Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Matt. 5:9
This is the last Beatitude that speaks of the character of the follower of the Christ, the
Christian. However this is not the last Beatitude in the series; for we have two more to look at - one speaks about the reaction of the world to the Christian who is striving to develop these characteristics and the other speaks of the response of the world to the relationship between the follower of Jesus and Jesus. However this one sets the top stone of that pyramid of character that Christ has been building in the life of the believer. We have talked about in previous studies how these various traits of the Christian life stem from the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
With each beatitude another nail is driven into a coffin. Inside the coffin lies the corpse of a false understanding. This false understanding states that a person can inherit eternal life even if his attitudes and actions are like the attitudes and actions of unbelievers.
One after the other the beatitudes tell us that the blessings of eternity will be given only to those who have become new creatures. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.
Therefore the beatitudes are like long spikes holding down the lid of the coffin on the false teaching which says that if you just believe in Jesus you will go to heaven whether or not you are merciful or pure in heart or a peacemaker. However from the beginning to end the Sermon on the Mount cries out, "Get yourself a new heart. Become a new person. " And Jesus warns in verse 20: "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20).
Also at the very end of the sermon in 7:26f. the Lord calls out over the crowds, "Every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it." In other words, a life of disobedience to the Word of God will go against us on the day of judgment.
The Greek word translated "peacemaker" is used in only one other place in the New Testament, in a slightly different form - Colossians 1:20 says, "For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross."
As we read through Scripture, we find two very real elements of peace. There is peace with God and the peace of God. It is impossible for anyone to experience being the true peacemaker without first experiencing peace with God. So if anyone wants to be a peacemaker, we must first start with knowing the peace of God and then we can help people know peace with God.
In his letter to the Romans, Paul describes our devastating position as rebellious sinners against our holy Creator. Because of sin, there is essentially a war between man and God (Romans 5:10).
He goes further and states in Romans 5:1 that through faith in Jesus Christ we have been justified (made right in God’s sight) and are no longer at war with God. Instead, we have obtained peace with God. Having peace with God through Christ also opens up the door to have the peace of God in our lives because our future in Christ is certain for all eternity.
There is no such thing as peace at any cost. The gospel message is about both repentance of sin and salvation from judgment through Christ. It is not a feel-good message of misdirected love and tolerance.
This verse reveals that a peacemaker is one who has received peace by acknowledging his or her wretchedness before God, and through repentance and faith has been adopted into God’s family. Following this, the peacemaker enters the Father’s business of spreading the full mes-sage of the gospel to others so that they may also know true peace. What is truly wonderful is that when we know peace with God, we experience the wonderful peace of God as we tell others about Him. This is Christian living.
William Barclay's Daily Study Bible Series gives us an understanding of shalom the equivalent of the word "peace"
"In Hebrew peace is never only a negative state; it never means only the absence of trouble; in Hebrew peace always means everything which makes for a man's highest good. In the east when one man says to another, Salaam—which is the same word—he does not mean that he wishes for the other man only the absence of evil things; but that he wishes for him the presence of all good things. In the Bible peace means not only freedom from all trouble; it means enjoyment of all good. "(vol. 1, p. 108)
This definition begins to give us insight why peacemaking, just as with all the other characteristics expressed in the Beatitudes, is such a high, demanding standard. Peacemaking is a more encompassing term than it appears. Since it means "everything which makes for a man's high-est good," it is another, more specific term for love. Loving under every circumstance is not easy.
In these beatitudes Jesus is not making suggestions on how to make the world better. On the contrary, Jesus is describing the lifestyle of those who have eternal life and who are on the pathway to heaven.
When Jesus says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God," he does not tell us how to become a son of God. He simply says that sons of God are in fact peacemakers. People who are peacemakers will be recognized as the sons of God at the judgment and they will be welcomed into the Father's house.
First of all to see how to become sons of God we can look, for example, at John 1:12 and Galatians 3:26. John 1:12 says, "To all who received him (Jesus), who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God." And Galatians 3:26 says, "For in Christ we are all sons of God through faith." In other words, we become sons of God by trusting in Christ for our forgiveness and hope.
