Peacemaker
CCCAG October 15th, 2017
Scripture- Matt 5:9
Beginning today’s talk with a little bit of church history:
Telemachus was a monk who lived in the early 5th century. In prayer one day, he felt God saying to him, "Go to Rome." He packed a bag and set out for Rome. When he arrived in the city, people were thronging in the streets, seemingly headed in the same direction. He asked someone where everyone was going and what the excitement was about, and was told that today there were gladiatorial games in the coliseum.
Telemachus was shocked. After all, Christianity had been the official state religion of the Roman Empire for decades, and people were still going to watch people fight and possibly kill each other in the coliseum for entertainment.
He ran to the coliseum and heard the gladiators saying, "Hail Caesar, we who are about to die salute you!" Telemachus was stricken in his spirit and he jumped over the railing and went out into the middle of the field. He got between two gladiators held up his hands and said, "In the name of Christ, forbear." (Stop)
The crowd protested and began to shout and encourage the gladiators to take their swords and, "Run him through, Run him through."
A gladiator came over and hit him in the stomach with the grip of his sword. It sent him sprawling in the sand, writhing in pain. He got up and stumbled back and again said, "In the name of Christ, forbear."
The crowd, furious that their entertainment was being interrupted, continued to chant, "Run him through." One gladiator came over and plunged his sword through the little monk's stomach and he fell into the sand, which began to turn crimson with his blood. One last time Telemachus gasped out, "In the name of Christ forbear."
A hush came over the 80,000 people in the coliseum. Soon a man stood and left, then another and more, and within minutes all 80,000 had emptied out of the arena.
When the story of the monk’s courage was heard by Emperor Horatius, the emperor permanently banned the games, and this incident became the last-known gladiatorial contest in the history of Rome.
I tell you the story of Saint Telemachus because this is how most people view the verse that we will be studying today- someone that will lay down his life to stop conflicts from happening.
But is that what Jesus is getting at here?
That would raise several questions:
Is Jesus promoting pacifism? Many people and denominations within Christianity would point to this verse and say that is exactly what it is saying.
Is Jesus saying that even all conflict is evil and should be avoided by Christians?
Is Jesus saying that all Christians should lay down their lives if it stops two opposing sides from going to war?
Those are some of the questions that we will try to answer this morning
The beatitudes have taken us through salvation,
into the rebirth that a person experiences in Jesus,
Then they have taken us into God’s presence dwelling within a person that wants to be pure in heart.
The last few beatitudes deals the life of a Christian and how a Christian impacts their world
Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God
Prayer
Big idea-The idea of Peace is one of the most misunderstood principles in the bible, especially by those who are outside of the Kingdom of God.
As I was studying for today’s message I saw a video by noted atheist Bill Mahar in which Bill was loudly criticizing a Christian who was on his show saying that we are all hypocrites because Jesus was a pacifist so we should all stand up to our government and tell them to quit getting us into useless wars.
But is that what Jesus is saying here? Is Jesus advocating that our mission here on earth is to put a stop to all war?
We are going to begin our journey through this beatitude today by answering that question. We begin by
I. Defining Peace the way Jesus means it here
Last year in the OT, we looked at one of the names of God- Yahweh Shalom- the God of peace.
The bible records and event in which a man named Gideon was asked by God to go to war with the nation of Midian to free his people from theiry tyranny. Gideon sees the Angel of the LORD, which we know now was Jesus pre-incarnate. In the Old Testament way of thinking, if God were to manifest Himself before you, He was bringing judgement or death with HIM.
That’s why you always see a panic in the lives of the Old Testament people whenever God showed up.
That’s why the Angel of the LORD was quick to declare peace to Gideon- because at this Gideon is probably crouched on the ground waiting for the lightning bolt to fall. Gideon was so relieved that he actually built a large altar there to commemorate the experience and named it Yahweh Shalom- the LORD of Peace.
Understanding the peace of God, or how God defines peace is essential to us understanding what Jesus is teaching us here.
Peace is not the absence of conflict. IF that were true very few of the wars that the bible records should have happened, because often it was God ordering the war or bringing victory to Israel
Peace is also not the refusal to fight or to resist evil or oppression when necessary. Because we live in a fallen world sometimes peace can only happen as a result of a conflict first.
An awesome example is Rosa Parks. In 1955, segregation was the law of the land in Montgomery, Alabama and part of that law included where an African American could sit on a bus. There was a movable sign that clipped into the rows that the bus driver could move at will depending on what he perceived as the needs of the white riders.
Rosa Parks paid her fare, and sat in the “Colored only” section of the bus. As the bus made several more stops, more white people got on then there were seats in the white section, so the bus driver, James Blake got up and moved the sign toward the back of the bus so Mrs. Parks was now in the whites only section. Blake told her to get up and move back so the white people could have a seat. Mrs. Parks refused and was arrested for violating segregation laws. That incident was one of the sparks that ignited the civil rights movement.
But it came because of a conflict. It came from someone resisting oppression and evil.
Peace is not just the absence of conflict, it is the presence of justice.
So the peace Jesus is speaking of here is not total pacifism.
Remember- Jesus said His mission was not to bring peace to this earth, but a sword.
In other words, Jesus came to be divisive.
Jesus came to draw a line in the sand (illustrate- God on one side, humanity on the other), and by doing so Jesus is saying I AM that line.
So what is Jesus talking about when He says Blessed are the peacemakers?
