Blessed Are The Peacemakers
Please stand with me as we go over our current memory Scripture:
Matthew 5:6-8
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
And our memory Scripture “refresher” verse is:
John 1:1-4
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
“Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”
Today we will be reading from Matthew 5:1-12
And, we will be taking a look at the seventh Beatitude.
Matthew 5:9 says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Peacemaker … what is a peacemaker?
The dictionary says that a peacemaker is, “… a person, group, or nation that tries to make peace, especially by reconciling parties who disagree, quarrel, or fight.”
I went to school with an anti-peacemaker. His name was Charlie.
He would go from one person to another telling lies about what the other had said or done. He would goad them with the hope that they would actually have a fist fight with each other.
If he was successful, he would stand back and laugh and enjoy the whole thing. Of course, he himself was too much of a coward to fight anyone.
I don’t know if you have ever known anyone like Charlie or was he just one of a kind? Probably not. Anyway, I think we can all agree that it is the Lord’s will to turn all anti-peacemakers into peacemakers.
With that in mind let’s go ahead and read Matthew 5:1-12
(Prayer for help)
Today, I don’t want to review all of the previous Beatitudes but let’s just take a quick look at a few of them.
First of all, the word blessed does not mean “happy”. In order for a person to be “blessed” there must be Someone who is bestowing a blessing and someone who is being blessed. In return the one who is being blessed blesses or praises the One who is bestowing the blessing in a perpetual cycle of relationship.
An example of this would be a godly marriage where the husband and wife are in a fully committed, loving relationship that looks for the best in each other; a relationship of encouragement and patience; a relationship where the husband blesses the wife and the wife blesses him back.
Now, just take that to the next level where there is a love relationship between you and the Lord with Him bestowing blessings upon you and you blessing Him back! What could be better?
This blessedness is the only true blessedness in the universe.
The world may offer you a cheap imitation of blessedness but it will never satisfy and it will eventually eave you sad, empty and looking for another “fix” of false blessedness.
OK. With that in mind let’s look at the three Beatitudes leading up to “blessed are the peacemakers” by starting at Matthew 5:6 where it says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
This hunger and thirst for righteousness in the heart of a truly born again Christian is an act of God calling that person into a deeper relationship with Him. When we respond to God’s calling to hunger and thirst for righteousness one of the things we will learn is to be merciful.
Matthew 5:7 says,
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.”
The truly merciful person will not desire mercy in order to be shown mercy but as a person hungers and thirsts after righteousness they will desire to be merciful because their Lord Jesus Christ IS merciful and their driving passion is to be like Him.
Allowing God’s mercy to pour through you to others results in the Lord’s blessings being given to you and you respond back by blessing and praising Him.
As the blessed Christian learns to become more like the Lord they will sense the call from God to be pure in heart as it says in Matthew 5:8,
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Now, we know that even the truly born again Christian who desires to please the Lord with all of their heart will never reach sinless perfection in this life. BUT … the Lord would NOT call us to be pure in heart and then leave us to try to accomplish it on our own.
When the Lord calls us to something He then makes a way for it to be accomplished by His grace. It is not by our strength but it is by His strength flowing into us and then through us that the Lord accomplishes His work.
Finally we come to Matthew 5:9 which says:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
So, what is a peacemaker in the sense of this verse?
Are we to go around looking for people who are arguing about something and then inserting ourselves into their conversations in order to bring about peace?
That is a possibility, but the Lord is absolutely calling us to do more than to just help others to settle personal conflicts.
And if the Lord is calling us to do more than just help others with personal conflicts we need to know the One who is calling us.
How does the Bible describe Jesus when it comes to being a peacemaker?
Isaiah 9:6 describes Jesus in this way …
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
That prophecy was given to Isaiah about 700 years before Jesus was born. When Jesus came He gave this word to His disciples …
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27
And, in Acts 10:36 Peter says this,
“You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.”
So, when we look at these verses we can see that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, the source of true peace. We can see that Jesus is the one who gives us true peace and that this true peace comes only through Jesus.
So, when Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” what kind of peace do you think He was talking about?