What Jesus is saying in Matthew 5:9 is that people who have become sons of God have the
character of their heavenly Father. God is a peacemaking God. 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. Therefore, God's children are that way, too. They have the character of their Father. What He loves they love. What He pursues they pursue. You can know His children by whether they are willing to make sacrifices for peace the way God did.
By the sovereign work of God's grace rebel human beings are born again, and brought from rebellion to faith, and made into children of God. We were given a new nature, after the image of our heavenly Father (1 John 3:9). If he is a peacemaker, then his children, who have Hs nature, will be peacemakers too.
Or to put it another way, as Paul says in Romans 8:14, "All who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God." And being led by the Spirit always includes bearing the fruit of the Spirit. And the fruit of the Spirit is peace!
So you see why it must be so, that the children of God must be peacemakers. It is by the Spirit of God that we are made children of God, and the Spirit of God is the Spirit of peace. If we are not peacemakers, we don't have the Spirit of Christ.
So we do not earn or merit the privilege to be called sons of God. Instead we owe our new birth to the sovereign grace of God (John 1:13). We owe our faith to the new birth (1 John 5:1). We receive the Holy Spirit by the exercise of this faith (Galatians 3:2). The fruit of this Spirit is peace (Galatians 5:22). And those who bear the fruit of peace are the sons of God.
Our whole salvation, from beginning to end, is all of grace—therein lies our hope and joy and freedom. But our final salvation is not unconditional, we must be peacemakers—therein lies our earnestness and the great seriousness with which we must deal with these beatitudes, and seek the grace of God in our lives.
Now let's look at . . .
The promise of sonship in the second half of the Matthew 5:9 points us to Matthew 5:43–45 for our main insight. Both of these texts describe how we can show ourselves to be sons of God.
You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust -Matt. 5 43-48.
Notice verse 45, " . . . so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven." The thought is the same as in Matthew 5:9. There, we must be peacemakers to be called sons of God. Here, we must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us if we would be sons of God. So we see that peacemaking and loving our enemies and praying for them are the same.
Peacemaking covers all the acts of love by which we try to overcome the enmity between us and other people.
Peacemaking tries to build bridges to people. It does not want the animosity to remain. It wants reconciliation. It wants harmony. And so it tries to show what may be the only courtesy the enemy will tolerate, namely, a greeting. The peacemaker looks the enemy right in the eye and says, "Good morning, John." And he says it with a longing for peace in his heart, not with a phony gloss of politeness to cover his anger.
So we pray and we take whatever practical initiatives we can to make peace beginning with something as simple as a greeting. But we do not always succeed. And I want to make sure you don't equate peacemaking with peacekeeping. A peacemaker longs for peace, and works for peace, and sacrifices for peace. But the attainment of peace may not come.
Romans 12:18 is very important at this point. There Paul says, "If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all." That is the goal of a peacemaker: "If possible, so far as it depends on you . . . " Don't let the rupture in the relationship be your fault.
Ah, but that raises a tough question: Is it your fault when the stand that you take is causing the division? If you have alienated someone and brought down their anger upon your head because you have done or said what is right, have you ceased to be a peacemaker?
Not necessarily. Paul said, "If it is possible . . . live at peace." He thus admits that there will be times that standing for the truth will make it impossible. For example, he says to the Corinthians (in 11:18–19), "I hear that there are divisions among you; and I partly believe it, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized." Now he would not have said that, if the genuine Christians should have compromised the truth in order to prevent divisions at all cost. It was precisely because some of the Christians were genuine—genuine peacemakers—that some of the divisions existed. (Also see 1 Corinthians 7:15.)
Jesus said in Matthew 10:34,
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's foes will be those of his own house-hold."
In other words, you must love peace and work for peace. You must pray for your enemies, and do good to them, and greet them, and long for the barriers between you to be overcome. But you must never abandon your allegiance to Me and My word, no matter how much animosity it brings down on your head. You are not guilty; you are not in the wrong if your life of obedience and your message of love and truth elicit hostility from some and affirmation from others.
