Peacemakers (Matthew 5:1-12)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.240 ASID are those who were persecuted for Righteousness Sake, for theirs is the Kingdom 2 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:09.029 of Heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all 3 00:00:09.109 --> 00:00:14.269 kinds of evil against you falsely. For my sake, rejoice and be exceedingly 4 00:00:14.349 --> 00:00:18.710 glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the 5 00:00:18.789 --> 00:00:23.660 prophets who were before you. Thus, farthest reading of God's holy word, 6 00:00:23.739 --> 00:00:27.699 the grass withers in the flower fades, but the word of our Lord endures 7 00:00:27.820 --> 00:00:38.409 forever. Please be seated. Let's pray. Well. We pray, as 8 00:00:38.490 --> 00:00:42.770 we come to give our attention to the reading and the preaching of your word, 9 00:00:43.689 --> 00:00:48.009 that you would give us your blessing, as we've already asked this morning. 10 00:00:48.049 --> 00:00:52.759 Loll. We pray that you would give us ears to hear, minds 11 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:57.039 to understand, hearts to believe what it is you would have us know, 12 00:00:58.679 --> 00:01:03.280 Lord, where we need to be bound up, bind us up and encourage 13 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:07.069 us, where we need to be convicted. Convict US and point us to 14 00:01:07.109 --> 00:01:11.189 the way that we ought to go. Where we need direction. Give us 15 00:01:11.230 --> 00:01:15.909 direction. Where we need hope, give us hope. We thank you, 16 00:01:15.989 --> 00:01:19.900 Lord, for your word. We thank you for your good news that runs 17 00:01:19.980 --> 00:01:23.980 from the beginning to the end of the entirety of the Bible, the good 18 00:01:25.099 --> 00:01:27.659 news that you love us, that you are with us, that you are 19 00:01:27.780 --> 00:01:33.329 for us. So we pray that you would let the words of my mouth 20 00:01:33.409 --> 00:01:37.569 and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to you, our great redeemer, 21 00:01:37.609 --> 00:01:45.329 King Amen. Well, as you can see from the passage that we have 22 00:01:45.530 --> 00:01:49.959 before us, we return again to my aunt again, off again series in 23 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:57.280 the beatitudes. Hence, thus far we've gone through the first several of them, 24 00:01:57.719 --> 00:02:02.030 and this week we come to verse nine. Blessed are the Peacemakers, 25 00:02:02.790 --> 00:02:08.750 for they shall be called Sons of God. Now, as a reminder, 26 00:02:08.909 --> 00:02:14.669 these eight beatitudes that we find here in the beginning of Matthew Chapter five form 27 00:02:14.789 --> 00:02:20.780 the introduction to Jesus's greatest sermon, the sermon on the mountain, and in 28 00:02:20.979 --> 00:02:27.659 these beatitudes Jesus is telling us something of the characteristic of characteristics of the happiest 29 00:02:27.699 --> 00:02:31.409 people on Earth. And I say that because, if you recall, or 30 00:02:31.449 --> 00:02:36.490 if you weren't here before, I'll tell you now, the word that's translated 31 00:02:36.689 --> 00:02:40.610 is blessed. In all of these beatitudes is a Greek word that literally means 32 00:02:42.129 --> 00:02:46.960 supremely happy. It's one of those sort of church words we use that doesn't 33 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:51.479 really mean anything even to most of the people who use it, but it 34 00:02:51.639 --> 00:02:57.919 means supremely happy, supremely happy. So Jesus is telling US something of the 35 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:02.389 character of the happiest people on Earth, which will seem odd when next we 36 00:03:02.590 --> 00:03:07.590 turn to the last beatitude that says that you should rejoice and be exceedingly glad 37 00:03:07.669 --> 00:03:14.259 when you're persecuted and spoken of evily. But that's for another day. Today 38 00:03:14.300 --> 00:03:20.460 Jesus is continuing to tell us about supremely happy people. He's also describing for 39 00:03:20.460 --> 00:03:25.740 us what the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven look like. Matthew's Gospel has 40 00:03:27.020 --> 00:03:32.689 three main themes or purposes, and the three main themes of Matthew's Gospel are 41 00:03:32.849 --> 00:03:40.250 this to proclaim to us that Christ is king, to show us what citizens 42 00:03:40.330 --> 00:03:46.879 of the Kingdom of Heaven Look like and to call upon us to respond to 43 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:53.400 Jesus as citizens of his kingdom. He's describing to us what citizens of his 44 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:58.270 kingdom look like. He isn't telling us what we have to do to inherit 45 00:03:58.389 --> 00:04:01.710 the kingdom. He's not giving us a list of Che checklist of dues and 46 00:04:01.909 --> 00:04:06.430 don'ts that we have to fulfill in order to get a passport into heaven. 