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I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew. We are continuing in our study of the Sermon on the Mount, and we are still in the Beatitudes portion of the sermon.
We have not yet gotten out of the Beatitudes, and we are probably going to be in them for the next couple of weeks. And then the Sundays leading up to Christmas, I am going to be preaching on the subject of the Incarnation.
So we will take a short break from the Beatitudes, and then when we come back after the New Year, we will be right in the Sermon on the Mount. But we are continuing to study the Beatitudes. If you remember, I know it has been a few weeks since I preached on the topic, so just as a reminder, the word Beatitude means supreme blessedness.
And Jesus is describing in the Beatitudes the character of those who are considered to be the blessed of God. One of the ideas which I have tried to put forward since we began studying the Beatitudes is that I do not believe that Jesus is talking about a series of different individuals.
I do not believe He is talking about some people as poor in spirit, and others are mourning, and others are meek, and so on and such as that. I believe what He is doing is that He is building a picture of what the blessed person looks like.
The blessed person begins poor in spirit. He then mourns as a result. He has been humbled or meekened by the experience. He then hungers and thirsts for righteousness. As a result of this crying out to God for mercy, He becomes merciful in His behavior, and as a result of regeneration, He experiences purity of heart.
He has a new heart within Him. The old heart of stone is taken away, and a heart of flesh replaces it. So as a result, what we see here is not a series of different individuals, but one blessed man, one individual.
The believer, the Christian. This is what the Christian is. And this is who is blessed by God. As a result, when we come to the next in line of the Beatitudes today that we will see, what I hope is that we see that this is not talking about, again, some other individual type of person, but this is just a natural outgrowth of our Christianity.
The next Beatitude is the next step of what we should be if we truly call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ. So let us stand and read Matthew chapter 5 and verse 9. Matthew 5 and verse 9 says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Our Father and our God, we thank You for this opportunity to be in Your house and to be studying Your Word, and I pray, Lord, first and foremost, that as I seek to give exposition of Your Word, that You would keep me from error.
And I pray also that You would open up the hearts of Your people to understand Your truths and that Your Holy Spirit would be the ultimate teacher this morning. And, Lord God, if there are those among us who have never heard the Gospel, that they would hear the Gospel this morning and that You would use it to convert souls.
For, Lord God, this is something only You can do through the power of Your Holy Spirit. So we thank You, we praise You for what You have done and what You are going to do. And we ask that You be with us in this time of study, in Jesus' name, Amen.
I actually have quite a bit that I want to say on this subject. So rather than flowery introductions, I want to jump right into the outline, if I could. So if you're an outliner, if you're a person who likes to write it down, here it is.
It's very simple. Four points today. Number one, the ultimate peacemaker is Christ. That's number one. Number two, our first call as peacemakers is to be ambassadors for Christ. Our first call as peacemakers is to be ambassadors for Christ.
Number three, our secondary call as peacemakers is to promote reconciliation among people. Our secondary call as peacemakers is to promote reconciliation among people. And finally, number four, and I hope to get to all these today, so buckle up.
Number four, our call to be peacemakers is not an absolute call to humanistic pacifism. Again, I'll say it again. Our call to be peacemakers is not an absolute call to humanistic pacifism. Now, I'm going to explain all these, so let's begin with the first one.
The Bible says, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Well, what is a peacemaker? What does that term mean, and what is Jesus even using it for? What is He trying to describe to us?
Well, the first thing we need to realize, as I've already said, the first point is that Jesus Christ is the ultimate peacemaker. In the Old Testament, there's a prophecy about the coming of Messiah, which is interesting that I'm preaching this during the Christmas season, during the Advent season, because this is one of the most famous Christmas Advent passages, if we think about it, and it's from Isaiah 9 and verse 6.
For to us a Son is born, to us a Son is given, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and what? The Prince of Peace. And that title, Prince of Peace, is very important.
When we talk about Jesus being the Prince of Peace, there is a very specific context in which that applies. You see, the Jews believed that the Messiah was going to bring peace in their day, but they believed that He was going to bring peace by the sword, that the Messiah was going to be a warrior Messiah, that the Messiah was going to come and bring peace in the same way everybody else brought peace, through power, peace through superior strength.
That was what was so perplexing about Jesus. He didn't have an army. He didn't bear a sword. And He had no intention of overthrowing the Roman authorities. In fact, He told Pilate that that wasn't even His purpose.
