The Children of God | Matthew 5:9

Well, we come to the seventh biatitude

this morning

in Matthew chapter 5. We've been going

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

through them slowly, one by one, and

they've been building. Uh they've been

progressing. We start at the beginning

of the Christian life begins when we

become poor in spirit. What are the poor

in spirit? The poor in spirit recognize

their need. They recognize their sin.

And in their poverty, they cry out to

God who richly gives them of his grace.

There's an acronym, grace, God's riches

at Christ's expense.

And we are poor in spirit. We are in

need of God's riches at Christ's

expense. And the next biatitude deals

with mourning. Blessed are they that

mourn, for they shall be comforted. When

we we mourn, it does something in us.

Not just mourning over sin. Morning at a

funeral is good for us. It reminds us

that our life is short. It reminds us of

what's important. It reminds us that one

day we're going to meet God and we're

going to give an account for our life.

Blessed are those that mourn, for they

shall be comforted. Blessed are the

meek. The meek are the tamed of God.

Those that are submitted to God.

Meekness is not weakness as we talked

about, but meekness is power under

restraint. Moses, the meakest man in all

the earth, was himself a man of great

power and great authority. Greater power

and authority than anyone other than

Jesus in the Bible was Moses. He had

dictatorial power. He had priestly

power. Uh he he had power with God. He

had miraculous working power. Did the

most miracles. Lived the most miraculous

life. It could be argued.

Blessed are those that hunger and thirst

after righteousness. Okay. Now we move

from from being meek, submitted to God

to growth. How does growth happen in the

Christian life? Hungering and thirsting

for righteousness, for truth. It's it's

a spiritual hunger that leads us to

progress in the spiritual life. And what

does Jesus say? He says, "They shall be

filled." When you hunger and thirst for

righteousness, you have God's word that

you will be filled. You can hunger and

thirst for wealth and for power and for

fame and you will likely be left empty,

very empty. But if you hunger and thirst

for righteousness, you shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,

for they shall obtain mercy. We talked

about forgiveness. We talked about uh

having been forgiven,

we should be quick to forgive others.

And that will play in today's sermon as

well on being peacemakers. this concept

that as forgiven individuals being

reconciled to God, we seek to see others

reconciled to our heavenly father.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they

shall see God. God's doing a work in us.

He's not done with us yet, but any man

that has this hope in him purifies

himself even as he is pure. And so now

we come to uh the peacemakers. Our

sermon title this morning is called the

children of God. This privilege that we

have literally in Greek, maybe I should

have titled this called the sons of God.

That's the literal. And I think I think

the the the one thing you get out of the

literal that you don't get out of son

can mean and does mean all of us men and

women. We are called children of God.

But uniquely it points us to the fact

that Jesus, the second person of the

trinity, the son. The father sent the

son to do what? To reconcile sinners to

himself. And we who have been forgiven,

who have been submitted to him, who are

the pure in heart in the sense that

we've come for cleansing. We have the

privilege as God's people to be

ministers of reconciliation.

Christians should be the most

peace-seeking people. Quick to bear

wrong when we're wrong. Uh patient when

uh when maligned or slandered. Patient

when people sin against us. But also

desiring to bring peace to those that

are around us. Peace and harmony. Uh we

we should pray for it in our homes, in

our church, in our community, even in

the world. Christians should be the

sobering voice when a nation wants to

run off to war. The church should say,

"Now, hold on a minute here. Let's

verify before we go bomb the daylights

out of people. We want to make sure that

we're we're we're actually being

attacked, that we're actually being a

threatened." Yes, the civil magistrate

has the sword. Romans 13 says, "And the

sword is for what? It's not for giving

spankings. It's for looping off heads.

It's for punishing evildoers. It's for

punishing the wicked and also for

protecting people from outside threats."

But Christians, we should be a sobering

voice. Why are you wanting to bomb these

people? You know, Eisenhower after World

War II, he warned about the uh the

industrial military complex. What was he

talking about? Well, there's a lot of

people that make war make money off of

war. Uh there there's a lot of I I told

my my plumber sons and friends, hold on

to your copper. We're going to war. And

what's gonna happen to copper? It's

going to go up in price. There's a lot a

lot of every time we go to war, metals

go up in price. Hold on to your copper,

your scrap copper. There's a lot of

people that want war because they have

guns to sell. They have uh Smmedler

Butley in his book War is a racket

pointed out how many saddles back in

those days and and cantens and there's

just lots of money you don't even think

about and every time you go off to war.

So there are people who want war.

Earnestly want war because they make

money off of war. They get power off

going to war. And they're not sending

their sons off to war. They're sending

our sons off to war. Christians should

be hesitant knowing the sinful heart of

men. Knowing how power corrupts men, we

should be a sobering voice. Everybody

should say, "Well, we're going to have

to sell this war to the Christians if

we're going to war." war. And you know,

one thing on a positive note about

America is Americans generally, we've

been in a lot of wars. It could be

argued we're a wararmongering people.

However, however, every one of them,

they had to sell the war to the people

saying we've been attacked. And often

times it was through false flags. Uh,

you know, every time it seems like a

ship is, you know, the Lucatania gets

sunk in World War I. Why? There there's

evidence. There's evidence that these

things were uh not what we were told

that they were. So what's my point with

that is in all senses Christians both in

our interpersonal relationships and our

home with our neighbors in the workplace

we should be a peaceloving people. It

doesn't mean we should be weak. We

shouldn't be able to defend ourselves.

Remember meekness is not weakness. But

it means as as as God's people, we we

should be earnestly praying for the

nations, praying for missions efforts,

uh praying for our neighbors, praying

for our nation, and we should be a

peaceloving people seeking peace and

reconciliation. That's what God calls

his people to be is peacemakers. So this

morning title is called the children of

God. And the pointing uh point of this

morning's sermon is as peacemakers and

children of God, we are called to the

ministry of reconciliation. Would you

stand now for the reading of God's word

this morning in Matthew 5:9?

