Blessed Are The Peacemakers | Jason Martin

You're listening to a message to go from axt church.

We hope this message will light up your tea.

And the Berattitudes is known as one of Jesus's greatest sermons, right,

and it starts with the word blessed. So why are

we sharing Why I decided to share on Berattitudes, or

why God let me do share on Berattitudes? It's because

we are in the year of discipleship. And what better

way to know about discipleship or learn about discipleship than

to learn from Jesus. Okay, So let me take us

to the first light just to give you all a

bit of yes. Okay, So my definition of how I

recalled discipleship is learn, live, and tell. So we learn

from Jesus, we live like Jesus, and we tell others

about Jesus. So that's what a disciple is. So look

at a neighbor and say, learn, live, tell, all right?

And because of that, we wanted to go to Jesus'

one of his greatest sermons with this sermon on the Mount,

and we are talking about the word blessed. Right, So

next light, So what is blessed? What is blessed in

this context?

Right?

Blessed is when somebody looks at you, and if you

are blessed, they'll look at you and like, wow.

This person is so blessed.

His face is shining, he's glowing, he just seems so happy.

When people look at you, they look and say that, wow,

I wish I was as blessed as this person. Okay,

And that definition. Next light is this it comes from

the world. Ash Ray is a Hebrew word, and it's

a deep joy from walking God's way. So when we

are blessed, if we are walking God's way, we will

have a deep joy, and that deep joy will be

shown in our face and our countenance and people can

see that. So it does not mean that everything goes

good all the time. But even through the storm, people

can look at you and say that, wow, you are blessed,

because the storm would have taken other people out. But

because we are in God, we are blessed. And that

is the definition. And they were looking at Okay. So

and if we go to the next line, so there

was so many I just realized that this is the

seventh week. I'm preaching about the berattitudes seventh week.

Okay.

So the first few beatitudes was all about us surrendering.

We needed to empty ourselves of our sin nature. So

the first one is we surrender our pride when we say,

blessed are the poor in spirit. Next one is was

we surrender our lack? You know when we are in mourning.

We are in mourning because we lost something, so we

surrender our lack to him. And then the next one

is Blessed at the meek. Blessed at the meek is

we are surrendering our strength. So just like a wild stalion,

a wild stalion is useless unless it is submitted to

the master. Then it can go further, faster, and it

can achieve more things. So we also have to surrender

of strengths. So once we surrender everything, we become empty.

And that is when we have the hunger. Because we

empty ourselves of all our weaknesses, our fleshly desires, we

become hungry for God's righteousness. And when we are filled

with God's righteousness, what happens next light? So the next

light is when we are filled with God's righteousness, we

become merciful, we become pure in heart. And today's message

is we become peace makers. Okay, so we go back

one slide verse. So the word peace maker, Okay, when

you hear about the word piece, what comes to mind?

Does the word care bass come to mind?

Or dove?

Or when you talk about the word piece, right, everything

is about wow, everything needs to be soft, is very

calm and all this. But the Bible tells us to

be a peace maker, right, So what is a peace maker?

We think that a peacemaker. Before I studied this right,

when I talked about the word piece again, it had

that thing is everything is calm, everything is nice.

Don't rock the boat, don't rock the boat. We want piece. Right.

But even as I study this right, and because it's mediica,

I was looking at a different way is right? And

the next line so the title again of today's sermon

is Blessed are the peace Makers? Do you know where

is this monument in Malaysia? I think that's quite obvious.

It's quite obvious it's in Malaysia. If y'all are not sure,

you can ask Uncle Alex to take you for a

tour and you'll give you a whole tour about what

this monument stands for. So this monument is called the

Tougu Nagara.

All right. One of the things about this.

One of the famous things about this monument is that

it is one of the tallest bronze freestanding statues, so

it's in the world record book. That's why it's so famous.

But these soldiers that are these soldiers here, right, they

actually fought for peace. This monument is to recognize and

to celebrate all the soldiers that fought against the Japanese

during World War two and also fought against the Communists

after this. And because of that, so many of the

soldiers they lost their lives and this sold but without

these soldiers, there was no peace. So these soldiers were

peace makers. They had to go and make peace. Right,

So do you still think the word peace is a

very soft, very calm thing. No, these soldiers, Okay, maybe

Jad says yes, But maybe Jad should try being a soldier.

Then you will see how peaceful it is. Okay, And

that's a peacemaker. But Jesus said, let's be peacemakers, all right,

And we know that Jesus practices what he preaches, right,

Jesus will never ask us to do something that he

himself didn't do. And do you know one of Jesus' names,

Jesus has many names in the Bible. But one of

his names is next line. Before we go into that

next line, one of Jesus' names is Prince of peace.

Do you think Jesus was weak?

No? Do you Someone who is willing, willingly able, willingly

going to the cross to be tortured and to be

put to death is not someone who is weak. He

willingly did it. You know, he is the prince of peace.

And next line, so this is from Isaiah fifty three,

verse five, so it says here, but he was pierced

for our transit transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities,

and paraphrasing right, the punishment that brought us peace was

on him. Because of the punishment that he went through,

we have peace with God. So Jesus was the ultimate peacemaker.

He made peace between us and God. Without Jesus being

a peacemaker, we will not be called sons of God.

So do you know in the the attitude he said,

blessed are the peacemakers, for we will be called sons

of God. And we can only be known as sons

of God because Jesus was the peacemaker. He paid the

price for our sins, so that peace is restored. So

what is peace? If you go back two slides, what

is peace? I think peace? The Hebrew word peace. I

think y'all are very familiar with. If you're in church,

how many of y'all are familiar with the word shalom.

Look at your neighbor and say shallom so. Shalom means

peace be with you, Peace be with you. So when

you go to somebody and say, somebody wants to give

you a punch, then you say shalom peace.

You know what is shallom? So?

A lot of times we just say peace means hey,

peace means just quiet, everything is chill. I just want peace.

But the biblical definition of peace, true peace is this,

true peace requires taking what's broken and restoring it into wholeness,

whether it's our lives, our relationships, or in the world.

So do you know that in olden times, when the

kings go to war and they declare peace, they don't

just stop fighting. They restore. That means whatever they have

destroyed they will try and rebuild. They will rebuild relationships,

they will rebuild buildings, they will restore whatever that was destroyed.

And that is what is peace.

So, for example, King Solomon he restored the temple. He

brought shalom to the temple. That is one context of

the word shalom. You're bringing back restoration. You know, last

time when we were growing up, so we attended the

Catholic Church. So the Catholic Church, right in between the mass,

there'll be a section where the priest will tell you

turn to the people around you and let's offer up peace.

Right, and then you say peace be with you.

So you will turn to your neighbor, turn to everyone

and say peace be with you. So at that time

I didn't understand you. I thought it's just a ritual.

But you know, if you turn around and turn to

your neighbor or turn to someone who's next to you

and you say peace be with you, it means I

have restored my relationship with you. I'm holding no more

grudges against you, and I have peace. That is the

power of peace. But a lot of times we have

had the wrong conception of peace. Okay, So today there

are four points. Okids, there are four points. They tell

it all up front. Four myths that we have about peace. Okay,

what's the first point? Okay, let me go to slight ten.

So peace maker equals no fighting. So we think that

peace means there's no fighting. How many of you all

think it's true? Okay, it is not false, but it

is not the whole truth. It is not the whole truth.

So for example, right, if you're going to a country

which is war, or there's a bully that comes and

beats you up, right, there is no fighting. Maybe the

guy beat you up, You're always you're always in fear.

So what you do You just keep on giving him

your lunch money. So there's no fighting. But does that

mean there's peace. It doesn't mean there's peace. Yeah, because

you're hungry, right, somebody stole your money. So peacemaker does

not mean there is no fighting. Instead, the truth is next,

peacemakers aren't quiet. They do what is right. So peace

makers most of the time you say that I do

want to fight, I just want peace. You know, you

just say that I'm calm, I don't I don't want

to fight, I just want piece. But that is not

a peace maker. Instead a peacemaker when things are going wrong,

they aren't quiet. They do what is right.

Okay.

So in light with that, I wanted us to watch

a video, So let's fix our eyes on the screen.

So today, since it's madeka, I got two videos. So

this is the first video.

Okay, all right, so y'all saw the video, right, I

give you a stick peek. You can go ahead ask

your parents I can send them the link for the

whole video if they want. Well, I teally it is

quite cool because when I was watching this whole video, right,

how many of US's adults will stand up to bullies

when we see something going wrong. How many of us

we say, hey, I don't want to fight, so I

will keep quiet. But if you see this video, these

kids were peacemakers. They stood up when there was injustice,

and they stood up for what was right. Right, And Jesus,

like what I mentioned, Jesus is the prince of peace.

