Making Peace

Thank you very much, Margot, and good evening, everyone. Good to see you here this evening.

I want to begin with two questions.

Question one, if you could win any award in the world, what would it be?

What would you choose? Anything. It doesn't matter where you've got the talents, not anything.

If you win it, what would you want?

So you might say an Oscar, a Grammy. If you're into football, the Ballon d'Or.

Maybe one of various halls of fame. If you're in this country, become a knight or a dame, whatever.

However, I'd suggest that the most prestigious award to win in our world is a Nobel Prize, and in particular a Nobel Peace Prize.

If you win a Nobel Peace Prize, you've been recognised by a very distinguished international group of judges

as being someone who's made a real contribution to peace in our world.

Someone who has made a big difference for good in our world.

And so past Nobel Peace Prizers include people like Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Nelson Mandela,

and others who are famous, and lots and lots I suspect most of us have never heard of.

But all of them have this, that they were recognised as being peacemakers.

We'll think about one of them towards the end of the service.

Question two.

What is the highest compliment that anyone could pay you as a Christian?

What is the highest compliment anyone could pay you as a Christian?

I thought of two answers to this.

One is to say that you're like Christ.

That's what we want to be as Christians, isn't it?

We want to become more and more like our Lord, to become daily more like Christ.

And the second one, which really is equivalent, is to be called a child of God.

We sang about that in our first song this evening, didn't we?

Being a child of God.

Now all of us, if we know the Lord Jesus, are children of God, purely by his grace and by the great love that he lavished on us,

as John reminds us in his epistle.

But there's also a sense in which we can be recognised as children of God by what we do and by how we act.

People look at us and they see something of the character of God in us.

What is the kind of thing that might make people think that?

Well, we don't have to think too hard because we have the Lord Jesus to tell us.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.

Those who make peace, who bring an end to conflict and who are able to bring peace into whatever situation they are,

are those who are both in our world recognised as being very good people

and also spiritually, if they know the Lord Jesus, are recognised as being God's children.

And this evening we're looking at a peacemaker as the key character in our chapter.

A lady called Abigail.

Like a lot of characters in our Bible, Abigail comes on the scene, she's there for a short period

and then we hear virtually nothing of her after that.

She's only mentioned ever again as the wife of David or as the father of some of his children.

And yet in 1 Samuel chapter 25, she stands out as someone of outstanding wisdom and insight and spirituality

1 Samuel 25 · chapter mention

and a really great example to us.

Now we can learn a lot from Abigail this evening about what it means to be a peacemaker,

about what it means to be God's children in our world.

Before we dive into the chapter, just a little bit of context.

Although it stands alone quite well, 1 Samuel 25 obviously is part of the wider narrative of Samuel.

Just one or two things to note from that.

The chapter is bracketed by three weddings and a funeral.

Funeral at the beginning is the funeral of Samuel.

Samuel who is probably the greatest Israelite since Moses, certainly since Joshua.

The greatest of the judges, a priest, a prophet and the one who anointed the first two kings of Israel.

And Samuel now is gone.

That's significant.

Although Samuel's relationship with Saul had largely broken down,

to some extent Samuel is probably still a restraint on Saul

and certainly an encouragement to David as the one who had anointed him

and would give him the assurance that he remained God's choice for the king of Israel.

So Samuel is gone.

At the end of the chapter we have the three weddings.

Now we're not going to get into polygamy here and the rights and wrongs of it.

God's planned out there is one man and one woman,

but that's not the way it was in those days.

And we see three weddings.

One of them is David's wife being taken away from him by Saul.

Michal, his wife, who is Saul's daughter, was taken away and given to someone else in marriage.

And David has two weddings.

And the significance of these two weddings is that he marries women from the tribe of Judah

and so confirms his political status among the tribe.

He is seen as one of them.

And when it comes to being king later on, it's Judah who first recognised David.

And no doubt what happens in this chapter, to some extent, has an influence on that.

More broadly, as we look at the chapter in the context of 1 Samuel,

we see it as somewhere where David is confirmed in his knowledge that he will be the king.

And he is also challenged.

And it is a maturing process for David,

as he is led to recognise the wrong that he almost did

and to understand a bit more about what it takes to be God's chosen king.

So it is a chapter of some significance in the book,

but we don't want to focus on that this evening.

