“take Another Peace Of My Heart” Pt. 2 Series

The Beatitude Summer Sermon Series

“Take another PEACE of my Heart” Pt. 2 (Matt. 5.9)

August 9, 2015 CFBC, Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson, speaker

A I read an article about a mom & dad who were in a divorce hearing, along with their 4-year old daughter.

1 The husband & wife were arguing, yelling, trying to win the argument and it was killing their daughter to hear the two people she loved the most in the whole world being at each others throats.

a According to the article, the daughter took the father’s hand and the mother’s hand during the trial, until she finally brought their hands together.

b She became a peacemaker.

2 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” -Matt.5.9

a We cannot be peacemakers unless the first six Beatitudes are followed.

aa Starts with a beggars attitude toward our own sinfulness. (V.3) “poor in spirit”

bb We weep and mourn, heart aches because of our sin (v.4) “blessed are those who mourn. . .”

cc We see ourselves before a Holy God and the meekness is bore out of the mourning (v.5) “Blessed are the gentle . . .”

dd We cry out in a hunger/thirst to God for His presence, righteousness (v.6) “Blessed are those who hunger & thirst for righteousness . . .”

ee Then we receive the mercy of God, knowing we deserve death/hell/the full penalty of sin, but God gives us mercy (v.7) “Blessed are the merciful, ...”

ff When we get the beatitudes we become pure in heart and we see/want/desire God before all others (v.8) “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

b Only after we’re living the first six beatitudes can we become the seventh . . .“peacemakers.”

B “Peace” & “Appeasement” do not mean the same thing.

1 In May, 1937, Neville Chamberlain became prime minister of Great Britain. His program for dealing with Hitler was one of appeasement, that is, of attempting to give into every demand Germany had in hopes of avoiding war.

a Hitler took advantage of this policy by annexing Austria on March 13, 1938, then demanded the return to Germany of the Sudetenland (a part of Czechoslovakia inhabited largely by Germans.)

aa Czechoslovakia, assured by various treaties of the backing of France and the Soviet Union, prepared for war.

bb To avoid a major European war that would eventually involve Britain, Chamberlain flew to Hitler's mountain home at Berchtesgaden with the hope of resolving the crisis. Hitler merely increased his demands.

cc Chamberlain, convinced that this would satisfy Hitler, proclaimed the agreement to be a guarantee of "peace in our time."

b Appeasement is making political or material concessions to an enemy power in order to avoid conflict. In other words, “Peace at any price.”

c Last month, when the current administration agreed to a nuclear treaty with Iran, the word “appeasement” was used by former Florida governor Jeb Bush by comparing Barack Obama to Neville Chamberlain. “This isn’t diplomacy – it is appeasement,”

2 Peace & Appeasement are not the same thing, but in my opinion, there is much more appeasement done by the Church/Christians than peacemaking.

a “I don’t want to argue. . . not looking for trouble . . .I don’t want to fight . . . I’m not looking for any bloodshed. . . I don’t want conflict.” That’s not the language of peacemaking. . . that’s appeasement language.

aa The peace Jesus secured for us was through an all out bloody battle called “Calvary” and it was the most expensive war ever fought because His precious blood was spilt.

bb Peacekeeping is expensive, costly.

b Dietrich Bonhoeffer (German Lutheran Pastor, executed by hanging in April 1945 by the Nazis) made the term “Cheap grace” popular and defines it as “. . . the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession...Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ,. . . inaccurate.”

aa There is also such a thing as “cheap peace.”

bb When we say, “peace, peace, everything is good when there isn’t peace . . . it isn’t all good.”—these are the words of a false prophet, not the Christian witness: language of appeasement & not peacemaking.

cc THERE IS PAIN IN PEACEMAKING.

dd Colossians 1:20 (NASB) “and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him,...”

3 When you become a peacemaker, put on your armor because you are about to pay up.

a If you are involved in the quarrel, there is either . . .

aa The pain of apologizing to the person you have injured, hurt OR