Matthew chapter 5 this morning. Matthew chapter 5. We conclude a series on the theme of peacemaking. Matthew 5 brings us to that place in God's Word, of course, where we have that expression given to us by our Lord, the expression peacemaker. I'll begin reading it, the first verse, and read through verse 9. Verse 9, of course, will be the focus of our attention this morning. Matthew 5, then, beginning at verse 1. Seeing the crowds, he, that is, Jesus, went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. He opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit. for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Amen. Let's pray together. Make this, O Lord, another peacemaking enterprise. Your preaching, our listening, your gospel going forth, our receiving it, your servant faithfully presenting your will and your people faithfully heeding it. We pray that peace might be ours because you have come to us and spoken to us on your word. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. we took as our title for this series, Peacemaking, Principles of Peacemaking. We were making reference, as I'm sure all of you realize, to verse 9 of Matthew, chapter 5. And as I conclude this series this morning, I want to go back to those words and to ask the question, just what did Jesus mean by those words? Blessed are the peacemakers. Jesus, of course, is speaking these words in the context of a larger sermon. It's been called the Sermon on the Mount, because he went up on a mountain to give it. And these opening words have been called the Beatitudes. They are giving to us, in eight different lines of thought, what a true disciple of Jesus looks like. A true disciple of Jesus is one who's blessed. You could translate that word, truly happy. One who is a true follower of Christ is one who is truly happy. And this is a profile of what he looks like. And in a sense, the Beatitudes summarize that true disciple. And then the rest of the Sermon on the Mount is devoted to fleshing out what does it mean to be a true disciple of Jesus. I'm particularly interested in this word in verse 9. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. In particular, I'm interested in that latter, that second phrase, which is to say the reason that Jesus gives for saying that peacemakers are blessed. Peacemakers are truly happy. Why? Because they'll be called sons of God. What does he mean by that? What does Jesus mean? Does he mean that if we, by a long and consistent life of peace, of resolving conflict in the ways that we've been talking about in this series, we will eventually earn the right to become sons of God. Well, no, that's not what he means. We can say that quite confidently. Somebody teaches us elsewhere in his teaching of the gospel that is all together by grace. But this is what he means. He means that as we live, peacemaking lives, we will evidence who our Daddy is. We will show to others the Father that is ours spiritually. His likeness will be unmistakable in us as we live peacemaking lives. And here's the important thing that I want to emphasize as we close our series on peacemaking. Jesus is saying something here in verse 9 about the nature of God. He's saying in verse 9 that because God is a peacemaker and we show that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, as it were, when we too act in ways consistent with all that we've been studying together in making peace, what does it mean to say that God is a peacemaker? we make peace, we are acting like our Father. What does it mean that He is a peacemaker? That's what I want to consider with you this morning hour. The course of the series on peacemaking has been a nuts-and-bolts examination of what various responsibilities we have, and the steps that should be taken, the very much how of making peace. This is really concluding by stepping back and saying, Are we to be so concerned about being peacemakers? The answer is that will open up a bit now is that God, our father, is a peacemaker. We'll divide our time in two parts this morning. We'll look at God, first, as a lover of peace, and then, secondly, God as a pursuer of peace. Our God is a God who loves peace, and if we are his sons, Jesus is saying, we will love peace too. What does it mean that God loves peace? Well, if I were to describe for you a person who has a deep, thoroughgoing aversion to strife and conflict, who's quick to take even extreme measures to avoid every threat to peace, who's willing to make astonishing sacrifices in order to What kind of person would you think I was describing? Some leftover hippie? Some long-haired peacenik? The descendants of such a person who go around in radical, flamboyant ways, arguing for peace? You might think that. I submit to you, you ought to think of the one true God. the one true God of all the universe. He's someone who has a deep, furrowing aversion to strife and conflict. He's someone willing to take extreme measures to avoid threats to peace. He's someone who's willing to make astonishing sacrifices to regain peace lost. God is a God, I say to you, who loves peace. When I have a tendency, I think, to think of such a person that I've just described as