47 00:04:06.789 --> 00:04:13.699 Instead, what he's doing is he's describing to us how we can recognize those 48 00:04:13.780 --> 00:04:19.180 who already are and are being made into citizens of Christ's kingdom. And, 49 00:04:20.339 --> 00:04:26.250 as I've noted before, these beatitudes are something of a process. The first 50 00:04:26.290 --> 00:04:31.649 be attitude literally says if you're called supremely happy, are the spiritually destitute. 51 00:04:32.649 --> 00:04:38.680 So the very first step, the entry point to Christian discipleship, is to 52 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:46.319 realize that we are all spiritual beggars. The next several beatitudes are like layered 53 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:51.319 steps that characterize the growth of the Christian and then the last two ours that 54 00:04:51.399 --> 00:04:58.230 we have before us this morning, and the aforementioned persecution be attitude, tell 55 00:04:58.350 --> 00:05:05.709 us what the Pinnacle of Christ Likeness Is, the pinnacle of Christlikeness. And 56 00:05:05.829 --> 00:05:11.660 this seventh be attitude, Jesus tells us how we can recognize those whom he 57 00:05:11.819 --> 00:05:16.060 describes as the sons of God. In other words, he's telling us what 58 00:05:16.300 --> 00:05:21.569 the genetic trait or family resemblance is that will give us away as being the 59 00:05:21.689 --> 00:05:28.329 sons and daughters of his father and the family trait that he has for us 60 00:05:28.449 --> 00:05:31.730 this morning is that the citizens of his kingdom, the Sons of God, 61 00:05:32.610 --> 00:05:38.879 are peacemakers, and I'd like us to look at this this morning in two 62 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:43.079 parts. First, I'd like us to consider the Prince of peace, whose 63 00:05:43.160 --> 00:05:46.480 likeness we bear, and second I'd like us to see what it means that 64 00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:50.310 we are to be ambassadors for Christ in the world. So the Prince of 65 00:05:50.509 --> 00:05:58.069 peace and ambassadors for Christ. Jesus says here in our beatitude that we're called 66 00:05:58.310 --> 00:06:03.420 to be peacemakers, or it probably better to say that that Jesus says that 67 00:06:03.579 --> 00:06:10.740 if we are sons of God, if we are Christians, we will be 68 00:06:11.660 --> 00:06:17.019 peacemakers. It's an important distinction and it's also interesting, I think, to 69 00:06:17.139 --> 00:06:21.370 note that the word here for peacemaker is an unusual word in the Greek New 70 00:06:21.410 --> 00:06:28.730 Testament. It only appears twice in the whole Bible. Once it appears here 71 00:06:28.930 --> 00:06:33.000 in this sermon on the Mount and the second time it is used to describe 72 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:40.439 Jesus's own work. Now the plate, the place that it appears in Colossians 73 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:46.189 chapter one is a passage that is a hymn that is praising the greatness of 74 00:06:46.350 --> 00:06:54.069 the Gospel and it's important for us to understand, to understand what it means 75 00:06:54.110 --> 00:06:58.430 to be a peacemaker, that this should be the case because, as every 76 00:06:58.629 --> 00:07:04.019 one of US needs to remind ourselves every single day, all of the Christian 77 00:07:04.100 --> 00:07:12.339 Life is about the Gospel. The Christian life isn't about rules, it's not 78 00:07:12.420 --> 00:07:16.410 about being good, it's not about having your religious ducks in in order. 