Senior Pastor, Robert Dennison, preached this message on January 4, 2026. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Audio Transcript
While they’re making their way out, I invite you to turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 12. It’s page 9:25 in the Pew Bible. Page 925, Luke 12.
I begin reading in verse 57.
Why don’t you judge for yourself what is right. As you are going with your adversary to the ruler, make an effort to settle with him on the way. Then he won’t drag you before the judge. The judge hand you over to the bailiff, and the bailiff throw you into prison. I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid and the last penny.
May we pray? Heavenly Father, we thank you once again for your word. Primarily that it shows us how to have a right relationship with you by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. But Father, you also teach us how we are supposed to live our lives. That we might resemble your son more in this world and be able to better present the gospel to them.
That they too might want to join us in the relationship that we experience with you. Give us understanding, give us a desire to change, if that’s what you are pointing out to us, and empower us by your spirit to do so. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Today we’re talking about make every effort to settle with someone that is your adversary.
Jesus is persuading us that we need to work on having peace in our lives. He’s just asked one question before this. Why don’t you know how to interpret this present time? He said, you can understand the weather and be prepared. Why can’t you understand the times and live accordingly?
That’s what we spoke about last. But now he’s asking this second question. It deals with the lack of peace that is prevalent in our fallen world. How many of you would agree today that everything is at peace in the world? Everything is at peace in your life.
I mean, because of our sinfulness and fallen nature. Peace is something that doesn’t happen everywhere. Jesus gives us five principles. I want to go over here just briefly on this first passage. The first one is, you are capable of figuring this out.
Did you ever tell your kids God has given you what, a brain? You don’t need mom and dad to explain everything to you. Some of this stuff you can figure out. You don’t just go ride your bike off a cliff, okay? Jesus is saying the same thing.
When it comes to settling things with people that we are in an adversarial relationship with or there have been hurt feelings or whatever. God has given us a brain. He says, you’re capable of Figuring this out. That’s why he says, why don’t you judge for yourself what is right as you’re going with this person, that there’s something wrong between the two of you. Figure it out yourselves.
You don’t have to go to the judge or to someone else. The second basic principle here is that adversity with others is inevitable. Who today has lived their entire life and never been at an adversity with somebody? It just. It doesn’t happen.
It’s part of our sinful world. The third thing is try to solve your relationship problems. It says try. It’s a command. Here we’re supposed to make every effort to settle things with people when we’re at odds with people, when feelings are hurt, when someone’s been offended.
Jesus says, don’t just go to the judge with it. You have a brain. Work it out. Try to settle it. Now that.
Try to settle it. It also implies that you may not be able to. You may do everything in the world that you can to make your relationship right with someone else. That’s your responsibility. And if you have done that, that’s all God is asking.
Because sometimes people just won’t forgive. Sometimes they won’t go on with an improved relationship. The fourth thing is that unresolved relationship problems will harm you. Jesus pictures that here. He says, the bailiff is going to throw you into prison.
And in verse 59, he says, I tell you, you will never get out. If you have unresolved relationship problems with your spouse, with your children, with your friends, with people in church, with anybody, it’s going to end up harming you. It’s going to be like you’re in some type of prison. Fifth thing is, it’s almost impossible to make things right when you are in prison. Jesus says that you will never get out of there until you have paid the last penny.
If you don’t work things out with people, and those issues or those problems or those hurt feelings go on for days and weeks and months and years. It’s going to get to the point where you’re going to feel like there just isn’t anything more that I can do. You need to work on settling those things quickly because unresolved relationship issues will hold you captive. It will affect you physically, it will affect you emotionally, and it will affect you psychologically.
God persuades us to work at peace with other people. But the next thing I want you to see is that God himself has promised to us that we can have peace. We may not be able to have peace with Other people. Other people may not give us peace, but God is the perfect provider of peace for us. Isaiah writes about this in chapter 26, verse 3.
He says, you will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you. When you look to God for your peace, you can be certain that you’re going to have it. If you’re looking to another person for peace, if you’re looking to your pocketbook for peace or a vacation for peace, it’s not going to provide it for you in the same way that God does. And Isaiah is pointing out that we shouldn’t even trust God for part of our peace and then trust something other for the rest of it. We’re supposed to completely dependent upon Him.
