Blessed Are the Peacemaker

CHAPTER ONE recreation Makers INTRODUCTION The followers of messiah slang been c alled to public security. When he called them they found their wild pansy, for he is their peace. But now they ar told that they must(prenominal) non only put on peace but make it. And to that end they depart all violence and tumult. instantaneously, PEACEMAKING is a divine work. For peace means balancing and theology is the author of peace and of reconciliation. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the particular blessing which attaches to peacemakers is that they shall be called boys of matinee idol. For they be see federation of tribesg to do what their Father has d self-colouredness, loving passel with his savour. 1. 1Who atomic number 18 the Peace Makers Being a peacemaker is part of organism surrendered to deity, for theology contains peace. We abandon the effort to get our needs met through the destruction of enemies. God comes to us in Christ to make peace with us a nd we infix in Gods blow up as we go to our enemies to make peace. For no one has ever been converted by violence. Making peace makes us Gods childrenand kin to each a nonher(prenominal). According to Michael H.Crosby, in his work whole stepuality of the Beatitudes. The peace intend is not merely that of political and economic stability, as in the definitive military personnel, but peace in the Old Testament inclusive genius of wholeness, all that constitutes well-being. The peacemakers, therefore, are not simply those who bring peace surrounded by two conflicting parties, but those actively at work do peace, bringing close to wholeness and well-being among the alienated. However, they play a vital role by their impact by creating peace where violence has fetchn control.It is important to note that peacemakers are honoured up to now as they speak ab show up peace as well-nigh social occasion already victoriously won that we muckle fete as part of our glorious past o r as something that go forth be won in the other world. They continue to be dishonoured insofar as they continue to imply out injustice, hypocrisy, and suffering. They are noble when their actions bring to light, problems far a government agency from us they are an odious nuisance when they point out our suffer sins. We are called peacemakers as Christians by our ways of sustenance.However, in our reflection, its interesting to point out that, none of those theologians look to go along much mind to how one deal with nefariousness. Are we supposed to buy the farm in and allow violent, evil hatful to make slaves of us all? That would be the result of peace making at any cost. Hitler and his people would be ruling the world today, people would be evaluated according to their affable and physical abilities and those who are for whatever reason unable to participate and transmit would end up in concentration camps.Muslim extremists are not all that different a good recitatio n is the recent apparitional crisis in Jos Plateau state. Perhaps Mr. Bush and his people were wrong for scratch the war and as he himself has said, we might never know the service but evil and injustice must be fought against with every thing we support. saviour commanded us to do good and that includes putting rarify evil action. As long as there are violent self-seeking leaders in charge of underdeveloped countries there is nothing we can do. The poor will ever benefit from our charity. 1. 2The Cry of the Beatitudes Get a New HeartOne after the other the beatitudes tell us that the blessings of eternity will be given only to those who seduce fail immature creatures. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the tenuous in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. If we dont obtain mercy, we apprehend judgment. If we dont see God, we are not in promised land. If we arent called the so ns of God, we are outside the family. In other words these are all descriptions of final salvation. And it is promised only to the merciful, the unmingled in heart, and the peacemakers.thitherfore the beatitudes are standardised long spikes holding down the lid of the coffin on the false teaching which says that if you just deal in Jesus you will go to heaven whether or not you are merciful or pure in heart or a peacemaker. In fact, from beginning to end the Sermon on the scene cries out, Get yourself a new heart Become a new person The river of judgment is at the door You recall the words of measure 20 Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 520).And at the very end of the sermon in (Matthew 726f), the Lord calls out over the crowds, Every one who hears these words of exploit and does not do them will be like a scatty man who built his house upon the sand and the rain cut out, and the floods c ame, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell and great was the fall of it. In other words, a life of noncompliance to the beatitudes and to the Sermon on the Mount will not stand in the judgment no subject field what we believe 1. 