2024-03-10 Do You Have Peace?

Well, we are continuing our series on the / / Beatitudes this week and we are coming to the end of this series, we will finish it next week, and then it’s already Palm Sunday and Easter coming up soon. This year is moving fast!

So, let’s not waste any time, I’m going to jump right in this morning. We’re going to read Matthew 5:3-12, the Beatitudes in their full and then we’ll get right to what we’re looking at today. I won’t do any review of what we’ve done. If you have missed weeks at all, you can go back on our website and catch up.

Also, if you were online last Sunday, it did cut out about 12 minutes before we were done, and I have put on our website the full version. So you can get to that as well.

Let’s read Matthew 5, and as we do, allow yourself to envision Jesus saying this to us this morning. This is not me preaching for my own good. This is not just words on a page. There is power in this, power to transform us as we follow the way of Jesus. When Jesus gave the disciples, what we call the great commission, this great sending out to do the work of the kingdom as he was about to ascend into heaven, he said this, / / “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Two hugely important components in this commission that are vital for our journey as Christians.

/ / Teach These New Disciples

Jesus was a teacher, a rabbi, and he raised his disciples to be the same. Yes, he did amazing miracles, yes he healed people, delivered them, set them free, but he always taught them. We must have a high value on learning and applying what we learn to our lives. For two thousand years this is the way the church has been transformed into the likeness of Christ, by following His teaching, by being faithful to what Jesus said.

/ / I Am With You

When Jesus says this I hear it not just from Jesus, but from the Triune God we serve: Father, Son & Holy Spirit. 10 days after this point is when the Holy Spirit shows up. Why would Jesus say as he is leaving, “don’t forget, I’m always with you…. except right now, right now I’m leaving…”

If you remember the first chapter of the book of Acts, it says, Acts 1:9-11 says, / / After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him. As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”

He’s been taken from you? But he just said he would be with us always…

Exactly. He is sending his Holy Spirit to be with us.

Remember what he said in John 16:7, / / “…it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you.”

These two things work together. As we learn, we invite the Holy Spirit to work in us. As we follow Him, as we gaze into his glory, as we spend time in his presence, we are more and more transformed into His likeness. It is a supernatural work that involves very natural obedience. St Augustine said, / / “Without God, we cannot, but without us, God will not.” There is a partnership and a journey of walking together that causes in us the transformation we so desire for our lives.

I want to be more like Christ. I want to be more set free. I want to be kinder, more loving, more gentle, more caring. I want to be all of those things for my wife, for my daughter, for my friends and family, for those I don’t know, and even those who oppose me, right? To be more like Christ is the goal. And that takes both word and spirit. It takes learning and doing, and it takes resting and the power of God at work in us - it can not be one or the other - that doesn’t work.

Ok, so Matthew 5:3-12: listening as if Jesus were right here speaking this to us. Inviting us into His way of kingdom living.

/ / “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

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

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

So we’ve gotten through 6 of these already and this morning we are going to look at vs 9, / / Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.

Alright, so my first question for us this morning is, / / Do you have peace?

If Jesus is saying that it’s the peacemakers that are blessed, then there’s a real need for those who carry, live in and embody peace in such a way that they can relay it to others…

So, we’re going to look at three things this morning, but over all of this, I want you to keep in mind this question, “Do you have peace?” Because in all the situations we might want to bring peace, we have to have peace. We can’t bring what we don’t have. We can’t give what we don’t have. And if there’s something the world needs right now, it’s peace.

Let’s look at that word first and then we’ll ask some questions about it.

So this word peacemaker, is a compound word obviously, it is the word / / make and the word peace, which is to make peace, to establish harmony.

So that’s the first part. You are a maker, a producer, a bringer of this thing called peace.

Second word. Peace. Let’s read another verse that jesus uses the root word for peace in. In John 16, which is this portion of scripture that includes John 13-17, we call it the farewell discourse, basically Jesus’ last big chunk of talking to his disciples, it starts with Jesus washing his disciple’s feet at the last supper, and then ends with the opening of chapter 18 as he leaves dinner and goes to the garden of Gethsemane, where he is arrested. So it’s the last stuff Jesus is saying to his closest followers. And in John 16:33 he says this, / / “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

“I have told you all this…” told them what? Up to that point, 3 chapters of stuff. Washing their feet, a new commandment to love each other, “I am the way the truth & the life”, the promise of the holy spirit, I am the vine, you are the branches, stay connected to me, more about the work of the Holy Spirit… All of that. A huge encouragement in light of what is going to happen in the coming moments, days and years after He is gone.

