The Beatitudes: Embracing the Cost of Citizenship (1)
The Kingdom of GOD • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 41:31
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· 27 viewsIn this series, we are looking at what it means to be citizens in the Kingdom of GOD. We take a look at how we should live and how we partner with the FATHER in HIS reign. This week we take a look into the details of the Sermon on the Mount as we begin looking at the third triad in which we discover the cost and the reward of citizenship in the KINGdom of GOD. We start with v.9, as we look at what it means to be peacemakers.
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Announce text: Matthew 5:1-16
Key Text: Matthew 5:1-16
Review
second triad: https://youtu.be/5eqGkWsCa_c
We began our series exploring the KINGdom of GOD, a central biblical theme reflecting GOD’s love and desire to share in HIS rule alongside humanity. Created in HIS Image, Adam and Eve were given royal tasks: be fruitful, cultivate the earth, and rule over creation in partnership with GOD. Their rebellion broke trust with GOD, cursing these tasks and making them harder. Through Cain, humanity established rival kingdoms, replacing GOD’s rule with rebellious self-rule, leading to a constant clash between GOD’s KINGdom and human kingdoms. GOD then chose Israel to reveal HIS KINGdom’s nature, calling them to be a light to nations through submission to HIS rule. Yet, Israel cycled through rejection (that is, rejecting GOD), captivity, repentance, rescue, and return. This cycle repeated until, once again, GOD stepped in - this time literally stepping into time and space as fully GOD, fully man. John the Baptist arrives as the forerunner - the breaker, paving the way for JESUS - begins preaching repentance and included in that message is the phrase, “the KINGdom of heaven is at hand.” John gets arrested and thrown in prison. Then JESUS picks up the same message as John - Matthew 4:17 “17 ... “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Included in JESUS’ message is the proclaiming of the gospel—the good news (euangelion) that the KING has returned, inviting us back to GOD’s reign.
This set the stage for the Beatitudes, where JESUS redefines the good life, as we just heard in the review (I would say watched, but that was pretty small to see anything. That video was designed to be viewed on a phone, I think).
So, that’s kind of where we’ve been over the last couple of months. We’re in the middle to the end of JESUS’ introduction to the SOTM. We will start the third triad of the Beatitudes today.
Let’s begin with GOD’s Word.
Announce text again: Matthew 5:1-16
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the hillside, and sat down. His disciples came to him.
2 He took a deep breath, and began his teaching:
3 “How good is life for the powerless, because theirs is the kingdom of the skies.
4 “How good is life for those who grieve, because they will be comforted.
5 “How good is life for the unimportant, because they will inherit the land.
6 “How good is life for people who hunger and thirst for God’s justice! You’re going to be satisfied.
7 “How good is life for those who show mercy, because you will be shown mercy.
8 “How good is life for the pure in heart! You will see God.
9 “How good is life for the peacemakers! You’ll be called God’s children.
10 “How good is life for people who are persecuted because of God’s saving plan! The kingdom of heaven belongs to you.
11 “How good is life for you, when people slander you and persecute you, and say all kinds of wicked things about you falsely because of me!
12 Celebrate and rejoice: there’s a great reward for you in heaven. That’s how they persecuted the prophets who went before you.”
13 “You’re the salt of the earth! But if the salt becomes tasteless, how is it going to get salty again? It’s no good for anything. You might as well throw it out and walk all over it.
14 “You’re the light of the world! A city can’t be hidden if it’s on top of a hill.
15 People don’t light a lamp and put it under a bucket; they put it on a lampstand. Then it gives light to everybody in the house.
16 That’s how you must shine your light in front of people! Then they will see what wonderful things you do, and they’ll give glory to your father in heaven.
16 That’s how you must shine your light in front of people! Then they will see what wonderful things you do, and they’ll give glory to your father in heaven.
