Happy Are the Peacemakers
Matthew 5:9
Look with me, will you, at Matthew Chapter 5, Matthew Chapter 5. I want to read again for you the verses that are the setting for our thoughts, verses 1 through verse 12, Matthew Chapter 5. "And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain and when He was seated His disciples came unto Him. And He opened His mouth and taught them saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful for the shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets who were before you."
Let's share together in a word of prayer. Father, again, as we come to tonight to the treasured words of our Lord Jesus Christ, we feel inadequate stumbling words and thoughts a human mind could never express the depth of truth in the heart of our dear Lord as He spoke these great utterances. But Father, somehow by the energizing of the Spirit of God equip us to gain an understanding at least in part of what the Lord meant. Bypass the inability of the one who speaks and the inabilities of the ones who hear. That we may be able to go beyond ourselves and outside of ourselves to perceive things beyond our understanding as the Spirit teaches us. We pray Lord that we might understand what it is to be a peacemaker in a world that is so desperately in need of peace. And we'll thank you in Jesus' name, Amen.
The idea of peace dominates the Bible. The Bible opens with peace in the garden. The Bible closes with peace in eternity. In fact, you could chart the course of history based on the theme of peace. There was peace on earth in the garden. Man sinned, peace was interrupted. At the cross, peace became a reality again as he who died on the cross became our peace. And since the Lord Jesus Christ has provided peace, there can be peace in the heart of a man or a woman who comes to know him.
Some day in the future He will come again. His title will be the Prince of Peace. He will establish a kingdom of peace which will finally go into an eternal age of peace. So peace is a great way to see the theme of the Bible. Peace in the garden, peace interrupted, peace returns in the hearts of men because of the cross. The Prince of Peace comes again to bring a kingdom of peace that finally becomes an eternal peace. There are 400 references in the Bible to peace. God is tremendously concerned with peace. It is one of His great themes.
In fact, He Himself calls Himself the God of Peace. You say, but there's no peace. No, not in the world, not now, but there's a reason. The reason there's no peace is because of two things, the opposition of Satan and the disobedience of men. The fall of angels and the fall of man has caused a world without any peace. It isn't that God doesn't want peace, it's that man and Satan are at war with God. You know, you can only have peace with someone as long as they want it, because it's a two way item. And as long as they will have no peace, there will be none.
But tonight we come to the seventh step in the ladder which ascends to divine blessedness. The seventh of the Beatitudes, peacemakers. It almost seems as if God has called us in the world to a very special calling to restore and to experience something that has been lost since the fall. We are, as it were, to restore this world to the peace that was forfeited in sinning. And so God has designated a group of special people that He calls peacemakers. They are His agents in the world and they're here to make peace. They go far beyond anyone who wins the Nobel Peace Prize, because the peace they offer is eternal peace. The peace they set about to bring is a divine peace, a real peace.
And so our Lord Jesus says that God has promised to bless people who are His agents for peace and even to call them sons of God. Now God here through the words of our Lord Jesus Christ is referring to a peacemaker that's unlike any we know in this world. He's not referring to politicians. He's not referring to statesmen, no matter how good they are at working out a "peace." He's not referring to diplomats. He's not referring to arbitrators. He's not referring to kings or presidents or Nobel winners. He's not referring to organizations like the League of Nations or the United Nations. He's not referring to some ecclesiastical order. He's not referring to a council of churches. It isn't the Carters and the Kissingers of the world and it isn't the Sadats and the Begins of the world and it isn't anybody like that who are God's peacemakers.
God's peacemakers are vastly different, which is good because the world's peacemakers have a terrible failure record. It's amazing how a few months ago we hailed the great peace that had been accomplished. And President Carter met with the Middle East leaders that peace already beginning to collapse. We don't have peace politically and we don't have peace economically and we don't have peace socially. We don't have peace in nations. We don't have peace in countries. We don't have peace in political groups. We don't have peace in organizations. We don't have peace in homes. We don't have peace any place because we don't have peace in hearts. That's the real issue.
Somebody said Washington has a lot of peace monuments. They build one after each war. Nobody has ever succeeded in bringing peace. I'll never forget reading a statistic. The question was, how many peace treaties have been broken? The answer, all of them. You see, peace is that glorious brief moment in history when everybody stops to reload. The United Nations was concerned in the aftermath of World War II with developing an agency for world peace. And so in 1945, the United Nations brought itself into existence and since that time there has not been one single day of peace on the earth, not one.
The world is filled with never-ending upheavals. The motto of the United Nations was set in 1945. "To have succeeding generations free from the scourge of war." So far they haven't done it for one day. It's a pipe dream. The New York Times reported in 1968, ten years ago, that