Peacemakers

Matthew 5:9

Turn to Matthew 5 and also stick a bookmark in the book of Ephesians because, I think that we will almost read the whole book this morning.

Peacemakers.

Some of you may hear that word and think about something completely different that our scripture references this morning.

Some generations will hear that word and start thinking about a tall man in cowboy hat named John Wayne.

John Wayne stared in over 150 movies. 83 of them were westerns. And in all of those 83 movies, except for 1, Mr Wayne can be seen with a Colt SAA or Single Action Army, Peacemaker.

This revolver is synonyms with the Wild West.

Its got its nickname the Peacemaker because of the slogan that was associated with the P model that came out in 1873, “There was a time when God made man, then Samuel Colt made them equal.” After that people started calling it the Peacemaker.

However, John Wayne and the way that he used it in westerns solidified the name. It became more about the man carrying the firearm that the gun itself. In so many of those westerns, John Wayne would come into town with his peacemaker and make peace.

Or, maybe you like me, didn’t grow up watching many westerns but know the peacemaker as the gun in the hands of Marty McFly in Back to the Future part 3, who is able to save Doc and Mrs Clara with it.

Or maybe neither is true for you… haha

This morning, I hope that we will see the word for what it means in the Word, what it means in our lives, and what it means for how we should be salt and light in the world.

Matthew 5:1–9 ESV

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “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.

Let’s break down this passage.

Blessed - An adjective describing a person as experiencing positive circumstances or a happy disposition.

Blessed describes a believer in the fortunate position for receiving God’s provision or favor, to extend His grace or benefits to others.

Tony Evans, in our men’s book study says it like this.

“A blessing is the capacity to experience, enjoy, and extend the goodness of God in your life.”

So, in other words, if you want to be in a place in your life to experience the goodness of God, to enjoy His presence and blessing, and then extend those how God has been good to you to others,

Allow the Holy Spirit to produce these attitudes in your life. You can’t do it without him. And you can’t be salt and light to this world without these Beatitudes. Because apart from the Vine, you can do nothing.

Let’s keep going,

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

This morning, I have a number of “R” words for you to look out for to explain this verse.

The first is the word

Reborn

Let’s look at the second half of the verse first.

For they shall be called sons of God.

Sons of God.

First of all, this word sons is often used to describe sons and daughters.

Second, there are three ways that this word is used and means.

properly, a son (by birth or adoption); For the believer, becoming a son of God begins with being reborn (adopted) by the heavenly Father – through Christ (the work of the eternal Son).

2. emphasizes likeness of the believer to the heavenly Father, i.e. resembling His character more and more by living in faith

3. highlights the (legal) right to the Father's inheritance

The book of Ephesians is all over this!

Ephesians 1:5 (ESV)

he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

Ephesians 2:5 (ESV)

even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Ephesians 4:22–24 (ESV)

to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 1:13–14 (ESV)

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

We have been remade, reborn, adopted into our heavenly Father’s eternal family! We have been remade into the image and character of our heavenly Father, taking on the nature and the likeness of God, His righteousness and holiness!

And given a legal right or a guarantee of our inheritance in eternity with our Father.

This is a family and God has put together and it can not be torn apart. There is no divorce or separation when our God remakes you into His family. Even the prodigal son never lost the title of son of the father.

But it was not always so with us!

Ephesians 2:1–3 (ESV)

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Ephesians 2:12 ESV

remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Ephesians 4:17–19 ESV

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

We were once separated, alienated, from God by what chapter 2 verse 14 calls a wall of hostility existed between you and God. We were once living lives that were opposed to God. A life hostile to God, His nature, and works.

Which brings us to the next “R”.

We are reborn by reconciliation. We are reconciled to the Father by our adoption. Were once was hostility, now there is peace.

Ephesians 2:13–18 (ESV)

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Ephesians 2:4–7 (ESV)

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Romans 5:1 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

One of the titles of Jesus is the Prince of Peace!

Ephesians 6, describes the armor and the gospel of peace.

The book of Ephesians is bathed in this Beatitude.

I firmly believe that without a firm understanding of what we have in Christ, without a deep appreciation of rebirth and reconciliation, the peace with God that we now have through Jesus Christ, we will never be able to shine bright the light of Jesus Christ in this world.

And I believe that the Beatitudes will assist us in our understanding and appreciation!

We must understand that we are poor in spirit and contribute nothing to our rebirth and reconciliation with our heavenly Father!

We must have an understanding of the depth of the sin nature in our own hearts and mourn over the darkness of our hearts. We must confess and repent of the sins in our lives and allow His Spirit to comfort us.

Without humility and meekness, there can be no reconciliation. Pride must be stripped away and removed in order for a relationship to be properly reconciled!

There must be a hunger and thirst to do what is right with our lives because we have mourned our sins and don’t want to do them anymore! We must desire to look more and more like Jesus. We must strive to reflect the nature of our adopted heavenly Father.

The Beatitudes will help us create a heart and mind that is walking in an understanding of the greatness of what is means to have peace with God. To be reborn into an eternal heavenly family and to be reconciled to God.

We must understand and truly appreciate these truths in our own lives!

Turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

2 Corinthians 5:17–21 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Because we, ourselves have been reborn and reconciled, when we understand and properly appreciate the peace that we now have with God, we will be willing ambassadors for this great message! For this good news! For the gospel!

God is not counting my trespasses against me and He wants to do that for you too!

He wants you to be reborn into His heavenly family just like me!

He wants you to be made one with Christ and have access to God through Him just like I do!

Church, this is how we will become peacemakers, by introducing them to THE peacemaker, Jesus Christ!

