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Violence is not the new kid on the block in time or in the Bible. As far back as in Noah's day,
Genesis 6 says the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence.
Psalm 73, 6 says there are people who quote, clothe themselves with violence.
Jerusalem has been said to be named a city full of violence in Ezekiel chapter 7.
You might even know the word in Hebrew for violence, it's a very common word today.
It's the word Hamas, violent. Will and Ariel Durant historians said in the last 3 ,421 years of recorded history, only 268 of those years have seen no war.
During this period there have been 14 ,351 wars large and small, in which 3 .6
billion people have been killed. Interestingly one man said the value of property destroyed would pay for a golden belt around the world, 97 .2
miles wide and 33 feet thick. John MacArthur said peace is that glorious moment in history when everyone stops to reload.
One authority said that from the period of 1480 to 1941, Great Britain was involved in 78 major wars,
France 16, Spain 64, Russia 61, Austria 52,
Germany 23, United States 13, China 11 and Japan 9.
In World War I, believed by some to be the war to end all wars in 1914 to 1918, 30 million people were killed.
League of Nations was started in 1920, hoping to have international peace, and then years later in World War II, 90 million people were killed.
The Cold War came about where there's all kinds of threats of war. At one point in the Cold War, nuclear powers had stockpiled the equivalent of 320 billion tons of high explosive, that is 100 tons for every man, woman and child on the earth.
The United States had enough aerosol nerve gas to kill all life in an area of 455 million square miles, or eight times the surface of the entire earth.
We have a problem with war today as well. Although the war today is a little bit different, it's not only an external battle, it's an internal battle.
And as Albert Einstein correctly said, the real problem is in the hearts and minds of people.
It is not a problem of physics, but of ethics. It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil from the spirit of man.
We need peace. We need peacemakers. And if you'll take your Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter 5, that's exactly what we'll look at this morning.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
We live in a time of war and destruction, and we need peacemakers, and we need to see not only how we make peace with one another at home, at work, at school, in the church, but we also need to make sure, before any of that happens, that we have peace with God.
We'll take a look at peacemakers in just a moment. As you know, we've been going verse by verse through the book of Matthew, specifically chapter 5, 6 and 7, what we call the
Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount, I think, one of the best sermons Jesus ever preached.
I can't rank them. I'm just in love with this because I've been involved for the last 12 weeks with this particular sermon.
And he gives entrance requirements, as it were, to come into his kingdom, to be a kingdom citizen.
This is what you'll look like, and there are 8 Beatitudes total, and today we're up to number 7. But in review, let's look at Beatitudes 1 through 6, as we see the attitudes and actions that the
King of kings and the Lord of lords would be pleased with. Beatitude number 1, found in Matthew 5, 3.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And here he uses this word blessed as not something subjective, but it is an objective statement of fact.
Here is the kind of behavior and attitude that God approves. He finds pleasure in that.
In this particular case, and doesn't it make sense? An unbeliever coming to the kingdom, he first needs to recognize, or she needs to recognize, that she is poor in spirit.
That she has nothing spiritually to offer God, that she's empty, that he realizes he's a beggar, and he comes like the tax collector who says,
God have mercy on me, I'm a sinner. I'm in a state of needing to receive, not to give, not to meet halfway, not to help me, because God, I've helped myself.
No, it's all one way, and it says there specifically in the text, for theirs, and in the original, for theirs alone is the kingdom of heaven.
Secondly, and this is the emotional counterpart to the intellectual knowledge of the need, is found in Beatitude number 2,
Matthew 5, 4. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
When you realize that you come before God with nothing, that you, even compared to your neighbor, that doesn't work because it's just you and God alone.
This is the God with whom we have to do, and we realize that we have nothing to offer God, then it causes us, when we see our own sins, to do what?
To mourn, to have guilt, to have contrition, to cry out and lament, to be grieved over our own sin.
Our own personal sin, and here you see the calls of Christ, but in the background, can't you notice the
Holy Spirit beginning to work on the man or the woman, as He allows them to see, yes,
I have a need, yes, I'm sad over my sins. Thirdly, the Beatitude in verse 5 says,
Blessed are the meek, are gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. This Beatitude, as you remember, is defined best by someone saying,
I have nothing to offer you, God, I can't forward myself, I'm in the back of the congregation, I'm powerless,
God, if anything is going to be done with my soul, if you're going to save me, it's going to have to be you who save me.
Gentle and meek about that, not prideful, God, you owe me, God, I deserve it, God, I've done these good works.