You will keep the mind that is dependent on you and only on you in perfect peace, because that person is trusting in, on and only in you. Isaiah also gives the promise of the coming Messiah, that one of the things that he will provide to the world is peace. We read in chapter nine, verse six, for a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and also he is going to be the Prince of peace.
God promises peace. We’re going to see later on that he provides that to us. It’s a real guarantee. Jesus also tells In John 16:32, 33, he identifies himself as the one who will bring peace to the world. As Isaiah prophesied, I’ve told you these things so that in me, not in you, not in someone else, not in things that you have, but in me you may have peace.
Now, that doesn’t mean life is going to be wonderful all the time, because he says, you are going to have suffering in this world. Be courageous. I have conquered the world. But in the midst of whether it’s death, whether it’s disease, cancer, problems, a lost job, he promises us that we can have peace.
The next thing today is that peace is something that is prescribed for us. In other words, God says, you need to do this. And we see it continually throughout the New Testament that peace is something that we are supposed to make an effort at, we’re supposed to work on. We start in Romans 12:18, if possible. As far as it depends on you, live at peace with a few people.
Is that what it says? Everyone?
As far as it depends on you. That means don’t depend on other people to make things right. When there’s a problem with them, it’s up to you as a believer to step in. But it also says if it’s possible, because there are times when you can do everything that you can think of to restore a relationship with someone, someone that you’re in odds with, where there have been hurt feelings or whatever. And you might send them cards, you might call them, you might text them, you might give them gifts, and you go and you apologize to them.
And sometimes they still won’t accept it. At least you know that you’ve done what God has required of you. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, read those first three words with me. What does it say? Making every effort to do what?
To keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There are going to be struggles and difficulties with people within our church, and they’re going to be people that you might become at odds with. But Paul’s telling the Ephesian church, don’t let that continue. All of you are responsible, not just to make some effort, but to make every effort possible to be united and to keep the bond of peace within the body of Christ. The Colossian church also need to be reminded of this.
He said, let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts and be thankful. There’s an extra word, evil, there. I don’t know why that’s there, but you see Romans, Ephesians, Colossians. Everybody seems to have the need to be reminded that they have to work on what? Being at peace with people.
Church of Corinth we read in 2nd Corinthians 13:11, finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice, become mature, be encouraged, be of the same mind. And what does it say? Be at peace and the God of love and peace will be with you. And then in Hebrews again, we have this prescription of what we’re supposed to be doing. It tells us to what?
Not walk after peace, but to what? Pursue it. That means you’re going for it. You’re head over heels. You’re running to try to establish peace with your family.
Is that what it says? No, it’s with everyone. And it’s interesting. He says, pursue peace with everyone. And then secondly, he puts holiness.
It’s like, I would think that holiness was more important, that that’s what we’re supposed to be aiming at. But. But they go hand in hand. If you’re going to be a holy, set apart person for the Lord, you have to pursue peace with everyone, because without it, no one will see the Lord. It’s prescribed that we are supposed to go after Peace.
But not only was Paul telling people about peace, but Peter tells us, let’s go to 1 Peter 3, 10, 12, where we read, for the one who wants to love life and to see good days. How many of you want to see good days?
Let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do what is good. And then read the next part if you want to live, have a good life. It says, let him seek peace. And again to pursue it.
Because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do what is evil. You get it? God wants us to pursue what? This is your question today.
He wants us to pursue peace. It wasn’t just a problem for one church, it was throughout. Because Satan is continually working amongst us to try to cause us not to be at peace with one another. Peace with man is important, but peace with God is even more paramount. Meaning that it’s more important than anything else.
Because when we go back to what Jesus was talking about, he wasn’t just saying, be at peace with people. But I believe that he’s talking there, that there’s an adversary that we all have that is a bigger one to deal with, and that adversary is God. Now, we don’t often think about being an adversarial relationship with God. But before you come to faith in Christ, that’s exactly where you are. You are a sinner.
You are condemned to a life completely apart from God. Your mind is not on him, and at that point he is your adversary. And Jesus warning is that in this life, before you come, before that final judgment, you need to work things out so that you are at peace with God. Because when we stand those that have not come to faith and they’re at the final judgment, at that time, they won’t be able to pay their way out of being put into prison. Let’s go to Romans, chapter 8.
It says, the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. So we have two things going on here.
