Blessed are the Peacemakers

THE BEATITUDES: How to Be Truly Blessed Sermon Series

“Blessed are the Peacemakers”

(Part #8)

KEY PASSAGE: Matthew 5:9 (NASB)

And so, Father, we “Thank You” again for Your presence in this church. Psalm 27 will never cease to bring comfort to our hearts. Psalm 27:1 says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom should I fear?” Will You, O LORD, examine our hearts? May the Light and Peace of God outshines fear in our lives. Father, during our darkest days, I pray for the Light and Peace of God. I pray that You hold us close in Your hands, and may You never leave and forsake us because when our [father] and [mother] forsake us, the LORD will take us up. “Thank You” worship band for a great time of praise and worship.

TITHE and OFFERING

I will call our ushers to pass around the offering plates as we collect our tithes and offerings. May we all give to God with a generous and joyful heart because God loves a cheerful giver. God bless you, and please follow the instructions on the screen on how to give. Ushers, please pass around the plates. The worship team will lead us as we collect our tithes and offerings.

WELCOME

Please stand up, greet some folks around you, and welcome them to worship. We welcome you [all] again to our Sunday Worship Service and are glad to have you in God’s house. Our first-time visitors, please stand so we can see you. We also welcome all who join us online.

ANNOUNCEMENT

· Today at 2:00 p.m., we will perform baptism at Lakeview Park in Lorain, Ohio. Please come to support and encourage all the candidates who will be baptized today at the Lake.

· The Marriage Checkup Workshop is on Friday, October 25th, at 6:00 p.m. and Saturday, October 26th, at 9:00 a.m. I want to remind all married couples that the spots are filling up, so please register for the marriage workshop if you can. We also have a guest preacher from Florida who will minister next to us week on Sunday.

· Wednesday Night [Remember] is our Bible Study Connect at 7:00 p.m. Bible Study Connect at 7:00 p.m. Please join us on Wednesday night to STUDY THE WORD OF GOD. We have excellent teachers. And we are studying the Book of Romans.

· Our next monthly Corporate Prayer Meeting is on Saturday, November 2nd, at 8:00 a.m. at the church. The Community Meal is on Saturday, November 2nd, 2024, from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. The Community Meal is on Saturday, November 2nd, 2024, from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. Women’s Night is on Saturday, November 9, 2024, from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. This is a time of fellowship and encouragement.

· Please complete the sermon survey sheet and return it to the usher and media team.

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Let’s pray together as we begin our study today.

Father, again, as we come to today the treasured words of our Lord Jesus Christ, we feel inadequate stumbling words and thoughts a human mind could never express the depth of truth in the heart of our dear Lord as He spoke these great utterances. But Father, somehow, by the energizing of the Spirit of God, equips us to understand, at least in part, what the Lord Jesus meant when He spoke these words. Bypass the inability of the one who speaks and those who hear that we may be able to go beyond ourselves and outside of ourselves to perceive things beyond our understanding as the Holy Spirit teaches us. We pray that we might understand what it is to be a peacemaker in a world [That desperately] needs peace and a Savior. And we will thank You and give You glory for that in the name of Jesus. Amen.

DECLARATION of FAITH in GOD

Let us stand and say the Declaration of Faith in God together.

SERMON INTRODUCTION

We are quickly concluding our sermon series, ‘How to Be Truly Blessed.’ We have gone through the Beatitudes, which describe a real spiritual blessing. And we understand that a real blessing is not simply having external stuff, although it may include that. It arises first of all from an internal sense of well-being that you both have and transfer to other people because of the spiritual resources that are operating inside of you. [And] So, what happens outside of you is simply the bonus of being blessed? Then, we will conclude our sermon series with ‘Pursuing the Blessed Life: How to Go after Your Blessing’ in the complete sense of the word. [Because] at the beginning of this series, we said you can wind up with stuff and still not be truly blessed.