And WHY has he told them this, so they can have ‘peace’. Ok, so that’s why we’re looking at this verse.

Let’s just add this as a side note, / / the teachings of Jesus bring peace. So, asking our question, “Do you have peace?”, one of the responses is, if not, turn to the teachings of Jesus. What has he said? Because he said these things to his disciples so that they would have peace. But we’ll get to that in a bit.

First, what is this word peace? What does it really mean?

So, this word peace has 6 different meanings, all of which are important here:

/ / A state of national tranquility

This literally means the freedom or exemption from the rage and havoc of war. Our world certainly could use some of that right now.

/ / Peace between individuals

think harmony, peace, think of relationships restored.

/ / Security, Safety, Prosperity, Felicity (the state of being happy, to a high degree)

Strong’s dictionary further defines this as “because peace and harmony make and keep things safe and prosperous” - that’s a brilliant and beautiful description of how peace makes us feel and how peace allows us to pursue life to the fullest. Peace around us gives us confidence to pursue a full life without fear.

/ / Of the Messiah’s peace

The way that leads to peace, so this is talking about our salvation in Jesus Christ. we have made peace with God because of Jesus Christ. This is the peace between us and God.

/ / of Christianity, the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is.

This would be that contentment that Paul talks about when he says he’s found a place of being content whether he has or has not because he’s found a peace in the eternity of Christ. When you are really assured of your eternity destiny what do you have to fear in this earth? Honestly, I know we probably all deal with a bit of anxiety or worry at some point, but the more assured we are of heaven, of God, of our salvation in Jesus, the more we are free to truly live our lives here on earth.

So, in the same way as having peace around us gives us natural confidence to life a full life, having this internal peace of soul because of our salvation, gives us emotional and spiritual confidence in this life.

/ / The blessed state of devout and upright men after death

Think of what we say when people pass, Rest in Peace. We are talking there about the peace we experience on the other side of the grave. When we are with Christ in eternity, in heaven. And obviously that is a peace we don’t understand yet.

Ok, so it’s a big word, right? Lots of different avenues and aspects of peace to think about, consider and look at. But even though there are all of these different ways of looking at or understanding peace, they all encompass a similarity. The troubles of this world are removed. / / Whether that is from war, relationship, conflict both internal or external, and eternally, the worry and trouble are removed.

So, when Jesus says, Blessed are those who go and make peace in this world, can you hear him saying, Those who through their presence, words, love, and action, are removing the worry, anxiety, conflict and struggle of the people around them, allowing them to feel a release from the pressures of life and rest in the assurance of God’s blessing.

I think that’s what we are going for here. When you walk into the office, do people think, “Ahh, I’m really glad she’s here today, the office just feels different when she’s here.” “Wow, am I glad you’re here, man, it was just so tense, but you carry a peace about you.”

And people don’t always understand it. It might come out like, “You’ve got a real peaceful aura about you…” sure do, his name is the Holy Spirit of God.

Alright, so we’re going to look at three different things today that will lead us toward being makers of peace. And I think that word is important. Not just being peaceful ourselves, but being able to make peace in situations that need peace.

/ / 1. Do you love peace?

As I was preparing for this week I realized that this is an incredibly important question to ask. You have to actually want, and not just want, but love and value peace. What is our value of peace?

And I’m not just speaking of war vs. peace, although that is important. When you see war in this world, what do you think? Do your thoughts move toward peace, or toward karma, or one particular “side” winning. Do you dismiss war as not your problem? Important things to think about.

But like I said, war and peace are just one part of this.

Conflict, tension and anxiety are pretty common feelings for most people. We live in a world that I would say more often than not feels pressure more than peace.

What do I mean by “love” peace?

Primarily, what is your viewpoint of peace? You might think, “Of course I love peace! Who doesn’t love peace?”

Now, I’m not saying you are like this, I would never say that, but have you ever met someone that would rather argue with you, or it seems they thrive on conflict? I have. In fact, sometimes I struggle to be that person.

Kelley and I were having a conversation the other night and she said something that just got to me. Now here’s the thing. What she said was not wrong. I could argue she might have said it differently, but she was not being malicious, argumentative or degrading toward me. Not at all. Or at least, not intentionally.

