Word of Salvation – Vol.43 No.32 - August 1998

 

Blessed Are The Peacemakers...!

 

Sermon by Rev J Westendorp on Matthew 5:9

Scripture Readings: Psalm 122; Ephesians 6:10-18; Matthew 5:1-12

Suggested Hymns:

BoW 122; 465; 451; 426

 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Introduction:

There’s an interesting version of this beatitude around:
"Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall never be unemployed”
That’s sad, but it’s true... because there’s such a great need for peacemakers.

We need peacemakers in our families...
where civil war so quickly breaks out between mum and dad...
between parents and children.

We need peacemakers in our neighbourhoods...
where conflict so often loom up
and even 12 year old boys have to be given restraining orders.

We need peacemakers in our factories and offices...
where deteriorating industrial relations lead to clashes
between employers and trade unions.

We need peacemakers on the international scene...
where even the U.N. has proven itself powerless
to bring lasting peace in many countries.

There is certainly no shortage of work for the peacemakers.

Even in the church we need peacemakers...
as congregation after congregation is torn apart by internal bickering and in-fighting.
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall never be unemployed

A]        A PREREQUISITE FOR PEACEMAKERS.

1.         However, just as in most jobs there are some qualifications needed to be a peacemaker.  I’m not talking about a degree in peacemaking... or passing an exam to earn a diploma.  I’m talking about a much more basic requirement for those wanting the job of peacemaker.

They must know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
I’m not saying this is a desirable quality for peacemakers... a valuable asset,
I’m saying this is an absolutely essential prerequisite... without which no one will ever qualify.

Maybe it seems strange to say you can only be a peacemaker if you know Christ.
Is that really so?  Aren’t there many peacemakers in the world...?
From UN peace-keepers to judges who act as peacemakers in family law courts.
Peacemakers... and most of them probably know little or nothing about Christ Jesus?

Well, that’s true!  But there are peacemakers and there are peacemakers.
And there is a kind of peace that is called peace but that is not really peace.
So when we talk about peace we ought to make sure we know what we are talking about.

What is peace?
The world says peace is when the fighting stops.
When the war is over and the shooting stops... when the guns are laid down there is PEACE.  When the yelling stops and the saucepans in the kitchen stop flying... there is PEACE.
But that’s not necessarily so, is it?
            Because underneath that outward peace there is still unrest.
            The grievances can still be there... and the real problems not yet resolved.

Often we don’t yet have peace... only a lull in the hostilities... more like a truce.
And sooner or later the pot boils over again.
We’ve seen it in Rwanda and Bosnia... ceasefire after ceasefire... but soon they were at it again.  And we see it in families too sometimes... it seems to be over but then it all erupts again.

2.         When the Bible talks about peace it talks about something much deeper.

Something much richer and much more lasting.

The Hebrew people even had a special word for it: SHALOM.
Shalom is not only an end to the fighting... not just a lull in the battle..!
But it is a peace that includes a healing of the battle scars, that includes health and wholeness.
A peace that is not just on the surface... but that is deep and lasting.
That' s what this beatitude is all about too... its about being SHALOM-makers.

Of course that is much, much more difficult to bring about than just a break in the hostilities.  That’s where so many peace-makers and peace-keepers reach their limitations.
Shalom is not just a negative thing were the weapons are laid down.
Shalom is a positive thing... where the enemies are able to embrace each other again.

When we describe peace like that then of course we are ultimately talking about GOD'S PEACE.
A kind of peace that can’t be separated from the gospel of peace.
It’s the ‘peace on earth’ of which the angels sang in the fields around Bethlehem.  A peace that only God can give... and that comes from the God of peace.
Blessed are all those who are busy with that kind of peace.

So today this beatitude applies most fully to Jesus Himself.

He is the great PEACE-MAKER.  That was His great work in the world.
And if we want to be peacemakers in a world full of strife....
Then we first of all have to know Him, the Prince of Peace.
The only one thru whom real and lasting peace has come into this world.  That’s why I began saying that only as we know Him can we be effective peacemakers.

3.         I want you to turn to two Bible verses - first in Colossians and then in Ephesians.  Remember:  the beatitudes are a description of the Christian.

Christians are to be peacemakers... so we need to understand what peace-making is all about.

First, in COLOSSIANS 1 we see that Jesus brought about peace between us and God.  The point Paul makes there is that peace comes thru the blood of Christ shed on the cross...
 <<< READ COLOSSIANS 1:20 >>> (read from vs.19)
            Real shalom [peace and wholeness] means that God and man are no longer at odds.  God and us have been reconciled.... because Jesus Christ made peace thru His death.
            IOW: Our deepest troubles and tensions in life can now be taken away.