SERMON EXPOSITION

Look with me [church], will you, at Matthew 5:9. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” I also want to read this verse from the New Living Translation Bible. “God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.”

Let me begin by saying that the idea of peace dominates the Bible. [The Bible] opens and closes with peace. The Bible starts with peace in the Garden of Eden, which is the Garden of Peace. In Isaiah 51:3, the prophet Isaiah uses the Garden of Eden as an image of ultimate rest, [a picture of] peace, and [an image of] perfection to help Israel visualize a time when God would restore Israel spiritually.

The Bible closes with peace in eternity. You could chart the course of history based on the theme of peace. There was peace on earth in the garden. We are told that man sinned against God, and peace with God and peace between men were interrupted. Then, peace became a reality again at the cross, as Jesus [the Son of God], who died on the cross, became our peace. And since Jesus has provided peace, there can be peace in the heart of a man or a woman who comes to know Jesus. Someday, Jesus will return and establish a kingdom of peace. We will enjoy eternal peace in the new heaven and new earth.

When you open the History Books, you will see that the United Nations was established in 1945. One of its primary goals [Watch This] was to maintain Global Peace and facilitate harmony between nations. The world would be a much better [place] if everyone got along, but that is not the case. And, only two hundred and sixty-eight [268] years have passed without war in the nearly four thousand years recorded [in] human history. So, war is normal. War is not only normal for nations; it is normal for many of us. Some of us are at war with ourselves. We are at war with three people: me, myself, and [I]. And none of them get along with each other.

There is internal conflict struggling within yourself. You have your [own personal] civil war going on. You are fighting you. And then there are domestic wars, where mates, rather than being married by the Secretary of Peace or Justice of the Peace, look like they were married by the Secretary of War because every day is a new fight. And married folks, instead of getting along for which they were married, [they] live in isolation. While everything looked like it would be good before you got married, one hour after the honeymoon, it became apparent that we had just walked into a war zone.

There are other kinds of relational conflicts, such as parents and children. Today, some of you are in a war zone at work, in conflict with a supervisor or a co-worker. And then, of course, there are social wars and racial conflicts that go on for centuries between groups, whether it is Black or White, Hispanic or White, and Asian and White. Then, there are social conflicts due to class: The rich are at war with the The rich are at war with the poor, or the other way around.

There is also political conflict between opposing parties. We don’t have peace in our homes. We don’t have peace in any place because we don’t have peace in our hearts. If truth be told, it looks like everywhere you turn around, there is a war going on. And you get afraid when there is peace because you know it won’t last long. Because there is a war waiting to happen around the corner of your life.

SERMON EXPLANATION

Yet we find in this Scripture a blessing pronounced by Jesus. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the son sand daughters of God. That raises a question. What is a peacemaker? It is a person who makes peace. What is peace? Peace is harmony where conflict used to exist. Peace is where harmony has replaced conflict.

For many people, peace could be defined as the absence of a war. Peace could be defined as the absence of conflict. But that is not God’s definition of peace. That is not the Bible's definition of peace. God’s definition of peace is not the absence of something. In Scripture, peace is not the absence of anything. Peace is the presence of something. It is the presence of all that is blessed, all that is good, [and] all that is fulfilling. And when two Jews meet, they say “Shalom” to each other. Shalom means God’s highest good for you. They don’t mean to say, “May you have no more wars.” But instead, “May you enjoy the [full] satisfaction, the calm, the peace that God brings.”

Peace is a creative force producing goodness and well-being in the life of a believer. It is not just the absence of something; peace in the Bible is the presence of something.

Now, let’s get this straight. Peace is more than truth because you can stop physically fighting with someone but still live in a cold war. Some people think they have peace because they are not talking to each other. That is a cold war and not peace. For example, the United States and and Russia were not launching rockets at each other during the Cold War, but they [were not talking to each other]. And a lot of folks today, including Christians, are satisfied with a cold war, thinking it is peace. No, that is not peace; just because you stop shooting doesn’t mean you stop fighting.

So, our Lord Jesus says that God has promised to bless people who are His agents for peace and even to call them sons and daughters of God. To be a peacemaker is to face the conflict rather than run from it, but they do it with the truth. They do it with the righteousness of God. Peace that ignores purity is not the peace that God talks about. Peace must always accompany righteousness. You cannot have peace if righteousness is not included in the discussion. I love the way Psalm 85:10 says it. It says, “… Righteousness and peace have kissed one another.”

Hebrews 12, verse 14 says, “Pursue peace with the sanctification [or holiness], the righteousness; without which no one will see the Lord:” Go with peace, but you have to accompany it with sanctification. That is, with the righteous requirements of God. In other words, you cannot break apart peace from holiness. You cannot separate peace from righteousness. [Watch This] Where there is real peace, there is righteousness. Where there is real peace, there is holiness. Peace is a bridge, and truth and righteousness are on the two sides of the bridge. Where there is real peace, there is purity because that resolves the issue.

SERMON EXPLANATION

Listen to James 3:18, “And the seed … he says … whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” That is so good. The seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Peacemakers sow seeds of righteousness.

To be a peacemaker is to create an agreement where there is conflict. Jesus says there is a blessing to being a peacemaker. What is the blessing if you decide to become a peacemaker? He says they shall be called the sons and daughters of God.

[Watch This] When a person becomes a peacemaker rather than a troublemaker (because far too many folks today love to be troublemakers when they should be peacemakers), they shall be called the sons and daughters of God. Now, please don’t misread what Jesus is saying. Jesus didn’t say they would be the sons and daughters of God. He says they will be called the sons and daughters of God. The key word is called. And so, you can be a son or daughter of God and not be a peacemaker. You can be a son of God or a daughter of God; in other words, you can be a Christian and still be a troublemaker. You can be a Christian and still be a gossiper. You can be a Christian and still tear things down that you should be building up. You can be a Christian and still tear down the very church that you call your home church. So, Christ’s concern here is not that you are a Christian, which is assumed by the fact that He is talking to His disciples. So, He is talking to Christians because Christians are called disciples of Jesus.

Jesus is talking now about what you are called. To say somebody was the son of someone was to reflect on their character. For example, Barnabas is called the Son of Consolation because he comforted people. Judas is called the Son of Perdition because he betrayed Jesus, and judgment came upon him. You and I would be children of God if we had accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior. But that does not mean you reflect the character of your Daddy in heaven.

But to the peacemaker, he will be called the son of God because they reflect their father's character. Who is the source of peace? The Bible declares in 1 Corinthians 14:33 that “… God is a God of Peace.” Jesus is called “the Prince of Peace” in Isaiah 9:6. God and Jesus are the source of Peace. The Christmas season is “… peace on earth, goodwill to people who God is pleased with” in Luke 2:14. The Bible says Jesus told His disciples, “… The Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you”in John 14:27. Romans 15:33 says, “The God of peace is with you all.” When you read the New Testament books, many are introduced by the word “… peace be to you.”

So, the question is how we can have all this truth about God being Peace and yet be in so much strife, war, conflict, and fighting on whatever level it happens to exist in our lives. Christians reflect the character of their Daddy in heaven, [who is] a God of peace, which means that when you are not a peacemaker, you don’t look like your Daddy in heaven. When you are fighting with other people, you don’t reflect the character of God the Father, and you are not called a son or a daughter, even though you might be a son or a daughter of God.

What is it that hinders peace? What is it that stands in the way of peace? Well, it is obvious: the threat to peace is the devil. The devil’s agenda is to create conflict. It is in the devil’s best interest to create conflict. Why? Because [the devil] knows God is a God of peace and [the God of] Unity. So, the devil creates conflict to separate and cause a breach in our fellowship with God.