79 00:07:16.810 --> 00:07:23.569 The entirety of the Christian Life is about the Gospel, the Good News, 80 00:07:23.769 --> 00:07:29.449 the simple truth that God so loves you and me that he sent his only 81 00:07:29.810 --> 00:07:33.959 son to die so that we might enter into a love relationship with him free 82 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:41.680 for nothing, totally apart from all of our works and our efforts and our 83 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:49.269 failures. That simple truth is the power, the motive and the standard for 84 00:07:49.509 --> 00:07:57.310 every aspect of the Christian life. The whole of the Christian life is about 85 00:07:57.350 --> 00:08:03.939 our response of love to God, for Jesus and for Christ, sacrifice for 86 00:08:03.139 --> 00:08:07.819 us. And so if we're going to understand what it means to be peacemakers, 87 00:08:07.860 --> 00:08:11.930 we have to understand something of the peacemaking of the Prince of peace, 88 00:08:13.290 --> 00:08:20.610 who is the author of peace itself. Now in our world. I think 89 00:08:20.769 --> 00:08:28.560 peace is something that everybody says they want. All the bickering Nadabbserverb what was 90 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:35.399 it that that the vice president said? YAMMERING NAY BOBS OF NEGATIVISM? I 91 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:41.120 believe it was it was Spiro Agnew said that. The nattering nabobs of negative 92 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:45.110 negativism, all of them on the Internet and the talking heads on TV, 93 00:08:45.309 --> 00:08:50.950 whoever they may be, they all say that they want peace. Most everybody 94 00:08:50.110 --> 00:08:54.230 says that they want peace, and I think for the most part we mean 95 00:08:54.309 --> 00:09:00.259 it when we say it. But it is a commodity that demonstrably isn't very 96 00:09:00.379 --> 00:09:07.700 short supply. Everybody has ideas about how we can have peace. I'm sure, 97 00:09:07.820 --> 00:09:11.129 like me, you've seen the bumper sticker that says peace through superior firepower. 98 00:09:11.769 --> 00:09:15.690 That seems like a good idea to some people. Back in the old 99 00:09:15.809 --> 00:09:20.169 West there was a pistol that was called the peacemaker. Other people think that 100 00:09:20.610 --> 00:09:28.080 international piece is found through unilateral disarmament, or perhaps stockpiling more guns and nuclear 101 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:35.679 weapons and whatever else. I've seen one place where someone once made this observation, 102 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:43.110 saying peace is that glorious moment in history when everyone stops to reload. 103 00:09:43.750 --> 00:09:50.909 Now I think. I think that that last one probably comes close as to 104 00:09:50.950 --> 00:09:58.059 the truth of what peace between nations or groups or individuals is like. It 105 00:09:58.220 --> 00:10:01.299 isn't a true piece. It's just sort of a brief, brief cessation of 106 00:10:01.379 --> 00:10:09.370 hostilities until we start to fight and squabble and divide all over again. But 107 00:10:09.570 --> 00:10:13.009 in scripture piece is a lot more than the mere cessation of hostilities. In 108 00:10:13.129 --> 00:10:18.649 scripture, the idea of peace is best expressed by the Hebrew word Shalogne. 109 00:10:20.169 --> 00:10:24.480 If you ever want to go do a really interesting word study, go sit 110 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:30.440 down and go through it. The idea of Shalogne hom in scripture, Shalom 111 00:10:31.320 --> 00:10:37.710 is far more than the mere absence of war. Biblical peace, Shalom is 112 00:10:39.350 --> 00:10:46.590 both the absence of hostility, war fighting, squabbling and the like. See 113 00:10:46.590 --> 00:10:52.419 the absence of that, but it's also the presence of wholeness and harmony and 114 00:10:52.700 --> 00:11:01.220 Concord. Shalom among people's are groups is found when they put aside their competing 115 00:11:01.340 --> 00:11:07.690 interests and desires in order to live in harmony together. It's when people abandoned 116 00:11:07.850 --> 00:11:15.210 that which divides them from one another in the interests of a greater goal. 117 00:11:16.769 --> 00:11:20.960 Jen Kirkpatrick, who was President Reagan's you in secretary once said this. She 118 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:26.039 said we have war when at least one of the parties to a conflict wants 119 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:33.509 something more than it wants peace. That bears repeating. We have war when 120 00:11:33.509 --> 00:11:39.110 at least one of the parties to a conflict wants something more than it wants 121 00:11:39.590 --> 00:11:48.259 peace. And Shalom in our relationships is found when two people who are at 122 00:11:48.500 --> 00:11:54.220 one with one another. It's found when two people who may have been separated 123 00:11:54.779 --> 00:12:01.850 by anger, hostility whatever are now found to be reconciled to one another in 124 00:12:01.129 --> 00:12:11.009 love, where enemies become friends. And Shalom in the individual heart is found 125 00:12:11.529 --> 00:12:16.200 when you and I have the peace that comes both from being right with God 126 