EP 102: Blessed are the Peacemakers (Sermon on the Mount Series - Matthew 5:9)

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Matthew 5:9 @thankfulhomemaker

Being peacemakers is important to God. Our God is the God of peace. He has made peace for us through Christ, has reconciled us to Himself, and He now calls us to be peacemakers.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God
Matthew 5:9

To be a peacemaker we need to be at peace with God. It starts here. We must no longer be God's enemy. God is the supreme peacemaker and now as his children, we should resemble our Father and be peacemakers.

Peacemakers will be people who desire to share the gospel of peace with those outside the kingdom. This is evangelism. This is telling others the good news of Jesus Christ.

To be a peacemaker we need to be at peace with God. It starts here. We must no longer be God's enemy.

We want to faithfully work at being peacemakers in our homes and churches. Being a peacemaker means when there's a problem that needs addressing we address it. We may need to deal with areas where we've been wrong and make them right. We may need to confront someone in love.

Reminding ourselves of Romans 12:18; “if possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceable with all.” Peacemakers realize they are fallen, they do not demand perfection, they offer much grace and they are humble and loving.

Peace does not mean the absence of trials or difficulties but it is knowing we are not alone in those trials and there is purpose in and through them.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the ulitmate example of a peacemaker.

Listen to the Podcast Below:

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Sermon on the Mount Series

Join Thankful Homemaker

Evangelism – Spiritual Disciplines Series

Living Waters

EP 2: Trusting God in the Midst of a Trial

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by Martyn Lloyd Jones

The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom by R. Kent Hughes

Show Notes:

So, really the story of redemption is the story of peace, peace forfeited, peace regained in the heart, peace regained on the earth, and finally peace regained in the eternal state.

~ John MacArthur, The Only Way to Happiness: Be a Peacemaker

There are, in fact, nearly four hundred references to peace in the Scripture. The only reason there is presently no peace is because there is a major conflict going on in the world that can be summarized simply in this sense: Man is at war with God. That’s the problem, and that has been the problem since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden. Since the fall, when peace was totally disrupted and taken from the earth, there is an ongoing war with God. Not only is man at war with God, but so is Satan and his host of fallen angels. Consequently, there is conflict both at the angelic level and at the human level in this universe.

~John MacArthur, The Only Way to Happiness: Be a Peacemaker

Christians should bring peace, between people and God and between those who are at odds with each other.
Warren Wiersbe

The Old Testament word for peace is shalom. It is a rich word, and conveys the idea of wholeness, health, well-being. It could almost be translated ‘salvation.’ Those who make peace are those who earnestly seek the shalom, the salvation, of their fellows.

~ Sinclair Ferguson, Sermon on the Mount

How much misery we would avoid if we permitted “the peace of Christ” to umpire in our hearts. How many words we would hold back if he were the arbitrator in our lives. How many sleepless nights we would forego if we did that. How the Church needs this too, “since as members of one body you were called to peace.”

~ R. Kent Hughes, Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom

How beautiful true peacemakers are. Filled with peace themselves, they are honest about the state of the relationships around them, whether personal or in the church or in the world. They are honest about what is in their own hearts and sensitive to where others are. They refuse to be satisfied with cheap peace, to say “peace, peace” when there is not. They are willing to risk pain and misunderstanding to make things right. Peacemakers will even fight for peace.

~ R. Kent Hughes, Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom

In obtaining our peace, our Lord didn’t grasp this glory and dignity, but instead he humbled himself. The example stands for us who are called to be peacemaking. This is expensive! It costs to make peace. Peacemakers are willing to lower themselves, to even lose their dignity in order to bring shalom to life. This is the way peacemakers have always been.

~ R. Kent Hughes, Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom

A Christian home should be a place of peace, and there can be no peace where there is no self-denial.
Elisabeth Elliot

Let me sum it all up like this: the benediction pronounced on such people is that they ‘shall be called the children of God.’ Called means ‘owned.’ Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be ‘owned’ as the children of God.’ Who is going to own them? God is going to own them as His children. It means that a peacemaker is a child of God and that He is like his Father.

~ Martyn Lloyd Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

You finish with self, and then you begin to follow Jesus Christ. You realize what He did for you in order that you might enjoy that blessed peace of God, and you begin to desire that everybody else should have it. So, forgetting self, and humbling self, you follow in His steps ‘who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.' That is it. God give us the grace to see this blessed glorious truth, and make us reflections, reproducers of the Prince of Peace, and truly children of the God of peace.

~ Martyn Lloyd Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount