Does any one remember Larry, Curly and Mo, perhaps better known as “The Three Stooges?” These three pioneers of TV comedy would make many folks laugh at their crazy antics and mischievous tricks. Bonking heads together, fingers poked in the eyes, pliers twisting the nose, or a slap to the face are just a hand full of the zany things these stooges would do to each other. Who can forget the “weebebebebe,” “knuckle-head,” or “oh wise guy?”
Despite the conflict generated in each episode to get a laugh, you still had the feeling Larry, Curly, and Mo were still all friends. Even through all the turmoil these three were at peace with each other.
Are you surprised by the thought of Larry Curly and Mo sharing a peaceful relationship? Why else would these friends stay together? I know “The Three Stooges” are just TV make believe, but what if you treated two of your friends like these comedians treated each other. Would your relationships continue or end in a ball of fire? Is peace a characteristic of your relationships?
This morning we will look at the seventh beatitude: “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
Over the last several weeks we have looked at “The Beatitudes: Building Blocks to be like Jesus.” Before we go any further let me ask you a question. ARE YOU MORE LIKE JESUS TODAY THAN YOU WERE A MONTH AGO? How have your attitudes and actions changed? For the better or for the worse? Either you are growing and pressing on to be like Christ, or you are stagnate and lifeless like the Dead Sea.
• The Dead Sea has water full of life flow into it every day, but once the water flows in it has nowhere to go and becomes stagnate. The water has no outlet; therefore the water in the Dead Sea is dead.
Likewise you can come to church regularly, hear the Word of God preached, sit in Bible studies, you can even read the Bible and pray on your own, but if the reality of Christ is never applied to your life, then you are just soaking more and more in without any outlet or expression of your faith in Christ. Do you hear what I’m saying? It is not good enough to just hear the Word of God; YOU MUST LIVE IT TOO!
The Bible says, “Those who hear [God’s Word] and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like” (James 1:23-24 MsgB).
As we look at the beatitudes let’s not just hear what is said; let’s live them. The Beatitudes: Building Blocks to be like Jesus.
• Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. (NIV)
You have heard it said EVERYBODY LOVES A GOOD FIGHT. Unfortunately everyone doesn’t; God does not love to see a fight. In fact the opposite is true: God hates fights.
• Proverbs 6:16, 19 There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: 19. . . a man who stirs up dissension among brothers. (NIV)
The man who stirs up trouble, starts a fight, tears down unity, or destroys peace is the man whom God hates. Don’t look for God to bless your life if you are not at peace with your fellow man; God will always be against the man or woman who can’t get along with others.
However, God will bless the peacemaker. The peacemaker is God’s child!
Undoubtedly most of you would say you want to be a child of God. Many of you will point to a time in your life when you said a prayer asking God to forgive your sin. You know you are not forgiven by anything you have done, but are saved only through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. This may surprise you, but just because you said a prayer one day does not mean you are still God’s child today.
• John 1:12-13 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave THE RIGHT TO BECOME CHILDREN OF GOD--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (NIV)
The prayer you said once upon a time is only the beginning! It is not enough for you to simply “accept Jesus as your savior.” Acceptance is too passive; it’s simply an intellectual agreement or acknowledgement. Move beyond acceptance and embrace Christ as your savior!
CHRIST’S PASSION IS YOU! Jesus’ death on the cross is the story of God’s great love for you and me, a love that took the initiative to act on our behalf.
Don’t simply accept Jesus’ love for you; EMBRACE HIS LOVE! Make Jesus your passion, your single desire. Embracing Christ is to pursue Him, to actively respond to His love. As you and I embrace Christ, God does His work within us to make us like Jesus. We are born of God to live our lives as Jesus lived.
• 1 John 3:10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; NOR IS ANYONE WHO DOES NOT LOVE HIS BROTHER. (NIV)
What is John telling us? We will recognize who the children of God really are by how they get along with other members of the family. FAMILY FUED is not a game God wants us to play. As a child of God I cannot ignore my relationships with other believers.
If you and I don’t get along with other Christians, if we fight and bicker, if we spread gossip and sow dissention, then we are only fooling ourselves. The Bible says people who call themselves Christians, but don’t have love for other believers are not children of God; they are children of the devil. You see we can tell who your father really is by how you get along members of the family.
None of us can have a passive acceptance of one another or of Jesus. As children of God we are at peace with members of His family. As children of God we not only love our brothers and sisters, but we have a passion for Christ. Again, with a passion for Christ we embrace Him; we are actively pursuing Jesus.
What two things have I wanted you to remember about the beatitudes?
1. These are the BE-ATTITUDES, the qualities and characteristics of a life lived like Jesus. The beatitudes will cause us to embrace Christ to have a passion for Him and to live our lives like Him.
2. The Beatitudes are also paradoxical statements of joy. Jesus was joy filled! When we apply the beatitudes to our lives then we are blessed, exceedingly happy. We have a joy not contingent upon our circumstances; it is a reality of our heart.