00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:24.440 as well as knowing that we are right with God. We're both are right 127 00:12:24.600 --> 00:12:28.320 with God and we know that we are. Sort of like the difference between 128 00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:35.389 saying I know God loves me and saying I believe God likes me. It's 129 00:12:35.429 --> 00:12:39.549 a sense of inner harmony as you live a life that is rightly directed toward 130 00:12:39.590 --> 00:12:46.340 the glorification of God and the enjoyment of his presence in your life. See, 131 00:12:46.379 --> 00:12:50.620 we all chase all sorts of other ways to find peace in our hearts, 132 00:12:50.700 --> 00:12:56.820 don't we? But I think that I know that scripture and I believe 133 00:12:56.100 --> 00:13:03.210 that experience tells us that everything other than being right with God is a denial 134 00:13:03.490 --> 00:13:11.289 to ourselves of true peace. And scripture tells us that Jesus is the one 135 00:13:13.080 --> 00:13:18.679 who makes peace between man and God. And what's more, it's only this 136 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:24.799 peace that Jesus makes between us and God then allows peace among men. In 137 00:13:26.200 --> 00:13:31.029 First Colossians chapter one, are excuse. First in Colossians chapter one, beginning 138 00:13:31.070 --> 00:13:35.629 in the nineteen verse, we read this for it pleased the father that in 139 00:13:35.750 --> 00:13:43.179 him all the fullness should dwell and by him to reconcile all things to himself, 140 00:13:43.379 --> 00:13:48.379 by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made 141 00:13:48.580 --> 00:13:54.860 peace through the blood of the cross, and you, who were once alienated 142 00:13:54.980 --> 00:13:58.610 in enemies in your mind by wicked works. Yet now he has reconciled and 143 00:13:58.769 --> 00:14:05.690 the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above 144 00:14:05.929 --> 00:14:13.600 reproach in his sight. Paul says that Jesus made peace by reconciling us to 145 00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:18.159 God. And the word here for to make peace is the same word that's 146 00:14:18.200 --> 00:14:22.840 used in Matthew for peacemaker. I told you, it appears to places this 147 00:14:24.039 --> 00:14:28.950 is the other place. Jesus's goal, is a peacemaker, was that we 148 00:14:28.070 --> 00:14:35.350 might be reconciled to God. Now, the word reconcile literally means to make 149 00:14:35.590 --> 00:14:41.460 friendly again, as after a quarrel, to make friendly again as after a 150 00:14:41.580 --> 00:14:50.220 quarrel. One of the commentators that I read use a little illustration I want 151 00:14:50.220 --> 00:14:56.690 to share with you. He says this. I once read the story of 152 00:14:56.809 --> 00:15:01.730 a couple at a divorce hearing who are arguing back and forth before the judge, 153 00:15:01.730 --> 00:15:07.919 accusing each other and refusing to take any blame themselves. Their little four 154 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:13.879 year old boy was terribly distressed and confused. Not Knowing what else to do, 155 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:18.120 he took his father's hand and his mother's hand and kept tugging until he 156 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:28.950 finally pulled the hands of his parents together. Now that story is so very 157 00:15:28.389 --> 00:15:35.779 sad because we know that that little boy's efforts were useless. Though he was 158 00:15:37.100 --> 00:15:43.059 ever so earnest in his desire to play the peacemaker and to reconcile his parents, 159 00:15:43.100 --> 00:15:50.690 he was powerless to affect that reconciliation. Neither parent was willing to let 160 00:15:50.809 --> 00:15:56.889 go of his or her hurt, his or her desire for blame and to 161 00:15:56.009 --> 00:16:02.929 be vindicated in front of the world. Each of them love their own hurt 162 00:16:03.049 --> 00:16:07.399 and their own pain and their own desire for vengeance more than they loved peace. 