Matthew 5:9

Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they shall be called the sons of

God. Let's pray. Oh Lord God, we thank

you that when we were your enemies,

when we had no thanksgiving in our

heart, we hated one another, full of

selfishness and slander and bigotry

and all sorts of evil. In that sinful

condition, we were lost. We were in

darkness. We were the children of the

evil one, children of wrath. In that

condition, the father sent the son to

live the perfect life that we refused as

rebels to live. To die in our place the

death that we deserve to die. That you

rose from the grave. And even now, our

savior, the son of God ever lives to

make intercession for us. Thank you,

Lord, that you intercede for us. Thank

you, God, that you are a patient God.

You are patient with us in our sins and

our transgressions. Lord, even as

believers, you you have said that our

sins and our iniquities will remember no

more. What a privilege we have as your

sons and your daughters. Thank you, God.

Lord, as your people this morning, I

pray that this sermon would not just be

for for learning, but it would be for

our living. That you would help us be

conformed to the son of God who who has

the ministry of reconciliation. that you

would make us a loving and patient

people. That you would teach us how to

be kind with our words and kind with our

our spouses and and kind with our

neighbors and with people that are mean

and hostile. Lord, help us to be a

peacemaking people. I pray that church

of the word would be known for our love

towards one another and towards everyone

that comes in these doors. That people

would sense the love and the

graciousness of Christ. that they would

find in us a warm embracing people. In

Jesus' name I pray. Amen. You may be

seated.

Once again, a nice short text. Blessed

are the peacemakers.

There's not a lot of defining to be done

here. Peacemakers uh uh which which uh

comes from two words put together. Irene

meaning peace and poet meaning uh to

make something. So Jesus takes two words

and he puts them together and he makes a

new word that's never used anywhere else

in the Bible. Neither in the New

Testament nor in the Old Testament.

Greek Septuagent. Uh this particular

word peacemaker is nowhere used. Now you

see it exemplified in the Old Testament.

You see lots of examples of peacemaking

and commands to love the enemy. Um you

you see these principles found in the

Old Testament. But this is a a unique

word peacemakers. And one place where I

see it exemplified in the Old Testament,

the value of it is in Psalm 133:E1,

a Psalm of David. It says, "Behold, how

good and how pleasant it is when

brethren dwell together in unity." When

brothers dwell together in unity. The

word yakad here for unity is it means

one. It's it's very similar to the word

ehad meaning one. You know here, O

Israel, the Lord our God is one. Lord,

the wordad, this is the word yakad. It's

it's to be at at one and and that even

even in our word atonement. If you look

at the word atonement which is an

English word and it's in English it's at

one minute. Now that's not just a cute

little saying like uh grace God's riches

at Christ's expense. The the the word

embodies at onement when on the day of

atonement the day of atonement sinners

were again at one with God. The idea

being that in and our and our sins were

separated from God, but but God on that

day by paying for sins, they were at one

with God. Again, to be at peace, to be

with at shalom is to be at yakad, to be

at one. This idea how how good and how

pleasant it is when brethren, it could

just be dwell together, but but most

translations say dwell together in

unity. Dwell as one. They're able to

dwell as one. God wants his people to

dwell at one. We could say here, behold

and how good and how pleasant it is for

church of the word to dwell together as

one, at peace with one another. That

this is a value you see in the Old

Testament. You see it in the sermon on

the mount very heavily. God wants his

people to be at peace with one another.

He doesn't want us to live with bitter

ending and strife in our hearts. He

doesn't want us backbiting against each

other and slandering against each other.

In fact, God hates that. He hates it. I

want to show you how much he hates it.

And Proverbs 6:16,

Proverbs 6:16

it tells us there are six things that

the Lord hates.

Seven that are an abomination to him.

So, there's actually seven here. Hotty

eyes. Notice the body part. A lying

tongue. Again, a body part. Hands that

shed innocent blood. A heart that

devises wicked plans, feet that make

haste to run to evil, a false witness

who breathes out lies, and one who sews

discord among brothers. Now, most of

these are body parts, but the last two,

a false witness that breathes out lies

and the one who sws discord among

brothers brings disunityity that those I

think are the the ultimate focus. Now,

all these are criminal behavior, but but

you know, when you think about uh

shedding innocent blood and divis

devising wicked things and and and

perjury in a court of law, you're like,

"Well, I know that's criminal behavior."

Add to your list of criminal behavior

someone that's sewing discord among

brothers. God hates it. God hates it

when people in the church are bickering

towards one another, speaking evil at

one another, trying to get people to to

look at it your way so that there's

division brought in the church. God

hates it. He hates discord. The trinity

before there was time, matter, and

space, there was a oneness. There was

one God with a threeness, three persons.

God the Father, God the Son, God the

Holy Spirit. and they're in perfect

unity with one another. And when God

created man, he created him in his

image. Male and female made he them. He

designed the two to become one flesh.

God wanted for his people what he

already had, which is unity. Unity with

each other, unity with him. I could go

to John 17 when Jesus prays his high

priestly prayer and and he's it's the

night before he's going to the cross and

he prays. He prays for what? that his

people would be one. As the father and

the son are one, let them be one. He

prayed for their unity. God wants unity

in his church in the family among

people. But what happens? Sin came into

the picture. Selfishness came into the

picture. Pride comes into the the

picture. And and by pride comes

contention. And with selfishness, you

can't walk together in agreement. And

impatience and all of these things that

we struggle with. And it brought it

brought discord. It brought discord into

marriages. I I think um the vast

majority of marriages and including in

this church there there'll be discord.

There'll be disunityity. God doesn't

want it. He doesn't want it for us. But

we're still sinners and he's patient

with us. But we should never give up on

working towards unity. God loves unity.

And so a people a people that are able

to bring peace to bring peace between

estranged people to bring peace to

people that are estranged

they'll be called the sons of God.

That that's what the son of God did. The

son of God left the glory of heaven came

down to our dusty streets died the death

that we deserve. Why? To reconcile us to

make peace between man and God and

between estranged peoples. as hopefully

we will see if I don't go too long early

in the sermon. So here we go back to

Matthew chapter 5 going to the New

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Testament. Blessed are the peacemakers

for they shall be called sons of God.

Nothing nothing to define here. Nothing

u extremely um hard to define the sons

of God or the children of God. Uh but I

want to focus on this theme of being

sons. In the sermon on the mount, we see

something introduced for the first time

in our Bibles.