Let's focus on the narrative and let's see what we can learn from it.

So we have, first of all, what I've called the truculence of a miserly man.

Triculence is someone who is very awkward, almost for the sake of being awkward,

and is very aggressive in their dealings with others.

And I think that's a good description of Nabal.

So the first thing we learn about Nabal in the early verses of the chapter

was that he was very wealthy.

Before we even know his name, we're told about his wealth,

the thousand goats and three thousand sheep that he had.

He was a man who in this world's terms had done well.

And yet when we come to verse 3,

and we find out a bit more about Nabal,

the comment on him was that he was a surly man and mean in his dealings.

And that wasn't just the opinion of the writer to Samuel.

As we go through the chapter,

we find that his own servants, his wife, David,

everyone has a similar view of Nabal,

that he is really an idiot, a fool,

and someone who is really difficult to deal with.

A very unattractive character.

But it's this man that David comes looking for help.

David and his band of men,

quite a big band by this stage,

as we saw when he put his army together,

they were dependent on the goodwill of people like Nabal.

They were outlaws.

And they were dependent on others to be able to provide with them

with what they needed.

And they had made this deliberate decision.

They weren't going to take things for themselves.

So David very deliberately had taken nothing from Nabal.

Rather, he had protected Nabal's flocks

and made sure that others didn't come and take from them.

And so David sends a very polite message to Nabal.

And it really is polite.

He talks about himself as Nabal's son.

He talks about what he has done for Nabal.

And he very politely asks,

well, at this time of festival,

when you're rejoicing at all that you've been given by God,

can you spare something for me and for my men?

And Nabal, if he was in tune at all

with the traditions of Eastern hospitality,

of Middle Eastern hospitality,

he would have provided for David.

That was what you did.

If someone came to you and needed you,

didn't send them away,

you provided for them.

But Nabal was having none of it.

And Nabal made these really rude

and quite violent comments about David.

Who is this son of Jesse?

As if he was a nobody,

someone people had never heard of,

even though he was a national hero,

not just for killing Goliath,

but for all his other exploits for the nation.

He then talks about him as a servant

who's broken away from his master.

As if, again, he is a nobody,

he is worthless.

Why should he help him?

And so says, well,

why should I give him

what I've built up for myself?

I don't want to help this man David at all.

He was a really miserly man.

And on top of that,

he was very aggressive.

And at a human level,

it's not at all surprising

that David got quite upset about it.

To be treated in this way,

such a deliberate insult,

it was no surprise that David felt,

well, I need to go and do something about.

It's this.

Lesson for us from Nabal,

I don't want to dwell on him.

As Christians,

as believers in the Lord Jesus,

there are two things I think

it is very important we show

in all our dealings with others.

One is to be generous.

Now, I'll be thinking last few Sundays

about that and about your attitude towards money.

And we are called to be generous,

particularly to those who are in need.

And then the second thing I think we're called to do

is to treat everyone with respect.

Not to show particular respect

to those who have lots of things,

to those who are powerful,

to those who don't really need it,

but to show respect to everyone

and to treat them with real dignity.

That, after all, is what our Saviour did.

When Jesus was on this earth,

he didn't differentiate between people.

He treated everyone with respect.

And in these regards,

we need to be the complete opposite of Nabal.

Not miserly, not truculent,

but generous and treating people

with real respect and with dignity.

So let's leave Nabal behind

and let's look at Abigail.

And I've called this section

The Influence of a Wise Woman.

So David's servants come back

and they tell David what Nabal said.

David said,

Well, I'm having none of this.

Let's get our swords out.

And he takes some of his men

and they're on their way

to destroy Abigail

and to kill all the men

and no doubt to take his land

and his property as well.

And Abigail hears about it.

There's a servant here

who has a small but very significant role

in relaying to Abigail

what has happened

and in prompting her into action.

But Abigail,

as soon as she hears what's happened,

she realises she needs to do something.

She can't just let this pass,

otherwise disaster is coming

on their household.

So she gets all this food together,

much more, I think,

than David asked for,

perhaps expected,

and she goes out

and she goes to meet David.

And as Abigail comes

and she talks to David,

I think she looks in three directions.

She looks backwards.

She looks at what's happened

and she recognises

that a wrong has been done to David,

albeit she didn't know about it at the time.