weak, effeminate, cowardly, the kind of person I've just described. But that notion, dear people, listen to me, that notion is utterly obliterated by the Scriptures which present to us the God of all the universe. as being a God who loves peace, who is averse in its deepest being to conflict, to strife. The peacemaking that Jesus calls us to is rooted in the kind of God that we have. And we have a vast task to do in just a few minutes to try to remind ourselves of what about the peace-loving nature of our God. We'll do that in three ways. If we talk about God, the lover of peace, we'll remind ourselves how often, first of all, God calls Himself the God of peace. In the Scriptures, for example, the Apostle Paul uses this expression as one of his favorite ways of speaking of God. He says to the Romans, Peace be with you all. He says to the Corinthians, live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you. He says to the Philippians, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. He says to the Thessalonians, now may the God of peace sanctify you completely. And the writer of Hebrews puts it this way. Now, may the God of peace brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ. He goes on to give a benediction, a blessing. I'm reminded of this way of speaking of the God of all the universe. He is a God of peace. Now, the one who inspired these words is the very one we're speaking of, and he wants to be known this way. He wants us to think of him as a God of peace. Now, you think of everything that you know about the one true God as revealed to us in the Scripture. Think of all that you know and all that you have come to conclude about him. Is it consistent with your perception of him that he finds it one of his favorite ways of representing himself, that he's a God of peace? Is that how you think of God? That's how he speaks of himself? That's how he talks about himself? He is, by nature, a peaceful being. It's manifest in the way he talks about himself. It's also manifested, secondly, in how the people of God are constantly exhorted to do the same. And here I'm not wanting to sum up these exhortations in order to encourage you to be peacemakers. I've done a lot of that already. What I want you to do is to recognize that lying behind these exhortations to pursue peace is a God who himself loves it. A God who thinks this is one of the greatest things to be desired and to be attained. Paul to the Corinthians, God has called you to peace. Peter, whoever desires to love life and to see good days, let him seek peace and pursue it. Again, the writer of the book of Hebrews says, strive for peace with everyone. all in Romans, if possible, so far as it depends on you live peaceably with you all. Now, if you were to ask yourself a question, what is the exhortation? Let's just take the New Testament for now. What is the one kind of exhortation that the people of God received more than any other in the New Testament? What will come to your mind? Maybe in this context, as I raise the point now, you would think Maybe he's going to say peace, and you'd be exactly right. Far and away, the agitation could come to us in the New Testament scriptures as the people of God. That far and away, the greatest burden of the Holy Spirit inspiring the scriptures is to call the people of God to live at peace with one another. What does that tell you about God? It tells you that he loves this. It tells you that Conversely, one of the things that he most hates is discord in his family. There are six things, even seven, that the Lord hates. What's the seventh? It's the other side of the seventh, the attitude. One who shows discord among his brethren. I'm wanting you this morning to think anew about the nature of God. What kind of being is he? He is a peace-loving being. Jeremiah Burroughs was a Puritan who was particularly qualified, in my judgment, to write on this subject. He was one who was known in his day, in a day of tremendous conflict even within the church, as being a man who spoke for peace and called for peace and reconciliation among brothers. He was known for that, and in his comments he underscored the point I'm making. Read the scripture and you will find there no duty in all the book of God is more urged, more backed with arguments and motives and persuasions. No duty hath stronger advertisement to it than peace. The read the epistles especially, Burroughs says, you shall find continually peace is the thing that the Holy Spirit most persuades men to. There is no one thing that God's heart is more upon than to seek peace. Well, I haven't yet gotten to the most resounding and conclusive line of evidence that God loves He describes himself as the God of peace. He exhorts us to be peacemakers. The most resounding evidence that he is a lover of peace is that this greatest evidence is that when all the cosmos was plunged into the chaotic conflict occasioned by the fall of angels and men, what did he do? where he set about to reestablish peace. That, too, is one of the most pervasive ways the Bible has of characterizing God's whole plan of redemption, was His peace-loving God regaining That's what we are thinking of this