The 3rd G

I am taking a couple of Sundays to focus my messages at HGWC on the 3rd G of the Peacemaker’s Pledge – gently restore. These two messages are under the umbrella sermon title of “How to Handle Your Hurts”. The Scripture focus is Matthew 18:12-22. I am making the case that as a Christian peacemaker there are three things that we must do about our hurts.

1) Anticipate them. Jesus said, “In this world, you will have trouble”. He also warned that offenses would surely come. So we should not be surprised when they happen since we live in a fallen world.

2) Deal with them. As peacemakers we don’t have the options of verbal revenge or physical attack. We deal with our hurts by either overlooking them or by confronting them. The preferred option is to overlook them. But some hurts can’t and shouldn’t be overlooked. When our hurts must be faced head on then we must address them in the spirit of Galatians 6:1 – “if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently”.

3) Forgive them. Whether we overlook or confront the offenses that cause us pain and hurt we have to forgive them first. During the month of October we will return to this matter of forgiveness and try to explore it more deeply with a series of sermons.

For those who want to find the blessing that Jesus promised when He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God” I recommend for your reading two books: The Peacemaker by Ken Sande and Making Peace by Jim Van Yperen.