Today we continue in the Word of God. In that part of the Lord's teaching that is called the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes simply means the blessings. And that is the part that we read about: blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed those who mourn, blessed the meek, blessed those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, blessed the merciful, blessed the pure in heart, we studied last week. And today we come to the words in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 9, blessed are the peacemakers.
Now let us sum up very briefly what we saw last week. The Lord Jesus said that blessed are the pure in heart, for they, not anyone else, but they shall see God. Only those who are pure in heart are given the promise of the vision of God. The promise of eternal life. Now this leads us to the question, what does it mean to be pure in heart? And to summarize what we studied last week, the pure heart is a heart that has been cleansed from the flesh, from the self. The word in Greek literally means the clean in heart. Cleansed from sin and from self. But cleansed in such a way, as we saw also, that the whole heart, because it is freed from sin and from self, can now concentrate itself wholly upon loving God with its whole being. Loving God. So the circumcised in heart, those who are cleansed from sin and from self, are those who can love God with the whole being, with the whole concentration of its being. And because it is so devoted and dedicated to God in singleness of mind, it keeps His commands, it does His will. This heart, which is dedicated to doing His will, with single-minded devotion.
So the pure in heart then are those who love God with the whole heart and who do His will. Now what is His will that we may do it? Well the answer is right here. His will is that we are peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers. So you can see a certain progression of thought, a certain succession of thought, as we move into these words.
Now there is something very beautiful about the order of these Beatitudes, nine Beatitudes, and yet there is a certain duplication of the Beatitudes which reduces it, in essence, to seven. Yet, in form, there are nine. And if we remove the final two, in the sense of the order of the two which have to do with persecution at the end, we have an order of eight, which can be also reduced to seven. By this time you are very confused. What do I mean?
Well what I mean is this. The first two blessings, and by the way, it may be of interest to you to know that in some manuscripts, the blessed are the meek follows the words, blessed are the poor. Because of course, the meek and the poor are the same people. And in fact, as we saw from the Hebrew, there are two forms of the same words, the poor and the meek. The Hebrew word can be translated as poor or translated as meek. It's virtually the same. And that is why in many manuscripts that we have, very important manuscripts, blessed are the poor and blessed are the meek follow each other. And these two are a kind of duplicate of each other. The last two are also a duplicate of each other. Blessed are those who are persecuted. Blessed are you when you are reviled and persecuted. So these two are a duplicate of each other, saying virtually the same thing. And the first two, the first is duplicated and the last is duplicated. So that means although there are nine, in essence, there are seven Beatitudes.
And then you will also notice a certain progression. A progression from the inward to the outward. It starts with blessed are the poor in spirit. That's inward. In your spirit, you are poor. You are poor. But as we come to the last of these series of Beatitudes, you will see it goes outward. A person who is actively making peace with other people. Actively also being persecuted by other people. We have moved from the inward to the outward.
Then also, there is an interesting corresponding between what is inward that is in relation to God and what is in relation to man. Blessed are the poor in spirit as we stand in the presence of God. But then also, we mourn because of sin that is in the world. And our relation on the human level. There is a vertical relation and a horizontal relation. And this vertical and horizontal keeps interchanging. And we see this pattern. And so we see the next one. Blessed are the meek in relation to God. And then a hungering and thirsting of seeing this righteousness implemented in our lives and in the world. Blessed are the merciful and then blessed are the pure in heart. Again, the pure in heart in relation to God and then the peacemaking in relation to man.
Now we shall look at this all in more depth. But we can see a certain pattern as we move along. And we can see it and most importantly this moving from the inwards to the outwards. In other words, the Christian and the disciple is never so focused within himself, concerned with his own holiness and with his own righteousness, that he forgets the world round about him. This holiness is never one that is to be purely within. That we can live in isolation from others. That we can close the door and be holy in ourselves. The Lord is telling us that holiness and purity that He is talking about is not a purity that is achieved by separation in such a way that we don't associate with other people anymore. It is not a holiness that can be attained in a monastery. It is a holiness that moves outward like light and penetrates the darkness. That moves outward like salt and conquers the corruption round about it. And so it is never a kind of holiness that the Lord Jesus speaks of that refuses to have anything to do with other people. A holiness that can only preserve itself by shutting the doors, by isolating itself from others. And so we see this progression from the inward poverty of spirit that moves outward towards making others holy. So we see this pattern very clearly.
But let's proceed to this matter of peacemakers. What is this peacemaking that the Lord Jesus is talking about? Now here we must first understand what it does not mean lest we become confused. When the Lord Jesus speaks of peacemaking He is not talking about peacemaking in a political or social sense in the first instance. It is very important. What do we mean by this?
Well supposing then there are two warring factions or two armies facing each other. So what does the peacemaker do? Well he rushes in between the two armies facing each other and waves a banner and says peace, peace. We should not be shooting at each other. We shouldn't be fighting each other. Now you will say that's peacemaking. Right? Now what should we all be doing then? Then whenever there is going to be fighting and war we shall rush in there and do something of this sort. We think that's peacemaking. Well that's not peacemaking in the Lord's sense because that is not the way the Lord is going to go about having us to make peace. So you can see that although it looks very simple, peacemaking, we have to go a lot deeper than that.
Or what about say for example you are working in a company and the workers go on strike and so they strike against the management and the strike might take quite literal means like breaking windows and lately we had a strike here and you remember they disrupted the traffic lights and they did things of this sort which could be quite dangerous in fact. And so what do you do if that happens to be in your company? So you go to them and say no, no, no we must have peace, peace now let's not have a strike we are all going to be very friendly to each other we are all going to smile at each other we are all going to shake hands and make friends and they say well, you see I am being peacemaker. I don't go in for this violence and for this disruption and strikes and things like this.
Well, when it says peacemakers the Lord is hardly envisioning that the church is going to go out there and confront people at picket lines and go on and confront and all be pacifists because I mean if you are going to be a peacemaker you are not going to be in the army you are not going to be shooting at people with guns and so forth. Now we should all be involved in this case in political and social activity. So blessed are the peacemakers are those people who are there when the army is going to battle, you lie down on the road and say you have to march over my body because I am a peacemaker, you shouldn't go to war because in fact I am a pacifist.
Now is that what the Lord Jesus is talking about? Well you can see we can easily have the scriptures being interpreted in this sort of way by people who want to use the Bible for political and social purposes. Now is that what the Lord Jesus asks His disciples to do? Did you see the disciples lying down in front of the Roman army when the Roman army was advancing on Jerusalem and say peace peace don't do this don't march on Jerusalem we must have peace in our age? No no. Anyone who thinks of it and starts a discussion about peacemakers and starts talking about peace in this world and peace on the political level has not understood what is our task in this generation. Peace is not going to be achieved by this sort of means.
Peace and the church as you will notice and as you read your New Testament you will realize the church hardly ever, in fact we have no instance of it, getting involved in political issues or social issues and things of this kind. Now if that's not the case, how exactly are we making peace? What kind of peace are we talking about?
