Peacemakers are sons of God

Matthew 5:3-10

Matthew 5:3-10, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The Beatitude’s Structure To answer this, it helps to see the structure of the Beatitudes. There are eight Beatitudes. 1. Blessed are the poor in spirit. 2. Blessed are they that mourn.

3. Blessed are the meek

4. Blessed are hunger and thirst after righteousness.

5. Blessed are the merciful

6. Blessed are the pure in heart. 7. Blessed are the peacemakers. 8. Blessed are persecuted for righteousness. The first four Beatitudes describe the broken, grieving, quiet person who hungers and thirsts for righteousness.

The second four Beatitudes describe the merciful, pure peacemaker who gets persecuted for his righteousness. Overflowing from what they have received from the Lord. One after the other, the Beatitudes tell us that the blessings of eternity will be given only to those who have become new creatures.

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 the sons of God. If we do not obtain mercy, we receive judgment.

If we do not see God, we are not in heaven. If we are not called the sons of God, we are outside the family.

These are all descriptions of final salvation, and it is promised only to the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers. Peace is one of the main subjects throughout the Bible. The Bible opens and closes with peace.

When God originally created man and woman and put them in the garden, it was a garden of peace. Then came the fall and peace was interrupted, peace with God was interrupted, peace between men was interrupted. Then at the cross, Jesus came and brought peace to the heart.

Someday Jesus will return and establish a kingdom of peace, and in the ultimate new heaven and new earth we will enjoy eternal peace. Redemption is the story of peace, peace forfeited, peace regained in the heart, peace regained on the earth, and finally peace regained in the eternal state.

Four hundred references to peace in the Scripture. The only reason there is presently no peace is because there is a major conflict going on in the world that can be summarized simply in this sense: Man is at war with God.

That has been the problem since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden. Since the fall, when peace was totally disrupted and taken from the earth, there is an ongoing war with God. Not only is man at war with God, but so is Satan and his host of fallen angels. Consequently, there is conflict both at the angelic level and at the human level in this universe.

God has put a high priority on peace-making. God did not give this responsibility, Politicians, Diplomats, Arbitrators, Presidents, Prime ministers, Nations, United Nations, Churches, It is you, Christians. If you study Scripture, there is coming in the future perhaps the most apparently superficially and temporarily successful peacemaker the world has ever seen, and he is known to us by the name antichrist. And he, like all other peacemakers, is really nothing but a harbinger of further conflict.

God’s peacemakers are very different. We do not have peace politically, socially, economically, and countries. We do not have peace at home, in communities, and countries. Nobody has succeeded in bringing peace - nobody.

The United Nations came into existence in 1945, after the aftermath of World War II, which was a frightening holocaust and caused the death of hundreds of thousands. At the end of World War II, the United Nations was formed as an agency for world peace.

Since that time, there has not been one single day of peace in the world - not one day. The world is filled with never-ending upheavals.

The motto of the United Nations

“To have succeeding generations be free from the scourge of war.” But after 1945 there had been so many wars in the world. So, among the nations, communities, home at every level there is no peace.

At every level, we do not have any peace, and more people are being killed with guns in our day than ever before. There is no personal peace. Mental/emotional problems and anguish strikes at the hearts of most people. There is no family peace, no school peace.

The reason for all of this is because there is no peace in the heart. Consequently, the world reflects the heart of man. There is no peace to the wicked, and the world is wicked, and all men are wicked.

Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? Because the heart is wicked and knows no peace, it simply projects itself into all its relationships.

The world that man creates is a world without peace. It is a world of chaos. It is a world of conflict. It is a world of trouble. It is a world of shattered dreams and hopes and broken relationships. Peacemakers are desperately needed!

1. What is the meaning of Peace? For many people, peace could be defined as the absence of a war. Peace could be defined as the absence of conflict. But that really is not God’s definition of peace.

God’s definition of peace is not the absence of something. There is no strife, conflict, and animosity in a cemetery, but we would not want to use a cemetery as a model of peace. We would not want to hold up a cemetery as the place where everyone gets along so well.

In Scripture, peace is not the absence of anything, peace is the presence of something. It is the presence of all that is blessed, all that is good and fulfilling. When two Jews meet, they say “Shalom.” They do not mean to say, “May you have no more wars” but, rather, “May you enjoy the full satisfaction, the calm, the tranquillity that God brings.”

Peace is a creative force producing goodness and well-being. It is not just the absence of something, it is the presence of something. It is not the absence of conflict; it is the presence of aggressive goodness. Peace-making does not create a vacuum.

Now, there is a kind of worldly peace that is only the evasion of the issue. You know what it is like, it exists in your home from time to time. It is an uneasy peace. It is a truce and it’s produced by the fact that you just won’t talk because if you open your mouth, you know war will break out.

So, you just keep your mouth shut and you silently go around while smouldering inside. That is only an evasion of the issue. That is a kind of compromise. Or you know there is sin in the family, you know there’s iniquity that should be confronted, but you do not want to confront it because it will blow high, so you compromise.

You do not stand for the truth. You do not confront the issue. That is a very uneasy truth, that is an evasion of the issue. A very dangerous situation because you are only letting the real issue hide itself, a growing truce that is very likely to break out in greater conflict.

God never tells us to do that. God never tells us to just keep our mouths shut so we can somehow live in a superficial tranquillity. God never allows us to be comfortable evading issues just to keep the peace, just to keep everybody tranquil.

God never allows us to avoid confronting sin, to avoid confronting error for the sake of some superficial truce.

On the other hand, the Bible kind of peace conquers error, confronts sin, and produces a true peace. The Bible kind of peace is the peace that exists after the struggle has been resolved. The greatest peace is not the cold war, the greatest peace comes after the hot war. That is a true peace.

James 3:17, 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. Peace is never sought at the price of truth. Peace is never sought at the price of error. Peace is never sought at the price of sin or unrighteousness.

Hebrews 12:14, Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:

We want to avoid all needless strife. We do not want to just go around wreaking havoc everywhere. There are times when it is a wise judgment to overlook a transgression. There are times when it is the noblest of things to do to cover a multitude of sins. We do not want to just create strife.

Some people are good at that, they can just create strife everywhere, and they can do it rather piously in the name of virtue. But we certainly do not want to sacrifice truth. We do not want peace that is the product of truth sacrificed or the product of compromised righteousness or indifference toward spiritual duty. That kind of peace is dishonouring to the Lord - unproductive, superficial, and deceptive.

Matthew 10:34-35, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’;

What was Jesus saying? Jesus was saying this, if you are in the house of unbelievers and you are a believer, you realize that as soon as you say, “I have committed my life to the Messiah, Jesus Christ,” you are going to have some instantaneous conflict in your Jewish home. That is going to be a sword that falls in that family, and it is liable to divide you in every way.

Matthew 10:36-37, and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

Hating the own family is the sword. Before there can come the true peace, there must be the sword that falls. The confrontation is necessary. The unmasking of sin is necessary. The confrontation of retribution and judgment, and the message of the saving gospel of Jesus Christ must be given no matter whether it brings division or not because the only peace that will satisfy God is that peace that comes after confrontation.

We do not abandon truth. We do not abandon doctrine. We do not abandon conviction. We do not abandon principle. We do not cry peace where there is no real peace.

2 Timothy 3:12, Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Living your godly life in your home or your school or your work environment or your neighbourhood in the relationships that are around you is a disruptive reality because you are confronting their sin. But when real peace comes, it comes not because we avoid issues but because issues are resolved, conflict is resolved. That is real peace.

Most people would say, if you want to have peace, we just must not disagree. Let us all get together and only discuss what we agree on. True peace is the child of truth. That is the only real peace that God recognizes. The other kind is a false peace because nothing is resolved.

Jesus was the greatest peacemaker that ever walked. Because He came into the world, and what kind of peace did He offer us? Peace with God.

Was Jesus a disturbing person in society? So disturbing that the whole of the population of Israel basically turned against Him and executed Him.

2. What threatens the Peace? Sin. Peace is that peace that is goodness and righteousness. The enemy of that peace is unrighteousness and sin. So, for there to be a real peace, sin must be dealt with. Sin in terms of how we think or what we believe and sin in terms of how we behave.

James 3:18, Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Peacemakers sow seeds of righteousness. They confront sin because the only true peace is the peace that is gained when sin has been confronted. There must be a dealing with sin. 3. Who is the source of peace?

God is the author of peace. God is the source of peace. God is the only source of peace.

Judges 6:24, So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it The-Lord-Is-Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

2 Corinthians 13:11, Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

1 Corinthians 14:33, For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

Romans 15:33, Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

When Jesus Christ was born into this world what was proclaimed?

Luke 2:14, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

God is the source of peace. He sent the true peacemaker into the world, who is Jesus Christ, and it is by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that sinners can be made right with God.