Well, I'll say first time it's very very

sparse in the Old Testament like like

three or four entrance in instances by

metaphor. God refers to himself as

father and Israel as as he brought them

forth or begat them. He's a father to

them. There's a hint there's a few hints

of the fatherhood of God in the Old

Testament. But we're going to see uh 15

or 16 times I counted but then I think I

forgot one. I think I think it's 16

times in the sermon on the mount. Jesus

refers to God as father most time as

heavenly father. This is a new

familiarity. You look at the Psalms.

Look at the way look at the look at the

way that the Psalms pray to God. He's

he's the Lord of hosts. That is the Lord

of armies. He's the creator of all

things. He's the sovereign God. He's the

creator. He's powerful. You you you get

in Psalms, you get this picture of God's

power and his might and his greatness

and his holiness and the names of God.

You get pictures of him as a as a

shepherd, as our righteousness.

But Jesus does something new. I mean, it

it's it's new. He he refers to God as

father so much. It could be argued that

it it's it's a major major theme of the

sermon on the mount. I'm going to

briefly show them to you um without a

whole lot of explanation here because

I'm going to go back and hit a few of

them. I just want you to see this this

concept. This is the first time it's

mentioned. They shall be called the sons

of God. That makes him our father. Okay.

Matthew 5:16. It's coming up in a few

Matthew 5:16

verses. In the same way, let your light

shine before others so that they may see

your good works and give glory to your

father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:45,

Matthew 5:45

so that you may be the sons of your

father who is in heaven. For he makes

his son to rise on the evil and on the

good and sends rain on the just and the

unjust. Matthew 5:48. You therefore must

Matthew 5:48

be perfect as your heavenly father is

perfect. Matthew 6:1, "Beware of

Matthew 6:1

practicing your righteousness before

other people in order to be seen by

them. For then you will have no reward

from your father who is in heaven."

Matthew 6:4. So that your giving may be

Matthew 6:4

in secret, and your father who sees in

secret will reward you. Matthew 66. But

when you pray, go into your room and

shut the door and pray to your father

who is in secret. And your father who

sees in secret will reward you. Matthew

Matthew 6:8

6:8, "Do not be like them. For your

father," probably forgot that one,

making 17 knows what you need before you

ask him. Pray then like this, "Our

Father in heaven, hallowed be your

name." Matthew 6:14, "For if you forgive

Matthew 6:14

others their trespasses, your heavenly

Father will also forgive you. But if you

do not forgive others their trespasses,

neither will your Father forgive your

trespasses." Matthew 6:18. so that your

Matthew 6:18

fasting may be seen by others, but by

your father who is in secret, and your

father who sees in secret will reward

you. Matthew 6:26, look at the birds of

Matthew 6:26

the air. They neither sew nor reaped nor

gather into barns, and yet your heavenly

father feeds them. Are you not much more

than they? Matthew 6:32, for the

Matthew 6:32

Gentiles seek after all these things,

and your heavenly father knows that you

need them all. Matthew 7:11, "If you

Matthew 7:11

then who are evil, know how to give good

gifts to your children, how much more

will your father who is in heaven give

good things to those who ask him?"

Matthew 7:21, "Not everyone who says to

Matthew 7:21

me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom

of heaven, but the one who does the will

of my father who is in heaven." And I

just wanted to give you impression. I

wanted you to I I know you didn't take

in all the words there and and and

figure out all of it was. But do you see

how much of a theme the fatherhood of

God is in the sermon on the mount? This

is revolutionary. You you read those 37

books of the Old Testament. You read

through them and and there's maybe three

references, four references. There might

be a little bit more if you if I

searched it really hard, but there's

it's very rarely used. But now Jesus

says, "Blessed are the peacemakers."

And what's the reward? Not they shall

inherit the earth. Not theirs is the

kingdom of heaven. They get to be called

the children of God. Literally the sons

of God. God is their father. This is an

awesome pray uh privilege that we have

to bear the name. Welcome to the royal

family.

If you've put your faith in Christ and

you are one of his children, you are now

called to be a peacemaker and you are

called a son of God. You are called a

daughter of God. You are a a child of

God and he is your father. This is a

familiarity so that when we pray, we

don't say, you know, oh sovereign God,

we can say this, oh sovereign God of the

universe, creator of all things. We can

come to him as father,

father who is in heaven. In fact, one of

the first things Paul says is when we're

born again by by the spirit, we cry aba.

Aba, father, which is like a child's

name for God. Aba, aba, Aramaic for

father to call God our father. This is

one of the things that Islam thinks is

absolute heresy that anybody would call

God. Allah has no sons. That's because

Allah is not Yahweh. Allah is not God

the father. Allah is a moon god. We have

a father who is in heaven. They're very

offended. They're very offended the idea

that we would call Jesus the son of God.

But more than that, we we lowly beings.

He calls us his children.

What a privilege. We were the enemies of

God and now we're adopted into his

family. And he loves us with the very

love that the father has for the son.

We're told in John 15, the very love

that the father has for the son. We're

talking about the second person of the

Trinity. The first person of the Trinity

has a love for the second person of the

Trinity. Now, he has that for you and

me.

You didn't know we're going to have two

Father's Day in one one uh uh in two

weeks in a row, did you? Well, we're

talking about the father today. Now,

ministers of reconciliation,

I think this has two things that I want

to talk about this morning. One is uh

I've already talked about pretty

heavily. Going to talk about some more.

is we we seek peace between men. We seek

to bring peace and reconciliation for

men. We seek to be a voice of peace when

there's clamoring to go to war quickly,

maybe unnecessarily.

There is a time for war. There is. But

but uh this first kind this first way in

which we are peacemakers is between men.

And the second way is we are ambassadors

of Christ to try to bring other people

to God through the son. We are we are

ministers of reconciliation. We're

called to be a voice to bring people to

Jesus. So peacemakers between men and

peacemakers between God and men. What

does it take to be a peacemaker between

uh

uh between

men and God and men? Okay. Matthew 5.

First time this term heavenly father is

used. Matthew, we're going to look at

this one. Matthew 5:14-16.

