PT-1 "The Merit of Peace: Eternal Sonship in The Kingdom" (Matt. 5:9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/31/2020 8:31 AM

My Worship Time               Focus:  PT-1 “The Merit of Peace: Eternal Sonship in the Kingdom”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Matthew 5:9

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

            We begin today to look at the final main-section of this verse that we have been looking at since the 22^nd of this month, and perhaps I should say that the best was left for last as this section talks about the future of all believers to be in the kingdom as the verse ends with the peacemaker “shall be called sons of God.”

            Perhaps many who read this can look back at being a part of having a godly family having godly parents and grandparents as this would be a part of our heritage.  However the greatest human heritage cannot ever match the believer’s heritage that is in Jesus Christ.  Paul gives the reason for this in Romans 8:17 where he writes that we are “heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”  There is nothing that compares to being a child of God.

            John MacArthur writes:  “Both huios and Teknon (child) is a term of tender affection and endearment as well as of relationship (see John 1:12; Eph. 5:8; 1 Peter 1:14; etc.) ‘Sons,’ however, is from huios, which expresses the dignity and honor of the relationship of a child to his parents.  As God’s peacemaker we are promised the glorious blessing of eternal sonship in His eternal kingdom.”

            Being a peacemaker is a characteristic of God’s children.  Now if a person is not a peacemaker he is either a person who is not a believer of a Christian who is a disobedient Christian.  If a person who continually is disruptive, divisive, and is quarrelsome that person has a reason to doubt his relationship with God altogether.  Paul writes the following at the end of 2 Corinthians “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-unless indeed you fail the test?” He then goes on in the next verse to write:  “But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test” (2 Corinthians 13:5-6).”  All of God’s children are peacemakers, and that surely does not mean that our entire Christian life that we do not from time to time fail in being a peacemaker, but in our overall life we have the quality of being a peacemaker.  “Only God determines who His children are, and He has determined that they are the humble, the penitent over sin, the gentle, the seekers of righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers” writes John MacArthur.

            Now seeing that this is Sunday we will end this SD here and pick up the final part of this verse in our next SD, Lord willing.

5/31/2020 8:56 AM

PT-3 "The Messengers of Peace: Believers" (Matt. 5:9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/30/2020 9:50 AM

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  PT-3 “The Messengers of Peace: Believers”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  Matthew 5:9

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

            As we begin this SD we have to finish up looking at our third point about peacemakers which is “A peacemaker helps others make peace with others.” It will be best to review the last SD on this subject to be able to follow it better.

            Being a peace maker can cause difficulties, but that is what the Lord has called believers to be as often confrontation will bring more turmoil instead of less.  Things like misunderstanding, hurt feelings, and resentment can certainly happen, but the only way to peace is the way of righteousness.  Sin must be dealt with and sin that is not dealt with is sin that will disrupt and destroy peace.  Any price is worth paying to obey God, so any price is worth paying to be rid of sin.  Jesus said the following in Matthew 5:29-30 “29  "If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30  "If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.”  MacArthur concludes “If we are unwilling to help others confront their sin, we will be unable to help them find peace.”

            Fourth:  A peacemaker endeavors to find a point of agreement.  As we look at the title to this fourth point perhaps the first thing that comes to your mind is that we certainly do not want to compromise God’s truth and righteousness.  However there is hardly a person so ungodly, immoral, rebellious, pagan, or indifferent that we have absolutely no point of agreement with him.  I suppose that one has to get to know a person for a while to find common ground with them.  MacArthur writes that “Wrong theology, wrong standards, wrong beliefs, and wrong attitudes must be faced and dealt with, but they are not usually the best places to start the process of witnessing or peacemaking.”

            As believers we are to contend without being contentious, and we are to disagree without being disagreeable, and also to confront without being abusive.  I have to confess that this is kind of hard for me to do at times, but I am learning this as I study these beatitudes.  Ephesians 4:15 tells us “but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,” and love is the upmost importance.  When we start with love we are actually starting with peace.  We must begin peacemaking by starting with whatever peaceful point of agreement of agreement we can find.  Peace will help to produce peace.  A peacemaker will always, or should always give the benefit of the doubt.  The believer must never assume that the person you are dealing with will resist the gospel or reject the believer’s testimony.  MacArthur concludes this by saying “When he does meet opposition, he tries to be patient with other people’s blindness and stubbornness just as he knows the Lord was, and continues to be, patient with his own blindness and stubbornness.”  We as believers do not know it all, and if we think we do we are kin to the Pharisees.

