Blessed are the peacemakers
Be these attitudes • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Title: Be these attitudes pt 7
Text: Matthew 28:1-10, Matthew 5:9; Romans 5:1
D.T Peace makers are like sons of God, because the greatest peacemaker is the son of God.
Introduction:
Mary and the women would have lacked peace as they traveled to the tomb
John would lack Peace because he couldn’t quite believe it was all over. He believed something would happen, however hope was fading
Thomas lacked peace, anger, happiness, and sadness. He was numb, unfeeling. Thomas was deeply hurt, and he wasn’t going to let anything hurt him again. So, he resolved to not feel anything.
Peter lacked peace because of his face, the way Jesus looked at Peter. It was a face of hurt, disappointment, however at the same time it lacked surprise. This was by far the worst part. Jesus wasn’t surprised by Peter's actions. Peter wished desperately that he would have a chance to apologize to his teacher. Though, it never seemed it would happen.
Peace would not describe the atmosphere and feeling of Jesus' family and friends on the morning of the third day. However, that was getting ready to change!
(READ Matthew 28:1-10
Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
My favorite detail of this story is how the angel just kind of nonchalantly sits on the top of the stone he rolled away. No wonder the guards were so frightened they became catatonic. The angel gives Mary and Mary the good news. The angel says “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified, he is not here, he was risen. Come see the place where he lay. Jesus was alive, come see the place where he lay. The proclamation of the angel would come to fruition a short time later as the women would encounter Christ himself upon the road. The women joyously fell at the feet of Jesus and worshiped him. After this joyful reunion, Jesus would basically tell the women “there is no time to stand on ceremony.” Jesus then gave them a mission, to go tell the good news of the resurrection to the disciples. Jesus instructed them to preach the good news. That Jesus has risen, and Jesus is alive. The grave is empty, he is not there, he was risen. Where or death is your victory, where oh death is your sting? We can confidently ask this question because on this day Jesus lives. The gospels and epistles have many ways to explain the good news of Jesus' resurrection. Paul reminds us the resurrection happened
“In accordance with the scriptures.”
Paul also mentions the news of Christ’s resurrection was “as first important and a being the center of the gospel.
Paul says that if Christ did not raise, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith. This makes the stakes surrounding the resurrection of utmost importance.
Peter calls the resurrection of the dead as being “our living hope”
However my favorite explanation of the resurrection of Christ might be in Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul calls it the peace of Christ. We have peace with our Lord through our Lord Jesus Christ. In Philippians 4:7
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Paul doubles down on this idea of Christ as our peacemaker
This works our well, because as many of you know, we’ve been doing a series in the beatitudes of Matthew chapter 5. Our next beatitude is Matthew 5:9
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. There is no better example of a peacemaker than Christ rising from the dead. Christ makes peace on our behalf by dying on behalf of our sins, and defeating death on our behalf. The empty tomb brings us the greatest peace we could ever hope to achieve, that makes Christ the ultimate peacemaker.
I also realize that Jesus also mentioned that he did not come to bring peace, but a sword. However that doesn’t mean Jesus isn’t a peacemaker. The good news of the resurrection only brings about peace if that good news is accepted and rejoiced. Some people will become hostile just at the name of Jesus, and this hostility can be so intense that families turn on one another. The peace of Christ isn’t forced, it must be accepted. If one rejects the peace of Christ, they find themselves openly hostile to him. A prime example of this is found in Matthew 28:11-15
While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
The Pharisees didn’t not consider this moment to be one of peace, rather it was a threat. Those who are threatened by the resurrection. Those are who are given a sword instead of peace.
Our call to be peacemakers So we know that Christ is the ultimate peacemaker. However when Jesus taught this beatitude. This standard of being a peacemaker was to apply to all those who come into the kingdom of God. This means anyone who belongs to the church is called to be a peacemaker, as Christ was a peacemaker. So how do we do that? We can’t die for the sins of anyone and defeat death through resurrection. In order to answer this question, we look at the second aspect of the beatitude. The second part of Jesus' beatitude says that peacemakers will be called “Sons of God” This does not mean that we are a Son of God in the sense in which Jesus is. Instead it’s more like this; Mark Moore says in his commentary “this isn’t a statement of relationship, but of character. In Jesus day a person who acted like a dog was because they acted like a dog. People were called sons of the devil because they acted as the devil would. People who are called sons of God are acting in a way in which God would. So to be a peacemaker we are called to act like Christ, and tell the world the good news of Jesus' resurrection. Peace makers are like sons of God, because the greatest peacemaker is the son of God. This peace was brought to us by Christ and his resurrection. This peace was brought to us by the empty tomb.