So let me take you to a story in the

Bible where Jesus stood up for what is right. So

this is from John chapter two. So John chapter two,

Jesus went to the temple. So when it was almost

time for the Jewish passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

In the temple courts, he found the people selling cattle,

sheep and dirves and others sitting at the tables exchanging money.

So he made a whip out of courts and drove

all the temple courts both sheep and cattle. He scattered

the coins of the money changes and overturned their tables

to those his soul nerves. He said, get out of here,

stop turning my house into a market. His disciples remembered

that it is written the zeal for your house will

consume me. So Jesus was a peacemaker. People went into

the temple because they wanted to worship God. But when

they wanted to worship God, you know that the gentiles,

they could only worship on the outer courts. But right

now they couldn't worship there because there's cows their sheep,

there's money changes, And because of that, there was no

longer a place of worship for a lot of the people.

And because of that, they couldn't meet God. They were

bullied out of the temple by people who had money,

people who had authority. And this probably has been happening

for a long time, because it's normal. It's not overnight

suddenly the sheep and cow in the temple. It's probably

happening for a long time. But nobody said anything, but

Jesus came and then he saw and said that, hey,

he is here to restore peace between God and man.

So Jesus went and took the whip. He made a whip,

and he whipped everything out of the temple. So was

is peace just saying that you don't want to fight?

If we came to church today and we found out

that there's something wrong here or they stop, would we

stand up for what is right? Because Jesus stood up

because he wanted to restore peace between God and men.

So next verse, next verse is this, Yes, the fruit

of that righteousness will be peace. Its effect will be

quietness and confidence forever. So when we are blessed are

those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. When we are

filled with righteousness, then there will be peace because we

are again doing what is right with God. And when

we are doing what is right with God, that effect

will produce quietness and confidence forever, meaning right, we will

be secure, we will no longer be conflicted. We know

what is right, we know what is wrong, and we

do what God wants us to do. So that's the

first point. Okay, The first point was peacemakers aren't quiet,

they do what's right. Okay, Next point peacemakers should stay

out of problems. Should you stay out of problems? If

you see a problem, what should you do? What should

we do? Peacemakers should stay out of problems. You saw

the video earlier, right, the girl that was sitting at

the table there, did she have to step into the problem.

She didn't have to.

Because the bully was bullying another girl and she had

she had no idea who the girl was.

She had no idea who the bully was.

But she still decided to step into the problem because

she knew what was right and what was wrong. So

the truth is the myth is this, peace makers should

stay out of problems. The truth is this, Peacemakers should

speak up with love and courage. Peace Makers should speak

up with love and courage. Again, do it with love

and courage. Right, So, one of the stories where Jesus

did this.

Was in this is Yes, it's here, I've got this

main verse. Next light.

Okay, ignore the the first John one up. There is

a typo. But this is a story of Jesus and

the woman who is caught in adultery. All right, so

let me read. So the Pharisees they wanted to trap Jesus.

So they found they caught this lady who committed adultery.

And they said, teacher, this woman was caught in adultery

in this very act. Now Moses in the law commanded

us that should that such should be stoned. What do

you say this, they said, testing him that they might

have something of.

Which to accuse him.

Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger,

as though he did not hear. So when they continued

asking him, he raised him himself up and said to them,

he who is without sin among you, let him throw

at at her first. And again he stooped down and

wrote on the ground. So you know, so, kids, just

a bit of contacts, right, if you get caught this way,

somebody catches you doing this sin, people around you can

take stones and throw it at you and kill you.

And that is according to the law. And they wanted

to trap Jesus. They said, you wanted to trap Jesus,

and say what would Jesus do? So you'll know the

risk band right for those who are like from the nineties,

you know, WWJD. What would Jesus do? They were asking

what would Jesus do in the because according to the law,

this woman should be stoned. So I want to see

whether Jesus obeys the law or he is against the law.

But Jesus can also reply, this is not my problem.

It's up to you. You can do whatever you want.

I don't want to be involved. But Jesus told them,

he who sin first, cast the first. He who has

no sin, cast the first tone, and slowly, one by

one went away.

Next light, So next light is this?

Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience,

went out one by one, beginning from the oldest even

to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the

woman standing in the midst. When Jesus raised himself up,

and he saw no one but the woman, he said

to her, women, where are those accusers of yours? Has

no one condemned you? She said, no one, Lord, And

Jesus said to her, neither do I condemn you. Go

and sin no more. So Jesus he is a peacemaker.

He is out, He does not condone the sin. He

still stole the lady. Go and sin no more. But

he made he was a peacemaker, as in, hey, don't

simply cast if you if you want to blame people.

Make sure that you look at yourself first. Don't cast

the first stone if you yourself have sinned. And because

of that, he stood up for the woman. And do

you think and because of that he forgave the woman,

and the woman went away.

And she sinned no more. That was Jesus command to her. Right.

So that is the second point. You speak up with

love and courage, okay, all right? And then the third

point is this is peace keeping equals peace making if

you keep the peace versus making peace. Is it the

same thing? Have you seen during the news? Right, there

are soldiers who are called the peacekeepers. So the peacekeepers

right most of the time, right, they are just stationed

there at the war.

They will not go and attack.

They are just there to like, hey, make sure that

people are Okay, I'm not gonna fight for you, but

I will try and keep the peace. So are peacekeepers

and peacemakers the same thing?

They are?

Not?

The truth is that peace keepers stay back while peace

makers step up. A lot of times, me included, Right,

I don't like conflict. How many of y'all like conflict?

I'm sure there are there are some that like conflict,

you know, but a lot of us do not like conflict.

So when you don't like conflict, you'll be like, I

don't worry, just keep the peace. Don't care how he

said like that, you know, just keep the peace, or

just forgive the person, and just forgive the person, you know.

And you're doing that because you don't want to step

in and make peace. Because of that, the person who

is the victim loses, you know. But we are not

called to be peace keepers. We are called to make

make peace makers because a peace maker will restore what

was stolen. A peace maker restores what was destroyed. A

peacekeeper is basically you. You just don't want to get

into a fight, right, But we are here to restore.

That's what Jesus came. He came to restore us together

with God. And because of that he had to pay

the price of peace. Being a peacemaker requires paying a price.

You have to step into it. So let me give

you a story in John chapter four. So a woman

of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her,

give me a drink, for the disciples have gone away

into the city to buy food. Then the woman of

Samaria said to him, how is that you being a Jew?

Asked a drink from me, a Samaritan woman, for Jews

have no dealing with Samaritans, you sire. This Jesus is

a Jew and this lady is from Samaria. Okay, if

you watched I think, if you watched the have y'all watched,

I think an episode of Chosen Days, there is this

scene where the.

Jews and Samarian Samaritans they are enemies.

Do you know that Jews they would rather take a

longer road to go to a different place than pass

through Samaria.

They hated the Samaritans.

You know, they won't even share the same cup with them,

and they call them like lower class people. And if

Jesus was a peacekeeper, what will he do? He will

just like Okay, I want to be a peacekeeper with

my disciples and the Jews. I will just follow what

they do. But Jesus was a peacemaker. He came to

restore the relationship between man among men and men with God.

So Jesus went down to Samaria. He talked to the

Samaritan lady, and the Samaritan lady also was surprised. Imagine

your enemy is you come and talk to your enemy

and be kind to your enemy. And suddenly your enemy

asks why are you doing this? Are in you my enemy?

That's what this lady said. For the Jews have no

dealing with the Samaritans. How can you, being a Jew,

ask me a drink? I'm a Samaritan woman. But because

of that next line, and at this point his disciples came.

They marveled that he talked with a woman. Yet no

one says, what do you seek? Why are you talking

to her? The woman then left her water pot and

went her way into the city and said to the man,

come see a man who told me all things that

I ever did? Could this be the Christ? Then they

went out of this city and came to him. So,

because Jesus was a peacemaker, the Samaritans had a chance

to hear the gospel, the good News. I think if

y'all were in missions conference, y'all would have heard the

story about Nick Saint Jim Elliott.

Right. The missionaries who were killed in the.

North American in the South American jungles, were they peacemakers? Yes,

they went there to make peace, although it cost them

their lives. They were not peacekeepers. Peacekeepers will be like, hey,

I pray for you, I give you a like I'm

a peacemaker. I will go to you and I will

share God's with you because I want to restore you

with God. And that's what Jesus did for us. So

we are called to be peacemakers, not just peacekeepers.

Right.