            As a believer trying to be a peacemaker we are not to try to attract attention to ourselves.  Probably the most effective peacemaker are probably the simplest and least noticed people.  These people seldom win headlines or prizes for their peacemaking and the reason for this is it is their nature to be a good peacemaker, as they don’t think of themselves, but others.  Elijah the prophet in the OT was a peacemaker but Ahab accused him of being one who disturbs people, however he was doing the work of the Lord.  “When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, "Is this you, you troubler of Israel?’” (1 Kings 18:17).  Ahab was actually the troublemaker of Israel, and not Elijah.  Look at Luke 23:1-5 to see that this is what the Jews were saying about Jesus:  “1 Then the whole body of them got up and brought Him before Pilate. 2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, "We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King." 3 So Pilate asked Him, saying, "Are You the King of the Jews?" And He answered him and said, "It is as you say." 4 Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, "I find no guilt in this man." 5 But they kept on insisting, saying, "He stirs up the people, teaching all over Judea, starting from Galilee even as far as this place."  (Notice especially the two highlighted verses.)  God knows the hearts of both Elijah and Jesus and He honors their work because they are working for His peace in His power.  MacArthur concludes this section by writing “God’s peacemakers are never unfruitful or unrewarded.  This is a mark of a true kingdom citizen:  he not only hungers for righteousness and holiness in his own life but has a passionate desire to see those virtues in the lives of others.”  

5/30/2020 10:29 AM

           

           

PT-2 "The Messengers of Peace: Believers" (Matt. 5:9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/29/2020 9:58 AM

My Worship Time                                         Focus:  PT-2 “The Messengers of Peace:  Believers”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:9

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

            We looked at the first thing that characterizes a peacemaker in our last SD and now want to continue looking at these characteristics.

2. A peacemaker leads others to make peace with God.    Christians are not some kind of elite group of people who look down at those who are not believers similar to what the Pharisees did during Jesus walk on earth.  What we have been given is a gift, a gift in my case that I certainly was not looking for, so I have nothing that would cause me to have my nose in the air about.  Jesus Christ deserves all of the glory.  Believers are a body of sinners who have been cleansed of their sin by the blood of Jesus Christ. 

John MacArthur writes the following about something that I have mentioned about the Pharisees:  “The Pharisees were the embodiment of what peacemakers are not.  They were smug, proud, complacent, and determined to have their own ways and defend their own rights.  They had scant interest in making peace with Rome, with the Samaritans, or even with fellow Jews who did not follow their own party line.  Consequently they created strife wherever they went.  They cooperated with others only when it was to their own advantage, as they did with the Sadducees in opposing Jesus.

“The peacemaker spirit is the opposite of that.  It is built on humility, sorrow over its own sin, gentleness, hunger for righteousness, mercy, and purity of heart.  G. Campbell Morgan commented that peacemaking is the propagated character of the man who, exemplifying all the rest of the beatitudes thereby brings peace wherever he comes.”

Acts 10:36 gives us the purpose of the church to preach:  “"The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all).” (Notice the highlighted portion.)  I have heard that a Christian is a person who has been given bread and desires to give bread to others.

3.  A Peacemaker helps others make peace with others.  At the very moment that a person comes to Christ he then becomes at peace with God and with the church and becomes himself a peacemaker in the world.  One of the things that a believer is to do is to build bridges between men and God and also between men and other men.  There is another kind of bridge-building that must begin and that of course is between ourselves and others.  Jesus gives an example of this later on in Matthew 5:23-24 “23  "Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24  leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.”  Paul writes the following in “Romans 12:18 “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.”  Another quote from Jesus in  5:44-45 gives us more things to follow “44  "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45  so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” 

When a bridge is built by us to others we must make sure that the side that we build has a lot of support under it.  So in our relationship our first responsibility is to see that our own side has a solid base.  However we also have the responsibility to help the one on the other side as they build their base well.  So both sides must be built on righteousness and in truth or else the bridge will not stand.  As God’s peacemakers we must first be righteous ourselves, and then must be active in helping others become righteousness. 

I want to finish this third point in our next SD, and then Lord willing, will do the fourth point.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Building bridges must be done for righteousness sake, and not my own sake.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I have a number of prayer requests that are on my heart and so it is my desire to continue talking to the Lord about those prayer requests that He has laid on my heart.

