The Sermon on the Mount 4

Introduction

We continue this morning in the Beatitudes, and we are still standing, as it were, on the mountain with the disciples gathered near and the crowds listening in as the Lord Jesus Christ opens His mouth and teaches, declaring the character of those who belong to His kingdom. He is showing us what the grace of God produces in the soul of a man or woman who has been redeemed and is now under the reign of Christ.

As we stated in the beginning of this section of the text we must resist the temptation to read the Beatitudes as if they were merely a list of good natural human virtues. Each of the beatitudes we have discussed are the characteristics of men and women who are citizens of the kingdom and are the marks of those who have been touched by grace, humbled by truth, emptied of self, brought to repentance, made new by the Spirit, and drawn into fellowship with Christ.

Last Lord’s Day, we considered the mercy and purity that mark the citizens of Christ’s kingdom. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” Mercy is not weakness. Mercy is the gracious disposition of one who has received mercy from God and therefore cannot remain hard toward others. The man who has seen his own guilt before a holy God and has tasted pardon through Christ cannot continue to live with a cold heart. Then our Lord said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Christ is not concerned merely with outward appearance, religious form, or external respectability. Christ’s word presses down into the inner man dealing with the heart. The blessing is not for the outwardly impressive, but the rather for the inwardly cleansed.

This morning we come to the next pair of beatitudes in Matthew 5:9-10. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” And then, “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” At first glance these two can seem to be opposed to one another with the peacemaker sounding like one who should be welcomed everywhere and the persecuted sounding like those who are rejected everywhere. Yet Jesus places them side by side because this is exactly the life of His people in a fallen world. The Christian is a maker of peace, and yet he must not be surprised when the world answers that peace with hostility. The Christian does pursue peace as a son of God, and he also endures persecution as a citizen of heaven.

Text

Please stand in reverence for the reading of God’s Holy, Inerrant, Infallible, Authoritative, Sufficient, Complete and Certain Word.

Matthew 5:1–12 LSB

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. And He opened His mouth and began to teach 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 lowly, 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 have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Our Father in heaven, we thank You for Your complete and sufficient Word. We confess that apart from the work of Your Spirit, we cannot rightly receive what You have spoken. So humble us under the voice of Christ. Open our hearts to the truth of His kingdom. Teach us to pursue peace without compromising righteousness, and prepare us to bear reproach for the sake of His name. Make us hearers and doers of Your Word, for the glory of Christ our King. Amen.

I. The Citizens of the Kingdom Are Peacemakers

Our Lord says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Notice carefully that Jesus does not say, “Blessed are the peace-lovers.” He does not even say, “Blessed are the peace-keepers,” though certainly the Christian should love peace and seek to preserve peace wherever righteousness permits. He says, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” This is active, deliberate, intentional. This is not the passive disposition of a man who merely wants everyone to stop making noise around him, or the cowardice that avoids hard conversations because conflict is uncomfortable. This is not the false peace of sweeping sin under the rug so that everyone can pretend things are well. This is the Spirit-wrought work of seeking true peace, peace with God and peace among men, according to truth and righteousness.

Thomas Watson, in his exposition of the Beatitudes, wrote, “The name of peace is sweet, and the work of peace is a blessed work.” He was right. Peace is sweet because strife is bitter and because sin has made this world a place of conflict, filled with suspicion, envy, bitterness, division, war, and death. The world talks much about peace, but it cannot produce the peace it advertises because it does not know the God of peace. Men want peace in their homes while refusing to repent of pride. Nations want peace in the streets while casting off the law of God. Sinners want peace in their conscience while remaining unreconciled to their Maker. But true peace does not begin in diplomacy, personality, policy, or therapy. True peace begins with God.