She recognises a wrong has been done

and that that idiot Nabal

has done something

which is very foolish

as well as being very mean.

She looks at the present

and she presents to David

all the things she's brought with her

to try to make restitution

for the wrong that's been done

and to try to forestall David

as he would seek to go

and to destroy Abigail.

And then, perhaps most important of all,

she looks to the future

and she recognises David

as the one who is going to be king

and she says to him,

you can be sure that the Lord

is going to be with you.

You will achieve

what the Lord has called you to achieve.

And she says,

well, don't do something stupid now

that's going to destroy that.

Let me look at it a slightly different way.

Making peace.

You'll see where I'm going pretty quickly,

I think, in this.

What happened with Abigail?

So the first thing is

that she recognised

that there was a danger.

David's righteous wrath

had been ignited

and unless something was done,

Nabal was going to pay the penalty

for the wrong that he had done.

As Nabal had insulted David

and had treated him very badly,

so he was going to face judgement

for what he had done

if nothing was done about it.

Abigail recognises the danger.

Second thing she does

is she becomes the servant.

She humbles herself.

I don't know if you noticed

as we were reading what Abigail said,

I think in almost every verse

in what she says,

she talks about herself

as David's servant.

Now, Abigail was someone

who probably had much higher social status

at that point than David did.

She was the beautiful wife

of a wealthy man.

David was an outlaw

and yet Abigail comes

and she humbles herself before David

and again and again

she refers to herself

as his servant.

She recognised the danger,

she became the servant.

Third thing she did

was she accepted the blame.

Now, there was no blame

really attaching to Abigail.

Abigail.

She didn't know

what her husband was doing,

she had no way

of knowing about it

and yet it's almost as if

she says to David,

well, I should have known

and should have been able

to do something about it.

So in verse 24 she says,

my Lord,

let the blame be on me alone.

So the wrong that Nabal had done,

Abigail takes on herself.

She accepts the blame.

She then paid the price.

She brought all this

that was needed

to get rid of David's wrath,

to make him recognise

that what he was doing

was a foolish thing

and he was given

everything he asked for

and probably much more beside.

Abigail paid the price

to make recompense

for Nabal's failure.

And then the final thing she did

was she pleaded Nabal's cause

before David.

She pointed out to him

that it would not be right

if he took the vengeance

that he had intended to.

The price had been paid,

he had got what he had asked for,

it would do him no good,

it would do her household no good.

She pled the cause of herself,

her husband and her household.

Now of course where I'm coming to on that

is that these five things

are exactly what the Lord Jesus did as well.

He recognised the danger that we were in,

that having rejected God,

having insulted God

by going our own way

rather than his way,

we were subject to God's righteous wrath.

The Lord Jesus became the servant.

He took on the form of a servant,

he lived a life of humility,

he humbled himself

to come into our world,

to live our life

and to live it sinlessly.

He accepted the blame,

he had done no wrong

but he took our sins

on himself.

He paid the price,

he paid the price

that we were due

for the wrong we'd done,

he took the punishment

that was ours.

And of course he still

pleads our cause before God,

pleading on the basis

of his righteousness

and on his sacrifice for us.

So Abigail the peacemaker

is a wonderful picture

of Jesus the peacemaker.

So much more of a peacemaker

in all that he has achieved.

So as we were looking at

in Colossians recently,

and it'd be slightly selective

in these verses

but to pick out the bones of them,

Colossians chapter 1,

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

God was pleased to reconcile

all to himself,

all things,

by making peace

through his blood,

that's Jesus' blood,

shed on the cross.

Jesus became our peace

when he went to the cross

and when he took our place,

accepted our blame

and paid the price

that we were due.

Abigail is a wonderful picture

of Jesus the peacemaker.

And all of us are called

to be peacemakers.

As I said,

we're called to be like Christ,

we're called to be children of God

and a child of God

is a peacemaker.

And as we read through

the New Testament,

again and again,

we're told how important it is

that we live at peace with people

and that we make peace for others.

So Ephesians chapter 4,

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Paul says,

make every effort

to keep the unity of the spirit

through the bond of peace.

Colossians 3,

let the peace of Christ

rule in your hearts

since as members of one body

you are called to peace.

Hebrews 12,

make every effort

to live at peace with everyone

and to be holy.

