Ephesians 4 could be called The Peacekeeping Treatise where we have the four essentials regarding peace.
The first is the essential command to peace (vv. 1-3): “I…beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
The command is clear: the unity which the Spirit has established is kept by being at peace with one another. Peace is the connecting tissue of the assembly. This peace is to be kept diligently–with all energy. And it’s to be kept in the perfect ideals of Christian humanity: lowliness, and meekness, longsuffering, and forbearance in love.
The next section (vv. 4-6) goes into the great unities provided for us in the Trinity. Thus Paul gives us great principles as the foundation for practical instructions.
Then we are introduced to the public gifts that the ascended Christ gives to His Church (vv. 7-11). These gifts provide for the essential furnishing for peace. We find that public gifts are given for the perfecting of the saints so the saints can do the work of the ministry.
Fourth, we get the essential ministry of peace: the building up of the body of Christ by bringing each believer from childhood to maturity–“unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
We see the central activity of peace in Ephesians 4:30-32. But what do we do when the peace breaks down? In Matthew 5:21-26, Christ tells us what we should do. Note the great urgency in restoring the broken peace: “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill…but I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”
What do we see in these verses? Anger and name-calling are the ingredients of peace-breaking venom. God takes these offenses very seriously. Why? Because they lead to judgment and ruin.
“Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” Now we’re to the heart of the matter! Offenses break our communication and our concord.
The bond of relationship which God has established is unbreakable, but the cord of communion is fragile. Why is it so urgent to restore peace and communion? Because worship is stifled by a breach of the peace. An offense against our brother arrests worship. God says that He will not accept our gift of worship until we are reconciled. This obviously should be a point of examination for the Lord’s Supper.
Notice that it’s not easy to tell who the offender is. My brother shouldn’t be angry with me! But wait: perhaps I have caused it. Isn’t that what Scripture says? “In many things we offend all.”
When the Lord was with His disciples in the Upper Room, He said, “One of you is going to betray Me tonight.” Didn’t each one say, “Lord, is it I?” The Lord has taught us not to trust ourselves. I had better go to my brother and find out what is wrong, seeking reconciliation. That’s the lesson: reconciliation makes brotherly love continue, and then God will accept your gift. Full communion will be restored with your brother and with God.
There’s a double urgency in this matter. “Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him…thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.”
Yield to your brother, if necessary. Ecclesiastes says that yielding pacifies great offenses. Don’t make hard conditions. Don’t quibble. Give him the benefit of the doubt. Deny self. Forgive. And do it while you’re in the way with him, while communication is still possible.
Matthew 18:15 says, “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.” Here is the focal point for restoring peace: Gain your brother. That is the very motto of peace.
Has your brother broken the peace by committing an offense against you? Well then, your responsibility and goal becomes gaining your brother. This is far from ex-communicating him–too often the goal of an angry brother who has been offended. God forbid that we should use Matthew 18 for a judgment and ex-communication procedure.
At the beginning of chapter 18, we find the answer to the question, “Who is great in the kingdom of heaven?” It is the one who takes the place of humility, like a little child, and forgives ultimately. What does the Lord say about offenses? “Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh!” (v. 7). Just as the poor will always be with you, offenses will come to every assembly. That’s a rule of life.
1 Corinthians 1 describes those in the assembly there as “not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble” but God was going to use them to confound all of those who find their might within themselves. God has chosen them; your brother–God has chosen him. We have different personalities, temperaments, and abilities. We have pet doctrines. If there is to be unity in the assembly, we must work together. We are to be His peace-makers.
Matthew 18 says woe to him who offends one of these little ones who believe in Christ! If you touch one of these little ones, He says, you touch Me.
Now let’s see in the next passage what Christ does with an offender. He tells about the straying sheep and the seeking Lord. Christ says that all offenders are as strayed sheep. So the focus changes to the offender. What are we going to do with him?
If we didn’t read the Scripture, we would probably recommend that he be put out of the assembly–let him have a millstone hung around his neck. Doesn’t he deserve it? Hasn’t Christ said so? Christ has said he deserves it, but what He does is stunningly different.
It’s a lovely, old story that is often used in a different context, but the word here literally means “strayed sheep.” What does the Lord do? He leaves the devout 99 and goes after the stray. That’s contrary, isn’t it, to what we would do? He leaves the warmth, security and comfort of the fold with the sweet fellowship of the devout and goes after the offender.
We find something else worth noticing–peace-making is difficult work. The seeker goes into the mountains, and seeks the stray. He doesn’t just go outside the door of the fold.
What happens when he is gained? If we read on, we find that the will of the Father is done and there is great joy in heaven. Therefore, we must be like Christ in gaining our brother. We must work hard and not give up.
Are you looking for specifics? Study Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 8, 10, and 13. In Romans 14:20, for example, Paul writes: “Destroy not the work of God.” You’ll find that also in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10. The work that is not to be destroyed is the assembly. That’s what God is building in the world. Do not–for your point of view, for your vindication, for your wounded pride–destroy this work of God.
