Good morning, everybody.
My name is Barry.
I'm one of the elders here.
I think uh Brian did a really good job last week of uh helping to establish for me a low bar because Martin Lawrence is also my spiritual mentor.
Love everything about that guy.
Uh I've read Martin Luther's stuff, and sometimes that's a bit heady, so I can relate to Martin Lawrence a little more.
Um, I'm excited to uh to share God's word with you this morning.
Um and I just have to say I was telling Bo earlier that while I enjoy the opportunity to come and share God's word with you, I always get nervous about the week of preparation going into it.
And the main reason for that is because I go in thinking it's gonna be one thing, and then by the time I get to Sunday morning, I'm like, whoa, I didn't know it was all of that.
So uh for some of you this morning, I may uh bust your bubble a little bit if you have had the same historical view of the Beatitudes as I had.
Right?
I thought the Beatitudes were the list of blessings that Christ was teaching his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount.
And unfortunately, I had gone into it, and if you've been listening to the sermons as we've been going through this, uh, you may have done what I've been doing.
You looked at it and went, meek.
Hmm, maybe sometimes, not so much.
Peacemaker.
Yeah, maybe that's I'll take that one, right?
So I was shocked to learn that this is not like spiritual gifts that you can pick and choose or that you've been given, but actually the Beatitudes are blessings that are tied as a bundle.
As a matter of fact, they literally are Christ's character.
These blessings that we see in the Beatitudes, Christ demonstrates them all.
And so the minute I had that realization, I was like, whoa, I've got to spend more time praying before Sunday.
Because I was ready to pick one, but now there's a whole list of them.
So bow with me as we pray this morning.
Heavenly Father, God, I pray, Lord, that you would be with us this morning.
Father, I pray that you would speak through me.
Father, God, I pray that I would not get in the way of your word and your message.
Most importantly, Lord, I pray that you would open the hearts and the minds of these, my brothers and sisters in Christ.
And Lord, we pray that through your Holy Spirit, you would change us today by your word.
God, I pray that the meditations of my heart and words of my mouth would be pleasing in thy sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
So it's interesting that uh even this past week at work, uh I was given a presentation, and I don't know if any of you had these college professors, but my favorite college professors were the ones that would start out the class, very first class, saying, This is what you're gonna need to know for the final.
Do any of you have those professors, right?
It's like, I'm like, this is where I need to be, right?
Because he's telling me at the very beginning what I need to be prepared for on the exam, right?
So I'm gonna give you three points before we talk about peacemaking and what that means, and before it gets too heavy and too heady, um, three things I want you to take away.
Okay?
So if you don't hear anything else, focus on these three things.
If we are in Christ, we are called to be peacemakers.
If we are in Christ, we are peacemakers.
And if Christ is in us, the Prince of Peace is who equips us to be peacemakers by giving us his peace.
Okay?
Three simple things.
It's not that we have to be peacemakers in and of ourselves, it's because we have Christ that we can be peacemakers.
Okay?
So I've actually titled this lesson, The Beatitudes and Peacemaking a Package Deal.
And the reason I call it a package deal is because in reading through all of them, which I'm going to take just a minute to do that this morning, just in case any of you were on the same page that I was, thinking you could pick and choose, let's look at the total.
So I'll start in Matthew 5, verse 1.
Now, when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down.
His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who perse who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
So our text this morning is Matthew 5.9.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.
Let me just ask you, in light of the past week or two weeks, do you think we're living in a world that needs peacemakers?
I mean, do we think that our world, our country, even our community is at peace?
It's almost funny that I've gotten to a point to where I don't watch the evening news very often.
But when I do, I'm totally reminded that we need peacemakers, right?
If you take a look at the events in Nice, France, in Turkey, the racial tension that took place in Louisiana, Dallas, there's no question that the world is looking for peacemakers.
So let's see by digging into this one simple verse what God has for us here.
So in order to define peacemakers, let's look back to the original Greek word.
Um, and if any of you are Greek, I'm gonna say it up front.
I will not pronounce this correctly.
Ira not Ireno Pois is the original Greek word for peacemakers, defined as pacific, loving peace, a peacemaker.
So let's identify what are peacemakers and what are peacemakers not.
Okay?
I'll start with what they are not.
Peacemakers are not passive people who avoid conflict and strife.
They are not cowards, yet they are not belligerent or obnoxious.