163 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:12.480 It might even be the case that you could say that they loved their 164 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:22.149 longing for vengeance more than they loved their boy. But though their son was 165 00:16:22.190 --> 00:16:30.269 unable to be a peacemaker between that man and that woman, God's son is 166 00:16:32.110 --> 00:16:38.139 able to affect a reconciliation between God and man. That was Jesus his goal 167 00:16:38.419 --> 00:16:45.419 in coming to Earth, to be a peacemaker by reconciling us to our father 168 00:16:45.659 --> 00:16:53.009 in heaven. Colossians one tells us how he did it, you who were 169 00:16:53.129 --> 00:17:00.289 once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works. Yet now he has 170 00:17:00.570 --> 00:17:04.960 reconciled in the body of his flesh, through death, to present you holy 171 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:12.920 and blameless and above reproach in his sight. Through Jesus's work on the cross, 172 00:17:14.039 --> 00:17:17.670 he has taken us, who were once alienated from God, and he 173 00:17:17.710 --> 00:17:22.750 has made peace between us. Another word. Alienate here means to be a 174 00:17:22.990 --> 00:17:30.740 stranged, to be indifferent, hostile, unfriendly. Paul wants us to know 175 00:17:32.579 --> 00:17:37.259 that we were when we were as strange from God as that little boy's parents 176 00:17:37.299 --> 00:17:42.259 were as strange from one another. When our sin and our hatred of God 177 00:17:42.660 --> 00:17:48.970 and his righteous need to punish our sins, when that alienated us from him. 178 00:17:51.569 --> 00:17:56.650 At that point, Jesus allowed himself to be killed in our place so 179 00:17:56.849 --> 00:18:03.039 that, through his blood, he might take our hand and take our father 180 00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:12.509 in heaven's hand and bring us together, reconciling US and making peace. In 181 00:18:12.670 --> 00:18:17.670 fact, that the heat there, the Greek word for peace, literally means 182 00:18:17.789 --> 00:18:22.910 to bind together. In other words, Jesus is our peacemaker, has taken 183 00:18:23.109 --> 00:18:32.859 that which was once implacably opposed and has bound them so closely together that they 184 00:18:32.980 --> 00:18:41.339 become one, the prince of peace. Now, in Matthew Five Nine, 185 00:18:41.380 --> 00:18:45.130 Jesus tells us that when we become the sons of God, we will begin 186 00:18:45.250 --> 00:18:52.450 to be peace makers just like him. Now that Christ has done this work 187 00:18:52.529 --> 00:18:56.359 of reconciliation for us, we are called to be those who are making peace 188 00:18:56.400 --> 00:19:06.279 among people through our Ministry of Reconciliation. In Second Corinthians, Chapter Five, 189 00:19:06.359 --> 00:19:11.910 Verses Eighteen and twenty, Paul says this. Now all things are of God, 190 00:19:11.789 --> 00:19:18.349 who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us 191 00:19:18.509 --> 00:19:25.460 the Ministry of Reconciliation. Now, then, we are Ambassad sitters for Christ, 192 00:19:25.619 --> 00:19:30.339 as though God were pleading through us. We implore you, on Christ's 193 00:19:30.420 --> 00:19:37.940 behalf, be reconciled to God. Now, what do you make of that? 194 00:19:38.410 --> 00:19:45.210 Christ has reconciled men to God, and now we, who have been 195 00:19:45.450 --> 00:19:51.369 reconciled by Christ, are called to reconcile men and women to one another. 196 00:19:52.410 --> 00:19:57.359 Paul says that this is part of what makes US ambassadors for Christ. The 197 00:19:57.480 --> 00:20:03.559 dictionary tells us that an ambassador is a diplomatic official of the highest rank sent 198 00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:08.589 by one country to another as its representative. It's someone who is able to 199 00:20:08.710 --> 00:20:17.470 speak and act with the authority of one country or ruler to another, and 200 00:20:17.630 --> 00:20:22.059 so an ambassador for Christ is a person who has been given both Christ's authority 201 00:20:22.180 --> 00:20:30.380 as well as Christ's power to plead with other people to be reconciled to God 202 00:20:30.740 --> 00:20:37.569 and to be reconciled to one another. Another way of putting it to use 203 00:20:38.210 --> 00:20:42.289 the idea of the beatitude is to say that, now that we have been 204 00:20:42.329 --> 00:20:48.690 adopted into God's family, he expects us to start to exhibit the family resemblance. 