Matthew 8:9

At the close of World War II General Douglas MacArthur said: “We have had our last chance. If we do not now devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door.

The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual renewal and improvement of human character.… It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.”

Jesus Christ did not get along with everybody, and everybody did not get along with Jesus Christ. And peace is not appeasement, and peace is not truce making. Now you can have a truce, and a truce is better than hot war perhaps. But that only means that is the cessation of hostilities. And there can still be a cold war. It goes underground to fester and to grow, and then perhaps to break out again.

Peace is not even the absence of war of any kind—hot or cold. There is no strife in a cemetery. But incidentally, that’s not peace. Every now and then you’ll go in a cemetery and you’ll see where it says on the headstone, “Rest in Peace.” Well, friend, it takes more than a grave marker to bring peace to a troubled soul. Peace is not just simply the absence of war. When the Bible uses the word peace, it is a positive word.

In the Old Testament, and today, modern Jews greet one another the same way: with the word shalom. And that word means “peace.” When you meet somebody and you say to them, “Shalom,” that doesn’t mean, “May you get out of war.” It infers there is something good, something wonderful, something positive, that is happening. The Greek word for “peace” is the word eirene. We get our beautiful name Irene from that. If your name is Irene, that means “peace.” Eirene: that’s the word he is using here. It is a positive word.

Peace is a right relationship with God that leads to right relationship with self and guides us in a right relationship with other people. That’s what peace is. It is a sense of wellbeing. And literally, peace is the result and fruit of righteousness.

Jeremiah that people give a false peace, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. And then he says in Jeremiah 8, verse 12, “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush.” (Jeremiah 8:12)

Matthew 10, verse 34. He said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34) That’s incredible, because the Bible calls Him the Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6) I

Peace is far more than protection from annihilation. Peace is more than the cessation of hostilities. Peace is more than a state of mind or the tranquility of a countryside. Peace is commitment to a way of life

Matthew 5:9

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

This principle says that resemblance to God is an indispensable prerequisite for fellowship with God. We cannot really see God unless we become like him. It asks questions like, “What do you think about when you slip your mind into neutral?”

The kingdom has already come. I am to live now as I would live in the new heaven and the new earth. I am not to think, “Well, it’s all right. I’ll live this way now, and then I’ll live differently.” For then we shall stand, and we shall see his beauty and holiness, the holiness that sears and burns. Will I who name him Lord, will I who call him King therefore develop a different standard now?

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”

This verse does not say, “Blessed are those who are peaceful” but “those who are peacemakers.” There is a ministry of making peace. In the total biblical perspective, the chief peacemaker is none but Jesus himself. He is the harbinger of peace. He brings peace between God and men. He brings peace between brother and brother. No wonder the prophet could say, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who are the harbingers of peace.”

Peacemaking costs. “The wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God. Wherefore let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” The reward of the peacemaker is that he is called a son of God. In Jewish thought, son often has the connotation of partaking of the character of.

You’re the true son if you act like the father. You’re the true son of Abraham if you have Abraham’s faith. You’re the true son of God if you are a peacemaker the way God is a peacemaker.

You’re the true son of the Devil if you’re a liar, because he’s the liar from the beginning.

Son is a functional category. So for Paul to write to Timothy and say, “My true son in the faith” he is saying, “Timothy, Timothy, I view you as another me.

The idea is that God is the supreme Peacemaker. So insofar as you make peace, you’re acting like God. So far also, then, are you son of God. This is not telling you how to become a Christian. It’s saying if you want to exemplify the character of God, then you must be like God. Insofar as God is peacemaker, then you become peacemaker.

They said to Jesus, “we are sons of God.” “It can’t be,” Jesus says, “because after all, God knows me and I know him, and if you don’t know me, then clearly you don’t know him. I’ll tell you whose sons you are. You’re sons of the Devil himself, because he was a liar and you’re saying untruths about me. He was a murderer from the beginning, and you’re trying to kill me. You’re the sons of the Devil.”

Jesus is not denying their genetic paternity. He’s not saying they’re not Jews in any sense. He’s not saying they’re not children of Abraham in any sense. He’s saying that in terms of conduct, in terms of lifestyle, in terms of self-identity as exemplified by behavior, they can’t possibly be children of Abraham. Abraham was a man of faith; they’re liars.

Each beatitude deals another death blow to the false understanding of salvation. The false understanding says that a person can be saved without being changed, or, that a person can inherit eternal life even if his attitudes and actions are like the attitudes and actions of unbelievers.

