Kingdom Living - Those Who Make Peace

I'll take your Bible turn back with me to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. We are in verse 9. I know that we read the previous verses as well, starting with verse 2 on down to verse 9. Truthfully, we've read all of this together so many times. These verses should really just come out of your mind, come out of your thinking. One of the goals that I have had, I've not mentioned so far, is that we've studied this in such a way, we've read this in such a way that really you would almost memorize these verses without even knowing it. But this morning, we'll be in Matthew chapter 5 verse 9.

Now, if you were paying attention, you know that we're really progressing along in this series in the Sermon on the Mount. We're close to the end of the first section. In the first section, that is the Beatitudes, and that starts with verse 2 and goes on down to verse 12. If I can use this language with the first section, we really see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now, all throughout our study through the Beatitudes, I have used the same phrase with the Sermon title. I think you know that by now. Kingdom living. I've repeated that. I've said that over and over and over. I'll just remind you of what we looked at in verse 3.

It was kingdom living, the poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit. That humble beggar, broken before God, destitute before God, is this kingdom living. We saw this in verse 4. Kingdom living, those who mourn, those of us who are born again, we can mourn over our sin. When we sin, we rebel against God. We come to God at a humble beggar mourning as really as one who has lost a loved one. That's kingdom living. Then our last message out of verse 8 was kingdom living, those who have a pure at heart. Everything about the Beatitudes is about kingdom life. Life in the kingdom of God is born again Christians. We possess the kingdom.

We live in the kingdom and we're doing kingdom work. Now we must remember the two relationships when we're looking at kingdom living. I have mentioned these two relationships several times, but first kingdom living pertains to our relationship with God. We saw that starting in verse 3, especially going down to verse 6, the first four of the Beatitudes. And then second, this kingdom living pertains to our relationship with others. We began to see that starting in verse 5, "Blessed are the meek." We are humble, we are meek before God, and then we're humble and we're meek before men.

We saw this in verse 7 with the merciful, blessed are the merciful. We extend mercy to others. So we have two relationships, how we relate to God and then how we relate to others. And to me, how we relate to others in this kingdom living really comes out in verse 7, being merciful. And in our verse this morning, learning about peacemakers. Of course, this can only happen if we're truly born again. This can only happen if we relate to God properly first. And that's why it's important to understand how these build. It starts with verse 3, "Poor in spirit," and all of this flows together.

Now, before we get into the verse this morning, I want to give you a heads up. I did mention this reality when we covered verse 7, "Blessed are the merciful," but it needs to be repeated. Now, if we truly live this life, this is the kingdom life, kingdom living. If we truly live this life, most everyone in the world will call us fools. Truthfully, they might look at us and say, "You know, you're just a bunch of weirdos, even idiots." More than that, it could lead to persecution. Now, that's the heads up because next week we will study verse 10. There can be times when we show mercy to others and non-Christians may respect us.

They might even admire us, but we can't expect that because when we get through the verses, we'll see that this can lead to persecution. So, when we are studying about being peacemakers, we cannot expect to be treated well by the world. We could be respected, but we could be mocked. And again, the heads up, we might even be persecuted, and we will study that next week. So, this morning we're in this Sabbath beatitude. Look at verse 9. It's very short. Verse 9, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." As is our habit when we are studying these beatitudes, I'm going to ask a lot of what questions. What questions?

We will examine what it means to be a peacemaker, what this peacemaking is not. We will then see what this phrase, "Son of God," or "Sons of God" means, and of course, we will reassemble the verse. That's our habit. We are breaking down the verse word by word, phrase by phrase. Then we are reassembling the verse. We're going back and grabbing that word, "Blessed," and then this phrase, "Kingdom of heaven living in the kingdom," and I believe this reassembly process and work has helped us. And of course, I will make application, as I always do, because we want to take what we are learning, and we don't want it to just be in our minds.

We want it to be in our hearts, and we want it to be fleshed out in our living. So let's look at our first truth in our outline, or our first what question? Number one, I want us to look at what is this word, "peace," right there in verse 9, "Blessed are the peacemakers," the first part of that word, "peacemakers." Now, when someone says the word "peace," there are really a lot of things that can come into our minds. I think it can depend on our age. I think it can depend on maybe our experiences in life, maybe even how aware we are of history and even current world events. That all can shape our thinking.