No personal merit, standing before God, crouching before God in the dust, God, if I am to be saved, you must save me.
Number 4, we see some solution here. Here we see in the first three, well, there's some issues with our own heart, and then now in verse 6,
Beatitude number 4, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
The first three point to a need, and now here comes the solution. This is the way out, looking for the righteousness of another, realizing we have no righteousness of our own, saying,
God, I need to be right with you, I need to be having a righteousness that I don't have, and certainly we would know theologically that is the great righteousness of Christ Jesus.
If God takes a person through their own recognition of their lack of righteousness, their sorrowful over it, they realize they are gentle in the sense that they can't forward themselves, they desire and thirst to hunger after righteousness, if something happens,
Beatitude number 5, these people begin to change. These are outward manifestations of a changed person, and number 5 says,
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. We go for the first four, relating to God in a vertical way, and now
God has changed us, and now we relate to others in a horizontal way. We give relief to other people, we're looking out for what they need, we become like God in a sense where we are showing mercy.
And then one last, Beatitude in review number 6, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Remember that from several weeks ago?
You just don't get to see God. Remember even with our song Holy, Holy, Holy this morning as we were singing it, you just can't take a look at the full blaze of glory of God and live, but here,
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. God has given us pure hearts with good moral purity and doctrinal purity and a single -mindedness to serve
Him, and those kind of people have the promise of God, they will see Him. Face to face, reminiscent of Psalm 24, who may ascend into the hill of the
Lord and who may stand in His holy place. And now we come to a new Beatitude, number 7.
Beatitude number 7, second to the last, verse 9, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Don't forget what was going on at this time period. Rome had come in and taken over Jerusalem in 63
B .C., and if you were going to be like me and I was living in that time, I would be known as this kind of person, a zealot.
I can't believe I've been infiltrated by the Romans. I'm a Jewish person, and now the Romans had come in here, and I want them out.
I don't care what it takes. I don't care what kind of arms we have to garner. I want these people out, and Jesus on the
Sermon of the Mount says, Blessed are the peacemakers. Kingdom citizens are peacemakers.
Are you a peacemaker? What does it mean to be a peacemaker? Our outline today, if you're taking notes, let me give you several.
I've learned a long time ago not to tell you I have five or seven. I didn't even really learn that a long time ago.
Just a few weeks ago, I've learned that. I'm not going to tell you the number from now on, because when I went to Newtown, I had six non -negotiables, and I got through three, but I didn't tell them
I had six, because if I say I've got six and I only come up with three, I guarantee someone will come to me after the service and say,
What were those other three? The pleasure of study is I get so much more than I can give.
I've been studying all week, and I can only preach for two hours and 15 minutes on a typical
Sunday. So when I preach for 50, 55 minutes, 60 minutes,
I have to condense this. By the way, one of the checks in your own mind to ask yourself,
Did that pastor preach properly? is if I don't give you information that you have not learned before, then there's been a problem.
That is to say, if you have paid my bill so that I can study all week, I should come up with something more than you can just get the first cursory reading, just your first reading through in a cursory fashion.
We want the meat. We want to study. We want to dig. This is a gold mine. These are the words of life.
So let me give you several charges to ask you if you're a biblical peacemaker. Charge number one.
You will be a biblical peacemaker when you initiate peace with others.
You'll be a biblical peacemaker if you initiate peace with others.
This passage, if you look back at verse 9, it does not say, Blessed are the peacekeepers. Does it?
It says, Blessed are the peacemakers. When you initiate peace with others, you will be very much like God, and that is biblical peace.
Do you notice the text in verse 9? They shall be called sons of God. Why does it say that? That's a great question to ask the
Bible when you study it. Why does it say sons of God? Let me help you with that.
1 Samuel 2 .12. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial. They were really his sons, but their characteristics, the way they act, their likeness that they bore was similar to that of Belial.
Samuel, not Samuel. Eli's sons were like Satan's children.
How about this one? Ephesians 2 .2. Unbelievers are called sons of disobedience.
And so in a similar fashion, these peacemakers shall be called sons of God because it will be like father, like son.
The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. God is a peacemaker, and you'll be called a son of God, or a daughter certainly, but you'll be called a son of God if you, like God, make peace.
You're an initiator in making peace. That's what this is talking about here. It's not saying anything else except there is a
God -likeness to bringing peace between people and between God and other people.
There's another word for child, technon, and that's more tender endearment, but here this word means you have the honor and privilege of being related to your father.
You bear his likeness. You say, like God, in what way? In what way does
God make peace? That's the question of the hour. True or false?