That is why the gospel must stand at the center of this Beatitude. We cannot understand peacemaking until we understand that Christ Himself is the great Peacemaker. Man’s deepest problem is not that he lacks inner calm. Man’s deepest problem is that by nature he is at enmity with God. Romans 5:10 says that while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. Colossians 1:20 says that God made peace through the blood of Christ’s cross. Ephesians 2 declares that Christ Himself is our peace and goes on to say in Ephesians 2:17–20 “And He came and preached the good news of peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone,”

That is the peace the world cannot manufacture. The world says peace comes by ignoring sin. God says peace comes by atoning for sin. The world says peace comes when everyone affirms himself. God says peace comes when sinners are humbled, cleansed, pardoned, and reconciled through the blood of Christ. The world says peace is the absence of disagreement. God says peace is the presence of righteousness, truth, holiness, and reconciliation under the lordship of Christ.

This is why the order of the Beatitudes matters. The peacemaker follows the pure in heart. Matthew Henry observed, “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, and then peaceable.” That is drawn from James 3:17 which reads “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruits, without doubting, without hypocrisy.” , and it is vital. First pure, then peaceable. Not peace at the expense of purity, or through compromise with sin. Not peace by calling evil good and good evil, or surrendering doctrine, holiness, or obedience. The peace of Christ never asks us to crucify truth in order to make men comfortable. True peace is never purchased by treason against God.

There is a false peace that Scripture condemns. The prophets denounced those who cried, “Peace, peace,” when there was no peace. Within the church this often looks like someone who tells sinners they are safe even when they remain outside of Christ or a church that avoids discipline because discipline is painful. Yet we must also be careful on the other side. Some are willing to fight about everything and then justify their quarrelsome spirit as faithfulness. That is not the spirit of Christ. We can often expose error, win arguments, and defend orthodoxy while their lives are filled with harshness, impatience, and pride. But James tells us that the wisdom from above is not only pure; it is also peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits. The truth of God does not make a man cruel. Holiness does not make a man harsh. Conviction does not make a man arrogant. If our doctrine is sound but our spirit is contentious, we have not learned Christ as we should.

John Calvin wrote on this verse that peacemakers are those “who not only seek peace and avoid quarrels, as far as lies in their power, but who also labor to settle differences among others.” Which is helpful in demonstrating that peacemaking includes both a personal disposition and an active labor. The peacemaker is not eager for conflict, nor is he easily offended, or enjoy suspicion. He is not the man whispering in corners, stirring up division, repeating matters that ought to be covered, or giving fuel to fires that should be extinguished.

They are, however, those who have been so reconciled to God that they now desire reconciliation among men. Being willing to humble himself., to confess sin,. to forgive, and go to his brother privately rather than publicly . He is willing to absorb minor offenses in love and to speak truth when truth is needed, but the desire is to be reconciled to the other person, not humiliation. He wants peace but a peace that reflects the holiness of God and the gentleness of Christ.

This has immediate application in the life of the church. The local church must not become a place where people gather around the same doctrines but carry unresolved bitterness in their hearts. We cannot sing of grace while refusing to show grace. We cannot come to the Lord’s Table while nurturing division. We cannot preach reconciliation to sinners while refusing reconciliation with a brother. The church ought to be a colony of heaven in a world of strife. That does not mean the church will never have disagreements. It means that when disagreements come, the people of God must handle them as those who have been reconciled by blood.

That means we refuse gossip. Gossip is anti-peacemaking. Gossip takes what might have been resolved between two people and spreads it into the hearts of many. Gossip baptizes cowardice in concern. It often begins with, “I just thought you should know,” or, “We need to pray about this,” when in reality the matter should never have passed beyond the person directly involved. Proverbs says that “for lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down.” A peacemaker does not carry wood to the fire.

It also means we refuse bitterness. Bitterness is anti-peacemaking because it keeps old accounts open after God has commanded us to forgive. Bitterness rehearses injuries. Bitterness interprets others in the worst possible light. Bitterness makes us historians of pain and prophets of suspicion. But Ephesians 4:17-32 calls us to put away bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice, and to be kind to one another, tender-hearted, graciously forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has graciously forgiven us.

It also means we refuse cowardice. Peacemaking is not pretending nothing is wrong. True love requires us to speak, sin to be confronted, false doctrine be corrected. Sometimes a wound must be opened in order to be cleansed. But even then the aim is peace. Galatians 6:1 says that if anyone is caught in any transgression, those who are spiritual should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Restore. That is the aim. Not to crush, not to expose for the sake of exposure, and never to prove superiority but rather to restore.

In the home, this Beatitude speaks with searching power. Are you a peacemaker in your marriage? Quick to confess? Quick to forgive? Insist on winning every disagreement? Do you cultivate peace with your children, not by tolerating sin, but by shepherding them with patience, firmness, tenderness, and consistency? Children, are you peaceable in the home? Do you do things that cause your brother or sister to misbehave? Do you answer your mom and dad with disrespect? These characteristics are not merely for church buildings. They follow us to the dinner table, into the living room, into the ordinary patterns of family life.

And then Christ attaches a promise: “for they shall be called sons of God.” This does not mean that peacemaking earns adoption. We do not become sons of God by making peace. We become sons of God by grace through union with Christ, received by faith. John 1 says that those who receive Christ, who believe in His name, are given the right to become children of God. But peacemaking reveals the family resemblance. Sons resemble their Father. The God who reconciled us to Himself makes His children reconcilers. The Father sent the Son to make peace by the blood of the cross, and those who belong to the Son begin to reflect the Father’s heart.

This is why the promise is so beautiful. “They shall be called sons of God.” The world may call them naïve. The world may call them weak. The world may despise their refusal to join the endless cycles of outrage and vengeance. But God will own them as His children. The likeness of the Father will be seen in them. Not perfectly. Not without remaining sin. But truly. The peacemaker carries the family mark.

II. The Citizens of the Kingdom Are Persecuted for Righteousness

Then our Lord turns immediately and says, “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Again, we must feel the weight of the contrast. The same people who make peace are persecuted. The same people who seek reconciliation are rejected. The same people who refuse bitterness may still be hated. Why? Because the peace they pursue is not peace with sin. It is peace with God and peace according to righteousness.

This final Beatitude brings the opening section full circle. The first Beatitude says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The eighth says, “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The same promise frames the whole. The kingdom belongs to the poor in spirit, and the kingdom belongs to the persecuted for righteousness. From humility before God to hostility from the world, these are the citizens of heaven.

Jesus says, “for the sake of righteousness.” That is the key. This is suffering that comes because a person belongs to Christ, obeys Christ, confesses Christ, loves holiness, refuses sin, speaks truth, and lives as a citizen of another kingdom. J.C. Ryle wrote that Christ means those who are “laughed at, mocked, despised, and ill-used, because they endeavor to live as true Christians.” That is the issue. The world may tolerate a privatized religion that never challenges its idols. It may even admire a sentimental version of Christianity that speaks kindly in generalities and never calls men to repentance. But the world has never known what to do with true righteousness.

Why does righteousness provoke hostility? Because true righteousness exposes sin. When Noah built the ark, Hebrews says he condemned the world. When Joseph resisted Potiphar’s wife, her lust turned to rage. When Daniel prayed faithfully, his enemies searched for fault and could only find it concerning the law of his God. When John the Baptist told Herod that it was not lawful for him to have his brother’s wife, he was imprisoned and eventually beheaded. When Stephen preached Christ, he was stoned. When the apostles preached the resurrection, they were beaten and commanded to be silent. When Christ, the Holy One, came into the world, the world crucified Him.

A.W. Pink, reflecting on the Beatitudes, noted that the eighth Beatitude follows necessarily from the others because the character Christ blesses is the very character the world hates. The poor in spirit rebuke pride. Those who mourn over sin rebuke the world’s laughter. The meek rebuke self-assertion. Those who hunger for righteousness rebuke complacency. The merciful rebuke cruelty. The pure in heart rebuke impurity. The peacemakers rebuke strife. The world does not merely misunderstand this life; often it resents it.