So there are a lot of things that form what comes to our mind when the word "peace" is mentioned. When the subject of peace is brought up, many people think about war. Many people think about military conflict, the desire for peace from war. Both of my grandfathers were from the World War II generation. One of my grandfathers worked in civil service while my other grandfather was in the Navy, and that generation was wanting peace from a global conflict. They had many friends and they had family who were a part of that war.

I'll never forget having a conversation with one of my grandfathers about movies that portrayed war, especially World War II, and he just couldn't watch them. It wasn't a glamorous thing. It wasn't entertainment for him because he had lost many friends. So these of that World War II generation, they knew what it was like to pray for peace, to hope for peace, world peace, because they were touched by world war. We have men in our church who have been a part of war and conflict.

I vividly remember when some of them were off to war and off in conflict, they were away from their homes and families, and these men and their families know of the struggles of war. As a matter of fact, some of the men in our church know men and had friends who did not return. So speaking of this type of peace, it can kind of hit close to home with some in our church. When the subject of peace is brought up, some people think about peace treaties, maybe even organizations like the United Nations, and maybe even current political events. There are some who are worried that North Korea will start a nuclear war.

When our president is engaged in negotiations concerning their nuclear program, some really hope that he can be successful because they are wanting the absence of war. They fear nuclear war, and they want peace from a war such as that. We can also think about peace in our society, our American society. If we pay attention to the news, we see the lack of peace all over. People are protesting against climate change. In the news this week, I saw where a well-known actress, an older actress, was arrested because of protesting against climate change.

So ironically, she was a well-known activist during the Vietnam War years of the 1960s, and there are people who are protesting for women's rights to have an abortion, but yet there are others who are protesting against abortion. The far left is protesting, even rioting and causing civil unrest. Groups like Antifa are making themselves known through protests which lead to violence, and they don't want peace. They want chaos and anarchy, and there is a lack of peace in many segments of American society today, and truthfully, I'm afraid that it's going to only get worse. But you know the idea of peace can be a lot more personal for some.

The idea of peace can be very, very personal. I have counseled with many people who simply want peace in their home. That's personal, is it not? Some who just want peace in their home. I've counseled many teenagers throughout the years who want a peaceful home life. I've had them in tears ask me, "Brother Chris, why can't I have peace with my mom or my dad or my family?" I've counseled couples who want peace in their marriage. I've counseled a husband or a wife, and they wanted peace in their marriage, yet the other spouse did not want peace. So when we think of peace, many things can come to mind. Peace from conflict, the conflict of war.

Peace from conflict and distrust and uncertainty in society. Peace from conflict in the home. Peace from conflict within a troubled marriage. I think you see what I am asking us to think about. But when you think about it, the world has never, ever been free from conflict. The world has never had absolute peace. Now if you know your Bible, some of you might say, "Pastor, what about the time during Genesis 1 and 2, before sin entered into the world in Genesis 3?" Well, sin did come into the human race in Genesis 3, utterly destroying peace on earth. But peace had already been destroyed before.

The prophet Isaiah records that in eternity past, we don't know when, Lucifer rebelled against God in heaven, and he led a whole host of angels to follow him in that rebellion. So before Genesis 1 and 2, absolute peace had been destroyed because there was war in heaven. Now follow me through this breakup of peace throughout history. Isaiah tells us of the first sin and war ever. Lucifer sinned in pride and rebellion, and he rebelled against God, and he started war in heaven. Lucifer, or later he was called Satan, he then tempted Eve and Adam to rebel against God there in the garden.

They sinned, and peace on earth was totally destroyed between them and God. Now what next? Peace was destroyed between Adam and Eve, was it not? Because it brought about conflict. Peace was destroyed in their family. Ultimately, it was their son, Cain, that killed Abel, was it not? He killed his own brother. Peace was destroyed in the whole of creation, beginning in Genesis 3. And if you fast forward, we see the first war. In Genesis 14, it was Abraham who went to war against a group of kings to rescue Lot and his family from captivity. And listen, that's just the start of it if we know our Bibles. A very quick summary here.

After sin entered the world, they're in the Garden of Eden. Peace was destroyed and has been being destroyed ever since. Starting with Genesis 3, there has been nothing but lying and murder and stealing and sexual sins of all types, slavery, invasion, captivity, war, and more war. And the cycle just keeps going on and on and on and on all the way up to the birth of Christ. Then the destruction of peace on earth hit its climax when sinful man crucified the Prince of Peace just like a common criminal. The act of crucifying Christ in my mind rivals what Lucifer did in heaven in eternity past. Now I think all of you here are pretty smart people.

