Kingdom Living 7: The Peacemakers

Matthew 5:9 CSB

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

INTRO—

“Peace, man.” [[Like Fillmore (George Carlin) from “Cars” Disney movie series.]]

Psalm 34.12-14 “Who is someone who desires life, loving a long life to enjoy what is good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech. Turn away from evil and do what is good; seek peace and pursue it.”

The Beatitude Challenge...

This beatitude may be one of the most challenging [Jesus, you expect me to live like that?]…and is (should be, must be) one of the more desired [Jesus, you make me able to live like that!]—both in the picture of KINGDOM LIVING and the promise given.

THE BLESSED are “The Peacemakers” [Matthew 5.9a]

Matthew 5.9a “Blessed are the peacemakers...”

PEACEMAKER: Worker for Peace, Peaceable, Pacificatory [Two words - ‘Peace’ + ‘Do’]

[[Only here in entire Bible]]

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8: Matthew, Mark, Luke 1) The Beatitudes (5:3–10)

Jesus does not limit the peacemaking to only one kind, and neither will his disciples. In the light of the gospel, Jesus himself is the supreme peacemaker, making peace between God and man, and man and man. Our peacemaking will include the promulgation of that gospel. It must also extend to seeking all kinds of reconciliation. Instead of delighting in division, bitterness, strife, or some petty “divide-and-conquer” mentality, disciples of Jesus delight to make peace wherever possible.

[Author: D A Carson; all these writers I share with you today have written their comments prior to 2000…some prior to 1900! (So, the emphasis of primacy for Christians to be peacemakers is not a new acquiescence to progressive theology, etc.)]

Romans 12.18 “If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8: Matthew, Mark, Luke 1) The Beatitudes (5:3–10)

“There is no more godlike work to be done in this world than peacemaking” (Broadus). This beatitude must have been shocking to Zealots when Jesus preached it, when political passions were inflamed (Morison).

[Author: D A Carson]

Expository Thoughts on Matthew Matthew 5:1–12: The Beatitudes

The Lord Jesus calls those blessed, who are peacemakers. He means those who use all their influence to promote peace and charity on earth, in private and in public, at home and abroad. He means those who strive to make all men love one another, by teaching that Gospel which says, “love is the fulfilling of the law.”

[Author: J C Ryle]

Romans 13.10 “Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law.”

[[Romans 13.8-9 “Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not covet; and any other commandment, are summed up by this commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself.”]]

Within the Family of Faith

Matthew 5.23-25 “So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Reach a settlement quickly with your adversary while you’re on the way with him to the court, or your adversary will hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison.”

Outside the Family of Faith

Matthew 5.43-47 ““You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same?”

In a world that seems to thrive on unrest, fear, and fighting (especially for the sole purpose of “winning” or gaining or keeping power)—we are called to be a humble people acquainted with sorrow, empty needing to be filled with God’s righteousness moving us to show mercy, holiness…AND PEACE.”

…WHY, WHY, WHY?

THE BLESSED “Will Be Called Sons of God” [Matthew 5.9b]

Matthew 5.9b “...for they will be called sons of God.”

[Matthew 5.45 “so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”]

SONS: Male Descendants, Offspring, Children

(WILL BE) CALLED: Named, ID’ed, Addressed, Labeled

Verb Future Passive Indicative = “they will be called (by someone else)”

Acts 11.26 “and when he found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught large numbers. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.”

[[In Semitic usage, name reveals the character…they are called such because they are such.]]

Ephesians 2.15-19 “he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace. He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death. He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household,”

CONCL—

Every Christian’s Call …

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (7. The Peacemakers (9))

Every Christian, according to this beatitude, is meant to be a peacemaker both in the community and in the church. True, Jesus was to say later that he had ‘not come to bring peace, but a sword’, for he had come ‘to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’, so that a man’s enemies would be ‘those of his own household’. And what he meant by this was that conflict would be the inevitable result of his coming, even in one’s own family, and that, if we are to be worthy of him, we must love him best and put him first, above even our nearest and dearest relatives.2 It is clear beyond question throughout the teaching of Jesus and his apostles, however, that we should never ourselves seek conflict or be responsible for it. On the contrary, we are called to peace, we are actively to ‘pursue’ peace, we are to ‘strive for peace with all men’, and so far as it depends on us, we are to ‘live peaceably with all’.

[Author: John Stott]

Reminding us that ‘not peace’ will find us…we need not seek to create it.

Matthew 10.34-37 “Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. The one who loves a father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; the one who loves a son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”

1 Peter 3.8-12 “Finally, all of you be like-minded and sympathetic, love one another, and be compassionate and humble, not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you may inherit a blessing. For the one who wants to love life and to see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit, and let him turn away from evil and do what is good. Let him seek peace and pursue it, because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do what is evil.”

[Underline is Psalm 34.12-16]

Only light overcomes darkness. To fight darkness with darkness guarantees darkness. [Rom. 12.21 “Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.”]

As we shall see, this righteousness given by God to his people meets with a certain reaction. (And why wouldn’t it? Especially when this kind of righteousness all too often gets a reaction from US!)

INVITATION:

Salvation

Peace

Consistency

Matthew 5:9 CSB

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.