"Blessed are the Peacemakers" Matthew 5:9

As Jesus sat in the upper room, He knew the night of His betrayal had come and that He would be returning to the Father. He knew the road ahead would be the most difficult day of His life on earth, with agonizing pain and horrific temptation. All the resources of Satan would be focused on Him, and the pressures would be relentless. Nevertheless, Jesus was determined to see it through. His life had been dedicated to the Father’s will, both in His words and His actions, and that would not change now.

Looking around the room, He the Bible says He had a deep affection for these men He led. John 13:1 says He showed them the full extent of His love. He ministered to them and He taught them. He taught them things that would help them in the coming days and years.

One of the things Jesus told His disciples that night was, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).

The life of Jesus was a model of living at peace—at peace with God and at peace with others. It was not a life free of conflict; far from it. But it was one that was the very model of what it is to be a peacemaker. That’s why the Son of God tells us in the Beatitudes that the peacemakers are called the children of God.

Central Truth: Being a peacemaker is more than avoiding conflict.

The peacemaker:

Is at peace with God.

When you and I decided we didn’t need God in our lives, when we decided to turn away from Him and rebel, when we sinned, we created a vast gulf between ourselves and Him. We died at that moment in our spirits, and we were incapable of reaching out to Him. We determined to go our own way and we continued on that path until one day, someway and somehow, God saw fit to bring us back into the fold.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, God called us to Him. He offered us the chance to be born again, if only we would renounce our sins and profess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Paul tell us that, “when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son” (Romans 5:10). Paul goes on to proclaim that God has given us reconciliation with Him through Jesus Christ His Son.

Since this is the case, there are expectations for us. You see, it isn’t enough to say that Jesus is Lord and Savior. God doesn’t want our words; He wants our lives. As Jesus did only what the Father told Him to do, so are we expected to live our lives in obedience to Him. In that Upper Room, Jesus repeatedly spoke of the obedience that was expected of us. This obedience wasn’t a new form of legalism, required of us in order to earn our salvation. Instead, it was and is an obedience that grows out of our love for and faith in Christ.

All this comes as a result of us living in peace with God. God touches us, transforms us into His children, and the conflict that defined our relationship with Him while we were sinners has now changed to one of peace and reconciliation. God treats us as a loving Father treats His children. He provides for us; He cares for us; He nurtures and guides us, and we rest in His assurance and His promises.

There are times in our lives that we come to a reconciliation with those who were one time adversaries. Yet, when we come to a peace with them, we almost always watch the relationship with a wary eye. We “trust but verify.” We never quite feel completely at ease.

Such is not the case with our relationship with God. He removes our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. He doesn’t look at our past and hold it over us. Instead, it is a clean slate and we receive His blessings unconditionally and completely. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians, all the promises of God are “yes” in Jesus Christ. We live at peace with God.

Because of the peace we have with God, we can be peacemakers.

Is actively seeking peace and reconciliation with others.

There are a lot of verses in the Bible that speak of the need to live at peace and to promote peace:

“Live in harmony with one another”—Romans 12:16a

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live in peace with everybody.”—Romans 12:18

“I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”—Matthew 5:44-45.

“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”—Mark 9:50

“Aim for perfection . . . be of one mind, live in peace.”—2 Corinthians 13:11

“Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.”—James 3:18

These are just a few. It is clear that God expects us to be involved in our world and to bring peace to it.

This peace that comes from God is not simply the avoidance of conflict with other people. All we have to do there is ignore people, living blissfully unaware of those around us.

No, peace in our world is reaching out into our world, responding to the turmoil of our world with grace, patience, kindness and love. It is seeing the unlovely and finding and honoring their value. We learn to see with the eyes of Jesus. Instead of disdain and dismissal, we find compassion.

When Jesus says we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, He doesn’t mean we are to have warm fuzzy feelings towards them. He means we are to put our faith into action. We are to actually live out the Golden Rule by treating people the way we want to be treated. The Golden Rule is proactive, not reactive. It is a way of seeing things, not of closing our eyes to those around us.

The peacemaker sees a world in conflict, and takes concrete steps to reconcile his or her world to God. The concrete actions we can take is to help someone with a task they normally would do on their own. A lot of it involves being polite, being courteous. Saying a kind word when conflict arises. Laughing at the awkward moment, letting offenses roll off our backs. It is being forgiving. And it involves bringing others into encounters with God. As we live out our faith, obeying Christ’s commands, living in love and reconciliation, we demonstrate Christ on earth and open the possibilities of bringing others to Him.