Matthew 5:14–16

I'm not going to spend much time on it

because I'll be probably preaching on it

in just a few weeks. You are the light

of the world. you you well you could say

in the first century it was Jews that

he's talking to and they were called to

be the light of the world and we'll get

more in depth than that but in this

context let's say disciples because it

directly applies to us as well you are

the light of the world a city set on a

hill cannot be hidden nor do men light a

lamp and put it under a basket but on a

stand and gives light to all in the

house in the same way let your light

shine before others so they may see your

good works and give glory to your father

who is in heaven how do Do we become

peacemakers? Well, one way is we live a

life that glorifies God and people see

it and they want to know more about him.

It it's God God wants our profession to

be matched by the way that we live. And

and really there's there's you you'll

hear your teenagers say, "But mom,

nobody else is doing this or that."

Well, we're not called to be everybody

else. We're called to be the sons and

daughters of God. We're called to live

different, to talk different, in our

speech and our conduct. We work

different. And there's a lot of things

we could go into this, but one of the

purposes of this letting let it's it's

it's described as letting a light shine

is that people would be one to God or

glorify God as a result of our witness.

Which means as Christians, we should

ever be trying to be to walk closer to

our savior, to live more clean, to be

more honest. That when when God's light

shines into our heart and shows us

something darkness, we repent of it and

we become a lightbearer. Okay, so that's

that's that's one way is that we seek to

live lives that glorify God to be a good

witness. I could have put that. We're to

be a good witness, to be a good

testimony, right? A false witness utters

lies. If if we want to be a good witness

for Jesus, we need to live a life

consistent with the Christian faith,

Christian practice. All right, another

one. Matthew 5:23

Matthew 5:23–26

to 26. We're to seek reconciliation

quickly. This is all in the sermon on

the mount. I'm just shallowly going over

it. So if you if you are offering your

gift at the altar, remember this is

talking to first century Jews, so

they're still bringing sacrifices to the

altar. If you are offering your gift at

the altar and there remember that your

brother has something against you, leave

your gift before the altar and go first.

Be reconciled to your brother and then

come and offer your gift. Now you say,

"Oh, well right now I can I can put off

human being right with humans later on.

Right now it's important to worship

God." God says, "If you bring a gift to

my altar and there it's in your mind,

man, my somebody has an offense against

me." He says, you know, leave your gift

right there. go be reconciled, then come

and offer your gift. God God doesn't

want our praise polluted by sin. You

know, this is uh when when we're when

we're coming to church, I I I really got

this really hit me in Bible college

because for the first time in my life, I

was in a church that had communion every

Sunday. And so when Sunday was coming,

it's Sunday morning and I thought, I

don't want to be having communion and

they remember. So I'd try to think on

Sunday morning, do I have anything to

get right with anybody? And I would I uh

it's like I'm gonna go I'm gonna go take

a communion. I'm gonna go worship God.

And and it just brought a mindfulness to

me that when we have sin with our our

brothers, we ought to try to get it

right with them. As much as impossible

with us, we're to live at peace with

people. Now, sometimes it's just a

person's irreconcilable. They don't want

to be reconciled. But um here it says,

"First be reconciled to your brother and

then come and offer your gift." Verse

25. Come to terms quickly with your

accuser while you're going with him to

court, lest your accuser hand you over

to the judge and the judge to the guard

and you be put in prison. Truly I say to

you, you will never get out until you

have paid the last penny. Uh so what's

Jesus teaching here? He's teaching that

we should very quickly try to seek

reconciliation even if it costs us a

little bit. Even even if you end up on

the losing side, seek peace. be willing

be be willing to uh seek seek terms.

Come to terms. That doesn't mean you you

can't ever confront somebody that's

against you. You certainly can. He

teaches about it in Matthew 18. But but

what it means is is that you know it

it's it's good to be willing to overlook

a transgression against you. It's good

to just come to terms quickly with your

accuser. Someone's accusing you. Try to

come to terms quickly with them. try to

get try to get that that uh that strife

dealt with. So seek reconciliation

quickly. This is in the same chapter

that we're reading. It's part of being

peacemakers is being willing to be

reconciled with others, being willing to

forgive others, being be willing to

overlook a fault. You know, it's really

a healthy disposition. It'll actually

make you happier if you see yourself as

rather trivial in the forgiveness

department. What I mean is we think so

much of ourselves that when somebody

sins against us, if if we're overly

angry about something, it's like, how

much do we really think of ourselves?

How big of a deal is it to sin against

me? I get offended. I'm not telling you

I don't get offended. I don't I don't I

don't want to though. It's my goal is is

is like really how important am I? I'm

not that important

in terms of somebody sins against me,

it's it's a trivial thing. It's a good

thing to be over to be willing to

overlook a fault. That doesn't that

doesn't mean we don't confront people

when they sin against us. It's it's fine

to do that. But we really should have a

heart and a desire to term come to terms

quickly with our accusers or people that

we've offended. He's saying seek

reconciliation quickly. God wants his

people to seek reconciliation. This is

the same sermon as blessed are the

peacemakers. Same chapter. Later on in

the chapter, Matthew 5:38-42, we're to

Matthew 5:38–42

bear wrongs patiently. He says, "You

have heard that it was said, an eye for

an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I

say to you, do not resist the one who is

evil. But if anyone slaps you on the

right cheek, turn to him the other also.

And if anyone would sue you and take

your tunic and let him have your cloak

as well. And if anyone forces you to go

one mile, go with him two miles. Give to

the one who begs from you. And do not

refuse the one who would borrow from

you. I had a person earlier this week

that I met one time, came to church a

few years ago and uh they found my they

they asked me a question in the night. I

woke up at 5 in the morning and I I

wrote them a lengthy answer having to do

with this scripture right here actually.

Uh it's like why in the Old Testament

talk about eye for eye and tooth for

tooth but now in the New Testament Jesus

that's not good. I'm like well eye for

eye and tooth for tooth was a legal

maxim for corpse and it basically means

the punishment should should fit the

crime. So you don't you don't give a

murderer a slap on the wrist and you

don't hang somebody for stealing a loaf

of bread. They make restitution. So what

it means is the punishment should fit

the crime. But what people were doing

here is they're they're saying, "I fry

tooth for a tooth. You offended me. I'm

going to punch you." And and it was kind

of a uh it it it was use the scripture

was being used as an excuse not to

overlook an fault.

And and even the Old Testament teaches

if your enemy is hungry, give him food.