Well clearly when you study the Lord's teaching you understand that He is talking about peace first and foremost at the spiritual level. Well you say then does the Christian not care about political things? Does the Christian not care about social things? Today we have this constant debate and thing going on about Quebec yes or no, is it going to be independence or not, and these two factions are going at it. Well then how do we make peace in this circumstance? Does the Christian withdraw and say no we only talk peace on the spiritual level? How do we cope with these questions and with these problems?
Well the other day when I was talking to a sister she was asking me this very question. Shouldn't we be involved in social issues in political issues as Christians? And after all Christians do make a rather big number in this world and if all Christians decided to make peace or to deal with social and political issues we should have quite a significant voice in the world indeed. But that is not what the Lord Jesus is talking about at this stage.
And I explained it to her like this. You could deal with the problem at the social level and at the political level but you would only be dealing with the symptoms. It is like so much medicine today which is symptomatic treatment. If you've got a pain here you treat that particular symptom. You don't treat the cause of the problem. You treat the symptom. So you got a headache you swallow an aspirin. That is symptomatic treatment. You don't ask or you don't know why there was a headache in the first place. So instead of treating the problem at its source you are treating the problem at its manifestation. You are treating symptoms not the disease at all.
Now political and social unrest, political and social problems are symptoms of something much, much deeper. And that is why lying in the path of an advancing army is not going to solve any kind of problems because the problem lies not in this particular advance or that particular advance but in what causes wars at all. And there you have to go into the human heart to look for the problem. That is why the Christian who understands the problem treats the problem at the level of the heart. Blessed are the pure in heart. Only the Lord Jesus deals with the problem at the root of the problem. It is no use trying to deal with this particular strike and then when you have tried to settle this one you have another strike and another strike, an endless strike. You cannot deal with problems by treating those particular symptoms. If you want to deal with the problem you have to go right to the heart of the matter and that is the corruption of the human heart.
When the human heart is healed of its disease then of course the symptoms disappear. That is clear. Scripture has always aimed at solving social problems not at the social level but at the spiritual level where all the other problems arise from. Therefore it is very good to have a social consciousness and a political consciousness but to deal with the problem at that level is to fail to understand that all human problems originate at the spiritual level. You are only truly dealing with those problems when you start at the spiritual level.
Take for example in the days when Paul lived. You will have noticed that there was a problem of slavery. Now what did Paul say? Did he go out there and say to the people ah we must have peace we must not have this oppression we must change the social situation we must not have man oppressing man we must abolish slavery? You don't hear Paul saying that and we are surprised. But if you understand the spiritual strategy you will realize that Paul is going to abolish slavery not by standing there waving flags about the abolition of slavery but by preaching the gospel in such a way that man's hearts are changed. And because your heart is changed you immediately realize that you cannot treat a fellow human being as a piece of property. You cannot do it and you cannot do it because your heart is changed.
You see and no wonder that as the gospel advanced slavery fell away. The gospel doesn't have to preach anti-slavery. It simply changed the heart of man and slavery just went away. Slavery could not be practiced anymore where the gospel was preached because man could no longer treat a fellow man in such an oppressive manner. You see that when you treat the root cause the symptoms disappear.
Slavery was a symptom of man's sinfulness, man's desire to possess another person and to dominate another person. But when his heart is changed that desire goes away. But if you change the outside without changing the inside then slavery will simply take another form. It just takes another form. You can abolish slavery in the form in which people buy and sell human beings but slavery simply appears in another form of oppression such as oppressing workers, oppressing the poor. You may not own him as a slave but you can still oppress him economically. You can still take advantage of him. You can still trample the poor as they did in Israel. You see whenever Israel spiritually declined and that's exactly what happened, social injustices arose. What are you going to do? Fight each social injustice as it arises? If you do that you are again only fighting the symptoms. The prophets did not fight just the symptoms. They denounced the symptoms but they said that those symptoms were due to the spiritual malaise, the spiritual disease right deep down in the person.
So let us understand the issue clearly. The reason why I will not get involved in political disputes or social unrest is because I aim to deal with the problem at the spiritual level. And only when the man is changed will there be a change at the level of social and political problems. Now you can begin to understand the strategy of the gospel, the strategy of the Bible. And many Christians failing to understand this think that Christians are passive and uninvolved. That is quite mistaken. Quite mistaken. Because when people are changed then all the other issues will be affected too.
So let us understand how it affects our behavior. When it says peacemakers it does not mean that you go and carry signs just simply outside there walking up and down the street saying peace. Well that doesn't change people in the heart. It can make you look ridiculous without achieving anything. I don't mind looking ridiculous if being ridiculous helps to change people in their hearts but otherwise nothing is really solved. No problems are really dealt with.
Now the other thing we must understand that peacemaking is not is that it is not compromise. Making peace is not just compromising all kinds of moral and spiritual issues or we'll say okay we'll make peace and since you disagree with me okay we'll just forget the whole issue. That means truth doesn't really matter, peace is all that matters and we will have peace at any price. Well that's not the Lord's teaching at all. That is not the case at all. There is, to speak like this, is to fail to understand the relationship in scripture of peace and righteousness.
Peace and righteousness in scripture can never be separated. Wherever you see peace you will see righteousness there. It's always like this in scripture and this is a principle that will not and cannot change. And so when you look for example, let us take one look at for example Proverbs chapter 10 and verse 10 where the word peacemaker appears. Proverbs 10:10 reads like this: he who winks the eye causes trouble, but he who boldly reproves makes peace. Now that's very surprising. He makes peace by boldly reproving falsehood. Strange isn't it. We didn't expect that.
You see hatred, the next verse in verse 11 says, the mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life. How is the mouth of the righteous a fountain of life? Because he reproves falsehood as we have just read. And then but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. Verse 12, notice it conceals violence. It speaks peace but really it means violence. In other words violence is hidden in the beautiful words that is said. Verse 12, hatred stirs up strife but love covers all offenses.
Now notice again verse 10. The one who winks his eye, sort of a friendly gesture maybe in the west is winking the eye but this person causes trouble. But he who boldly reproves, who speaks out against evil and sin, is the one who makes peace. You see without righteousness peace has no foundation. How can you have peace, enduring peace, on the foundation of falsehood? You cannot have it. It's very easy to understand. The only sure foundation of an enduring peace has to be justice and righteousness. Now how can you have justice and righteousness through falsehood and through compromise with falsehood? You cannot have it.
That's why you understand Proverbs 10 verse 10. He who reproves boldly is the one who makes peace. Unlike those false prophets that Jeremiah denounces all the time. Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 14 for example and Jeremiah chapter 8 and verse 11 for example where these false prophets are for example saying peace peace when there is no peace. That is falsehood. They are not peacemakers at all. You do not make peace by just saying peace peace. You have to speak the truth. When there is no peace you do not say peace peace. You say there will be no peace as Isaiah says. There is no peace to the wicked. There is no peace to the wicked says Yahweh. You cannot have peace at the price of righteousness and truth.