He said, if I wanted to, I could have an army, but I don't. You see, peace in Jerusalem was not the peace that Jesus came to bring. He did not come to be a worldly conqueror, to overthrow the Romans, and to set up a Jewish state wherein there would be authority for the whole world.
He didn't come to do that. He didn't come to bring peace with other nations. He came to bring peace with God. And that must be understood. Romans 5 .1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
That is the peace of which Jesus is the Prince, when it calls Him the Prince of Peace. One of the hardest things for unbelievers to accept, one of the hardest things for nominal Christians to accept, is that prior to conversion, we are at war with God.
We're not slightly offensive. We are utterly abominable to Him. It's hard for unbelievers. It's hard for nominal Christians. It's hard for liberals. Because they don't want to think that way. But the Bible is so clear.
The Bible is clear that we are totally at odds with God and His commands. Romans 8 .7 It says, For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot.
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You know that word hostile? Sometimes it's translated as enmity. If you have certain Bible translations, it says the mind that is set on the flesh is at enmity with God.
The root word is the Greek word ektho. And it's where we get the word hatred. So it could be translated that the mind that is set on the flesh hates God. It's at war with Him. It is hostile toward Him.
The unconverted mind does not love God. In fact, quite the opposite. And beloved, there is nothing more obvious than when you try to explain God's law to an unbeliever. They like the idea of God as being a blesser.
They like that idea. Well, I like the blessings of God. I've often said, because people say, no, I love God. I say, no, you love the blessings of God, not the being of God. They want all that God can give them.
Eternal life and peace and power and prosperity. They want all that God can give them, but they do not want God himself. They do not want the Lord. They do not want the sovereign. They just want the blessings.
When they realize that God makes demands on their lives, that He knows everything about them, that He will judge them for their sins, both private and public, that's when they get hostile. That's when they get angry.
I watched a lady the other day on a video. There were men that were standing outside of an abortion clinic with a sign that just simply said, Babies are murdered here. And it's the truth. Babies are murdered at abortion clinics.
They weren't screaming. They weren't shouting. They were just holding a sign. Babies are murdered here. And these two women come to them and are screaming in their face and they're grabbing the sign and they're tearing it and they're spitting and they're using the most vile obscenities because they hate this truth.
Beloved, that's the war that Jesus brings peace to. It's that war of the heart against God. It's that hatred of God. That's the Prince of Peace. Because only Christ can take a heart which hates God, remove it, and give us a regenerated heart of flesh which beats with the power of the love of God.
That's the power of Christ.
And that's why He's called the Prince of Peace. That's where He comes in. He's called Reconciler. He's called Mediator. He's not Mediator man to man. In fact, He says the opposite. He says, I will bring a sword between people.
I will bring division between father and mother and mother-in-law and father-in-law and parents and children. I bring division between these people, but I bring union with God. That's the peace that He brings.
That's how He is the Prince of Peace. This is why it says glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased. You know, often we say peace on earth and goodwill towards men.
That is not the original translation of that. This is what it says. It says, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased. This is how He is the Prince of Peace. That's how He is the Peacemaker.
He makes peace between God and men. That's first. So, that being said, when Jesus said, Blessed are the Peacemakers, we know He is the consummate Peacemaker. He makes peace between God and men. Now, let's look at it from where, who is He blessing?
Who is He calling on and saying, Blessed are you who are Peacemakers. Who are they? Well, this moves us to our second point. Our first call as being Peacemakers is to be ambassadors for Christ. Now, I know we started in Matthew 5, but I've got to take you to another verse.
We can't put it all up on the screen. We can try, but I want you to actually look at this with me. Go to 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. Most of you know verse 17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation.
The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. We're familiar with verse 17. Now, verse 18 is where it begins to really take and make a good point about what we're talking about today. Because he says this, the Apostle Paul says, All this is from God, who through Christ, reconciled us to Himself.
Okay, so right there, we talked about Christ the Reconciler. He's made peace between us and God. He's reconciled us to God and gave us a ministry. Ministry of what? Reconciliation. He's given us the ministry of reconciliation.
That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. What is our message, beloved? What is our message to the world?
Here is how you can be reconciled to God through Christ. That's our message to the world. That's the Gospel. You are at war with God. Here is how you can be at peace with God. That's the crux of the Gospel message.