Was He talking about world peace? No.
That won’t take place until He returns.
Was He talking about peace between individuals? Not really.
Peace between individuals could be a result of the peace He was talking about but it wasn’t THE peace He meant.
The peace Jesus was talking about was the peace that passes all understanding and THAT peace is ONLY found in a love relationship between Jesus and you!
But, here’s the thing, Jesus doesn’t just call us to have personal peace but He calls us to be peacemakers!
So, how does that happen?
We come to know true peace when we enter into a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Right?
Well, then it makes sense that others will find that same peace when THEY come to know Jesus as Lord. Right????
Imagine finding “something” so precious that any attempt to place a value on it would be a complete failure; that this “something” was literally priceless. No one could buy it. No one could earn it. No one would ever deserve to have it.
Imagine that this “something” is also limitless!
Now, imagine that this precious “something” is also imperceptible; unable to be proven in any of the five senses we posses.
You can’t see it. You can’t hear it. You can’t smell it. You can’t taste it. And, you can’t touch it. But you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is real.
You also know that anyone who does not have this “something” is doomed to a hollow empty life on earth and a terrifying eternal afterlife.
And, you know that anyone who DOES have this “something” is able to have a life full of joy and peace even though they may live in the worst of all earthly circumstances.
And, you know that anyone who DOES have this “something” will enjoy a glorious eternal afterlife.
You HAVE this “something” if you are a follower of Jesus Christ. This “something” is a relationship with Jesus. All of the sinful things in your past have been forgiven. All of the guilt and shame that resulted from the past sins have been erased.
You now live in a blessed relationship with the Lord.
You are blessed because you hunger and thirst after more and more righteousness.
You are being blessed because you are allowing the mercy of God to flow through you to others who need Him so badly.
You are blessed because you are allowing the purity of an unimaginable God to purify you in a way you are incapable of doing yourself.
And, you are blessed because you now have the mission of taking this imperceptible, priceless, eternal treasure and sharing it with others! And, you are blessed because you are faithful in doing so and as a result you praise and bless the Lord in return.
There is a word that describes this blessedness that comes to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, to those who are merciful and pure in heart, to those who are spiritual peacemakers.
What is that word? It is ineffable. Ineffable means, “incapable of being expressed or described in words; inexpressible.”
The blessedness that comes from knowing Jesus, from constantly hungering and thirsting for greater righteousness, from showing mercy and being pure in heart, from being a peacemaker is ineffable; it is incapable of being expressed or described in words.
So, how do we do that if all we have in words and the matter of this blessedness is ineffable? How do we do it?
We don’t. At least we don’t do it by ourselves. The Holy Spirit does it through us and we seek His help through prayer.
The words of the greatest orator who ever lived could not convince anyone of the blessedness of knowing and spiritually growing in relationship with Jesus UNLESS the Holy Spirit was bring his words to life in the heart of the listeners.
And yet, the Holy Spirit will use the poor grammar and stuttering of the least of these IF the least of these is in a blessed relationship with Jesus.
Do you want to engage in being a peacemaker where you are involved in bringing others to Jesus?
Do you desire to work in conjunction with the Holy Spirit to tell others about the inexpressible union that can come from knowing Jesus as Savior?
You can! You REALLY can!
But how do you when it comes to the Beatitudes checklist?
Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness or are you happy with what you have right now?
Are you allowing God’s mercy to flow through you to others?
Are you allowing God to continually purify your heart more and more?
Do you have an unquenchable desire to tell others about the “… the peace of God, which transcends all understanding …”; the peace that ONLY comes from the blessedness of knowing and following Jesus? (Philippians 4:7)
If you do then you ARE in a blessed relationship with Jesus and you need to “keep on keeping on” as they say,
Keep on hungering and thirsting for more righteousness and be blessed.
Keep on letting God’s amazing mercy flow into and through you and be blessed!
Keep on letting God purify your heart and be blessed.
And … keep on being a spiritual peacemaker by letting the Holy Spirit speak through you as you tell others about the ineffable, inexpressible blessedness that comes from knowing Jesus!
Final thoughts and prayer.