Man is at war with God. Unbelieving man. True? Romans 8, 7 says, because the mindset on flesh is what?
Hostile or enmity toward God. Jonathan Edwards, in a pulpit not too far from here, but a couple centuries ago, said unconverted men would kill
God if they could get at him. Do you believe that? True or false?
God hates the sin, but loves the sinner. We tend to think about rebellious man, fallen in Adam, New England prime, or even from a couple hundred years ago.
A, in Adam's fall, we sinned all. Good job.
And we tend to think that God is kind of on the receiving end of this anger. Man is angry at God, and he's trying to build the
Tower of Babel to say, I am God. We tend to think of this one way where God receives our anger as unbelievers.
And that is true. But it goes farther than that. Did you know
God is at war with unbelievers? Not just...
Is it this simple? Unbelievers are at war with God, but primarily God is at war with them.
Yes, as a Creator, He loves His people. He loves His creation. But Psalm 55 says this, in answer to the question that God hates the sin, but loves the sinner.
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. You, speaking of God, hate all who do iniquity.
What do we do? An unbelieving person is at war with God, and God is at war with them.
Boy, that sounds harsh. Psalm 711 says, God is a righteous judge and a
God who has indignation every day. If a man does not repent, he will sharpen his sword.
He has bent his bow and made it ready. What happens when you bend a bow and make it ready? How long is it before you let go of those three fingers?
He's also prepared for Himself deadly weapons. He makes His arrows fiery shafts. I was reading this week, and it was right.
The real question of the universe is not why God do you allow suffering. This is the real question of the universe that can't be answered.
Why does God not judge sin immediately? Why doesn't
God judge sinners right away? It's amazing. God is opposed to unbelievers in His holiness, and what are we to do?
How about this? It seems to get worse. Exodus 15. Yahweh is a warrior. The Lord is a warrior.
Isaiah 42 .13, The Lord will go forth like a warrior. He will arouse His zeal like a man of war.
He will utter a shout. Yes, He will raise a war cry. He will prevail against His enemies.
What are we to do? We always talk about put on the breastplate of righteousness and put on the armor of God.
Why is it called the armor of God, I wonder? Well, God will personally put that armor on. Isaiah 59 says,
God, He put on righteousness like a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on His, God's head.
And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle. According to their deeds, so He will repay wrath to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies.
To the coastlands, He will make recompense. Martin Luther, A mighty fortress is our
God. Lord Sabaoth, His name. He is the God of hosts.
He is the Lord of hosts. He has all these armies ready to dispense in judgment as a warrior
God who hates sin. What kind of judge wouldn't hate sin? What are we going to do? What if that was all the revelation we had, just knowing
God was that kind of God and we had nothing else? But aren't you glad God is more than just a
God of wrath? Aren't you glad He's a God of mercy and kindness and love? Did you know, and this is the amazing part to me, that God, who's not only a warrior
God, but God is also known as a God of peace. I found it all over in the
Bible. Romans 15, 33, Now the God of peace be with you all. 2
Corinthians 13, The God of love and peace be with you. Philippians 4, 9,
The God of peace be with you. 2 Thessalonians 3, 16, May the Lord of peace
Himself continually grant you peace. Hebrews 13, 20, Now the God of peace who brought up the dead and great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant.
Jesus is a peacemaker. God is a peacemaker. If you turn your Bibles to Romans 5, I want to give you the best news
I can offer you, and that is the cross of Christ Jesus. You say, well,
I already heard about that. Then let me remind you again about this most great and grand and glorious subject. Can you hear enough about the gospel?
It's one thing to say, you know what, I just need to make peace between my brother, my friend, there's some people in the church.
That's fine, and I want to get there. But that's going to be the end of the sermon. The early part of the sermon is, we need to understand how
God has made peace with us. And if we realize how God makes peace with us, then we've learned the lesson, well, now we know how to make peace with others, because then we'll be called sons of God.
I'm not going to give you just a do list this morning of how to make peace with your friends and neighbors in six easy steps.
I want you to see the gravity of where we were from what God saved us from, and then how great that was, and we say,
God is a peacemaker, and I want to be like God. I'm a child of God, and I want to do the same thing. Romans 5, verse 1, in this magnum opus of Paul, the book of Romans, it says, right after we hear about justification by faith alone in chapter 3, and an illustration of that in chapter 4 with Abraham, therefore, having been justified, declared righteous by God, like a judge would forensically declare, you are not a whole, you are not clean, you are not righteous, but I declare you righteous, because I've punished my son in your place, so justice has been fulfilled.
