S.O.T.M. Happy are the peacemakers [Matthew 5:9]

Stand for the reading of the word of God [Matthew 5:9]

We come today to consider the seventh of the beatitudes. We cannot overstate that there is nothing in the whole of scripture that tests, examines, and humbles us more than these beatitudes. Again with the one today, ‘blessed are the peacemakers...’ we see once again the outcome and outworking of one who is meek. As we’ve seen in the other beatitudes this statement stands in contrast to those who are not Christian and is the outward evidence of an inward change in a person.

We’ve established this in previous sermons on the beatitudes but I want to reiterate that this and all the beatitudes are not natural dispositions. We’ll touch on that more later when we get to what is a peacemaker, but I want us to move forward with this in mind. These beatitudes are characteristics of the regenerate man, the born again, the follower of Jesus. This is very important when looking at this beatitude in particular because peace and peace making is something everyone sees as needed, but only the Christian will truly understand what Jesus is saying here.

MI: Peace making is a characteristic of those who have entered into God’s family by adoption through faith in Jesus Christ.

The idea of peace dominates the Bible.  The Bible opens with peace in the garden; the Bible closes with peace in eternity.  In fact, you could chart the course of history based on the theme of peace.  There was peace on earth in the garden.  Man sinned, peace was interrupted.  At the cross, peace became a reality again as He who died on the cross became our peace.  And since the Lord Jesus Christ has provided peace, there can be peace in the heart of a man or a woman who comes to know Him.  Someday in the future, He will come again.  His title will be the Prince of Peace.  He will establish a kingdom of peace, which will finally go into an eternal age of peace.

There are 400 references in the Bible to peace.  God is tremendously concerned with peace.  It is one of His great themes.  In fact, He Himself calls Himself the God of Peace.  You say, “But there’s no peace.”  No, not in the world, not now, but there’s a reason.  The reason there’s no peace is because of two things:  the opposition of Satan and the disobedience of men.  The fall of angels and the fall of man has caused a world without any peace.  It isn’t that God doesn’t want peace, it’s that man and Satan are at war with God.  You know, you can only have peace with someone as long as they want it, because it’s a two-way item.  And as long as they will have no peace, there will be none.

This is a timely message right? We know there is no peace in the world, but now with all the craziness going on…this is right in our face. I was just talking a man this past week that said, ‘I don’t know how you can believe in a God with all the unrest in the world.’ You know, people will say, ‘why doesn’t God stop the wars and fighting?’ He didn’t start it, they’re not His wars. There man’s! The reality is, God wants peace for you and me and for all man kind…that’s why He sent His son to secure peace for all who believe....the problem is…man doesn’t want peace.

We have a great illustration of that in our political and social environment right now…everybody is yelling and nobody is listening…people don’t want peace with each other individually, they don’t want peace with other groups, they don’t want peace among nations, and they don’t want peace with God. Why not?

What is wrong with the world?

Why is there not peace in the world? Human history is filled with wars, battles, fights, disagreements, turmoil, and discord among men. Why? According to the scripture the answer is simple…sin. Nothing else, this is the problem…it’s just sin! Immediately, when we examine this we come back to the doctrine of man and the doctrine of sin-or theology. Theology is the study of the divine, or the study of God and His word, so if you hear someone say, “I’m not interested in theology, just give me Jesus.” You can say, “you’ll never know the true Jesus without proper theology.” Theology is vitally important!

The peace maker has become different from what he was; there again is essential theology. The explanation of all our troubles is human lust, greed, selfishness, self-centeredness; it is the cause of all the trouble and the discord, whether between individuals, or between groups within a nation, or between nations themselves. So you cannot begin to understand the problem of the modern world unless you accept the New Testament doctrine with regard to man and sin and the fallen state of the world.

Why is there so much trouble and difficulty in maintaining peace in the world? Think of all the international conferences, peace summits, peace treatise, that have failed. Why does the United Nations Organization seem to be useless in maintaining peace in the world when that’s why it was formed after WWII? Why is there so much civil unrest in our world when we have groups formed to help communicate peace? Why do peaceful protest often turn violent? There’s only one answer, and it’s not political, it’s not economic, it’s not social…according to the scripture the trouble with the world is the heart of man.

Friends time, money, policies, groups, laws, all can be used to try to bring peace to man but it will never succeed because man is at war with God and in his natural state is not right with God and that affects his relationship to his fellow man. Any attempt to bring peace on earth apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ will fail, because that’s the only way to have real peace.

Now I’m not saying that attempts to make international peace or peace among nations, groups or individuals shouldn’t be made. I’m simply pointing out the reason why their is lack of peace is because of sin in the heart of man. It is when we have a proper understanding of the problem with man that we can then begin to really solve the problem of peace. It is only when we view the world through the eyes of the gospel that we will begin to understand what is wrong with the world. Are you surprised by wars, rumors of wars, conflicts, turmoil, unrest, and discord? As a Christian you shouldn’t be, because the bible clearly teaches that man is at war with God and not in a right relationship with God, and that affects his relationship with his fellow man. The Christian should know this better than anyone! With that in mind...

