Stay In Your Shoes

Blessed Are the Peacemakers

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

What is a peacemaker?

Shalom/Eriene

Completeness; wholeness; all as it should be

This is the only time in the NT the word “peacemaker is used”

Because shalom/eriene is connected to God’s best it is impossible to be a peacemaker if you are not connected to God.

Peacemaking is not merely about settling arguments or preventing conflict; peacemaking is about bringing all of God’s best to be in a given situation.

They will be called “sons of God”

One way to know who a child belongs to is to look at the attributes they have inherited from their parents

When we bring God’s best into a situation we are showing the world what our father looks like

Sometimes Being a Peacemaker Brings Conflict

Matthew 10:34-36 ““Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the 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 person’s enemies will be those of his own household.”

Sometimes bringing God’s best into a situation will instigate conflict

Jesus himself said things that put him in conflict with people not following God

Matt 23:27 ““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.”

Matt 3:7 “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

Mark 2:27-28 “And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.””

John 6:56-60 “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?””

Jesus would not create conflict for conflict’s sake, but always to reveal what God’s desire was for people

Because of Jesus We Have Peace with God

Romans 5:1-5 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

The peace we have with God is because of Jesus- not our own

This means it is not something you can hoard or brag about

The peace we have with God does not prevent us from suffering

The things of God do not make Sense to the World

1 Cor 2:14-16 “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”

There are only 2 options here: someone lead by the natural spirit and those led by the Spirit of God

The natural person sees no need in consulting the words and teachings of Jesus

When we bow to our natural spirit we ignore or avoid the teachings of Christ that make us uncomfortable

We should not be surprised when teachings of the Bible create confusion or conflict with those not lead by the Spirit

Have you ever talked lingo with someone who has no idea what youre talking about?

If you’re not a musician do you know what a fermata is? Or a staccato note? Or DC Al Fine?

Just because someone is in church dose not mean they are being lead by the Spirit

Peacemaking is not laying down

1 Cor 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

Holding to your convictions and being gentle is nor an either/or; it is a both/and

Phil 4:4-5 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;”

Jesus never compromised on the truth but was never belligerent

The world needs the truth of Christ but the world also needs compassionate messengers