Since the beginning of time, mankind has been in pursuit of world peace. We have seen peace ambassadors or advocates everywhere. Nations long for peace. Religious leaders have preached about peace. Even husbands long for peace inside their homes. Every person is also in pursuit of peace in his own, individual life. Some people believe that the only time we can achieve lasting peace is when we die that is why we have that phrase “rest in peace.”
But on the contrary, since we live in a fallen world, we live in a world of violence. For thousands of years that human beings have been around, this world has been characterised by conflict, chaos, disharmony, and violence. Overall we recognise that human history is a history of trouble and violence.
According to studies, in the past 3,000 years of recorded world history, the world has only been at peace 5% of the time and a total of more than 8000 treaties have been made and broken. It’s funny because even nations who are at war with each other wanted to have some sort of peace treaties or sometimes, ceasefire agreements while they were fighting with each other. They also want to protect the rights of soldiers and prisoners of war like the Geneva Convention.
Read Matthew 5:1-10
This is the seventh Beatitude. Jesus is advocating peace with this Beatitude and He is saying “happy are the peacemakers and if you are a peacemaker, you will be called children of God.” If I will write a negative Beatitude, it would probably say “cursed are the troublemakers and if you are a troublemaker, you will be called children of the devil.”
Jesus did not say “Blessed are the peace-lovers” right? Because most of us are peace-lovers. Most of us loves peace. Who doesn’t want peace? Who wants to live in a noisy and chaotic world? Who wants to live in a world full of violence?
However, it is not enough that we are peace-loving people. It is not enough that we are not engaging ourselves in some kind of trouble. Jesus wants us to take a more active stance! He wants us to go out of our comfort zone, take a few steps and be a peacemaker. He gave us a special mission to help restore the peace that is no longer seen in this world after the Fall of man. The peace that Christ speaks of is not necessarily the same as this world longs for. His peace is not about governments or nations or conflicts or oppression, but His peace is something more personal that only He can provide concerning the soul man. His peace is like the streams of flowing water that quenches our thirst permanently. His peace is something that transcends human understanding and He wants us to be an agent of that kind of peace, He wants us to be a peacemaker.
The irony however, or the funny thing is…
Before Jesus came into our lives, we were actually at war with God. The Bible says that anyone who is not for God is against God. We were enemies with God because of our SIN. However, Romans 5:10 tells us that “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son…” God has reconciled us to Himself because of the work of Jesus on the Cross. Our war with God ended and we achieve peace with God because of Jesus.
If you will read Ephesians 6:15, Christians are equipped with the Gospel of Peace fitted on our feet so we must be ready to share and spread peace. As forgiven sinners, we don’t look down on other people but instead we must have compassion on them and have the willingness to help them know Jesus as we teach them the kind of peace that only Jesus provides.
Leading a sinner to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is the most important peacemaking act that any believer can perform. This is the reason why we are called ambassadors for Christ.
Christ also expects us to be an agent of reconciliation by building bridges between persons. Technically, a bridge cannot be one-sided, right? It must extend between two sides and a strong bridge needs support from both sides. How many of you are usually the ones pacifying your friends when they are quarrelling? Or when somebody in your group is fighting with someone, they call you so you can reconcile them? How many of you are the ones causing trouble?
The word “blessing” comes from the Greek Word “makarios” which means happy. If you meet a person whose name is Macario, he should be a happy person. Earlier we met Irene, right?
Jesus said “Blessed are the peacemakers” and I believe the first blessing that a peacemaker gets is happiness.
James also said in Chapter 3:18--
Jesus said that a “peacemaker” will “be called the son of God.” He is the ultimate peacemaker and He’s the Son of God. He was able to create peace in our hearts by removing the cause of conflict in our
souls. That cause of conflict is sin. The Apostle Paul said in Colossians 1:19-20 --
For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.
A person must have a real relationship with God before he or she can help someone else know God.
If you are a peacemaker Jesus said you are a child of God. If you are not, if you are a troublemaker instead, if you incite quarrels instead of reconciliation, whose child are you then?
Prayer
Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:
Father God, I confess all my sins to you today. Please forgive me. Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ. I accept Him in my life as my Saviour and as my Lord. May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be. In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen.
The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC New Westminster during its service on Sunday, July 24, 2016
I apologise if there are grammatical and spelling errors.
I also apologise if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any. as it is purely unintentional.
If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website at:
www.wordchristiancommunity.com
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