If peace means righteousness and truth, then the threat to peace is sin. And if you want to know why there is no peace in the world, it is because the danger to peace rules. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

You start with a wicked heart. How does a wicked heart manifest itself? In Chapter 48 and verse 22, Isaiah says, “There is no peace for the wicked.” So, Jeremiah says that the heart is wicked. Isaiah says there is no peace to the wicked.

Acts 2:1 says the believers were all there in one accord. If Jesus lived here on earth today, He would drive a Honda because His people were in one Accord! They were in harmony with one another. The Bible says that because they were in harmony with one another, the Spirit of God moved [in a supernatural way], doing supernatural things among the people because they were not functioning in conflict but in harmony. The Bible says in 1 Peter 3:7 that a husband cannot pray to God if he [is in conflict] with his wife because God won’t listen to his prayer. The devil wants to stir things up in the house. The devil is after stopping you from having access as children of God to heaven.

So, being a peacemaker is critical to divine recognition of your sonship or [daughter-ship], which is critical to your access to God. Access to heaven. Answer [to] your prayer. Turn to your Bible to Ephesians Chapter 2, beginning with verse 14, which tells us how we [get access to] God. Verse 14 says, “For He [Himself, speaking of Jesus] is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,………verse 16 says that He might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross,……..And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; verse 18 talks about access: “for through Him [Through Jesus] we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.” Through Jesus, we have access to the Holy Spirit and God the Father.

So, the son or daughter is tied to access. Access engages the Holy Spirit so that you can enjoy the peace that Jesus came to give you. When Christ came into the world, He was the peace of God coming to take the hand of God and the hand of man and, by His sacrifice, make man righteous and join his hand to God. In Jeremiah 29:11 it says, “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace.” If there is ever peace, it has to come from God. And it comes from God only through Christ.

Watch this now; it is by the Blood of Christ. Paul says Jesus gives peace through the cross. The cross, the Blood of Christ, is a place of judgment. The cross is a painful place. The cross is a hurtful place. The cross is a place where there are nails in the hands and a spear in the side of the bleeding Savior. The cross is not a pretty place. There was no peace at the cross. But [You] know why the cross is peace? Because the cross provided the righteousness that makes peace with God.

At the cross, Judgment is occurring. But what is being judged at the cross? Sin is being judged at the cross. The reason why the cross is bloody is because sin is being addressed and judged at the cross. But because of the blood shed by Jesus at the cross, sin got judged so peace could be offered. The only reason you and I, as Christians, have peace with God is because of a bloody cross. The bloody cross crucified our Savior and judged our sins so we can have peace with God.

The Blood of Jesus doesn’t address personality—the Blood of Jesus doesn’t address racial color. The Blood of Jesus doesn’t address how much money you make. The Blood of Jesus doesn’t address what kind of clothes you wear. What the Blood addresses is sin. So, if you are going to be a peacemaker, you must be willing to get bloody through the addressing of sin so that the Blood of Christ can bring about the peace you want. If you are unwilling to address the sin in your life, then you are not willing to fix the conflict. People want to skip the cross and then get peace. And you cannot get God’s peace without the Blood of the Cross. Jesus had to die to bring about peace. To bring peace, you must deal with the same thing that Jesus died for [and that is sin]. The problem today is people don’t want to deal with sin. If you don’t want to deal with sin, you cannot have peace with God.

SERMON ILLUSTRATION

You see, mayonnaise is made of oil and water. And oil and water do not agree. Oil and water cannot get along. Oil and water cannot maintain fellowship. No matter how much you stir oil and water together, they will retract and return to their old world because oil and water don’t like each other. Oil and water don’t know how to function together in the same space. No matter what you do, oil and water do not work together. You cannot force it because it is [not natural], and trying to make it happen will not work. Far too many Christians today are in situations of oil and water. You have tried everything you can to make this thing work, but it keeps [coming back] to where it was. No matter how much energy and effort you put into making this thing, it won’t work.