5/29/2020 10:33 AM

PT-1 "The Messengers of Peace: Believers" (Matt. 5:9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/28/2020 10:51 AM

My Worship Time                                          Focus:  PT-1 “The Messengers of Peace: Believers”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                       Reference:  Matthew 5:9

            Message of the verse:  “"Happy are those who make peace, for they will be known as sons of God!” (Philips).

            We begin the second to the last section in these messages on Matthew 5:9, and it seems to me that at least from the title of this section that it has great importance to every believer in the church age.

            As true believers in Jesus Christ we are the only ones who can truly be peacemakers, as we are the only ones who belong to the Maker of peace.  In 1 Corinthians 7:15 we read that “God has called us to peace” and “no all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” as seen in 2 Corinthians 5:18.  I have always been fascinated by this word reconciliation and so let us take a moment to look at what the Greek dictionary has to say about it.  Reconcile and reconciliation are actually from different Greek words and we will look at “reconcile” first and then reconciliation.  2644 καταλλασσω katallasso kat-al-las’-so

from 2596 and 236; TDNT-1:254,40; v

AV-reconcile 6; 6

1) to change, exchange, as coins for others of equivalent value

1a) to reconcile (those who are at variance)

1b) return to favour with, be reconciled to one

1c) to receive one into favour

Reconciliation:  “2643 καταλλαγη katallage kat-al-lag-ay’

from 2644; TDNT-1:258,40; n f

AV-reconciliation 2, atonement 1, reconciling 1; 4

1) exchange

1a) of the business of money changers, exchanging equivalent values

2) adjustment of a difference, reconciliation, restoration to favour

2a) in the NT of the restoration of the favour of God to sinners that repent and put their trust in the expiatory death of Christ

Let us now look at 2 Corinthians 5:19-20 “19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

            John MacArthur states in his commentary that at least four things characterize a peacemaker and we will begin to look at these things now, but will probably will have to finish them in our next SD.

1.     The peacemaker is one who himself has made peace with God.  Most people probably know that the word “gospel” means good news, but the gospel is also all about peace and that certainly is a part of what good news is all about, that is having peace.  Whether or not believers know it or not before coming to Christ for salvation we were at war with God.  I suppose that I could come up with many reasons to write about that show that before coming to Christ that I was at war with God, but I won’t do that for some of those memories are painful, and certainly not peaceful.  Paul talks about this when he writes in Romans 5:10 “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”  Once a person has received Christ as their Savior and Lord we have been imputed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ our battle with God ended, and our peace with God began.  There are many things that happen to us as soon as we become a true believer in Jesus Christ and this is just one of them.  I have also mentioned that once we have been given that peace with God that we also can have the “peace of God” as seen in Philippians 4:7 and Colossians 3:15.  Now since true believers in Jesus Christ have been given God’s peace we want to begin to share that with others.  Ephesians 6:15 tells us that we are “having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE” which is a part of our Spiritual Armor. 

One thing that I am sure that all believers have figured out is that peace is always corrupted by sin, the peacemaking believer must be a holy believer, a believer whose life is continually cleansed by the Holy Spirit and that is why that I have stated many times in my Spiritual Diaries that we must keep a short list with God.  What does sin do to us?  Sin breaks our fellowship with God, and when that fellowship with God is broken, peace is also broken, as the disobedient, self-indulgent Christian is not suited to be and ambassador of peace.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is very important to me to keep my life free from sin so that I can continue to have fellowship with the Lord, and so that I can be ready to share the gospel with people that God brings into my life.  One of the first things that I do when I begin to pray to God is quote Psalm 139:23-24 “23  Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24  And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to be taught contentment, and also humility, and continue to have joy as I study God’s Word each day.

5/28/2020 11:38 AM

PT-2 "The Maker of Peace" (Matt. 5:9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/27/2020 10:38 AM

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-2 “the Maker of Peace:  God”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:9

            Message of the verse:  ““Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

            I mentioned in our last SD about Colossians 1:20 which states the following  “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.”  Now we want to look at how the cross could bring peace.  When we look at the cross we can see that all of man’s hatred and anger was vented against God there.  Jesus was mocked, cursed, spit upon, pierced, reviled, and then He was killed.  All of His disciples fled in fear, the sky produced lightening, the earth shook greatly, and then the curtain of the temple between the holy place and the Holy of holies was torn into.  And yet through all of this violence God brought peace.  MacArthur adds “God’s greatest righteousness confronted man’s greatest wickedness, and righteousness won.  And because righteousness won, peace was won.”