Prayer for added blessing to the reading of the Word
Message
Message
Telemachus was a monk who lived in the 4th century. He felt God saying to him, "Go to Rome." He was in a cloistered monastery. He put his possessions in a sack and set out for Rome. When he arrived in the city, people were thronging in the streets. He asked why all the excitement and was told that this was the day that the gladiators would be fighting and killing each other in the coliseum, the day of the games, the circus. He thought to himself, "Four centuries after Christ and they are still killing each other, for enjoyment?" He ran to the coliseum and heard the gladiators saying, "Hail to Ceasar, we die for Ceasar" and he thought, "this isn't right." He jumped over the railing and went out into the middle of the field, got between two gladiators, held up his hands and said "In the name of Christ, forbear." The crowd protested and began to shout, "Run him through, Run him through." A gladiator came over and hit him in the stomach with the back of his sword. It sent him sprawling in the sand. He got up and ran back and again said, "In the name of Christ, forbear." The crowd continued to chant, "Run him through." One gladiator came over and plunged his sword through the little monk's stomach and he fell into the sand, which began to turn crimson with his blood. One last time he gasped out, "In the name of Christ forbear." A hush came over the 80,000 people in the coliseum. Soon a man stood and left, then another and more, and within minutes all 80,000 had emptied out of the arena. It was the last known gladiatorial contest in the history of Rome.
Source Unknown.
The beatitudes are 9 sayings of JESUS in which HE is reframing what the good life is. We have been digging into the Greek and Hebrew words underlying our English translation of what JESUS is saying in our text, and this morning, we will begin looking at the third triad covered in vv.9-12.
Here is the third triad in context in a blended paraphrased translation from the BibleProject and the NTFE version:
9 “How good is life for the peacemakers! You’ll be called God’s children.
10 “How good is life for people who are persecuted because of God’s saving plan! The kingdom of heaven belongs to you.
11 “How good is life for you, when people slander you and persecute you, and say all kinds of wicked things about you falsely because of me!
12 Celebrate and rejoice: there’s a great reward for you in heaven. That’s how they persecuted the prophets who went before you.”
So, where the first triad was a look at the unexpected places or states of being that JESUS identified as a state of blessedness, and the second triad revealed who JESUS identified as the type of people GOD is forming - those who live in the KINGdom; in the third triad, we are going to be looking at the cost of and reward for those citizens living in the KINGdom of GOD. The third triad opens with JESUS saying the good life is for the peacemakers - HE calls us to be peacemakers, but what we’re going to learn is that this calling comes with a warning: it won’t be easy.
Just as the second triad of beatitudes built upon the first, so, too does the third triad build upon both the first and the second. When you think about the second triad, one who is at home in the KINGdom is one who is bothered by the injustice they’re seeing and they want to set things right - they want to lift up those who are lacking. They are a people who want to do right by GOD and others - they seek right relationships with their neighbors and their enemies.
This morning we will begin looking at three dynamics of the divine mandate with counting the cost and embracing the reward of citizenship. So, these are three dynamics of peacemaking:
Peacemakers Bear the Image of CHRIST.
One of the definitions of the word dynamics is that it is the social, intellectual, or moral forces that produce activity and change in a given sphere. So, I think this is a pretty good characterization of what we’ve been learning about the beatitudes and how we as YHWH’s regents, when we follow HIS teaching and effectively live out HIS ethics, can be ministers of change in this world. We can act as catalysts for the KINGdom of GOD to invade the kingdoms of man in which we live. This is what we’ve been learning about.
Today, we are going to look at v.9:
9 “How good is life for the peacemakers! You’ll be called God’s children.
So, having an insatiable desire to see the world made right - everyone living in right relationship with one another - actively living out generous acts of mercy, and all the while doing it with a pure heart or right motives is an identifying mark or trait of a child of GOD - or at least it should be. Remember, this gets at the core character of a believer - a citizen of the KINGdom of GOD. If we’re living in a way to exemplify these traits - living by JESUS’ ethics - we need to be prepared to enter areas of conflict because it is there where the most important work for the KINGdom of GOD will be accomplished.
So, we enter into areas where peace is lacking so that our presence provides opportunity to introduce the ethic of JESUS as a resource that is available to help solve conflicts.
Greek word eirénépoios
pronounced: i-ray-nop-oy-os
translation:
definition: peacemakers
This is a compound word. So, it’s made up of two other Greek words. The first word is ...
Greek word eiréné
translation: one, quietness, rest
definition: peace
… and the second word is ...
Greek word poios
translation: maker, doer
definition: to make or do
So, as we’ve been learning about other character traits found in JESUS’ ethics presented in the Beatitudes, we discover that the Christian life is not meant to be passive, rather it is an active force. In our context this morning, we see we are to be peace doers - peace makers. We have to actively choose to enter areas of conflict and work to create peace.
