in the fifth chapter of Matthew.
We'll be looking at the one verse this morning, verse nine.
I told my wife this morning, I said it's kind of ironic
that I'm preaching, she's laughing,
that I'm preaching on peacemakers
because the morning we had, it was like,
I don't know that I'm qualified to speak on making peace.
It is, we had, the Lord blessed us.
We had four children, four and a half years,
that is a blessing and it creates conflict.
And on Sunday mornings, we woke up, three of the four,
all their sheets need to be changed.
Two of the four, their plates are in the floor at breakfast.
One of the four decided she's a teenager
and hated what she was wearing.
And Sandy and I, at that point, were done, okay?
We were done making peace with our children.
And so I looked at Sandy, I said,
honey, I'm supposed to preach on being a peacemaker
this morning, and she laughed.
And I mean, and I think she wanted to cry.
But I mean, you know, so this is something
that I'm going to be preaching to myself, all right?
As I normally do.
There are several times when you're reading
through the scriptures, they are a mirror to us.
And they do expose us.
I was deeply convicted a few weeks ago,
the pure in heart, a selfless, single-minded devotion
to Christ and his kingdom.
They're the ones that's gonna see God.
And I've just, the Lord's just been working in my heart.
And then this morning as well, about being a peacemaker.
The scripture, Jesus himself says blessed
are the peacemakers.
For they shall be called the children of God.
They're blessed, and the promise is they're gonna be called
the children of God.
Let's pray.
Father, would you help us, Lord,
to understand, Lord, what our responsibility is
as followers of the crucified yet risen one?
I pray, Lord, I beg for your help.
I pray for your spirit's work of conviction.
Lord, I pray for illumination.
And Father, I pray for salvation
for some that are seated here.
May they see Christ and you open their heart
to allow them to behold his glory and desire that
and to follow him.
Lord God, would you do this for your own glory, Lord?
Would you make this sermon an effectual means of grace
in the lives of your people, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
John Piper said this about the Beatitudes.
He said, with each Beatitude,
another nail is driven into a coffin.
Inside the coffin lies the corpse
of a false understanding of salvation.
The false understanding says that a person can be saved
without being changed,
or that a person can inherit eternal life
even if his attitudes and actions are like the attitudes
and actions of unbelievers.
One after the other, the Beatitudes tell us
that the blessings of eternity will be given only to those
who have become new creatures.
What he's saying is that through these Beatitudes,
our Lord is revealing the character of one
who is already in the kingdom of God.
This is not how you get into the kingdom.
This is the character of a person who is in the kingdom.
So the Beatitudes, really, they reflect the work of God
that's done in the heart of man.
These Beatitudes are not the works of man.
In fact, they're not commands.
Jesus does not say, go be a peacemaker.
He's simply pronouncing a blessing upon those
who are peacemakers.
And that's why each of these Beatitudes,
there are no imperatives here.
He simply says, blessed are those who.
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Blessed are they who mourn.
Blessed are the meek.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Blessed are the pure in heart.
Now today, blessed are the peacemakers.
These are not commands.
You can't do them.
You cannot make yourself pure in heart.
Try as you might, you cannot make yourself meek.
You will never see how spiritually poor you really are
until the Holy Spirit awakens that in you.
All of these are works of the Holy Spirit of God.
But they tell us something.
This sermon that Jesus is preaching,
these Beatitudes tell us that heaven awaits
those who by God's grace have been changed,
who have become new creatures.
And it's very clear, if you're not pure in heart,
you won't see God.
If you are not poor in spirit, the kingdom of heaven
will be shut to you.
If you are not merciful, God's merciful, we refuse.
Now that does not then imply the opposite.
It doesn't work conversely.
It does not imply that being merciful,
you earn God's mercy.
That's not what he's saying.
The Beatitudes reveal a heart changed.
A person who from the heart is absolutely merciful
in word, in deed, or action, they show that they have
received the mercy of God and have been transformed.
So here what we're seeing as we're making our way through
and probably finish next week or the week after
with the Beatitudes, they reveal a heart that has been
gripped by God's grace and changed by God's grace.
