The Fruit of Righteousness Sown in Peace
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March 02, 2014 |
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 "And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace" (James 3:18).
Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
James 3:17-18 says, "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace".
The peace in verse 17 is mostly about peace with other people, and the peace in verse 18 is about peace with God. Having peace with God means we do not have any barrier of sin standing between God and ourselves. When we cultivate all the fruits in verse 17 to be pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, and without hypocrisy, then we will be peacemakers. What we sow in peace we'll reap in righteousness. Let's look into how to reap in righteousness by sowing in peace.
1. Peacemakers
Many people think of peace with men only and break peace with God. While they are actually violating the truth and compromising with unrighteousness, they think they are wise because they have peace. Or sometimes their mind is weakened in their relationships with others, and they violate the Word of God. A good example is a person who acts as the guarantor for another person's obligations or a person who lends money.
Proverbs 22:26 says, "Do not be among those who give pledges, among those who become guarantors for debts." Romans 13:8 says, "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another..."
But if a close friend of you asks you to be his guarantor or to lend him money for his business, some of you forget these words. It is unwise, and you are causing yourself difficulties. Maybe if you love him enough, then you can just give him what he needs. Otherwise, you will have difficulties because of money and it will lead to enmity between you. Such occasions take place because they think of peace with men before peace with God.
We should also have proper discernment between compromising with the world for our own benefit and making peace for the glory of God. Daniel and three friends greatly glorified God by making peace with God rather than consider making peace with men as written in Daniel Chapter 3.
After they had been taken as captives into Babylon, one day Daniel's three friends were threatened with being thrown into a fiery furnace unless they bowed down to an idol set up by the king Nebuchadnezzar.
They could have bowed down before an idol just once in order to have peace with the king. But, this was a great sin in the sight of God and it was breaking peace with God. They chose to follow peace with God at the risk of their own lives by breaking peace with the king.
As a result, the king gave an order to throw them into a furnace which was seven times hotter than usual. But they were not hurt at all; not a single hair of their heads was singed since God protected them. After seeing this miracle the king glorified God greatly and lifted up those three men.
2. Righteousness in the sight of God
By worldly standards, it is said that a person is not evil as long as he does not commit crimes in action, even though his heart has such evil as hatred, anger, envy, quarreling, lust, and greed. But God says one is unrighteous as long as he has evil in his heart regardless of whether or not he commits sins in action. As explained, men's righteousness and God's righteousness are different.
The Bible tells us to do, not do, keep, or cast away certain things. If we live by all these words, it is to cultivate righteousness in God's sight. When the righteousness of men and that of God are different from each other, we have to follow what is right in God's sight.
Some people say they believe in God, but they go to fortunetellers and think it is OK to bow down in ancestral worship and before idols saying that it is just a 'custom' or 'tradition'. They say that if we offend our unbelieving family members by not worshiping idols, it will be difficult to evangelize them. But in a spiritual sense, it is to submit to the enemy devil and Satan. If the peace with God is broken, God cannot work anymore and family evangelization is delayed.
Proverbs 16:7 says, "When a man's ways are pleasing to the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." As written, when we first have peace with God, then we can have peace with other people, too. If we break peace with God to have peace with men, that kind of peace can be broken any time and it does not benefit us in any way. We not only have to choose what is more right in the sight of God, but also we have to receive good wisdom in the methodology. Then we can have answers and blessings more quickly and we can have peace with everybody.
The peace with God is not only between God and us. It is also related with being faithful in all God's household. To be faithful in all God's household means we are faithful in all the aspects of our lives. Such faithful people will have peace with others through service, sacrifice, love, and generosity. If we have peace with God this way, this will become our righteousness. We will be spiritually confident before God, so we will receive answers to whatever we ask and bear the fruits of righteousness everywhere.
3. When we have peace with God we can receive wisdom from above
Originating with Adam, all mankind became sinners by nature and we couldn't have peace with God who is holy. But, to become the propitiation for our sins, the sinless Jesus died for us on the cross. He opened the way for us to become God's children and have peace with God by believing in Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1 says, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Now, if being forgiven of our sins is not the end, then what do we have to do to have peace with God? Once we are justified by faith, we must grow up to have true faith accompanied by deeds of faith. We have to cast away sins and evil and cultivate the attributes of the righteousness of God in our hearts.
If we still live in sins, our peace with God will be broken. God sacrificed His only begotten Son to have peace with us, and we should not break this peace from our side. We should quickly cast away all sins and evil. In so doing, we will have more peace with God and have a deeper relationship with Him. We should be full of the fruit of righteousness.
Those who have peace with God will cause others to have peace with God, too, so that they too can receive blessings. Because of Moses, who was confident before God, all the sons of Israel were shown the forgiveness and mercy of God. The people committed grave sins by complaining against God and making and worshiping a golden calf. Then, Moses prayed to God in supplication to save them even if it meant he would fall into hell.
Those who have peace with God can comfort and make peace with many people with the wisdom they receive from above. They can also lead those people to the way of blessings. God's wisdom is the Word of God itself written in the Bible. This wisdom of God comes upon us when we keep His commandments, cast away evil and receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit in an evil-free and sanctified heart.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I hope you will keep in mind each of the aspects such as being pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable; being full of mercy and good fruits. Be unwavering without hypocrisy and have peace with God as well as with men as recorded in James 3:17-18. In the name of the Lord I hope that you will be peacemakers and dwell in the peace and blessings of God. I also hope for you to be able to bear abundant fruits of righteousness so that you will shine like the sun in the kingdom of heaven.
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