God declares us righteous by faith. We believe that is true, and even that is a gift.
We have what? Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That is so good.
I grew up in the 70s, and it's the Eagle's time. It's a peaceful, easy feeling. I feel so good.
God loves me, and I'm His child. Oh, I just, I'm just, oh. Isn't that how you feel?
It's kind of like, oh, I just feel so good. Kind of like Lake Placid, and Pacific calm ocean, and just, oh, just the twilight of a summer night, and just, oh, repose, and no anxiety.
You think I'm crazy, don't you? There are two kinds of peace in the
Bible. There is a subjective peace. We can look at that in Philippians chapter 4, but this, beloved, is not the subjective peace.
This is objective peace. This is the kind of peace we have with someone who seemingly had irreconcilable differences with us, and because of the
Son, Christ Jesus, and His work at Calvary, the second person of the
Trinity cloaking Himself with humanity, men sinned. Only man could atone for men's sin, but man couldn't atone for men's sin, so God had to become a man, the
God -man, to atone for sin in our place, and since He did that, God is no longer at war with us.
He is at peace with us. This is objective peace. This is not this kind of feeling inside.
We have peace with God. This is not just a cessation of hostility.
This is embracing. This is reconciliation. Anselm said, the debt was so great that while man alone owed it, only
God could pay it. The word peace in the original means something that was together and that has been broken apart.
Something that was together, broken apart, and now has been bound back together, and that binding back, end result is what we call in the
Bible, peace. You can think even in human relationships, husband and wife, or friends, or other relationships, there's a break, there's a fracture, there's a difference, and then this kind of peace puts back together again.
It's bound back. So here we have God in His holiness, man in his sin, we all are in Adam and sinned, and then
God through His Son can put us back together with God. Colossians 1 .20
says, and through Him, Christ, to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
And this is all initiated by God. Did you notice? God was the initiator. God was the actor.
We were passive in this. This was something that was done to us. We couldn't meet God halfway.
It was because of Christ's death on the cross. Isaiah 53 .5, doesn't this sound good? He was wounded for our transgressions.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. Jesus Christ, high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
What is Melchizedek besides an interesting word? Melchizedek, it means what? King, melek, of peace.
He's the king of peace. And Romans 5 .1, if you look at it again, we have peace with God.
Literally, we have peace facing God. You know, you're kind of mad at somebody, you don't want to look at them, you want to be far apart, and hear what
God did through Jesus Christ with victory and vindication by the resurrection. He has done this to us.
He has made us be able to be face to face with God without shame, without crouching, without any issues between God and us because Christ Jesus has dealt with every one of our issues, and we call those issues sin.
We don't have to hide our face like a criminal. Look down in verse 9 of Romans 5.
It's such a great chapter. Much more then, having been justified by His blood, His vicious death, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
This is the greater benefit bestowed. If God has sent His Son to die for enemies, what would
He do for you, a brother or sister of Christ? Everything.
In the Bible I found that the Trinity makes peace. God the Father is called the God of peace. The Son is called
Emmanuel, God with us, but in that same verse He's called what? A later verse in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6.
I'll just read it. It will be more effective. For a child will be born unto us, a son will be given, and the government will rest on His shoulder.
His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
And the Holy Spirit is also known as the Spirit of Peace in 2 Corinthians chapter 1. How many people here know
Peace Child, the book by Don Richardson? It's an old book and very interestingly discusses some of this very thing through the lens of Don Richardson as he talks about the
Sawi tribe in Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Two warring factions of cannibalistic headhunting tribes.
How do you get them to get along? Fighting all the time, treachery, revenge, wrath, no hope of peace, but there was a custom and here was the custom.
If the one village gave a baby boy to another village, peace would prevail between the two villages as long as that baby was alive.
And that baby was called the Peace Child. Well, how much more should we just not seize on that story like the missionary did, but we should realize that is the
God of the universe and He's done that for us on our behalf. The Peace Child, peace with man.
And because God has made peace between Himself and us, we now can make peace between ourselves and others.
Turn to Ephesians chapter 2 and I'll show you that. The two biggest kind of warring factions as it were didn't amount to sticks and spears that much, but the
Jews and Gentiles. How could you get Jews and Gentiles to get together on anything? Well, Ephesians chapter 2 promotes again the great glory of Jesus Christ Himself as He is our peacemaker.
He has made peace with God. The bow is no longer bent towards the believers because Christ Jesus has placed the target on Himself and He has received the wrath of God and assuaged
His full wrath. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 14.