If he's thirsty, give him drink. If his

if his if his donkey falls in the ditch,

help that or is fall falls uh falls

under its load, help the donkey up. So,

love your enemies is taught in the Old

Testament in many places, but people

were misusing a legal maxim of justice

for the courts, making sure that justice

is done, not too much, not too little,

as an excuse to return evil for evil.

And what what Jesus wants is he wants us

to bear wrongs patiently and return good

for evil. So, all these examples here

like like turning the other cheek has to

do with an insult. Not not a

life-threatening, not somebody trying to

break in your house and murder you.

Someone's taking their left hand and

slapping you on the right cheek. Left

hand slap. Not that big of a deal. Take

the slap. Offer them the other. Also, be

gracious. Be patient. Be kind. I think

of I think of Proverbs 15:1. A soft

Proverbs 15:1

answer turns away wrath, but grievious

words stir up anger. Jesus is teaching

an Old Testament principle is that God

God wants his people to be peacemakers

and part of that is returning good for

evil. And he gives different different

examples of that um here. So that that's

one is bear wrongs patiently and do we

could also say uh treat our enemies

better than they deserve with the goal

not of shaming them but the goal of

winning them. It's very different. Oh,

I'm going to really make them ashamed.

I'm going to do uh that we're not we're

not endorsing passive aggressive

behavior here.

Jesus is saying

be a blessing to the people that are

being cruel to you and so win them over.

This is most invaluable perhaps in our

own closest family relationships because

you live in a family, you live in a

household with people and you're going

to sin against each other and you're

going to say things that are you might

say things that are harsh or wrong and

you know being gracious and willing to

forgive and uh overlook a fault. Be

patient when somebody's going through

something is is a virtue. But if you

return and like kind, it just stirs up

strife. All right. Same chapter, Matthew

Matthew 5:43

5:43. You see this peacemaker thing goes

on. You have heard that it was said you

shall love your neighbor and hate your

enemy. Bible never says hate your enemy

doesn't say hate your enemies. Um hating

God's enemies is a thing. So this this

as far as I can tell was a saying of the

people. It's like yeah we should love

our neighbors, love our friends, but you

hate your enemy. You got to hate well as

well as live well. And but Jesus says,

"But I say to you, love your enemies

and pray for those who persecute you."

What are we praying for, God? That

person that wronged against me,

they they they may not know you. I

remember one time this before I even

read further. This these verses really

came to my mind. I've said it to the

pulpit before, so I'm repeating myself

to the same audience, but somebody stole

like like three probably $6,000 worth of

cabinets. I think I had two kitchens

worth of cabinets stored in a basement.

I remember it was a Sunday morning. I'm

driving and somebody tells me, "Hey, I

see your doors kicked in." And I went

down there. Sure enough, they stole

brand new cabinets in boxes ready to be

dis to to in to be installed. I was

storing them for the time they stole

them and a bunch of tools besides. Oh

boy, it made me so angry. And I I

thought, "Okay, the Lord tells me to

pray for my enemies." And and I started

praying for them. And I tell you what,

it as I started to pray for them, I just

started thinking about what God's done

for me. It gave me peace. I was able to

release it. And it gave me also a

perspective that God is able. God God

tests us. He tests us with these sorts

of things. God's going to allow you to

have enemies. And you should look at

every one of them as something that you

can you it's a test to overcome. And I I

prayed for them. And I tell you what, no

bitterness, no unforgiveness. It's like,

"Okay, Lord, I pray for them because

those people there, the Bible says that

all thieves will have their part in the

lake of fire. They shall not inherit the

kingdom of God." And that actually

concerns me. Hopefully by now those guys

have repented and believe in Jesus. That

would be a delight. I hope so. I I I'll

never know who stole those cabinets, but

I don't want them to go to hell. So pray

for them. He says, "Love your enemies.

Pray for those who persecute you." Many

wonderful stories in church history of

martyrs who while they were dying, while

they were being burned at the stake,

they they won over their the people that

persecuted them as Jesus did on the

cross. By the way, uh history calls him

Lgininus, the guy that pierced his side,

became uh a believer. Uh that's a church

history thing. It doesn't does it, the

way it's written, it hints at it, but

it's not told for clearly. But um Jesus,

they heard him pray,

"Father, forgive them for they know not

what they do." He prayed for them. He

prayed for them. And he says, "So uh

love your enemies and pray for those who

persecute you so that you may be sons of

your father who is in heaven." You want

to be called the children of God, act

like it. Jesus prayed for his enemies.

He says, "Pray for your enemies. For he

your father makes his son rise on the

evil and on the good and sends rain on

the just and on the unjust. Now just

think about that for a second. All this

world full of pagans and god haters.

Every good thing that they have is a

gift from the father who is in heaven.

Have you enjoyed some laughs in your

life? That was a gift from God.

Do have you had a good meal? That was a

gift from God. You have breath in your

lungs.

You live in the greatest country in the

world.

you you live in comfortable times. All

of these are gifts from God. They're

gifts from God. And uh God gives good

gifts to people that hate him.

He says for verse 46, "For if you love

those who love you, what reward do you

have? Do not even the tax collectors do

the same? And if you greet only your

brothers, what are what more are you

doing than others? Do not even Gentiles

do the same? You therefore must be

perfect as your heavenly father is

perfect." You know, people will quote

that. Perfectionists will quote that we

aren't perfect as the father is in per

in heaven is perfect. But it's it's not

even mentioning taking keeping the big

10, right? It's talking about just love.

Be perfect in love towards sinners like

your father is perfect towards you.

Be perfect like your father in heaven is

perfect. In other words, the standard

isn't lowered for us. Yes, we're going

to fall short of it, but it's not

lowered. God has the same standard for

himself he has for us. Loving our

enemies. God does good to those that

hate him. He prays for those that have

perse who have have persecuted him and

and uh despitefully used him and abused

him. Jesus prayed for them. And as

peacemakers, God wants us to pray for

those that persecute us. We we are to

love our enemies. Now, does that mean

there's not a place for the sword, the

civil sword, or for judges or police

officers or soldiers? No, it doesn't

mean that. There's a place for all those

things. But where it matters, where

where this matters most is as people

come to faith in Christ, just imagine

the world if Christians if Christians

ever Okay, let's let's keep it local. If

we practice this, how powerful that's

going to be to our families, to our

community, to the kingdom of God. Jesus

starts with the heart and the human

being and the family

and the church and the community and the

nation. But he starts he starts at the

level of the heart. What powerful words

our Lord in and perfect example gives us

here. All right. Here's another one um

that G I'm going to read the whole

prayer. I could have condensed it to the

last verse, but I just the the Lord's

prayer that we pray. Pray then like

this. Our father who is in heaven. What

familiarity. Not sovereign creator of

all the universe, the earth and the sea

and all that's in it. But our father,

our father, familial terms. Our father

in heaven. Hallowed, holy, hallowed be

thy name.