BUT, my heart took it a certain way. Or maybe, let me say it this way, I allowed an external source, whether that was Kelley, or the enemy trying to use what she said, to influence me internally, and my internal dialogue did not lean toward, redemption and peace, but leaned toward hurt and conflict and my response ended up coming out of that.

I reacted defensively, and out of my defensiveness said something I maybe shouldn’t have said. Not a bad thing, but it certainly wasn’t the right thing. Or, what I said wasn’t said in the right way.

On the flip side, I was in a meeting this week, and someone said something that initially I wanted to get defensive about, but in the moment I leaned back for a second and thought about it and realized what was happening inside and I actually said to myself internally, “Don’t be defensive, listen to what is being said, hear the words and the heart.” And I realized in the moment I didn’t need to say anything at all. It wasn’t necessary, and it wouldn’t have been helpful.

Now, one of those stories did NOT create peace. I’ll let you figure out which one that is…

Do you love peace or do you allow the world around you to get to you, and maybe, just maybe do you secretly like it? Because we have to be ok with, or comfortable, with peace. I’m being serious here. There is actually a need to be ok with peace. Some people don’t feel comfortable, they feel awkward if there isn’t any tension. Some people so thrive on conflict that peace is the abnormal attitude and they can’t handle it. They need some conflict around them.

Now we talked about this a few weeks ago when we were talking about being meek - and really, with all of these beatitudes. Some of them come naturally to some people. And others, they just don’t. But that’s ok, it just means that some people need to work at certain things more than others.

And you might think, “I don’t want to work at these things. I don’t like all this talk about working. Isn’t Christianity supposed to be about me saying a prayer and God saving me and I get to go to heaven when I die?”

And I apologize if you thought that’s what this was. It’s not. It’s Jesus inviting you to enjoy the life of following Him by actually following Him and his ways, and that requires us dying to ourselves. There’s really no other way around it.

And you need to hear that. This is not dying to ourselves and walking a miserable road until some point we get to enjoy the things of Jesus. No, this is Jesus inviting us into the JOY of following Him. He says so many times, if you try to save your life you’ll lose it, but if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. The very act of denying your life for His is what gives you life!

So, back to conflict…

If you google, “Why do people love conflict.” there are so many results. Why? Because it’s a thing. People actually like conflict. Some people love it. They need it. Not everyone, but some people.

There are what they would call “High Conflict People”. We’ve probably met some people like that. Or people that don’t take conflict very well, so you feel like you need to walk on egg shells around them.

/ / Having a need for conflict can result from having a lack of empathy.

Some people just like drama, to them it seems easier than seeking out peace. It’s easier to push people away than it is to work things out. They’d rather leave a church, a relationship, a job, or whatever, rather than the hard work of sorting through differences, working at peace.

Paul says in Romans 12:18, (ESV) / / If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

You gotta work at peace. But some people don’t want to, because they get more of a rush from conflict. Or, that’s all they have ever experienced and they just simply don’t know how to work for peace.

Some communications experts say that we actually get flooded with adrenaline or dopamine when we win an argument and so we get addicted to being right, we get a high from the win.

Another problem - Conflict can be a source of control. Control in a way that protects me from being hurt by you. I’ll fight back. Or control in just walking away from the situation, I am not going to deal with the issues.

/ / Peace takes work. That’s why Jesus says that the blessed ones are the ones who make peace.

But / / to make peace you have to want peace, and to want peace you have to love (value) peace.

That’s where it starts. Do you love peace? If you don’t, it’s ok, you have a starting point now. You can ask God to work in your heart. You can ask the Holy Spirit to transform you. You can dig into scripture, prayer, meditation, the presence of God and learn what it means to love, have and work for peace.

/ / 2. If you want to Make Peace externally, you have to Have Peace internally

My second thought this morning is that to be a peacemaker, you have to be a peaceful person yourself. You have to have internal peace if you want to help make external peace. If you are going to walk into a tense situation and bring a peaceful resolution, it helps if you yourself are peaceful.

As so many things in our Christian life are, it starts with us. Do you feel peace? Do you feel peaceful? Or does your life feel chaotic? Do you maybe recognize that you’re a bit like those things I was just saying, you get fed by conflict, you get a rush from an argument when you win, or you would rather just walk away than tough it out and work toward peace? And do you see that as a reflection of your internal world?

Psalm 23 is a great invitation for us if we don’t feel peace.

/ / The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

Does that sound inviting, or boring? Be honest. Do you respond to that and think, “Actually, that doesn’t sound very enjoyable. I’m too high strung to sit by a creek in a calm field.”

