Blessed
Are The Peacemakers
This is another
one of the ‘famous sayings’ of the Sermon on the Mount. Quoted without any sense of context, this
verse is used while handing out Peace Prizes and other backslapping awards. We must come to understand what this verse
is not teaching, because there is such a mush of teaching on it. But, more importantly, we must come to
understand what this verse does teach, for there is an important message for us
individually and for Reformed Christians generally.
You had nothing
to do with coming into the earthly family you are in, and you had nothing to do
with coming into the heavenly family either.
John 1:12 and Gal 3:26 teach that we become sons of God through our
faith in Christ for our forgiveness, not by works of peacemaking. The fruit of His work is imparted to us by
the Holy Spirit through whom we are adopted (Rom 8:14-15). Then, we become peacemakers, because we bear
the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22, Eph 2:8-10).
If a man is at war with God, he cannot bring biblical peace
to others. Under Adam, we are murderers
like his son Cain (Gen 4, Titus 3:3, 1 John 5:10-15). Jesus tells us who we are – “You are of your father, the devil”
(John 8:44). This means that cease-fire
agreements, land dispute settlements, baseball- strike negotiations, done by
those at war with God are simply chasing after vanity. They cannot last.
God is a God of
peace (Heb 13:20), He was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself (2 Cor
5:19) and made peace through the blood of the cross (Col 1:20, Rom 5:1), and we
are to imitate our Lord in this. How
are we to pursue peace?
Hold our
tongues – James teaches the destructive power of the
unbridled tongue (James 3:13-18).
Mortify our
Pride – “He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife’”
(Prov 28:25)
Forgive Sin
– “Love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet 4:8).
Stir up Love
– “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,” (Heb
10:24)
Love and Prayer
for our Enemies – Matt 5:43-45.
As Paul puts it
“If it is possible, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all
men” (Rom 12:18). We are constrained in our pursuit for peace,
for it is not the only thing we are to pursue.
Morality
– David was a peacemaker (Psalm 120:7), but he would have nothing to do with
certain kinds of men (Psalm 26:4-5).
And so it is for us (1 Cor 5:13).
Truth
– We are to “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude 3). Elders are required to be the kind of men
that can (and will) correct false-teachers (2 Tim 2:24-25). It is not divisive to reject a divisive man
(Titus 3:10) because the battleground between right and wrong is not a level
one. We must learn the difference between
‘tolerance’ and ‘pluralism’.
Beauty –
Paul is not afraid to rebuke worship practices that have become indecent and
disorderly (1 Cor 14:40), nor was he hesitant to praise the Colossians for the
good order of their services (Col 2:5).
It is not true that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ unless you
understand the Beholder to be God.
Privileges of Sonship -
1 John 3:1. Membership has its
privileges.
He has great
love, compassion, and even pity over us (Psalm 103:13-14).
He bears much
with us (Mal 3:17, 1 Pet 3:6) as he perfects us (Phil 1:6).
He reveals His
Law to us (Matt 11:25) and gives us His Spirit to obey His Law (Ez 36:27).
He grants us to
freedom from sin (Rom 8:2).
He makes us
heirs to His kingdom (Gal 3:26-29).
He promises to
work all things for good (Rom 8:28).
Grumpy
Gatekeepers – In our zeal for truth and reformation, the
church is well known for intramural squabbles over too many of the
details. We are not first known for our
love of the brethren, of our compassion and humility. We are known for our devotion to ‘the truth’ that, by definition,
no longer is. True wisdom is first
pure, but then peaceable as well (James 3:17).
Unity and Light
– Biblical peacemaking is evangelical, which is why Christ prayed for our unity
(John 17:21). The world is to see this;
it is to be our reputation. The
testimony of our lives must match the proclamation of the gospel of peace (Rom
10:15), which is our spiritual sword now to take the land – all of it. What is our testimony today? Do we have a zeal for truth, for
righteousness, and for unity and peace? Dave Hatcher - September 12, 1999