Blessed Are the Peacemakers

The first seven blessings of the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5 can be viewed as a progression of steps, beginning at the time when we divest ourselves of our vain glory and enter the kingdom of God, to the time when we finally actually have something to offer somebody else in Jesus' name and become servants of the kingdom. I'm not saying this is the only way you can see it, but consider it as I read from Matthew 5, starting at verse 1. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. And when we get to the final seventh of these seven blessings, we are now looking at a people who are described as God's sons, His children, His daughters, people who have His nature and who have the ability now to give forth His life to people around them.

And what do they do? They make peace. But they make peace not as professional do-gooders or religious busybodies who are forever butting into other people's affairs, trying to straighten them out, and in that sense make peace. Peacemakers are simply people who have the ability to open the windows of heaven and bring the peace of God down into this troubled world.

Perhaps the most disruptive man who ever walked this earth was Jesus. Everywhere He went, there was division. I have not come to bring peace but a sword.

I've 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 enemies will be those of his own house. And yet, in the ultimate sense, Jesus is the Prince of Peace. And in the midst of all this turmoil that seems to follow Him, everywhere He goes, He brings the peace of God.

He brings God's peace to the sick, to the leper, to the demon-possessed, to the blind, to the outcasts of this world. Always He touches those whose hearts are open with God's peace. His name is Melchizedek, King of Shalom, King of Peace.

And everybody who follows Him, becomes one with Him, is sent forth with a gospel that has the effect of also bringing peace to other people. He ordains us to be peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.

And sends us forth to do just that, to make peace. But to understand, again, clearly what it means to be a peacemaker. To be a peacemaker is simply to bring the atmosphere of heaven down into this world.

And to get clear in our minds what the atmosphere of heaven is. None of us has been there fully, but if we were able at this minute to pass out of the realm of this world and immediately enter into the center of deep heaven, the thing that would strike us most forcefully of all, amid all the glory and all the magnificent music and beauty that we would see and hear, would be peace, awesome peace, peace you could almost touch. After this I looked, and lo, in heaven, an open door.

And the first voice which I had heard speaking to me, like a trumpet, said, Come up hither, and I will show you what must take place after this. At once I was in the Spirit, and lo, a throne stood in heaven. With one seated on the throne.

And he who sat there appeared like Jasper and Carnelian. And round the throne was a rainbow that looked like an emerald. Round the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders clad in white garments with golden crowns upon their heads.

From the throne issued flashes of lightning, voices, and peals of thunder. And before the throne burned seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there is, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal.

And this sea of glass is tangible peace. It's like the water that became still beneath the feet of Jesus as he walked on the Sea of Galilee. And just as the underlying reality of everything that goes on in this world is war, war between nations, war between races, classes, sexes, war that goes on in our own hearts like a sea in constant turmoil and torment, so the underlying reality of heaven is peace.

Like the sea of glass. And whenever heaven breaks in upon this world, you can know it immediately because the atmosphere changes from war to peace. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.

And then Jesus lifted up his hands and said to the storm, Peace, be still. And instantly the atmosphere of heaven descended upon the Sea of Galilee and spread over it and it became still. His first words to the disciples after he rose from the dead were, Peace be with you.

Instantly those words were fulfilled and the atmosphere inside their hearts changed from war to peace. One day you're standing at the window looking out at the rain, trying to figure out how in the light of all the problems that have fallen down upon your life, you can possibly keep going. And then suddenly in the midst of your depression, out of nowhere comes peace.

It just floods you. It's almost physical. And you know that you have been visited by the Spirit of God.

In the same way, on the day of Pentecost, this is what was going on. When they heard that mighty rushing wind from heaven and saw those tongues of fire on one another's head and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them utterance, you could describe what was going on inside them as an overwhelming inflooding of God's peace. And if you think I'm exaggerating or twisting scripture, consider exactly how Peter began his sermon when he goes then to the house of Cornelius to be the means by which Pentecost comes to the Gentiles.

Listen to the opening words of his sermon. Peter opened his mouth and said, Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the word which he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all.

He goes on with his sermon and suddenly it's interrupted by the outpouring of the Spirit upon these Gentiles and the atmosphere of that room and of their hearts changes from war to peace. Always the apostles had that knowledge, see, that there would be a reality coming in behind the word that he proclaimed. Always something would come to people as they opened their hearts to the gospel and that reality invariably, always, in an unvaried form was peace.