time of year, when we celebrate the coming of Christ. And how is that coming celebrated, or partly announced? From of old, unto us a child is born, a son is given, the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. The increase of his government and peace. There will be no end. His government is to bring peace. We've been saying this morning, angels in training, as it were. Glory to God in the highest and on earth. Peace among those with whom he is pleased. This is this is the message of the gospel. God in Christ, as Paul says, reconciling us to himself. Of course, you know that the new heavens and the new earth will be His glorious triumph of regaining and re-securing peace between Himself and those who were His enemies. My friends, I've been emphasizing to you that God is a lover of peace. Why am I doing that? As I conclude this series on peacemaking, I do that convinced that nothing of what I've said to you about the steps, the methods, the how-to's of reconciliation with your brethren will be of any good to you in the long run, unless you acquire this deeply held love for peace. Unless this becomes something which you yourself, like your father, delight in. The thing which becomes, which in a visceral way you want. You might have been motivated already in this series to do a few things, to make a few changes in your thoughts and in your prayers and even in some outward ways with other men, other brothers and sisters in the congregation. And I am thankful for that. And I'm even thankful if you were motivated to do that out of sheer guilt. That's one reason to do the right thing. Conviction of sin. I've got to do something about this. This is wrong. But I don't give that a prayer, a chance, if I'm going to speak that way, of changing you into someone else. someone who sets about becoming a peacemaker, unless you become a lover of peace, like your father in heaven. Thomas Watson says, For men to make peace among others, they must be of peaceable spirits of selves. For they can be promoters of peace, they must be lovers of peace. James writes, But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable. And then he uses a word that is a biblical word to describe a person who loves peace. The wisdom from above is pure, then peaceable. And here's the word, gentle. That's how Jesus describes himself. I am gentle, he says. That's how he's described by the prophets. He's coming to you riding on a donkey gentle. That's how he's going to be. And that's the word that the scripture uses to describe people who come to have such a love for peace. They're willing to make great sacrifice to attain it. Now that the gentleness of Jesus mean that he's without wrath. You know, of course, that doesn't mean that. Does the gentleness of the triune God mean that He is unable to respond with fury against sin? No, of course it doesn't. But it makes that fury all the more awful, listen to me, because of the uncharacteristic nature of it. When God is fearless, He is, if I may speak rapidly, He's not like Himself. He is by nature gentle. When Jesus went to the temple with a whip, he was all the more dreadful because that's not the way he carried himself. He's by nature a peace-loving Messiah. The hell that awaits those who do not make peace with God will be all the more awful because it will be like the father known by his children to be a peace-loving, gentle man who's provoked to wrath. It will be all the more awful because it is so uncharacteristic of God. God does not just as soon have a frown on His face as a smile. He doesn't just as soon strike men as lift them up. No, the Scripture represents Him, the God who loves peace. And we're to be the same way, brothers and sisters, we as Orthodox Presbyterians. And I ask you this question, I wonder out loud with you, is this thing I'm talking about, Is that in our genetic structure as Presbyterians? Is that something we would naturally come by as Calvinists? I don't think so. Our record would indicate it's not. I'm sure there's some of you, an insightful and provocative article by John Prane, in which he sets out to describe what happened In our denomination's beginnings, the early part of the twentieth century, as theological liberalism—in other words, a compromising of the basics of the gospel—became the threat to the Presbyterian Church in America. And the man that God raised up for that, our father in this denomination, J. Gresham Machen, and he was a warrior on behalf of the truth of the gospel. Frame speaks, though not a member of the OPC, he speaks of Machen as the father of all conservative Bible-believing temperatures today, because he represented the cause of the gospel in its life-and-death struggle against another gospel. But he makes a sad observation, borne out by history. But after that great epic, if I may speak that way, conflict between Christianity and liberalism, and the necessary division that came in the Presbyterian Church, the formation of seminary and denominations alike, what continued to happen among those who did love the Gospel? War. What continued to happen? War. Conflict. Strife. characteristic of Reformed and Presbyterian bearers of the Gospel. He makes