Or maybe it sounds inviting but unattainable. “Yeah, but Pastor Rob, you don’t know my life. Spend 5 minutes in my house and you’ll see that ain’t happening any time soon.”

No, I get it. Internal peace takes work.

Think of what we read that Jesus says in John 16:33. He’s said all these things to ensure the disciples have peace. Well, / / how often do you go back to scripture to find peace? How often do you dive into the pages of the bible knowing that in the words of Jesus, in His teaching, we can find peace. And to that I don’t just mean the red letters of the New Testament that are the direct words spoken by Jesus while he walked the earth, but do you recognize the bible as the word of God and as such, a producer of peace in your life?

Scripture doesn’t just give us a perspective of peace, Jesus says it will actually GIVE us peace. He spoke those words to ensure that they would HAVE peace.

Another thought on ordering your inner world around the peace of God. We always talk about this around Christmas because one the weeks of advent is on the Peace of Jesus because Isaiah 9 calls him the Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6, / / For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. he will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen.

Ok, so / / Jesus is the prince of peace, meaning he rules out of a desire, ability and purpose to bring peace. Jesus DESIRES this, but to experience this, what must we do? Live under the rule and authority of Jesus. To live under the rule and authority of Jesus is to live under the rule and authority of peace.

So, if we ask:

/ / How do you order your world around being peaceful? / / You order your world around Jesus!

Listen to David’s encouragement about finding a life of peace.

Psalm 34:11-14, / / Come, my children, and listen to me, and I will teach you to fear the Lord. Does anyone want to live a life that is long and prosperous? Then keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies! Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it.

All of that is geared toward living a life of peace.

First, / / fear the Lord - give awe and respect, honor and praise to the Prince of Peace.

Second, / / Keep your tongue from speaking evil and don’t tell lies - fastest way to conflict is start lying and talking stupid.

Third, / / Seek out, search for, pursue peace, and when you have it, work to maintain it. Don’t take it for granted, but always be mindful that this is the goal. And the result? He says the result is a long and prosperous life!

Now, to the second part of what Jesus says about the Peacemaker?

/ / Blessed are the peacemakers, they shall be called sons of God.

/ / 3. Making Peace is more than a suggestion.

I guess this is kind of par for the course, isn’t it? These things that Jesus is saying, all of it. The Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, the Farewell Discourse, and anything else in scripture, these are not just suggestions, but they are the way that we are supposed to live if we are following Him.

We read it earlier, the command to go make disciples was to teach them all that Jesus had taught. This is why John Mark Comer frames discipleship, or apprenticeship as he uses, to / / Be with Jesus, become like Jesus, do what Jesus did.

This is the way it is done:

Be with Jesus is to sit at his feet and learn from him.

Become like Jesus is to apply those things he did in his life to our lives.

Think of that as the training of becoming. The internet and access to information has really changed things, but it’s not all that long ago that if you wanted to learn something you became an apprentice of what you wanted to learn. It’s still the reality in the trades. I have a nephew that is apprenticing as a carpenter and framer. It’s a cool process. You spend time with a person that is what you want to be, learn from them, and over time, become like them so you can do what they do, which is the last part.

When we become like Jesus we then will do what He did.

Now yes, there were a few times Jesus seemed like maybe he came to lay a beat down. Flipping tables and such. He even flat out says in Matthew 10:34, / / “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.” Well that can kind of be confusing when I’ve just told you that to be like Jesus we need to bring peace… But, that can be easily mistaken as Jesus talking literally, which I do not believe he is in this particular instance.

What he’s really talking about is how difficult it will be to follow him. That even your mother and father will tell you not to, but you’ll have to make the hard choice of walking away from your family if you really want to follow Jesus. Let’s just put that in context. He’s talking to Jewish people who’s family and friends are literally going to murder him. What does it take to follow someone in that position? And this passage of Scripture is another one of those times where he says that if we try to cling to, or hold on to our lives we’ll end up losing them.

So what did Jesus come to bring then? Well, we’ve read from Luke 4 where Jesus is reading from the scroll of Isaiah and says this, / / “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

We’ve ready from John 16:33 where he says that he shared a lot of stuff with his disciples SO THAT they would have peace.

During Advent we read that the angels proclaimed peace at the coming of the Messiah being born.

In John 14 he says, / / “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.”

Matthew 6:31-34 tells us not to be troubled or worried, but to seek first the kingdom of God.

Peace is an overarching theme of the One who is the Prince of Peace. Where he goes, peace will follow.