Ephesians 2:14, For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,

Colossians 1:20, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. Until you know the God of peace through the peacemaker, Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ satisfied the justice of God by bearing our sins in His own body.

Ephesians 6:15, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

John 14:27, Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

We become peacemakers when we make peace with God ourselves. That is where it starts. When we believe the gospel of peace and the war with God ends because God is no longer threatening judgment on us, God is no longer promising damnation to us, we are no longer enemies of God, as Romans 5 identifies us, we have made peace with God - that is where we become peacemakers.

We are peacemakers because we help others make peace with God. This is evangelism. We live in peace. We demonstrate that peace. We become the proclaimers of that peace. We call on sinners to meet the Prince of peace, to turn from their sin and embrace the only One who can bring peace to the troubled heart.

4. What are the marks of a Peacemaker?

• a) Peacemakers seek to reconcile people with God.

2 Corinthians 5:18-21, Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 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.

20 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. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

God is a holy God and therefore cannot have a relationship with sinful people. Therefore, all people are under the wrath of God because of our sins. The Gospel message is the truth that Christ bore God’s wrath on the cross for our sins, so we can have a right relationship with God.

Romans 5:1, Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Peacemakers are those who devote their lives to sharing this message. Because they have experienced it, they share it with others—hoping to reconcile people with God. Are you sharing the Gospel message?

This is what peacemakers do.

• b) Peacemakers seek to reconcile people.

This starts with us and our relationship with others.

Matthew 5:23-24, Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against

you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Somebody has something against us, we should leave the gift, reconcile with the person, and then offer the gift to God.

Romans 12:18, If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people.

We forgive those who have sinned against us. We bless and do not curse them. We humble ourselves and ask for forgiveness from those we sinned against. Because we have been reconciled with God, we seek to reconcile with others.

Not only do we seek to reconcile with others, but we seek to help others reconcile.

Philippians 4:2-3, I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.

Paul understood that division tends to spread, as people take sides. It opens the door for Satan and removes the blessing of God from a community. Therefore, though Paul was away in prison, he urged two women in Philippi to reconcile. He also petitioned a member of the church to help them.

In 1 Corinthians 6:1-11, when believers were suing one another before unbelievers, Paul called for the church to appoint wise men in the congregation to judge the dispute. He also counselled them to accept being wronged (even as Christ taught us to turn the other cheek) for the sake of unity.

Satan is the divider, but Christ is the reconciler. Therefore, Christian’s aid Christ in this reconciliation mission. This means listening to others, exposing points of commonality, bringing God’s Word to bear upon the situation, and leading people towards a resolution.

• c) Peacemakers confront sin to nurturing righteousness.

Matthew 7:3-5, And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye,

and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Christ also said that if our eye offends us, we should pluck it out, and if our hand offends us, we should cut it off (Matt 5:29-30). In other words, believers should be ruthless in seeking to get rid of personal sin. As we conquer wrong thoughts and actions in our own life, we are more effective in leading others out of sin.

Matthew 18:15-17, If your brother sins, go and show him his fault when the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have regained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others with you, so that at the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, treat him like a Gentile or a tax collector. If a brother is in sin, we should confront him one-on-one. Most fail at this first point. Some fail because their contention is not a sin issue at all—it is a preference or wisdom issue. We should not treat sin the same as a preference or wisdom issue. Christ flipped tables and pulled out a whip over sin (John 2). He also went to the cross over it. Sadly, many do this over non-sin issues—dividing relationships, ministries, and workplaces.

When in a potential conflict, one must ask, “Is this a sin or non-sin issue?” This type of deliberation will end many conflicts before they start. This is a difficult ministry, but God says that he blesses the peacemaker. Christ confronted the Pharisees, the spiritual leaders who were misleading Israel. Christ confronted those who were being dishonest at the temple. He ultimately confronted all sin at the cross, as He bore the penalty for everyone’s sins so they could be reconciled to God.

5. Children resemble their Father. When Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God,” He is not telling us how to become a son of God. Rather, Jesus is simply saying that sons of God are peacemakers.

People who are peacemakers will be recognized as the sons of God at the judgment and welcomed into the Father’s house. If we want to see how to become a son of God, we can look at

John 1:12 and Galatians 3:26.

John 1:12, “To all who received Him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

Galatians 3:26, “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” In other words, we become sons of God by trusting in Christ for our forgiveness and hope. Johnny Dean Story