this suggestion. The Machen movement was born in the controversy over liberal theology. Machen and his colleagues were right to reject this theology and to fight it. But it is arguable that once the Machenites found themselves in a true Presbyterian church, they were unable to moderate their martial impulses. Being a church without liberals to fight, they turned on one another. Machen's children, theological battlers in the battle against liberalism in the mainline church appeared to be over. They found other theological battles to fight up to the present time. These and other battles have continued within the movement. And he says, in my judgment, that is the story. That is the story of conservative Evangelical Reformed Theology in the 20th century America. The paper goes on to speak of more than 20 conflicts that Presbyterians alone have faced in the latter part of the 20th century. I don't think it's in our genes naturally, but what Jesus is saying is that spiritually, if we are the sons of our Father in Heaven, we have the genetic code for that. That is going to come to us super naturally. That is going to be the way we think. The more we come to be like our father, we will hate conflict. We will hate conflict with our brothers. Yes, we will be willing to fight the gospel. No, we will not be ready to take up arms against our brethren. We will be in the truest sense of the word. gentle men, because we know our Father is a God of peace. Let me tell you now, the second part of our time, how God is not a lover of peace, but a pursuer of it. He relentlessly pursues peace, and if we are His sons, we will, too. My emphasis is on that word, pursuit. It's used several times in the Scripture to describe what we're to do, and we can certainly how God himself is such a one who pursues peace. How do we see that? We see that, first of all, in the fact that he is the one who initiates peacemaking with us. God does not have in him, by nature, any of that, he should go first thinking, but oftentimes we have. There's conflict, there's something that's come between me and a brother or brothers, and they should come to me. That's the way we think and oftentimes excuse ourselves from being makers of peace. And you well know, you of all people know, that's not the nature of our God. He distinguishes himself, though himself not in the wrong, from being the one to go. You remember the emphasis I placed on this in this course of study? Whose responsibility is it to make peace? In all the complex circumstances of how peace is jeopardized, how it's lost, whose responsibility is it to make it, to regain it? And I said to you, without any qualification, it's yours. It's your responsibility. I say that in light of the kind of God that is our Father. He initiates the peacemaking with us. Here again, Burroughs, Jeremiah Burroughs, account that, he says, an honorable thing to yield first. That cursed principle that there is in men's hearts, that it is a disgrace to begin to yield. It is that which makes disturbance in the world and in all societies. Men were principled in this, that where there are any breaches, that man or woman begins first to yield as the most honorable. This would be a mighty furtherance to peace. Believe it. It is so. Well, would you be called a child of God and be set the peacemaker as God is? Begin the work of reconciliation first. If another does begin, you have lost the honor of it, lost a greater part of the reward. There's no thanks when another begins to get peace and then you come to it. Any base spirit can be brought to that. But if you for peace sake can yield to an inferior. And seek it first. Oh, this is honorable in the eyes of God and men. You heard it's doing. There's no standoff between God and men. He yields and goes. And so our pursuit of peace is to be one, like God's, and that we initiate it, that we do whatever is necessary to secure it. That's the second way that God pursues peace. Neither is God's vocabulary. To be found in God's vocabulary, this thought, well, I tried. I tried. When God sets out to establish peace with men, He secures it. He accomplishes it, where it says, Jesus doesn't say, blessed are the peace-wishers. Everybody, everybody would like to live in a peaceful world. Everybody would like to be free of conflict. Everybody is a peace-wisher of some kind or another. He places the emphasis on the second part of the word, blessed are the peacemakers. That's how we're exhorted, isn't it, in the Scripture. Seek peace and pursue it, Peter says. Strive for peace with everyone, the writer of Hebrews says. That's an interesting way of speaking. Normally striving is the problem. It's the conflict. It's the occasion. Striving by men, by brothers. Energetic exertion to the cause of a relationship. is what oftentimes is the problem. He's to strive at making peace. One of the ways that you see God as a God who pursues peace is that He is willing to sacrifice greatly to attain it. Now, I'm sure your thoughts go immediately to the cross when I say that, who can begin to comprehend that kind of sacrifice. The father delivering up his son in order to attain peace. We could meditate on that. We'll be