Without holiness,

no one will see the Lord.

James chapter 3,

James 3 · chapter mention

peacemakers who sow in peace

reap a harvest

of righteousness.

Christians are called

to be peacemakers.

How sad it is

in our churches

when people fall out

and can't get on

with one another

and the peace

and the unity

that we should have

is destroyed.

If we have that situation,

if we're in that situation

ourselves,

we need to make peace

with whoever it is

that we have the problem with.

If we see others

in that kind of situation,

we need to think

what can we do

to help make peace

in our church.

But more widely

in our world,

Christians are called

to be those

who pursue peace.

And in our workplace,

around our homes,

among those

we associate with,

if there are issues

between people,

then Christians

should be those

who are able to go in

and doing the kind of thing

that Abigail did,

that our Lord himself did,

we should be those

who are able to make peace.

So let's resolve

to go out

and as far as we can

to be peacemakers

this week.

One more thing

I want to talk about

just now

is the providence

of our gracious God.

Because very clearly

in this chapter,

we see the hand of God

at work.

And it's pointed out

particularly by Abigail

as she talks,

as she pleads

with David.

If David had gone ahead

with what he planned to do,

it could have been

disastrous for him.

It would have been

something,

as Abigail says,

that he would have looked

back on for the rest

of his life

and wondered,

why did I act in this way

with so little provocation?

This, remember,

is David,

who in chapter 24,

and we'll see again

in chapter 26,

spared the life

of his sworn enemy,

Saul.

He wasn't willing

to take the life of Saul

because he recognised him

as God's chosen king.

And yet he was willing

to take the life of Nabal,

who'd done a much

smaller thing

to him than Saul,

and alongside that,

to take the lives

of all those

with Nabal.

It would have been

disastrous

in terms of David's

authority to be king,

disastrous geopolitically

in terms of how

he would have been seen

in the tribe of Judah

and further afield.

So it was very much

God's grace

that David was stopped

from doing

this terrible thing.

And stopped by this

wonderful,

wise woman,

Abigail.

As she talks to him,

and as she reminds him

of who he is,

and who he will be,

and what the Lord

has called him to,

and she says,

verse 31,

my master will not

have on his conscience

the staggering burden

of needless bloodshed

or of having

avenged himself.

And then David,

in verse 32 onward,

recognises the wisdom,

the good judgment

of Abigail,

and that the Lord

has been in this.

What do we learn from that?

One thing I think

we need to learn

is that we need

to be willing

to have our faults

pointed out by others.

If there is something

in our lives

that is wrong

and someone comes

unlovingly,

graciously,

points it out to us,

we should examine

our hearts and say,

is that really

the way I am?

And if it is,

we should be willing

to repent of it

and to praise God

for someone who cared

enough about us

to point it out.

The other thing

I think we take from it

is that when we get

into this kind of situation,

not that we're anything

directly equivalent,

but the kind of situation

where we might be tempted

to do something foolish,

to defend ourselves,

or to get back

at someone

who has wronged us,

we need to remember

that we can leave things

in God's hands.

That is what Abigail

was saying,

isn't it?

Even in her reference

to Nabal

and what she says

and what she maybe

foresaw

would happen to him.

Nabal, of course,

is dead by the end

of the chapter,

but it was very much

leave things in God's hands.

You don't need

to do it yourself.

And when someone

wrongs us,

rather than try

to get back at them,

really, really important

that we leave it

in God's hand

and know that he is

the righteous judge.

Again, in this,

we have the example

of the Lord Jesus.

I thought the verse

of the scream,

I don't.

Let me read it to you.

1 Peter 2, verse 23.

1 Peter 2:23

When they hurled

their insults at him,

he did not retaliate.

When he suffered,

he made no threats.

Instead,

he entrusted himself

to him who judges justly.

If that kind of thing

happens to us,

let's not try

to take the law

into our own hands

and to get vengeance

or justice

at ourselves

in that sense.

Let's trust God

who knows best

and who ultimately

is the judge.

Finished with,

let's come back

to the Nobel Peace Prize.

As I've said,

there are many winners

of the Nobel Peace Prize

we've never probably heard of.

And that may be true

of last year's winners.

I don't know how many of us

could say who last year's winners were.

I'll tell you.