            MacArthur goes on to talk about the book written by Don Richardson’s book Peace Child the following: “He tells of his long 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.”

            The Father is the source of peace, and the Son is the manifestation of that peace, and the Holy Spirit is the agent of that peace.  We can see from Galatian 5:22 the following “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness” and those following verses in Galatians continue to give different parts of the Spirit’s fruit.  The God of peace sent the Prince of Peace who sends the Spirit of peace to give the fruit of peace and it is no wonder that the Trinity is called “Yahweh Shalom,” The Lord of Peace as seen in Judges 6:24a.  “Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and named it The LORD is Peace.”

            When God created the world the world was at peace, and then sin came into the world and peace was taken away so He sent His Son to make peace through the blood of the cross.  In the future when the Lord Jesus Comes back to planet earth at the height of the worst war and the worst battle of that war He will end that battle and once again bring peace to planet earth as He reigns from David’s throne in Jerusalem.  In the meantime it is the job of all believers to tell the story of what Jesus did to bring peace to those that the Spirit of God brings into our lives.

            I live by one of the great lakes, Lake Erie and this lake is the shallowest lake of all the great lakes.  When storm come up on Lake Erie because it is so shallow the storms can cause trouble faster than the other lakes and also oceans.  There have been in the past and will in the future be earth’s most violent weather on the oceans, but the deeper one goes to the more serene and tranquil become.  This is a picture of the Christian’s peace writes John MacArthur, “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 circumstance but with God need never lack peace.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:   I have a friend who is in need of open heart surgery, he is a wonderful man of God whom I love and have great respect for as a fellow believer and retired Pastor.  I pray that the Lord will give him the wonderful peace that passes all understanding as he goes through the surgery, and may the Lord heal him through the doctors and the medicines.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust that the Lord will give me peace in my life as I am going through some difficult things at this time.

5/27/2020 11:25 AM

"The Maker of Peace: God" (Matt. 5:9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/26/2020 9:41 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus: PT-1“The Maker of Peace: God”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                             Reference:  Matt. 5:9

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

            Why are men without peace?  Men our without peace because they are without God who is the source of peace.  In both the OT and the NT we can see this truth with statements of God’s being the God of peace. 

1.     Lev. 26:6 “’I shall also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble. I shall also eliminate harmful beasts from the land, and no sword will pass through your land.”

2.     1 Kings 2:33 “"So shall their blood return on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever; but to David and his descendants and his house and his throne, may there be peace from the LORD forever.’”

3.     Psalm 29:11 “The LORD will give strength to His people; The LORD will bless His people with peace.”

4.     Isaiah 9:6 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

5.     Ezekiel 34:25 “"I will make a covenant of peace with them and eliminate harmful beasts from the land so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.”

6.     Romans 15:33 “Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.”

7.     1 Corinthians 14:33 “for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”

8.     2 Thessalonians 3:16 “Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all!”

            Think about all of these verses today for we are now living in a time when people are trying to bring great fear to people around the whole world, and they are doing this in order to take away our freedoms and also so that they may control us. 

            All of this has happened to mankind after the fall, and the only peace that men have known is the peace they have received as the gift of God.  When God sent His Son to earth it was the peace of God which came to earth, because only Jesus Christ could remove the sin which is the greatest barrier to peace.  Ephesians 2:1-14 tells us “13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14a For He Himself is our peace.”

            I do not want to make the SD very long today so that all who read this can think about the verses that are on this page, as we are in all need of God’s peace.  I will close with a story that John MacArthur tells in his commentary that perhaps demonstrates how peace can be found.

            “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.  The 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.

            “In an infinitely greater way, Christ brings back together God and man reconciling and bringing peace.  ‘For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross’ (Col. 1:19-20).”  My first Pastor after I became a believer said that this is the only verse that has blood and peace in it in the entire Bible.  The death of Christ brought peace to me and all of those who are His.  Lord willing we will take more about this subject in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As a believer I have peace with God through His death on the cross and I have the peace of God too as seen in Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  In these trying times I desire to remember and claim the promise of Philippians 4:6-7.

