Sunday Sermon Matthew 5:9
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Introduction
Introduction
Good morning and welcome to FCC where we worship God in Spirit and Truth, one verse at a time, one book at a time.
We are glad that you have joined us this morning has we are starting to close out the beatitudes.
We have come as far as Matthew 5:9, SO LET’S open our Bibles there.
Read Matthew 5:1-9
Read Matthew 5:1-9
And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
Prayer
Prayer
Lord, thank you for this day and for the week that is behind us and for all the gifts, graces, and blessings, in our lives. Thank you that you are our peace and that because you are peace, we can have peace too. Lord God, we come to your Word today as humbly as we know how, so please teach us through your Spirit the truths that you desire us to have. And may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Please Father heal our brothers and sisters that are not well and Lord for the person that has no peace, may they have peace by the end of this service.
In Jesus Name, we Love You!!! Amen and Amen
Are you enjoying going through the Words of our Great High Priest?
Review
Review
In looking back over the past few weeks, I think it is clear that we can see a natural progression here in the beatitudes and I am reminded it is not about doing, but rather being.
And I say this because Jesus showed up in the middle of a politically and religiously charged culture that was caught in the trap of works.
And Jesus came at just the right time to speak truth to set the captives free.
But even though I share about the Jews be trapped in works based system and to Rome, I think it is always important to remember that works are a natural by-product of our salvation.
Show me some who is saved church and I will show you someone that has works for faith without works is dead.
Last week we learned that Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
And we discovered that scholars suggest that the word basically has two different meanings.
First, it means “to make pure by cleansing from dirt, filth, or contamination” and was most often used to describe metals that had been refined by fire until they were free from impurities.
It was also used for soiled clothes that had been washed clean, and of grain that had been carefully sifted to remove all impurities.
Second, it refers to being “unmixed, as having no double allegiance.”
In his commentary on this passage, Warren Weirsbe writes that the “basic idea is that of integrity, singleness of heart, as opposed to duplicity, or a divided heart.”
Jesus said it this way:
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
James said it like this:
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
It is crucial that we allow God to search our hearts about our own contamination and double-mindedness.
Are we trying to serve two masters or one?
Do we have a singleness of heart? Or is our heart divided?
Because according to James, If we do not have singleness of heart, then guess what?
We are unstable in all our ways!!!
Church, when I am unstable, it is because my heart is divided and I cannot serve two masters.
When I am unstable mentally, emotionally, and even physically it is because my focus is wrong and I am tossed to and fro by anything and everything that comes my way.
Unstable- prone to change, fail, or give way; not stable. Prone to psychiatric problems or sudden changes of mood.
I would challenge anyone here today that feels unstable to ask yourself the question:
How is my time with God? Am I spending time in prayer and in the Word?
Am I contaminating myself with the things of this world and feeding my flesh?
The bottom line church is that Jesus is not just teaching us how to enter His Kingdom, but how to stay in His Kingdom and share it with others.
He is teaching us over and over here that if you want to be blessed, if you want to be happy, if you want to be holy for He is Holy, then do these things.
But you know what is amazing? We will try to make ourselves happy with everything else only to end up being empty.
Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
So we have come to the seventh beatitude and one that we would think is the goal of every christian.
But what is this peace? How do we obtain it?
Because if were brutally honest, we would all say that we want peace and that this world needs peace because it is clearly unsettled and restless.
God is described in the Book as the God of Peace:
And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Peace is part of God’s Character or one of his attributes if you may.
It is who God is.
And if you go all the way back to Genesis, we find peace until after the fall and then if you follow the Scarlet Thread throughout the Bible you will see in the end or in the book of Revelation there will finally be peace in eternity of in heaven.
For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
Do you think we live is a confused society?
Could we say that we live in the most confused society of all time?
Confusion is the opposite of peace, therefore, is not from God, but of the wicked one and our own making.
Confusion- akatastasia(aka-tas-tasia) — instability, unsettled, a state of disorder, disturbance.
In looking at this definition, can you see how being double-minded will lead ultimately lead to confusion.
So the by-product of double-mindedness and contamination is confusion and therefore, no peace.
And when we are in this state, we try to find peace in everything but Jesus.
So, what is the definition of peace?
You know most people, even church people would say it the absence of conflict or war. And there is some truth to this...
But I would suggest and even challenge our thinking on this one.
How about peace is not the absence of conflict, BUT rather the presence of Jesus who is the Prince of Peace:
For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
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.
Where there is no peace, they do not know the prince of peace.
The world is unsettled, restless, and confused because Jesus is no longer Preeminent or central to everything we do.
In fact, if we were honest we could say that this great nation and many of its institutions have fallen from grace, therefore, we have lost peace.
And the sad thing is Jesus died for this peace.
He died for you and for me. he bridged the gap.
In fact, according to the Word we were enemies of God:
For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Again Jesus died so that we could make peace with God he bridged the gap for us, for without the shedding of blood there is not remission of sins.
So peace is a great way to see the theme of the Bible.
Peace in the garden, peace interrupted, peace returns in the hearts of men because of the cross.
The Prince of Peace comes again to bring a kingdom of peace that finally becomes an eternal peace.
