Corrie ten Boom
[This sermon is one of a series entitled "Sermon on the Mount, Concentrating on the Beatitudes," which is being preached on Sunday mornings by Pastor Tim Senter.]
As with the other Beatitudes, we find that one builds upon or leads to another. In this case, purity of heart is the beginning of the Beatitude that follows – peacemaker. A heart that is in the process of being purified by the Holy Spirit and Christ Jesus is a heart that can lend itself to making peace with even the most difficult of individuals. If we remember that being poor in spirit (a process where we shuck off any arrogance) is the beginning of these qualifications for the Kingdom of God, we can easily see how we become pure of heart. When we studied this subject last week, we looked at the great gulf of difference between what man considers pure, and what is pure to God. My wife, while the kids were home growing up, tracked the children’s progress as far as chores, including cleaning their rooms. She told me on more than one occasion, that the kids would report their rooms to be clean, and she would ask, “Is that your definition of clean, or is that “Mommy” clean?” This question, and the revelation that accompanied the answer, always brought about sighs of exasperation. They knew that the two definitions differed, sometimes greatly, and if they were going to truly complete the task, the room had to be “Mommy” clean. Just as the children in our homes try to redefine the rules of their parents, so too, man (in his comparative immaturity) attempts to redefine God’s definition of “pure,” or “truth,” or “righteousness.” The difference is that children get a second chance; we may not receive that grace from God.
Therefore, we looked at purity from the aspect of our mind, what it looks like to us, and what we think it is intellectually. We looked at purity from the perspective of man’s sinful heart and his attempts to make purity his possession to manipulate. Next, we considered what purity might look like, what its practice might entail. Finally, we considered the origination of purity and the focus of purity – the spirit and the heart. We identified how that is changed and we looked at the known destination of the pure heart – the heavens, with God. We also found that purity can be enjoyed with other believers in the form of testimony, fellowship, and the priesthood of the saints. Purity, therefore, is in the process of sanctification, or Christian spiritual growth, in a believer. Purity of heart does not happen at the instant of salvation, and it does not happen in a predetermined number of years. The final product of purity is the glorification and presentation of the believer before the Father in heaven. Here on earth, we find pure hearts encouraging us, exhorting us, and admonishing us to be more like Christ. We find testimonies of God’s love in our lives. We find brothers and sisters in Christ surrounding one another in the support and love of God. We see God in these things, and just as Job, we know we will physically see God in the future. This pure heart will see God. Further, this is why those who are being purified in their hearts are contented.
Looking, therefore, at our target verse in Matthew 5:9, our Tim’s translation this week is:
“Contented are the ones who make peace because they will themselves be called the sons of God.”
What are we to think of and how are we to identify with those who would be called “the sons of God?” What is this peacemaker with respect to the other beatitudes?
There are those who would connect, or see a connection, between individual Beatitudes such that verse 3, the poor in spirit would seem to be amplified by or result in verse 7, the merciful. Also, verse 4, the ones who mourn, is amplified or exemplified in verse 8, the pure in heart. Finally, they would connect between verse 5 and verse 9, which we consider today–the meek with the peacemakers. The explanation for their correlation understands that the poor in spirit are merciful because they recognize their own decrepit heart condition. Likewise, those who mourn for their hearts seek a more pure heart from God; they know He is the only source. In addition, the meek have a soft heart. These soft-spoken loving individuals create no provocation. Since scripture promises that a kind word turns away wrath, they become peacemakers. All of these characteristics depend upon and wait upon the Lord.
