BEATITUDES SERIES:
PEACEMAKERS
MATTHEW 5:9
#Beatitudes
READ Matthew 5:9 (ESV)
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
We start this morning with a video that is under 4 minutes and introduces the central idea of Matthew 5:9. One of the key phrases that caught my attention as I watched as the phrase “Taking what is broken and restoring it to wholeness.” Let’s watch.
VIDEO INTRODUCTION… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLYORLZOaZE [3:48]
READ Matthew 5:9 (ESV)
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
“Taking what is broken and restoring it to wholeness.” I like that phrase a lot. That is what a peacemaker does. That is what Jesus Christ did for us and so when we act like Him, we do the same. As I was thinking about Matthew 5:9, another passage from the New Testament came to mind and I believe fleshes out Matthew 5:9 very well and all that Jesus means to teach us.
READ 2 Corinthians 5:14–21 (ESV)
“14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that One has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
PEACE CHRIST GAVE US (verses 14-17)
The first part of the passage, verses 14-17, focus on the peace that Jesus Christ gives us. If I were going to summarize verses 14-17 in one word, I would use: regeneration. Regeneration is a fancy long word that means “new birth” (Vine’s NT and OT Words, page 517).
Regeneration in verse 14 in that we die and now are under love.
Regeneration in verse 15 in that we live for God not ourselves.
Regeneration in verse 16 in that we are alive spiritually.
Regeneration in verse 17 in that we are a new creation in Christ.
Paul says we are “in Christ.” Before we get to the action oriented part of the passage, the Apostle Paul explains some thought processes and ways of thinking that we should have as Christians. Paul explains to us, and to those to whom he is writing, that we are “in Christ.” That is a particular way of being. Christians are “in Christ” which means we are new people and have a new position with God because of Jesus Christ.
When I see that phrase “in Christ,” I cannot help but think of John 15 where Jesus Christ explains what that phrase “in Christ” means. Jesus uses a gardening metaphor to explain what it means to be “in Christ”:
READ JOHN 15:1-6
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”
Being in Christ means we have accepted the Word of Jesus Christ and we believe in Him. Being in Christ means not only that we believe in Him, but that fruit and action and results come from that belief. Being in Christ means that the faith that we profess impacts our actions, attitudes, ways of living, worldview, the way we manage money, what we think about racial issues, how we define sexuality, and every aspect of our lives. Being in Christ means love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control are fruit of our lives. Being in Christ also means, as we will see in a minute, sharing Christ with others who do not know Him.
Paul says, “the old has gone and the new has come.” Believers in Jesus are brand new people because of Jesus. Christians view their pasts differently than others who are not in Christ. Christians neither hang onto the past nor are we defined by it. Whether our past has been filled with goodness or filled with pain, we let go of the past so that in the present and in the future the Holy Spirit can fill us for God’s divine purposes.
Grace covers guilt which is peace with God.
We are lovers of the clean slate which is peace with God.
Forgiveness rules our memories which is peace with God.
Holiness now fuels our motivations which is peace with God.
Our identity is in Jesus Christ which is peace with God.
ILLUSTRATION… https://gfmanchester.com/regeneration-are-you-a-pig-or-a-human
Regeneration is an important concept in Christianity. Charles Spurgeon was a minister in the late 1800s in England and he gave this analogy to help us try to understand regeneration. Imagine a room with two sides. On one side of the room, a meal is prepared by the best chef in England, and on the other side, a pig trough, filled with pig slop. One side of the room a fine meal and on the other pig slop.
What would happen if you released a pig in that room? Every single time the pig would go to the pig trough. Why? Because it’s a pig. That’s what pigs do.
Now suppose the pig was supernaturally transformed into a human being. The being went from pig to human. Now send them into that same divided room with a fine meal on one side and pig slop on the other. The being would not want to eat from the pig trough any more. They wouldn’t even take pig food without vomiting, and so immediately they would go to the fine meal. Why? Because they are a human now. They are not a pig anymore.
Charles Spurgeon said, now if you are truly converted and heading for Heaven, then that analogy has just described your conversion. Regeneration is when God supernaturally changes our will and desires from a sin loving and righteous hating pig, to a sin hating and righteous loving human.
GOSPEL PRESENTATION
I’d like to stop for a moment and highlight this very important part about the Gospel Message… especially for those who have not accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior yet. Jesus made a way of peace and a way for us to be made right with God.
So much of this life is pig slop. So much of life is lost-ness and feeling empty. Jesus Christ came to change us and make peace between us and God. If you do not have peace in your heart with God today, I’d love to chat with you after the service. Or we can set up a time during the week to talk and pray and read Scripture together.
