Daily Devotional For Sunday, September 1, 2024
Good morning Southside. It is the Lord’s Day. So, let’s rejoice and be glad about it. We are looking at The Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-12. We are looking at Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (NASB). Most people will say they want peace until they do not get their way. And when they don’t get their way, they resort back to some kind of infantile attitude of screaming, throwing things and temper tantrums, using ungodly language and sometimes violence. They act more like a wet baby or a hungry baby demanding to be changed or fed.
So, as disciples of Jesus Christ, what peace or form of peace are we to bring as peacemakers? First, we are to help people come to reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ. The cause of all quarrels, arguments, disagreements, violence and fights is because people are not reconciled to God through a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. So, if we are going to be “peacemakers,” the first thing we must do is help people with this. People will not have peace with one another until they have peace with God.
Anyone can stick a “Lucifer match” into a hay stack and set it ablaze. It is easy to create strife, discord and conflict. That requires very little energy. Anyone can spread malicious gossip and do a lot of damage. But it takes something more to put those fires out than it does to start them. When I was a youth, we used to sing a song called, Pass It On. It begins this way, “It only takes a spark to get a fire going . . .” Just a little spark can start a fire. Just a little sarcastic word can ruin a relationship. This means as “peacemakers,” we must not respond scorn with scorn, or evil with evil. It takes at least two to make a quarrel and your most hostile antagonist cannot break the peace unless you help him or her with the power of Christ, the Peace of Peace.
People are without peace because they are without God. Pastor and author John MacArthur writes this:
“I once read the story of a couple at a divorce hearing who were arguing back and forth before the judge, accusing each other and refusing to take any blame themselves. Their little four–year–old boy was terribly distressed and confused. Not knowing what else to do, he took his father’s hand and his mother’s hand and kept tugging until he finally pulled the hands of his parents together” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 213).
This is what Jesus did for us. He takes our hand and pulls it to God’s hand to reconcile us to Him by giving us peace. This is the point of Colossians 1:19-20, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, (20) and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven” (NASB).
This is why the cross is so powerful. On the cross, man’s worst and Christ’s best met. On the cross, man’s hatred and anger were vented against God. While on the cross, the Prince of Peace was mocked, spit upon, pierced, cursed at and killed. While all of this was happening, storms and an earthquake occurred ripping the veil in the Temple in half. Think about this – it was through this violence that God brought peace. God’s greatest righteousness confronted man greatest unrighteousness and God’s righteousness won.
“Don Richardson in his book describes his personal struggle to bring the gospel to the cannibalistic, headhunting Sawi tribe of Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Try as he would, he could not find a way to make the people understand the gospel message, especially the significance of Christ’s atoning death on the cross.
Sawi villages were constantly fighting among themselves, and because treachery, revenge, and murder were highly honored there seemed no hope of peace. The tribe, however, had a legendary custom that if one village gave a baby boy to another village, peace would prevail between the two villages as long as the child lived. The baby was called a “peace child.”
The missionary seized on that story as an analogy of the reconciling work of Christ. Christ, he said, is God’s divine Peace Child that He has offered to man, and because Christ lives eternally His peace will never end. That analogy was the key that unlocked the gospel for the Sawis. In a miraculous working of the Holy Spirit many of them believed in Christ, and a strong, evangelistic church soon developed—and peace came to the Sawis” (Source: Don Richardson, Peace Child).
If the Father is the source of peace, and the Son is the manifestation of that peace, then the Holy Spirit is the agent of that peace. One of the most beautiful fruits the Holy Spirit gives to those in whom He resides is the fruit of peace (Gal. 5:22). The God of Peace sent the Prince of Peace who sends the Spirit of Peace to give the fruit of peace. No wonder the Trinity is called Yahweh Shalom, “The Lord is Peace” (Judg. 6:24).
Pastor and author John MacArthur writes this:
“Some of the earth’s most violent weather occurs on the seas. But the deeper one goes the more serene and tranquil the water becomes. Oceanographers report that the deepest parts of the sea are absolutely still. When those areas are dredged they produce remnants of plant and animal life that have remained undisturbed for thousands of years.
That is a picture of the Christian’s peace. The world around him, including his own circumstances, may be in great turmoil and strife, but in his deepest being he has peace that passes understanding. Those who are in the best of circumstances but without God can never find peace, but those in the worst of circumstances but with God need never lack peace” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 214).
Questions To Consider
- Would you say you are a peacemaker that strives for peace, but not at any price? Why or why not?
- Would you say your own life is one of peace? Why or why not? If it is, why? If it is not, why?
- Who are you currently helping to be reconciled to the Prince of Peace? If no one, why?
- When your buttons get pushed, do you push back or do you strive for peace and reconciliation?
- What to you is the most challenging aspect to being a peacemaker and why?
Scripture To Meditate On: Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, please as the Prince of Peace help me to be a peacemaker – helping people get reconciled to You. Jesus, I understand that when my life is out of sync with Your will, then there is no peace. And I know this is why so many lost people have no peace. Jesus, I ask that Your Holy Spirit speak through me to be a peacemaker for Your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly