Children of the Lord of Peace
Matthew: The Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
Hobbes on war and the need for society, showing our universal desire for peace and inability to obtain it.
The Peacemaking of God
The Peacemaking of God
“Dominion and fear are with God;
he makes peace in his high heaven.
What Peace is Jesus talking about?
What Peace is Jesus talking about?
Order - At the foundation of the biblical view of peace is order. This peace is displayed in the law of Moses. A very fundamental part of peace is civil order that comes from being submitted to God’s revealed will. When the law is followed there is order and therefore peace.
Order is not limited to the OT; it needs to be a part of NT life and worship. Paul told the Corinthians that all things must be done in order for the building up of the church. In 1 Corinthians 14:33 he says
1 Corinthians 14:33 (ESV)
For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.
he says this to instruct the church to make sure that there isn’t chaos in the use of Spiritual gifts, but that they be practiced in order. His reason: God is a God of peace.
Peace in this sense goes to the very nature of who God is. From the beginnng of creation God has been making order out of chaos, peace out of that which is not peaceful.
When God first created the heavens and the earth, it was void and chaotic until six days of ordering the creation were past.
Sin, the attempted replacement of God with ourselves, brings chaos back into the world. Instead of being agents of order as created, in sin we are agents of chaos that would ultimately end the world and return creation to the void.
God’s plan of salvation, in one aspect, is God continuing to make order out of our chaos.
God being a God of peace means he is a God who is putting everything in order under his control.
Cessation of hostility
This is the peace we usually think of when we think about peace. Hostility is disorder in social relations. When hostility happens, there has been a disruption in the order of a relationship. The expectations, understandings, or agreements between two parties have been violated and this creates conflict.
Hostility with God is created by people breaking from an orderly relationship with God. But God being a God of peace means that he brings hostilities to an end and thus creates peace.
Reconciliation
The peace most likely associated with our text. This peace is a possible outcome of the cessation of hostilities. God brings peace to a rebellious world through victory over the world and over sin, as seen in various displays of God’s warfare against the wicked throughout Scripture.
However, the outcome which God prefers and the one which shows God’s great desire for peace is reconcilliation. This brings peace to an innocent and guilty party without the guilty party having to suffer the consequences of the hostility that they began. Forgiveness, patience, and propitiation all factor into reconciliation. Not only is the guilty party freed from those consequences, a right and peaceful relationship is restored.
Making Peace
Making Peace
In our text, a peacemaker is someone who makes peace is all three of these ways, especially the third. A peacemaker is someone who propigates the order of God, specifically in reconciliation.
Jesus: The Great Peacemaker
Jesus: The Great Peacemaker
What is important about peacemaking for us?
We are chaotic people living in a chaotic world, and are unable to create peace. The best we can do is create human governments and tribes with rules, both spoken and unspoken, that we try to enforce to create an orderly society without hostility. This comes with various degrees of success, but never enough.
We are hostile to God and to each other because of our allegience to ourselves. James tells us that conflict comes from our flesh and the pursuit of personal desires. Because of our hostility, even our best efforts to make peace with God fail because of our fiery desires that run against the order of God.
We are guilty. Even if we could turn our hearts to be able to reconcile, it isn’t our call to make. God is the innocent party in the relationship and he may choose how peace is administered. In other words, if peace is going to be made, it is God who has to do it.
Humanity needs a reconciler, a mediator, a peace maker, able to make peace between God and man through reconciliation who is able to represent both God and man.
That peacemaker, of course, is Jesus Christ. It is for this reason that we read,
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Jesus is the great peacemaker, one who makes peace between God and man. Those with whom God is pleased are those God has chosen to make peace with through Jesus Christ. Those who come to Christ in true faith.
Jesus the mediator
Jesus the mediator
Jesus makes peace as a mediator, coming between the hostile parties to create reconciliation.
Isaiah calls the coming messiah the Prince of Peace in Isaiah 9:6. Ezekiel reports the result of the New Covenant,
“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.
Jesus the Peace offering
Jesus the Peace offering
Jesus makes peace by making atonement for sins.
A peace offering made atonement for sins in the Levitical law.
And all its fat he shall burn on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. So the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.
and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Peacemaking Children of God
Peacemaking Children of God
So if Jesus is our peacemaker, who can this blessing refer to? If those who are blessed will see God, how can we be reconciled with him unless we also become peacemakers? It is true that Jesus is our peacemakers, but as followers of Christ the redeemed are also called to be peacemakers. Not that we can reconcile people to God, but those who are pure in heart and reconciled to God are in the image of Christ. These are blessed because they, truly, are at peace with God and therefore may be called his children. As his children, made and remade in his image, they too are peacemakers seeking the progress of order, the dissolution of hostility, and reconciliation overcoming all evil with good.
When a man’s ways please the Lord,
he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
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.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Christians must be known as peaceful people in the ways described.
They are those who desire order, not obsessively but serenely. A Christian may, in immaturity, be a very messy person, but most often you see their life turn to more orderly habits as they mature.
They are not ruled by chaotic fears, but entrust themselves to God with habitual composure.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
They are gracious and prefer to be wronged rather than be engaged in hostility.
To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?
They are willing to be submissive to rulers and authorities for the sake of peace.
Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
They are eager to be reconciled to other Christians and even non-Christians for the sake of peace and love.
Those who have peace with God seek peace with all others. This is their default. However, this peace is rooted in peace with God, and therefore will never compromise peace with God. Peace that defies the Gospel is not peace, it is desertion from Christ. Peace that defies biblical living is not peace. Peace that is ok with heresy, unloving attitudes, false prophecy, or anything else that amounts to disowning Christ. Peace will always befounded in truth, however the default attitude of a Christian will be the desire for peace, unity, and reconciliation.
Peace always comes from Christ, not from ourselves. Worldly peace looks good, it is compelling, it feels good, it is attractive to the flesh. True peace, God’s peace, isn’t like the world’s peace. It begins with peace in Christ with God, and branches out from there. Christ is our peace, and through him we are peacable and make peace with all. In this way, our peace may uniquely show Christ to the world.