Your kingdom come. Your will be done on

earth as it is in heaven. Give us this

day our daily bread. and forgive us our

debts as we have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but

deliver us from evil. For if you forgive

others their trespasses, your heavenly

Father will also forgive you. But if you

do not forgive others their trespasses,

neither will your father forgive your

trespasses. All right. How does the

kingdom advance? Well, in the hearts and

minds of men. And as ministers of

reconciliation, that's our business. But

so so one of the one of the chief things

if we're going to be peacemakers is we

have to be a very forgiving and merciful

people. I already dealt with this once

before when I did blessed are the

merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Of

all the things in this prayer that Jesus

adds a comment after the conclusion of

the prayer on it's forgiveness.

If if we have we have no right to ask

God to forgive us while we are unwilling

to forgive others especially if they've

repented towards us we have no right no

authority to do so and I I don't believe

that means eternally you will be

unforgiven because I believe that the

free gift of justification is given by

grace not by merit not even by the merit

of being a forgiving people but if you

have unforgiveness in your life es

especially on this side you are going to

be chasted, you're going to you're going

to suffer for it. If if nowhere else

it'll be in in a hardness of heart, a a

lack of joy, a lack of assurance. If

you've got unforgiveness towards

somebody that you have a responsibility

to forgive and you're harboring

resentment and unforgiveness, you're

you're punishing yourself by this.

You're gonna you're going to be

suffering. As it's been said that that

uh bitterness is an acid that eats its

container, right? So Jesus says forgive.

The the willingness to forgive is

essential to being peacemakers,

essential to being ministers of

reconciliation.

All right, let's look at another

principle. This is this is my final one

in the sermon on the mount about being

peacemakers is the principle of

self-reflection and removing the log

from our own eyes. This this is the most

quoted verse I think in the Bible by

people nowadays. Judge not that you be

not judged. And people stop there. We'll

have fun when we talk about this

whenever we get to it. Probably months

and months away. Judge not that you be

not judged. For with the judgment you

pronounce, you will be judged. And with

the measure you use, it will be measured

to you. That means that the measuring

stick we measure other people's sins by,

we're going to have it measured against

ourselves. Why do you see the speck that

is in your brother's eye, but do not

notice the log that is in your own eye?

What's the picture here? is you you're

you're trying to pick a little speck out

of your neighbor's eye and and the word

Jesus uses it's a ridiculous metaphor. I

mean, it's made to be hyperbolic. You've

got a log in your own eye. You got this

log in your own eye and you're you're

walking around here with a 2x4 and

you're like, "Oh, you got a piece of

sawdust in there."

He says, "Or how can you say to your

brother, let me take the speck out of

your eye when there is a log, a 2x4, a

6x6 in your own eye? You hypocrite.

First take the log out of your own eye

and then you will see clearly to take

the speck out of your brother's eye. You

know when you feel uh a confrontation

coming on before you go and confront

your brother. What's Jesus telling us

here? Before we go confront sin and

others, he's saying deal with it in

yourself first. If you do this, you'll

find you'll be much more humble in your

address.

It's like ah even with our own children

if we if we go to them and we're we're

like hey you're doing this and you you

know you're disrespecting your mother

okay but am I respecting his mother

right if if we're going to confront

somebody else we have to look in our own

life have to look in the mirror and he

says first remove it deal with it repent

of your own sins and don't be surprised

if the person calls you on it you're

confronting me you hypocrite look what's

in your own life how dare you come and

confront me. Now, we shouldn't have that

attitude. If if uh if a ridiculous

hypocrite comes and confronts us and

it's true, then let's own it. The

standard is high. I don't lie that it's

high. It's high. But what's Jesus

teaching here is before we go and

confront others, we need to be willing

to deal with our own sins. We have to be

willing to get get before the Lord and

and uh confess our own sins and be ready

in a confrontation situation for someone

to call you on it. There may be blind

spots. Oh, there certainly is. Why do I

Why do I shroud it in in easy language?

You have blind spots. I have blind

spots. We all have blind spots. And we

probably have people yelling at us that

we have blind spots that we're unwilling

to deal with. And so, uh, Jesus says,

"Deal," like, it's interesting use the

word blind spot. I think of driving in a

car blind spot. Uh, when you got a log

in your eye, that's another kind of

blind spot. Uh, but Jesus says, "Deal

with it the same standard you're

applying to others. Apply it to

yourself.

measure with the measuring rod that

you're using on others. Deal with that

and then you can go to a brother and

with a spirit and a heart of a heart

that's just recently been forgiven. You

can go to them with the right attitude

and not an arrogant attitude. Now those

those are my general principles that I

get mostly from the from the sermon on

the mount here on deal on being

ministers of reconciliation in the

horizontal relationships. Horizontal

manto man, right? But there's also a

vertical relationship. You got you got

the two great commandments to love God

with all your heart, soul, mind, and

strength. And love your neighbor as

yourself. It's been pointed out. The one

is a vertical relationship. Us and God.

Love God upward with all your heart,

mind, and strength. And then you got

horizontal relationships. Love your

neighbor as yourself. That's the

horizontal. And notice it forms a cross,

right? And Jesus reconciled God and man

on the cross. All right. I want to look

at this ministry of reconciliation

between God and men. First thing we need

to understand is uh God what do when we

say Jesus saves? Saves from who?

God.

Man's biggest problem is God.

Now, is God love? Yes, God is love. Is

God patient? God is patient. Is he

compassionate, merciful? Yes. But but

when we read in the word, when we read

the law of God and God's sentence

against the rebel, what man needs to be

reconciled, what uh uh rescued from is

the wrath of God.