3How to Become male childs of GodWhen Jesus says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God, he did not tell us how to become a son of God. He simply says that sons of God are in fact peacemakers. People who are peacemakers will be know as the sons of God at the judgment and they will be called what they are and welcomed into the Fathers house. To see how to become sons of God we can serve, for example, in John 112 and Galatians 326. John 112 says, To all who certain him (Jesus), who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God. And Galatians 326 says, For in Christ we are all sons of God through faith. In other words, we become sons of God by trusting in Christ for our mildness and hope. What Jesus is saying in Matthew 59 is that people who stomach become sons of God have the character of their heavenly Father. And we know from rule book that their heavenly Father is a God of peace (Romans 1620 1 Thessalonians 523 Hebrews 1320). We know that heaven is a world of peace (Luke 1938). And most important of all, we know that God is a peacemaker God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them (2 Corinthians 519). He do peace by the blood of the cross (Colossians 120). In other words, even though by nature we are proves against God and have committed gritty treason and are worthy to be eternally court-marshaled and hanged by the bang until dead. Nevertheless God has sacrificed his own Son and now declares amnesty free people and clear to any who will lay down their arms of emancipation and come home to faith. God is a peace-loving God, and a peacemaking God.The whole history of redemption, climaxing in the death and resurrection of Jesus, is Gods strategy to bring about a just and lasting peace between rebel man and himself, and because between man and man. Therefore, Gods children are that way, too. They have the character of their Father. What he loves they love. What he pursues they pursue. You can know his children by whether they are willing to make sacrifices for peace the way God did. By the crowned head work of Gods grace rebel tender-hearted beings are born again, and brought from rebellion to faith, and made into children of God.We were given a new nature, after the image of our heavenly Father (1 John 39). If he is a peacemaker, then his children, who have his nature, will be peacemakers too. CHAPTER deuce 2. 1The Spirit of God Is the Spirit of Peace To put it another way, as Paul says in Galatians 46, Since we are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba Father And therefore, as he says in Romans 814, every(prenominal) who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. And being led by the Spirit always includes staying the payoff of the Spirit. And the fruit of the Spirit is peaceSo you see why it must be so, that the children of God must be peacemakers. It is by the Spirit of God that we are made children of God, and the Spirit of God is the Spirit of peace. If we are not peacemakers, we dont have the Spirit of Christ. So we do not earn or virtuousness the privilege to be called sons of God. Instead we owe our new possess to the sovereign grace of God (John 113). We owe our faith to the impulses of the new birth (1 John 51). We receive the Holy Spirit by the wreak of this faith (Galatians 32). The fruit of this Spirit is peace (Galatians 522).And those who bear the fruit of peace are the sons of God. Our whole salvation, from beginning to end, is all of gracetherein lies our hope and joy and freedom. But our final salvation is not unconditional, we must be peacemakerstherein lies our earnestness and the great se riousness with which we must deal with these beatitudes, and seek the grace of God in our lives. Now allows look at . . . what it means to be peacemakers. 2. 2What It Means to Be a comforter The promise of sonship in the second half of the Matthew 59 points us to Matthew 543-45 for our main insight.Both of these texts describe how we can show ourselves to be sons of God. 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 ruin 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. signalise verse 45, . . . so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. The thought is the same as in Matthew 59. There, we must be peacemakers to be called sons of God.Here, we must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us if we would be sons of God. So probably Jesus appreciates o f peacemaking as all the acts of love by which we filter to overcome the enmity between us and other people. And if we ask for specifics, he gives two examples. The first thing he mentions is request (verse 44) Pray for those who persecute you. Pray what? The next chapter tells us. In Matthew 69-10 Jesus says, Pray like this. Pray that you and your enemy would hallow Gods name. Pray that Gods kingdom be hold in your life and his life.Pray that you and he would do Gods will the way the angels do it in heaven. In other words, pray for conversion and sanctification. The rump of peace is purity. Pray for yours and pray for his, that there might be peace. whence in Matthew 547 Jesus gives the other specific example of peacemaking-love in this text If you salute (or greet) only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? In other words, if there is a rupture in one of your relationships, or if there is someone who opposes you, dont nurse that grudge.Dont feed the animosity by ignoring and avoiding that person. That is the immanent thing to dojust cross the street so that you dont have to greet them. But that is not the impulse of the Spirit of a peacemaking God, who sacrificed his Son to reconcile us to himself and to each other. Peacemaking tries to build bridges to people. It does not indispensableness the animosity to remain. It wants reconciliation. It wants harmony. And so it tries to show what may be the only readiness the enemy will tolerate, namely, a greeting.The peacemaker looks the enemy right in the eye and says, Good morning, John. And he says it with a longing for peace in his heart, not with a phony gloss of politeness to cover his indig area. So we pray and we take whatever practical initiatives we can to make peace beginning with something as simple as a greeting. But we do not always succeed. And I want to make sure you dont study peacemaking with peace-achieving. A peacemaker longs for peace, and works for peace, and sacrifice s for peace. But the attainment of peace may not come. Romans 1218 is very important at this point.There Paul says, If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all. That is the intention of a peacemaker If possible, so far as it depends on you . . . Dont let the rupture in the relationship be your fault. 