Follow Baptist Church
Ps Luke Williams
Sunday March 19th, 2017

Beatitudes (3)
Matthew 5:9-12
“Teaching and ‘unteaching’ the Kingdom”
Message Notes


Today we continue our series called the Beatitudes and if you have missed it so far it is the first part of Jesus sermon on the Mount and it describes what life is like in the inside out, upside down, countercultural Kingdom of God.

This morning we will cover verses 9-12

1. V.9 Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God
· Week 1: Greek word “blessed” literally means “happy” and I think we can all agree that there is more happiness in our lives when we find ourselves at peace with others.
Marriage example:




· Where there is a Lack of peace between Husband / Wife, Parents and kids, or with your brother or sister, your extended family or at your Church, or in your school, in the workplace (employee and a boss),
· Nobody is feeling happy in that kind of environment where there is a lack of peace.
· Blessed (or happy) are the peacemakers makes perfect logic sense.

We are more than just peacekeepers, we are peaceMAKERS.

Peacekeepers:
UN Peacekeepers: Usually go into foreign nations after peace has been established, often after oppression or dictatorship and they work alongside police and civilians to promote stability, security, and peace processes; they protect personnel and property; we work with the local community in the area to promote lasting peace.
They keep peace when efforts to make peace have already happened.
Incredibly important role and the Bible makes it clear that as God’s people we are to be people who keep peace.

Ephesians 4: 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
We should absolutely be peaceKEEPERS, but we’re also called to be more than just peacekeepers, we are called to be PeaceMAKERS:

Peacemaking is something that we should be doing actively (Social media, friendship, marriage, disagreements, conflict etc)
THAT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE in our world because it’s about proving yourself right, getting even and justifying ourselves. However, Jesus is presenting the Kingdom of God. It’s upside down and it’s inside out.
Peacemakers don’t just keep peace (although that’s important) they make peace. When you make peace you actually initiate it. You build the bridge. You create something where it wasn’t before.

· WEEK 1: The Jews were waiting for this Kingdom of God to be established on earth. Earthly Kingdom where they would overthrow the Roman Empire and become the superpower in the world.

· In their mind this would bring peace. God’s people would finally be at peace. The only thing they hadn’t taken into account is themselves.
· Matthew 20: James and John send their mummy to Jesus to ask if her boys could have the positions of power and authority on either side of Jesus in the Kingdom.
· The rest of the disciples are pretty peeved with them. The Kingdom hasn’t even been established yet from their perspective and they’re already squabbling and jostling to be in charge.
· This kind of Kingdom never would have bought the peace they were looking for. Wouldn’t have been the Roman Empire anymore but it wouldn’t have been long before the culture was exactly the same. Different people / same problems. Reminds me of the world we live in.
· KOG is different. It’s not external but rather it works from the inside of our lives out. More about peace than it is about power.
· Kingdom living is that we are called to be peacemakers.

In God’s strength, He wants you to stretch out your hand, to take the first step, to build the bridge, to initiate peace in His name- That’s a challenge that he can help us with.

If this is our role we need to know where or in this case WHO peace actually comes from.
· Ephesians 2: The Apostle Paul talks about a wall of hostility that existed between the Jews and the Gentiles.
· If you’re familiar with the story of the Bible you will know that God chose the Jews (calling of Abram in Gen 12), as His chosen people and through them he would bless all nations.
· Jews missed that part and they saw themselves as the only people who could be in relationship with God and anyone else who wasn’t a Jew was literally seen as unclean and often referred to as Gentile Dogs.
· Paul makes the point, in Ephesians, that Jesus has destroyed the dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles (all one family / in unity /all God’s children through Christ), BUT he has also destroyed the wall of hostility between all of us and God the Father.

Ephesians 2:13:
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.14For he himself (this is where peace comes from) is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

· There’s nothing worse than to be separated from God. To have no peace with our creator and it’s our sin that builds a wall of hostility between us and God the Father.
· Many people (even Christians) spend their lives trying to get over or go under that wall in many different ways.
· Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life, no-one comes to the Father except through me.
· Some people say that’s a bit exclusive and they’re spot on.
In John 10 he describes himself as the door or the gate: 9”I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.”
· Every other road will lead you away from peace with God but Jesus has opened up the opportunity to come back into relationship with Him and to experience His peace.
· Jesus death and resurrection was the equivalent of getting a sledgehammer and smashing through that wall of hostility and when we put our faith in Christ, it is Him who makes a way where there is no other way.
· Good works won’t get you through the wall, your parents faith won’t get you through the wall, coming to Church won’t get you through the wall, comparing yourself to others won’t get you through the wall, other religions won’t get you through the wall.
· Only Jesus will get you through the wall and on the other side of that wall is lasting peace.

Everyone wants to live a life of peace but many strive endlessly for it and never find it, because they try to find it in all the wrong places.
· Years ago, my parents had a friend who was a wealthy man.
· Had a mansion in a ritzy part of Melbourne, he had expensive cars, he had lots of money, he had a family and he bought his wife and family everything they ever wanted.
· Everything this world would say you need for success, everything we would apparently need for peace and security in life he had.
· However, the family always wanted more, they never appeared to be grateful and no matter what he did it was never enough. He never had peace.
· Until one Father’s Day, it all became too much and they found him hanging from a tree in a local park.