And this is the reason why for example the Lord Jesus who is called the Prince of Peace in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6, Prince of Peace, yet constantly denounces sin. And nowhere more seriously as against the religious people of His day. The most religious people in the Lord's day were the Pharisees and the scribes of the Pharisees, the Pharisaic scholars. The Lord Jesus denounced this group with almost with a severity that is not seen elsewhere. He speaks out against their sin and their falsehood of these religious people. You see that the whole chapter of Matthew 23, the whole chapter is occupied with such denunciation.
So bear in mind what peacemaking is not. Peacemaking is not a compromise with falsehood and say well okay for the sake of peace even what he says is false I wouldn't say anything about it, we just have to love, we just have to be peacemaking. That is not the case at all. And so when Peter for example in Galatians chapter 2, the Lord Jesus as Paul mentions it, when Peter was behaving in an unscriptural and incorrect, unrighteous manner, an inconsistent manner, you find immediately that Paul spoke out against him and rebuked him publicly. You say that's very unloving to speak out like this in such a severe manner against Peter who after all is a senior apostle. That doesn't matter as far as Paul is concerned because now where there is falsehood there is going to be strife, there is going to be dissension. You cannot have peace where there is sin. You have to understand this clearly.
And this takes us to our next point because you must understand that sin is the cause of all disharmony and all discord. Untruthfulness, falsehood, whether in speech or in conduct, is the foundation of every kind of disharmony. Sin is the cause of every sort of conflict there is whether within yourself or outside of yourself. You can be sure of that.
If you live in sin you can be sure of one thing that sooner or later inside of you there is going to be unrest, discomfort, tension, nervousness. We live in the western society which is a society that is living on Valium, living on tranquilizers, living on sleeping pills. This is our problem because we live under so much pressure from outside and from inside. But why is there so much pressure? Why this tension? Well if the tension is simply because you are rushed with a volume of work that is another matter and sometimes we simply cannot put up with this enormous pressure of work that has to get done. So much so that even Paul was able to say that sometimes he suffered from sleepless nights when he thought of the work that had to be done, the anxiety and care of the churches. That is another matter.
But if your nervous tension, if your anxiety is due to some other cause such as your conflict with a brother or sister, your conflict with your wife or with your husband, your conflict with friends, your conflict with your boss, conflict, conflict everywhere, tension, and that's a different matter. Then your sleeplessness is due to sin. Sin is the ground of all conflict.
How is your personal relationship getting on let's say with your wife? Oh the family is a source of so much conflict because their sin comes to the surface so quickly. Selfishness causes so much problem, so much tension, so much unhappiness in the home or among friends or between father and mother, sons and daughters. Oh the conflict it is just terrible. And you know it when you bring up a child, the child always insisting on its own way. You try to tell it what's good for itself but it thinks that that's no good, it doesn't like that way. Conflict again.
And so sin brings on internal distress, mental stress and stress all around you. And that is why the peacemaker cannot just make peace by covering up these issues. It will not do. He must realize that sin is the cause of all this kind of discord and therefore he must deal with sin. And therefore the peacemaker must have as his primary concern the antidote to sin which is righteousness. He must be preoccupied with righteousness. And this point is so important to observe.
Now to deal with righteousness, how do you, to be concerned with righteousness, to deal with sin, how do we go about it? The peacemaker then must consider how he deals with unrighteousness. Well he can reprove it. That is one thing. He must speak out against sinfulness. And that's not going to make him very popular. That's not going to make him well liked. And you're going to see that the very next Beatitude is blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. You see, you see the connection immediately. The next Beatitude speaks about persecution for righteousness' sake. So clear is the connection, the sequence immediately follows.
Because immediately when you want to establish true peace in your own life, how do you go about establishing peace in your own life? By swallowing tranquilizers? Well that will help you relieve the symptoms for a while but it will not solve the problem within you. How to solve the problem? You must begin to build righteousness into your life.
But how? You know there are some places in this world especially in Africa and some places in Southeast Asia where the floor of the house is made of mud. Now how do you clean a mud floor? How do you get a mud floor really clean? Well the way to do it of course is what? Well you take soapy water and you pour it over the floor and you take a hard brush and you scrub it. Right? What happens when you scrub a soapy floor with a hard brush, and I mean a muddy floor, a mud floor? Well all you will have is a pool of mud by the time you finish. And so instead of it getting cleaner by putting the soap on it, what happens, it gets even muddier.
So what do you do? You say well okay so I think this soap and brush method is not very good for a mud floor. So what do you do? So you sweep it and all the dust is flying up in the room. So how do you clean a mud floor? Well the best you can do is sweep the dust out and hope that that will solve the problem to some extent. In fact you see a mud floor cannot be cleaned in this way. You just have to put something else as a floor. You have to have a different floor altogether. And that's why you can understand why houses today are built with wooden floors elevated above the mud floor or you have to put a cement foundation so that your foundation is cement and not mud. Your house is built on a solid foundation. Most of you go down to the basement of your houses you will see that there isn't mud down there. Your whole house is founded on a solid block of concrete.
You see so in the same way in order for this house to be stable and to be clean you have to have a new foundation in it. You cannot just keep scrubbing your mud floor. What is the message then? The message is simply this: if you are just trying to say okay I realize that I don't have peace because my life is not clean, it is not righteous, so what I'm going to do, I'm going to bring in the soap and the brush and I'm going to wash the mud away. Well underneath that mud there's more mud. So you cannot have peace in your life. And this is what the peacemaker understands: is to have a new foundation. And that is what the Bible calls regeneration. In short you cannot have peace and therefore if you don't have peace you cannot be a peacemaker without being changed, without having a completely new heart within you. You have to be transformed.
So the Lord Jesus when He speaks of a superficial peace in which everybody just keeps their mouth shut, it's like the case I told you about a wedding when somebody said to the husband and the wife how come your marriage has lasted so long. They said to this old couple well the husband replied well it was like this you see that we made a pact between us at the beginning of the wedding. And the man said what was the pact? The pact he said was like this: whenever we have a dispute or a quarrel then I go out for a walk and we let things calm down. He says that's the way we have lasted so long in the marriage. He said you see the reason is because ever since we made that pact I have been living my life out of the house most of the time. He has been spending most of his time going on walks. So he kept very healthy because he had to stay out of the house most of the time. He said I have been engaged in the outdoor life ever since then.
So the only way to have peace was that they don't see too much of each other. And every time they have a quarrel he goes out and goes for another walk. It's a kind of truce in which everybody ceases fire for the time. You don't shoot and I don't shoot, okay. And we'll just call it a cease fire. You don't open fire, I don't open fire. Otherwise we'll both get hurt. So we'll just have a standoff.