On one side, Paul is pointing out what it looks like to live in the flesh. And if we can go to the next screen up there, we can see this. And on the other side, what does it look like to live in the Spirit? The person that’s living in the flesh, they’re dead, meaning that they’re eternally separated from God unless something happens. But once we place our faith in Jesus Christ, now we’re not living according to the flesh.
We’re living according to the Spirit of God. And now we have life, which is an eternal relationship with God. The person that is on the side of flesh, they’re. They’re hostile toward God. But here we have the theme today that we’re looking at.
The person that has the spirit of God living them now has peace with God. That adversarial relationship is completely taken care of. The flesh is rebellious toward God. The spirit is submissive to God. And because of all of this, the flesh, no matter what it does, cannot please God.
And the sad thing is there are so many people, they’re trying to please God by doing good things, they’re trying to please God by attending church, they’re trying to please God by giving money, whatever, but they can’t please God in the flesh. They have to first place their faith in Jesus Christ. And it’s only at that point that they can please him and have a relationship. Being at peace with people is important, but being at peace with God is more paramount. Where does this peace come from?
I’ve mentioned several times that we can’t purchase it, we can’t do enough to gain it. I mean, you go through a really rough day, you go through a trying time, you go through a time of chaos. We’ve just had nine grandkids at our house for Christmas for many days.
And I have some relatives in here. I hope their feelings aren’t hurt, but our house was a little chaotic, and if I could have written a check for some peace, I would have done it. Have you ever felt like, wow, peace right now would just be worth a lot? And I love my grandkids coming over, but you could say the same thing about work. You have a terrible day at work.
It’s so extremely stressful. And you think, if I could just go home and sit down and have a little bit of what? Peace. And if every day you could write a check for peace or do something to get it, you would. What I’m trying to point out is that peace is something that’s.
That’s costly and we really can’t get it for ourselves. It comes alone from God Almighty. Let’s look at Romans 4, 6 through 8 talking about the peace that God provides. Why is it that we have peace with him?
Paul refers back to David in the Old Testament. He said, David also speaks of the blessing of the person that to whom God credits righteousness. And there are three words that are important there. What does it say apart from works? We’re talking about works.
That’s anything you pay, anything you do, anything that you think that you can earn a right relationship. Righteousness with God does not come from anything you do. It comes strictly by faith. Blessed are those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the person the Lord will never charge with sin.
By placing our faith in Jesus Christ for what he has done, we are forgiven. What we have done wrong is covered. And what we have done will never be charged against us. So let’s think in a human relationship, you’ve hurt someone’s feelings or they’ve hurt your feelings and you’re doing what you can to pursue peace with them. And you come and you apologize.
Maybe you are crying and you say, I am so sorry that I have done this and I’ve hurt you. I want our relationship to be right. Will you please forgive me? What’s the most hurtful thing that person can say to you? I won’t forgive you.
Well, God doesn’t do that with us. When we come to him in faith, Scripture tells us that our lawless acts are forgiven, but not only does he forgive them, think about that same person. Maybe they do say, yeah, I forgive you. And. And then two weeks later they say, remember what you did to me last week?
Well, that’s. I’ve not really forgiven you about that. God doesn’t forgive that way. When he forgives us, he says that our sins are covered, that he doesn’t look at them anymore. And blessed is the person that the Lord will never charge with sin.
When God has forgiven us our sins, when we stand before him, someday he’s going to say, all that’s forgiven. He’s not going to bring it up. Now we have a problem in our life, and that’s our adversary, Satan. Because when we do something wrong and we sin against God, even after we’ve come to him and we say, God, please forgive me, and we know he’s forgiven us. What does Satan do?
He keeps reminding us, well, you did that thing three years ago, or you did that thing a week ago, or you did that thing an hour ago. That’s not God telling you that. If you’ve asked for his forgiveness, that’s Satan. Satan wants to uncover what is forgiven. But God, on the other hand, covers it completely.
As far as the east is from the west, he wipes it Away out of his sight. Romans 5:1. Peace is provided by God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, since we have been justified again, it’s not by works or anything we do, but we’re justified by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And when we say justified, that’s as if you’ve done something wrong in this world and you stand up before the judge and instead of him laying down the sentence and saying, you’re guilty of this, this is what you have to pay. This is how much time you have to spend in jail, whatever the penalties are. When we’re justified, it’s like we’re standing in front of that judge, and the judge says, I see nothing here on your record. You don’t have to pay anything. You don’t have to go to jail.