Now I think it's easy in our human terms to a lot of times meet someone who's relatively calm, right, tends to avoid conflict, doesn't want to make waves, and we may look at that person and say, well, it's a pretty peaceable, calm person, right?
But that's not really the definition of a peacemaker.
According to Scripture, peacemakers are people who seek opportunities to actively help people and institutions reconcile for the common good.
Not easy, and sometimes even causes pain, suffering, or death.
So to be a peacemaker, you're actively seeking out opportunities to reconcile two parties that are at odds.
That's the definition of a peacemaker.
It was interesting.
Uh, the book that Russ gave to us as we got into this is uh it's called Crucifying Morality by R.
W.
Glenn, and he's a pastor.
And on this particular piece, he said it was amazing that as a pastor, in him doing uh marital counseling, that he would oftentimes find that he's meeting with a husband and a wife, and they're going through issues, and over a period of weeks, he would tend to find sometimes that before the counseling sessions would end, both the husband and the wife were now convinced that he was the problem, right?
So by him trying to bring peace to them in their situation of conflict, they then turned and both pointed towards him, right?
Where you're the problem now, Pastor.
Um and I think it's kind of funny, just uh in a in a previous uh portion of my career, and I work with private equity-backed ventures, and sometimes I get in this situation, and three years ago I was in this very situation where the uh founder of our business, the entrepreneur, and the private equity firm, uh kind of got at odds, right, about six to seven months into the relationship.
And the owner was kind of thinking, why did I sell part of my business to this crew?
They don't understand what I'm doing.
And and of course, I was brought in by the private equity fund to work with the uh the entrepreneur and the founder.
And uh, interestingly enough, I would spend no less than 50% of my time trying to make peace between the two factions, right?
The owner and the entrepreneur, and my true bosses, the private equity firm.
And so we lived through this situation for about six months, and I wasn't very good, obviously, at being the ultimate peacemaker, because since I was part of the private equity guy, the owner and founder figured out a way that, okay, well, if you're the private equity guy's guy and you're in my business and I'm in Columbus, I'm gonna ask you to move to Columbus.
Now he knew I was not gonna move to Columbus, but that was part of his strategy to be able to get back at the private equity company to say, okay, this was your guy, he's your my whole company is in Columbus, I want him in Columbus.
So there I was being a peacemaker, thought I was being a peacemaker, and at the end of the day, I'm the one who gets moved out, right?
So a very personal illustration in my own life of how sometimes you can play the role of the peacemaker, but you're not guaranteed, number one, to assure peace, and number two, you might be the one in the end who uh gets moved out, right?
For lack of a better way of saying it.
So we've defined peacemakers in terms of who they are and what they're not.
Now let's look at who's actually equipped to be a peacemaker.
Now, in our natural selves, a lot of us, if we're not criminally minded and we're not thinking of things, we may be tempted to say, well, I'm basically a naturally good person.
I don't look to harm anyone, so therefore, wouldn't I be qualified to be a peacemaker?
Or we may ask the question: can someone be at peace apart from God?
Right?
Because we as Christians know that true peace comes from God.
He is the Prince of Peace.
Right?
When they were announcing Jesus' birth, they said before time when it was even being prophesied, he shall be called the Prince of Peace.
Right?
So can you have peace if you're apart from Christ?
Well, 2 Corinthians 5.18 says, those whom God reconciled to himself have now received the ministry of reconciliation.
This means God Himself has equipped them to do his very work in the world.
Peacemakers labor as ambassadors for Christ.
According to 2 Corinthians 5.20, imploring others to be at peace with God.
So what's that tell us?
By the fact that God has reconciled us to himself, by that very act in and of itself, he has made peace with us.
The Bible says that we, in our natural state, were enemies of God.
The only way that we can be at peace with God is through that act of reconciliation.
So, who is the ultimate peacemaker?
The ultimate peacemaker is God the Father.
Jesus tells us that one of God's main characteristics is peacemaking.
Colossians 1, 19 through 20 says, For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.
Now, I think it's interesting if we understand that God the Father is the ultimate example of the peacemaker, and we as Christians are to live to be like him, that then we have been given that ministry.
We don't get the option to say we're not peacemakers.
Because he made peace with us, therefore we're equipped to be peacemakers.
So, what does the work of a peacemaker look like?
So, R.W.
Glenn, who wrote the book Crucifying Morality, says this: the gospel of the Beatitudes states it this way: peacemakers do the hard work of reconciliation because they themselves have been reconciled to God.
