit.

They learned about his new address and they thought, let's go visit him and let's try to make a truce. Let's try to make an oath with this man. Put the past behind us and to promise to never go to war with each other from this day forward. But what I find so interesting is that with this unannounced arrival, Isaac, before entertaining any other conversation, confronts these Philistines for their behavior. What are you doing here?

Don't you hate me? You drove me away from you. Now you might be wondering, I thought we were looking at Isaac as a model for peace. We are. And he is no less a peacemaker here than when he walked away from his own wells.

Because you see, a biblical peacemaker does not try to appease others or excuse unrighteousness for the sake of relational tranquility. A true peacemaker will invite God's truth into a conflict and will surrender to what the living God asks of both parties involved. So we have to be reminded of this fundamental truth. We never do away with the truth in the name of peace. There are a lot of people who are tolerating evil and sin in the name of being a peacemaker.

That's not biblical peacemaking. That's compromised calm. Now this model here showing us that we should never accept or rationalize evil so that someone can feel accepted. That's unloving and deceptive. You know, it was Jesus who said that I had not come to bring peace to the world.

What? You're the prince of peace. No. I did not come to bring a certain type of peace to the world. I've actually come to bring a sword.

What did he mean by that in Matthew 10? He meant that he was coming into the world with with a saving message that carried the potential of bringing division in different circles because of one or more than one party accepting that saving message. And in Christ's mind, if that division occurs because of the truth being embraced, then that division is worth it. Because true peace can only come from accepting the truth. James speaks about godly wisdom and he actually describes what it looks like in detail.

The qualities of godly wisdom, what godly wisdom, when somebody possesses it, what does it look like? And in it, you have this wonderful equation, this wonderful principle of even what true peace is all about. In James three seventeen, James says, but the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable. What comes before peace? Purity.

Purity. The renouncing of sin, the renouncing of compromise, the the renouncing of anything that compromises or contradicts the truth. There can't be true peace unless there is the honoring of purity. What gave Isaac the courage to speak up in this way? It's found in the verses that we didn't read.

When Isaac went up to Beersheba, in verse 24 of Genesis 26, it says this, and the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, I am the God of Abraham, your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake. Sometimes it's a fearful thing to forsake peace for the sake of the truth. Sometimes it's difficult just as a general rule to approach anybody and to confront them for their wrong or to stand for that which is right. And I see that following this, Isaac was able to speak up because God promised him his presence.

And God promised him his reward. And you and I need to find the same courage from that same place. That when there are situations in your family, at your workplace, where you have to choose the truth even if it means inviting turbulence. The Lord is with me. The Lord sees me.

He sees my heart. He sees that I wanna please him above everything else, and he will honor you for that. And we're told in Romans that as far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Teaching us what? It's not always possible.

Even though you're the peacemaker, it doesn't mean that you're gonna have guaranteed peace with everybody. And one of the reasons why it's not always possible is because there are many people who don't want purity. They don't wanna admit they're wrong. They don't wanna repent of their sin. And so you've done your part by upholding the truth and yet still trying to be a peacemaker even though the results don't come out the way you desire.

Number four, to be a peacemaker means you will do your part to achieve peace. Let's read back in Genesis 26 what happens after Isaac confronts the Philistines. And this is what I read a few weeks ago in Genesis that made me realize how much Isaac shined as a peacemaker. Are you there in verse 28? They said, this is the Philistines, we see plainly that the Lord has been with you.

So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have not done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace. Read that last part again. Have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace. So when I read this, I don't know if it was this last time or a previous time, I put a green marked question mark beside that phrase. What do you mean you've done nothing wrong?

Okay. I I see here that you did not touch him. That's true. But there's an incomplete approach here. We've done nothing wrong to you.

Come on, be honest. How would you react to that? What kind of confession is that? To our surprise, to our amazement, Isaac doesn't even address it. Doesn't even comment on it.

He chooses to move on with the proposal, which in principle means that he does not insist on the faults of his offenders. And now we have to be very careful of not misapplying this part. Because Isaac is not accepting reconciliation without repentance as he prepares to make a deal with these men. That's not what he's doing here. If you're carefully reading, you'll understand that he acknowledges the effort of the Philistines and is willing to bypass the weakness of their attempt for the sake of his own conscience and the promise of peace.