We try to find peace in the big questions of life: Who am I, what about my past, Will I have enough to get by, Will anybody love me, What does the future hold?
You will never find lasting peace in these areas apart from Christ.

· Who am I? That’s defined most often by our careers. What’s the first question a new person asks? What do you do for work?
· Soon as you answer that question, people can pigeon hole you or even worse you can pigeon hole yourself and start to draw your identity from what you do, rather than who you are.
· If you happen to lose your job, or lose your business all of a sudden you can easily think “Well who am I?” Maybe I’m nobody / failure / etc
· No peace ever! It’s never secure because we try to answer the who am I question by looking at what you do, rather than who you are in Christ.
· In Christ, we know that we are children of the living God. No matter what happens we can have peace in that. Our identity is eternally secure in Christ.
· What about the past? Maybe you feel like you can’t move passed the past.
· In Christ, we are forgiven
· Through a relationship with Jesus we are found not guilty for our sins because Jesus took our punishment for us on the cross.
· We’re not just forgiven but the Bible tells us that we are holy and righteous in God’s eyes.
· Reborn not refurbished. –Old’s gone, the new has come.
· We don’t have to live our lives with constant regret and shame from the past because in Christ the slate has been wiped clean.
· Will I have enough to get by? God promises that He is Jehovah Jireh, our provider and when we seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness He takes care of our daily needs. Stress or strain. worry: Birds of the air / lilies of the field- How much more will I care for you?
· Over and above that we have a guaranteed eternal inheritance and the Holy Spirit in our lives is a down payment of that inheritance.
· That’s what the future holds for us!
· Am I truly loved? Bible says that we are the Apple of God’s eye. We are valued and cherished and loved. We can have purpose and joy and hope. If we aren’t loved by anyone else on this planet we can know that we are unconditionally loved by the one person who truly counts. Our creator God.

This is what makes the Gospel so powerful- it answers the big questions of life and it meets the deepest needs of the human heart.
When we know who we are, who we’re loved by and what the future holds we can live in true lasting peace that never fades, because it’s not based on our circumstances but on God’s promises.

Peace in the Bible is the word Shalom: harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility and it’s a peace that affects every area of our lives.
This peace comes from God.

When we receive this peace from Jesus, the Prince of Peace (the one who brings this wholeness into our lives) we then, from that wholeness, can bring peace into our world and to all creation.
We often look to the broken things, of a broken world to find wholeness in life.
We look for peace, without the prince of Peace and we’ll never find it.
Once we find it in Christ, we can then start to be the light of the world. We can start to be peacemakers.

When we know who, we are, there’s a confidence in that. We’re not shaken by the opinions of others anymore. If Gods for me who can be against me.
When we know, we are forgiven, from that grace, we can freely forgive others.
When we know that God provides for us, we can go from being tight fisted to open handed to meet the needs of those less fortunate than us.
When we know that we are truly loved, from that love we can genuinely love others.

Only when we experience peace from Christ we can become peacemakers.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.
We have been created in the image of God.
Family Illustration:




· Every human being, whether they like it or not, have been created in the image of God.
· As Christians, the goal of our lives is to reflect the image of our Heavenly Father to the world around us. When people look at our lives they should see a glimpse of what God is like.
· It would be fair to say the image of God in us is a bit busted up. It’s been tainted and tarnished by the effects of sin BUT in Christ we are a new creation and part of that new creation is that the Holy Spirit is transforming us to be more and more like Christ.
God is the ultimate peacemaker and so as we actively make peace where there is no peace, we are bringing God’s character and heart into those situations.
His Kingdom comes, His will is done on earth as it is in heaven.
In that moment, we are the children of God, reflecting our Father.

“Those who respond to Jesus ministry are heirs of the Kingdom and reflect the character of their Heavenly Father as they carry Jesus mission of peacemaking to the world”- New Bible Commentary

Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.

2. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Cooper’s Beer example (Bible Society):



Christians are so surprised by all of the negative response (we’re such nice people- why would anyone hate us?), but if we knew our Bibles we wouldn’t be. Jesus said “don’t be surprised if the world hates you on account of me. They hate you because they hated me first.”
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Such an important message: Our world is becoming more and more hostile to the Gospel.
2 Choices going forward:
· Become wishy washy, culture conforming, people pleasing Christians who abandon God’s Word and embrace societies values.
· Stand for righteousness and embrace persecution.

I wouldn’t be a good pastor if I didn’t point you to the second option.
12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Phone call Illustration:





I pray that Follow Baptist Church will continue to thrive and even in the face of persecution that we would love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us as Jesus commands us to.
Even through the trials we don’t have to be afraid because we have a God who promises that he is working all things together for good for us and with that comes an incredible peace, that enables us to truly become peacemakers.