Now today we come to the seventh Beatitude.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called
the sons of God.
Blessed, favored by God.
It's a Greek word, mekarias.
It can be happy.
It can mean joyful, but favored by God.
God's blessing is upon you.
Upon whom?
Those who pursue peace, maintain peace,
and even bring peace to others.
If I were to ask you, what is it that man
so desperately wants?
People might answer, oh, pleasure or money or all,
but really what they're seeking after is peace.
What do nations all pay lip service to?
Peace.
We all want peace, and yet war is one of the constants
of history.
Is the world more at peace today than it was
100 years ago?
No.
Even with all of our technological and scientific advances,
the world is not a safer place, and in fact,
peace is not more prevalent.
I would say in many ways that the world is actually
a more dangerous place.
Today, with nuclear capability, we fear that nuclear arms
will fall into the hands of rogue nations
like Iran or North Korea.
Just look at the Middle East.
It's on the news every day.
We see the Israeli-Palestine conflict or war.
It threatens to disrupt the entire Middle East
and even bring World War III.
Well, just go to Eastern Europe.
Look at Russia and Ukraine.
It's a long war that continues, threatening to spill
over into Europe if a NATO nation gets involved.
Go to South America, and you see nations that are
in disintegration, and if you follow the news at all,
and we have good friends in Venezuela,
it is a dumpster fire.
The nation is literally unraveling,
and people are tremendously suffering.
You go to the Muslim world, and there,
you have the never-ending conflicts between the Sunnis
and the Shiites.
What about our own nation, North America?
We're rocked with scandal.
Violence covers our streets.
Just this past week, in the heart of the Bible Belt,
another mass shooting took place.
Racial tensions are almost at the tipping point.
Violence covers most of the streets of our major cities.
Suffice it to say, we need peace like never before.
But where is it found?
Well, the Bible opens with a garden.
At this garden, there was peace.
It closes, actually, with a garden, the book of Revelation,
and there's eternal peace there,
and it's promised to all those who know Christ.
The scriptures are replete with this word peace.
In fact, in the Old Testament, the word for peace
in Hebrew is shalom.
If you go to Israel, it's a customary greeting.
You would say, hi, shalom, and you would end saying goodbye
with shalom, and it's not merely the absence of conflict.
Of course, that's peace.
But the word shalom is so much more comprehensive than that.
Shalom means wholeness.
I like to think of it as life as God intended.
It's a state of fullness.
It's a state of perfection.
It's what Jesus is doing.
He's making all things new,
and he's gonna bring shalom back to the entire world.
One of the names for God in Judges 6 is Yahweh Shalom.
God, or the Lord, is peace.
Yahweh Shalom.
What about Isaiah 9 and 6, a messianic title for Christ?
He is called what?
The Prince of Peace.
So by these titles, we start to understand
that shalom can only come through God.
In the beginning, there was shalom.
At the end of all things, there'll be shalom.
So what happened now?
What happened that destroyed the peace
or the shalom that once existed?
I'll tell you what happened.
Genesis 3.
Genesis 3 happened.
In Genesis 3, we read the fall of man into sin.
As the old New England primer says,
in Adam's fall, we send all.
Adam and Eve chose to disobey God.
They chose to go their own way.
Sin comes into the world,
bringing death and chaos and destruction.
From that point forward,
mankind is fundamentally changed.
We are all born guilty,
with the guilt of Adam's sin imputed to us.
We're born corrupt from the womb.
And worst of all,
mankind is now alienated, separated from the life of God.
Paul writes about this in Ephesians 4.
Having their understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God
because of the ignorance that is in them,
because of the blindness of their heart.
They're divorced from God.
They're divorced from his peace.
Well, what happens when you're divorced from God and peace?
Chaos ensued.
And as I said, the nature of man has changed.
He is now self-centered.
He has bent inward on himself.
Everyone, the Bible says, wanting to go his own way
and to do his own thing.
Now, just think for a moment.
If you have a planet with eight billion people
all wanting to do their own thing in their own way,
what do you think can't happen?
There will not be peace.
It can't happen.