Think of how much lack of peace there is because of our sin.
In fact, is it not sins that are always at the root of our wars?  Our greed, hate and anger?  But now Paul says these root causes of alienation have been removed by Jesus.  He has brought about PEACE through the shedding of His blood.

Second, in EPHESIANS 2 we see that this gospel of peace also brings people together.  What Paul especially has in mind is the deep division there was between Jew and Gentile.
<<< READ EPHESIANS 2:14,15
            Christ broke down the barriers that divide people from other people.  Shalom means that two people divided by loyalties and self-interest can be at peace.  Two people who have every reason for fighting it out.

But because they believe, they are one in Christ. So there is now no longer any reason for two who know Christ to be at each other.
            Christ died for both of them... the one as well as the other.
            He made peace for both of them with God... so also peace between each other.

Do you see why I began by saying: To be a real peacemaker we must know Jesus Christ?  That this not just useful... but absolutely essential to anyone who is a genuine peacemaker.
It is the Christian who is and should be the real peacemaker in this world.
Because the Christian knows the gospel that reconciles us with God and with one another.

B]        PEACEMAKERS IN A MILITANT CHURCH.

1.         This beatitude presents a major problem in connection with our Scripture reading from Ephesians 6.

How do we reconcile these two things:  On the one hand, the blessing pronounced on peacemakers?  On the other hand the call for us be Christian soldiers who go out to fight.

Think of the many images of the Christian faith that centre on battle and warfare.
The church is the army of Christ; ...Christians are soldiers of the cross.
The church must fight the good fight of faith... it has to fight for truth & right.
We even speak of the church on earth being a militant church... a fighting church.
            But how does all that stuff fit in with peacemaking....?
            In all that battle language of the Bible...
                        aren’t peacemakers out of place?

Is peace then maybe only for the life to come... for that age of peace when Jesus returns?  Do we in the meantime just limit this to peace with God?
So that being peacemakers means bringing the gospel of peace?

Or is peacemaking maybe just to provide a bit of unity within the army of Christ?
Blessed are the peacemakers in the church who make sure God’s army is united.
So that the battle brigade is not divided against itself.

How do we reconcile peacemaking and all that talk about warfare ?

That becomes even more of a problem in the light of something else Jesus once said: (Math.10:34-36)
Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.

Jesus went on to say that He had come to turn people against each other.
Yet that same Jesus also said: Blessed are the peacemakers....!
And we saw from Colossians and Ephesians that peace was the whole purpose of His coming.
So how do we reconcile these things?

2.         Obviously if fighting is also important for Christians then there can be a wrong kind of peacemaking.

There is a peacemaking that is sinful and for which there is no blessing.
For example: a soldier making peace with the enemy when his country is at war is a traitor.
A soldier like that won’t be praised... he’ll be court-marshalled.

So too a Christian can be a peacemaker in a totally wrong way.
When he puts down his weapons, stops fighting and makes peace with the devil.  Then we are not blessed as peacemakers... but cursed as traitors.

It seems to me that there are many ways in which we are sometimes tempted to do that:  When, for example we give in to sin and the devil... instead of fighting.
            We take the easy way out... we make peace when we should do battle.
We do it for instance when we are content with ourselves and our spiritual progress.
            Then our faith becomes a bit of a pleasure cruise instead of a battle for holiness.
Peacemakers?  Yes!  But in the wrong way.

There are some very subtle ways in which we try to be peacemakers in the wrong way.
Eli... the High priest in the O.T. was a good example of such a peacemaker.
Poor old Eli's sons were a couple of real troublemakers in Israel.
And people complained about them to their father.
            But you see, Eli was a Peacemaker... he didn't want a scene at home with his kids.
            Anything to avoid hassles... peace at any price.
So Eli said: You know fellows, this isn't really right you know.
And there was no warfare for truth and righteousness.

Peace in our family at all costs...?  Or warfare?
Peace... in the church... at any price...?  Or a battle?
In the church too we can love peace so much that truth and faithfulness become casualties.

Blessed are the peacemakers.  Yes...!  But there is a wrong kind of peacemaking

3.         By mentioning these examples we also begin to see how it all fits together.
Being both peacemakers and soldiers is not really a contradiction for a believer.
We are called to be both... and we can be both... and we ought to be both.
We are the army of Christ... but at the same time His peace corps.
            To fight... and through our fighting to strive for peace.