One of the most obvious facts of history and of human experience is that peace does not characterize man’s earthly existence. There is no peace now for two reasons: the opposition of Satan and the disobedience of man. The fall of the angels and the fall of man established a world without peace. Satan and man are engaged with the God of peace in a battle for sovereignty.

The scarcity of peace has prompted someone to suggest that “peace is that glorious moment in history when everyone stops to reload.” In 1968 a major newspaper reported that there had been to that date 14,553 known wars since thirty-six years before Christ. Since 1945 there have been some seventy or so wars and nearly two hundred internationally significant outbreaks of violence. Since 1958 nearly one hundred nations have been involved in some form of armed conflict.

Some historians have claimed that the United States has had two generations of peace—one from 1815 to 1846 and the other from 1865 to 1898. But that claim can only be made if you exclude the Indian wars, during which our land was bathed in Indian blood.

With all the avowed and well-intentioned efforts for peace in modern times, few people would claim that the world or any significant part of it is more peaceful now than a hundred years ago. We do not have economic peace, religious peace, racial peace, social peace, family peace, or personal peace.

God’s peace has nothing to do with politics, armies and navies, forums of nations, or even councils of churches. It has nothing to do with statesmanship, no matter how great, God’s peace, never evades issues; it knows nothing of peace at any price. It does not gloss or hide, rationalize or excuse. It confronts problems and seeks to solve them,

The Peacemaker will need a New Heart

All the beatitudes tell us that the blessings of eternity will be given only to those who have become new creatures.

If we don’t obtain mercy, we receive judgment. If we don’t see God, we are not in heaven.

These actions Jesus describes are in direct contrast to the false teaching which says that if you just believe in Jesus you will go to heaven whether or not you are merciful or pure in heart or a peacemaker.

Matthew 7:26, “Every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it.” In other words, a life of disobedience to the beatitudes and to the Sermon on the Mount will not stand in the judgment no matter what we say we believe!

In the beatitudes Jesus is not making optional suggestions, and this sermon is not a series of suggestions on how to make the world better. On the contrary, Jesus is describing the pathway to heaven, and this sermon is a message from God to urge you to get on that pathway and stay on that pathway so that you can be called sons of God at the last judgment.

The Meaning of Peace

The essential fact is that the peace about which Jesus speaks is more than the absence of conflict and strife; it is the presence of righteousness. Only righteousness can produce the relationship that brings two parties together. Men can stop fighting without righteousness, but they cannot live peaceably without righteousness. Righteousness not only puts an end to harm, but it administers the healing of love.

Peace cannot be attained at the expense of righteousness. Two people cannot be at peace until they recognize and resolve the wrong attitudes and actions that caused the conflict between them, and then bring themselves to God for cleansing. Peace that ignores the cleansing that brings purity is not God’s peace.

Sons of God Have the Character of Their Father

Jesus’ saying “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34) seems to be the antithesis of the seventh beatitude. His meaning, however, was that the peace He came to bring is not peace at any price. There will be opposition before there is harmony; there will be strife before there is peace.

Truth will produce anger before it produces happiness; righteousness will produce antagonism before it produces harmony.

Evil cannot simply be opposed—that is, it is never enough simply to fight evil, to cast out a demon.

Evil must be replaced by good, the evil spirit by the Holy Spirit. We must “overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21). For instance, it is difficult to overcome bitterness against someone by simply resolving to stop being bitter; one must replace bitterness by genuine forgiveness and love for that person. It is difficult to overcome greed by simply resolving not to be quite so materialistic; one must fasten one’s affections on better treasure (cf. Luke 12:13–21) and learn to be wonderfully and self-sacrificially generous. Overcome evil with good.

The corrupt religious leaders of ancient Israel proclaimed, “Peace, peace,” but there was no peace, because they and the rest of the people were not “ashamed of the abominations they had done” (Jeremiah. 8:11–12).

What does It Means to Be a Peacemaker

Peacemaking tries to build bridges to people. It does not want the animosity to remain. It wants reconciliation. It wants harmony.

So we pray and we take whatever practical initiatives we can to make peace beginning with something as simple as a greeting. But we do not always succeed. And I want to make sure you don’t equate peacemaking with peace-achieving. A peacemaker longs for peace, and works for peace, and sacrifices for peace. But the attainment of peace may not come.

Romans 12:18 is very important at this point. There Paul says, “If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all.” That is the goal of a peacemaker:

Peace and Truth

Is it your fault when the stand that you take is causing the division?

If you have alienated someone and brought down their anger upon your head because you have done or said what is right, have you ceased to be a peacemaker?

Not necessarily. Paul said, “If it is possible … live at peace.” He thus admits that there will be times that standing for the truth will make it impossible.

1 Corinthians (11:18–19), “I hear that there are divisions among you; and I partly believe it, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.” Now he would not have said that, if the genuine Christians should have compromised the truth in order to prevent divisions at all cost. It was precisely because some of the Christians were genuine—genuine peacemakers—that some of the divisions existed. (1 Corinthians 7:15.)

Believers cannot avoid facing truth, or avoid facing others with the truth, for the sake of harmony.

If someone is in serious error about a part of God’s truth, he cannot have a right, peaceful relationship with others until the error is confronted and corrected. Jesus never evaded the issue of wrong doctrine or behavior.

Matthew 10:34, Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes will be those of his own household.

You must love peace and work for peace. You must pray for your enemies, and do good to them, and greet them, and long for the barriers between you to be overcome. But you must never abandon your allegiance to me and my word, no matter how much animosity it brings down on your head.

Righteousness must not be compromised in order to make peace with your persecutors. When Jesus pronounces a blessing on you for being persecuted for the sake of righteousness, he clearly subordinates the goal of peace to the goal of righteousness.

In James 3:17 it says “The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable.” Purity takes precedence over peace. Purity is the basis of biblical peace. Purity may not be compromised in order to make peace.

Things that characterize a peacemaker.

First, he is one who himself has made peace with God. The gospel is all about peace. Before we came to Christ we were at war with God.

Second, a peacemaker leads others to make peace with God. Christians are not an elite corps of those who have spiritually arrived and who look down on the rest of the world. They are a body of sinners cleansed by Jesus Christ and commissioned to carry His gospel of cleansing to the rest of the world.

Third, a peacemaker helps others make peace with others. The moment a person comes to Christ he becomes at peace with God and with the church and becomes himself a peacemaker in the world. A peacemaker builds bridges between men and God and also between men and other men.

The second kind of bridge building must begin, of course, between ourselves and others. Jesus said that if we are bringing a gift to God and a brother has something against us, we are to leave our gift at the altar and be reconciled to that brother before we offer the gift to God (Matt. 5:23–24).

By definition a bridge cannot be one-sided. It must extend between two sides or it can never function. Once built, it continues to need support on both sides or it will collapse.

Obviously there is the possibility of a price to pay, but any sacrifice is small in order to obey God.
Fourth, a peacemaker endeavors to find a point of agreement. God’s truth and righteousness must never be compromised or weakened, but there is hardly a person so ungodly, immoral, rebellious, pagan, or indifferent that we have absolutely no point of agreement with him.

God’s people are to contend without being contentious, to disagree without being disagreeable, and to confront without being abusive. The peacemaker speaks the truth in love (Eph. 4:15).
God’s most effective peacemakers are often the simplest and least noticed people. They do not try to attract attention to themselves.

Eternal Sonship in the Kingdom

The merit, or result, of peacemaking is eternal blessing as God’s children in God’s kingdom.

Peacemakers shall be called sons of God.

As God’s peacemakers we are promised the glorious blessing of eternal sonship in His eternal kingdom.

Peacemaking is a hallmark of God’s children. A person who is not a peacemaker either is not a Christian or is a disobedient Christian.

God’s peacemakers will not always have peace in the world.

Was Jesus unaware that the iron hand of the Roman Empire rested on the tiny land of the Jews without their consent? Was he aware that Archelaus slaughtered 3,000 Jews at a Passover celebration? Was he aware that the Roman soldiers could conscript any Jew they chose to carry their baggage? Was he aware that Pilate had his soldiers bludgeon a crowd of Jews protesting his stealing from the temple treasury? Was he aware that Pilate massacred Jews on the temple ground and mixed their blood with their sacrifices they were offering?

When Jesus spoke of enemies, why did he confine himself to prayer and personal greetings and blessings and individual deeds of generosity and kindness? Why didn’t he talk about the issues of national humiliation, and Roman oppression, and political corruption, and the unbridled militarism of his day? Was he utterly out of touch with the big issues of his day?

No. There is another explanation for why he preaches the way he does. In Luke 13:1–5 some people confronted Jesus with one of Pilate’s atrocities. Here’s the way he responded:
There were some present at that very time who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

You must have a new heart. Without a merciful, pure, peacemaking heart you cannot be called a son of God at the judgment day.