Mayonnaise is made of oil and water. The problem is that oil and water do not get along. So, guess what the manufacturers of mayonnaise did? They created an emulsifier. An ‘emulsifier’ [is something that] takes two opposing objects and pulls them together so that they can relate to each other in a way that they could not relate on their own. So, to make mayonnaise, you need oil and water, but you also need the emulsifier of eggs. They put eggs in mayonnaise. [Watch This] The Egg reaches out and grabs oil. The egg reaches out and grabs water. The egg pulls oil and water together so they can stick together. Eggs reach out and emulsify oil and water, causing that, which is different, to be able to get along. When it comes to your conflicts, no matter what they are, the Blood of Jesus Christ reaches out on one side and reaches on another side, pulling together that which could not get along. The Blood of Jesus Christ in your conflict is your emulsifier if you are willing to deal with the sin causing the separation from God. The Blood of Jesus still works today.

FAITH APPEAL, CALL to ACTION and ALTAR CALL

Let me close this message with a story about how God can use you and our church to be peacemakers in a world that desperately needs the peace of God. Alfred Nobel was a well-known Swedish Chemist, Engineer, and Industrialist who invented dynamite and other powerful explosives. His intentions were awesome when he invented dynamite. He wanted to create an explosive that could move rock to build roads and get things out of the way to construct buildings. His plan and good purpose was to create a powerful and extraordinary force because he wanted to make life better. Mr. Nobel wanted to improve life.

There was a problem. The problem is that folks took his good creations and intentions and used them for destruction—to kill people, to make war, to cause chaos and fear in other people’s lives. Mr. Nobel got so depressed and discouraged because bad actors were using his good invention in a wrong, destructive way that he took nine million dollars, put it in an account, and began to award people for promoting peace around the world.

Today, we call it the Nobel Peace Prize. Mr. Nobel was motivated by the fact that what he intended was being misused. But he wanted to award folks who were doing what his intentions were. And when they get the award, they become known as the Nobel Peace Prize winners. And they are called by that name because they made peace and did not make war.

God is looking for some Nobel Peace Prize winners in His Kingdom. Folks that God can bless and award because instead of [making] war, they are making peace by bringing people together, making peace between God and humanity, solving disputes, erasing divisions, silencing tongues, and building the right relationship by using God’s method, the precious Blood of Christ, to do that. May this church be full of winners who God calls sons and daughters of God because the gospel of Christ is to be spread peacefully, not forcefully.

Because Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” May God bless you.

If you are here today without Christ, [that means] there is no peace in life, and you need God’s peace. Please come forward so we can lead with you and lead you to Christ. If you are Christian, but you have moved far away from God, you have hurt other people, [and you need to make peace with God] please come so we can pray for you. Let’s stand on our feet and pray.

BENEDICTION

Let us pray.

This is such a rich and foundational truth we have learned today, Father, and we “Thank You” for laying it out wonderfully on the pages of Scripture. We are so encouraged by it, so thrilled by it. And yet, we bear great accountability because we are the peacemakers. Help us not to be afraid to confront. Help us not to compromise truth or righteousness for a false peace but to bring the truth to bear that it may conquer error. Bring righteousness to bear that it may conquer sin and, therefore, bring true peace. We thank You that in Your mercy and grace, You have sought us out, made peace with us, and made us peacemakers. We are greatly privileged and deeply thankful. And for any here today, O God, who has not made peace with You, who have not seen themselves as sinners come to the cross, embrace the One who died for them, who have not believed in the Christ of the cross and the Christ of the resurrection, may this be the day when they embrace the Savior and find peace at last and become peacemakers. What a high calling. What a privilege. What a blessing. Work that mighty work in our hearts today. We pray in the name of the Prince of Peace, our Lord Jesus. Amen.

God bless you. We will see you next week at 10:30 a.m.