I Will Be The First To Stop Fighting Series

Introduction: A henpecked husband was tired of being nagged by his abusive wife so he decided to take a course in being self-assertive. After a few weeks, he felt he had regained his confidence and decided to lay the law down at his home.

At the dinner table he announced, “Woman from now on there are going to be a few changes around here, I do not want to hear anymore nagging, your going to fix my dinner every night, after dinner I will be going out with boys and I will come home when I am good and ready”. His wife was surprised at the man’s tone of voice, but unfazed she replied, “You talk to me like that again and you will not see me for a week!”

The man repeated himself and sure enough Monday came and he did not see his wife, Tuesday and Wednesday passed with no sight of her, finally Thursday came and he caught a glimpse of her as the swelling began to go down around his eyes.

Some people have a difficult time with peace! Yet in the seventh beatitude, Yet Jesus calls us to be peacemakers - Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

One of the obvious facts of history and of man’s existence is peace is almost non-existent.

The scarcity of peace has prompted someone to write, peace is that glorious moment in history when everyone stops to reload.

John MacArthur states…

There have been 14,683 known wars since the birth of Christ.

Since 1945, there have been 70 wars and over 200 outbreaks significant international violence.

Since 1957, over 100 countries have been involved in some form of armed conflict.

Historians claim that the U.S. has only had 2 generations of peace (a generation being 30 years) in her 231 years of history.

On the world stage, Peace is a missing, as conflict seems to reign.

The lack of peace is not simply conflict between nations, the lack of peace is found in our homes and in our churches as well.

Seems like every week I here of a church going through some type of conflict over leadership, styles of worship, philosophy of ministry, etc.

Home are filled with conflict as spouse seldom speak with one another or children and parents try to coexist until the next blow up occurs

Yet Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”

Why is peace so hard to obtain? After all, does not everyone want peace?

In the 60’s, John Lennon asked us “To give peace a chance”

In the 90’s, Rodney King asked “Why can’t we all get along”

Today our country is divided by a war in Iraq, with both sides only wanting one thing – PEACE.

Yet peace seems so illusive. Now while we may not be able to do anything about the global conflicts, we read in the headlines, we can make peace a part of our life on a daily basis.

Paul urged the believers in Rome, If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:18.

Solomon said, There is deceit in the hearts of those who plot evil, but joy for those who promote peace. Proverbs 12:20

The Seventh beatitude calls us to be peacemakers. Jesus has called us to a special mission to help make peace or restore people back to a sound relationships, first with one another and ultimately with God himself.

The peace Jesus speaks of has nothing to do with armies or boundaries rather God’s peace is about restoration, bringing us back into a right relationship.

Notice Jesus did not say blessed are the peacekeepers.

Peacekeepers avoid confrontation, they will do anything to avoid an argument or upset the status quo.

ILLUS: Some people will do anything to avoid confrontation, I heard of a man who was going through a mid life crisis. He went out and bought a new car, but not just any car, but a new Corvette. As he pulled up on I-95 he noticed he was going 80 MPH, he thought boy that was easy. At that point, he wanted to know just how fast his new car would go, so he gave it the gas, 85, 90, 95 soon he was going 100 MPH. It was at that point he saw the blue lights in his rearview mirror. Knowing he was going to get a ticket, he thought to himself I wonder if I can outrun this trooper. SO HE TOOK OFF! He was way ahead of the trooper when he came to his senses and thought, what I am doing. I am a respected leader in the community, my family will be embarrassed, and I will never be able to explain my actions. So he decided to pull over and wait for the trooper, when the trooper arrived he asked him, how fast was he going? He admitted he did not have a clue.