And I question what's been happening ever since the time of Jesus. How's the world been ever since the crucifixion of Christ? We might be living in peace in our lives right now. We could have peace in our homes today, but right now there is war in our world. Last night, I'm sure someone abused a child in Lincoln County. This week, a wife was probably beaten up by her husband in Lincoln County. This weekend, I'm sure there was fights because people were drunk. This week, marriages ended up ended in the court systems. I think you see where I'm going. Now question, why am I spending this much time on the first part of this word peacemaker?

Why do I take so much time? We must see what this biblical word peace is not. How the world views peace and how we understand peace most likely is a lot different than the peace of the Bible. So let's think for a bit on what this word peace is not. First of all, biblical peace is not merely the absence of conflict. Biblical peace is not just the absence of conflict. Whether we're dealing with a global war or conflict between children and parents, or even putting a struggling marriage back together. True peace, biblical peace is not the absence of conflict. At best, this is a false peace.

I heard John MacArthur describe this kind of peace in this way. I thought it was really good. And I'm loosely quoting him. He says, this false peace, the absence of conflict is just pausing the fight so the opposing parties can reload their weapons. He went on to say that this type of peace, just a mere absence of conflict, it just turns into cold war, whether it's between nations or peoples, even married couples. So biblical peace is not just the absence of conflict. Also, biblical peace is not a peaceable spirit. Biblical peace is not this peaceable spirit. You know, we are all different. Are we not? God made us all different.

We have different dispositions or personalities. There are some who are very contentious. There's some people, they're just fighters, you know, they enjoy a good fight. They enjoy conflict. They relish conflict. The opposite are those who hate a fight. They run from conflict. They may even be very cowardly, but sometimes in the middle is the one who has this peaceable spirit. He or she just likes everyone to get along. Maybe they have that middle child syndrome. If you know what I mean, they may even want no conflict at all costs, but that's not biblical peace. So biblical peace is not the simple absence of conflict.

Biblical peace is not a peaceable spirit or disposition. And then this one is similar, but it's different. Biblical peace is not being a peace lover. Biblical peace is not being a peace lover. We know these types. They may be involved in quiet, nonviolent protests for peace. There are people, they have dreams and ideals of peace. They may work hard for peace in society in many places. They may protest against war. They may be even involved in groups like the Peace Corps. They are trying to help struggling people in the world.

Specifically, sometimes there are people they want to help battered women and people who struggle with marriages and see these, these are the people, they are lovers of peace. They'll almost do anything to attain peace. Well, notice what we've seen. We have seen what biblical peace is not, and I'm sure you could add to what I brought before you. Simply, it is not the absence of conflict. It is not a peaceable spirit that maybe even rubs off on other people. It is not being peace loving. Biblical peace is much, much more. So that leads us to what biblical peace is.

Now, biblical peace, the peace right here in the beatitude, go back to the verse, blessed are the peacemakers. Now I've just taken peace that first part of the word peacemakers. This piece must be understood from the Jewish perspective. Jesus was Jewish, was he not? His disciples, I believe they were on the front row of this sermon. They were Jews as well. The primary audience were the Jewish people, and I believe that there were some Gentiles scattered among them. But the Hebrew word for peace and the Hebrew understanding of peace never means only the simple absence of conflict or trouble. It means the absence of strife.

It does mean the absence of conflict, but that space is filled up with those things which are for the greatest good of the man. This peace, peace that the Jews would have understood, it meant the presence of good things, godly things, biblical things. Simply, it means the absence of conflict and trouble in life, yes, and that life is then filled with the presence of God, God's righteousness, and God's truth. Those things which will do man the greatest good. Now a very important question. I ask these rhetorical questions a lot. Hopefully they make you begin to think. But the question, what causes conflict? What causes strife?

What causes trouble in the world? Now men don't look at your wife. I'm watching, don't look at your wife. And ladies, don't say my mother-in-law either. But what causes strife and trouble and conflict? Yes, strife and conflict and trouble may come from a person, and it may come from a person in your life, but that is not the source. The source of all conflict and strife and fights come from one little word, sin. That word sin. Yes, that three-letter word sin. Now let me give you a few examples. And this is not an exhaustive list. And this will just help us in our understanding and in our thinking.