Now I want you to begin to put the puzzle together with me. When we live the beatitudes 24/7 we will be like Jesus and experience His joy. THIS IS A LIFE OF PEACE. The life lived like Jesus experiences real joy AND PEACE WITH GOD.
If we model our lives according to the beatitudes we will experience peace. If however we live life our own way, then our life will be filled with arguments, contentions, disunity, fights, and everything opposite of peace.
Let me show you how the beatitudes will build a life of peace opposed to a life of contention.
LIFE OF PEACE
• Built upon a foundation of dying to self, with humility you think of others before yourself; “blessed are the poor in spirit.”
• Heart aligned with God’s and grieves over sin; “blessed are those who mourn.”
• The will yields to God with submitted strength; “blessed are the meek.”
• The dynamic power of the Holy Spirit produces a godly lifestyle; “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”
• Faithful love is the motive of the heart finding expression in every word and deed; blessed are the meek.
• A genuine lifestyle with no room for compromise, authentic, free from sin; “blessed are the pure in heart.”
LIFE OF CONTENTION
• Pride builds either self- importance and arrogance, or the false humility of insecurity and self-doubt.
• Conscience is hardened and the heart is calloused toward sin; everybody does it.
• Looks out for number one pushing others aside. Anger fuels the illusion of strength.
• The desires of the flesh prevail seeking to find contentment and satisfaction, but sin leaves you empty and discontent.
• Love is fickle and inconsistent; bitterness, contempt, and spite fill a heart motivated by a “what’s in it for me” attitude.
• The heart is polluted through sin; like a chameleon life is filled with compromise and multiple identities.
The law of the harvest cannot be broken; “What a person plants, he will harvest” (Galatians 6:7 MsgB). When you allow God to order your life with the qualities and characteristics described in the beatitudes YOU WILL HARVEST A LIFE OF PEACE.
I have told you that the beatitudes are not a smorgasbord for you to pick and choose from; it’s all or nothing. However you can’t just “fill your plate” and say I’ve got it all together now. THE BEATITUDES FOLLOW A NATURAL PROGRESSION. As the beatitudes develop in your life one will naturally lead to another.
• Mourning for sin is the outgrowth of being poor in spirit. Meekness develops after these first steps begin to take shape in our lives. You will not hunger and thirst for righteousness until you have started to work up an appetite for God. Mercy will flow from the heart satisfied by God. A pure heart flourishes in the soil of faithful love. Peacemakers have received peace.
The beatitudes cannot begin with “Blessed are the peacemakers” because a peacemaker must first reap the harvest of the life of peace. Put simply; YOU CANNOT GIVE WHAT YOU DON’T HAVE.
Peace does not just refer to the absence of disharmony or conflict. Peace refers to an individual’s total well-being; the peace filled life is whole, complete. A peaceful person “has it all together,” or “has all their ducks in a row.” What does that mean in everyday life? The peacemaker is [1] at peace with God, [2] at peace with self, and [3] at peace with others.
PEOPLE OFTEN SEE PEACE DIFFERENTLY FROM GOD. You and I need to learn to understand peace as it really is. Jesus said, “I will give you peace, but not peace like the world will give you” (see John 14:7).
From the human perspective peace is the absence of conflict; if we are not involved in a “shoot-‘em-up” war then we have peace. This kind of peace is only SUPERFICIAL.
• Nations may sign a cease fire simply because they are worn out and tired of the bloodshed; however, the issues of war within the heart of the nations remain. Two friends or families may declare a “truce,” but they have not reconciled. The weapons of the fists and tongue may be disarmed, but the hearts are still hard and resistant toward each other.
Let’s just lay our cards on the table. If you lack peace within your relationships, if you have ongoing conflict and fighting, if you carry resentment, bitterness, or hard feelings towards others, then you don’t have peace within you! PEACEMAKERS HAVE PEACE WITHIN THEIR HEARTS.
God’s perspective of peace is not superficial; God looks for peace deep within the heart. Peace is not the absence of conflict or disagreements. Peace is a reality within an individual; peace is given to you by God affecting all your relationships.
• How many husbands and wives have ever had an argument? Haven’t we all? When Susie and I have a disagreement does it mean we don’t have peace within our relationship? NO! Peace prevails. Peace is what keeps us connected to each other.
• Christians can face persecution and even death for the cause of Christ and still have a peace within their hearts surpassing any natural understanding.
• Jesus was at peace as the soldiers beat him, spit in His face, placed the crown of thorns upon his head mocking Him as the king of the Jews. Jesus was at peace when the nails were driven through His hands and feet into the cross and as the sword pierced His side.
APART FROM JESUS THERE IS NO PEACE! HE IS THE PRINCE OF PEACE.
• Colossians 1:20 . . . all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross. (MsgB)
God has reconciled all things to Himself through Christ Jesus. Peace is not an illusion or a vain wish. PEACE IS ESTABLISHED ONCE AND FOR ALL BYCHRIST’S DEATH ON THE CROSS.