In fact, in history isn’t it true that peace often only came when soldiers fought for it?
Peace comes to the nations but only after a desperate battle for peace.
That happened at the end of World War II.
            In fact, the more desperate the battle the more precious the peace.
            When peace comes easily and cheaply it’s not valued so much.
            So there is not really a contradiction between fighting and peace.

Rather the big question is how do we do our fighting?

If we fight with some of the same weapons that cause the problem we’ll only inflame the situation.  When people bicker and get involved in power struggles it’s easy to fight with the same weapons.

We throw our weight in too and the conflict worsens.
Did you notice the weapons Paul lists in Ephesians 6?
There’s the belt of truth... and the breastplate of righteousness.
There’s the shield of faith... and the helmet of salvation.
And in the battle we especially need on our feet the gospel of peace.
Notice that!  Fighting the battle with the gospel of peace.

That’s not a contradiction... that’s the answer.
            It is the gospel that brings about the real shalom of God.
            And when civil war erupts in our families... in our relationships...
            When fights break out in our church...  yes, we get in there and we join the fight....
            But we do that with the spiritual weapons God has given us... especially the gospel.
            Blessed are the peacemakers... but peacemakers who know how to battle for peace.

C]        PEACEMAKERS AS SONS OF GOD.

1.         Jesus of course does not quite go along with the slogan we began with.

Not: Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall never be unemployed...!

But: Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.

And that is really the exact opposite.
Because the sons of God know that the day of perfect peace comes.
On that day the peacemakers will be permanently unemployed.
Only here in this life will the peacemakers never be without a job.

Yet... it’s interesting that Jesus calls peacemakers "sons of God".

Aren’t all believers adopted as God's sons or daughters?
Yet here that is especially said of the peacemakers... why?
Why, when all of us as Christians are precisely that?

One problem is that in English our expression “sons of” is limited to “descendants”.
The Hebrew expression meant much more than that.
It also meant “to show the same nature as someone”, “to show the same spirit” or character.
For example in Acts 4 Joseph is nicknamed Barnabus which literally means ‘son of encouragement’.
Joseph was such an encouraging guy they called him a ‘son of encouragement’.

So too we are sons of God when we reflect the character and likeness of God.

His Sons and daughters are like Him in that they carry the family resemblance... of God’s family.
He is the peacemaking God who took the initiative in making peace with us.
God, the Peacemaker, sent Jesus to be our peace.
And we reflect the image of the God of peace... that makes us sons of God... children of God.

2.         But this title ‘sons of God’ also gives us a strong hint of something else.

It means - surely - that our peacemaking efforts must begin right here amongst us.

If it is the peacemakers who are called sons of God...
then especially among the sons of God there ought to be peace.
We, the Christian community ought to be a community of peacemakers.

That’s why it’s always so sad when there are fights in a church.
We of all people ought to be able to work it out.
We, the community of peacemakers, ought to be able to live in harmony.
And if our peacemaking has not started at home then it is futile to try elsewhere.

We must begin with ourselves first.

So all of us ought to ask ourselves two important questions:
First: Am I myself really at peace with God.  Do I have that real inner peace?
Do I know for sure that Christ purchased my peace by His death for my sin?
Second: If I do know that peace do I also let that peace work itself out in my relationships?
Do I live at peace with the other sons & daughters of God?

If you can’t honestly say ‘yes’ to those two questions then this blessing doesn’t apply to you.

There is, of course one Biblical qualification to the second question.
The Bible is very realistic: In Rom.12 Paul doesn’t say “You MUST live at peace with everyone”.  But he says: In so far as it depends on you live at peace with everyone.  Have you, for your part, done your utmost to live at peace with the other children of God?  Only then are you a peacemaker, a son or daughter of God, reflecting your Father's image.

3.         However this beatitude is not limited just to the Christian community either.

            The beatitudes have a far wider concern than just the church.
They also apply to the world around us... to all people and all relationships.

We, peacemakers, live in a world of unrest... there are endless conflicts all around us.  Conflict in the marriages and relationships of your neighbours.
Fights and arguments between friends and workmates.
On the footy field... in the workshop... in the office... conflict is a reality.

And who is there better able to be a peacemaker than the Christian?
We know the things that make for peace.  We know where real and lasting peace is found... in God’s provisions for us in His Son.

It’s a tremendously satisfying thing to be a peacemaker... to resolve a conflict.
When you’ve sat down with two people and helped them work things out... oh what feeling!  But there’s an even more wonderful feeling.
That’s when you’ve been privileged to point someone to the Prince of Peace.
To lead them to the point where they become a son or daughter of God.

Blessed are such peacemakers for they will not only be called sons of God...
But they will share in that perfect peace that will come some day
            when we peacemakers will be... forevermore unemployed.

Amen.