Again, it's just language that speaks well of our Savior. It's just what I love to...
I love to read the Bible because it talks in such a way that speaks of God in an honoring way.
That's what I want to do too. Verse 14. For He Himself emphatically is our what?
Peace. Everywhere you go in these several verses, there's peace everywhere. Who made both groups into one?
Which groups are those? The context is Jews and Gentiles. How do you make Jews and Gentiles into one?
That's amazing to me. He Himself, Jesus alone. He and no other.
Verse 14, it says, Who made both groups into one? Jews and Gentiles. It says, And broke down the barrier of the dividing wall.
Well, what's all that about? If you take a look at the old Temple Mount area and a picture of that or even if you go there and learn about it, here's what you would see in the
Temple. You'd see the court of the priests or Levites, then the court of the Israelites or the male
Israelites, then the court of the women, all on the same level. And then you would walk down five steps to the court of the
Gentiles. And Josephus, the Jewish historian of the day, said this about the warning that was there for the
Gentiles so they wouldn't go up those steps into the court of the
Jews. When you went through these first cloisters onto the second court of the
Temple, there was a partition made of stone all around whose height was three cubits. Its construction was very elegant.
Upon it stood pillars at equal distances from one another declaring the law of purity. Some in Greek and some in Roman letters that no foreigner should go within the sanctuary.
Matter of fact, he said later that if you did, you would be killed. In 1984, I went to Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin that separated
West Berlin from East Berlin. And I got on the bus and was interested to find out that when
I went down the street a little bit to go to the east side of Germany, the German soldiers who had
German shepherds, it just seemed odd to me they had German shepherds, but they were mean ones. Look at those German shepherds.
Oh, German shepherds. And they took these mirrors and they held the mirrors underneath the bus to make sure no one was sneaking into the country or sneaking out of the country.
Checkpoint Charlie is what it was called. And that's exactly what this was. It was a barrier. You're going to laugh, but you'll get the point.
I call this Checkpoint Yitzhak is what I call this. The checkpoint so the
Jews are separated from. The Gentiles couldn't come in there. Matter of fact, they tried to kill
Paul one time because they thought he brought a Gentile into the court of the Jews.
Trophimus, this barrier now is broken down.
It was broken down at Calvary, literally broken down when Titus sacked the city in 70 AD, but it's broken down at Calvary.
And you see what happens here, verse 15, by abolishing in his flesh the enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in himself he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace.
The enemy wasn't the law, the Mosaic law, that made separation between Jew and Gentile, but the enmity was what that law did and it separated
Jew and Gentile and all the Mosaic civil and ceremonial issues. And here Jesus fulfills all those at Calvary.
There's no longer any difference now. Romans 10, verse 4, For the Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
The barrier between Jew and Gentiles are gone. I love what
Charles Hodge said, the Princeton theologian, Christ abolished the law by fulfilling its conditions.
So he abolished the Mosaic law by fulfilling its types and shadows. He was the end of the law in both these aspects, and therefore it ceased to bind the people of God in either of these forms.
Of this doctrine, the whole of the New Testament is full. The abolition of the Mosaic law removes the wall between the
Jews and Gentiles. I believe Charles Hodge was right. There's no difference between Jew and Gentile anymore because I don't have to wash my clothes a certain way or wear a certain garment or not eat pork or anything else.
We're the same. All right, now let's telescope back in for a second. Jesus Christ is a peacemaker.
The triune God is a peacemaker. He initiates it. He goes out to do that. He's the one that takes the aggressive stance.
And so if you want to be, number one, a peacemaker like God, you will be aggressive in your peacemaking.
It's not peacekeeping. It's you are the one who needs to act. Maybe you can think in your own life.
Is there somebody in my life that I'm kind of having a standoff with and I'm just waiting for them to take the first step and then
I'll take the next step? I'm willing to go if they come to me. Would that be
Christlike peace initiating? Well, you know the answer. So when you say, when you think there's a difference in my family, let's bring it down to spouses, husbands and wives, there's a difference, there's an argument, there's a separation of thought and feelings, there's been a fight or something.
Are you the one who goes first to initiate that peaceful reconciliation? You always have to wait in pride for the other one to humble themselves and come to you.
If you want to be a peacemaker like God, then you're going to be the initiator. You're not going to just say, I'm just going to let matters lie.
There's somebody at work. Maybe the guy at work doesn't even know you're mad at him. Maybe somebody at church. By the way, if you're mad at somebody at church, you have two options.