We might first consider the “might makes right” mentality of the people of first century Israel who sought freedom from bondage. Their ideas focused upon their release from Roman rule. The Messiah was supposed to supply Israel that release. According to their understanding, which was inappropriately focused upon the things of earth and not the things of God, the Messiah was supposed to take over the world by force. Since the Messiah was God, this would mean certain defeat of Rome, the enemy of Israel. As man frequently does, Israel overlooked the greatly sin-filled behavior of their own leaders. Israel did not understand the entire scriptural account of the Messiah either. First, their leaders were interested in perpetuating and solidifying, or at the very least maintaining their position before man. The concerns of the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Scribes were how their captor, Rome, perceived them. Second, in order to keep the populace in check, these leaders developed a multitude of rules to ensure there were as few altercations with Rome as possible. This may seem a way to be a peacemaker; however it did nothing except deny the God of their salvation because in doing so the Israeli leaders leaned upon their own understanding to make peace, not upon the power of God. The actions of the Israelite leaders have played over and over again throughout history as man continually attempts to solidify his own power over others, calling it peace.
Where Israel attempted to make peace through compliance, man in recent history attempted peace through aggression. We see this in the beginnings of Satan’s Islamic religion and the Muslim believers who thought that Muhammad was a messianic person. Muhammad wanted nothing more than to be in control of a nation. He fought for it, and when he initially lost, he retreated to regroup and refortify himself. His practically incoherent ramblings that are the koran involve a conglomeration of many belief systems. Because pieces of the koran are based in the truths of scripture, it actuates one of the most successful satanic ploys; mixing a little truth with great error. Muhammad’s arrogance, hunger for power, and thirst for blood belie man’s normal operation – to achieve his personal and sinful aspirations, all in the name of religious peace. Joseph Smith created Mormonism in much this same fashion.
Like Muhammad, Hitler was satanically influenced and controlled. He cared nothing for people and wanting nothing except man’s subservience to him. Pre-Hitler Germany experienced hard times economically, socially, and politically. Claiming Christianity, Hitler attempted to endear himself to the people, made great speeches, and used his henchmen to enforce a tyrannical peace when he could not convince people to follow with his smooth rhetoric of change. All of these qualities would, in the mind of their visionary, lend to a peaceful society.
Our society parallels 1933 Germany in many ways, and the leaders today exhibit the type of leadership – charismatic permissivism – that leaders of those days exhibited. People today seek governmental care and handouts, just as they did in 1933 Germany. The leaders of today have promised peace and affluence to all who comply, just as in 1933 Germany. The elected leader of today is seen as the American messiah, just as the Germans saw Hitler in the 1930′s. Hitler promised peace, prosperity, health care, and affluence for all, just as our president has done. This is all in the name of peace, and peaceful aspirations.
Others in the days of Jesus, in the days that followed, and even in our world today would say, “What did Jesus say?”– as if it is only His words that count. Truly His words are vital to our spiritual existence; however, to make them the only thing to follow denies, once again, scripture’s teaching that all scripture was given for our instruction, not just the words of Christ. These folks would say,
Jesus was a great teacher. It is his[1] precepts that must be honored. We need only study the things he says, and especially this Sermon on the Mount. Take out all this theological garbage, and deal with the realities of personal heart attitude that he teaches. Learning of him we can learn of true peace. This, then, has to be the meaning of the “pure in heart.” That is the true understanding of the Sermon on the Mount. It has nothing to do with God. It has everything to do with our morality.
This is again the way of man – sinful rebellion.
Man decides he wants to be the peacemaker, and he alone has the wisdom to do so; therefore, any hard and fast doctrine, and any dogma that does not agree with him, he discards. It is always easiest to do so without any accountability outside of yourself and your own desires. If, then, we are to take scripture piecemeal the way we want to, we make God reveal Himself to us the way we want to see Him. It is not, then, the revelation of God we seek in scripture, but the revelation of a god that we want to see, that we choose to see. We make our own god into what we want god to be. We, then, determine our god. We are not submitted to Him, but we attempt to make Him submit to us. In doing this we are no better off than the world leaders mentioned above who wanted peace – their kind of peace. We want peace – our kind of peace, which is widely know as tolerance and political correctness today.