Perhaps you will recall during the Advent season that one of the words we covered was the word peace. You may recall that we learned true biblical peace is not merely the absence of conflict, but it’s also the presence of harmony - an ordered state. It is something you have to work toward - something that must be made.
The Hebrew word we looked at then was the equivalent to eirene, and it is the Hebrew word shalom. We actually looked briefly at this word earlier in this series, as well.
Hebrew word Shalom
translations: completeness, soundness
definition: peace, complete, wholeness
This is the ordered state - bringing order to the chaos of conflict - that we are called to work towards creating. We’re not just removing conflict, we’re bringing unity through reconciliation - restoring what is broken to wholeness.
?Play BP video on peace: https://youtu.be/oLYORLZOaZE
There are three actions I want to touch on this morning relating to Image-bearing as peacemakers.
Pursue Peace Through Love
Again, this is an active force, not a passive one. We might be tempted to avoid conflict, but you can’t be a peacemaker, if you avoid conflict. Peace is something that has to be made. This is a core trait of the good life found in KINGdom communities.
For the past several weeks, we have been talking about the group of people JESUS was addressing and the states in which they lived. Remember when we looked at the last verse of the first triad, v. 5, we learned that JESUS was quoting from Psalm 37.
5 “How good is life for the unimportant, because they will inherit the land.
9 For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.
JESUS was using a “copy and paste” reference to a passage of Scripture that was a reminder from one of many poems that hope for Israel’s restoration to the land as the time of comfort, and it is the time of inheriting the reign of the KOG on earth - inheriting the land. At the time, we noted how important land was to them (tied to inheritance - financial stability). Yet, the land had been taken from them, and they now worked the land for their oppressors - those who occupied their land.
It is in this context that JESUS instructs HIS listeners to be patient because their inheritance will be restored. As JESUS continues in HIS sermon, HE now instructs HIS listeners that in the meantime, they are to be peacemakers with those who are their occupiers. How were they to do this? Can you imagine what they must have felt? Not only was their land taken from them, but they were mistreated, as well. They were a people lacking resources and powerless to change their state on their own.
Yet JESUS tells them to work toward peace with those who have put them in this state. But how? Well, with another upside down trait of the KINGdom of GOD: through love.
44 “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
HE doubles down on it again in ...
35 “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.
So, we see that we confront evil through love, and isn’t this was JESUS did? I hope you noticed something else in this verse - I emphasized the text making it bold and underling it. What other line do we see that ties together with our verse today? We see the blessing - we will be GOD’s children. It is part of our identity in HIM - remember, we’re looking at KINGdom identity stuff here that JESUS is introducing in the Beatitudes. Our identity in CHRIST is as a son or daughter of ABBA, FATHER - PAPA GOD. This is who you and I are - we create peace through love, and that kind of love can only come from the FATHER. It’s in our DNA as HIS children.
Where do you need to love others as you bring peace?
Testimony: annual review .. brings peace and a calmness
There are three actions I want to touch on this morning relating to Image-bearing as peacemakers.
Pursue Peace Through Love.
Partner with HOLY SPIRIT.
As we are GOD’s children, we have HOLY SPIRIT living inside us to teach and to guide us, just as the disciples had JESUS to teach and to guide them.
14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Being “led by the Spirit of God” is a description of one who is living under the control and empowerment of HOLY SPIRIT. We are living as those who exhibit all of the core character traits of the ethics JESUS is teaching, and we’re not accomplishing this by our own doing, but as we are led by and transformed by the power of HOLY SPIRIT who enables us and gives us power to be Image-bearers of our heavenly FATHER in forcefully advancing HIS KINGdom. This is a marker of a citizen of heaven - a citizen of the KINGdom of GOD.
Paul said in ...
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
The law and the SPIRIT represent mutually exclusive ways of living. You either live according to your flesh (humanness - our desires) in conjunction with the law, or you live according to HOLY SPIRIT in a way that bears the Image of CHRIST. The law can help to identify sin, but it is powerless to keep a person from sinning. Neither can the law produce within a believer the character of GOD. That work belongs to HOLY SPIRIT WHOM JESUS sent to us to empower us against sin and to transform our hearts and minds so that they can become completely consecrated to the FATHER to fulfill HIS plans and purposes for which HE created us.
This is why the apostle Paul characterized the KINGdom of GOD this way in ...