First of all, the story of the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4. We've studied her way back in our study through the Gospel of John. Her life, this woman's life, it was filled with sin and in an empty perverted religion. Her life was filled with conflict from that sin. Remember how many husbands she had? Over five. That's a lot of conflict, is it not? But what did Jesus do? Jesus confronted her sin and Jesus confronted the conflict in her life, ultimately her sin, face to face. So all of the conflict and strife and trouble in her life came from her sin. What about the story of Zacchaeus? We know about Zacchaeus from Luke chapter 19.

Oh, we've studied Zacchaeus from vacation Bible school on up, have we not? Zacchaeus, his life was filled with conflict and strife from sin and it was the sin of dishonesty, extortion, stealing. As a tax collector, he would extort money from the Jewish people, his own people, and he had permission to do so with the Romans. And I'm telling you, his life was full of strife and conflict because all of his own people hated him, but it all came from sin. Then the story of Judas. Remember traitor Judas, as I called him? He was a thief just like Zacchaeus, but a little different.

He was very trusted because the disciples trusted him to be the church treasurer, did they not? He appeared to be honest, but all along he was a thief and ultimately his sin led him to sell out Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. And then he committed suicide and all of his strife came from what? Sin. This is a broad group, a big group, the story of the religious leaders that Jesus faced all throughout the gospels. They were holding on to their warped understanding of the Jewish law and the Jewish religion.

They were great at external religion, but inside they were dead and they hated Jesus and his disciples and they were eaten up with conflict and strife. Why? Because of sin. And see the list goes on and on and on. But what I want us to see is the presence of all conflict, the presence of all fights and strife are from sin, that little word sin. And this piece here is the absence of conflicts. It is the absence of strife and troubles in life from sin and that same life is filled up. It's filled up with the presence of God, his righteousness and his truth. Those things which do the man the greatest good. I think you've been able to follow me.

Now that leads me to this second question. What is this word? Peacemakers. We looked at this word, peace. Now the word peacemakers. Blessed are the peacemakers. Now this term does not apply to the idealist. Remember the idealist? The one who has these ideas of peace, but they don't really have the action or the right action. Now this does not apply to the one who really just loves peace. This does not apply to the one who avoids conflict. You know those kind? The peacemaker, he is the one who loves peace, but he takes action in the face of that conflict.

He takes action in the face of the fight to remove the conflict, the strife and the fight, but not just remove the conflict. Remember the peacemaker, he replaces that conflict with what? That which is the greatest good for man. They replace that strife and the conflict and the fight with God and God's truth and God's righteousness. Now let me show you how this works out. First, a peacemaker is one who is personally at peace with God. Oh, it all starts with being made right with God. They're born again. They are a true Christian. They have experienced salvation by grace through faith.

So a peacemaker is first one who is personally at peace with God. The conflict and strife from their rebellion against God has been taken away in their personal salvation. That conflict has been removed and it has been replaced by the Holy Spirit of God. They are not at war with God anymore. They are not. They are at, listen, here we go. They are at peace with God. The war has ceased. They have laid down their arms, have they not? The conflict from their sinful nature has been dealt with properly. Their life is filled with God. They desire God's righteousness. They are at peace with God. They know God. They have been born of God.

And then second, a peacemaker is personally striving to repent of sin in their own life. That's just the next logical step. We have salvation first, and this is just sanctification. That peacemaker is personally working and desiring to repent of sin in their life. Simply when sin comes into the Christian's life, they see it as an offense to God. They are convicted by the Holy Spirit of God. Conflict and strife, what? It comes up because of that sin. They wrestle with that sin and they wrestle towards repentance. This can be quick. Sometimes this can be slow. When repentance is complete, there is a peace that is restored.

Where there was conflict and strife, now there is a new work of God and the presence of God, there is peace. Peace has been restored. So the peacemaker first has experienced salvation and he is walking with God, desiring to be sanctified. So notice what I've shown you so far. The peacemaker is a man or a woman or a young person who was born of God, walking with God. They are at peace with God and they are working in their life. They're not perfect. No, they are living in his grace and his obedience. They are walking with God. Now let me continue. Third, a peacemaker is one who seeks to lead others to peace.