1. PEACEMAKERS ARE CALLED TO RIGHT ACTION.
Jesus calls us to bring peace, to make peace between God and man as well as to make peace man to man. The peace we have received we are to share with others.
Notice what Jesus did not say:
• Blessed are the PEACE-THINKERS.
• Blessed are the PEACE-LOVERS.
• Blessed are the PEACE-TALKERS
Jesus said, “Blessed are the PEACEMAKERS.” Making peace is an active process; you have to take the initiative and bring peace where peace has been broken.
Peacemakers take risks; they are willing to step into the midst of a misunderstanding or fight in order to bring peace. A peacemaker will risk being misunderstood, even attacked because they have a peace within them that is greater than any conflict.
• Rip van Winkle slept through life. He was a man at peace with himself never rocking any boats, or making waves. How peaceful it would be to sit back and just enjoy life without anything to “keep us awake at night.”
Peacemakers cannot be passive. It’s not good enough to just pray for peace. We can’t ignore things and hope they will go away. Simply saying, “things will work out,” or “give it time to blow over” will never do. Peacemakers step in to diffuse the bomb ticking to blow relationships apart and mend the wounds of those injured.
• 2 Timothy 2:22 Pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (NIV)
You and I are commanded to PURSUE PEACE. We are to take action, chase it down. Let’s stay in such hot pursuit of peace that we never let it get away from us. PEACEMAKERS TAKE THE RIGHT ACTION.
2. PEACEMAKERS HAVE THE RIGHT ATTITUDE.
Anyone is capable of creating a rift or tearing apart the peace people have with one another if we let them. Even we can break the peace with misspoken words of deceit or gossip.
• Unity can be broken as simply as pushing Humpty-Dumpty off the wall; it’s almost impossible to put all the pieces back together again. How much better it is to take Humpty-Dumpty off the wall and set him safely on the ground.
Preserving and protecting the peace begins with our attitude. We can’t let ourselves think or say, “Humpty-Dumpty got what he deserved!”
• Proverbs 26:20 When you run out of wood, the fire goes out; when the gossip ends, the quarrel dies down. (MsgB)
How are we going to respond when contention and disagreements surface? Will we add fuel to the fire? Will we unknowingly or even purposely say things to drive a wedge between people or stir up more trouble for someone? Thumper’s parents had it right, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothin’ at all!”
• Proverbs 15:18 Hot tempers start fights; a calm, cool spirit keeps the peace. (MsgB)
Are you known as a “hot head?” Does your anger get out of control? It’s not a sin to become angry; sin occurs when we misappropriate or respond to anger in the wrong way. The Bible says, “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry” (Ephesians 4:26 NIV). Do you deal with your anger quickly or does it boil over day after day?
• Proverbs 17:14 Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out. (NIV)
Only a fool starts an argument or breaks the peace between people. You might think, “Pastor that’s a pretty strong statement.”
Imagine the fool who begins to break holes in a dam. Soon the water begins to run through these holes. Foolishly the fool will continue to break more holes in the dam until he is swept away by the water and drowns. If you don’t think anything like that could ever happen, you don’t know how foolish some people can be. At the age of 5 I was playing with a friend on a type of dam; we were jumping up and down on a septic tank lid. I remember seeing the crack and thinking, “Wow we’re going to break this!” We did, and I nearly drowned. (Fortunately this was at a house being built and the tank only had water in it.)
Who and what will we destroy in the flood of arguments made with misspoken words. The Bible says, “Drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.” Said bluntly it would go like this, “shut up already, before damage is done you cannot repair!”
When all is said and done, some folks may be surprised by the ending. Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.”
The doctrinally pure are not guaranteed a place in heaven. Being a child of God is not a matter of the HEAD’S KNOWLEDGE, but of the HEART’S WISDOM. It’s not a matter of how much we know, but Who we know, and how we live in response to what we know.
God takes our relationships with other believers seriously, and so should we. If we are unable to live at peace with our brothers and sisters here on earth, how would we act toward one another in heaven? ONLY PEACEMAKERS WILL BE CALLED SONS OF GOD. Only peacemakers will emulate Jesus and live their lives at peace with God and their fellowman just like our Lord did.
Jesus emphasized this same point later in the Sermon on the Mount.
• Matthew 5:43-45 43You have heard that it was said, ’Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (NIV)
God does not treat some better than others. He loves the evil and the good the same. He extends His peace, His love and mercy to all. We are those blessed to have received of His goodness. We need to likewise follow His example and bring peace to all. Then we will be true sons and daughters of God.
Living as a peacemaker is not easy, but we don’t have to do it alone. Jesus has given us His Spirit, the Spirit of peace to live within us. By the power of God we can live as peacemakers.
• Colossians 3:15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. (NLT)
Make peace! You are most joyfully blessed as God’s children!