17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
The KINGdom of GOD is made up of citizens who possess a deep, craving for GOD’s justice - to do right by GOD and others by elevating - or giving a hand up to - those who are lacking and oppressed. The KINGdom of GOD is made up of citizens who forgive fervently with a ferocious abundance of love reflecting their FATHER’s khesed. The KINGdom of GOD is made up of citizens who actively go about these tasks not begrudgingly acting out of the flesh (from our own power & resources), but rather from a pure heart - pure and right motives. The KINGdom of GOD is made up of citizens who, from this place, also engage areas of conflict and work toward making peace - bringing harmony and reconciliation to the chaos. All of this can only be accomplished by the power of HOLY SPIRIT living in and through us. Said another way in ...
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
There are three actions I want to touch on this morning relating to Image-bearing as peacemakers.
Pursue Peace Through Love.
Partner with HOLY SPIRIT.
Progress Towards Prophetic Peace.
As we talked about last week, when we discussed living with a pure heart - all the intentions of our heart, the heart motives are pure, this is a tall order.
23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
This is hard work. The work of ministry can be messy at times, and entering into areas of conflict to work toward peace - particularly when there is resistance is emotionally, spiritually, and physically draining. We “groan” as we eagerly look forward to CHRIST’s return. Yet, as we learned last week, JESUS believes we’re capable and up to the task of advancing the KINGdom of GOD through peace.
The prophet Isaiah foresaw this and prophesied:
6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
Isaiah believed in a future KING WHO would broker a covenant of shalom with HIS people. This KING would set the world right and restore all that was broken. This KING - this Prince of Peace - would reign forevermore and would be characterized by eternal shalom. Isaiah goes on to say that the citizens of this KINGdom would ...
12 “For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
So, when JESUS’ birth was announced in Luke 2:14, it was announced as the arrival of eirene.
14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
As the Prince of Peace, JESUS later gave this gift to HIS believers:
27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
That same peace HE offers to you and I today. So, how wonderful that GOD would call us to be peacemakers - go create peace in this world, and I’m going to give it to you before you go, so that ...
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
JESUS restored to wholeness the broken relationship between humanity and the FATHER. So, Paul says in ...
14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,
JESUS HIMSELF is our eirene, becoming the whole - the complete human that you and I were created to be but failed at miserably. So, HE gives us this gift, and with it we are called to create peace.
Being peacemakers means joining Jesus’ mission to reconcile heaven and earth, restoring shalom through His death and resurrection. True peace isn’t just the absence of conflict; it’s the hard work of mending what’s broken—whether in our hearts, relationships, or world—into wholeness, reflecting the rich biblical vision of tzedekah and khesed.
So, pj … What’s the point?
Conclusion
Conclusion
In the 4th century, Telemachus, a monk, heard GOD’s call to Rome. Amid the coliseum’s bloodlust, he leapt into the arena, crying, “In the name of CHRIST, forbear!” Though slain, his courage silenced 80,000, ending gladiatorial contests. JESUS declares in Matthew 5:9,
9 “How good is life for on the peacemakers, because they will be called children of God.
Like Telemachus, we’re called to bear CHRIST’s Image, pursuing peace through love, partnering with HOLY SPIRIT, and progressing toward prophetic shalom.
Being peacemakers means joining JESUS’ mission to reconcile heaven and earth, restoring shalom through His death and resurrection. True peace isn’t just the absence of conflict; it’s the hard work of mending what’s broken—whether in our hearts, relationships, or world—into wholeness, reflecting the rich biblical vision of tzedekah and khesed. This builds on our hunger for righteousness, fervent mercy, and pure hearts, embodying holiness as CHRISTlikeness. Yet, as Telemachus shows, peacemaking invites conflict and persecution, echoing the prophets’ costly witness.
Where is GOD calling you to make peace today? In a fractured family, a divided workplace, or a broken community? Don’t avoid conflict or seek vengeance; enter it with CHRIST’s Love (khesed), led by the SPIRIT. Work to restore shalom by reconciling relationships (tzedekah). Trust JESUS, our PRINCE of PEACE, WHOSE sacrifice enables us to bear GOD’s Image. Let’s pray for HOLY SPIRIT to empower us as peacemakers, shaping us into KINGdom citizens who reflect GOD’s eternal shalom.
Closing prayer & benediction
24 The Lord bless you, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
26 The Lord lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.’
Scripture records the following words in v.27:
27 “So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”
So, receive and go with the blessings of YAHWEH!