2. 3A Tough Question Peace and Truth? What raises a tough question Is it your fault when the stand that you take is causing the division? If you have alienated someone and brought down their anger upon your head because you have done or said what is right, have you ceased to be a peacemaker? Not necessarily. Paul said, If it is possible . . . live at peace. He thus admits that there will be times that stand for the loyalty will make it impossible. For example, he says to the Corinthians (1118-19), I hear that there are divisions among you and I partly believe it, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recogn ized. Now he would not have said that, if the genuine Christians should have compromised the truth in order to prevent divisions at all cost. It was precisely because some of the Christians were genuinegenuine peacemakersthat some of the divisions existed. (Also see 1 Corinthians 715. Jesus said in Matthew 1034, thus Do not return that I have come to bring peace on demesne I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his induce and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a mans foes will be those of his own household. In other words, you must love peace and work for peace. You must pray for your enemies, and do good to them, and greet them, and long for the barriers between you to be overcome. But you must never abandon your allegiance to me and my word, no matter how much animosity it brings down on your head.You are not flagitious you are not in the wrong if your life of obedience and your meat o f love and truth elicit hostility from some and affirmation from others. CHAPTER deuce-ace 3. 1Social Injustices as Demands for Personal Repentance There is another explanation for why he preaches the way he does. In Luke 131-5 some people confronted Jesus with one of Pilates atrocities. Heres the way he responded There were some resign at that very time who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And e answered them, Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? I tell you, No but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. He took a major social outrage of injustice and turned it into a lease for personal, individual repentance. Unless you repent you will all likewise perish Thats what he always did. Why did he do this? Because for Jesus, the eternal mountain of a human person is a weightier matter, a bigger issue, than the temporal destiny of a nation. . 2The Truly Weighty Matter in the World forthwith Now lets go back to the question. Why does a message on peacemaking from the Sermon on the Mount focus on the individual issues of prayer and greetings and personal reconciliation? Arent these personal issues insignificant in comparison with the issues of thermonuclear war, military budgets, arms talks in Geneva, apartheid in South Africa, and spiritual crisis in northern Nigeria, civil wars in Central America, religious subjection in Romania and Russia, and international terrorism?The answer is no, because the point of these personal issues in the Sermon on the Mount is to make crystal clear that every individual within the hearing of my voice must become a new creature if you are to have eternal life. You must have a new heart. Without a merciful, pure, peacemaking heart you cannot be called a son of God at the judgment day. And that is the truly weighty matter in the world today. Is the Son of Man confined in his views of the world, is he out of touch with the real issues of life because he regards the eternal salvation of your soul as a weightier matter than the temporal destiny of any nation on earth?Blessed are you peacemakers who pray for your enemies and greet your opponents with love and sacrifice like your heavenly Father for the reconciliation of people to God and to each other, for you will be called sons of God and inherit eternal life in the kingdom of your Father. CONCLUSION Blessed are the peacemakers. But if you look around you, peacemakers are extremely rare. In fact, conflict is basically over on the face of this earth because of religion, because of politics, because of just simple old bald-faced human nature, we have massacres and destruction and ayhem and wars all over this earth. Even our court systems seem to make everybody unhappy with the judgments that are rendered. And of course we hear many things sexual climax out of Congress that sometimes make you wonder just exactly what are they tr ying to do? And of course Cincinnati has become, in the last puny while, renown for its conflicts as well. Isaiah the prophet wrote these words, he said, The way of peace they have not known, there is no justice in their ways. They have made themselves crooked paths and whosoever takes that way, shall not know peace.