Suppress that and cover that in love, right? Love covers a multitude of sins. We're to love our neighbors as ourselves.
We're to love our enemies. Call them whatever you want. But you say, you know, there's somebody here at the church and I'm mad at them.
Well, part of being the initiator at the peacemaking is if you can't cover that, then
I hope you go to them. I hope you go and say, I've got a problem with what you did and there's been a break in our relationship and did
I get this right or I think you sinned against me and you are the ones who are to go. We cannot read minds.
You have a problem with leadership? What you're not to do is to go to someone else and say, here's the problem and I'm going to tell you why this leader or that person, matter of fact, it doesn't even need to be leader.
Did you know the person that picks up the chairs, he did this and so and so did that. You know, the nursery said that.
Well, you hold that back and you go talk to the person and you initiate like God initiates to go straight to the person.
Boy, that will get rid of so much complaining, so much slander and so much gossip and you will be acting like a son of a
God, a peacemaker. Be the first to give in. And it doesn't mean you have to say, you know, I know
I didn't sin but I'm just going to say it because I want to make peace. You know, I sinned and please forgive me. But you can go to the other person and say, here's how
I would do it. Sooner or later, we've got to make up. We're married till death do us part. And probably now is a good time.
And I want to, you know, if I sinned, I'm kind of letting you in on some secrets, aren't I? Don't say things like this.
I didn't mean it because you meant it when you said it. Because what's in here comes out of here. You don't mean it now.
You regret that you hurt them when you said it. But you say, you know, I take full responsibility for this.
I own this. I'm so thankful that I have Christ Jesus, my Savior, who has paid for all those sins.
And I just want to know if you have the heart to forgive me because I've sinned against you and would you please forgive me? I love you.
It's biblical reconciliation. And the love between there is expressed in words but it's all based on what
God did. There could be no forgiveness granted to one another if there hadn't been granted forgiveness by God to us.
We just need to own up for what we've done. It was interesting when I was doing my oral defense for my thesis.
One of my professors didn't send me things back in time and I was kind of late for things and he kind of caused me problems and then
I got called on it while I was in there. I just took it.
I thought, I'm not going to get the end of what I want if I go blasting somebody else. So why didn't you get that done?
Well, it's not their fault. This is my project. It says Mike Ebenroth in there. I didn't get that done adequately but I'd like to be able to make those changes before I attempt to graduate in May.
The point being, again, we're going on a rabbit trail but don't you love rabbit trails? I used to try to get my professors on rabbit trails because sometimes
I learned more from those. God is the initiator.
Man, matter of fact, if you think about unbelieving man, he doesn't want peace with God. He wants to suppress
God's truth and unrighteousness. He wants to believe in all kinds of lies so he can live any way or any way she wants to live.
She just constructs this in her mind so she can do that. She doesn't want peace with God because peace requires self -denial.
It requires being sick of yourself and coming to the end of yourself as Jesus said in Luke. And it requires picking up the cross and following Christ.
It requires turning your back on everything that you are, everything that you've done, and you say,
I repent from all that and I follow you. Men don't want to do that. Neither do women unless God the
Father is initiating. And there are words in Scripture in John 6 where He draws. And there's other words where He made peace.
There's words in Colossians 2 about He made us alive in Him. God is the actor. We are the receivers.
And if you want to be a son of God and be a peacemaker, you'll be aggressive in doing that. Anybody you need to talk to this week?
Number two, I'm glad I didn't say
I had six. Number one, you're very much like God when you are a peace initiator.
Number two, as biblical peacemakers, you should not settle for anything less than biblical peace.
You should not settle for anything less than biblical peace. God Himself must define the terms of peace.
Peacemaking is more than a cessation of hostilities. Steve was telling me this week that some of the police officers love this verse in Matthew because blessed are the peacemakers.
And certainly, I'm glad for police officers, but I would call them ministers of God according to Romans 13 instead because this kind of peacemaking that's here in the
Bible is not just we stop the conflict. We want the conflict to cease.
It's something much more than that. Absence of conflict is what we would call a truce.
Snodgrass said, the commentator, this peace is not just a cessation of hostility.
It is a comprehensive term for salvation with life with God. And the Hebrews would call this word peace what?
Shalom. When you say shalom to someone, you are not saying, I just hope there's no hostility in your life.
You're saying what? Many things, but I hope your life gives you the best that God can offer you, that you have wholeness and fullness and just a quality of life that just, it could only be from God, not just an absence from trouble, but a complete whole life with prosperity and security and integrity and good relations.
