Peace Makers

Peace Makers (Matthew 5:9)

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

In a world that is characterized by selfish ambition, conflict, and rivalry it is exceedingly difficult to find anyone who aspires to become a peacemaker! I got thinking about the radical transformation that occurs when a person becomes a new creation in Christ. To be born of God (John 1:13) means one is no longer a slave to sin but that of righteousness (Romans 6). With the Spirit living inside of them believers are equipped and expected to “walk in the way of love,” just as Christ loved and sacrificed His life for us (Ephesians 5:1-2). While it is easy to love those, who love us back (Luke 6:32), most Christians find it exceptionally difficult to become the peacemakers Christ mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount. When Jesus says “blessed are the peacemakers” He is not referring to someone who passively imitates the ways of this world to gain their friendship but instead a child of God who confronts and works tirelessly to find ways to end hostilities and bring the quarrelsome together! “Never being satisfied with going to heaven alone,” peacemakers will personally sacrifice much to make an appeal to humanity to be reconciled with their God (2 Corinthians 5:20). By their love and personal sacrifice, peacemakers demonstrate reconciliation in such a way that even the spiritually deaf and blind of this world can hear and see that God’s love exists! Do you fit this definition of a peacemaker? If you feel you fall short of this definition, do not be dismayed for the rest of this sermon is going to explain how a child of God can become a peacemaker!

Peace of God

One learns best how to be a peacemaker from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace is of “constant concern in both testaments in the Bible (e.g., Prov 15:1; Isa 52:7; Luke 24:36; Rom 10:15; 12:18; 1 Cor 7:15; Eph 2:11–22; Heb 12:14; 1 Peter 3:11),” with the Father being called the “God of Peace” (Romans 16:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 13:20) and Jesus the “Prince of Peace.” “The whole history of redemption, climaxing in the death and resurrection of Jesus, is God’s strategy to bring about a just and lasting peace between rebel man and Himself, and then between man and man.” While Jesus is the judge of the living and the dead, He is also peaceful as demonstrated in His slowness to return so that everyone will have ample opportunity to be saved (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Peter 4:5). Since an offering of peace has been secured by the blood of the cross (Colossians 1:20), we as His image and Spirit bearers, have been equipped to emulate the Father who is “is peaceful, longsuffering, tender, full of lovingkindness, pity, and compassion.” “Even though we often feel unworthy to “make an appeal” for reconciliation, it is the meek, the poor in spirit, merciful, pure in heart and those who thirst for righteousness that become the hands and feet of their Savior to spread the glorious invitation “be reconciled unto God.” “If God is a peacemaker, then His children, who have His nature (2 Peter 1:4), will be peacemakers too.” The peace of God guards our hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7) so that we can fulfill our call to implore the lost to be reconciled unto God.

New Creation/Sons of God

One by one the beatitudes give us a glimpse of how radical our transformation into a new creation ought to be! Having been freed from the entanglement and slavery of sin (Romans 6), Christians are to “put off the old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires” and “put on the new self, that has been created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 2:22-24)! To be born of the Spirit and water is a radical transformation of going from spiritual death to that of life (John 3:5-8)! The moment one becomes a believer what was once foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18), through the illumination of the Spirit, is now seen as divine truth that upon obedience lays the foundation for holy living! John Piper rightly says the Beatitudes are “like long spikes holding down the lid of the coffin of false teaching” that states once born again one can continue to live as if one has not received a new heart, lukewarm and in love with the ways of this world. Since the children of God have received His Spirit and participate in His nature of peace (Galatians 5:22), as Christ’s ambassadors they are empowered and expected to live and help others become peaceful in their relations first with their Master and then to one another! The rest of this sermon is going to outline four ways God’s children can become the blessed peacemakers God intends them to be!