Perhaps it's just this warning that Jesus wants to sound when the very next beatitude says, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake." In other words, righteousness must not be compromised in order to make peace with your persecutors. When Jesus pronounces a blessing on you for being persecuted for the sake of righteousness, he clearly subordinates the goal of peace to the goal of righteousness.
In James 3:17 it says "The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable." First pure, then peaceable, not the other way around. And that is the order we have in the beatitudes also (in verses 8 and 9): First, "Blessed are the pure in heart," then, "Blessed are the peacemakers." Purity takes precedence over peace. Purity is the basis of biblical peace. Purity and holiness must not be compromised in order to make peace.
Now I want to deal with one question that a message like this would raise for some people today. Even a casual reading of he scriptures shows us that this message on peacemaking confines itself to the personal dimensions of prayer and greetings and individual reconciliation.
Was Jesus unaware that the iron hand of the Roman Empire rested on the tiny land of the Jews without their consent? Was he aware that Archelaus slaughtered 3,000 Jews at a Passover celebration? Was he aware that the Roman soldiers could conscript any Jew they chose to carry their baggage? Was he aware that Pilate had his soldiers bludgeon a crowd of Jews protesting his stealing from the temple treasury? Was he aware that Pilate massacred Jews on the temple ground and mixed their blood with their sacrifices they were offering? Luke 13:1-5.
Why didn't He talk about the issues of national humiliation, and Roman oppression, and political corruption, and the unbridled militarism of his day? Was He utterly out of touch with the big issues of his day?
Also in Luke 13:1–5 some people confronted Jesus with one of Pilate's atrocities. Here's the way he responded:
There were some present at that very time who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."
He took a major social outrage of injustice and turned it into a demand for personal, individual repentance. "Unless you repent you will all likewise perish!" That's what he always did. Why did he do this? Because for Jesus the eternal destiny of a human soul is a weightier matter, a bigger issue, than the temporal destiny of a nation.
If you come to Jesus with a question about the justice of taxes to Tiberias Caesar, he will turn it into a personal command aimed right at your own heart: "You give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's" (Matthew 22:15–21).
If you come to Jesus with a complaint about the injustice of your brother who will not divide the inheritance with you, he will turn it into a warning to your own conscience, "Man, who made me a judge or divider over you? . . . Take heed and beware of all covetousness; for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" (Luke 12:13–15).
Now let's go back to the question. Why does a message on peacemaking from the Sermon on the Mount focus on the individual issues of prayer and greetings and personal reconciliation?
The answer is because the point of these personal issues in the Sermon on the Mount is to make crystal clear that every individual must become a new creature if you are to have eternal life. You must have a new heart. Without a merciful, pure, peacemaking heart you cannot be called a son of God at the judgment day. Also the values of being a son of God outweighs the values of correcting a sin filled and corrupt world which will be destroyed in the course of time.
Jesus is a clear example of what we must seek to do. Despite all of His divine powers, He never moved to change society externally. Though exceedingly wiser than the entrenched government, He in no way attempted to overthrow it or get a crowd behind Him to vote it out of existence. He did not participate in its politics, nor did He sit in councils or juries judging cases that normally come to those bodies.
The apostle Paul followed His example. For that matter there is no record of any of the apostles concerning themselves with these things, even though they were undoubtedly disgusted with the outrageous injustices perpetrated and were sympathetic toward the victims. Indeed, like Jesus, they all have been victims of human government.
On the other hand they went on record to tell the believers to pray for the government in power even though they were tyrants.
I Timothy 2:1-2 - I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
Romans 13:1 - Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God
I Peter 2:17 - Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.
.As Christians, we are to live in a fine balance; standing for that which is true while seeking unity amongst ourselves whenever possible, standing firm in the faith while showing grace to those who do not, holding our leaders accountable while praying for their wisdom and well-being.
We are to learn from the words of Ezekiel 22:30, "I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one."
We are to be those who stand in the gap, who lift up our nation with all it favors and faults before the throne of God, and pray that He continues to work in our midst.
In Matthew 5:9 Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” A few verses later, Jesus instructs worshipers to leave their gifts at the altar in order to make peace with those who have something against them (5:21-26) and just a few verses later he tells us we should love our enemies and pray for those persecute us, that we might be like our father in heaven who provides the righteous and the unrighteous with sunshine and rain (5:43-45).