When self is first, peace will be last.
And that's the problem with mankind.
Self is first.
Now, Jesus is not speaking into a vacuum.
There's a whole historical context
with all of these beatitudes.
At this time in history, the word is speaking,
the Jewish people, the Jewish nation,
was looking for a messiah.
Messianic expectations were very high.
But the problem was they were looking for a political
or a military messiah who's gonna come,
deliver them from Roman occupation and Roman oppression.
We even know at this time there's a group called the Zealots.
These were a group of religious zealots.
They wanted nothing more than to see Israel emancipated
from Roman occupation.
They hated the fact that Rome was in their land
taxing them.
They hated it.
So they wanted this deliver a messiah, strong, military-like.
He's gonna come, he's gonna overthrow,
and maybe even embarrass Rome for what they'd done to them.
Because Rome humiliated Israel at this time.
They longed for the shackles of Roman occupation to be gone.
Exaltation of Israel was God's people at last.
And Jesus comes doing miracles.
But he began to speak of the blessedness of peacemaking.
He said those who make peace and not war
are the sons of God.
He did not come preaching the overthrow of Rome.
He never even mentioned it.
So no doubt this message would not have resonated
with many who were there on that day
listening to Jesus speak,
especially the religious leaders.
I mean, they were talking about a deliverer.
They knew about the messiah, a coming messiah.
Yes, he would be a conqueror, a mighty warrior,
a military victor, and they would be free at last.
And Jesus, the Christ, he pronounces a blessing
on the people he said who make peace, not war.
Now the context primarily is speaking
of interpersonal relationships,
your own personal relationships.
Jesus will go on to say you are to love your enemies.
You are to bless those who curse you.
You are to pray for those who persecute you.
So he's talking about personal insults here.
So the ethic of God's kingdom, it is one of love,
forgiveness, peace, and reconciliation.
Now sometimes to understand what Jesus is saying,
it's best to understand what he didn't say.
He never said blessed are the peace lovers.
There is a difference between those who make peace
and those who love peace,
because you can love peace wrongly.
Some love peace so much that they will actually never do
what makes for peace.
William Barclay speaks of this in his commentary.
He said the blessing is on the peacemakers,
not necessarily on the peace lovers.
It very often happens that if a man loves peace
in the wrong way, he succeeds in making trouble, not peace.
What this beatitude demands is not the passive acceptance
of things because we're afraid of the trouble
of doing anything about them,
but the act of facing of things
and the making of peace even when the way to peace
is through struggle.
Sometimes there is conflict before there can ever be peace.
So a peacemaker in this sense that's blessed
is one who's promoting God's peace,
shalom in all its forms.
John Calvin says by peacemakers,
he means those who not only seek peace and avoid quarrels
as far as life's in their power,
but also who labor to settle differences among others,
who advise all men to live at peace
and take away every occasion of hatred and strife.
This is someone who's both pursuing peace
and promoting peace in all areas by promoting righteousness.
Peace and righteousness are gonna be friends, if you will,
because I mentioned earlier,
what is it that takes away peace?
Why is it that the world is in the shape it is in?
Why do we see chaos?
Because of sin.
That's it.
And I know that's the Sunday School answer,
but the problem is we don't think deeply enough about sin.
See, this is not about political problems.
Regardless of what happens November 5th,
whether we have President Harris or President Trump,
and we'll have one of them,
the world is still gonna be in a state of disarray.
Politically, politics can't answer it.
I'm not saying don't vote, do what you want.
The politics isn't the answer to everything.
Economic problems.
You can throw all the money you want, it's not gonna fix it.
Social problems, you can give all the educated people,
and if you educate a bunch of sinners,
you'll just make them smarter in sinning.
All those products, all those problems
are the rancid byproducts of sin.
That's it.
Because where does a problem lie?
And if you don't believe this,
you don't understand the gospel.
Where the problem lies is in the heart of man.
This is it.
If you don't believe that, you can't be a Christian
because you can't understand the gospel.
We are bent inwardly toward ourselves,
and a planet full of sinful, self-centered people
will produce violence and conflict and wars,
which is exactly what we see today.
