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| “I’ll Build Bridges, Not Walls” • Matthew 5:1-9
1.
Sign over a Podiatrist’s office: Time wounds all heels.
2. Sign on a maternity room door: Push! Push! Push!
3. Sign on a dog owner’s fence: Salesmen welcome!
Dog food is expensive.
4. Sign at a propane filling station: Thank heaven for little grills.
5. Sign in the front yard of a funeral home: Drive Carefully.
We’ll wait.
6. Sign in a Veterinarian’s waiting room: Be back in 5 minutes.
Sit! Stay!
Every morning, to this day, an Orthodox Jewish man will say a prayer where he uses the word “blessed” nine times.
The Hebrew~/Aramaic word for blessed is pronounced “ah-she-RAY-nu.”
The word literally means “life is enriched.”
Jesus might have been copying this custom, because in the beatitudes, He said “blessed” exactly nine times.
If you want your life to be enriched, if you need personal, spiritual refreshing, then you should embrace the attitudes Jesus described in these verses.
Let’s look at our REFRESH memory verse from Acts 3:19, “Repent, then and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
Repent means to “change your attitude.”
We’ve learned during this series that you can’t change other people, and you may not be able to change your circumstances, but you can always change your attitude.
Now let’s read the next beatitude found in Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God.”
These beatitudes are like steps on a ladder.
Jesus gives them in a certain sequence, and if you want to experience the fullness of blessing you must follow them in the same order.
Let’s review these steps on a ladder.
Step one is to Realize that I’m not God.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
Step two is Earnestly believe that God exists and that I matter to Him.
That’s based on “Blessed are those who mourn.”
The next beatitude says, “Blessed are the meek” and that step is Fully submit my life and will to Christ’s control.
Next Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”
Step four is to Receive God’s righteousness as a gift of grace.
Step five is Extend Forgiveness to those who have hurt me, based upon “Blessed are the merciful.”
Step six is Seek Purity over perfection based on “Blessed are the pure in heart.”
Step seven based on “Blessed are the peacemakers” is to Help Others Find Peace with God.
And the Refreshing Attitude we must embrace is: I’ll build bridges not walls!
As you can see, these seven steps spell the word REFRESH.
*Are you a Peace-faker?*
Next week we’re going to talk about what you will experience when you reach the top of the ladder—the last beatitude.
But in this message, let’s consider what it means to be a peacemaker.
Not everyone is a peacemaker.
Are you a peace-faker?
A peace-faker seeks peace at any price, which is not peace at all.
A peace-faker mistakes the absence of conflict for peace, thus they avoid conflict at all costs—even at the cost of sacrificing truth.
Or if there is conflict, they never close the loop; and what they call peace is just a pause in the ongoing, unsettled conflict.
The prophet Ezekiel described them this way, “They lead my people astray saying, ‘peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash.”
(Ezekiel 13:10).
A peace-faker builds walls instead of bridges.
*Are you Peace-breaker?*
Or maybe you are a peace-breaker.
This is the opposite of a peace-faker, because a peacebreaker is constantly causing conflict.
A peace-breaker builds walls instead of bridges.
They are argumentative and abrasive.
They aren’t happy unless everyone else is unhappy.
They are the kind of people who disagree simply “for the sake of argument.”
They are trouble-makers who leave a trail of wounded people in their wake.
Sometimes peace breakers ruin the sweet unity of the Spirit in a church.
Paul wrote to Titus and told him to “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time.
After that, have nothing to do with him.”
(Titus 3:10)
*Are you a Peace-maker?*
Instead of being a peace-faker or a peace-breaker, you should be a peace-maker.
A peacemaker builds bridges instead of walls.
When most people first hear the word peacemaker, they think Jesus must have been talking about a person who brokers a peace treaty between two warring nations.
But that isn’t what Jesus had in mind here.
A desire for world peace is a noble goal and a great answer for a beauty contest participant.
But Jesus said there will always be wars and rumors of wars.
Is world peace even possible?
It hasn’t been possible for much of human history.
Historian Will Durant pointed out that in over 4,000 years of recorded human history there have only been about 286 years of peace.
And during that same period he estimates there have been over 8,000 peace treaties made and broken.
Someone said “Peace is merely that brief glorious moment in history when everyone stops to reload.”
While world peace may be beyond our scope, it is possible to experience /personal /peace.
And we can help others experience peace.
So what is a peacemaker?
Let me share with you three indistinguishable marks of a peacemaker.
*1.
A PEACEMAKER ENJOYS PEACE WITH GOD*
The most important peace in the universe is being at peace with God.
The Bible says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(Romans 5:1) The Bible teaches that because we are sinners, we are alienated from God—enemies of God.
But God so loved the world that He gave His son Jesus to bring us a way to find peace with Him.
That’s why the angels announced at Jesus’ birth, “Peace on earth, good will toward men.”
Jesus didn’t come to usher in an age of peace between nations.
In fact He said, “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth?
No, I tell you, but division.”
(Luke 12:51) The truth about Jesus sometimes divides nations and families.
The peace that Jesus came to bring is both peace with God, and then an inner peace, a peace that | *“I’ll Build Bridges, Not Walls” *• Matthew 5:1-9 • February 25, 2007 • #1189ABy Dr. David O. Dykes.
Part 7 in the series “Refresh!
What to Do When Life Crashes” |
passes all understanding.
That’s why we can enjoy peace with God.
Once you are a child of God you don’t have to worry or fret about what may happen in this life or the next.
You can live in peace!
Sometimes people ask a dying person, “Have you made your peace with God?” I know they mean well, but you and I cannot make peace with God.
We don’t have to make peace with God, because Jesus already made it.
We only have to accept His terms of peace.
Jesus is the world’s greatest peacemaker.
The Bible says, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him [Jesus], and through him to reconcile to himself all things…by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
(Colossians 1:19-20)
It’s good to sing the song that says, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin in me.”
Before you can BE a peacemaker, you must accept the peace God offered you through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
*2.
A PEACEMAKER ENDEAVORS TO MEND BROKEN RELATIONSHIPS*
When Jesus came preaching He claimed to fulfill the prophecy found in Isaiah 61.
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