Church, there are 400 references in the Bible to peace.
God is tremendously concerned with peace.
In fact, He Himself calls Himself the God of Peace. as I already shared.
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.
But the Good News is the God sent his only begotten Son, so that we can have peace.
But we cannot have this peace unless we are in right relationship with him and are pure in heart as beatitude number 6 states.
Remember, there is a natural progression here.
You cannot pick and choose, nor have one and not the others.
So without righteousness and being pure in heart, we cannot have peace or be peace makers.
Note: the text says peacemakers, not peace-takers and some of us have been peace-takers.
The Gospel is about forgiveness and this forgiveness, love, and grace that God extends to us leads to peace.
It leads to his Son that has bridged the gap.
Let me illustrate this for you:
There was a couple and they were in court getting a divorce. Now the sad thing was that there son was there next to his mother and his father and guess what? It was ugly church, they were very angry at each and it was clear that they had no peace and church we cannot have peace in our lives when there is sin. This young boy who was crying grabbed his mommy’s hand and then he grabbed the hand of his father. He took their hands in front of the court room, in front of the judge, and attorneys and stuck them together. This little boy became peace church, he became peace for his parents. It was at that moment, his parents began to cry and guess what happened? They reconciled and peace returned to the marriage They did not divorce church.
This is a picture of what Jesus does with us church.
He takes our hand and places it in the hand of the Father so that we are no longer his enemies, but he beloved children. Because of jesus we have peace with God.
We make peace with God.
Then as we begin to mature and put the Word of God in us, we end up with the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.
He provided the righteousness that allows man to take the hand of God.
God is the only source of peace and a man will never know peace until a man knows the peace that only God can give because there is no other.
And think about it, as parents, don’ we desire our children to live in peace and to have a peaceful life?
So God reconciles us through his Son so that we can be ambassadors for his Kingdom.
If we are saved church, we have been given the ministry of reconciliation.
It means that we are to share Jesus and the Gospel.
It means that we evangelize the lost and bring them to Jesus so that they too can have peace!
The peace of the Bible does not evade issues. It never evades issues.
It does not look past sin and compromise, but rather deals with the issues at hand
The peace of the Bible conquers the problem.
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.
Church, the Word teaches that the darkness does not like the light. And if this is true there will be strife.
When Jesus came, there was strife. If you and I are walking out our faith and living and walking in the light, then there will be strife. Not because of us, but because of Christ in us the hope of glory and the goal is to bring people to Jesus, so they can stop living in confusion, they can stop being tossed too and fro, they can stop living in sin and have peace with God.
For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
But the wisdom from above is first what? PURE!!!
The wisdom that is from God finds its way to peace through what? Purity. First pure, then peaceable.
Peace is never sought at the expense of righteousness.
You have not made peace between two people unless they have seen the sin and the error and the wrongness of the bitterness and the hatred and they have resolved to bring it before God and make it right, then through purity comes peace. Peace that ignores purity is not the peace that God talks about.
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
In other words, you cannot divorce peace from holiness.
You cannot divorce peace from purity.
You cannot divorce peace from righteousness.
Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed.
So we must have righteousness, be merciful as God is merciful to us and pure to have peace.
And we cannot be a peacemaker church, without having peace first.
Peace is a result of righteousness. Peace is a result of purity, and it will not be produced if we are living in sin.
I close with an amazing gospel story:
Working with the Sawi Tribe in Irian Jaya, the missionary couldn’t seem to get any way to – get any handle on how to tell them the significance of Christ’s death. He couldn’t figure out how to communicate to the people there, how they could understand the meaning of Christ and His death. And the Sawi were having a terrible, constant feud with another tribe, and there was no way there was ever going to be any peace. And there was a custom among those tribes that if peace was ever made, it would be made when one person from a tribe took his own baby and gave that baby to the other tribe and left the baby there and went away. Gave it as a permanent gift. And according to their custom, as long as the baby lived, they would have to honor peace between the tribes.
The problem was they hated each other so much, they wouldn’t give each other a baby, a precious life. Until one person, one man, picked up the only child that he had, just one little baby boy. Took that little baby boy in his arm, and while his wife chased him but too late, he ran from his village into the village of the enemy and presented to them that baby. And they called that baby the Peace Child. And as long as the baby lived, there was peace. And Don Richardson said, “I had my analogy.” Jesus is the peace child, and as long as He lives, there is peace. And how long does Jesus live? Forever and ever. Christ is the peace child. All their suffering, there must have been anguish on the heart of the Father as He watched the Son die and you can imagine the anguish in the heart of that father as he handed the only baby ever to come from his loins to a – enemy tribe, never to see the child again. But the price was worth it for the peace, right? The strife was over.
Church Jesus is the peace child. So God is the source of peace and Jesus is the manifestation of peace and the agency of peace is the Holy Spirit. You see, God is a God of peace who made Christ the manifestation of peace and gave us the Holy Spirit who’s the agency of peace.
Do you have peace? Does the peace of Gos surpass all understanding in your life?
Prayer
Prayer
But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
THE LORD BLESS YOU!
YOUR MISSION STARTS NOW!