John MacArthur emphasized in his teaching on the Sermon on the Mount that this persecution is not incidental to kingdom life but expected. When the church truly reflects the righteousness of Christ, it should not be surprised when the world reacts against it. That does not mean we seek persecution. It does not mean we speak recklessly in order to provoke opposition. But it does mean we stop being shocked that loyalty to Christ brings reproach. Jesus told His disciples plainly, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you.”

This is where many are tempted to retreat. We want the blessing of the kingdom without the reproach of the King. We want the comfort of Christ without the offense of Christ. We want to be known as faithful Christians while being applauded by a world that crucified our Lord. But Jesus will not let us imagine such a path. The Beatitudes end with persecution because the life of the kingdom is fundamentally at odds with the spirit of the age. The Christian is not persecuted because he is seeking conflict. He is persecuted because he belongs to Christ, and Christ is a stumbling stone to proud men.

Matthew Henry wrote that those persecuted for righteousness are “blessed, for they now, in their persecutions, are conformed to the pattern of the suffering Jesus.” That is the great comfort. The persecuted believer is not abandoned by Christ. He is being conformed to Christ. The path of the disciple is shaped like the path of the Master. The servant is not greater than his Lord.

This does not remove the pain. Persecution hurts. Mockery hurts. Rejection hurts. Being misrepresented hurts. Losing opportunities because of faithfulness hurts. Being called hateful because you love enough to speak truth hurts. Watching family members pull away because you follow Christ hurts. We should not romanticize suffering as if believers do not bleed. The Psalms are full of cries from the righteous who are opposed, slandered, and weary. Paul knew what it was to be beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked, hungry, cold, abandoned, and maligned. Our brothers and sisters around the world even now know costs that many of us have barely imagined.

But Jesus says, “Blessed.” Not because persecution is pleasant, but because the persecuted for righteousness belong to the kingdom. The blessing is not in the pain itself, but in what the pain reveals and where the promise rests. “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The world may take reputation, comfort, opportunity, possessions, freedom, and even life. But it cannot take the kingdom. It cannot take Christ. It cannot erase the inheritance reserved in heaven. It cannot sever the believer from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This promise also guards us from self-pity. The persecuted Christian is not to think, “No one has suffered like I have.” Jesus will go on in verses 11 and 12 to say that the prophets were persecuted before us. We stand in a long line. The faithful have always been strangers and exiles in this world. Abel was hated by Cain because his deeds were righteous. Moses chose reproach with the people of God rather than the passing pleasures of sin. The prophets were mocked, imprisoned, and killed. The apostles rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name. Church history is written with the blood of martyrs and the tears of faithful saints who would not bow to another lord.

Charles Spurgeon, preaching on the Beatitudes, reminded his hearers that the world’s opposition to the believer is not a strange thing, for the enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent has marked history since Genesis. The world can tolerate religion as long as religion does not threaten its rebellion. But when Christ is preached as Lord, when sin is named as sin, when righteousness is loved, when the cross is held forth as the only hope of sinners, then the old enmity shows itself.

This has become especially important in our own day. We live in a culture that often defines love as affirmation and hatred as disagreement. If you affirm what God condemns, the world calls you compassionate. If you speak what God has spoken, the world may call you dangerous. But the Christian does not have the authority to edit God’s Word in order to keep the world’s approval. We must speak the truth in love, but love must speak the truth. We must be gentle, but gentleness is not silence. We must be peacemakers, but not peace-fakers. We must be kind, but kindness does not lie to sinners about eternity.

At the same time, this Beatitude calls us to examine whether we are truly suffering for righteousness or merely for our own manner. A Christian should never use persecution as an excuse for pride. If people are offended, let it be the offense of the cross, not the offense of our flesh. Let it be Christ they stumble over, not our arrogance. Let it be truth that provokes them, not our lack of wisdom. Let it be righteousness that exposes them, not our needless harshness. The goal is not to be hated. The goal is to be faithful.