We are not surprised at what's happening.
So if sin is the problem, then what's the answer?
The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What can change the heart of man?
Only the grace of God.
The only remedy for man is to get a new heart,
and that's something only God can do.
Now what does it mean not,
what does it not mean to be a pacemaker, I should say?
It's an awkward question, isn't it?
What does it not mean to be a peacemaker?
It's not peace at any cost.
It's not a strict pacifist attitude.
There's Christian sex, I think the Quakers and the Shakers,
and you have extreme pacifists.
It's not what he's talking about here,
because sometimes peace can only come through conflict.
Jesus said in Matthew 10,
do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.
I didn't come to bring peace, but a sword.
Now with everything, we need to understand this, don't we?
In Isaiah 9, 6, Jesus is called the Prince of Peace,
and he just said in Matthew 10, I'm not bringing peace,
I've come to bring a sword.
So what's he talking about here?
In John 14, verse 27, he says,
my peace I leave with you.
So if he's the Prince of Peace and he leaves peace,
how in the world is he coming with a sword?
Well, first, let me say clearly, this is not a literal sword.
When our Lord was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane,
and Peter drew his sword, what did the Lord tell him to do?
He said, put it up, Peter.
He said, put your sword in this place,
for all who take the sword will die by the sword.
Jesus isn't interested in military conquest.
So now what do we have to understand?
The peace that Christ came to bring
is a peace between God and man.
So here's how this sword works.
Those who reject Christ, he's the only way of salvation,
that's it, there's only one way,
they will find themselves perpetually,
continually at war with God.
So let me say it very clearly,
you cannot have peace with God apart from Jesus Christ.
It doesn't work.
So in that sense, there is a division in humanity.
Those who have come to Christ for salvation,
and those who have not.
What does a sword do?
A sword divides, a sword severs, if you will.
So the sword that Christ brings severs and divides
the children of God from the children of the devil.
It's that simple.
Because the peace that God is bringing to this earth
is a peace that is based upon truth,
and the sword of Christ divides on truth.
So if we're gonna be peacemakers that are blessed,
we have to be willing to confront those living in error
and living in darkness with the truth of God and his gospel.
And it is not always easy, it takes great courage at times
to tell people the truth that they don't want to hear.
But we must make peace.
But you can't love it so much
that we are tempted to deny or compromise the truth.
Some people think peace is just no conflict.
Let's just let everyone get along and live in their truth.
That's a false peace.
Now let me say what it's not as well.
Some people just by nature are confrontational.
They just like it, they like to speak in their mind,
they're bold, they're brash.
But they're not necessarily looking for a solution.
They're not making peace, they're stirring up more conflict.
But then there's others, they're never willing
to confront anyone with anything at all.
They're very peaceable by nature.
But that's not making peace, that's actually cowardice.
If you're going to be a peacemaker,
you must be willing to confront people
with the truth of God.
They're willing to tell others of what?
The dreadful, awful reality of their sin and rebellion.
And I'm not saying this has to be
the first conversation out of your mouth.
But you have to show that they are at war with God.
And then you have to show them the answer
that lies in the Lord Jesus.
Martin Lloyd-Jones said this,
it is not a matter, this peacemaking,
is not a matter of natural disposition.
It does not mean an easygoing person.
It does not mean you're a peace at any price person.
It does not mean the sort of man
who says anything to avoid trouble.
These easygoing, peace at any price people
are often lacking in a sense of justice and righteousness.
They do not stand where they should stand, they are flabby.
They appear to be nice.
And if that's what you want friends,
you are way off target here.
But if the whole world ran on such principles
and by such people, it would be even worse than it is today.
Your true peacemaker is not an appeaser as we say today.
The mere avoidance of war does not make peace.
Because the peace that Jesus speaks of
is a peace concerned with righteousness.
It's not a matter of a lack of conflict,
but rather the presence of righteousness
that will determine true and lasting peace.
So we're called to do this.
We're called to be peacemakers.
We desire to continue peace where it is present
and wherever it is absent, we want to restore it.