celebrating in just a moment the price of peace that the Lord paid the death of his son. But I want to point out something else to you. may have, day in and day out, even more relevance to how you act. What is the price that the Lord was able and willing to pay for peace? Well, how about the fact that in one long, protracted span of world history, He is willing to pay the price of being dishonored? of having his law blatantly violated, of being mocked by men, of being profaned, of having, in ways we cannot even begin to count, his own purity and honor questioned, challenged directly. And here's why I'm saying that is of relevance to us. Too often, our attitude is, as long as it doesn't compromise truth and justice, then I'm for peace. But that, of course, is where I'll have to stop. I'm for peace as long as no principle is compromised. And then, what do you know? I'm a very little peace because we all have our principles. We've all got our matters in which we will insist because we're convinced they're true. We'll not compromise on them. Brothers and sisters, we need to be more mindful of the way God himself is. What is this world? that we live in, but a place that is life with compromised principle. Follow me here, please. What is it that God has shown himself willing to do, but to for a time subordinate his peacemaking or pardon me, subordinate the upholding, perfectly upholding of his law. to his peacemaking endeavors. God has not been bowed to by every knee. He is mocked by men the world over. He has not chosen to say, I'll stand on this honor and only pursue peace so long as it's consistent with the perfect upholding of principle. No, he's said for a time. for a time. I will be willing to let the whole of human history be in such resounding way a challenge to truth and a denial of it in order that I might first make peace with men and secure fellowship again with them. I'd be willing to do that, brothers and sisters, because he's on a peacemaking mission. And so I put that to you this way. The next time you have opportunity to seek the pursuit of peace, what will be your question to yourself? Or rather, what will be the answer you give when you ask the question, is this too great a price to pay for peace? if I were to back down on this point, if I were to just let go of my insisting on this. He is in the wrong. I didn't do anything wrong. He is theologically wrong. I'm theologically right. Or what happened? If you weigh, what would it cost you? What would it cost you to regain peace with your brother? If you ask yourself the question, what price is too high to pay for peace? that you think of your father. What price has he paid? What price does he continue to pay to secure peace of men? We would think that the slogan, peace at any price, why, that's the epitome of unprincipled thinking. When you begin to contemplate the price that the Father has paid to secure peace with His people, His elect, that slogan begins to sound a little better. You're talking about prices that you might pay for peace? Which of those possible prices could be greater than the price that our Father has paid? Peace at any price? Well, is that one with whom you have conflict an enemy of Christ? And is it the gospel at stake? Well, no, not peace of any price. Don't say peace, peace when there is no peace. Is he an enemy of Christ? And is the gospel at stake? No, not peace of any price. But is he a brother in the Lord Jesus, for whom the Father has paid that price which cannot be surpassed? Peace of any price? Yes. peace at any price. I want to end on that note, this series. Is there really a price that you could pay to remain at peace with your brother in Christ that would surpass the price that Jesus himself has paid? And I'll conclude with the words of one of our fathers, a man part of the Forming of our own confession of faith, Richard Harris. He speaks in a similar way. He writes. See to it, therefore, that you are of peaceable dispositions. If ever you would be called the sons of God, labor to get peace and to keep it to if others are crossed and will not do so yet, let us follow closely, make you and cry after it. And as Psalm 34 says, seek peace and pursue it. If others will not come to you for peace, then you go to them. It is an honor to be first in so good a cause. Therefore, slack not, neither give it over till you've achieved it. Entertain peace upon any times. Brothers and sisters, rethink. the value of peace among the brethren. Rethink it and pursue it at any cost, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." We're going to come to the celebration of that feast. The Lord's Supper, which is to put before our eyes and in our very hands and even in a symbol of the price of peace that God has been willing to show. Now, it would be appropriate for us to approach that time, for you and me, to confess to the Lord our peace-breaking ways. Confess that we are too much peace-breakers, not peacemakers. And having confessed our sin, then to come with all the deeper gratitude and thanks to the Lord for His price paid for peace with us. Let's go to prayer quietly and privately. I ask the elders to come, and I'll conclude in prayer.