And the final point is this, we can make peace

all by ourselves. We think that whenever there is a conflict,

all we have to do is go there and say, hey,

shake hands, make peace, you know, Like for Jim Elliott's wife,

Mary Elliott, when her husband was killed by that by

therese people, instead of feeling vengeance and anger and stuff like,

most likely she did feel that, but two years later

she went back into that village to continue the work

that her husband has done because the husband was a

peacemaker and the best way to continue the legacy of

her husband was for her to be a peacemaker herself.

But she couldn't do it on her own strength. Can

you imagine if somebody kills someone els to you, how

difficult it is to forgive. She only could forgive because

she had God. And the truth is next line, peacemakers

need God's help. Without God, it is impossible. It is

so difficult for us to make peace with those who

have wronged us, especially those who have inflicted harm on us.

So reading from Luke twenty three. So two other men,

both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.

This was Jesus on the cross. When they came to

a place called the Skull. They crucified him there along

with the criminals, one on his right and one on

his left. Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do

not know what they are doing. Can you imagine hanging

on the cross, people making fun of you, people stripped you,

and Jesus could still say, Father, forgive them, for they

do not know what they are doing.

You know? The next verse is you say.

People stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him.

They said, he saved others, let him save himself if

he is God's Messiah, the chosen one. Then the soldiers

also came and mocked him, and they offered him wine

and vinegar, saying, if you are the king of the Jews,

save yourself.

Can you imagine this?

All Jesus had to do is snap a finger and

the legion of angels will come down and destroy everyone.

But instead Jesus is a peacemaker. He is there to

restore that broken relationship between God and man. So he says, Father,

forgive them. And because he is God and he has

God within him, he's the son of God. He has

that compassion. And only with Jesus can we have that

heart of compassion, we have that hunger and thirst for righteousness,

then we are filled with peace. And then only we

can have become peacemakers. If we say we want to

restore peace using my own strength, it's impossible. So even

as I draw towards a close, I want to share

a story. So this is a story next life. How

many of y'all know who this is? So this is

a guy called Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela, he was the

president in South Africa quite some years back, and he

was a peacemaker. He was a peacemaker. Do you know

that they actually threw him in prison for twenty seven years?

Do you know when he was thrown into prison nineteen

sixty three? How many of boyals were born in nineteen

sixty three? You know when he got out of prison

nineteen ninety twenty seven years you were thrown into prison.

You know why he was thrown into prison? He was

thrown into prison because at that time South Africa was

going through this time this thing called the appetite. So

an appetite is when the whites, those who are whites,

they were against any of those who were blacks, so

they treated them like slaves, they beat them, they didn't

treat them as human at all. And Nelson Mandela says

that enough is enough. I am here to be a peacemaker.

And because he stood up and wanted equal rights for them,

he was thrown into prison for twenty seven years. And

you come out of prison after twenty seven years and

you become the president of that country, what would you do?

Would you take revenge on everyone who went against you?

Because remember twenty seven years. If your kid was born

in nineteen sixties, right now he's close to thirty years,

you've missed your whole kid's childhood.

You've missed everything.

And he was thrown into solitary confinement, which means he

couldn't talk to anyone at all.

But you know what he did.

He came out and decided that he wants to be

a peace maker. So one of the courts here was

saying that Mandela's journey wasn't just about fighting injustice. It

was about transforming pain into peace and division into unity,

and because of that he united the whole country. The

only way that we can bring peace is to be

a peacemaker instead of taking revenge or being or letting

out emotions take control. But to do so, we only

can do it with God's help. And I'm sure Nelson

Mandela's faith had a huge role to play in him

being a peacemaker. So even as I get the band

up today, even as we are called to live as disciples,

and Jesus has said that the beatitudes blessed are those

who are peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

This morning, church, all of us are called to be peacemakers.

We are called to stand up for injustice. We're called

to stand up to restore relationships.

We're called to.

Restore relationships between God and man, to allow God to

use us to be his mouth peace. So this morning,

even as I just invite us to stand, even as

the Word has gone forth, right now, let's allow the

Holy Spirit just to speak to us, to minister to us.

Some of us might have suffered injustice, some of us

might have gone through unfair circumstances, or some of us

might have a view of injustice happening around us. Let

us do what God has called us to do and

be peacemakers, even as Jesus was the Prince of peace.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

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this week is going to be a good week, a

hit for you. God bless