The first thing he is talking about is that-
II. Jesus is THE Peacemaker
One of Jesus’ titles is Prince of Peace
The peace that he is talking about isn’t the absence of human conflict. When we think about peace, that’s automatically where our brains go to- considering the conflict in the world we see around us.
Jesus is talking about something much more important than our individual lives or even the condition of the world regarding conflict
Jesus is looking toward eternity because
Jesus came to repair the relationship between God and humanity.
Ephesians 2:14 For he (Jesus) himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one (talking about Jew and Gentile) and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Let me illustrate a little further-
You guys remembered the cold war?
The Soviet Union and America stood ready to destroy each other for 44 years. They fought proxy wars in Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, various Central American countries, and Afghanistan.
Do you remember missile drills in school, hiding under our desks?
I remember running the bayonet range in the Army, and the sergeants yelling “Kill a Commie for mommy” and different things like that to instill a hatred of Soviets in our hearts so we would not hesitate to kill them if we ever had to go to war against the Eastern Bloc countries.
For thousands of years during the time of the Old Testament, a similar situation existed, and for the most part continues to this day between God and humanity. There has been a spiritual cold war that has existed in the heavenly realm. God is withholding the judgement and destruction of evil and those who would do evil until the time that the Gospel is preached to every person to give them a chance to repent.
And that is why Jesus is our peacemaker. He exists to bridge that gap between all of us and God.
Jesus is the reconciliation between God and humanity. HE has fought the ultimate battle, and won the greatest war ever fought in reconciling God with His creation.
Jesus fought for us, because HE knew we stood defenseless against our nature to sin.
Humanity can never know true peace until it gets to know the author of peace.
Peace can never exists apart from God.
Every conflict, every war, every atrocity ever committed by one human to another human is because of the lack of God’s manifest presence, character, and Lordship existing in the lives of people.
What Jesus is giving us in this beautiful attitude isn’t a dream of who we will be or a character trait we are to have
-but a mission that will define our entire lives.
III. The mission to spread the gospel is how we get to be peacemakers
How do we discover this- we define the term “peacemaker” as defined by the bible itself
There are two places this Greek word for “peacemaker” is used in the bible- here in Matthew, and in Colossians
St. Paul in Colossians 1:19-20 define this word peacemaker for us-
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Jesus), and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
The definition of peacemaker is the spreading of and application of the Gospel in the lives of people.
In light of this definition, let’s paraphrase our central verse this morning
“Blessed are those who bring God and man together by telling them of Jesus, for they will be called the Sons and Daughters of God!”
For this statement to be true, it has to work both ways.
In other words-
The sons and daughter of God will be those who bring people and God together, and they will be blessed.
It’s an incredible enough thought to think that Jesus paid the price for our sins, that through his life and death we can be born again into a new life that reflects God and His nature.
But, Jesus didn’t save people from hell to sit in a pew.
It’s always been an ironic joke among church leaders that saved people who do nothing but sit in a church smell, and that’s why we call the seating pews.
You were saved to serve. The ultimate expression of your faith isn’t your church attendance, nor is it your giving record. As your pastor, I encourage you to be faithful in both, not for the church’s sake and definitely not for my sake, but because God has promised to bless those who show commitment to the representation of His Kingdom on earth.
The ultimate expression of your faith is in how you live your life and set your priorities to see the mission of Jesus fulfilled through you.
Through being peacemakers, Jesus is point us to a reality that comes as we begin to believe and live this beautiful attitude
You will be the Sons and Daughters of God.
You can’t call yourself a son or daughter of God and refuse be like Jesus who saved you.
That’s why Jesus calls us to share in His mission.
Jesus gave HIS mission statement in Luke 4
Backrground- Jesus comes to Nazareth, his boyhood home. As a good Jew he attends synagogue on Saturday. He is selected to do the reading for the day. He chooses The book of Isaiah, chapter 61 where it says:
18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted and to announce that captives shall be released and the blind shall see, that the downtrodden shall be freed from their oppressors, and that God is ready to give blessings to all who come to him.”[b]
20 He closed the book and handed it back to the attendant and sat down, while everyone in the synagogue gazed at him intently. 21 Then he added, “These Scriptures came true today!”
Isaiah wrote these words over 600 years before Jesus was born, describing what the Messiah’s role and mission would be when He appeared.
Jesus has passed that role and mission onto those who would call Him Lord. Jesus’ mission in life becomes our mission
To preach good news to those who are poor in spirit
To preach and give comfort to them who mourn
To preach freedom to the captives who are meek in their current situation
To bring people to purity in heart to those who seek after God
These beatitudes are not just a bunch of random attributes that a person should have to call themselves a Christian
They are the very mission statement that those who follow Jesus are to follow.
Blessed are those who bring the Gospel to all humanity, for they are indeed the children of God.
Finally, I share this promise of Jesus
Those who fulfill HIS mission on earth to bring peace between God and man will reign and rule with HIM in heaven.
It’s the basis of our reward, and why we get to share in the government of the eternal kingdom.
Heaven is not sitting on a cloud playing harp.
Those who have surrendered to Jesus have a position waiting for you that will bring you more fulfillment, and joy than anything you will ever have on this earth.
You get this reward in heaven based on how you reign and rule your life here on earth.
Are you part of Jesus’ mission?
Are you living your life focused on winning souls or supporting those who do?
All Stand
Because those who are share the same reward as Jesus- reign and rule
Prov 11:30- he who wins souls is wise- basis of your reward
Altar call- salvation
Altar Call- commitment to mission
