Matthew 5:9

PEACE AND PEACEMAKERS

‘Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.’

Matthew 5:9

The Lord Jesus is the ‘Prince of Peace,’ because wherever He comes He makes people love peace, seek peace, and keep the peace. If He comes into your soul and reigns there, He will be sure to do two things: (a) He will give you peace; (b) He will set you trying to make peace. He wants all His disciples to be ‘peacemakers.’ Then,

I. Be at peace.—Nobody can make peace until he has found peace—peace with God. All are at enmity with God so long as they force their will against His. Christ brings peace by constraining our wills and removing enmity.

II. Be peaceable.—Be peaceably disposed. With all our getting, let us get a ‘peaceable disposition.’ It is one of man’s very best possessions. ‘As much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.’ Remember (a) the Christian grace of ‘bearing’; not returning ‘evil for evil’; and (b) the restraint of passion. Stop, and cool.

III. Be peacemakers.—Help others to peace. How can we make peace? Try in home, workshop, society. Be ready to give up for the sake of peace. Peacemakers are children of God, because they are like Him Who is our Peace.

Illustration

(1) ‘We are professedly a Christian nation, and the preservation of peace and the promotion of a peaceable spirit are qualities which should preeminently distinguish those who desire humbly and sincerely to follow in the footsteps of the Prince of Peace. If there is one doctrine more than another which the Gospel of Christ has brought to light, it is that of the universal brotherhood of mankind irrespective of race. Henceforth there was to be no difference of race or nationality; there was to be one common brotherhood, owning one common Father. In these circumstances there can be no hesitation in saying that what is called the warlike spirit is wholly opposed to the spirit of the Gospel. The horrors of modern warfare are unspeakable, and who can wonder that the sceptic should point the finger of scorn at Christian nations which encourage it.’

(2) ‘John Bunyan’s last long ride, in which he caught a chill and died, was undertaken to try and reconcile a father and son.’

(3) ‘At the field of Waterloo there is a great bronzed lion with a wide opened mouth. It is a suggestion of all-devouring war. But the swallows, in the season, make their nests quite fearlessly in the open mouth. “Peace” is a beautiful and expressive word. It is the heavenliest that human lips ever frame.’