There's a woman from Iraq

called Nadia Murad.

And there was this gentleman

who is from

the Democratic Republic of Congo.

His name is

Denis Mukwege.

Denis Mukwege

is a really interesting character.

I should say,

they both won

the Nobel Peace Prize

for the work they had done

to counter sexual violence

as a weapon of war.

And I'll come back

to what that means

in a few minutes.

Denis Mukwege

is a doctor

who grew up

in a Christian home.

His father was

a Pentecostal pastor.

When he was a boy,

he went with his father

to another boy

who was dying

and they prayed with him

but there was nothing more

they could do.

And Denis said to his father,

well,

why couldn't you help him more,

Dad?

And his father said,

I couldn't do it

because I'm a pastor,

not a doctor.

And at that point,

Denis decided

he was going to take up medicine

and he was going to spend his life

trying to help people

and to heal them.

So he did.

He grew up

and he took a medical degree

and he decided

to specialise

in gynaecology.

And the reason for that

was there was

such a high death rate

after birth

among women

in the Democratic Republic

of Congo.

But as he started

to practise,

Denis came across

a terrible situation.

Woman after woman

who had been raped

and mutilated

as part of the war

in Congo.

And he decided

that he was going

to devote his life

to helping these women,

to helping them

physically

as a surgeon

but also caring for them

and helping them

on the road

to recovery.

And he established

a hospital

and amazingly

about 50,000 women

have been through

that hospital.

All women

who had been raped

and mutilated

as part of the war.

In 2012,

Denis decided

he was going

to take a stand

in the country

against him.

He felt the government

wasn't doing enough.

And at that point,

he was kidnapped

and there was

an attempt made

to execute him,

to assassinate him.

He managed to escape

and he went

to Europe,

to Belgium.

While he was there,

the woman

who had helped

raised money

for his flight back.

These were poor women

who had nothing

in this world

but they said,

it's really important

we have this man.

And he felt,

well, there's nothing

I can do but go back.

This is God calling me

to go back

and to help these women.

So he did

and he is still there

under very armed guard

but still trying to help,

trying to achieve justice

for these women

and to help them physically.

And he says

the reason why

he does that

is his faith

in Jesus.

Let me put up

something he said.

This is Dr. Dennis

Mookwege.

He says to Christians,

we are called

to impact our world

for the glory of Christ.

In the face of opposition

and the devastating effects

of sin,

we may feel helpless.

What can we do?

On one hand,

it is true,

we cannot change

the world around us

but God can.

And he's calling us

to be his agents

of transformation.

We need to be bold

and intentional

in fulfilling that mandate

because God wants

to work through us.

He calls us to be salt

and light

in our broken societies.

can I ask that we take

that away as something

to think about

and to ponder on

this week.

We thought of a woman

who very much

was salt

and light

in her society.

We thought of a saviour

who was the agent

of transformation,

as Tenec Mookwege

calls it,

who came into this world

to take our place

and to have changed

our lives

completely.

What can I do

in my situation

to serve Christ,

to be salt and light,

to be a peacemaker

and to help others?

Probably not going to be

that dramatic

of the kind of thing

we've been thinking

about this evening

but is there something

I can do this week

to bring about peace

and justice

in the area

where I am

and so to be seen

by others

as someone

who is truly

a child

of God.

Let's pray together.

Our Father,

we thank you

for your work

to us this evening.

We thank you

for this woman,

Abigail,

and for the

tremendous wisdom

that she had

as she was faced

with this

terrible and potentially

disastrous situation

and how she was able

to be a true

peacemaker

and to confirm

David in his faith

and to help him

understand more

your way

and to save

her family

from imminent disaster.

We thank you more

for the Lord Jesus

and for the way

that he came

into our situation

and he took

our blame

and he paid

the price

that was ours

so that we could

be at peace

with God.

And we pray

to help us

to be peacemakers

to where we are.

That whatever

situations we may face

where there is

conflict

and where there

are difficulties

between people,

but we may be

those who display

the character

of Christ

and are able

to be his agents

and to work

for good

in our world.

Help us truly

to be peacemakers

in whatever situation

you have placed us

that we may honour

and glorify your name.

Thank you for our time

together.

We commit ourselves

to you and pray

for your blessing

throughout this week

as we ask in the name

of the Lord Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.