400 references to peace in Scripture. 26 out of 27 New Testament books talk about peace.
But what we don't want to do is to say we'll take peace at the expense of truth.
Correct? Matthew Henry said, boy, this is one of those, wow. Peace is such a precious jewel that I would give anything for it, but truth.
Anything for peace except for truth. Matter of fact, James 3 .17, but the wisdom from above is first pure, then what?
Peaceable. And he says first for a reason. You want to know how God's wisdom manifests itself?
It's not first and let's all go along to get along. It first manifests itself in purity, then peaceableness.
And we are receiving information from all across the country and the world where people will say, I want to have peace with you.
We know we don't really agree the same when it comes to getting to heaven, but there are abortion and other things that are horrible and social issues and poverty, and we will say we don't want pure doctrine to matter, but we want peace, and so you come alongside of us, and it will be evangelicals and Catholics together or it will be any other groups to say, you know what, forget all that stuff that divides us.
We need to come together to serve the poor and deal with social issues. That's not peacemaking when you trash the truth for that.
Romans 12, 18 is very insightful when Paul says, if it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
It is not always possible to live at peace with other people because if you do, it's a false peace.
We can only make peace on God's terms, correct? Going back to the biblical definition, if peace is, you know, brother,
I can't even strike that. I don't even want to say brother. You know, friend, you have a different religion than I do.
You believe that you get to heaven a different way than I do. You don't believe Jesus the same way I do. Either you're wrong and I'm wrong, or you're right and I'm wrong, or I'm right and you're wrong, but we're both not right.
Did you get that one? I can have a cessation of hostility and call that a truce.
That's still wrong, but how can I have shalom and say, you know, we need to be whole and together and full and prospering.
And everything that God has for us, that's what we'll do. You can't have that with another Christian group, with another non -Christian group.
And I'll prove it. Jesus said, Matthew 10, so wanting his troops, his people to be truthful, maintaining faith, not at the expense of peace.
Matthew 10, 32, Therefore, everyone who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my
Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny him before my Father who is in heaven.
Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth, but I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
Well, what's the context? Didn't Jesus come to reconcile humans to God? Yes. But in effect, when he began to reconcile humans to God, the truth did something that truth always does, and what's that?
It divides. And it divides mainly these two systems. Any system that says you can be good enough to get into heaven, works righteousness, merits,
I do good things, more good than bad, I was baptized, I was catechized, I taught a
Sunday school lesson Saturday here with my dad, whatever it might be, to the other religion of the world, and that is a religion of divine accomplishment where God alone has to act, and he sends his
Son as a substitute to bear our sins in our place. Jesus said,
I came to set a man against his father and daughter, against her mother, against a daughter -in -law, a daughter -in -law against her mother -in -law, and a man's enemies will be the members of his household.
He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
He who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for my sake will find it.
Not the antithesis of the beatitude, but a manifestation of what happens when you say, I will follow
Christ no matter what. It will make waves, and we just can't say, sorry about righteousness, we'll just put our arms around other people, and we're all going to heaven anyway, aren't we?
Why don't you turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 6, and let's just expand that a little bit more. Well, you know what, on second thought,
I'm not going to do that, sorry. Edit that from the tape. I could talk about how churches should not come alongside of other churches who aren't really
Christian churches, not being unequally yoked, but let's just talk a little bit more about our church to make sure that we have peace among our membership here at the church even.
Back in the Bible days, there was a man named Julian, and he hated Christians. And here's what he said about Christians.
They live together as tigers, rendering and devouring one another.
Thomas Watson said, it is unseemly to see Christ's doves fighting to see his lily become a bramble.
He goes on to say, in Tertullian's time it was said, see how the Christians love one another? But now it may be said, see how
Christians snarl at one another? They are comparable to ferocious bears. Was it not sad to see
Herod and Pilate uniting, and to see Paul and Barnabas falling out? We know there's disharmony in the church because we're all sinful, aren't we?
But it's what we do after that. Same thing I think about with my children. I know my children disobey.
The issue is how do I respond to their disobedience? I don't think we have some huge problem at the church, so this is not, you know,
I can't believe you're doing this, but this is almost preventative maintenance. Remember, beloved, we are called to be aggressive in unity,
Ephesians 4, verse 3, yes? We are to be diligent to preserve the unity here, and that unity can be more fortified.
Certainly we're united in Christ Jesus when He prayed for that in John 17, but the practical aspects of that unity can be more fortified as we are aggressive peacemakers.
