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
bb the pain of rebuking the person who has injured, hurt you.
b Then again, you might not be in conflict, but your in-between two parties that are.
aa Trying to reconcile the two to each other, building bridges.
bb It’s painful sometimes to listen, remove our prejudice, trying to be empathetic/sympathetic to both sides/points of views.
b John R. W. Stott also offers a fourth pain: “Sometimes there is a nagging pain of having to refuse to forgive the guilty party until he repents.”
aa Cheap peace can be bought with cheap forgiveness, just forget about the injury, hurt.
bb But true peace and true forgiveness are not cheap.
c God forgives us ONLY when we repent & Jesus has told us to do the very same thing.
aa “Luke 17:3-4 (NASB) 3 "Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 "And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' forgive him."
bb Relationally, until both parties can come together in agreement, peace doesn’t happen.
4 1 Corinthians 1:10 (NASB) Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.
a How much should we get along, come to consensus? As much as possible.
b We are to have shared convictions, aims, & goals: we can never be one if we don’t agree regarding who God is, the nature of the human problem, what Jesus accomplished, how we are saved, and the church has been called to do.
aa Only when we can agree on these things can we “all agree” and are of the “same mind” and “same mind” will there be “no division” among us.
bb This verse doesn’t mean where going to agree on all things, but we must agree on these things.
Conclusion:
A How do we become peacemakers?
1 Make your personal peace with God.
a There was time before you got saved that you were an enemy of God, at war with Him.
b You admitted you were poor, mourn, gentle, hunger, merciful, pure heart.
c We have to maintain the peace when the peace is interrupted by sin. (Deal w/ sin immediately. IL. BBQ Ribs on shorts: Confess, Repent, . . . repeat)
2 Try to make peace in public and private (church, home, work.)
a Peacemakers are the opposite of troublemakers.
aa Peacemakers bring people together, spread peace & unity. (Not at the expense of the truth)
bb Thomas Watson, “We must not so seek the flower of peace as to lose the pearl of truth.”
cc Troublemakers leave a trail of discord, conflict, and division to get done what they want to get done.
b The hidden treasure of being a “peacemaker” is they shall be called sons of God. Called by whom? Other people.
aa The peacemaking father has peacemaking kids.
bb It’s tough, just as Jesus prayed for peace He also paid for peace
3 We make peace by pursing reconciliation.
a “Well I tried that and then they did it again. I give up on them.”
aa It’s costly to love your enemies, but that is what were called to do.
bb Even if they didn’t ask for forgiveness, you still have to love them: We’re called to be agents of reconciliation & sometimes, that puts you in the middle of two warring factions (both sides may hate you.)
b Jesus prayed and died for the church/His people to be at peace and unity.
aa (John 17:11 (NASB) 11 "I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.
John 17:21 (NASB) 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
John 17:23 (NASB) 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.
bb Are you doing all you can to pursue unity, peace?
B Have you ever considered what it means to be a son og God?
1 He has an eternal love for us and puts up.
a God bears our weakness and sin, accepts our imperfect service . . . and He gives us everything we need.
b He’s the reason I woke up today, eat today, born, protects me, saved.
aa And when I mess up, make bad decisions, He forgives me and keeps on forgiving me every sin.
bb That’s the kind of peacemaking My God is into.
c Because I’m in His Kingdom He has made me heir to everything He possess . . . even His peacemaking skills.
d You can tell if your son of God because you’re a peacemaker.
2 IL.
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Mike Fogerson