Well that is peace with a mud floor. That is no use because how can you have a long term peace like this. The only way like this is to be, the effect of that kind of marriage is virtually not to be married at all. Because you have a home in which you spend most of the time outside. Or else you have a home in which you partition the home like the Berlin wall and you come across only with passports. So you stay on your side and I stay on my side and we will have peace in this way. And I have seen marriages that only function in this way. Let me tell you honestly I have seen marriage that functions like this. It is a complete standoff in which husband and wife try to talk to each other at the minimum of occasions possible because every time there's going to be a talk there's going to be an argument and there's going to be a flare up. So the best way is you keep quiet and I keep quiet and that will be peace. If that doesn't work out then of course the only next step would be the step of divorce. And since most Christians don't believe in divorce, then we just have a standoff, separation. No, no. We have to have inner change to have lasting peace. A genuine peace. And that is the only way.
You see, only when God has so changed our hearts, and so transformed our hearts, that we can become, we can have this peace within us. My peace, the Lord Jesus says to His disciples in John 14, I give to you. Not as the world gives, give I peace to you. Now this peace comes about, the peace that the Lord Jesus speaks about, is a peace that comes through reconciliation. Reconciliation.
You see, peacemaker is one who reconciles two parties. Isn't it? He says to this party and to that party, I will stand in between the two, and make peace between these two parties. That's a peacemaker. We are to become peacemakers in what way? Well, first and foremost, we must make peace between our own peace with God, and our own peace with man. And then we can reconcile God and man. In this way, we can make peace between these two parties. Because we ourselves have been reconciled.
Now a peacemaker must then be in good standing with both parties. That's clear, right? Nobody is going to accept you as a mediator if you don't stand in good terms with one party or the other. That's the first thing. A mediator, a peacemaker, who stands in good relations with both parties. But more than that, he has not only to stand in good relations, he must love both parties. Now why would you make peace between two people? Why would you stick your neck into it? Because peacemaking is one of the most dangerous occupations. You're likely to be fired on from both sides. You're likely to get in trouble with both sides.
You know what happens to mediators. They're the kind of people who get shouted at by both parties in their effort to make peace for both. Just look at what Carter's been trying to do. He's tried to make peace between the Arabs and the Jews and only ends up with both of them shouting at him. And he's still hoping that something might work out of this. It's so difficult. Because while you're making peace, the other side says, you are on those black people's side, those on the Arab side. And the Jews say, you are on the Arab side, the Arabs say, you are on the Jewish side. So where is he? He's caught there in between.
Nothing but genuine love will make us to be true peacemakers. Now notice very carefully the spiritual principle that emerges from this. You cannot be a peacemaker in the Lord's sense of the word unless you truly love God and you truly love man. And therefore you desire to reconcile both. That is something very difficult. That shows how high is the standard of peacemaker here. It is not something quite as simple as waving a card and walking on the streets. We can all do that for political reasons. It is not as simple as just standing there and making political speeches. It has to be born of a genuine love for God and for man.
Loving God. Can we say we really love God, that we love Him enough to want to be a peacemaker, to reconcile people to God? Can we say we really love man to the extent that we want to be a peacemaker? Just think of your personal conflicts for a moment if you think that's easy. Think of your relationship to your, say, your roommate, to your parents, to your friends. Or let's come back to this matter of husband and wife again. With your children, peacemaker. Oh, that comes down to the brass tacks of making peace. That is really the difficult part.
So we can see that having such a love for God and such a love for man has to come from regeneration. As Romans chapter 5 verse 5 says, the love of God which is shed abroad into our hearts. Unless that happens, all this talk about blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God, it's impossible. It cannot be done. It is again a pipe dream. But only when we are changed. I stress this time and again that salvation depends upon a transformation of the man. The transformation within us to make this possible.
Can you say that you have been changed to the extent that you are willing to love God with your whole heart and love man even if that man is your enemy? You see, the Lord's teaching here involves love for the enemy. Matthew chapter 5 tells us this very thing of loving the enemy. Because in verses 44 and 45 we find the parallel to this Beatitude. Here the Lord Jesus says in the same chapter just further down in the chapter verses 44 and 45: But I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be the sons of your Father who is in heaven. Note carefully these words. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be the sons of God.
You see, the meaning is exactly the same as blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God. This is so important to observe. That the peacemakers are those who love their enemies because how else are you going to make peace? That we cannot do. Left to ourselves we cannot do this. Because by nature the natural man is aggressive. We have conflict because the natural man is always seeking his own interest. By nature he is like that. He may be a very nice fellow but his interest is his primary concern.
I find that you notice this immediately that when you have to do with children you will see how that their own interest is always foremost in their own minds. It is incredible. They are very nice kids. Kids are beautiful. Kids are so nice and so unbelievably selfish. They are so nice. I love kids. And I love them even though they are so unbelievably selfish. It is incredible. Selfishness is the cause of all this conflict that we have. We have this conflict because we must have our own way. And so conflict arises. There has to be a change because we do not want to put God's interest first. Other people's interest first. We don't want to do this. We will not have peace.
We must understand until we have this kind of love for people that we are willing to love them until God changes them completely. That is what a peacemaker has to do. When you go out there and love people until they are changed from their selfishness we will begin to understand the mind of Christ. For the Lord Jesus made peace by the blood of His cross.
So this takes me to this next point. The cost of being a peacemaker. The cost of being a peacemaker is precisely here. That to make peace you are overcoming sin which is the cause of unrest and turmoil by love. That is what a peacemaker has to do. He recognizes that sin is the cause of there being no peace. So how to overcome this case the situation of there being no peace? Well you have to draw people away from it. You have to tell them that sin is the cause of unrighteousness and you not only have to speak to them with your words as you say you will reprove that sinfulness but you have to love the sinner. So you have to do two things: you have to reprove the sinner as the Lord Jesus did, you reprove his sins and still love him.
Oh that is difficult. That is what makes peacemaking so difficult. It is a task that is simply so incredibly difficult yet so wonderfully worthwhile. For what is so wonderful is when you see this person changed, moving away from unrighteousness because he now understands that sin is bad.
Have you been bringing up a child? You will understand exactly what I mean. Being a peacemaker is like bringing up a child. When my girl does wrong I reprove her. If necessary I will even spank her and discipline her. And yet I have not only to reprove her but to love her in such a way that she recognizes that sin is bad. Oh the job of a parent is really difficult. It is so hard to convince a child that something is bad because the child thinks it's very good.
Have you ever tried to convince a child that sweets are bad for the child? I have almost given up on this impossible task. I don't know how I must go about proving to the child that the sweets are bad not only for its teeth, it's bad for its health because it spoils its appetite. I think if any of you are parents you know how impossible a job that is. The child is convinced that the sweet is good and you have to tell it something that is contrary to its experience. It tastes it delicious and there is daddy saying it's no good. You try convincing a child next time and that you will understand is the job of the peacemaker trying to convince a sinner that sin is bad.
But it can taste nice. I cheat in my income taxes, just so delicious because I mean I got $50 extra. I might not cheat, I lose $50. You are trying to tell me that paying $50 more to the income tax man is good? Nonsense. Paying $50 extra is bad because I know what I can do with $50. I could eat so many steaks, I could buy so many nice things for $50 and you tell me that no no no that's bad, pay the $50 income tax. Rubbish. You see the test of the peacemaker. You are trying to establish righteousness, peace on the foundation of righteousness.