5/26/2020 10:11 AM

PT-3 "What is the Meaning of Peace" (Matt. 5:9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/25/2020 9:30 AM

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  PT-3 “What is the Meaning of Peace”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:9

            Message of the verse:  ““Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

            We continue in this SD on a quest to better understand the meaning of peace, that is God’s peace.  If I asked you the question what is the great enemy of peace you may perhaps say Satan, and that would not be entirely wrong, but the greatest enemy of peace is sin as sin separates men from God and causes disharmony and enmity with Him.  When men have a lack of harmony with God then they will have a lack of harmony with each other.  As we look around the world today we will see disharmony most everyday and wars being fought most every day is some place around the world.  Jeremiah writes in 17:9 the following “the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick [or wicked].”  I have mentioned what Dr. Wiersbe has said about this many times in my SD’s “The heart of every problem is the problem with the heart.”  Peace cannot reign where wickedness is reigning, as wicked hearts cannot produce a peaceful society.  Isaiah 48:22 confirms this statement where we read “There is no peace for the wicked,’ says the Lord.”

            Talking about peace without talking about repentance of sin is to talk foolishly and vainly.  The corrupt religious leaders of ancient Israel proclaimed “Peace, peace,” however there is no peace, and the reason is because they and all the rest of the people were not “ashamed of the abominations they had done” as Jeremiah writes in Jeremiah 8:11-12.

            In Mark 7:21-23 we read from the lips of Jesus “21 ‘For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. 23 “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.’”  Here we have one of the lists that are seen many times in the Word of God, and this list speaks of sins.  MacArthur comments on these verses “Sinful men cannot create peace, either within themselves or among themselves.  Sin can produce nothing but strife and conflict.  ‘For where jealously and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing,’ James says.  ‘But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.  And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace’ (James 3:16-18).”

            It makes no difference of what the circumstances might be, where there is conflict it is because of sin.  So if you separate the conflicting parties from each other but do not separate them from sin, at best you will succeed only in making a truce and we know that that truce will probably not last for long.  Peacemaking cannot come by circumventing sin, and the reason is because sin is the source of every conflict.

            John MacArthur writes these very important words:  “The bad news of the gospel comes before the good news.  Until a person confronts his sin, it makes no sense to offer him a Savior.  Until a person faces his false notions, it makes no sense to offer him the truth.  Until a person acknowledges his enmity with God, it makes no sense to offer him peace with God.

            “Believers cannot avoid facing truth, or avoid facing others with the truth, for the sake of harmony.  If someone is in serious error about a part of God’s truth, he cannot have a right, peaceful relationship with others until the error is confronted and corrected.  Jesus never evaded the issue of wrong doctrine or behavior.  He treated the Samaritan woman from Sychar with great love and compassion, but He did not hesitate to confront her godless life.  First He confronted her with immoral living:  ‘You have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband.’ (John 4:18).  Then He corrects her false ideas about worship:  ‘Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father.  You worship that which you do not know; we worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews’ (John 4:21-22).

            “The person who is not willing to disrupt and disturb in God’s name cannot be a peacemaker.  To come to terms on anything less than God’s truth and righteousness is to settle for a truce—which confirms sinners in their sin and may leave them even further from the kingdom.  Those who in the name of love or kindness or compassion try to witness by appeasement and compromise of God’s Word will find that their witness leads away from Him, not to Him.  God’s peacemakers will not let a sleeping dog lie if it is opposed to God’s truth; they will not protect the status quo if it is ungodly and unrighteous.  They are not willing to make peace at any price.  God’s peace comes only in God’s way.  Being a peacemaker is essentially the result of a holy life and the call to others to embrace the gospel of holiness.”

5/25/2020 10:21 AM

PT-2 "What is the meaning of Peace" (Matt. 5:9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/24/2020 8:48 PM

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  PT-2 “What is the Meaning of Peace”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  Matthew 5:9

            Message of the verse:  “"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

            We begin this SD with a quote from James 3:17, as James confirms the nature of God’s peace:  “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.”  Notice the highlighted portion of this verse.  The following is a very interesting quote from John MacArthur “God’s way to peace is through purity.  Peace cannot be attained at the expense of righteousness.  Two people cannot be at peace until they recognize and resolve the wrong attitudes and actions that caused the conflict between them, and then bring themselves to God for cleansing.  Peace that ignores the cleansing that brings purity is not God’s peace.”  This is an important statement when one is witnessing to an unbeliever as they have to be careful to remember that the person needs to repent and then confess Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

            Hebrews 1:14 says “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”  The writer of Hebrews is linking peace with purity as we can see from this verse that he instructs believers to pursue peace.  I kind of mentioned earlier that peace cannot be divorced from holiness.  Psalm 85:10 “Lovingkindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”  Again notice the highlighted portion of this verse.  The Bible teaches us that where there is true peace there is righteousness, holiness, and purity.  We cannot by to bring harmony by compromising righteousness as this will forfeit both.

