Proverbs 16:7

We'll turn in your Bibles to Proverbs 16, verse 7. Proverbs 16, verse 7. It says, when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." Now, as I've said before, Proverbs are generally true maxims. So this is not intended as a universal promise. In fact, the most glaring contradiction to this would be Jesus Christ himself, because no man ever pleased the Lord like him, and yet God did not make his enemies to be at peace with him, at least not during his earthly life. He allowed his enemies to kill him. Similarly, Jesus tells us that if the world hated him, it will hate us too. So there are times when following Christ and pleasing the Lord will actually create enemies in our lives. And as Paul tells Timothy, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. So it's not the case that if our ways please the Lord, our enemies will always or universally be at peace with us. But what I think this proverb is emphasizing is that many times they will be. It says, when a man's ways please the Lord, he, that is God himself, makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. So in general, God blesses a life that pleases him with peace, peace within families, peace between neighbors, and peace even with enemies. So in other words, this proverb is emphasizing one of the wonderful blessings of obedience, peace, even with enemies. In fact, considered from an Old Testament perspective, I think peace with enemies is probably pretty tantamount to saying relief from the greatest of fears and problems in your life. You know, think about it. We worry about things like our families and our children, our jobs, our finances, our health, our churches, but for them, There was regularly the very real possibility of an enemy army just suddenly converging on their city and slaughtering everyone. I mean, the threat of enemies was very real. So I'd imagine that if they were to list their anxieties and worries in life, enemies just might be at the top of that list. And so this proverb is speaking of a tremendous blessing, a tremendous degree of relief from fear and worry, and it's underscoring the blessing of obeying the Lord. Now, what I'd like to do in the rest of our time tonight is to consider how is it that God does this? How is it that a life that pleases the Lord leads to peace with enemies? And I'd like to point out three ways in particular. And the first is this, God has simply designed life to work this way. In other words, the way of righteousness is a way of peace. Just think for a moment about the way that God's commandments themselves promote peace. You know, God tells us, don't lie, don't steal, don't murder, don't covet, don't commit adultery, love your neighbor as yourself, do no harm to your neighbor. And obviously, if we did that, wouldn't our lives be a lot more peaceful? Have you ever told a lie to anybody? If we never took something or coveted what was theirs? And consider also all the wisdom God gives us in His Word. You know, He tells us how to please Him. He tells us how to live. He tells us things like in Proverbs 15, verse 1, a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Or Proverbs 10, verse 19, where words are many, sin is not lacking, but the prudent holds his tongue. And if we took that to heart, wouldn't our lives be much more peaceful? Now, it's true that this world is so sinful that there will be times when you treating people well may be the light that exposes their darkness and actually provokes their animosity. But as a general rule, if you love people and do no harm to them, they're a lot more likely to live at peace with you. And I think that's important because You know, there are some Christians who just always seem to be being persecuted. It's like every job they get, there's another boss who has an axe to grind against Christians. Every relative or neighbor they have is just out to get Christians. You know, and sometimes it's even their own family, even their own kids, it's like every single one of them is just rebelling and constantly raging against their authority. And I think if that's you, at some point you've got to ask the question, am I really being persecuted? I mean, is it really Christ and the gospel that's so offensive to all these people? Or is perhaps the real problem that my ways just don't please the Lord? Could the problem be that you're simply not relating humbly, peaceably, and wisely with others as prescribed by God's word? Because in general, when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. God has given us good, wise commandments so that, as much as it depends on us, we can live at peace with all men. Now, a second way that God makes even our enemies to be at peace with us is by entrusting to us the very gospel of peace itself. God has called us to bear witness to the Prince of Peace, our Lord Jesus Christ. And he tells us to shod our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. This is why Jesus says, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. We're sent forth into the world to be peacemakers. Our feet are to be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And our lips are to be ready to speak forth the one and only message of reconciliation and peace with God. We're people sent forth not to condemn our enemies, but to bring them glad tidings of great joy, which is for all people. Further, this gospel that we proclaim is something that we've received ourselves. We, above everything else, are recipients of grace. So if anyone should be able to humbly forgive their enemies and seek peace with them, it should be us, because we have been forgiven so much. If anyone should be able to love their enemies, to bless those who curse them, to do good to those who hate them, to pray for those who spitefully use them and persecute them, it should be us, because that's the kind of love that we have received from God himself. If anyone should be able to overcome, to not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good, it should be us, because God has overcome our evil with his goodness to us in Christ. You see, if our ways please the Lord, then we will be ambassadors of this gospel of peace, both in the words we speak and in the way we live our lives. And that will be one of the chief instruments God uses to make even our enemies to be at peace with us. As I thought about how to illustrate that, I could think of no better example than Jesus on the cross. As you remember, he hung there surrounded by enemies who mocked him. There were passersby mocking, there was the chief priests and the elders mocking, there were even the robbers on either side of him mocking him. And yet even as Jesus was suffering and near death, he looks around at those enemies and he loved them. He prayed for them. He said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And we don't know what those words, you know, how that impacted the minds of those who heard them. But we do know that one of those two robbers who was being crucified next to Jesus had an amazing change of heart. And instead of mocking, he turned around and rebuked the other robber for mocking. And he turned to Jesus and said, Lord, remember me when you come in your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, today you will be with me in paradise. Now that's a picture of the power of the gospel that we get to proclaim. We have the privilege of sharing with the world the beauty of God's grace so that even our most bitter enemies might find peace with God and then be at peace with us as well. Now third and finally, God makes even our enemies to be at peace with us by his own sovereign intervention. We've seen that the way of righteousness is a way of peace. We've considered the power of the gospel to bring about peace, but there will always be those who reject the gospel, and there will always be wicked and unreasonable men who pursue our harm no matter how lovingly we treat them. And that can create a real conflict in our hearts because sometimes it feels like obeying God's Word is only going to make our problem worse. Sometimes we're going to feel like Jacob when God tells him to go back and meet his brother Esau. I mean, it feels like God's leading us right into our enemy's mouth. this proverb reminds us that God sovereignly intervenes for the good of his people. And there is no better path than that of obedience. As Psalm 91 verse 3 says, it reminds us, we serve a God who knows how to deliver his people out of the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. Psalm 124, verse 6 says, Again and again in the Old Testament when Israel was even partway faithful to the Lord, we read that God gave them rest from all their enemies. And in the lives of men like Joseph, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, men who all did suffer persecution, Yet at the same time, we see the Lord intervening to give them favor in the eyes of foreign kings. This doesn't mean that if our ways please the Lord, we'll never face suffering or enemies, but it encourages us that God is able to work in all circumstances for our good. And you see, this really brings us back to where we started. There's no better path than that of obedience. The path of obedience is a way of peace and blessing. So don't seek relief from your enemies or solutions to your problems in your own strength. Trust the Lord and seek to please Him. He is the one who's able to make even your enemies to be at peace with you. And even if they attack you, He's the one who's able to preserve your soul right through the midst of it. in particular, as we seek to please the Lord, let's strive to be men and women of peace, because we serve the Prince of Peace and we're called to proclaim the gospel of peace and to live lives consistent with it. Amen. And let's pray.