God has revealed, Romans 1 says that the

wrath of God is revealed from heaven

against all ungodliness and

unrighteousness of men. God's wrath. And

there's a situation in the Old

Testament. Moses is up on the mountain

getting the Ten Commandments, the first

set of the Ten Commandments. And what

are the people doing down in the valley?

They've made a golden calf.

And they're calling the golden calf

Yahweh, the divine name of God. They're

calling the golden calf Yahweh. And

they've been bowing down to it. They're

worshiping it. And they're uh they're

actually doing more than that. They're

having a big orgy is what it means in

Hebrew below it. So, they're sinning

bad. While Moses is up on the mountain

with God, the people are worshiping a

golden calf. Exodus 32. And the Lord

said to Moses, "Go down, for your people

whom you brought up out of the land of

Egypt have corrupted themselves. They

have turned aside quickly out of the way

that I commanded them. They have made

for themselves a golden calf and have

worshiped it and sacrificed to it and

said, "These are your gods, O Israel,

who brought you up out of the land of

Egypt." And Yahweh said to Moses, "I

have seen this people, and behold, it is

a stiff necked people. Now therefore,

let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot

against them, and I may consume them in

order that I may make a great nation of

you. Moses reveals that God is not okay.

God God reveals that he is not okay with

rebels doing rebellious, wicked things.

He's not okay with idolatry. And he and

he gives he tells Moses, he says, "Tell

you what, I'll consume them and I'll

make a nation of you. I'll start over

with you. You're still a son of Abraham.

I'll start over with you.

And that could have been flattering to

Moses. It could have said, "Okay." But

no, what does Moses do? Moses is a

peacemaker.

Verse 11. But Moses implored Yahweh, his

God, and said, "Oh Yahweh, why does your

wrath burn hot against your people whom

you have brought out of the land of

Egypt with great power and with a mighty

hand? Why should the Egyptians say with

evil intent did he bring them out to

kill them in the mountains and to

consume them from the face of the

earth?" Turn from your burning anger and

relent from the disaster against your

people. Moses being in right standing

with God intercedes for people that are

not in right standing with God. He's

acting as a priest here. He's acting as

a gobetween. He's acting like a son of

God, appealing to his father for for the

rebellious. He's acting as an

intercessor. He's interceding.

This is a picture of prayer. He is

praying directly to God. He continues.

He says, "Remember Abraham, Isaac, and

Israel, your servants to whom you swore

by your own self and said to them, I

will multiply your offspring as the

stars of heaven and all this land that I

have promised. I will give to your

offspring, and they shall inherit it

forever." And the Lord relented from the

disaster they had spoken of bringing on

his people. Now, God's omnisient. He

knew what he was going to do. But he for

for whatever reason, God delights for us

to participate with him in the work of

redemption. He's given us a role to play

in reconciling the lost to himself. I've

heard incredible testimonies all over

the Middle East of people having dreams,

saying to seek the son or seeing the man

in white and and uh like the same vision

again and again and then but but God

doesn't tell them the gospel in the

vision. God God will will give give

these Muslims a vision and they'll have

a dream of the man in white or they'll

they'll they'll they'll hear something

about seek my son and then God will

place someone in their life who will

lead them to Christ and it's happening.

You can you can Google it and get

stories of it all day long. There's lots

of stories of it all over the world. His

his love for these some of these

countries are closed to the gospel. It's

illegal to preach the gospel there. But

there are people who are being warned in

a dream. But God, the the consistent

pattern is God sends a person to share

the gospel with them. He has chosen to

use people, you and I, to be ministers

of reconciliation. This is his ordained

way of bringing the loss to himself.

He's looking for a people. I think in in

one of the prophets, I think it might

have been it might have been Isaiah or

Jeremiah, might have been Jeremiah. He

says, "I sought for a man to stand in

the gap, but I found none." What's it

referring to? It's referring to this.

God had decreed a decree against

Jerusalem that he when when God revealed

it to to to Hezekiah that he was going

to have 15 more years to live but in a

pre in a future generation they were

going to be carried away into Babylon.

Hezekiah was like oh at least it's not

going to happen in my day. Kind of like

I don't care. God wants us to care. He

wants us to intercede for our co-workers

for our neighbors to call out their

names. Pray for them. Pray for your

loved ones. pray for your enemies

that that they would come to the

knowledge of the truth. Paul tells this

in 1 Timothy 2. He says, "First of all,

first of all, what does first of all

mean?" It means of first importance.

First of all, then I urge that

supplications, prayers, intercessions,

and giving, thanksgivings be made for

all people, for kings, and for all who

are in high positions, that we may lead

a quiet and peaceable life, godly and

dignified in every way. I'll stop

reading there just to save a little bit

of time. But Paul Paul says God God

wants all kinds of people to be saved.

So the church should be make

intercessions

for them and we have a little prayer

meeting before church on Sunday morning

and I emphasize the word a little and

there what 10 o'clock? I don't know

where Ken is. Ken, I should know where

you are. Ken, was it 10 o'clock or

earlier?

10. Yeah. One of the things to do is

pray for pray for some of the nations

that are pray for a different nation

every week. But but we're praying

interceding.

We try to we try to pray for civil

magistrates every Sunday because it

tells us to right here. We pray pray for

our nation. Pray for the lost. God God

wants his people as ministers of

reconciliation to pray. All right. Jesus

better than Moses is the ultimate

intercessor. and Ephesians 2. Uh going

to read a little bit of what Paul says

here. He says, "Therefore remember that

at one time you Gentiles in the flesh

call the uncircumcision by what is

called the circumcision which is made in

the flesh by hands. Remember that you

were at one time separated from Christ,

alienated from the commonwealth of

Israel, and strangers to the covenant

promise, having no hope and without God

in the world." He says, "Remember this

Gentiles,

not not many. I don't I don't know if

there's any I'm I'm sure there's a lot

of people with Jewish blood in them in

here, but uh for the most part, I'm

looking at a audience.

