In Matthew 5, Jesus preaches his famous Sermon on the Mount to a multitude of disciples. In the first 12 verses, He shares the Beatitudes. Essentially, a list of people whom God will bless because of the way they live their lives for Him. In Matthew 5:9 (NLT), he tells us, «God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.» Those who work for peace. The VNI declares: «Blessed are the peacemakers.» Those who make peace. It is clear that peace does not come by itself, all of you. It is not easy. And that`s really the point. So what do we do with it? Even if we live in Him, how can we become peacemakers in a world so full of conflict? If our meat fights against it? There are no easy answers. And in the end, this world will have problems until Jesus returns. James 3:17 says, «Wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceful.
And this is the order that we also have in the Beatitudes. First: «Blessed are the pure in the heart,» then «Blessed are the peacemakers.» Purity takes precedence over peace. Purity is the foundation of biblical peace. Purity must not be compromised to make peace. So you see why this must be so – God`s children must be peacemakers. Through the Spirit of God, we are made children of God, and the Spirit of God is the Spirit of peace. If we are not peacemakers, we do not have the Spirit of Christ. Blessed are the peacemakers who pray for your enemies and greet your adversaries with love and sacrifice, like your Heavenly Father for the reconciliation of men with God and among themselves, for you will be called sons of God and inherit eternal life in your Father`s kingdom. Not necessarily. Paul said, «If possible. So he admits that there will be times when defending the truth will make it impossible. For example, it says in 1.
Corinthians 11:18-19: «I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe this in part, because there must be factions among you so that those who are sincere among you can be recognized. Well, Paul would not have said this if he had meant that true Christians were compromising the truth to prevent divisions at all costs. In fact, precisely because some of the Christians were true «true peacemakers,» some of the divisions existed (see also 1 Corinthians 7:15). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lists the blessings that await those who live their lives in a certain way. Jesus addresses the peacemakers in particular by saying, «Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God» (Matthew 5:9). #2 «. Peacemakers are those who are saved and who carry out Jesus` ministry to preach the gospel to those in need of peace. In this way, peace is made with God and with others for those who respond to our message when love and forgiveness take place. Peacemakers are also those who try to calm an angry person and defuse a conflict (Proverbs 15:1).
#3 «For they will be called children of God.» Peacemakers are recognized by others and by God as His children when they behave like their Heavenly Father. As mentioned above, men and women could be called «sons of God,» as the literal translation suggests, for it is only in Christ, the Son of God, in whom we are and remain hidden, that we refer to our Holy Father. Peacemakers are called children of God simply because they have received new hearts through Jesus and reflect God`s peace while being more and more like Him. Their eternal reward for following Jesus and imitating the peace of Christ is to be welcomed into God`s family. D.A. Carson puts it this way in his conversation with God desiring: «Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.» In other words, peacemakers are blessed for their work by being explicitly identified in heaven as children of the «God of peace» (Romans 15:33). When Jesus says, «Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God,» he is not telling us how to become a Son of God. On the contrary, Jesus simply says that the sons of God are in fact peacemakers. People who are peacemakers are recognized by judgment as sons of God and accepted into the father`s house. Notice verse 45, «That ye may be sons of your Father, who is in heaven.» The thought is the same as in Matthew 5:9. There we must be peacemakers to be called sons of God. Here we must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us if we were sons of God.
There is a great responsibility to read the Sermon on the Mount and understand jesus` expectations of his disciples. There is also great hope when we look to Christ, the God-man who has already overcome all sin and death for us on the cross. Will our efforts for peace sometimes be desperate? Yes. Will we sometimes fail miserably? It is likely. But through each stage of obedience, each active death for our sinful rebellious hearts, Jesus makes us more like Him. The disciple who loves Christ and has committed himself to Him as Messiah will continue to fight for His peace because He has already given all the peace we need. Only in His power can we choose peace, and only in His grace can we fail to make peace while being completely forgiven and fully loved. When we try to apply Matthew 5:9 to our lives, we rely on the fact that our happiness or bliss comes from being a child of God. As children of God, we can be peacemakers because we imitate our Father, who is the God of peace. «Blessed are the peacemakers» in Matthew 5:9 is not just an encouraging expression, but a call to live in the light of eternity every hour of the day and night. Regardless of the results of a peacemaker`s efforts, Jesus ultimately promises that the peacemaker will be blessed by explicitly referring to him as a child of God (Matthew 5:9). The Greek word translated as «blessed» in this context refers to someone who has been made happy by receiving God`s favor.
2. By working for peace, peacemakers reconcile people to God and to each other. In the gospel, Christ explains that all the scriptures can be summed up by two commandments: Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:34-40). One by one, the Beatitudes tell us that the blessings of eternity are given only to those who have become new creatures.