And this is someone who recognizes the opportunity to resolve something with his neighbors. He does his part and he leaves the details to God. You and I can't be stubborn and expect to flourish as peacemakers. If we're truly peacemakers, then again, it depends on the nature of the relationship and the dynamics of the problem. But a peacemaker will be on the lookout for any opportunity to infuse peace in that strained relationship.

So in some cases, it it will only look like this. Whenever you cross paths with somebody that is at odds with you, that has maybe mistreated you with unresolved conflict, your responsibility as a peacemaker is to extend a greeting according to Jesus' words in Matthew. To extend a greeting. Because if you only greet your brothers, you're no different than the Gentiles. I quoted to you earlier what Paul said in Romans twelve eighteen, if possible.

It's not always possible. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Just live at peace with people. And in that same passage, you have an insight of what that might look like. This is this is the problem of taking verses out of their context.

You you miss out on the full meaning. So most of us know Romans twelve eighteen and most of us know Romans twelve twenty, but but have we ever considered how they're married? What does he say in Romans twelve twenty? To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

For by doing so, you'll heap burning coals on his head. That's in context of being a peacemaker. So a peacemaker, like Isaac, will recognize opportunities to sprinkle peace, maybe even on a person who's caused problems in your life. That might look like an awkward hello or may look like visiting somebody who is very sick and may not have another day to live. This man convicted me.

He didn't get into a shouting match. Oh, you did nothing to me, He just he sees what this relationship will entail. He's not marrying the Philistines. He's not gonna be working with the Philistines. He's just agreeing on these terms of peace.

There'll be no retaliation. I'll give you that. I accept your incomplete confession. Lastly, being a peacemaker opens heavenly blessings. Look at verse 30.

So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. In the morning, they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. That same day, I underlined those three words twice. That same day, Isaac's servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, we have found water.

Stop. Coincidence? Coincidence that on that very day he made peace with his enemies. Fresh water sprung from that land, shot out from the earth. No.

And Isaac knew it wasn't coincidence. Look at verse 33. He called it Sheba. Therefore, the name of this city is Beersheba to this day. What does Sheba mean?

Oath. He memorialized this well and made a connection between its arrival, its blessing, God's provision, and the oath that he made with the Philistines. You and I making the decision to be peacemakers, to be agents of reconciliation and relational harmony, will open God's favor in your life, will win his smile. I give those insights to you. They are now in your lap.

And now I ask you as we reflect on the God of peace who has made peace with us, who initiated reconciliation with us, who in a sense surrendered his rights so that he can reach down to us, to ask how what we just scratched may apply in your life. I tell you, it convicted me. It did. Convicted me. I'm not sure how much thought I've given as a Christian to be a peacemaker.

Yeah. Living free from sin, sure. Reading my Bible, absolutely. Serving in the church, but peacemaking, strive for it. Pursue it.

If possible, be at peace with everyone you know. Lord, we ask that you help us in this moment with all the unique predicaments. Maybe the intensity of the pain makes it even difficult to digest any of these thoughts. Whatever the case may be, we ask that you would give us the spirit of wisdom to know how to apply what you have given to us through Isaac's life. And now, Lord, we ask that you give us eyes to see if we lack any motivation.

The God of peace who is our God, who did not allow us to have our own way, to walk in our own way without making an attempt to reconcile, to restore us. We pray for our enemies as you commanded us to. And Lord, even if they were in the wrong that you would forgive them, that you would convict them, that they would see their errors so that they can be ultimately reconciled to you. And, Lord, we also ask that should the opportunity arise to extend peace, it may look different. Show us these different options, different limitations, how to do that.

We wanna please you. You are our reward. We love you. We honor you. In Jesus' name.

Amen. If the praise team can join us and prepare us through your gifts to sing to the Lord and reflect on these truths together. If you're more comfortable remaining seated so that you can better receive the truths that we will sing, or maybe you're still dealing with the message and you wanna pray about it, you can do that. For those who would like to stand, let's stand and let's sing to the Lord before we partake.