I'm looking at Gentiles. Bunch of

out here from the nations. And Paul

wants you to remember something. He

wants you to remember that you were

separated from Christ. You were

alienated. You were strangers. You had

no hope. You were without God in the

world. And now we get a butt. A

delightful, beautiful butt. Verse 13.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who once

were called, who were far off, have been

brought near by the blood of Christ. I I

know. I know, John. I knew you'd be

laughing at me.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who once

were far off, have been brought near by

the blood of Christ. For he himself is

our peace. He's our peace who has made

us both one. Yakad in Hebrew would have

been yakad to be at one, to be at unity.

and has broken down in his flesh. The

dividing wall of his hostility. There

was a dividing wall, a literal physical

dividing wall in Jerusalem. A a plaque

in the pavement that's been discovered

in Jerusalem. You can look it up. You

can look up a picture of it that that

translated says warning Gentiles, if you

pass this line, your blood's on your own

head. It says something to that effect.

And and they were not allowed to go

beyond that marker or they could be put

to death because they were Gentiles.

They were not Jews. They were not

allowed to enter into the temple. But

but verse 15, by abolishing the law of

commandments expressed in ordinances

that he might create in himself one new

man in place of two. No more Jew and

Gentile.

No more Jew and Gentile. He got rid of

two people. Said I made one new people.

One people. There was a there was a wall

between us. And he's made one new man in

place of the two. So making peace and

might reconcile us both to God. And he

came and preached peace to you who were

far off and peace to those who were

near. Now look at this. Jesus the son of

God is a minister of reconciliation.

They came to bring reconciliation

between Jew and Gentile, black and

white, Asian, and every other kind of

Asian and Asian and the rest of the

world.

I I'm focused on Asians because they're

unapologetically racist right over here.

You know, we're we're pretty concerned

about racism over here. But there's a

lot of parts of the world is like,

"Yeah, and what of it?" Right?

But but uh Jesus came to break down

those walls of hostility to make one new

man. Jew and Gentile, male and female,

black and white, cyian, barbarian,

Roman, bring one man. He killed the

hostility. He came to kill the

hostility. He's the ultimate son of God,

peacemaker.

And now we have a ministry of

reconciliation. One more. One more verse

here, one more scripture. This is my

last one. This is my appeal to you as

Christians and to anyone who's an

unbeliever here this morning. What Paul

says, 2 Corinthians 5, he says,

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he

is a new creation." What does that mean?

That means that you are new and God no

longer holds your sins against you.

You are taken out of the family of the

devil. You're brought into the family of

God. You're a new creation. The the work

of the new creation. God does a miracle

on our heart. He gives us saving faith.

He cleanses us of our sin. He gives us

the gift of righteousness. He adopts us

into his family. He calls us the sons of

God so that he can call us a new

creation.

Behold, the new has come. All this is

from God who through Christ

reconciled us to himself and gave us the

ministry of reconciliation. So we are

already as believers, we are already

reconciled to the father. And now you

have the ministry of peacemaking,

the ministry of reconciliation. That is

in Christ. God was reconciling the world

to himself, not counting their

trespasses against them, and entrusting

to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for

Christ. We're like we're like royal

people sent from the king's court to

bear a message. In those days, you

didn't you didn't get on you didn't get

on uh on messenger and do FaceTime

somebody. Uh you you sent an ambassador

who had the who who had the king's

signant or king's sign or seal and he

came bearing the message of the king. He

gave he was given the authority to to

represent the king. That's what it's

speaking of us. We are his sons. He's

sending his sons and daughters as

ambassadors. royal ambassadors.

God making his appeal through us.

Now he makes the appeal. We implore you

on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to

God.

And that that's I implore you,

unbeliever. If I still have your

attention span, uh if I could get your

if I could get you back for a moment, I

implore you on behalf of Christ, be

reconciled to God. If you aren't

reconciled to God and you have to face

him on judgment day, not as a son, but

as a sinner alone, as a perpetrator, as

a criminal,

the wrath of God is revealed from heaven

against all ungodliness,

all unrighteousness of men who are

suppressing the truth. They don't want

to think about it. I don't want to think

about the I don't believe there's a God.

It's uncomfortable. It makes me

uncomfortable. Hell makes me

uncomfortable. Don't want to think about

it.

Well, it's the reality.

you're going to stand before him.

And so with Paul, I can quote his words.

We implore you on behalf of Christ as

his ambassador, as his representative,

be reconciled to God

for our sake. He made him, that is

Jesus, to be sin who knew no sin. What's

that saying? Saying Jesus never sinned.

He never knew sin. He never experienced

sin. He experienced all the sorrows of

life, but he didn't experience sin. And

God made him to be sin. Not a sinner,

but sin. Meaning when he was on the

cross, all the sins, all of our sins, he

bore them so that God treated the holy,

righteous son of God as if he was the

most vile, wicked sinner that had ever

lived.

He was treated as as filth, though he

was perfectly clean and righteous.

For our sake, he made him to be sin who

knew no sin, never experienced sin,

never lived sin, so that in him we might

become the righteousness of God. When

you put your faith in Christ,

he takes your sin and in exchange for

your sin, he gives you a gift of

righteousness.

It's a gift. You receive it.

So, as an ambassador, I can say, "I'm

sent by the king with a gift for you."

What is in the gift? The gift is the

righteousness of Jesus Christ.

The gift is the invitation to be

reconciled to your king who has the

power to destroy you.

The gift is the gift of his spirit. The

gift is the gift of his joy and his

peace and his his his uh all of his

love.

He sent me with a message.

Be reconciled to God.

Experience his love for yourself.

It's so much better than whatever you're

holding on to.

It's so much better than what you you're

you're clinging to something that's

killing you.

You're clinging to your disease.

You're clinging to your rebellion. And

there's a gracious, loving, heavenly

father who has something so much better

for you.

And I'm imploring you on behalf of that

king, King Jesus. Be reconciled to God.

Let us pray. Father, we thank you, Lord.

We thank you for the peacemaker, for the

son of God, who came to bear our sins.

We thank you for the gift of

righteousness.

And God, I pray this morning that you

would make us

faithful ministers of of peace and

reconciliation.

We would be a voice of peace.

God, I I pray, Lord, that your love

would flow through this church. Lord, if

there's anyone here this morning that

needs to repent of resentment or

bitterness or backbiting or slander or

sewing discord, God, move in their

hearts. You say you hate the person that

sews discord. God, have mercy on us, oh

Lord. Grant us a heart of repentance.

Grant peace to our body.