Swords Into Plowshares
Dreaming God’s Dreams: Part 3
Sunday, November 6, 2022
Micah 4:1-4; Romans 12:18-21
God will judge between the nations
and settle disputes of mighty nations,
which are far away.
They will beat their swords into iron plows
and their spears into pruning tools.
Nation will not takeMicah 4:3 (CEB)
Listen to this week’s sermon here:
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Veteran's Day is coming up later this week and we rightly honor those who have served in military service for the protection of liberty and justice throughout our world. There is much debate in our world, however, about the role and reach of our military. Some are against war and any cost and others seem to thrive on war both at international and even local or personal levels. We have a knack as human beings to create enemies even where there are none, just so that we can have something to fight against. The drive to fight or to make war seems to be in our blood.
It's also amazing how unifying war can be. People rally together far more quickly against a common enemy than they do to work toward a common good. When that common enemy is defeated, we all go our separate ways and ultimately begin making enemies of each other over different issues. The same person we may have fought with side by side in one battle easily becomes our enemy in another. We might agree, for example, on issues around healthcare or education but disagree on immigration or refugees. Are we friends or enemies? It's amazing how quickly we turn the tables on each other depending on which issue we are talking about. I have seen this turning on one another in recent years as groups of pro-life supporters rally not just against abortion, but also against the death penalty. Other pro-life groups support the death penalty, and so on that issue, allies quickly become enemies.
The truth is that nobody can agree on every issue, not even in our own households, let alone on a national or international stage. Some say war is the inevitable result, and even throughout the history of our own country, the pulpit has been used to defend both sides of almost every war we have fought. Well meaning preachers, for example, declared God's will for both the North and the South to win the Civil War while demonizing the other side, but the truth is that there were people who loved God and loved their neighbor on both sides of the battle lines. Even more true is the fact that in every battle, no matter how "evil" the enemy may be, that "enemy" was still created by God and is loved by a God who was willing to sacrifice his only son for them as much as for us. Jesus' shed his blood just as much for Bin Laden as for Billy Graham, just as much for Joe Biden as for Donald Trump, and on and on we could go. In the end, war at any level breaks the heart of God as much as siblings who cannot reconcile their differences break the heart of their parents.
When we look at the scriptures on peace, people often say that it paints an idealistic picture of heaven, when nations will no longer fight and swords will be turned into farming tools. But in the meantime, we must fight to protect others or even ourselves. While it may be true that we will not see an absolute end to all war and fighting within our lifetime, this is a poor excuse for us to become complacent or worse, speak in ways that escalate the violence.
If I tell my daughter to start cleaning her room and I will come in an hour to help her finish it up, there is an understanding that it will not be perfectly clean by the time I get there. On the other hand, it would not be acceptable for her to spend that hour destroying her room even more because in the end, daddy will help her clean it all up.
Yet this is too often what we do in our world. Who cares if we blow up the earth ten times over. In the end, God will get rid of the bad guys and clean up all of our mess.
This should not be the attitude of a follower of Christ. We are called to work for peace at every level. Even if we serve in the military or in other public service positions that may require violence, those actions should never be taken lightly. A person can be called upon to use deadly force to save the life of an innocent, for example, but their hearts should not be filled with hate and vengeance when carrying our that duty. There are no easy answers to the degree to which violence may or may not be necessary in bringing about God's Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, but it is clear that this is never God's primary means.
As a United Methodist Pastor, I will simply leave us with the official statement on war and military service from our Social Principles. Regardless of our involvement or lack of involvement in the wars of our day, may we be unified in the prayer of the prophets, that all the world might forge our swords into plowshares and that we may not learn war anymore.
We deplore war and urge the peaceful settlement of all disputes among nations. From the beginning, the Christian conscience has struggled with the harsh realities of violence and war, for these evils clearly frustrate God’s loving purposes for humankind. We yearn for the day when there will be no more war and people will live together in peace and justice.
Some of us believe that war, and other acts of violence, are never acceptable to Christians. We also acknowledge that many Christians believe that, when peaceful alternatives have failed, the force of arms may regretfully be preferable to unchecked aggression, tyranny and genocide. We honor the witness of pacifists who will not allow us to become complacent about war and violence. We also respect those who support the use of force, but only in extreme situations and only when the need is clear beyond reasonable doubt, and through appropriate international organizations.
We urge the establishment of the rule of law in international affairs as a means of elimination of war, violence, and coercion in these affairs.
~ excerpt from the Social Principles of the United Methodist Book of Discipline - On the Military