All this and all that which is opposite the teaching of God is sin. Anything that teaches that something outside of the scriptures in your lap is required for edification, doctrine, exhortation, counsel, or training is worldly and sinful. Any teaching that would say you must understand more of the world to better prepare yourself against it, is sin and defies 2 Timothy 3:16, where we find that all scripture is given and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. Nothing more is needed. Any person that affixes a title of “Messiah” to any man for any reason is slandering the true Savior of the world, Christ Jesus. This is sin. This sermon, therefore, is not a moral exposition on the things Jesus would have us do. It is instead a theological instruction of the things that the Spirit in heaven will exhibit, the spirit of a believer will grow in through sanctification, and the spirit of our Savior existed to exemplify. It is not simply a moral teaching or life lesson that encourages peace among people; it is an exposition of the Word of God, out of the Holy Writ.
No, it is not man who will bring about peace. It is not man’s musings about some utopian society or his great governmental reforms that will bring world peace. It is not man who, through his greatly advanced intellectualism and wonderfully civilized societal development that will bring about peace. It is not man who has the power, authority, will, and desire to bring about peace. It is only our great Savior, changing the very heart of man, who can bring about peace on earth, and good will toward man. Man’s heart is bent toward pleasing himself, and for this reason, as we saw in Matthew 5:8, man is corrupted in the onset. Man, being initially corrupt, cannot develop purity of heart therefore he cannot be in himself a peacemaker. Only the one true peacemaker of history can instill this in man, and that only comes through the acceptance of the gift of God – salvation in Christ Jesus the Son of God. In this man can be a peacemaker. All other attempts originate from the self-centered and sin-filled heart of fallen man. A great chasm of difference exists between Matthew 5:9 peacemakers and man’s pseudo-peacemaking. “God’s peacemakers call people to Him through them.” “When man considers “peacemaker” he thinks the individual placid or a vacillator; but peacemakers testify of God.“
What is a peacemaker then? Who is this person and how do they operate?
I. Peacemaker
If we are talking about any peacemaker, whether godly or worldly, they are certainly not non-committal. You might think that, normally, a vacillating individual is non-committal; but they truly are not. They just want whomever they are talking to or dealing with to be happy. Therefore, regardless of the topic or issue, their agreement focuses upon eliminating conflict. Their motive, therefore, is selfish – they do not want conflict. We might think that because they are willing to give so much, they are really a humble person and out to accomplish only that which is good; they are only trying to promote happiness. Nevertheless, the actions of this type of peacemaker are purely self-oriented in their attempts to appease. However, we have to ask, is the “peacemaker” mentioned here in scripture avoiding conflict? Does Jesus want us to be malleable and moldable to worldly principles?
We must also note that the world’s peacemaker is not weak or overly-forgiving. In our examples above, these leaders took physical action against dissidents in order to instill peace. The Pharisees arrested Jesus and tried Him because He was being called the King of the Jews, the Messiah. Riots were beginning to take shape. Groups of Jews were organizing and preparing for a revolt that would eventually be squashed in 70AD. The Pharisees knew their power and position was threatened in the eyes of Rome, and they did all they could to solidify this power. These Pharisees were supposed to be men of God, meek, tempered, and loving people; but their hearts were hardened by greed and political aspirations.
We sometimes think, too, that because the peacemaker we envision has convictions that fluctuate with the wind, so to speak, that they are inconsistent. This is not necessarily true. Though they commit to nothing, or commit to everything, they still act consistently – without conviction. Their instability is the consistent behavior of their personality. They will also ignore or in other ways permit activities that are, to their person, unacceptable. We find this in parents who will not hold children to any standard. Continually seeking to quell any dissent, they are consistent in their behavior, which focuses upon permitting children to run free in stores or restaurants, because the child wants to be out of their seat. However, the parent would never think of climbing on the eats in the restaurant themselves. The children play with merchandise that the parents do not intend to purchase because the child wants to, and to deny them is to create conflict. However, the parents themselves would never think about just wantonly opening packages and trying out new stereo systems.