            Now we have to look at another MacArthur quote:  “Jesus’ saying ‘Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth:  I did not come to bring peace, but a sword’ (Matt. 10:34) seems to be the antithesis of the seventh beatitude.  His meaning, however, was that the peace He came to bring is not peace at any price.  There will be opposition before there is harmony; there will be strife before there is peace.  To be a peacemaker on God’s terms requires being peacemaker on the terms of truth and righteousness—to which the world is the fierce opposition.  When believers bring truth to bear on a world that loves falsehood, there will be strife.  When believers set God’s standards on righteousness before a world that loves wickedness, there is an inevitable potential for conflict.  Yet that is the only way.”

            There is a problem and that problem is that until unrighteousness is changed to righteousness there cannot be godly peace.  The problem with this problem is that the process of resolution is difficult and costly.  Truth will produce anger before it produces happiness; righteousness will produce antagonism before it produces harmony.  All one has to do is look at what is going on in our country between our two political parties to see this in action.  The gospel can certainly bring about bad feelings before it can bring good feelings.  Some time the Holy Spirit, as far as we are concerned takes His time before a person becomes a believer.  The first thing that a person has to do is mourn over their sin or they will never be satisfied with God’s righteousness.  I have heard that there are times when you have to get a person lost before that person receives Christ and is saved.    Remember our study in Ephesians’ to see that the sword that Christ brings is the sword of His Word.  “The sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.”  The Word is likened unto the surgeon’s scalpel, as it must cut before it heals, because peace cannot come where sin remains.

5/24/2020 9:17 PM

PT-1 "What is the Meaning of Peace" (Matt. 5:9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/23/2020 12:22 PM

My Worship Time                                                     Focus: PT-1 “What is the Meaning of Peace”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:9

            Message of the verse:  “Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.”

            The peace that Jesus is teaching about here is not just the absence of conflict and strife, as it is the presence of righteousness.  We think for a moment of what happened in the Garden of Eden when everything was perfect and Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with the Lord.  Then we come to chapter three and all of that is done because of sin and so everyone born of Adam has that sin nature, the flesh, that is passed on by Adam.  Mankind has to have righteousness before they can be at the kind of peace that Jesus is speaking of here and that can only come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the work that He completed when He died for sin, was buried, and then rose again on the third day.  Let us look for a moment at 1 Corinthian 15:1-4 “1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4  and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”  First comes repentance and then once that happens comes faith in Jesus Christ who took our sins away and then we become a believer and with that comes the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to our account.  God is satisfied.  Propitiation’s meaning in the Greek of the days of the Apostles meant the satisfaction of an angry god, as they had many gods during that time period.  God is satisfied with what Christ did on the cross for us and that is how the word propitiation comes into play for us.

            “Men can stop fighting with righteousness, but they cannot live peaceably without righteousness.  Righteousness not only puts an end to harm, but it administers the healing of love” writes John MacArthur.

            So as we look at God’s peace we see that it not only stops war but replaces it with the righteousness that brings harmony and also true well-being.  MacArthur adds “Peace is a creative, aggressive force for goodness.  The Jewish greeting shalom wishes ‘peace’ and expresses the desire that the one who is greeted will have all the righteousness and goodness God can give.  The deepest meaning of the term is ‘God’s highest good to you.’”

            In  the history of our world we have seen many of man’s offering of peace and that is with a truce, which is a temporary cessation of hostilities.  This can happen between two people of two nations, but most of the time in the end it will fail.  A short 22 years after WWI ended WWII began, so the peace that happened at the end of the first war was very short lived.  After WWII a cold war began.  However God’s peace not only stops the hostilities but it settles the issues and brings the parties together in mutual love and harmony.

            I will close this SD with a short story that many of you may have heard, and that is a story about a contest.  There was a prize for the one who could paint the best picture of peace and it came down to three different pictures.  The one that won was a picture of a bird on her nest on a branch that was over a waterfall.  Seems strange but the little birds had peace as the mother bird was protecting them in what could be described as a storm of danger.  God does that to those who belong to Him as there is not an absence of conflict but the presence of the peace that passes all understand that will guard your hearts in Christ Jesus.