A peacemaker is one who seeks to lead others to peace. Now simply this happens in two ways. One is very specific and the other is broad. First, the peacemaker seeks to share the gospel and impact the lost world for salvation. They are helping to bring lost sinners to Christ they see the lost as rebels against God. They see the lost as having no peace with God. So they seek to help bring peace in the lives of the lost by influencing them for Jesus for salvation. So first, a peacemaker is one who seeks to lead other people to Christ. Very specific. I think about the Samaritan woman. Remember what happened to her?

She came to faith in Christ and immediately she goes to her own people and she begins to tell them about Jesus. What was she doing? She's being a peacemaker. She wanted to see her own people come to faith in Christ as she had. Another example is Paul and Timothy. We know that Paul was the mentor to Timothy but most people in the scriptures allude to this believe that Paul was the one who led Timothy to faith in Christ. He was a peacemaker. So anytime someone influences another one to Christ they are a peacemaker. So this one who seeks to lead others to peace first it happens when we influence other people to Christ.

And then second, and this is brought, this peacemaker seeks to diffuse conflict to deal with strife and fighting in all walks of life. He does this in the lives of brothers and sisters in Christ. He does this also in the lives of the lost. The peacemaker does this by using what standard? The standard of God's word and God's righteousness. I give you an example. If I counsel a Christian who is struggling with sin, if I help them, if I teach them the word and I help move them along to repentance and obedience, then I'm a peacemaker in the life of that Christian. Am I not?

They are at peace with God because they've dealt with their sin and I've been an instrument, a tool for God to be a peacemaker in the life of the Christian. But then the example in the world, if I work with a lost person in employment or I have a lost neighbor and if I seek to help them with a personal conflict, maybe they have conflict in their marriage. If I try to help them to do what is right, to do what is good, oh yes, I want to share Christ. But if I enable them to do what is right and good and the struggles within their marriage, listen, I'm being a peacemaker even in the lives of a lost person. So notice what I've shown you.

A peacemaker is one who seeks to bring peace in the lives of other people. They seek first to evangelize the lost, therefore seeing them be made right with God and experiencing the peace of God. They seek to influence both Christians and non-Christians, not simply to remove conflict, no. The peacemaker seeks to help the Christian in any conflict and strife in life according to the truth of God's word and they seek to influence the lost as well. But of course we always want to share Christ first and foremost. And this leads us to our third question. What does it mean to be called sons of God? Go back to the verse.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." Now understanding this phrase really is rather simple, but again we have to understand the Jewish background. We have to have a grasp of the Hebrew culture. We have to understand the Old Testament and its teaching. It permeated everything in Jewish life. Now this phrase was a common Jewish expression, the phrase sons of, but we must understand the Hebrew language a little. Now scholars have to help us here. Hebrew is a very, very difficult language, but scholars can help us here. And I just grabbed some information from various scholars this week.

But the Hebrew language is unique. It is not rich in adjectives at all. Very often when the Hebrew language seeks to describe something, it does not use an adjective, but it uses the phrase son of. So a man will be called a son of encouragement instead of an encouraging man. Let me give you an example. I think you'll see what I mean. Barnabas, we know that New Testament character Barnabas. He was called what? The son of encouragement. We see that in Acts 4 36. Now what was the purpose? Why? It all came from the language. We might not see it unless it is pointed out for us. So what does that mean right here in this phrase?

Go back to the verse. "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God." Here the peacemakers are called the sons of God, meaning they are God like. They are doing God like works. They are doing what God did through his son Jesus. Isaiah called Jesus the Prince of Peace. He lived the life of peacemaking. Now think about what Jesus did. He brought peace through salvation. Did he not? He brought peace even when he fed the masses. Did he not? They were hungry and he met their need. Oh, he healed the sick. He touched the lame. He even opened blind eyes, therefore bringing about a certain level of peace.

He was the best and purest peacemaker that ever lived. So when a man or a woman or a young person is living the true peacemaking life, they are being God like. We are being God like. We're doing God like works and they are seen as and they are called sons and daughters of God. Now how about that folks? We're being like God. Now let's take a step back from all of that and let's reassemble the verse. Well I start off with the first word. "Blessed." Go back to the verse. Verse 9. "Blessed." Oh, the great blessing. That internal blessing. Oh, the great inner joy and happiness that is brought about in the one who has peace with God.

