Blessed are the peacemakers (Part 2)
The Four Gospels • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 26:20
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· 2 viewsMorning 15 october 23
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The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked. Mankind will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth.”
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“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Sermon
Sermon
Catalogue of Human Conflict
Ukraine / Russia
Israel / Gaza
Root of the Trouble
God’s Word of Peace
God removed the barrier which seperated sinful creatures from their sinless creator
Peace with God
Peace with Man
Gospel Proclaimation
Peacemakers
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Contradiction?
Contradiction?
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
When people’s live are transformed they care boynd to com into conflict with theo who are under control of the evil one
We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
The sudden change of lifestyle is likely to result in misunderstanding at best and at worst persecution
closer the relationship/involvement
the greater the change
the greater the conflict
Jesus thereforw quoted the Old testament prophecy and warned....
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 person’s enemies will be those of his own household.
The Christian shoul dnever adopt a confrontational attitude
situations in families and other situations calls for great wisdom, patience and tact
Christians constantly need the grace of their peacekeeping God to exercise these
When conflicts arise as a resault of the Gospel’s work in people’s hearts, the blame does not below to the Prince of Peace but to those who refuse to be conciled to Him
Doing the Work
Doing the Work
Peacemakers (eirenopoios)
Greek writers confirm this word was used of ambassadors commissioned to negotiate peace with alienated parties, a task which called for enterprise and effort
Paul wrote about truth of the diagnosis of the world
as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.”
He also wrote to Titus, of our own past state...
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
Nothing has changed.
Man’s dominating driving force remains the passion for self-gratifiation
Whatever the cost
Humanity is so deeply fractured that not even the most costly and sophisticated attempts at self-healing stand the remotest chance of success
Into this situation God sends his spiritual peacemakers of whom Jesus speaks… Blessed are the peacemakers
The Beatitudes for Today Doing the Work
The poor in spirit grieve over sin, humbly accept God’s providential over-ruling in their lives and hunger and thirst for righteousness. As God graciously fills them they are merciful to others and honest and open in their dealings with them. Now, they do everything they can to bring them into a right relationship with each other, and above all with God.
This is no easy task !
It goes beyond loving peacvce or even yearning of it
Paul reminds us it involved a stenuous and determined effort and as in every area of seeking to live righteously ...
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Satan and his agents are committed to a policy of discord and disruption in every part of society
The result is that peacemaking in a fallen and fractious world is as difficult task as any that God has committed to his people.
We must therefore consider some of the ways in which peace makers are to operate...
The Permanent Priority
The Permanent Priority
First and foremost, peacemakers are to be people of Prayer
After their return from captivity and slavery God’s people are urged to ...
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! “May they be secure who love you!
Peace included everything that made for the city’s welfare and for the unity and stability of its people
This is clearly the responsibility of Christians today wherever they live in today’s world
Paul reiterated this principal...
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
All Men (all nations & class)
Kings & those in authority
Public office or influence
At the time Nero was Roman Emporer
Mindful of ...
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Why do we pray?
The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.
God can change ruler’ policies with ease
For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.
The assurance that God governs all the world’s governors should surely be the encouragement to pray
Who can guage
the imacts of the prayers of believers for those in authority?
the extent that God’s wrath has been averted?
what extent that God has soverignly intervened in the affairs of nations in response to payers of His People?
The Beatitudes for Today The Permanent Priority
William Hendriksen says of this aspect of peacemaking, ‘Is not the church the very cork on which the world remains afloat?’
The Beatitudes for Today The Permanent Priority
American preacher Paul Billheimer is even more direct: ‘If it were not for the church, Satan would already have turned this world into hell.’
John Blanchard...
The Beatitudes for Today The Permanent Priority
The unquantifiable but unqualified certainty is that prayer is a powerful weapon in the hands of God’s peacemakers.
Evasive Action
Evasive Action
The 2nd way eacemakers operate is by avoiding causes of contention
The Beatitudes for Today Evasive Action
A W Pink writes, ‘It is part of Christian duty to see to it that we so conduct ourselves as to give no just cause of complaint against us.’
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
rule (greek: brabeuo) - to act as an umpire
an umpire only interferes when there has been an infringement of the rules
Peter reminded believers of God’s patience in the day of Noah, saving thing means of the ark .... says...
Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
Scripture teaches that Peacemakers are blessed, and peace breakers are cursed
How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?
Thomas Watson is right to remind us that ‘our murmuring is the devil’s music’
There is something radically wrong with anyone who seems always to be looking for faults, unsettling relationships, or causing some kind of disturbance in the church or elsewhere.
The Beatitudes for Today Evasive Action
In Guy Appéré’s assessment, ‘Peace is to the soul what health is to the body, a sign of balance and order.’
Causes of Contension:
Cause: Pride / Conceipt
By insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom.
Paul advised to prevent conceit
He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.
Pride/conceit - consider:
Roman, Persian, Egyptian and Greek empires
Dark Ages & Middle Ages
Modern Times… Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse Tung
Pride/conceit and peace are incompatiable
Leads to Self-centered desires, pursuit of personal pleasure and covetousness
James 4 - warned of worldliness - you can’t love this world and Jesus
The Beatitudes for Today (Evasive Action)
The American missionary E Stanley Jones once wrote, ‘The self-centred are the self-disrupted.’
Cause: Anger
A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.
For pressing milk produces curds, pressing the nose produces blood, and pressing anger produces strife.
The Beatitudes for Today Evasive Action
In C S Lewis’ words, ‘When passion enters a situation, human reasoning (unassisted by grace) has as much chance of its retaining its hold on truth as a snowflake in the mouth of a blast furnace.’ In striking contrast to those who have a reputation for resentment, peacemakers are those who, as someone has beautifully put it, ‘carry about with them an atmosphere in which quarrels die a natural death’.
Anger is always out of place
Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
600 references in old Testament to God’s Anger
The Beatitudes for Today Evasive Action
J I Packer goes so far as to say, ‘The Bible could be called the book of God’s wrath.’
There is something radically defective in someone who never has the courage to be angry. There is no virtue in spineless silence in the face of sin.
The Beatitudes for Today Evasive Action
Charles Colson is right to say, ‘If Christ is Lord of all, Christians must recover their sense of moral outrage.’
angry with things that are wrong
The Beatitudes for Today Evasive Action
Preaching on Ephesians 4:26, C H Spurgeon said, ‘Anger is one of the holy feet of the soul when it goes in the right direction.’
We need to be sure that we are not angry merely because we have been contradicted, inconvenienced or hurt
sometimes a very fine line between righteous anger and personal offence
that line is there, and the peacemaker will make every effort to ensure that he does not get on the wrong side of it
Cause: Wrong use of the Tongue
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.
It would be easy to show that most of the strife, restlessness and turmoil in society at large, in business life, in church life, in family life and in other personal relationships is caused by people allowing their mouths to stay open when they ought to be kept closed.
John Blanchard visit Norway Fjords and asked a guide if there was a danger of avalanches
he replied: ‘Of course, and there are times when the snow is so delicately poised that it can be brought down by the sound of a human voice.’
The Beatitudes for Today Evasive Action
There are moments in our lives when a situation is so delicately balanced that the sound of a human voice can bring down an avalanche of disruption, misunderstanding and pain
Peacemakers pray ...
Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!
Recap:
Prayer
Avoid contention
Conceit
Anger
Tongue
Hymn -
Hymn -
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Doxology
Doxology