Now you see the job of the peacemaker. How do you convince him that that is bad? I don't know how is this going to be done. I'm still trying to figure out a way to prove to my girl that sweets are bad and she's not convinced because her teeth are not rotten. Her teeth are still good. Last time she saw the dentist she had no holes to fill in. See and I have to say you see that's because daddy told you not to eat sweets. She's not quite convinced.
What a job. What a job telling the sinner not to love sin because all his life he loves sin and you are telling him don't love sin. Oh that is a job. That's impossible is it? And those beautiful photographs of all those half naked women, oh it looks so exciting and then you say no no no no that is appealing to the flesh. It looks good to his eyes, I mean so beautiful and then you are saying no no no that's no good. That is a task that is really the Christian who is trying to establish righteousness as a peacemaker often feels himself fighting an uphill battle that he is almost sure to lose.
Try convincing the guy and he says to you well I am not worse than the other guy. I mean I only cheated fifty dollars in the income tax, that guy cheated five hundred dollars. Only fifty dollars, I am a good fellow compared to that one you know. And you are trying to say it doesn't matter if it's fifty dollars or five hundred dollars, stealing is stealing. Well he doesn't seem that way. I mean after all there is a difference between five hundred and fifty right? Oh what a job.
What a job a peacemaker has an unenviable job. And what is more if you go on long enough you are going to find that you make an awful lot of enemies because they begin to say go on take yourself away holy Joe we've had enough of this. I mean we have to live in the realities of this world okay. And you take your holiness away somewhere else and you keep preaching to the monks in the monastery. As for us we have to fight this life and we have to live this life in this real world.
We all know the feeling. You go away frustrated. Here am I trying to make peace to reconcile man with God and I am just wasting my time. It's a tough tough job. And what is more if you go on to the point where you really touch a raw spot then you are in trouble because they are going to turn on you as they turned on the Lord Jesus and crucified Him. When you are dealing with small matters they can still smile but when you start dealing with the big sins in their life then they are not going to smile anymore. When John the Baptist said to King Herod you must not take your brother's wife, well for his trouble he ended up in jail and died in jail. If he had only talked about $50 income tax Herod might still have been smiling. So this is life. But you start talking about my private affairs with my brother's wife, well that I don't stand. That is enough. Privacy is privacy. You just go mind your own business. When you are talking about sin you are talking about my sin and my private life, now you just stick your nose out of it otherwise when I slam the door your nose might just be jammed in it.
A peacemaker, what a job. And yet notice well, we are called to precisely this job because when you are calling people to peace you are calling people to a task of a complete change of life. A life in which Jesus is going to reign in their lives when they cease from selfishness and Jesus is going to establish righteousness in their lives. Oh what a task.
And so I was talking with Boo just a while ago in the car. He is going back to Singapore with Boon and so on and talking to his friends and we are talking about the problems he might face when trying to speak to them about the truth. Well that is the whole problem. The peacemaker is one who has to speak the truth to build peace on a solid foundation.
But before we close let us notice these words. What does it say here? Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God. Now here we must observe these words: they shall be called the sons of God. Now what does it mean they shall be called the sons of God? This passive in Greek grammar it's often called a divine passive, means God shall call them His sons. He shall acknowledge you as His sons. They shall be called by God His sons. And notice also that this is future tense. They shall be called sons of God. Not that they are called sons of God now.
Now this is very interesting because a little bit further on we do find that the Lord Jesus speaks of the disciples as God's sons. Verse 16 for example: let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Now if God is already your Father then follows that you are His son now. And yet the Lord Jesus here is not speaking about a present sonship but a future sonship.
Now this is very important to understand accurately on the basis of exegesis. We must not make the mistake of thinking that the Lord Jesus is speaking about a present sonship. It's very important to notice this. He is speaking about sonship in the future. Now there are two things about sonship we must observe. There is a present sonship and a future sonship. Did you realize that the scripture teaches a difference of two types of sonship? You are sons now but only in a very preliminary sense. So don't argue from the sense once a son always a son. Don't make this kind of mistake. You are sons only on a probationary sense you might say. In a sense you are not yet fully adopted.
No no you say am I saying that? No scripture says that not me. Let me read to you Romans chapter 8. And Paul speaks of our sonship many times and yet when he comes to this passage he speaks about a sonship that is yet future. Romans chapter 8 and what does Paul say in Romans chapter 8 in verse 23?
Now notice that earlier in the chapter he spoke of us as sons already. Let's read it verse 15. Romans 8:15: for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but you have received the spirit of sonship when you cried Abba Father. That's in verse 15. And in verse 16: it is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
But now read on to verse 23. And when he says perhaps we need to read from verse 22: we know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now. And not only the creation but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit. What was the first fruit of the Spirit? The Spirit who was given to us by which we cry Abba Father. We who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
Well you say we have the spirit of adoption and yet he says in 8:23 we wait for the adoption of sons. No no we are not yet completely adopted as sons. We still wait for adoption. We have the Spirit as a first fruit and because of that Spirit we can already truly say Father. How do we understand this? We are sons and yet not fully adopted as sons. The only way we can understand this is that we are sons on a probationary basis.
Can we say how else shall we understand this that we are sons and yet not adopted as sons? We are not fully confirmed as sons until that day as the Lord Jesus says in Matthew 5 here that we shall be called by God. He will look at you and say you are My son, you are My daughter. And that day He finally and fully acknowledges you as son. Up to that point you are a son but not yet accredited as son.
That makes me think somewhat of ambassadors. They arrive in the country and then they have to be accredited as an ambassador. They have to present their credentials to the president to be as it were formally accepted as an ambassador. Presumably that if the president didn't accept him he would have to turn around and go home again. His being an ambassador is not accepted, not recognized. Well there is a sense in which we are sons yes we have the first fruits of sonship but we have not yet fully been adopted as Paul says here. Our salvation is not yet complete. We are waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. Our bodies have not yet been redeemed. Our salvation in that sense is not yet complete. We have yet to be acknowledged as sons.
This point may be somewhat puzzling to us but if anyone else has a better solution I would like to hear it. So then let us come to this final point that we must bear in mind. What kind of persons will God address and acknowledge as sons? What kind of person? There is only one kind of person I read here and that is the peacemaker. It is the peacemakers who will be acknowledged by God as sons and daughters.
I wonder how many of us will qualify. How many of us will qualify? Time and again I have asked many Christians this question: what does Paul mean in Philippians chapter 2 when he says work out your salvation with fear and trembling? What did Paul mean by these words fear and trembling? Today we are in a generation that stresses the need for assurance, the need for feeling secure because we say that if we don't feel secure our spiritual life might be damaged. The scripture puts it the other way around. If you feel secure you will be damaged. If you don't feel so secure you might work out your salvation with fear and trembling and still so be saved. Strange we have twisted the scripture quite the opposite way around.