They continue to have joy and happiness because they are used by God in the lives of others. They are seeking to bring men to Christ. They seek to dispel trouble and strife and conflict in the lives of brothers and sisters in Christ. Always using God's word as the standard. They even seek to help the lost with their troubles and conflict. They are peace lovers because they have experienced peace. They are peacemakers because they are helping bring peace in the lives of others. They are seen as sons and daughters of God because they are being like God. They are doing God like works. They are peacemakers.

Now I know that as we've been going along in the message, some of the applications really just come to your own minds without me pointing it out. I think that some of it is just kind of obvious. But I want to take the time to touch on a few areas and then I will conclude the message. I want to just take this peacemaking and I want to apply it and carry it a little bit further. I want to talk about four areas of life where we should be. We must be peacemakers. Now remember who I'm talking to. Those of us who have been born of God, we've been saved, we know God, we have peace with God.

Four areas where we must be God like doing God like works being peacemakers. First, we must be peacemakers in sharing the gospel with the lost. Oh people listen, we must be peacemakers in evangelism. Remember evangelism is one of the ten pillars of the church. See the ten pillars just describes who we are and what we do. We do missions, we do evangelism, we believe in church discipline, we practice church discipline, and so on and so on. But one of the ten pillars is evangelism. And we must be peacemakers in sharing the gospel with the lost. But oh let me show you something.

Before you can help someone be at peace with God, you have to also bring war first. Listen folks, part of the gospel message is the bad news and we have to look at people and say you're a sinner against God. Yes, there is conflict before there is peace. I'll never forget. I'll never forget the first time someone in my family shared the gospel, I was standing outside my mom and my dad's home and this individual knew that they had to share the bad news first and he brought about war in my life.

He pointed out my sin and my rebellion and he got real personal and I can't tell you how I treated him and I can't repeat the things that I said and conflict came up immediately. But this person knew that conflict had to come first before there could be peace. Men and women and our children must understand that they are rebels against God. They are sinners and we can't pat them on the back and say, "Oh you just need to pray the sinner's prayer and ask Jesus into your heart." No, we have to deal with their sin.

And so we must be peacemakers sharing the gospel on the front end sharing the bad news knowing that with the work of the Spirit in their life, peace can come into their life. So we must be peacemakers in evangelism. That's the first area of our life where we should be peacemakers. But then second, we must be peacemakers in our home. Within our marriages, we must work hard to have peace. We can't have contentious marriages. We can't have fights in our relationship all the time. Listen, we can't be negative all the time. We can't keep score. We can't be selfish. No, we must serve our spouses. We must love our spouses. Yes.

And we must be peacemakers within our marriages. There will be fights. There will be disagreements. We're sinners and we live under the same roof. There will be difficulties. Selfishness will come up. Yes. But we must strive to do what? To dispel the conflict and replace that with the standard of God's word. We must be peacemakers with our own children. Oh, listen, we must be peacemakers with our own children. We have to be careful as parents. We know we just can't run them run loose, but we can't be so tight on them that we exasperate our children. It's tough. Yes.

We must work hard to be peacemakers in the home with our marriages and with our children. And then I kind of broaden it a little. We must be peacemakers in our extended family. I remember when we were going through our small group material on being peacemakers. It was very good stuff. I'm going to revisit that here in a minute. There was a man in our church who said, listen, pastor, I learned about being a peacemaker and I was able to take that information and deal with my extended family. That's being a peacemaker in the home and with the family. So the second area of our life is we must be peacemakers in the home.

And then third, we must be peacemakers in the church. Now I'm going to use two phrases, the church and our church, the church universal, but our church, the church that God has given us. And we must work hard to be peacemakers within the church. And listen, we're all sinners saved by grace. And the longer we live the Christian life around each other, we're going to see differences. We're going to have stripes. We're going to have problems, but we must be peacemakers within the household of God. And again, I remind you of what Jesus said in John chapter 13. He told his disciples to love each other the way he had loved them.

And then the lost world will know who you are. And you know, every so often someone comes along in the life of the church and they're not a peacemaker in the church. They're a peace breaker. God allows that to come folks. He's Lord over his church. And anytime a peace breaker comes into the life of the church, whether they storm down the aisle or whether they slip into the back door, peace breakers come in for a purpose. In Acts chapter two, excuse me, Acts chapter 20, Paul is meeting with the Ephesian elders, the Ephesian elders of the church, a paraphrasing. And what is he saying? I'm going to Jerusalem. You're never going to see me again.