It's the message of reconciliation. And verse 20 tells us this, Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Beloved, that word, ambassador, underline it, circle it, write it down.
Do whatever you have to do because that's the word of the day. Because when Jesus says, blessed are the peacemakers, in my heart, this is what He's referring to. He's talking about those who take His message of the Gospel of peace and they proclaim His message of peace to the world.
And that is the message of how a man who is at odds with God can be made right with God and that is through the Gospel. In essence, a peacemaker is an evangelist. A peacemaker is one who brings the Gospel of peace to the world.
One who teaches people to be reconciled to God. That may not be what our natural thought is when we think peacemaker, but it is without doubt the focus of Jesus' beatitude. The peace which Jesus brings is peace with God.
And the peace which we bring to others is peace with God. We are ambassadors for Christ. What is an ambassador? An ambassador is an official representative. It is one who has one message and one message only.
The message of the One He represents. And that is our message. We represent Christ and we bring the one message of the Gospel which is how to be reconciled to God. This is how it fits in context also with the other beatitudes.
Notice what we talked about this morning. We said that the beatitudes are not a bunch of different believers, but it's all a picture of one person. The person who is poor in spirit. He's humbled. He mourns.
He hungers and thirsts for righteousness. And as a result, he is merciful. He is pure of heart. And he is what? He is an evangelist. He is a Gospel proclaimer. He is one whose feet are shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.
Isn't that what the armor of God? That our shoes are what? The preparation of the Gospel of peace.
How beautiful are the feet of those.
Who carry the good news, the Bible says. We are spiritual peacemakers when we share the Gospel of Christ. We are spiritual peacemakers when we go about with the message of how one who is at war with God can be made right with God.
We are spiritual peacemakers when we are sharing the Gospel. That is our call. That is our mission. That is why we have been made ambassadors. We have this ministry of reconciliation and we are to be proclaiming it.
That's a peacemaker. So I say, remember the primary call of peacemaking. The primary call of peacemaking is Gospel proclamation. Because Christ is the ultimate peacemaker and in our proclamation of the Gospel, we are His ambassadors.
Number three. Getting through these a little quicker than I thought. That's okay. Because number three is where I think we also need to make some massive application. Because yes, we are to be proclaiming the Gospel.
And I kind of like what Walter said in the video this morning. He said this is Christmas. And he said this is the time wherein our families... You know, we see our families during the holidays probably more than any other time of the year.
This is the time when we can be proclaiming the Gospel. This is the time we can be sharing truths of the Gospel. This is time... Hey, you know what? What's today? Today is Christmas or today is the day we celebrate this coming of Jesus Christ.
What does that mean? Why is that valuable? Here I get to be an ambassador for Christ explaining the significance of His birth. I mean, this is the easiest time of the year to bring it up. So we get to be ambassadors.
That's primary. Our primary call as peacemakers is ambassadors for Christ. That's one. But the secondary call of peacemaking is to promote reconciliation among people. Now, I've already made mention of this, but I want to make this point again.
There's a very real reality that we need to understand. As believers, we will not always be able to promote peace between people because the Gospel is inherently divisive. Let me say that again. We will not always be able to promote peace between people because the Gospel is inherently divisive.
If you don't find the Gospel very divisive, I would either say you don't understand it or you have so watered it down that you've so made it humanistic that it's no longer the Gospel. Because the Gospel as it is in the Scripture is divisive.
Jesus said it Himself. Matthew 10, verse 34, Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. That's what the Gospel does. And beloved, if you have unbelieving family members, you know what I'm talking about. Because if you share the Gospel with them, they get mad with you.
They get tired. I don't want to hear that Bible thumping whatever. They get frustrated. They get tired of it. They don't want to hear it. And God bless you if your whole family is Christian. Because some of you are.
I'm sure some of you have. Everybody in your family is Christian. That's great. But few of us have that luxury. And most of us do have family members that as soon as Christ is brought up, as soon as the Gospel is brought up, there is great division.
Thus to say that Christians should seek peace with others at all costs, that's wrong. We cannot promote peace at the expense of truth. We cannot promote peace at the expense of the Gospel. We should realize the Gospel will bring conflict with people.
And that's why I think that part of our call of peacemakers to promote unity between people is the secondary call. I think the primary call of being a peacemaker is the evangelism part. That's our ambassador for Christ.
That's primary. Our secondary call is yes, as much as it depends on us, we do need to live at peace with all men. That's what Paul says. So there is a secondary part wherein we do need to promote peace between people.
