Sermon On The Mount

The Peacemakers

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels and Sermons

Lesson: 05- 25

Genre:

Track: 05

Dictation Name: Sermon on the Mount - 05

Location/Venue:

Year: 1980

Our Lord and our God we give thanks unto thee that Thou art on the throne. So that as we face the difficult problems of our day in this country and around the world we can do so in the blessed knowledge that Thy council shall prevail and Thy word shall not return unto Thee void. Make us strong and zealous in faith, ever instant in prayer. We pray for the chaplains who faithfully discharge their calling in the military and the officers who are concerned for the Christian future of this country and of the world and we pray our Father that Thou wouldst bless them, watch over them and prosper their efforts. Bless us now as we give ourselves to the study of Thy word, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Our scripture this morning is from Matthew 5:9. Matthew 5:9.

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”

Our subject of course is the peacemakers. Who are the blessed peacemakers? The word peacemaker in the Greek is very similar to the English word, it is a combination of two words, makers and peace. The word we have in the Greek New Testament for peace we have in English as a name, Irene. Irene is simply the Greek word peace. Now peace is a state of law and order which gives rise to the blessings of prosperity. Peace is a word that is very common in both the old and the New Testaments. In the Old Testament it is the word Shalom which is used as a farewell, goodbye, shalom, peace and its use in the Old Testament is very, very similar to that of the New Testament. What shalom and Irene mean is something very different from what the world thinks of all too often when it uses the word peace.

Our view of peace is too often [unknown] I want to be alone, don’t bother me. Don’t rock the boat, don’t ruffle my feathers, but in the Old and the New Testaments the word peace has reference to covenant life, to life in community. Behold how good it is, the Psalmist says, when brethren live together. That is shalom, peace; when a man and woman live together in harmony under God that is in the biblical sense, peace. Peace has reference always in the bible to a community fact. Now some of you may recall that in my book Institutes of Biblical Law I call attention to the fact that archeologists found that in eras of strength, of security, godliness, in the history of Israel the homes had a remarkable characteristic, one that is hard for us to imagine. They were built of stone so they were very solid but instead of a heavy and barred door as in later areas, in periods of peace and prosperity there would be a drape instead of a door, you just pulled the drape aside and walked in. That certainly speaks of security, does it not? That you could live in a society where you would have no door and no lock and just a drape? Now that conveys the biblical meaning of the word peace. Peace. It is a community fact. But it is first of all a community fact with God, through Christ. So that there is no peace if there is not first of all peace with God and Christ is the peacemaker.

God says through Isaiah in Isaiah 45:7:

“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.”

Now in the Greek or Septuagint version of the Old Testament that is the same word we have herein the Sermon on the Mount, peacemaker, God says I am the peacemaker. And our Lord establishes peace with God for men and at the last supper our Lord said in John 14:27:

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world, and lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Christ gives us a peace, not as the world giveth because the peace the world seeks is a [unknown] peace. It does not want associations with people that might cause problems because well, people make problems [laughs]. We do too because we’re people. We make problems for one another, that is inescapable since we’re not sinless. Now, our Lord therefore says the peace that He gives us is that kind of peace, it is supernatural. This of course is the meaning of the priestly benediction, the Lord bless Thee and keep thee, the Lord make His face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee, the Lord lift up His countenance upon Thee and give thee peace, this is in Numbers 6:24-26. Moreover that type of peace which is a community thing is described very clearly for us in Deuteronomy 28:1-14:

“And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.

3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.

6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

7 The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.”

And so on, we are given this pronouncement of the blessing of peace when we have peace with God, when we walk in obedience to Him. It is the blessing of God and it is the work of Jesus Christ as Paul says in Ephesians 2:14-18.

“For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”

Jesus Christ is our peace with God. So that more we are in communion with God through Christ the greater the peace we have in our lives and in our families and in our communities. This is peace, it is a wholeness, it is new life, it is community under God. And so the commandment, as in Mark 9:50 is: have peace, one with another. How? In Christ. If it be possible as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men but not at the price of God’s peace.

The church is called to God’s peace, peace is the gift of God, of Christ, of the Holy Spirit. Paul in Romans 13:15 tells us that peace is associated also with hope, with joy and with power. But fallen man seeks to establish peace apart from God but the peace making of man apart from Christ is really discord making. It is the love of death. God orders us in Christ to work for peace and the peacemakers are called the children of God, His family. They do His work. They work to reconcile with God through Christ and to apply the word of God to every area of life and thought. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God make of us blessed peacemakers that having peace with Thee we may have peace in our homes and might spread that peace abroad into all the world. We come to Thee our Father rejoicing in the peace that we have in Jesus Christ, asking that Thy prospering hand may use us mightily for the cause of Christ, our peace. In His name we pray, Amen.