The Only Way to Happiness: Be a Peacemaker
Matthew 5:9
This is a great subject to talk about and we’re just going to kind of talk around that subject. I’m not going to give you some kind of an exotic outline to follow, although we will try to hang our thoughts on some questions as we’ve done all the way through the study of the Beatitudes.
This is foundational teaching. This is bottom line. This is a kind of a primer on New Testament gospel. Very, very important teaching from the mouth of our Lord. It sums up everything. You could say that from verse 3 down through verse 12 you have a summation of what it means to be in the kingdom, what it means to be saved, what it means to be a believer, what it means to know God. It’s all wrapped up in these incredible statements that begin “Blessed are.”
And we come in verse 9 to this subject of peace. And, of course, that’s a main subject throughout the Bible. The idea of peace, in fact, permeates the Bible. It opens and closes with peace. When God originally created man and woman and put them in the garden, it was a garden of peace. Then came the Fall and peace was interrupted, Peace with God was interrupted. Peace between men was interrupted. Then at the cross Jesus came and brought peace to the heart. Some day Jesus will return and establish a kingdom of peace. And in the ultimate new heaven and new earth we will enjoy eternal peace.
So really the story of redemption is the story of peace, peace forfeited, peace regained in the heart, peace regained on the earth, and finally peace regained in the eternal state. There are, in fact, nearly four hundred references to peace in the Scripture. The only reason there is presently no peace is because there is a major conflict going on in the world that can be summarized simply in this sense, man is at war with God. That’s the problem. And that has been the problem since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden. Since the Fall when peace was totally disrupted and taken from the earth, there is an ongoing war with God. Not only is man at war with God, but so is Satan and his host of fallen angels. Consequently there is conflict both at the angelic level and at the human level in this universe.
So learning about peace, what that peace means and how to be peacemakers, is critical as we can understand. As we come to the seventh beatitude we come to the seventh step, as it were, which ascends the ladder of blessedness. We come to this very important issue of being peacemakers. That would be to say that we are agents to restore peace. We have the responsibility to bring peace to otherwise troubled hearts, to bring peace where otherwise there would be only conflict.