He knew he was going to die. They were heartbroken. And what did he say? He said, be careful elders because there will be men who will rise up among you. They are wolves and they will seek to destroy you. And he says they will pervert the gospel and they will draw men to themselves. What is he saying? There are some that will come into the life of the church and they will be peace breakers. And Titus chapter three, verse 10, speaks about those who divide within the life of the church. And it is a very, very, very serious sin. So the third area where we must be peacemakers is in the life of the church, God's people, God's church.

And then the fourth area is we must be peacemakers in the world. Yes, in the world, no matter our career, we must be a peacemaker. Oh, no matter where we live in the community, everywhere we go in the community, whether it's the, the feed store or the bank or, or Walmart, or the grocery store, or dealing with our neighbors, we must be peacemakers within the community in our careers and everything that we are. Yes, even in the world, we must be peacemakers, always dealing with conflict according to God's words, God's righteousness.

And listen, if you help the lost deal with conflict biblically, it just may open up the door for you to share the gospel and leading them to that ultimate peace. And that is salvation in Christ. So four areas of life where we should be peacemakers sharing the gospel of the lost peacemakers in our home, peacemakers in his church, the church, our church, his church, and then peacemakers in the world. Now I want to conclude by revisiting what I brought up during the introduction of a message. And I do this with the question, what type of life am I describing? Kingdom living. This is kingdom life. This is possessing the kingdom.

You hear me folks? Verse three, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And every one of these be attitudes, there is attached that phrase, "Theirs is the kingdom of heaven." This is possessing the kingdom, working in the kingdom. This is kingdom living. This is who we are. This is what we do. This is the work of living in the kingdom and the work that we do. If we are born again, God lives within us and we can do this. We are God-like and we do God-like stuff. I'll give you an example that might help you. Most of you have heard my call to the ministry.

I'll never forget as God began to work in circumstances in my life, and he brought me to that place where he called me into the gospel ministry. And it was in the spring of 1995. God worked in a way and called me into student ministry. I served in full-time student ministry for 10 years, served quite a bit of time as a layman serving in the life of the local church before that. But you know, when God called me into the ministry, he did a unique work in me. Now he saved me and he changed me in my salvation and in my sanctification. But yet, when he called me to the vocational ministry, he changed me. He changed what I did.

He gave me an ability that I did not have before and I was able to do God-like things. I'll never forget years into my ministry. I had a friend of mine and the backdrop was all that I was doing. And he asked me a question. He says, "How do you do all this? How do you do all this? How do you do all that you do?" And my response was simple. I just said, "It's who I am. It's what I do." I get up in the morning, I open my eyes, I take a breath in my lungs and it's who I am. It's what I do. It wasn't a job. It wasn't that I went to work. No, I was just doing what I was calling to do.

And see what I'm trying to show you is this, is when we are born of God and God opens up our eyes to these truths. Listen, this just becomes who we are. It's an internal work of God within us. Oh, it's vertical first. Oh, God does this work within us. And then it becomes horizontal. God is enabling us to be peacemakers within the world. And look, let me tell you something. When you begin to embrace this work, there will be a day when somebody will say, "How do you do what you do?" You say, "No, it's just God working in me. It's who I am. It's what I do." So I have a question for you. Are you a peacemaker? Are you a peacemaker?

Hopefully you're not a peacemaker. Are you a peacemaker? Is God calling you to be a better peacemaker? Oh, I believe there are people here. You've had little glimpses of what peacemaking is like, but I think that God has opened up your eyes, maybe even opened up the double doors to show you what this peacemaking should be all about. And here's my challenge to you as I close. First, be a peacemaker at home. If you can't be a peacemaker at home, you can't be a peacemaker in the world. You can't be a peacemaker in his church. Be a peacemaker at home. Be a peacemaker in his church, his church, our church. You be a peacemaker.

And if you're a peacemaker at home, and if you're a peacemaker with God's people, brothers and sisters in Christ, then you can be a peacemaker in the world. And listen, then the church itself will go out into the world and will be used for his glory and his honor and his purposes. You'll be the son and the daughter of God doing God-like stuff. So what have we looked at this morning? You know the first part of the title? It's kingdom living, kingdom living, those who make peace. May God help us to be these kinds of people. Let's pray.