What is peace?

We may say, “I know what peace is, why ask that question?” Well, we may have a wrong idea of what peace is biblically speaking. As one writer said, “peace is that moment when everyone stops to reload.” But is that it? Is peace just a momentary time when conflict doesn’t exist and everyone is reloading or refueling for the next fight?

Some people think that peace is the absence of conflict, that peace is the absence of strife. But that’s not it biblically speaking. No, peace as God sees it is far more than the absence of something, it is the presence of something.  And I would say that in a biblical way, peace is not the absence of conflict as much as it is the presence of righteousness that causes right relationships.

Peace is not just stopping the war; peace is creating the righteousness that brings the two parties together in love.  When a Jew says to another Jew, “Shalom,” which is the word for peace, he doesn’t mean “May you have no wars, may you have no conflict,” he means “I desire for you all the righteousness that God can give, all the goodness that God can give.”  Shalom means “God’s highest good for you.”  It’s a creative force for goodness.  So if we are to be peacemakers, we do not only stop the war, we replace it with the righteousness of God.  We replace it with all the goodness of God.  Peacemakers are those who not only call a truce but a real peace where all is forgotten, and they embrace one another.  It is an aggressive good.  What I’m trying to say is that peace is not creating a vacuum.  Peace is not creating the absence of something, but the presence of something. Right relationship between God and man.

Now, let me show you the difference.  There’s a difference between truce and peace.  Truce just says you lay down your guns and you don’t shoot for a while.  That’s the world’s definition of peace when everybody stops for that one glorious brief moment when we reload.  That’s truce.  Peace is when the truth is known, the issue is settled, and the two parties embrace each other. 

Now, some people think that peace is just stopping the war and what we need in the world is just to stop the conflict.  All that does is make it boil.  Now, some people may say, “Well, I just want to make sure there’s no conflict.  I just want to kind of cover it up and stop the fighting.”  And you really – by just approaching peace in that manner, stopping any conflict, you may develop a situation far worse than you ever developed by letting it go on because you may eliminate any resolution at all, drive it underground until it smolders and destroys both sides.

For example, if two people are at war with each other, the thing to do is not separate them so they don’t see each other, the thing to do is to bring them together so they can resolve the problem so they can come together in love and embrace each other and make it right.  That’s peace, not truce. The peace of the Bible does not evade issues. The peace of the Bible is not peace at any price. The peace of the Bible conquers the problem. You see the difference?  It conquers that problem in the middle ground so that the two can come together.  It builds a bridge to two sides.  Sometimes it means struggle.  Sometimes it means pain.  Sometimes it means anguish.  Sometimes it means a little more strife but in the end, real peace can come.

What did God do to resolve the issue of man at war with God, i.e. sin? He didn’t look the other way, he didn’t avoid it, He didn’t look past it, no, He sent His Son to die in our place, to resolve the conflict between God and man so that man might be reconciled with God and through Christ’s propitiation the two parties at war, God and man, are then brought together in a right relationship. You see how this ties to the gospel. To be a Christian is to have had Christ reconcile us to God, and then as a Christian we are called then to be peacemakers ourselves…bringing the good news of the gospel to man so that they might be in right relationship with God themselves.

What is a peacemaker?

Obviously again, it is not a matter of natural disposition. It does not mean an easy-going person, it does not mean your ‘peace at any price’ person. It does not mean the sort of man who says, ‘Anything to avoid trouble’. It cannot mean that. Have we not agreed all along that none of the Beatitudes describe natural dispositions? But not only that. These easy-going, peace-at-any-price people are often lacking in a sense of justice and righteousness; they do not stand where they should stand.

They appear to be nice; but if the whole world were run on such principles and by such people it would be even worse than it is today. So I would add that your true peacemaker is not an ‘appeaser’, as we say today. You can postpone war by appeasement; but it generally means that you are doing something that is unjust and unrighteous in order to avoid war. The mere avoidance of war does not make peace, it does not solve the problem. We ought to know that with particular certainty. No; it is not appeasement.

A peacemaker then we could say two main things about passively and actively. Passively, a peacemaker is not a quarrelsome person. That does not mean you will never be in turbulence, look at Jesus, every where he went people were stirred up, conflict arose, quarrels happened. But He did not go out seeking those things, because of sin in man those things were present. Jesus brought peace, but the natural man is at war with God.

Now us as Christians, we should not be the type of people that are always in silly quarrels. I understand that because we are Christians certain arguments will be evident…but we shouldn’t be the type of people who go looking for a fight. We should seek to live at peace with man as much as possible.

Actively, a peacemaker is not content with letting sleeping dogs lie or maintaining the status quo. The peacemaker actively desires peace and does everything in his power to produce and maintain peace. Actively seeking peace with individuals, groups, nations. The peacemaker is concerned that all men be at peace with God.