Maybe you know something that another brother doesn’t know about Christian liberty, and you’re more concerned about your liberty than his being offended. Here’s what the Apostle says about that: “When ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.” Paul says that he will not eat meat while the world stands if it offends his brother.
The Bible is full of examples that can be applied:
The incorrect preacher: Notice Apollos, who doesn’t preach just right. What do Christians do that are Christians indeed? They explain the Scriptures to him in a private, non-confrontational way.
The workers at odds: In Acts 15, Paul and Barnabas have a point of strong contention. There is a separation but that is not the end of the story. In 2 Timothy, the Apostle Paul says, “Send me John Mark.” He was the young man who was the occasion of the offense. He did something that Paul didn’t like; so it would appear that there was a work of restoration, perhaps by Barnabas.
A brother with a sinful past: That’s Paul again. Sometimes a brother comes in and we say, “We don’t like him. We know his past record.” We forget that Paul had that same kind of a record.
We could go on: the disputatious brother; the domineering brother; the brother who ignores the Word of God. If you look in the Bible, you’ll find many cases but is there a case for every incident? No. Not for every particular. There is enough flesh in any of us to wreck any assembly, and if we were to try to catalog all of the offenses that have occurred, it would surely fill libraries.
But the Scripture is sufficient. It may not speak to every particular, but it provides principles which can be applied in every situation. Notice what Christ says in Matthew 18:22. Here He gives us the principle that can solve every offense–great and small. It is a great principle, and it is the principle of true greatness. It is the Lord’s law of forgiveness.
Peter asks, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” Gaining a brother means there must be forgiveness. But how many times shall I forgive my brother? There is no limit–but what Christ forgave us at Calvary.
I want to make an important clarification. These are personal offenses, but there are some things that forgiveness cannot handle. An offense against God, we cannot forgive. I mean by this, the violation of what could be called the sacred absolutes: a sin against the Word of God–any denial of the inspiration, the authority, the sufficiency of the Word of God; any denial of the Person of Christ; anything against the work of Christ; anything against God’s moral law, we cannot forgive.
Violations of these, and false teachings regarding these, destroy the assembly. But aside from these, we can forgive. And this forgiveness restores peace in the assembly.
What happens when we forgive? Does this clear it all up? No, but forgiveness changes the arena. The issue now: the offender must make it right with God. An account must be given and confession made. But the gaining of the brother should have this in view. We must tell him how we were offended in a godly, careful way.
In verse 15, there’s an arresting change that the Spirit of God makes. He says, If your brother sins against you (trespasses), go to him and tell him…he’s a sinner? No! It says, Go to him and tell him his fault. It’s a different Greek word. I believe it means that you don’t go and talk to him like you are God. Go to him and talk to him humbly, as a blood-bought sinner.
Now notice the parable at the end of Matthew 18. The king in this story takes an account of his servant. He calls in a great debt. We’re all servants, aren’t we? And this debt is large, so large that the servant cannot pay and a righteous order is given: he is to be sold into servitude with his wife; surely this would be for life, with all he owes and all that he has is to be liquidated. He’s going to lose everything. So he falls down and begs for time. What good would that do? But the king is moved with compassion, looses him, and forgives the debt.
It is important to notice that he required nothing. He didn’t say, “Liquidate everything you have and we’ll call it even.” He had compassion and he required nothing.
Then what happened? The tables turned, and the one who was forgiven so much had the opportunity to forgive a trifling debt that was owed him. But he forgot how much he had been forgiven, took his debtor by the throat and had him cast into prison. The seriousness is seen in the concluding verses (Mt. 18:32-35).
It’s wonderful to go forward from this passage to the epistles, which are written for us. Ephesians 4 gives us the picture now that Christ has died: “Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
How does God forgive? We see that throughout Scripture. For example, in the story of the prodigal son. The father in this account is the one that has been sinned against; how does he forgive? On hearing the son’s confession, He forgave without one word of conditional requirement. But you know that the eldest son didn’t approve of the father’s forgiveness. Let us not be like that man, the pharisaical son, who sinned against the father’s love.
And then, most beautifully, we see the Lord and Peter on the Galilean shore. We think forward from Matthew 18 and see that the teaching of forgiveness to Peter in chapter 18 has a great finish. Peter had denied the Lord three times. Can we think of a greater trespass for a believer? Against a greater Person? Against the brotherhood? Even against the faith? Terrible denial! But the Lord looked upon Peter and saw a broken heart. The Lord had gained Peter. He had prayed for Peter, “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Lk. 22:31-32).
Peter remembered that prayer. The Lord Jesus Christ gained Peter, beautiful illustration that it is. The Lord made no requirement except this: “Do you love Me, Peter? If you love Me, Peter, feed My lambs, feed My little ones, provide for My sheep–My people, both offenders and offended. You’ll be providing for them.”
Our responsibility in the ministry of peace should come before us here: the assembly is to be built up. Offenses will come and in many things we offend all, says James. When we’ve done it to one of these little ones, we do it to Christ. We touch Him. Everyone involved in an offense should be broken down by the Lord’s grace. That is the ministry of peace-making which we see in the Lord Jesus.