God's peace. But now in Jesus Christ, you Gentiles, who were once far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near for through him we both have access in one spirit to the father.

They were so confident that their gospel would be always confirmed by peace coming into the hearts of those who received it. And they so consistently dwelt in that peace themselves that they had little problem convincing people whose hearts were hungry for God of the reality of Jesus. And so likewise, if you tell somebody who's hungry for truth that Jesus died for their sins and made that atonement and opened the door of heaven that they might have peace.

And that person reaches out in faith and grabs hold of your message and as they do this, peace from God comes down upon their hearts. You have proclaimed the gospel and the power of the spirit and the spirit has confirmed your word and Jesus has manifested himself to them. Again and again we see Paul calling people to the obedience of faith and always promising that as they respond they will receive God's peace.

For example, this passage we probably all know by heart from Philippians 4.4 Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Let your forbearance be made known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

Have no anxiety about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds from Christ Jesus. Then he goes on and says the same thing in another way.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, pure, lovely, gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me do and the God of peace will be with you. Now we're not talking about the peace of this world.

We're not talking about the false peace of idleness or the false peace of the numbed mind that has been drugged or deluded. Nor are we talking about the misleading peace of tranquil circumstances. In this world, tranquil circumstances usually are a snare.

We're talking about the peace of God which is present in the midst of all circumstances. God calls us, every follower of Jesus in this place, to be peacemakers. And what better, more appropriate day than on this day of Pentecost for us to again enter into that calling and be peacemakers.

And for this to happen, there are some simple things that we need to do. First of all, we need to pursue God's peace ourselves. Go after it.

For he that would love light and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile. Let him turn away from evil and do right. Let him seek peace and pursue it.

A lot of us long for peace. We wish there were more peace in our hearts. And yet, we do very little about pursuing it.

Now, there are a lot of things in this world you can't do anything about. You can't change the weather. God can.

Pray to him if you like it. You can't change it. Nor can you change your brother's heart.

But you can absolutely, invariably, obtain God's peace, if you will. If you simply take those words of Paul and rejoice, let your forbearance be made known to all men, be anxious for nothing, let your request be made known to God with thanksgiving, you will absolutely, every single time, begin to experience the peace of God which passes all understanding. The second thing we need to do is let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.

What happens with many of us is that we have tasted God's peace many times. It comes to us. We experience it.

We know what it is. We know how wonderful it is. And then we go right on living in the rat race.

If we want to dwell in the atmosphere of God's peace, we have to let that peace rule. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which you were called into one body, and be thankful, he says in Colossians. See, and the peace of God is given.

It's being given now in the Holy Spirit, to all of us. But it's up to us to let that peace rule, which is another way of saying that I do nothing that will jeopardize the peace of Christ in me. If the minute I become aware that an attitude that I'm holding in my heart or a step that I'm taking in my life is driving God's peace out of me, I have to step back and change my direction.

There is no pleasure and there is no kind of gain that is worth the loss of the peace of Christ. And it's possible for us to live in such a way that we constantly order our path, letting it rule in our hearts, that we do nothing to jeopardize it until it in fact becomes our second nature to let the peace of Christ rule inside. Finally, we need to proclaim that peace.

He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. And he continues to preach peace. And the gospel that Jesus has given all of us to proclaim is a gospel of peace.

It's good news. It's something positive. It brings tremendous comfort.

The gospel simply is that God has taken our guilt upon himself, made peace with us at the cross of his only begotten Son, now opens the door of heaven to all who will receive his grace and invites us to come in. And the Spirit and the Bride say, Let him that heareth say, Come. Let him that is athirst come.

Let all who desire take of the water of life without price. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. God grant that we may be numbered among them.

Let's pray. Just ask right now, Lord God, that you just so wonderfully and beyond any way that we can possibly imagine visit us with your Spirit and that you would confirm your word to our hearts and quiet the restlessness and the discouragement and the frustration and the anguish and the bitterness and the anger and the unbelief and all the scattered things that are throwing us into conflict and deal with our hearts, Lord Jesus, as you dealt with the Sea of Galilee. Call forth your peace upon them all.

Fill us with your own Spirit, this Pentecost, right now, Lord. And enable us, Lord, to live in your peace and to minister your peace and to abundantly give your peace to every life we touch until we see you face to face. Amen.