This involves of course a new nature. Only the Christian, the one who has been changed by God, only the one in whom God is still working in is truly concerned with peace. Because the man with a new nature, understands man sin and rebellion against God, and that the natural man is at war with God. So, the believer, who has been reconciled to God in Christ seeks to bring that same message of reconciliation to other men…evangelism is on the peacemakers mind…bringing man into a right relationship with God trough the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The peace maker has an entirely new view of the world and his highest concern is the glory of God among men. The peacemaker is done with insisting his rights always, done with selfishness, and is interested in bringing glory to God. The peacemaker is ready to humble himself and promote God above all else. That’s so opposite of how we view peace in the world right? I hear all the time, ‘I need some peace and quiet.’ meaning I need to get away from everything and everybody to find peace. I know and recognize it’s good to get away sometimes and have some quiet time away…but when you come back…the problems are still there, the wars are still there, they just didn’t magically disappear due to the lack of your presence.

The only way to have true peace, as the bible tells us, is to have the issue resolved. Stop running away from your problems, stop turning a blind eye to the issues, stop ignoring conflict and resolve it biblically. So...

How does this work out in practice?

First and foremost, learn when NOT to speak! Friends, if we could control our tongues there would be a lot less conflict in the world! Wouldn’t you agree that much of the fighting today is because people can’t control this little muscle in our mouths? Of course now we get in trouble with our thumbs, typing…but it’s the same idea…the thumbs an extension of the tongue in today’s world.

James said, “be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” I’d say that is one of the best ways of being a peacemaker, just learn when not to speak. For example, when something is said to you or against you, and the temptation is to reply…don’t do it. Just don’t do it… not only that, but don’t repeat things or say things when you know they are going to harm someone! You are doing no good by saying harmful things about people. I feel like this is elementary, but I see many Christians engaged in this all the time.

The peacemaker is a person who does not say things, even when they feel like saying them, but for the sake of peace refrains. The natural man is so strong in us we often say, “but I must express myself, that’s just who I am.” If you are a Christian…has not God changed you? Are you more powerful than God? Is you old nature more powerful than the working of Holy Spirit in your life? Friends, it’s never a good thing to say unkind, unpleasant, and mean things…when you do, you’re organizing war, not making peace. So this is the first thing…know when not to speak. The next thing...

View every situation in light of the gospel. When you face a situation that tends to lead to trouble, not only must you not speak, you must also think. You must take the situation and put it into the context of the gospel and ask, ‘What are the implications of this? Who all is involved? What is the Cause? what can the Church do? what about the Organization or people involved? what about all the people who are dependent on God? what about the people who are outside of God’s kingdom?’ The moment you think of it like that you are beginning to make peace. But as long as you are thinking of it in a personal sense there will be war. War always begins with self-interest... when others are being put first, peace is being made.

As peacemakers, we should seek to spread peace wherever we are. We do this by being selfless, by loving and being lovable, by being kind and approachable and not stand-offish and rude. Friends if you have a bitter spirit in you, people will not approach you friendly. But if you are a peacemaker, you are truly concerned about others and them having a right relationship with God, it will come out in your life.

Peacemakers are called ‘sons of God’ . By the way, it says sons of God, huios, not tekna, children.  Tekna [Children] is the word used to speak of tender affection.  Huios [sons] is the word used to speak of dignity and honor and standing.  And here he’s not just talking about the affection that belongs to us as children of God, he’s talking about the dignity and the honor of being a son of God.  It’s a great thought.  The word is used to designate character, to designate quality.  Ours is the distinction of being sons of God.  You know how you can tell a son of God, according to this statement of Jesus?  He’ll be a what?  Peacemaker. That’s right.  He’ll be a peacemaker.  The mark of a true Christian, as were all the other Beatitudes, beloved.  And if you look at your life and you do not see a peacemaker, then one of two things is true, as we’ve said all along:  you are not a Christian at all or you’re a peacemaker living in sin.  And you better examine yourself to see whether you’re really in the faith or not.

Ephesians 2:14-18 says, 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

That’s it right there, and that is why I kept that to the end, that we might remember, whatever else we may forget, that to be a peacemaker is to be like that, it’s to be like Jesus. Who did not cling to His rights; He did not hold on to the prerogative of deity and of eternity. He humbled Himself; He came in the likeness of a man, He humbled Himself even to the death of the cross. Why? He was not thinking of Himself at all. ‘Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.’ ‘Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.’

That is the New Testament teaching. You finish with self, and then you begin to follow Jesus Christ. You realize what He did for you in order that you might enjoy that blessed peace of God, and you begin to desire that everybody else should have it. So, forgetting self, and humbling self, you follow in His steps ‘who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously.’ That is it. God give us grace to see this blessed, glorious truth, and make us reflections, reproducers of the Prince of Peace, and truly Sons of ‘the God of peace’.