You don’t have to do anything. You are completely right in front of me. It’s as if everything is wiped away off your record. That’s what God does for us when we place our faith in Christ. And that is necessary, that there be nothing there to separate us from him.
And when we stand in that way, we have peace with God. It comes alone through Jesus Christ, His Son. 2nd Corinthians 5:19.
That is, in Christ.
God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. And he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Reconciliation. We’re talking again about being at peace with people and being at peace with God. And the emphasis again here.
It’s not based on what others do for us. It’s not based on what we can do for ourselves. It comes alone in Jesus Christ, and it is by Christ and when we are placed in Christ that God reconciles us to Himself, and He no longer counts the trespasses against them or against us. And then he tells us he has committed the message of reconciliation to us, meaning that now that we understand what true peace is, we need to take that message. And do what with it?
Go out and spread it to the world.
I can’t think of anybody I know you probably wouldn’t raise your hand today that you could say, I don’t want peace in my life. It’s something that we all desire. It’s instilled in. In us. I don’t know that animals have that sense at all, but we do.
We have a sense that we want peace and God provides peace. We have a sense that we desire love. And who provides love for us? God provides all these things that we really desire. Fellowship, a wonderful father, a friend.
They’re all in us created in God’s image so that we will look to Him. And the desire for peace is part of that. Peace comes at an expensive price. And in order for us to have peace, Isaiah told us that God was going to send the Prince of peace. And Jesus paid the price.
That we might have not just a little bit of peace after work, but that we’ll have eternal peace. It’s one of the blessings of going to heaven one day. It’s going to be peaceful there all the time. It’s going to be absolutely wonderful. But Jesus gave up a lot to give that to us.
He left all the splendor of heaven and lived just a humble life.
Born in a stable, running in the dirt outside of his home, learning how to be a carpenter. Nothing exceptional for the God and creator of the universe. He also limited himself to life in a human body. The God who fills the universe and beyond allowed himself to be placed in something as fragile as this. That he experienced being tired, he experienced being hungry, he experienced pain, he experienced discomfort.
All the things that as we get older and older, we realize more and more about our bodies. Jesus put up with these things, and he didn’t have to do that, but he chose to because he wanted to bring us peace. He left the adoration of angels and lived among us and suffered taunts from people and ridicule and slander and false accusations.
But he also left the presence of the Father when he suffered alone on the cross that day, when he said, God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The love relationship that the Father and the Son and the Spirit have for eternity, for that time was separated. He was completely separated from His Father. And it was a terrible, painful thing for him to be removed from the love of the Father. But he did that so that we might have peace.
So the question today is there’s the physical side here, there’s the this worldly side. Are you at peace with everyone that you’re supposed to be at peace with? Because if you are not, you need to be pursuing that as much as possible.
And what as much as possible means, I would say just keep trying. Because you’re hurting the name of Christ, you’re hurting the body of Christ, and you’re imprisoning yourself. But more importantly, are you at peace with God? Is that the paramount peace in your life? That you have come to a place that you’ve accepted the work of Jesus Christ and said, God, please forgive me of my sin.
I can’t do anything to solve my problem with my sinful self, would you please step in, forgive me and make me a new person. And I believe that you’re giving that to me because Jesus died on the cross, he was buried and he rose from the dead. During our time of invitation today, Kelly Jo is going to be leading us in a song with the worship team. We’re going to have some prayer team members at the back of the church. Maybe you need to just have someone pray with you about approaching someone that you need to confront or you need to apologize to again this week.
I’m just going to offer, maybe you need to come up at the altar and pray if that’s something that’s important or significant to you. Or maybe you know someone that they’re not at peace with God. You need to be thinking about them and praying for them that they will pursue that in this new year and that you will be part of leading them to Christ by pointing them to the Gospel. May we close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you that the great price has been paid for us that we might have the most important, eternal, outstanding peace that’s provided through you in your son.
If we know of those, Father, today that we need to pursue reconciliation with, show us who they are. Show us what we need to do. And Father, if we know a people that are not at peace with you, encourage our hearts to once again point them to the gospel to share with them the peace that we have that they might understand it also. In your son’s name we pray. Amen.