You Will Be Called Sons Of God-Matthew 5:9 Series

Matthew 5:1-12 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them, saying: 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you

Introduction

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

There are eight beatitudes. So far we have covered six, and those first six all came right out of the Old Testament. The King has arrived, and when He gives His manifesto of what His kingdom is going to be like He lays a foundation from some of the most fundamental ethics of the Old Testament Scriptures. But now, the last two beatitudes are new. Jesus is about to introduce two new ethical standards that are not drawn directly from the Old Testament, and that are unique to this new Kingdom.

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Matthew 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness

Jesus’ own authority

It is obvious from the first six that Jesus did not dismiss or overturn or contradict or ignore the Old Testament. However nor did He limit Himself to the Old Testament Scriptures. Jesus very often stood on the authority of the Old Testament Scriptures. But just as often He stood on His own authority. When I teach, the only time what I say has any authority is when I can point to Scripture and say, “It is written...” But when Jesus taught, what He said had just as much authority whether He said “It is written” or “I say unto you.” Sometimes He quoted the Bible and said, “Thus saith the LORD,” but other times He said something new and said, “Thus saith Me.”

That is a claim to deity. Jesus is Almighty God and so everything that ever came out of His mouth were the words of God. And His commands were every bit as binding on us as anything God ever said. This is His kingdom, and He is the King of this kingdom and He makes all the laws and sets all the standards.

I searched high and low in the Old Testament and I could not find any passage that said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” In fact, the word “peacemaker” does not even appear in the Old Testament. What kind of peacemaking is Jesus talking about here? The next beatitude is a blessing on those who are persecuted, insulted, and falsely accused. This is the kind of peacemaking that gets people so infuriated with you that they come after you with persecution. How can Jesus possibly call that peacemaking? Especially since Jesus said things like this:

Matthew 10:34 Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

How is it that He calls us to be peacemakers when He is not a bringer of peace? Obviously we are going to have to dig in and figure out exactly what kind of peace Jesus is calling us to make, and what kind of peace He said He did not come to make. So it critical that we get the right definition of peace here.

Sonship

But before we define it, let’s take a few minutes thinking about the blessing Jesus pronounces on the peacemakers, because it is this blessing that makes the beatitude so unique to the New Testament. The idea of having peaceful relationships and people getting along and loving one another and all that – there is plenty of that in the Old Testament. What is new is the promise –

Matthew 5:9 …They will be called sons of God.

Old Testament saints were not sons

Now for most people that promise probably does not sound all that spectacular. And part of that is because we live in a culture that is deluded into thinking that all people are God’s children. We are not. In fact many times the very reason why God’s children are called God’s children in the Bible is to distinguish them from the rest of humanity. Most people are not God’s children – they are Satan’s children. In fact, not even the Old Testament saints were God’s children. Sonship is a kind of relationship with God that not even people like David or Daniel or Abraham or Moses enjoyed. Israel, as a nation, was considered God’s son in one sense, but not the individual people.