But in Philippians 2:12 that is exactly what Paul says. And I have many times asked Christians tell me what it means that you need to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. And today's Christians nobody can give me an answer. Not one can produce an answer. No pastor, no Christian has ever been able to produce an answer for me. You try it yourself and see. If ever you like to stump a pastor sometime just ask him what 2:12 means in Philippians and you will be guaranteed that you have no answer because given the present setup there is no way to answer the question.
But when you understand what the Lord is saying He is saying don't feel so secure. I will say that God is your heavenly Father, it is true. Although don't forget there are various kinds of sonship in the New Testament. Many kinds of sonship. The question is what kind of sonship are you talking about? The Jews are also sons of God. You read that in Romans 9. Theirs is the sonship, theirs are the promises, theirs are the patriarchs, Paul says as he begins the chapter. So they are sons too. Oh yes they are sons. The angels also are called sons of God. They also are sons. But none of these are the ones who stand on the same kind of sonship that Paul is talking about here.
What sonship is Paul talking about here? The sonship in which God acknowledges you as son in a very direct and very personal way. That is salvation in the New Testament sense. The angels don't have this kind of salvation. The Jews didn't have this kind of salvation who did not believe, who did not obey. They have sonship but not this kind of sonship.
So bear in mind this sonship that the Lord Jesus is talking about, this ultimate sonship, this adoption of sons, is the one that is awaiting the future. And by the way this future salvation is very much the point in this Beatitude. Professor Schweitzer noted it very well and so does H.A.W. Meyer. They all recognize that this sonship is not a present sonship. It's talking about the future.
Are you going to be a son on that day? That is the big question. Will you be a son? Who are going to be sons? Sons are those who are peacemakers here and now. Are you a peacemaker? If not we better start working out your salvation with fear and trembling. I say that to you on the authority of God's Word. You've got to get done. What shall I do? Be a peacemaker. What does a peacemaker do? As we have seen he reconciles God and man. To do that he has to love God and he has to love man. And he can do this only by the Holy Spirit pouring that love into his heart. So he is totally dependent upon grace in order to become a peacemaker.
Now notice carefully this: you are called to be a peacemaker. Every true disciple has to be a peacemaker, not just the pastor. The peacemaker then has to preach the message of peace. What is the message of peace? Well the message of peace is the message of salvation. That is what it is. The proclamation of peace is the proclamation of salvation. Isaiah 52 and verse 7: how beautiful are the feet of those who preach good tidings, the messengers of peace, it tells us in that passage.
And Paul in Ephesians chapter 6 as he ends the letter, Ephesians chapter 6 verse 15 says to the Christians that we must put on the helmet, we must put on the breastplate, we must put on everything. What does he say? And your feet put on what? Put on the gospel of peace. What does it mean? It means that you have to so walk and so conduct yourselves that the whole course of your life, the whole direction of your life is designed to advance, to further the gospel of peace, to further peace, spiritual peace in this world.
Now unless you do that brothers and sisters please bear this in mind. Unless you do that, unless you become a messenger of peace, unless your feet are shod with the gospel of peace, then salvation is not going to be your portion. You are not going to be called sons of God because it says here it's the peacemakers who shall be called the sons of God. That is a high calling. No wonder Paul said that our calling is a very high calling.
Do not say to yourself I am now a son of God because you believe in Jesus, you are justified, in the past yes in a sense you are a son of God much in the sense that the Jews are also sons of God. But if you are going to be God's son on that day in the full sense of sonship to which you have the chance of coming into, then right here and now you have to go out and reconcile God and man, reconcile man and man, and become a peacemaker in this generation on the foundation of righteousness.
I hope you understand well what the Lord Jesus is saying. Let us be quiet before God in prayer.
# Blessed Are the Peacemakers (Part 2) — Matthew 5:9
Stand off, separation. No, no. We have to have inner change to have lasting peace. A genuine peace. And that is the only way. You see, only when God has so changed our hearts, and so transformed our hearts, that we can become, we can have this peace within us. My peace, the Lord Jesus says to His disciples in John 14, I give to you. Not as the world gives, give I peace to you.
Now this peace comes about, the peace that the Lord Jesus speaks about, is a peace that comes through reconciliation. Reconciliation. You see, peacemaker is one who reconciles two parties. Isn't it? He says, to this party and to that party, I will stand in between the two, and make peace between these two parties. That's a peacemaker. We are to become peacemakers in what way? Well, first and foremost, we must make peace between our own peace with God, and our own peace with man. And then we can reconcile God and man. In this way, we can make peace between these two parties. Because we ourselves have been reconciled.
Now a peacemaker must then be in good standing with both parties. That's clear, right? But nobody is going to accept you as a mediator, if you don't stand in good terms with one party or the other. That's the first thing. A mediator, a peacemaker, who stands in good relations with both parties. But more than that, he has not only to stand in good relations, he must love both parties. Now why would you make peace between two people? Why would you stick your neck into it? Because peacemaking is one of the most dangerous occupations. You're likely to be fired on from both sides. You're likely to get in trouble with both sides. You know what happens to mediators. They're the kind of people who get shouted at by both parties in their effort to make peace for both.
Just look at what Carter's been trying to do. He's tried to make peace between the Arabs and the Jews and only ends up with both of them shouting at him. And he's still hoping that something might work out of this. It's so difficult. Because while you're making peace, the other side says, you are on those black people's side, those on the Arab side. And the Jews say, you are on the Arab side, the Arabs say, you are on the Jewish side. So where is he? He's caught there in between. Nothing but genuine love will make us to be true peacemakers.
Now notice very carefully the spiritual principle that emerges from this. You cannot be a peacemaker in the Lord's sense of the word unless you truly love God and you truly love man. And therefore you desire to reconcile both. That is something very difficult. That shows how high is the standard of peacemaker here. It is not something quite as simple as waving a card and walking on the streets. We can all do that for political reasons. It is not as simple as just standing there and making political speeches. It has to be born of a genuine love for God and for man.
Loving God. Can we say we really love God, that we love Him enough to want to be a peacemaker, to reconcile people to God? Can we say we really love man to the extent that we want to be a peacemaker? Just think of your personal conflicts for a moment if you think that's easy. Think of your relationship to your, say, your roommate, to your parents, to your friends. Or let's come back to this matter of husband and wife again. With your children, peacemaker. Oh, that comes down to the brass tacks of making peace. That is really the difficult part.
So we can see that having such a love for God and such a love for man has to come from regeneration. As Romans chapter 5 verse 5 says, the love of God which is shed abroad into our hearts. Unless that happens, all this talk about blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God, it's impossible. It cannot be done. It is again a pipe dream. But only when we are changed. I stress this time and again that salvation depends upon a transformation of the man. The transformation within us to make this possible.