205 00:20:51.079 --> 00:20:55.759 If Jesus is a peacemaker, then we are to be peacemakers too. 206 00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:00.559 He did that in all of his relationships to one degree or another, and 207 00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:06.190 ultimately he did it through his own death. Therefore, if we are sons 208 00:21:06.230 --> 00:21:12.029 of God, Jesus tells us that we will inevitably begin to exhibit the family 209 00:21:12.109 --> 00:21:22.940 resemblance by working for reconciliation in our relationships. Peacemaking is a hallmark of God's 210 00:21:22.980 --> 00:21:30.700 children. But, of course, on the flip side, if we do 211 00:21:30.819 --> 00:21:37.569 not see seat set ourselves to the goal, to the hard work of seeking 212 00:21:37.609 --> 00:21:45.289 reconciliation in our relationships, then we have to ask ourselves if we really are 213 00:21:45.769 --> 00:21:52.400 sons of God. John Macarthur the commentator I read from earlier, and I 214 00:21:52.440 --> 00:21:59.240 think we're all familiar with him, he makes a very poignant and profound comment 215 00:21:59.880 --> 00:22:04.910 when commenting on this passage. He says this peacemaking is a hallmark of God's 216 00:22:04.950 --> 00:22:11.269 children. A person who is not a peacemaker either is not a Christian or 217 00:22:11.430 --> 00:22:18.779 is a disobedient Christian. The person who is continually disruptive, divisive and quarrelsome 218 00:22:18.259 --> 00:22:22.539 has good reason to doubt his or her relationship to God. All together, 219 00:22:22.660 --> 00:22:27.059 her God's sons, that is, all of God's children, both male and 220 00:22:27.220 --> 00:22:33.210 female, are peacemakers. Only God determines who is children are, and he 221 00:22:33.369 --> 00:22:37.730 is determined that they are the humble, the penitent, oversin, the gentle 222 00:22:38.289 --> 00:22:44.640 the seekers of Righteousness, the Merciful, the Pure and Heart, and the 223 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:51.640 Peacemakers. Now want you to let that sink in for a minute. I 224 00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:56.000 was really convicted when I first read this, and it may be one of 225 00:22:56.039 --> 00:23:00.029 the hardest things some of us may hear for quite a while. A person 226 00:23:00.109 --> 00:23:06.269 who is not a peacemaker either is not a Christian or is a disobedient Christian. 227 00:23:07.269 --> 00:23:11.750 The person who's continually to disruptive, divisive and quarrelsome has good reason to 228 00:23:11.859 --> 00:23:19.019 doubt his or her relationship to God all together. So let me ask you 229 00:23:19.059 --> 00:23:27.170 a very difficult question. Are you a peacemaker? Are you characterized by a 230 00:23:27.329 --> 00:23:34.410 spirit of reconciliation? If you were to ask someone who was willing to be 231 00:23:36.130 --> 00:23:41.680 really honest with you, would that person say that you are personally a force 232 00:23:41.799 --> 00:23:49.960 for reconciliation, in love, in your relationships amongst strangers, in the workplace, 233 00:23:51.559 --> 00:23:56.069 in your home, in the church, Fellowship, on the Internet? 234 00:23:59.829 --> 00:24:07.349 Or are you characterized by contrariness, divisiveness and disruptiveness? Do you have itching 235 00:24:07.589 --> 00:24:14.220 ears that prick up when gossip is afoot? If there are two people who 236 00:24:14.259 --> 00:24:18.259 are as strange and alienated from one another? Do you listen to tales being 237 00:24:18.420 --> 00:24:26.970 told? Do you tell them yourself? Do you feed that fire? Or 238 00:24:27.089 --> 00:24:33.970 Do you seek to remind people of Christ and of his Gospel and of his 239 00:24:34.170 --> 00:24:45.279 commandment and bloody invitation to love one another? Are you a peacemaker? And 240 00:24:45.559 --> 00:24:52.119 Second Corinthians Nineteen and twenty Paul tells us how to be peacemakers. Listen very 241 00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:59.910 carefully. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing 242 00:24:59.950 --> 00:25:06.109 their trestpasses to them, and is committed to us the word of reconciliation. 243 00:25:07.029 --> 00:25:10.619 Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading 244 00:25:10.660 --> 00:25:17.259 through us. We implore you, on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. 245 00:25:17.980 --> 00:25:22.170 Paul says that as ambassadors for Christ, we are supposed to remind others 246 00:25:22.410 --> 00:25:27.130 of Jesus is good news and plead with them, for the sake of that 247 00:25:27.450 --> 00:25:37.279 Gospel, not to hold others sins and trespasses against them. Now, there 248 00:25:37.319 --> 00:25:44.279 are some circumstances, some extreme circumstances, where you need to divide yourself off 249 00:25:44.440 --> 00:25:48.599 and have nothing to do with a horribly destructive person. I'm not talking about 250 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:56.109 that. I'm talking about the normal course of life, even difficult circumstances. 