That could be, well, we disagree, and I know you're mad at me, and so we've got to hammer this out. It could also take place this way.
When a brother sins against you, what are you supposed to do? Matthew 18 gives us the corrective format to keep peace in the church, not at the expense of righteousness, but being righteousness.
If a brother sins against you, go and show him his fault. Just between the two of you, if he listens to you, you have won your brother.
We are called to be children of God, making peace. I know it's hard. The old poem goes, to dwell with saints above we love.
Oh, that will be glory. But to live below with saints we know, well, that's another story.
Paul is clear in Ephesians 4, 3 about being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. Sometimes it means we're just not going to be able to say anything because our words lash out.
I think it's a matter of humility. Actually, Proverbs 13 says, only by pride cometh contention.
Proverbs also says, a soft answer turns away wrath. If God says,
I affirm this, I approve this behavior, peacemaking, then I want to be a peacemaker and I want to charge you as the pastor to be peacemakers as well.
Peacemakers on the converse of Matthew 5, 9 would be what?
If peacemakers are approved by God, they're blessed. What must
God think of peacemakers? The opposite word of blessing, by the way, is cursed. We don't want that.
We are in the reconciling business. We are ambassadors. One of the best ways you can make peace with people is if you know they're not a
Christian, you're an ambassador of peace. Proclaim the Gospel so they might have peace with God. You have
Christian friends. We are wanting to proclaim the truth to them and we were wanting to have unity.
Do you know God loves unity in His church so much that we are to reject those that will somehow destroy unity at the church?
Titus 3 says, Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is...
Would you write this if you were writing it? Knowing that such a man, a factious or divisive man, such a man who will not receive these warnings, that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self -condemned.
It's the same thing. In Romans 16, I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions.
Keep your eye on those who aren't peacemakers, who don't go around trying to solve issues biblically.
Those that want to do it the wrong way and without righteousness, you watch them. You make sure your eyes are attuned to them who cause dissensions.
These kind of men, it goes on to say, are slaves, not of the Lord Jesus, but of their own appetites. And by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
We turn from them because God makes peace. He initiates peace through biblical means always.
And we want to be sons of God to initiate peace between ourselves the exact same way. The Deeds of the
Flesh, Galatians 5 says, are dissensions and factions and strife. Proverbs 6 says,
There are six things that the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to him, haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife, the opposite of peace among brothers.
God is a peacemaker through ordained means of being biblical, and that's exactly what we want to do. Will we not get along at times at church?
Will we have differences? Will someone sin against you? Will you sin against them? In the church, at home, the answer is yes, but number one, aren't you glad you're forgiven for those sins?
And if we've been forgiven for those sins and we don't have to go to hell for them, and God said, so because I've saved you, and because I own you, and because you would please me, if you then would be a peacemaker like me, then what is stopping us from making that peace?
The only answer is pride, and yet God has given us the Spirit of God to help us do things that we couldn't do on our own.
This is not go make peace this week, this is you have the God of the universe dwelling in you and you're able to fulfill his commands.
I'm so thankful that we have a church, that we're united in our direction, and we know where we want to go, we know what we want to do, we know what we believe, yet always there's kind of on the periphery a little brush fire here, a little brush fire there.
If you know about a brush fire, then you go put it out, because brush fires can soon turn into forest fires and we don't want that.
I've been told that rhinoceroses, rhinoceri, are able to go stomp out fires.
Do you love Jesus Christ enough to go to someone who you know has a problem with someone else, or has a problem with you, do you love them enough to say, it might cost me my relationship, it might cost me everything, but I know blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Let's pray. Lord, you are a good God and a holy God, and Lord that you would redeem a people like us, that is amazing.
We praise your name for saving sinners like us. You were at war with us, and then your son drank the cup of wrath, the cup of damnation in our place.
Oh, what manner of love. Thank you Lord that you've bestowed that great love upon us because of Christ.
Lord, we would like Bethlehem Bible Church to be a church where we are peacemakers.
Lord, protect us from going too far, confronting everyone for everything. But also Lord, help us not just to be peacekeepers, help us at the stake of truth and the purity of your church to go to others.
Father, we would ask your spirit to convict us and to confront us, to work on our consciences so we can't even go another day without making things right with other brothers and sisters here.
You deserve it. You're worthy. Lord, we know it's not for the sake of the other primarily, but it's for the sake of you and your son.
Thank you that you would bless anyone. Thank you that you would make anyone your sons and daughters.
And Lord, that's exactly what you've done for us as Christians. We are in Christ Jesus and we stand blessed.