A Brokered Peace
A brokered peace is one that is reached between two sides or individuals using a third-party mediator who has no stake (meaning nothing to gain) from the negotiating parties. Often this agreement involves the bare minimum required by both sides to cease hostilities. Usually everybody walks away happy simply because the hostilities have stopped. But this brokered peace can be fragile and, on many occasions, lapses into further hostilities at some later time. One need only to look at major conflicts over the past several decades that took place in Indonesia, the Middle East and Africa to see that this is true. The peace broker has no real power to bring about full and lasting peace between the parties.
Being a Christian in one sense means you live as a saved person because of a brokered peace established between you and God with Jesus Christ as the third-party mediator. The analogy breaks down because Jesus saves us for all eternity (Hebrews 7:25). Also, there is nothing bare minimum about salvation. Our sins are forgiven completely (1 John 1:9).
So, what about our human relationships? Let’s start with our relationship to unbelievers. As believers, we are at peace with God (Romans 5:1) and therefore possess all the rights and privileges of that standing. An unbeliever is not at peace with God, and therefore is still in sin (Ephesians 2:1), still under God’s wrath (John 3:36), unable to please God in any righteous way (Hebrews 11:6) and therefore continues in hostility toward God (Romans 8:7). That reality is known by God and behind the injunction for believers to live peaceably with all unbelievers as far as it’s up to us as children of God (Romans 12:18). Many times, that peace is simply not obtainable. Sometimes it is (Proverbs 16:7). When we have done our due diligence in the matter, even if a peaceful conclusion is elusive, God is satisfied with how we are approaching that relationship.
What about our relationships with other believers? Do we apply that same thinking to ourselves within the church? Are we satisfied after one or two conversations to ‘agree to disagree’? Is God OK with a brokered peace between His children where the bare minimum to cease hostilities is in place? Are we OK with each other as long as we are not at each other’s throats? I hope those questions cause us to pause (like it did me), to take a step back and reassess God’s will for our relationships with each other as heirs of the Kingdom, as those who are destined to judge angels (1 Corinthians 6:3)!
If you have settled for a mere brokered peace with another believer, consider the following truths from Scripture:
True peace comes only from God. There is not one person who can produce peace on their own. (Numbers 6:26; 25:12; Job 25:2; Psalm 4:8; Isaiah 26:3)
We are both at complete peace with God in our standing and therefore strive by the power of the Spirit to reflect that reality in all we do. Should we accept less in our relationships with each other? (Romans 5:1; Psalm 133:1; Matthew 5:9; Mark 9:50; Romans 14:9)
The fact that we are living out this actual full peace with each other is a testimony to the world that our God can bring true and lasting peace to any relationship (Psalm 37:37; Isaiah 52:7; 55:12)
Being at peace with God must have an affect on those around us (Malachi 2:5, 6)
Romans 12:18 says, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” 2 Peter 3:14 says, “Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.” To ‘live peaceably’ with someone and to be ‘at peace’ with them are not the same thing. “Peaceably” is describing actions that do not require the inward peace of God to dwell in both parties. When the Bible says ‘at peace’ it means that the real life-altering peace of God is evidently at work in us overcoming the flesh - the peace that only comes from God and is a by-product of being a new creation.
Hebrews 12:14 is a command and clarion call for every Christian regarding their relationship to every other Christian. “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”
Are we doing the hard work of genuine love? Are we settling for second best? Are we satisfied with “peaceably” or are we striving in God’s power to be at peace with each other to the praise of His glorious grace?