And if we are like Him, knowing peace for ourselves, carrying peace in our lives because we rely on and live under the authority of the Prince of Peace, then our lives will do what His did, bring peace wherever you go.

And I do personally believe this can touch all 6 of those definitions we looked at for the word peace.

The state of national tranquility. I don’t want to get into all the ins and outs of war, but our prayer should not be peace through violence, it should be peace through salvation and reconciliation to God. That doesn’t mean violence will immediately stop, and that doesn’t mean we don’t need good men and women to protect us from bad men and women. I am so grateful for those who stand up for us physically. But we have a charge to stand up for them spiritually. And maybe not even just for a win, but for true, genuine, lasting peace.

Let me just put this caution out there: Be careful how you pray when it comes to war & politics. Yes, we want the will of God to be done, and I don’t see how that doesn’t involve good, godly people winning in elections. But don’t allow yourself to dehumanize the other side.

Same goes for war. I think we have to continually remind ourselves that Paul, who wrote most of our New Testament, was a terrorist going around killing Christians until he had an encounter with the resurrected Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, and his life was forever transformed.

Pray for peace. Pray for miracles. Pray for God encounters. That goes for conflict internationally, and that goes for conflict right here at home.

This next one is probably the most practical for our every day lives, but we have opportunity to affect the peace of individuals. That would be for us personally, but also in the lives of those around us. If you are a peaceful person, and carry peace on your life, you will see how peaceful resolution can come in relationships around you. In fact, just by you being somewhere the atmosphere can shift. When someone of authority walks into a room, the feeling changes, right? Well, when you walk in the room, walking in the authority of the Prince of Peace, you can change the atmosphere. But you have to believe that to be true, and you have to follow the way of Jesus, pursue peace for yourself so that you can make peace wherever you go.

And we won’t go through all 6 of them again, but let’s just talk for a second about the ultimate level of peace, and that is being assured of our salvation in Jesus Christ. When we know that we are saved, there is a peace that comes with that.

Remember, a recurring theme in this series has been that we are ambassadors of the Kingdom of Heaven, ministers of reconciliation, those who 2 Corinthians 5:20 says, / / So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

That’s the ultimate experience of peace and the incredible gift we’ve been given to bring people into that same relationship we have with God, salvation through Jesus Christ.

Let me finish this morning with this thought. Romans 8:19 says this, and I’ll read it from the Amplified version, / / For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].

Now, I don’t want to take this verse out of context. Paul here is talking about the future day when we will come into the fullness of our inheritance in God. But I very much think there is relevance here in light of what we’ve been talking about, what N.T. Wright would say we are called to live as those who rule and reign with Christ when he comes in his new kingdom, and we are meant to live as much of that now as we can in preparation for that day. Meaning, that at that time we will be living in our full inheritance in the kingdom of God that has been fully realized, but now we live with the promise or the guarantee or the seal of our inheritance, the Holy Spirit, in a world that has not yet had the fullness of the Kingdom realized, but we are ambassadors of another world, here and now.

Then we will be in His kingdom.

Today we are ambassadors of that kingdom in a world that is not yet fully the Kingdom.

/ / We live in a world that does not know His peace, yet we carry His peace in to every situation we walk into.

We live in a world that sometimes prefers conflict over resolution, yet we have peace that surpasses all understanding and draws people toward reconciliation.

We live in a time where the divide seems to be getting greater and greater and yet we have the Holy Spirit who has the very words of life and wants to speak them through us to a world that is hurting and broken.

We are walking into a polarized political season where your voice, not of any political party or ideology, but the voice of heaven can bring harmony and tranquility in the midst of strife.

Think on these two thoughts.

/ / Paul says in Romans 8 that the world is eagerly waiting for the sons of God to be revealed.

And what have we read today?

/ / Jesus says in Matthew 5:9 that when we live out of His peace, and bring that to those around us, they will recognize us as the sons of God.

What this says to me is that living in the peace of Jesus Christ, and bringing that peace to others in any way we can, whether that is peace between us and them, peace in their own personal situations through encouragement, prayer, or just being with them, or whether it is bringing peace to troubled situations at work, in the home, or anywhere really, we are revealing ourselves as the Sons of God and in so doing the world around us will see us as those that they have been waiting for - ambassadors of a kingdom they truly need.

/ / You bring peace.

They see you as a son / daughter of God.

That opens ways for you to be an ambassador of Christ, a minister of reconciliation.