Peacemakers right wrongs and restore relations between individuals and institutions preaching the gospel to the enemies of God.
Now I'm going to tell you, this was another part.
I had no idea of the connection in reading this one verse of how much gets poured into peacemaking.
But if you think about your own salvation and the fact that we were enemies of God and through Christ and the Holy Spirit raising us to new life, he brought reconciliation and peace to us through that salvation.
Therefore, we should be motivated to share that same reconciliation with others.
So peacemakers, by nature, are involved in evangelism because everyone around us who is not a believer is at war with God.
So it's part of our duty as a peacemaker to be sharing Christ and what He's done in us to those who don't know Christ.
So, nevertheless, peacemakers are evangelists because they cannot help but share the good news of Jesus with their family and friends, colleagues and classmates.
They care about the spiritual condition of others and they do not want them to be with at war with God anymore.
I have to say, in this area, my father, who works on a golf course, he's retired.
This is about his sixth job after retiring.
And he says if he had known he could get a job like this, it would have been his first job instead of his sixth job after retiring.
But he loves to tell people about Jesus.
And it's so interesting that I was talking to him a couple of weeks ago, and I was just asking how his day went, and he said, had a great day today.
I said, Really?
That's awesome.
I said, what was so great about your day?
And he said, I got to tell two people from work about Christ.
I'm like, man, that's that's awesome, Dad.
Tell me a little bit about the situation.
So he goes through and he gives me the details, and you know, one of them is a guy he barely knew, um, and the other guy he had never met before.
Um, but he is just filled up with thankfulness of what Christ has done for him.
And he doesn't have any seminary training.
I mean, he doesn't have, you know, he probably couldn't even quote the Roman road or the four spiritual laws or any of those kind of things.
But if you give him the opportunity, he's going to tell you about Jesus.
Especially if he thinks there's any question of whether or not you know Jesus.
So I look at him and I see, though he's not perfect and he's he's flawed, but he is a peacemaker.
And he's a peacemaker that wants to bring others to Christ through evangelism.
So, what's another form of the work that peacemakers do?
Well, there's an element of adoption that's tied with peacemaking as well.
And this came out of R.W.
Glenn's book, but I just couldn't help but bring it to you this morning because I thought it was so powerful.
Think about the kids the Lord adopts.
Every single sinner that he makes into a son started out as a rebellious, disobedient, selfish, indignant brat.
Not only did we not deserve our adoption, we fought against it, kicking and screaming.
Yet we will never be disowned.
Our status as God's children can never change.
Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
That's Romans 8, 39.
Because his love for us is nothing less than the love of adoption.
Now listen to this part here.
The Father let you murder his only begotten Son in order to adopt you as his son or daughter through faith in Christ.
Because of what Jesus has done, you can be God's beloved child.
And you can be confident that since you did not deserve his love in the first place, he will never remove it based upon your performance.
You did not earn adoption, but received it as a gift, without any reference to your own goodness.
So you can be sure he will not take it away when you fail him now.
Nothing can separate you from the adoptive love of God that is in Christ Jesus.
I gotta read that one part one more time.
The Father let you murder his only begotten son in order to adopt you as his son or daughter through faith in Christ.
That's powerful, isn't it?
Amazing stuff.
So what's our response to being a peacemaker?
A couple of things.
First, God has reconciled us to himself and given us the ministry of reconciliation.
We must live in the peace of God in Christ in order that we may be peacemakers.
God through Jesus Christ bought for you and me eternal peace.
Psalm 29, 11 says, the Lord gives strength to his people, and the Lord blesses his people with peace.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.
Let's pray.
Holy Father, we are so grateful this morning.
We're grateful, Father, for your love for us that you have displayed through the reconciliation of us to you, through your blood on the cross of your Son Jesus Christ.
Father, we stand in awe.
We are amazed that we can sing, It is well with my soul.
We can be at peace in the midst of a world that is full of turmoil, not because of guns or security or police officers, but God, because we have you, the Prince of Peace.
Father God, I pray for us as believers, as your sons and your daughters, adopted into your faith.
Father God, that you would equip us, that you would motivate us to be peacemakers.
And we're so thankful, Father God, that it's not us that has to do it.
Father God, it's you and us that will do it.
And Lord, we are grateful for that.
And we pray all of this in your precious and holy son's name.
Amen.