Elephants 2025, Part 3: War & Violence // Eric Robertson

 This world reeks of war and violence, but the church has not only stopped addressing the issue, we've stopped even thinking about it. In this message, Pastor Eric Robertson shares what the church is called to do about war and violence. 

 ·  The 20th century claimed about 231 million lives through war.

 The problem is, we've stopped wrestling and adopted a view of war that looks too much like the culture around us.

 When approaching difficult topics like the one today, we need to remember that the truth is not found in the extremes, it's found in the messy middle.

 Here's the key to navigating difficult topics: Look to scripture as your guide.

 1.  Self-defense is biblical and sometimes necessary.

 2. Christians are called to be people of peace.

 Self-defense is biblical and sometimes necessary.

 1.    The bible makes room for creative self-defense.

 ·      Luke 4: 28-30 Jesus removes himself from certain death

 ·      Acts 23: 23-24 Paul is protected by 470 Roman guards to escape a murder plot.

 Can you defend yourself? Absolutely! But Christians find their identity not in their ability to take lives but to save them!

 2.   Governments are given authority to protect its citizens by force.

 Romans 13: 4-5

 ·      Government isn't the ultimate authority; they are an extension of God's authority IF they carry out the will of God.

 · Christians who serve in the military serve as Christians, not as pagans.

 . Governments bear the sword, but Christians bear the cross.

 Jesus Tips the Scales

 The real problem is not that Scripture is unclear, it's that Jesus shifts the focus from power to peace.

 1.     Israel often went to war in the Old Testament, and sometimes at God's command. But then Jesus comes along and tells us to love our enemies, forgive those who hurt us, and never repay evil for evil.

 Jesus is the fullest revelation of who God is.

 Hebrews 1: 1-3 (NIV) 

 2.    David was a warrior king called a "man after God's own heart", yet God wouldn't let him build the temple because he was a man of war. 

 1 Chronicles 28: 2-3 (NIV)

 3.    The Jewish people in Jesus' day were sure the Messiah would defeat Rome by force. But instead, Jesus laid down His life and died the humiliating death of a criminal.

 Philippians 2:8 (NLT)

 How do we live in a world so shaped by violence and war?

 By offering an alternative. War and violence are messy and sometimes necessary; God has called his church to be instruments of peace.

 We live by a different constitution, the Sermon on the Mount.

 Matthew 5: 38-45 

 In a violent world, we may not be able to stop every battle, and God may even call you to serve, but we can still decide what kind of person we will be in the middle of it.

 Prayer of St. Francis

 Lord, make me an instrument of your peace...

 When it comes to war and violence—are you willing to follow Jesus into the messy middle?