And sometimes this means entering into conflict. Not creating conflict, but not shrinking from it, either. There are going to be times when we stand up for Christ and the world will reject our message, sometimes strongly and forcefully. That doesn’t mean we back down, nor does it mean we fight back. We stand our ground, in the love and security that comes from knowing that the Prince of Peace is our Savior.

The peacemaker actively seeks peace and reconciliation with others.

Reflects the personality of Christ into our world.

When we live in peace with God, and we actively seek peace and reconciliation, it means that we must inevitably reflect the personality of Christ into our world.

Look at the life of Jesus. He never disputed that His presence in our world created conflict, and He never denied that He was the cause of the conflict. In fact, He warned His disciples that they would be persecuted because of their faith in Him. Nevertheless, Jesus Himself never instigated the conflict. He lived at peace with those around Him.

When James and John wanted Jesus to call down lightning to destroy a Samaritan village, it was Jesus who calmed them down. When Jesus was confronted by angry mobs picking up stones to kill Him for heresy, Jesus calmly walked away from the angry crowds. When Peter drew a sword to defend Jesus as He was being arrested, it was Jesus who brought the situation under control by demanding Peter put the sword away.

Not only did Jesus address these obvious acts of aggression and conflict, but He also addressed less obvious issues that disrupted lives. He healed the sick, the lame, the blind. He fed the hungry. He raised the dead. Jesus ministered to people who were considered unworthy of consideration by their society—He touched lepers, a woman with a bleeding problem, Samaritans, Romans and others who were considered unclean and to be marginalized. Jesus saw His world not through divisiveness, but through reconciliation. He was sent to save, not to condemn. He was sent to restore and redeem, not convict and cast out.

Since that was Jesus’ ministry, we also must carry out that mission. In that Upper Room, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father” (John 14:12-13).

The church in Antioch no doubt described themselves in various ways—followers of Christ, believers in Christ, followers of the Way. But it was the people of Antioch who gave them the name that has lasted. They referred to Jesus’ followers as “Christians.” The term was meant as a derogative name, and it means “little Christs.” The people of the town ridiculed the church there because all the members of the church acted like Christ—they were “little Christs” in the midst of the city. And so the name “Christian” stuck, and the members wore it with honor and gratitude to God.

When people see us, when they talk with us, what do they think of us? What label do they use? Do we live and speak in such a way that others will call us “Christian?” That’s what being a peacemaker does.

And the peacemaker, by the way he or she lives and speaks, is equated with being a child of God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are called children of God.” It is not that we earn the right to be called that—being a child of God is a God-given gift that comes with our salvation. No, the being called a child of God means that our lives reflect His presence in our lives. We take on the phrase, “Like Father, like son.”

Peacemakers reflect the personality of Christ in our world.

Conclusion

Several years ago, my family was staying at a hotel. It was around Thanksgiving. I always seem to wake up before everyone else in my family, so I got dressed and went down to eat breakfast. There were a few people in the room, and the television was airing a news channel. The news at that time was about people who worked for a national store that was known to pay their employees minimum wage with no benefits. The chain was doing very well, but the employees were not happy. So the news report was about an attempted protest at several of the stores across the nation.

There was a woman in the room eating her breakfast who became quite upset at hearing about the protesters. She became agitated and began belittling them in a very loud voice. She would spout her opinion and look around the room, both seeking agreement and daring anyone to disagree with her. I decided it was prudent to eat my meal quietly and let her get steamed over something that really had little if anything to do with her.

But I wondered why she was getting so upset over something like a workers’ protest. Why was she so angry and confrontational?

Sadly, we live in a world where this has seemingly become the norm. We live in a world that has become increasingly divisive and angry. And it is in this world that we desperately need peacemakers. Not just people who avoid conflict, but people who actively seek to bring peace where there is none. Hindsight tells me I should have asked the woman why she was so angry. I should have tried to enter dialogue with her.

Again, sadly, there are some who will not listen. But God doesn’t call us to be peacemakers only where our message will be received. We are to proclaim His peace to everyone. It’s up to them to accept or reject the message. It is up to us to proclaim it.

It is up to us to make peace in our world. It is up to us to seek reconciliation. It is up to us to live as children of God.