251 00:25:59.150 --> 00:26:04.539 If someone does you wrong, for the Sake of Christ crucified for you, 252 00:26:06.819 --> 00:26:14.259 do not hold that sin against him. If someone is a jerk, if 253 00:26:14.380 --> 00:26:19.049 someone is stupid, if someone acts like the north end of a southbound donkey, 254 00:26:19.450 --> 00:26:26.289 for the Sake of Christ crucified for you, do not hold that person's 255 00:26:26.329 --> 00:26:33.920 sin against him. And when you see someone else holding something against another, 256 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:40.680 for the Sake of Christ crucified for you, implore that person, plead, 257 00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:45.000 beg that person, for the Sake of Christ crucified for him or her, 258 00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:55.750 not to let themselves hold the sin against the the other. Do you see? 259 00:26:56.670 --> 00:27:06.700 It's all about the Gospel and applying it. And when you do get 260 00:27:06.740 --> 00:27:11.740 upset, when you find it really hard to let go, even for the 261 00:27:11.940 --> 00:27:21.210 sake of Christ, I want you to ask yourself something. Whatever it is 262 00:27:21.809 --> 00:27:27.490 that's causing the breach of peace between you and others, whatever it is that 263 00:27:27.609 --> 00:27:32.680 you are griping about, whatever it is that's the PA and your mattress and 264 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:37.119 you, just like the girl in the fable. You can't get comfortable because 265 00:27:37.160 --> 00:27:44.430 of it. If you were to get your way on that issue or in 266 00:27:44.589 --> 00:27:51.710 that debate, would get in your way? Number One, promote peace and 267 00:27:51.990 --> 00:28:00.500 love and harmony between you and the other and, number two, would it 268 00:28:00.619 --> 00:28:10.940 help your neighbor? No, Christ and be reconciled to God? What's more, 269 00:28:11.980 --> 00:28:15.009 regarding the way that you're going about whatever it is that you want, 270 00:28:17.210 --> 00:28:23.329 is the way that you are relating to others, your modus operande? Is 271 00:28:23.410 --> 00:28:30.359 it promoting peace and love, or does it leave a trail of wounded people 272 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:33.720 in your wake? Wounded people who may say, yeah, I have to 273 00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:40.359 do what I was told. They bow under, they do it, but 274 00:28:40.440 --> 00:28:51.670 their wounded. Now do not do this. Do not look at the next 275 00:28:51.710 --> 00:28:56.819 guy and say what about him? What about her? Because you're not responsible 276 00:28:56.940 --> 00:29:04.539 for them. The conviction here is for you and for me. Don't ask 277 00:29:06.059 --> 00:29:08.819 Whoa, Whoa. Well, okay, if I give up what I want, 278 00:29:10.210 --> 00:29:14.650 well then, if I let Katie have her way and everything will is 279 00:29:14.730 --> 00:29:22.890 that going to promote peace? Huh, don't ask that forgive me, Katy. 280 00:29:22.569 --> 00:29:32.079 Your responsibility before God is to be a peacemaker yourself. Your responsibility is 281 00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:37.000 to strive for peace among men and especially for peace in the body of Christ, 282 00:29:40.950 --> 00:29:48.309 Paul says, in Colossians Chapter One again versus twenty one through twenty four, 283 00:29:48.269 --> 00:29:52.940 and you, who were alienated, enemies in your mind by wicked works. 284 00:29:53.619 --> 00:29:57.539 Yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, 285 00:29:59.019 --> 00:30:03.660 to present you holy and blameless and, above above, reproach in his sight. 286 00:30:03.660 --> 00:30:08.769 If indeed, you continue in the faith, grounded insteadfast and are not 287 00:30:08.970 --> 00:30:14.329 moved away from the hope of the Gospel which you heard, which was preached 288 00:30:14.410 --> 00:30:18.529 to every creature under Heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. 289 00:30:18.769 --> 00:30:23.079 I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh 290 00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:29.640 what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of his body, 291 00:30:30.759 --> 00:30:36.109 which is the church. Paul says that he has been given this Ministry 292 00:30:36.190 --> 00:30:42.549 of Reconciliation for the sake of Christ's body, which is the church. Remember 293 00:30:42.630 --> 00:30:51.900 two things. One, Jesus died for the church, as Ephesian says. 294 00:30:52.259 --> 00:30:56.380 He died that he might present her to himself, a glorious church, not 295 00:30:56.619 --> 00:31:00.539 having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy 296 00:31:00.660 --> 00:31:07.170 and without blemish and number two, that he