Can you say that you have been changed to the extent that you are willing to love God with your whole heart and love man even if that man is your enemy? You see, the Lord's teaching here involves love for the enemy. Matthew chapter 5 tells us this very thing of loving the enemy. Because in verses 44 and 45 we find the parallel to this Beatitude. Here the Lord Jesus says in the same chapter just further down in the chapter verses 44 and 45: But I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be the sons of your Father who is in heaven. Note carefully these words. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be the sons of God.
You see, the meaning is exactly the same as blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God. This is so important to observe. That the peacemakers are those who love their enemies because how else are you going to make peace? That we cannot do. Left to ourselves we cannot do this. Because by nature the natural man is aggressive. We have conflict because the natural man is always seeking his own interest. By nature he is like that. He may be a very nice fellow but his interest is his primary concern.
I find that you notice this immediately that when you have to do with children you will see how that their own interest is always foremost in their own minds. It is incredible. They are very nice kids. Kids are beautiful. Kids are so nice and so unbelievably selfish. They are so nice. I love kids. And I love them even though they are so unbelievably selfish. It is incredible. Selfishness is the cause of all this conflict that we have. We have this conflict because we must have our own way. And so conflict arises. There has to be a change because we do not want to put God's interest first. Other people's interest first. We don't want to do this. We will not have peace.
We must understand until we have this kind of love for people that we are willing to love them until God changes them completely. That is what a peacemaker has to do. When you go out there and love people until they are changed from their selfishness we will begin to understand the mind of Christ. For the Lord Jesus made peace by the blood of His cross.
So this takes me to this next point. The cost of being a peacemaker. The cost of being a peacemaker is precisely here. That to make peace you are overcoming sin which is the cause of unrest and turmoil by love. That is what a peacemaker has to do. He recognizes that sin is the cause of there being no peace. So how to overcome this case the situation of there being no peace? Well you have to draw people away from it. You have to tell them that sin is the cause of unrighteousness and you not only have to speak to them with your words as you say you will reprove that sinfulness but you have to love the sinner. So you have to do two things: you have to reprove the sinner as the Lord Jesus did, you reprove his sins and still love him.
Oh that is difficult. That is what makes peacemaking so difficult. It is a task that is simply so incredibly difficult yet so wonderfully worthwhile. For what is so wonderful is when you see this person changed, moving away from unrighteousness because he now understands that sin is bad.
Have you been bringing up a child? You will understand exactly what I mean. Being a peacemaker is like bringing up a child. When my girl does wrong I reprove her. If necessary I will even spank her and discipline her. And yet I have not only to reprove her but to love her in such a way that she recognizes that sin is bad. Oh the job of a parent is really difficult. It is so hard to convince a child that something is bad because the child thinks it's very good.
Have you ever tried to convince a child that sweets are bad for the child? I have almost given up on this impossible task. I don't know how I must go about proving to the child that the sweets are bad not only for its teeth it's bad for its health because it spoils its appetite. I think if any of you are parents you know how impossible a job that is. The child is convinced that the sweet is good and you have to tell it something that is contrary to its experience. It tastes it delicious and there is daddy saying it's no good. You try convincing a child next time and that you will understand is the job of the peacemaker trying to convince a sinner that sin is bad.
But it can taste nice. I cheat in my income taxes just so delicious because I mean I got $50 extra. I might not cheat, I lose $50. You are trying to tell me that paying $50 more to the income tax man is good? Nonsense. Paying $50 extra is bad because I know what I can do with $50. I could eat so many steaks, I could buy so many nice things for $50 and you tell me that no no no that's bad, pay the $50 income tax. Rubbish. You see the test of the peacemaker. You are trying to establish righteousness, peace on the foundation of righteousness.
Now you see the job of the peacemaker. How do you convince him that that is bad? I don't know how is this going to be done. I'm still trying to figure out a way to prove to my girl that sweets are bad and she's not convinced because her teeth are not rotten. Her teeth are still good. Last time she saw the dentist she had no holes to fill in. See and I have to say you see that's because daddy told you not to eat sweets. She's not quite convinced.
What a job. What a job telling the sinner not to love sin because all his life he loves sin and you are telling him don't love sin. Oh that is a job. That's impossible is it? And those beautiful photographs of all those half naked women, oh it looks so exciting and then you say no no no no that is appealing to the flesh. It looks good to his eyes, I mean so beautiful and then you are saying no no no that's no good. That is a task that is really the Christian who is trying to establish righteousness as a peacemaker often feels himself fighting an uphill battle that he is almost sure to lose.
Try convincing the guy and he says to you well I am not worse than the other guy. I mean I only cheated fifty dollars in the income tax, that guy cheated five hundred dollars. Only fifty dollars, I am a good fellow compared to that one you know. And you are trying to say it doesn't matter if it's fifty dollars or five hundred dollars, stealing is stealing. Well he doesn't seem that way. I mean after all there is a difference between five hundred and fifty right? Oh what a job. What a job a peacemaker has an unenviable job.
And what is more if you go on long enough you are going to find that you make an awful lot of enemies because they begin to say go on take yourself away holy Joe we've had enough of this. I mean we have to live in the realities of this world okay. And you take your holiness away somewhere else and you keep preaching to the monks in the monastery. As for us we have to fight this life and we have to live this life in this real world.
We all know the feeling. You go away frustrated. Here am I trying to make peace to reconcile man with God and I am just wasting my time. It's a tough tough job. And what is more if you go on to the point where you really touch a raw spot then you are in trouble because they are going to turn on you as they turned on the Lord Jesus and crucified Him. When you are dealing with small matters they can still smile but when you start dealing with the big sins in their life then they are not going to smile anymore. When John the Baptist said to King Herod you must not take your brother's wife, well for his trouble he ended up in jail and died in jail. If he had only talked about $50 income tax Herod might still have been smiling. So this is life. But you start talking about my private affairs with my brother's wife, well that I don't stand. That is enough. Privacy is privacy. You just go mind your own business. When you are talking about sin you are talking about my sin and my private life, now you just stick your nose out of it otherwise when I slam the door your nose might just be jammed in it.
A peacemaker, what a job. And yet notice well, we are called to precisely this job because when you are calling people to peace you are calling people to a task of a complete change of life. A life in which Jesus is going to reign in their lives when they cease from selfishness and Jesus is going to establish righteousness in their lives. Oh what a task.
And so I was talking with Boo just a while ago in the car. He is going back to Singapore with Boon and so on and talking to his friends and we are talking about the problems he might face when trying to speak to them about the truth. Well that is the whole problem. The peacemaker is one who has to speak the truth to build peace on a solid foundation.
But before we close let us notice these words. What does it say here? Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God. Now here we must observe these words: they shall be called the sons of God. Now what does it mean they shall be called the sons of God? This passive in Greek grammar it's often called a divine passive, means God shall call them His sons. He shall acknowledge you as His sons. They shall be called by God His sons. And notice also that this is future tense. They shall be called sons of God. Not that they are called sons of God now.
Now this is very interesting because a little bit further on we do find that the Lord Jesus speaks of the disciples as God's sons. Verse 16 for example: let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Now if God is already your Father then follows that you are His son now. And yet the Lord Jesus here is not speaking about a present sonship but a future sonship.