In short, God’s children are those who make peace. But what does that mean? James 3:13-18 gives a very clear answer. Read with me:
"Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of
righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."
In this illuminating passage, James, who is writing to a church fractured with partiality, gives nine traits of the peacemaker. Beginning with verse 17, and couched in the language of heavenly wisdom, he gives us nine traits of a peacemaker.
1. Moral purity. Since the origin of division is sin, the origin of peace must be purity. No matter how unified a relationship appears, unconfessed sin will always separate. By contrast, purity will always bring about peace, because a pure heart cannot stand sinful division. Not surprisingly, peacemaking also follows purity of heart in the Beatitudes (see Matt 5:8 and 5:9). If you are going to be a peacemaker, you must have a pure heart—a heart that has been purified by the blood of Christ and that is regularly being washed by the Word of God.
2. Peaceable. Peacemaking is more than just being peaceable, but you cannot make peace, unless you have stopped breaking peace. Therefore, to pursue peace as much as it is possible with you it requires a spirit that is growing gentleness, patience, and meekness. Not surprisingly, in the Beatitudes again, along with purity of heart, poverty of spirit, mourning over sin, meek-ness and mercy all precede the call to be a peacemaker.
3. Gentle. Complementing being peaceable, gentleness is necessary to make peace. We should remember that gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) and it is blessed gift from Jesus Christ. Jesus models a gentle spirit (Matt 11:28-30) and when his disciples follow him, he puts his yoke upon them, that they might learn to be gentle (or meek). Gentleness is similar to peaceableness, but not quite the same. The latter consists of a personal demeanor; the former (gentleness) relates to the way that a Christian responds to opposition or attack. In order to be a peacemaker, we must learn to take a punch, without throwing punches in return.
4. Open to reason. Open to reason is not the same thing as being “open-minded,” at least the way that open-minded is defined today. Today, open-mindedness is the willingness to mute your convictions and affirm the beliefs and behaviors of another—no matter how sadistic or sordid they may be. Scripture calls the followers of Christ to stand for the truth. This will cause conflict. The peacemaker is not someone who avoids conflict at all costs; they are the ones who seek to be peaceable and to pronounce the gospel of peace. They are willing to listen first; they seek to understand, more than being understood. And thus they are open to reason, but they are not willing to turn aside from God, his truth, and his gospel. Sometimes this conviction to follow God means greater hostility and peace-breaking, but it must be remembered: In those instances, the division comes not from sin but from taking a stand for righteousness . Always, the peacemaker must speak the truth in love. But we can never deny the truth for the sake of peacemaking. Peace that comes at the expense of truth is merely peace-faking. In the end, it will crumble like a castle made of mud and iron.
5. Full of mercy and good fruits. Having peace and making peace are not the same. God promises his children that we might experience peace. Isaiah 26:3 says that those who keep their mind on the Lord, God will keep in perfect peace. This is a good starting place, but it is insufficient for peacemaking. Peacemaking is proactive and thus acts of mercy are necessary for assuaging the anger that someone may have; acts of mercy also reinforce our love for others. To make peace doesn’t mean that you have to spend your children’s inheritance on your enemies, but it does require tangible (and often repeated) acts of kindness to win the heart of others.
6. Impartial and sincere. I take these two adjectives together, because impartiality towards men can only be maintained and enforced when our hearts are sincerely in love with God. In other words, the only way to avoid a party spirit is to have a heart ruled by the Spirit of Truth. But ruled by the Spirit, we can make judgments according to the Lord and his love, not according to our-selves and likes and dislikes. If we are to be peacemakers, we must regularly submit ourselves to the Lord. In some ways, this trait goes back to the first. Without purity of heart, we cannot be sincere. And without simple and sincere devotion to God, we will be partial and thus unable to maintain peace, except with those who think just like we do.