Jesus came to be The Peacemaker between you and God.
PEACE WE GIVE OTHERS (verses 18-21)
The second part of this passage, verses 18-21, shares the same word with us 4 times in just a few verses: reconciliation. Reconciliation is a fancy long word that means “to change” and is a relationship word that means “to change from enmity [hostility] to friendship.” The Bible uses this word to show us what God accomplishes by exercising grace towards us in the form of Jesus’ death on the cross (Vine’s OT and NT Words, page 513-514).
Here is where we begin to see the connection between Matthew 5:9 and the teaching about peacemakers and 2 Corinthians 5 about reconciliation. It is very much the same thing. Peacemaking is reconciliation. Reconciliation is peacemaking.
The chief function of the apostles was to act as channels of communication between God and human beings to explain what God has done for them by way of His Son, Jesus.
What has He done?
What did Jesus do for us?
The Christian faith is primarily concerned with God’s personal relationship with men and women. Unfortunately, because of sin, we by default have an estranged relationship with God. We enter this life divorced from Him. Sin means that people can and do ignore God. Sin has placed a huge obstacle between us and God.
God sent Jesus Christ as the way of reconciliation… a way of peace. He had a message of reconciliation and He is also the way of reconciliation. He had a message of peace with God and was at the same time the peacemaker. Reconciliation means forgiveness takes place between God and us and Jesus pays the price for it. God poured our sins and the guilt for our sins onto Jesus Christ while He was on the cross. He paid for us. He suffered for us. He made reconciliation possible. That is why the verses say that because of Jesus, it is possible for sins not to be counted against us.
Where else does the Bible talk about reconciliation?
READ ROMANS 5:10-11
“For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
READ COLOSSIANS 1:19-20
“For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, 20 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.”
Reconciliation is about building bridges and forgiveness and grace between us and God. Building bridges is peacemaking.
Offering forgiveness or helping someone find forgiveness is peacemaking.
Helping someone understand the grace of God for them is peacemaking.
The message about reconciliation between us and God is our job and purpose and makes us peacemakers. You see, once we ourselves find peace with God, we then should want to share that way of peace with those around us. We become peacemaker ambassadors.
The last part of this passage speaks about our responsibilities as a peacemaking ambassador. It echoes Matthew 5:9.
There are several truths we can draw from the Apostle Paul calling us “Christ’s ambassadors,” which give us ways to think, attitudes, and actions in our lives. Paul calls us ambassadors for a reason! We are called to be peacemakers for a reason!
First, we are citizens of Heaven. As believers, we are part of the Kingdom of God that is not of this world (John 18:36). That means this world and the purposes of this world do not define us. That means we follow the rules and way of living of Heaven and not Earth. That means this world is not our home because we are just passing through. We see this emphasis elsewhere in the New Testament from the Apostle Paul.
READ PHILIPPIANS 3:20
“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Second, we are ambassadors with a particular message and particular responsibilities. Jesus says:
READ Acts 1:8
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
We are peacemaking witnesses that Jesus Christ came to bring reconciliation between us and God. We are to share what we have experienced in Jesus Christ. We are to share the message of hope and peace in Christ. Our message for others, who are still lost as citizens of this world, is that God sent Jesus Christ to reconcile all people to Himself by offering forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Our responsibilities extend to anyone we meet who are not yet citizens of Heaven. Family, friends, co-workers, people we like, people we dislike… anyone who does not know about Jesus.
READ Matthew 5:9 (ESV)
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
That is who we should be.
ILLUSTRATION… Peacemaker (p)
I was thinking about peacemakers and such so I did a google search for images because we always have a power point to go with the sermon. I laughed to myself a little and did some reflecting when the images came up. Here is what I found:
[show image]
The first image is about mediation and one person bringing two people together.
The second image is one person in the middle of two very angry people.
The third image is 2 colt ‘peacemaker’ revolvers.
The fourth image is a dove with an olive branch.
The fifth is 1 ‘peacemaker’ revolver.
If we ignore the dove with an olive branch which is a common symbol for peace, I’d like you to notice the other four images. We are looking at 50/50 here. 50% of the images sees peacemaking as we have been talking about today. None of them show peace with God, but we’ll sidestep that for now. The other 50% show making peace by taking out the opposition. That would not be what we have been talking about today.
I chuckled because half the time we want to make peace and half the time we want to make peace, but not in the right way. The images just made be pause and reflect. I’d like us to be in the 0% represented that pursue peace with God and the 50% that pursue peace with each other.
READ Matthew 5:9 (ESV)
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
CONCLUSION IN PRAYER
INVITATION