Now this is very important to understand accurately on the basis of exegesis. We must not make the mistake of thinking that the Lord Jesus is speaking about a present sonship. It's very important to notice this. He is speaking about sonship in the future. Now there are two things about sonship we must observe. There is a present sonship and a future sonship. Did you realize that the scripture teaches a difference of two types of sonship? You are sons now but only in a very preliminary sense. So don't argue from the sense once a son always a son. Don't make this kind of mistake. You are sons only on a probationary sense you might say. In a sense you are not yet fully adopted.
No no you say am I saying that? No scripture says that not me. Let me read to you Romans chapter 8. And Paul speaks of our sonship many times and yet when he comes to this passage he speaks about a sonship that is yet future. Romans chapter 8 and what does Paul say in Romans chapter 8 in verse 23?
Now notice that earlier in the chapter he spoke of us as sons already. Let's read it verse 15. Romans 8:15: for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but you have received the spirit of sonship when you cried Abba Father. That's in verse 15. And in verse 16: it is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
But now read on to verse 23. And when he says perhaps we need to read from verse 22: we know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now. And not only the creation but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit. What was the first fruit of the Spirit? The Spirit who was given to us by which we cry Abba Father. We who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.
Well you say we have the spirit of adoption and yet he says in 8:23 we wait for the adoption of sons. No no we are not yet completely adopted as sons. We still wait for adoption. We have the Spirit as a first fruit and because of that Spirit we can already truly say Father. How do we understand this? We are sons and yet not fully adopted as sons. The only way we can understand this is that we are sons on a probationary basis.
Can we say how else shall we understand this that we are sons and yet not adopted as sons? We are not fully confirmed as sons until that day as the Lord Jesus says in Matthew 5 here that we shall be called by God. He will look at you and say you are My son, you are My daughter. And that day He finally and fully acknowledges you as son. Up to that point you are a son but not yet accredited as son.
That makes me think somewhat of ambassadors. They arrive in the country and then they have to be accredited as an ambassador. They have to present their credentials to the president to be as it were formally accepted as an ambassador. Presumably that if the president didn't accept him he would have to turn around and go home again. His being an ambassador is not accepted, not recognized. Well there is a sense in which we are sons yes we have the first fruits of sonship but we have not yet fully been adopted as Paul says here. Our salvation is not yet complete. We are waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. Our bodies have not yet been redeemed. Our salvation in that sense is not yet complete. We have yet to be acknowledged as sons.
This point may be somewhat puzzling to us but if anyone else has a better solution I would like to hear it. So then let us come to this final point that we must bear in mind. What kind of persons will God address and acknowledge as sons? What kind of person? There is only one kind of person I read here and that is the peacemaker. It is the peacemakers who will be acknowledged by God as sons and daughters.
I wonder how many of us will qualify. How many of us will qualify? Time and again I have asked many Christians this question: what does Paul mean in Philippians chapter 2 when he says work out your salvation with fear and trembling? What did Paul mean by these words fear and trembling? Today we are in a generation that stresses the need for assurance, the need for feeling secure because we say that if we don't feel secure our spiritual life might be damaged. The scripture puts it the other way around. If you feel secure you will be damaged. If you don't feel so secure you might work out your salvation with fear and trembling and still so be saved. Strange we have twisted the scripture quite the opposite way around.
But in Philippians 2:12 that is exactly what Paul says. And I have many times asked Christians tell me what it means that you need to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. And today's Christians nobody can give me an answer. Not one can produce an answer. No pastor, no Christian has ever been able to produce an answer for me. You try it yourself and see. If ever you like to stump a pastor sometime just ask him what 2:12 means in Philippians and you will be guaranteed that you have no answer because given the present setup there is no way to answer the question.
But when you understand what the Lord is saying He is saying don't feel so secure. I will say that God is your heavenly Father, it is true. Although don't forget there are various kinds of sonship in the New Testament. Many kinds of sonship. The question is what kind of sonship are you talking about? The Jews are also sons of God. You read that in Romans 9. Theirs is the sonship, theirs are the promises, theirs are the patriarchs, Paul says as he begins the chapter. So they are sons too. Oh yes they are sons. The angels also are called sons of God. They also are sons. But none of these are the ones who stand on the same kind of sonship that Paul is talking about here.
What sonship is Paul talking about here? The sonship in which God acknowledges you as son in a very direct and very personal way. That is salvation in the New Testament sense. The angels don't have this kind of salvation. The Jews didn't have this kind of salvation who did not believe, who did not obey. They have sonship but not this kind of sonship.
So bear in mind this sonship that the Lord Jesus is talking about, this ultimate sonship, this adoption of sons, is the one that is awaiting the future. And by the way this future salvation is very much the point in this Beatitude. Professor Schweitzer noted it very well and so does H.A.W. Meyer. They all recognize that this sonship is not a present sonship. It's talking about the future.
Are you going to be a son on that day? That is the big question. Will you be a son? Who are going to be sons? Sons are those who are peacemakers here and now. Are you a peacemaker? If not we better start working out your salvation with fear and trembling. I say that to you on the authority of God's Word. You've got to get done. What shall I do? Be a peacemaker. What does a peacemaker do? As we have seen he reconciles God and man. To do that he has to love God and he has to love man. And he can do this only by the Holy Spirit pouring that love into his heart. So he is totally dependent upon grace in order to become a peacemaker.
Now notice carefully this: you are called to be a peacemaker. Every true disciple has to be a peacemaker, not just the pastor. The peacemaker then has to preach the message of peace. What is the message of peace? Well the message of peace is the message of salvation. That is what it is. The proclamation of peace is the proclamation of salvation. Isaiah 52 and verse 7: how beautiful are the feet of those who preach good tidings, the messengers of peace, it tells us in that passage.
And Paul in Ephesians chapter 6 as he ends the letter, Ephesians chapter 6 verse 15 says to the Christians that we must put on the helmet, we must put on the breastplate, we must put on everything. What does he say? And your feet put on what? Put on the gospel of peace. What does it mean? It means that you have to so walk and so conduct yourselves that the whole course of your life, the whole direction of your life is designed to advance, to further the gospel of peace, to further peace, spiritual peace in this world.
Now unless you do that brothers and sisters please bear this in mind. Unless you do that, unless you become a messenger of peace, unless your feet are shod with the gospel of peace, then salvation is not going to be your portion. You are not going to be called sons of God because it says here it's the peacemakers who shall be called the sons of God. That is a high calling. No wonder Paul said that our calling is a very high calling.
Do not say to yourself I am now a son of God because you believe in Jesus, you are justified, in the past yes in a sense you are a son of God much in the sense that the Jews are also sons of God. But if you are going to be God's son on that day in the full sense of sonship to which you have the chance of coming into, then right here and now you have to go out and reconcile God and man, reconcile man and man, and become a peacemaker in this generation on the foundation of righteousness.
I hope you understand well what the Lord Jesus is saying. Let us be quiet before God in prayer.