Blessed Are The Peacemakers

Temple Baptist Church - 9-25-2016

Matthew 5:9

 

Introduction:

 

A.  Beatitude – a state of blessedness.  Not a happening that produces rejoicing but a realization of being blessed in spite of circumstances and not because of them.

 

B.  When pronouncing the result of God’s children making and living in the realm of peace.

 

1.  In the last part of this Beatitude, find the phrase “they shall be called the children of God.”  Not that they will be the children of God but called the children of God.  The implication is that, when we seek and make peace with others, then others will know that we have been with Christ and are His children.

 

Acts 4:12-13  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.  (13)  Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.  (I feel that it is vitally important that the world, though they may not agree with us, SEE Jesus Christ in our lives.  “They took knowledge of them, that they had been WITH Jesus.”)

 

2.   God’s children are to take on the characteristics of their Father.

 

Luke 6:35  But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.  (In our heavenly Father, we find kindness.  To those who are unthankful and also to those who do evil.)

 

Luke 23:34  Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

 

C.  In the Bible, we find a Biblical command:  Hebrews 12:14  Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:  we are to “follow peace with all” which may not be the path of least resistance but is the path of righteousness.

 

1 Peter 3:10-11  For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:  (11)  Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.

 

D.  In the Bible, we find a Biblical disclaimer: Romans 12:18  If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

 

E.  “If it be possible” shows the possibility of impossibility!  Sometimes, there can be no peace and Ecclesiastes 3 lists the options:  a time to kill …  a time to hate … a time of war!  God’s people are peacemakers, not pacifists. 

 

F.  Be a good citizen; be a good neighbor; be a good friend and you will not have to tell others that you are children of God for others will see you as such.

 

G.  One of the devices of Satan and possibly the greatest is division.  We live in days of division politically, racially, and Biblically (which is a good division when false doctrine is in play).

 

1.  When there is division within your family, be the peacemaker!  Mark 3:25  And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.  (Be a peacemaker, even in the realm of spiritual division which is something that God causes in the home.  He brings the sword of the Word of God which always divides between saved and lost or obedient and disobedient.  You can live in peace if you allow God to work in their hearts: “without the word.”)

 

Matthew 10:34-36  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.  (35)  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.  (36)  And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

 

1 Peter 3:1  Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;

 

2.  When there is division with a brother, be the peacemaker! Matthew 5:23-24  Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;  (24)  Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.  (Most disagreements between brothers or sisters in Christ have no eternal value.  They are differences of opinion and carnality is the culprit that magnifies that which means so little.)

 

Philippians 4:2  I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.

 

Colossians 3:13  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

 

3.  When there is division within the church, be the peacemaker!  1 Corinthians 1:10  Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.  ;

 

Romans 14:19  Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

 

Hebrews 12:14  Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.

 

James 3:17-18  But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

 

Conclusion:  Rewards Of The Peacemaker.

 

a. The Peacemaker shall be content. "blessed"  Thank the Lord for the peace that He gives.

 

b. The Peacemaker shall be called.  "children of God"  The peacemaker shall be identified with God!

 

c. The Peacemaker shall be Christ like.  “of God”  In seeking peace, and following after peace, and bringing peace, we are like the Prince of Peace.  The greatest reward is Christlikeness.