As Paul says, as much as it depends on you, live at peace with all men. And I like that because he's making the point that it doesn't always depend on you. Some people don't let you live at peace with them.
I mean, I should have garnered at least a half an amen because you know it's true. Some people don't let you live at peace with them. But we do make that attempt. We have a responsibility to promote peace and reconciliation between people whenever possible.
And I wrote three things down just to give you a quick snapshot. Number one, we should promote peace within the church. I think that's really something we should always be trying to do. We want to avoid backbiting.
We want to avoid gossiping. We want to avoid slander. Because not only are these sins, they hinder the ministry of the church. They're not only sins, they're cancers in the church and they hurt the church.
So in the church, those things are bad. We need to stop them. We need to lovingly seek reconciliation with others who have problems or we have problems with. That's hard sometimes because sometimes you have problems with people and it's difficult.
Sometimes you have problems with me. That's okay, I still love you. We need to work on those. And we need to seek people's repentance when they fall into sin. That's sometimes hard too. But it's part of promoting reconciliation and peace within the church.
Because if we let that sin just go and go and go, it's just making it worse. So we need to promote peace within the church. We need to be those people. Number two, we need to promote peace within our families.
How do we do that? Well, we do it by avoiding drama. And that's hard sometimes because families, you know, it tends to be there. We do this by speaking wisdom and love to one another and we do this by avoiding critical behavior.
Families are tough. They really are. Some of you live far away from your families. Some of you have families living with you. So there's always a different dynamic. But right away, we work to promote peace when we can as much as it depends on us.
And finally, we need to promote peace within our civil and social institutions and the world in general. We do this by supporting godly leadership. We do this by voting for godly candidates. We do this by praying for repentance for our leaders who are at odds with God's commands.
And what's the prayer that I tell you always to pray for the government? God bless America with what? With repentance. That's what we need. You pray, God bless America, but don't stop there. It's bless America with repentance.
That's our prayer. Because it's needed. So we do. We pray for these things. But again, this is secondary to the primary. The primary call of being peacemakers is that we seek the peace between God and men.
Because that's the only peace that's going to ultimately have the eternal value. But secondary, as Paul says, as far as it depends upon us, we live at peace with all men. And that includes unbelievers.
We live at peace as far as it depends on us. You know what the Bible says about the pastor? That he should have a good reputation even outside the church. And that's not just for believers. That's just for pastors.
That's for believers in general. We shouldn't have a reputation of being hotheaded. We shouldn't have a reputation of being a jerk. We shouldn't have a reputation of being unpeaceful. We shouldn't have a reputation that is negative outside.
We shouldn't. Because that's not the spirit with which we are supposed to promote ourselves. Next week, I'm going to be talking about the next beatitude. And we're going to be talking about Westboro Baptist Church.
That's going to be in my sermon. I don't know if you know anything about them, but let me tell you something about that group. They do nothing for the promotion of positive gospel presentation in the world, in my opinion.
It's a constant negativity. There's no attempt to bring any peaceful gospel presentation. And it's damaging. It's damaging. We do have a responsibility to have a positive, a good reputation. Paul tells us that we are not to be people who are hotheaded.
What's the word that we use a lot, Aaron? We've been using it a lot recently between the two of us. A man of, what is it? Quarrelsome. Not to be quarrelsome. You know? Well, finally, finally, our call to be peacemakers is not an absolute call to humanistic pacifism.
It's not a call to humanistic pacifism. Now, why did I add this in? Well, I added it in because, quite frankly, I think it's important to say and I didn't want to do a whole other sermon just on this topic, so I'm putting this in here.
I'm going to ask you to stay with me for another few minutes because this is important. There are entire movements within quote-unquote Christianity which are staunchly pacifistic. Pacifism, of course, is the idea that we'd never lift our hands to defend ourselves, we'd never lift our hands to battle for any reason whatsoever, and that's what we call pacifism.
And there are like the Quakers are staunchly pacifistic. The Amish are pacifistic. The Mennonites are pacifistic. They refuse to serve in the military. They refuse to do any of those things. They consider service like that to be inherently sinful.
So when we read, blessed are the peacemakers, and we see these groups like the Mennonites and the Quakers, and they're demanding a level of pacifism, which is just bar none. Pacifism is it. The question becomes, well, is that what we're called to?