We can’t produce peace with God but we can tell the world how Jesus produced it in our lives and desires that no one would be lost and separated!

Church, sharing the gospel is not as scary as we make it when we can make it personal. We should have such a depth of understanding and deep appreciation for what Jesus has done for us that we should be bursting at the seams to tell anyone that we can.

Another way that you can say this Beatitude in Blessed are the peacemakers because they walk in understanding and appreciation of what God has done for them and it spills over into the lives of others.

Another “R” word to do with this verse is Reclaim or Restore.

Christian, as we walk through this life, we are walking a life of warfare. Of spiritual warfare! There is light and dark.

The enemy has chosen his tactics, his battle plan. Steal from you, kill you spiritually and physically, and destroy what God has built in your life.

He would love nothing more than to rob you of your peace with God and with others. He would love to kill you joy and abundance of life that Jesus brings.

He would love to destroy your ministry and relationships with friends, family and community.

That is his plan and his weapons are sin, division and disunity.

Sin in our lives puts us in a place that we are daily living in great need of the grace and mercy of our God! But when we are dominated by sin and resistant to grace, the enemy has set up camp and claimed a stronghold in your life and mind.

When you start to believe the lies over the truth about who God is and who you are in Christ, then you have given the enemy a base camp to steal, kill and destroy your life and walk with the Lord.

We as Christians know and must stand firm in our belief that the grace of God is without end and limit in our lives! His mercies are new everyday!

This is the fight! Truth over lies!

Ephesians 6:10–13 ESV

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

We must actively fight for and defend the truths about what we have in Christ!

We must resist the enemy from weaseling his way into our lives, our thoughts and hearts to steal, kill and destroy our relationship with out heavenly Father!

We must Resist the devil and he will flee from us. We must draw near to God and He will draw near to us!

This is a fight! But remember that we are not fighting FOR victory, we are fighting FROM victory!

The resurrected Jesus Christ defeated the devil, defeated sin and death! The victory has been won, but we must not walk in defeat believing the lies of the defeated. We must walk in and draw near to the light and He will cast out the enemy!

Romans 16:20 ESV

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

It is a fight. but the God of peace will soon crush satan!

You have the same resurrection power that rose Jesus from the dead!

So, armor us and stand firm. Fight for the peace that is promised to you with your heavenly Father!

But not just in your relationship with God, but also, in your relationship with others.

He enemy wants to destroy your family and relationships!

He wants to hurt you and cause you to hurt others and as long as we walk this Earth, that will happen!

Sin, selfishness, pride and other issues will always affect your relationships with others.

As Christians, one of the ways that we shine bright and differently in the world to hold the standard of forgiveness differently that the rest of the world.

We said, earlier, that the grace and mercy of God in our lives is endless and without limit. Praise God!

Our standard should be the same.

Jesus tells Peter who asked how many times should I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Jesus tells him 77 times! Meaning perfection. Without end.

To illustrate this and what we are talking about this morning. Jesus tells a parable of a master who has a servant that owns him a lot of money!

10 thousand talents is more than we know!

One talent is equal to 20 years wages to a laborer! That’s 200,000 years of laboring!

Someone did some math in 2022 and just the weight of gold would equal $226 million dollars!

A huge debt! And this servant begs and pleads. The master has pity on him and forgives his debt!

Can you imagine that kind of debt forgiven?! 226 million!

But this servant went out and found a guy who owed him $20 and choked him and threw him in jail for him to pay him back!

When the master found out, he said this,

Matthew 18:32–33 ESV

Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’

So, just like being ministers of reconciliation, we should have such an understanding and appreciation of the greatness of the debt that God forgave for our sakes that we should not withhold forgiveness, grace and mercy for those who have sinned against us!

Just like with mercy, we are meant to be conduits of forgiveness and grace that we have recieved to others in our lives!

We are meant to be conduits of the peace that we have with God to pour it into our relationships with others.

A person who has had the Holy Spirit produce the Beatitudes in their lives will remember that they are incapable of producing this forgiveness within themselves.

Is a person that is aware of the depth of their sins and the greatness of the debt that they owned and has been forgiven free of charge!

Is a person who is stripped of pride and asking questions like “what’s in it for me? or how is this fair to me?”

Is a person who desires to do what is righteous in the eyes of Lord and extend the blessing of His forgiveness, grace and peace to others.

A person who has allowed the Holy Spirit to produce the Beatitudes in their life understands the withholding forgiveness is allowing the enemy to steal, kill and destroy relationships in your life.

Just like with our relationship with the Lord,

We do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over the present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

When we extend forgiveness, when we fight for peace in relationships with others, we are fighting against the schemes of the enemy! We are fighting against him stealing, killing and destroying!

May we not be like the servant that withholds the grace that has been poured out all over our lives!

May we battle the enemy and his weapons of sin, division and disunity.

May we not be a people that gives the enemy territory and strongholds of forgiveness.

May we be a people that carries the same standard of forgiveness that God has with us into the lives of others!

I can hear the disagreement now, “But I’m not God.”

Agreed.

But we are supposed to be reflections of the light of God that has been shined into our lives into the lives of those in this world.

We are called to be Christlike and through His Holy Spirit, we can defeat the strongholds of unforgiveness in our lives and extend the grace that has been given to us to those who has hurt and offended us.

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

Invite the band up.

Talk about the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation.

We are instructed to forgive. Forgiveness is a one way street.

We are instructed to pursue reconciliation with others. But that is a two way street.

Romans 12:18 ESV

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Sometimes its not up to you weather peace with someone is an option. Forgiveness is up to you, but peace with others takes two.

But we must fight as far as its up to us, to live at peace with others!