There is also comfort here for believers who feel the pressure of standing alone. Young people, you may know what it is to be mocked because you will not join in sin. You may know what it is to be considered strange because you believe the Bible, honor your parents, pursue purity, and confess Christ. Take heart. Christ sees. Adults, you may know what it is to be pressured at work, in family gatherings, in friendships, or in public life to soften what God has made clear. Take heart. The kingdom does not belong to the approved. It belongs to those who are Christ’s.

And church, we must remember that this Beatitude is not merely individual. A faithful church may be despised. A faithful church may be called narrow, severe, outdated, unloving, or extreme. A church that holds to the authority, sufficiency, inerrancy, and clarity of Scripture will not always be celebrated. A church that practices discipline, guards the ordinances, preaches repentance, confesses Christ as the only way, and refuses to conform to the spirit of the age will be misunderstood. But Christ has not called His church to be admired by Babylon. He has called His church to be faithful unto death.

III. Christ Is the True Peacemaker and the Righteous Sufferer

We must finally bring both of these Beatitudes to Christ Himself. If we detach the Beatitudes from Christ, they become either moralism or despair. Moralism says, “Go be a peacemaker and endure persecution so that you may earn the kingdom.” Despair says, “I have failed at peace, and I fear suffering, so the kingdom cannot belong to me.” But the gospel directs us to Christ, who is both the true Peacemaker and the righteous Sufferer.

He is the true Peacemaker. We were not merely confused people needing advice. We were guilty sinners needing reconciliation. We were enemies needing peace with God. Christ did not make peace by ignoring justice. He made peace by satisfying it. He did not make peace by pretending sin did not matter. He made peace by bearing sin in His own body on the tree. He did not make peace through compromise. He made peace through blood. At the cross, mercy and truth met together. Righteousness and peace kissed. The holy God remained just, and the ungodly who believe in Jesus are justified.

And because Christ has made peace between God and His people, He also makes peace among His people. The cross humbles us, it strips away boasting, it teaches us to forgive as we have been forgiven and move toward those we would rather avoid. We learn that reconciliation is costly and that peace is not cheap, but it is precious.

He is also the righteous Sufferer. No one ever suffered for righteousness as Christ suffered. He was perfectly pure, perfectly meek, perfectly merciful, perfectly righteous, perfectly peaceable, and perfectly obedient. Yet He was despised and rejected by men. He was slandered, mocked, beaten, falsely accused, and crucified. He did not suffer because of His sin. He had none. He suffered for righteousness. More than that, He suffered for unrighteous sinners, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God.

So when you suffer for righteousness, remember that you are not walking a road Christ has not walked. He has gone before you. He is with you. He will keep you. He will vindicate you. He will not forget your labor, your tears, your losses, or your wounds. The kingdom is yours because the King has secured it.

And when you fail as a peacemaker, run again to the Peacemaker. When you have spoken harshly, confess it. When you have stirred strife, repent. When you have cherished bitterness, bring it into the light. When you have avoided necessary reconciliation because pride stood in the way, humble yourself before Christ. The Beatitudes are not written to make hypocrites pretend. They are written to show what grace produces and to drive us again and again to the One from whom all grace flows.

Conclusion

So hear the word of the King. Blessed are the peacemakers, those who, having been reconciled to God through Christ, now pursue true peace according to righteousness for hey shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness., those who bear reproach because they belong to Christ and will not deny Him. for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Leaving us with a question we cannot evade: Are we seeking the kind of peace that comes from surrendering to the world, or the kind of peace that comes from belonging to Christ, even when faithfulness brings reproach?

Closing Prayer

Gracious Father, we thank You for the mercy of being reconciled to Yourself through the blood of Your Son. Forgive us for the times we have loved comfort more than truth, approval more than faithfulness, and outward quiet more than true peace. Make us peacemakers who reflect the family likeness of our Father, and make us steadfast when righteousness brings reproach. Strengthen those who are weary, convict those who are compromising, and draw sinners to the only One who can make peace between God and man. May Christ be precious to us, may His kingdom be our treasure, and may our lives bear witness that we belong to Him. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.