Is that what Christians are really called to? Well, this is something I want you to consider. And I've said it before. I don't know if you've heard it, but I have mentioned it before. Jesus many times rebuked the Pharisees.
Jesus many times rebuked the scribes. Jesus many times rebuked the Sadducees. Jesus never once rebuked a soldier. Not once. John the Baptist was asked by a soldier what do we need to do to be saved. It seems like that would have been the perfect time for him to say drop your sword, drop your shield, and go start a farm.
I mean, wouldn't that have been the time? No, he said soldiers asked him. This is Luke 3 .14. Soldiers asked him, and we, what shall we do? And he said to them, do not extort money from anyone by threat or by false accusation and be content with your wages.
Don't use your power incorrectly. Don't use your power inappropriately. You've been given a level of authority in the world. Don't misuse it. That's what John said. He didn't say give up being a soldier.
He said do it the right way. Simple enough. Warriors are a necessary tool in a world that is filled with evil. Warriors are a necessary tool in a world that is filled with evil. As we are believers in the doctrine of total depravity, we understand that man is capable of immense evil, and part of what keeps men's evil in check is that there is a law of the land and there are men who are willing to enforce that law by force.
You don't talk criminals out of being criminals. You enforce the law. The Bible says that the government does not bear the sword in vain. And interestingly enough, when it comes to self-defense, this is something Phil Johnson said.
If you don't know who Phil Johnson is, he's a second to John MacArthur in the Grace to You community. Phil Johnson made this point. I thought it was great. He said the government has the power of the sword.
The government gives the power of the sword to the individual in instances of self-defense, making it legal to protect yourself. Thus, that sword that the government has is abrogated to every individual whose life is imperiled to be able to protect themselves.
Interesting thought. I had never thought of it that way. However, when he said it, I was writing it down. The only way for a completely pacifistic people to survive is that there be those who are not who are willing to stand in their defense.
The only way for completely pacifistic people to survive is for people who are not to be willing to stand in their defense. That's why I have said there are no Amish people in Iraq. There are no Mennonites in Iran.
There are no Quaker villages in North Korea. There just ain't. They exist in America because we defend them. It would be impossible for a policeman or a soldier to be an absolute pacifist and safely discharge his duties.
But does that mean that a police officer or a soldier can't be a Christian? No, it doesn't. Some early church writers did say those things, but you never hear that from Christ or John the Baptist or the Apostle Paul.
I believe the Bible demonstrates to us that physical force can be used benevolently to save lives. And in that sense, it is not opposed to the gospel. Simple enough. Exodus 22 .2 makes a good point. Exodus 22 .2 says if a man breaks into your house and is struck and dies, then you are not guilty of murder.
That's an interesting point. The very foundation of self-defense right there in the Old Testament law. And the Bible is filled with godly warriors. Abraham, Joshua, David. All men who are accustomed to war, yet also accustomed to prayer.
They demonstrate that the call to be peacemakers, which again, I argue, has the context first of peace with God, is not a call to absolute pacifism, but is a call to be one who proclaims the gospel of peace.
The beatitude clearly says, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. And as we have noted, the first call to being peacemakers is our call to proclaim to others how you can become one of the sons of God.
And that's the real thing that we need to focus on as we come to a close today. Because the fulfillment of the beatitude is in the beatitude itself. We proclaim the gospel of peace so that others too might become the children of God.
You remember the Bible says we are not children of God by birth, but we are children of God by rebirth. And how does someone get born again? Only by hearing the gospel and the Holy Spirit opening their heart, and they believe.
So our primary role as peacemakers in the world is to share that gospel with them that they might hear it and be saved. Let's pray. Father, I thank You for Your Word. I thank You for this opportunity to again hear the truth come from Your Word, and I pray that it has been proclaimed correctly.
I pray, O Lord, that everyone under the sound of my voice has heard the truth. And Lord God, if there's anyone here who's never heard the gospel, that they've never heard that they are at enmity with God, but that there's salvation in knowing Christ, that, Lord God, that today You would use this opportunity to open their heart and save their soul.
I thank You for all of the truths of Scripture, that they do coincide together, and that we can see the truths and that these truths can set us free to be proclaimers of Your wonderful gospel. Thank You for all that You've given us.
We pray now that You would give us introspection for us. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Beloved, we come now to our final psalm. We ask you to stand. And if you have a need for prayer, we encourage you to come forward and pray.