5/23/2020 12:47 PM

"Happy are the Peacemakers" (Matt. 5:9)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/22/2020 9:49 AM

MY Worship Time                                                              Focus:  “Happy are the Peacemakers”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                      Reference:  Matthew 5:9

            Message of the verse:  “9 “Happy are those who make peace, for they will be known as sons of God!”  (Philips)

            I want to begin with several verses from the NT that talk about peace:  “Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen” (Rom. 15:33).  “Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you” (2 Cor. 13:11).  “The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you” (Phil. 4:9).  All of these verses come near the end of each of Paul’s letters, so it tells me that this was something important that Paul wanted all of his readers to truly understand, and it is something that God truly wants us to think about and to meditate on.  There are some four hundred direct references to peace, and many more indirect ones as stated by John MacArthur.  He goes on to write that “The Bible opens with peace in the Garden of Eden and closes with peace in eternity.  The spiritual history of mankind can be charted based on the theme of peace.”  Think about this highlighted sentence for a while.  He goes on to write “Although the peace on earth in the garden was interrupted when man sinned, at the cross Jesus Christ made peace a reality again, and He become the peace of all who place their faith in Him.  Peace can now reign in the hearts of those who are His.  Someday He will come as Price of Peace and establish a worldwide kingdom of peace, which will eventuate in ultimate peace, the eternal age of peace.”  I want to now quote two sets of verses that have always been something that I have remembered and both have to do with peace.  “19 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” (Col. 1:19-20).  “6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7).  The first highlighted verse from Colossians is the only verse where you will find peace and blood in the save verse, as peace with God comes only through the blood of Jesus Christ.  The next highlighted section tells us that as believers we can have the “peace of God.”  First we have to have peace with God, and then we can have the peace of God.  Having the peace of God is truly important especially living in the times that we now live in today in our world.  The enemy of God wants to cause fear, and people will do things that they would never do when they are fearful, but God has promised us peace, the peace of God to overcome our fears as we trust God who is in complete control.

            As one looks back over the history of our world they will not find much peace in our human existence as peace does not characterize man’s earth existence.  Why do you think that is true?  MacArthur states that there are two reasons why there is no peace.  1. “the opposition of Satan and 2. the disobedience of man.  The fall of the angels and the fall of man established a world without peace.  Satan and man are engaged with the God of peace in a battle for sovereignty.” 

            I don’t have to site the history of continued wars that have gone on since Jesus Christ walked the earth, however in 1968 a major newspaper reported that there had been to date 14, 533 know wars since 36 years before Christ.  Not sure how they came to that number, but one thing for sure if they were off it would probably mean that they missed some.  In our own country it has been said that there have only been two generations of peace, with the first one between 1815 to 1846 and the other from 1865 to 1898, but this does not include the Indian wars that were fought during these times as there were many of them.

             As we look at this seventh beatitude we see that it calls God’s people to be peacemakers, as He has called us to a special mission to help restore the peace lost at the Fall.  So what kind of peace are we to tell others about as seen in this beatitude?

            “The peace of which Christ speaks in this beatitude, and about which the rest of Scripture speaks, is unlike that which the world knows and strives for.  God’s peace has nothing to do with politics, armies and navies, forums of nations, or even councils of churches.  It has nothing to do with statesmanship, no matter how great, or with arbitration, compromise, negotiated truces, or treaties.  God’s peace, the peace of which the Bible speaks, never evades issues; it knows nothing of peace at any price.  It does not gloss or hide, rationalize or excuse.  It confronts problems and seeks to solve them, and after the problems are solved it builds a bridge between those who were separated by the problems.  It often brings its own struggle, pain, hardship and anguish, because such are often the price of healing.  It is not a peace that will be brought by kings, presidents, prime ministers, diplomats, or international humanitarians.  It is the inner personal peace that only He can give to the soul of man and that only His children can exemplify.

            “Four important realities about God’s peace are revealed:  its meaning, its Maker, its messengers, and its merit.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have to say that I look forward to studying this beatitude as peace is something that I surely desire to better understand in my life.  I know that I have peace with God through the blood of the cross, and this peace came through a violent act as Christ died on the cross to give me this peace through salvation.  I certainly desire to have the peace of God reign in my life each and every day.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to learn contentment, humility, and to continue to seek joy as I study God’s Word each day, and also to experience the peace of God in my life each day.

5/22/2020 10:53 AM