But if you're ever going to do that,
you must have experienced peace in your own soul.
You must be at peace with God.
You must have experienced divine peace
before you can ever try to help anyone else have it.
And how do you have peace with God?
By faith in Christ Jesus, his beloved son.
Romans 5.1, therefore having been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, Lloyd-Jones says, before one can be a peacemaker,
one really must be entirely delivered from self,
from self-interest and from self-concern.
Well, how are you delivered from self?
By seeing your spiritual poverty and mourning over your sin,
becoming humble and meek before God,
whereby you become hungry and thirsty for righteousness.
Because you are meek, you begin to become merciful to others
and your heart is pure and all this is offered at salvation.
So how are you delivered from self?
You have to be a different self than what you were born.
You have to be born again, excuse me, by God's grace.
And what happens at the new birth?
You are now reconciled to God,
but that's not the only thing, church,
and this is where we might be missing the point.
We are reconciled to God personally
and we are given a ministry of reconciliation.
We serve a king, right?
We're talking about the kingdom.
Who is the king of this kingdom?
It is Jesus.
Jesus is king, it is his kingdom,
and you and I are ambassadors for King Jesus.
What does an ambassador do?
We go out and proclaim lasting eternal peace
being made possible by him.
Now that's not my words, that's Paul's words
in 2 Corinthians 5.
All things are of God who has reconciled us to himself
through Jesus Christ, amen.
And he has given to us the ministry of reconciliation.
That is that God was in Christ
reconciling the world to himself, how'd he do that?
Not imputing their trespasses to them
and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation,
the gospel.
Reconciliation, the gospel.
Now then, you and I, we are ambassadors for Christ.
As though God were pleading through us,
we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.
For he made him who knew no sin, that is Christ,
to be sin for us that we might become
or we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
What do we mean?
What do we mean by reconciliation?
Two parties that were odds, they come together,
brought back into a harmonious relationship.
That here, in this context, it means man is restored back
to divine favor.
All the Adam lost in Genesis 3,
Christ is regained at the cross.
Now man can do nothing to reconcile himself.
God has acted to reconcile him.
God has acted, man receives the benefit.
What is this ministry of reconciliation?
Here it is.
You and I go out and we tell the world,
we tell all nations that God has made peace
with them in Christ.
Yes, he's made peace with them in Christ.
Man can't make peace with God.
We often say, go make your peace with God.
You can't, you're unable.
That's God's work.
And he did it in his son.
You can't come to God on your own.
You're lost and blind and hard-hearted.
So this coming to Christ, God has to do it.
So it's not what will you do, but will you believe?
Will you believe that Christ is the only hope for sinners?
He's the only way to be reconciled to God?
Will you confess Jesus Christ is the only hope
and source of your salvation?
Will you rest in what God has done for sinners?
Or will you, like most people, choose to go your own way?
God is a peacemaker.
Therefore, his children are peacemakers.
But being a peacemaker costs us something.
For Jesus to bring us to be at peace with God,
it cost him his life.
Colossians 1.20, having made peace
through the blood of his cross.
This gospel message, it's going to do something.
It'll be peace, it'll bring peace
if you embrace the message of the cross.
But in others, it provokes anger and discord
and even repulsion, if you will.
But friends, if you're not willingly able
or willing to lovingly confront people about their sin,
you can't be a peacemaker.
True peace and sin can't coexist.
Peace lives with righteousness.
God's peace must come through God's way.
Ephesians 2.
But now in Christ Jesus, do you see a repeated pattern here?
In Christ Jesus, through Christ Jesus, in him.
You who once were far off, we've been brought near.
God brings us near him.
How?
By the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace.
What happens to those who've experienced this?
If you know God's grace and you've experienced his mercy,
you are merciful and compassionate toward others
because you remember, I was once alienated from God.
I get how they can do it.
You start to see lost people not as others,
but rather as a captive of themselves,
a captive of Satan, and therefore you have mercy
and pity upon him.
What's your motive?
So that people think you're such a nice guy?
Now it's for the glory of God.
Those whom God has called to peace,
he also then calls them to make peace.