7. Willing to be patient. Patience is not a term found in James 3, but it is a principle derived from verse 18: “And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” In short, it is a reminder that peacemaking does not happen immediately. In a Genesis 3 world, things take time to heal and sometimes emotional wounds and legal offenses will always cause pain. This is not to deny the power of the gospel; it is simply to acknowledge that the harvest of righteousness does not grow overnight, and that the measure of fruit will differ from one situa-tion to the next. Peacemakers do not despair over the slow growth of righteousness, they give the field back over to the Lord of the harvest and ask him to do abundantly more than can otherwise be imagined or accomplished. Peacemaking is a long term process and one that will depend on the timing of the Lord.
8. Willing to go the extra mile . Borrowing language from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, this trait requires the peacemaker to do more than the peace-breaker. You will notice in James the contrast between worldly wisdom and heavenly wisdom, that wisdom of this world springs from two things: jealousy and selfish ambition. Yes, peace-breaking also stems from demonic influence (i.e., false teaching) and the lack of the Spirit, but ultimately the heart of the peace-breaker is driven by a strong desire to promote self.
By contrast, there are at least seven items related to making peace. Why the numerical difference? I would suggest that it comes from the fact that making peace is far more difficult than breaking peace, and that it takes far longer to restore a relationship than it does to destroy one. A marriage takes years to build; it takes one unfaithful night to destroy. A father willingly assumes that his child is faithful, until one day he finds that junior had stolen one hundred dollars from his wallet. Accordingly, those who make peace will not grumble at the extra steps it takes to make peace. Being a peacemaker naturally takes extra work, but Christ also promises to be present in the work.
9. Growing from the gospel. Last, James summarizes his argument by concluding with a fruitful illustration. A harvest of righteousness (which I take to mean all the characteristics previously mentioned) comes from peacemakers who sow “in peace.” What does that mean? Simply this: When men and women are led by the Spirit of Christ and the wisdom that comes from above, they will seek peace that accords with the gospel.
More simply, true peace grows from the seeds of the gospel. In other words, with holiness, peaceableness, gentleness, firm conviction matched with an open ear, Christian peacemakers (which is a redundant statement) will act with mercy, impartiality, and sincerity. The result of such actions will restore broken relationships and model for others a kind of life that is bent on making not breaking peace.
All together, this final trait is both the cornerstone and capstone for all the rest. The nine traits of peacemaking can only come from someone who is empowered by the Spirit to walk in according with the gospel. In truth, the gospel produces lots of effects in those who truly believe, but peacemaking should be one of the most visible and attractive to non-believers.
Now my final point. As Christians, it’s very important for us to understand Matthew 5:8 correctly. The scripture does not say:- “Blessed are the peacekeepers. …”
That’s a drastic error, even though it’s only a slight change in terms.
Peacemakers strive to create peace and attempt to reconcile things and people that are at odds with one another.
Peacekeepers, on the other hand, strive to keep peace at all costs.
Solomon, in Proverbs 10:10 (NLT), says, “People who wink at wrong cause trouble, but a bold reproof promotes peace.” Peacekeepers, by not acknowledging wrongdoings in an effort to maintain peace, are actually winking at them.
Peacekeepers and peacemakers can actually be considered complete opposites of one an-other.
We have often confused peacemaking with peacekeeping. Furthermore, if we have been hurt when we misguidedly think pursuing peace is keeping quiet or not speaking truth or only sharing part of the truth. We equate being passive with peacemaking. We withhold and bend truth not speaking how we really feel. We may be thinking that we are doing what is best for the relationship. However, peace is far more than the absence of conflict it is the presence of mercy and justice. True peace produces a relationship that brings even enemies together (Proverbs 16:7).
Peacemakers do not keep their mouths shut when they see improper behavior. Rather they are the ones who are willing to expose wrong conduct. Peacemakers see a problem and immediately go to work to correct, reconcile and restore. Peacemakers boldly confront no matter what the cost to themselves in order to establish the Kingdom of God on Earth even as it is in Heaven. That is, they go into the thick of the battle to resolve the conflict (Matthew 11:12. Revelations 12:11). Nevertheless, they remember that our fight is not against people but the spiritual forces behind them (Ephesians 6:12).
In this ferocious world, may we walk as peacemakers, bringing to peace to the hostile, such that Christ gets all the glory.
