Blessed are the Peacemakers
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Intro —
On May 1st of this year, the members of Greater Bellevue Baptist church in Macon, GA gathered to discuss their pastor’s future. Knowing that there might be trouble, the discussions were moderated by a local Sheriff’s Deputy who continually had to remind the people of basic manners and rules of discussion. About 20 minutes into the meeting, decorum decayed and a fight broke out. Young men threw punches, and folks shoved each other over chairs that had been knocked over. More Law Enforcement was called in and they used whistles to break up the fight and send people home.
Even when it is not an all-out fight there can be serious issues.
In a small church there exists a cultural obligation for people to get along, to help one another and work together. This cultural expectation pressures people to overlook their differences and look beyond the petty quarrels that divide people. This can often challenge people to resolve their conflicts, but it can also become a mask behind which conflict simmers and festers, and eventually explodes and divides the church. The tensions may never degenerate into open warfare, but a cold war can exist where people manipulate church politics to undermine their opponents’ programs or ideas.
Conflicts because of Cultural Tensions —
Conflicts because of Lost Authority —
Conflicts because of Change —
Conflicts because of Personalities —
(Glenn C. Daman: The Enrichment Journal)
Trans —
We’ve been studying the Sermon on the Mount and we have been looking at this Sermon bearing in mind its purpose: Jesus is forming the New Israel. These are to be the founding marks of God’s new Israel. So often it is not the case.
Today we come to the next Beatitude: blessed are the peacemakers. This is such an important theme for Jesus that it will come up again and again in the SM.
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
Matt
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
Matt 18:
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.
Matt 18
What is a Peacemaker?
What is a Peacemaker?
Matt 18:21-22
Matt 6
“The ‘Peacemaker’ is someone who is reconciled to God, knows God is for peace, and seeks reconciliation instead of strife and war.” (Scot McKnight)
“The ‘Peacemaker’ is someone who is reconciled to God, knows God is for peace, and seeks reconciliation instead of strife and war.” (Scot McKnight)
1. God is for Peace —
Rom
May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.
What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,
Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.
2. Peace is one of the blessings that God gives to those who follow Him
Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.
Numbers 6:24-
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
May the Lord give strength to his people! May the Lord bless his people with peace!
“So may all your enemies perish, O Lord! But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might.” And the land had rest for forty years.
When a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.
3. God repeatedly commands His people to seek peace
Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace.
1 Cor 7
Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.
Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
4. God describes His covenant in terms of peace
Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace,
For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
“I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.
My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.
5. The standard biblical greeting was “peace”
Ma 2:5
But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”
And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you.
And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
Jud 6:23
Rom
To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
1
Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.
6. Every NT Epistle contains an admonition to seek peace in the church.
Romans 15
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
1 Thess 5:13
and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.
What do Peacemakers do?
What do Peacemakers do?
They Avoid Unbiblical Responses
Escape — Faking Peace
Attack — Breaking Peace
They Pursue Righteousness
Because true peace is not the absence of conflict. It is dwelling together in righteousness. Sin is the cause of conflict
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Psalm 85
Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.
What are steps to peace?
What are steps to peace?
Remember the Gospel
Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Matthew 18:
2. Live the other Beatitudes
3. Overlook offenses
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
4. Take the Burden
To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?
What is the Promise for those who are Peacemakers?
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Kids look like parents.
This is the motivator! You get God.