has died for the church in 297 00:31:07.369 --> 00:31:12.730 order that she might be a witness to the world around her. The context 298 00:31:12.809 --> 00:31:18.240 of the beatitudes is that they are wedged between the narrative of Jesus is calling 299 00:31:18.359 --> 00:31:22.240 the disciples in order that they might be fishers of men in chapter four, 300 00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:29.799 and then he tells them that they are to be salt and light, shining 301 00:31:29.920 --> 00:31:33.509 forth the light of Christ in a world of darkness. In other words, 302 00:31:33.549 --> 00:31:40.710 he wants us to be peacemakers in order that the world might come to know 303 00:31:40.950 --> 00:31:48.380 him. But how can the church be used by the Lord for making peace 304 00:31:48.500 --> 00:31:53.779 between men and God if we don't strive for peace in our own midst here 305 00:31:55.140 --> 00:32:00.859 in our church, with other Christians outside of our church? The body is 306 00:32:00.059 --> 00:32:09.930 called to be a peacemaking institution, and if we don't do that, if 307 00:32:10.009 --> 00:32:16.240 we allow unreconciliation to go on in Christ's body, then we deny the very 308 00:32:16.440 --> 00:32:22.400 gospel that we claim has changed our lives. If we are to be faithful, 309 00:32:22.920 --> 00:32:27.440 indeed if we are children of God at all, we must, we 310 00:32:28.480 --> 00:32:36.069 will be faithful, to set ourselves to the work of reconciliation and peacemaking, 311 00:32:36.109 --> 00:32:43.950 and God knows that this is hard for us and Coloshin's one hundred and twenty 312 00:32:43.990 --> 00:32:46.660 four. Paul says that it is so hard to be working for peace in 313 00:32:46.779 --> 00:32:52.940 the body. Says this, I rejoice voice in my sufferings for you and 314 00:32:53.299 --> 00:32:59.970 fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the 315 00:33:00.089 --> 00:33:04.650 sake of his body, which is the church. Paul recognizes that this is 316 00:33:04.849 --> 00:33:12.170 hard. Peacemaking is tough. Seeking to be reconciled to others, to reconcile 317 00:33:12.250 --> 00:33:17.799 others together, man, that is hard, hard, heartbreaking work. Letting 318 00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:27.990 go of what I want for the sake of the Gospel is hard. But 319 00:33:28.150 --> 00:33:34.910 Paul comforts us here. He's telling us that when peacemaking becomes so painful that 320 00:33:35.069 --> 00:33:40.980 we shy away from putting our hand to that plow any longer, Paul says 321 00:33:42.019 --> 00:33:45.980 that we are actually participating in the sufferings of Christ. We are making up 322 00:33:46.220 --> 00:33:52.099 in our body. He says, what was lacking in the suffering of Christ. 323 00:33:52.900 --> 00:33:57.009 In other words, even when peacemaking is hard and even when we want 324 00:33:57.250 --> 00:34:01.250 so very much to impute the other guys sent on to him, when I 325 00:34:01.410 --> 00:34:06.130 want to make him eat a holy fish sandwich, just sit there and listen 326 00:34:06.170 --> 00:34:09.800 to me tell him about it, and it's killing me not to do it. 327 00:34:12.440 --> 00:34:19.440 Even then, we can be comforted and strengthened because of the Gospel promise 328 00:34:19.559 --> 00:34:27.110 that g Jesus absorbed in his own flesh the sufferings that we endure in the 329 00:34:27.230 --> 00:34:34.829 interests of peace. He takes the other sin so that I might be reconciled 330 00:34:35.429 --> 00:34:40.699 to him. And as we do this, as we seek to exhibit the 331 00:34:40.820 --> 00:34:47.699 family resemblance by working for peace and reconciliation, Jesus says that we shall be 332 00:34:50.059 --> 00:34:57.610 called the sons of God. He's using a verb tense, the continuous future, 333 00:34:57.610 --> 00:35:02.449 passive, meaning forever and ever into the future. Other people will look 334 00:35:02.489 --> 00:35:07.840 at you and me as we strive to reconcile, as we strive to be 335 00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:14.280 reconciled with others. People will look at us and they will see the family 336 00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:20.320 resemblance that we have for Jesus and they will glorify God. They will, 337 00:35:20.360 --> 00:35:25.869 as Paul says, they will even glorify God in me. And as they 338 00:35:25.909 --> 00:35:32.150 see that, as Jesus says later in Matthew Chapter Five, he says they 339 00:35:32.190 --> 00:35:40.019 will see your good works and they will glorify your father in heaven to the 340 00:35:40.219 --> 00:35:49.300 praise of God forever and ever. That that is good news. Amen.