Like all beatitudes, there's a promise of reward.
Look at the text.
What's the promise?
For they shall be called the sons of God
or the children of God.
Now notice what it does not say.
Being a peacemaker is not the way to become a son of God.
Rather, they are recognized as the sons of God.
What is our Lord saying here?
God's children are peacemakers.
It's not how you become a son.
So how do you become a son then?
John 1-12.
But as many as received him, that is Christ,
to them he gave the right, that is the authority,
to become the children of a God.
Who is that?
To those who believe in his name.
It's believing.
Galatians 3-26.
For you all are sons of God.
How?
Through faith in Christ Jesus.
That's how you get to become a son.
But if that's the message you embraced,
you now know mercy.
You've experienced it.
The spirit of God is doing the work in you,
causing these things to be produced in you.
I quoted John Piper at the beginning.
Let me quote him here.
God is a peace-loving God and a peacemaking God.
The whole history of redemption,
climaxing in the death and resurrection of Jesus
is God's strategy to bring about a just and lasting peace
between rebel man and himself.
And then between man and his fellow man,
God's children have the character of their father.
What he loves, they love.
What he pursues, they pursue.
You can know his children by whether they're willing
to make sacrifices for peace the way that God did.
It's just a hallmark.
It's a characteristic of his children.
But look at the blessing.
We are promised the glorious blessing
of eternal sonship in the eternal kingdom.
People are gonna recognize us by our desire
to make peace with all people.
And this goes into all relationships.
This doesn't mean just simply telling people
about Christ and the peace that's offered there.
The true peacemaker seeks harmony
wherever he is in all relationships.
He builds bridges.
He seeks reconciliation.
He promotes forgiveness.
He seeks harmony with all people.
So what does that mean?
It means as Christians, you and I are called
to live in peace with those inside the faith
as well as those outside the faith.
In just a moment, you and I will come
to the table of the Lord,
where we recognize we are one body in Christ.
We must not, church, be the people
who claim to enjoy peace with God
and yet continue to live in hostility
with our fellow brothers.
It's incongruous.
You can't do it.
Wherever there is relational conflict,
Christians must learn don't operate
by your fluctuating emotions,
but rather by the promises of God.
The child of God, the son of God,
seeks to be the agent of peace
even when it costs us something.
And most of the time, it costs us our pride.
Let me give you one last thing here.
The truth is you can long for peace.
You can work for peace.
You can seek after peace and yet it may not come.
You are not responsible for achieving peace.
You are responsible for trying.
Romans 12, 18, if it is possible, sometimes it's not.
As much as depends on you,
live peaceably with all men.
Sometimes it is an impossibility,
but it must be impossible because others are unwilling,
not because you are unwilling.
So now what?
The final minute here.
Now what?
Acknowledge your sin.
Don't excuse it.
Acknowledge your unforgiveness or if there's bitterness,
your disobedience in this regard.
Acknowledge where you're still in conflict
with other people.
Let me just say this by way of reminder.
If you can't bring reconciliation just the two of y'all,
seek out a third party if it seems impossible.
It's that important.
So we can come to the Lord.
He already knows.
Confess our sin, repent of it before the Lord.
Lay your pride at His feet.
And as you do so, you receive the pardon and cleansing
that is yours in Christ.
We're gonna look to Christ.
We're gonna remember Him.
We're gonna remember His life and His death
and His resurrection for sinners like us.
And you know what happens when we do that?
We're filled with praise and gratitude
for all that God has done for us in Christ.
Close with this final quote from Chris Miller
and this is it.
God is the ultimate peacemaker
who since the fall has sought to make peace
between humanity and Himself,
even if it cost Him His beloved Son.
Likewise, the reconciliation between people groups,
that's all ethnic groups,
will culminate when God unites people from every nation,
tribe and tongue in the New Jerusalem,
even so make it a reality, Lord.
Those who participate in this kind of peacemaking
are aptly called sons of God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called the children of God.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you for your word.
And Lord, I want to be here, Lord,
leading the people that you have placed
under my stewarding responsibility
in confession as well, Lord.