No – all of these so-called peacemakers are, in fact, nothing of the sort. In the end they promote chaos, either in society as the Pharisees did, or in the home, as the permissive parent does. Peacemakers are ones who work for peace among people by maintaining justice. They work for peace by seeking righteousness. Their peace involves the purity of God. True peacemakers are steadfast in achieving these things, while being meek. They are strong, not relenting to others just to assuage them; but strong in the convictions of the righteousness of God to promote true peace. True peacemakers, then, seek peace by implementing the precepts of the Word of God throughout their relationships, their homes, their children, and their lives as a whole. True peacemakers look not at themselves enjoying peace in the moment, but that they will enjoy peace over the long term because they endure hardship in righteousness in the moment. Parents struggle with child disobedience now, because they know there will be no peace tomorrow if the child is allowed to be rebellious, disrespectful, and self-centered. Societies should struggle with people now, because they know that civil disobedience and self-centered, self-absorbed behaviors benefit no one, not even the individual who originates these anti-social behaviors. Everyone suffers when people are permitted to think only of themselves.
Because of these base truths, we come to understand that there are four main issues dealing with peacemakers. Some deal with activity of or result from the peacemaker, some deal with activities taken by the peacemaker. We will consider passivity, activity, reality, and finally, true peacemaking is in Christianity.
A. Passivity
We briefly identified this above; but looking closer here, we find that this peacemaker is simply not interested in anyone except themselves. The individual who continually exhibits passivity in order to promote peacemaking is not passive at all. They simply care nothing for anyone else. This type of activity is once again seen in parental absence. This absence is not normally physical in nature, but authoritatively developed, or, should we say, the lack thereof. Parents are not present simply because they are with the child. My wife and I have seen many parents who will take children into public places and turn them loose. They think that their children have a right, just because the restaurant is open to the public, to run free, walk on all the furniture, and climb on all the tables. These parents consider the place a big pen where at least their child is somewhat safe. They turn the child loose, and then ignore their anti-social behavior. Not all people like children, and most people do not consider children running loose to be a blessing. These parents are not peacemakers; they are training their children to be self-centered and self-important, not compliant and obedient or societally productive.
True peacemakers take these situations under control. Where children become unruly, discipline must be implemented. Where children remain unruly, the parent must be willing, as a true leader should, to forfeit their experience in order to promote the child’s growth – go home. If parents are in public places and children are out of control, take them home to discipline them. Chris and I have had to do this on occasion. We have had a situation where we even ordered our food, then serious trouble started. We had to wait for it to be prepared, had it put in containers to go, and departed the restaurant. Peacemaking is an effort that enforces biblical principles, therefore, by maintaining your testimony in Christ Jesus in all that you do. God does not permit us to throw temper tantrums, run amok around the world disrupting people’s lives, and not obeying His word. He holds us accountable in many ways. You equally are required to maintain peace while maintaining His righteousness. Once again we come to the statement in John 14:15 – “if ye love me, keep my commandments.” If you do not love God, ignore them and just make peace in whatever way, with whomever, and however you feel you need to. If you love God, your passivity certainly does not testify of this.
How can we actively be peacemakers then? How can we promote these issues among ourselves and other Christians?
B. Activity
First, we must suppress our old self. We are to put off the old man and put on the new. We are to be a new creature in Christ Jesus. We are not supposed to do things the way the world does. We are, through our Savior, through His help, through prayer, through good biblical precepts, supposed to be obedient and teach all who are in our sphere of influence of these things of God. You think being submitted to one another is just flowery talk? Folks, it is a command of God.
In 1 Corinthians 16:15 we find that we are commanded to be submitted to the laborers in Christ. Everyone who works in Christ Jesus, not just this pastor, but also others who labor in Christ are supposed to be given a level of submission by each of you. In verse 16 scripture tells us, “and so that you should be subject to” those who service the saints.
In Ephesians 5:21, we are to actively submit ourselves one to another out of reverence to Christ. There are no exceptions here, therefore I am commanded to equally submit myself to you, just as you are commanded to submit yourself to those ordained to watch over you (Heb 13:17). In these efforts, then, we suppress the old sin-filled, self-promoting and self-interested worldly heart to seek the will of God
In our Beatitudes, we also realize that the poor in spirit, knowing their own personal failings, see the truth of worldly behaviors and choose not to participate. The likes of those in the world who would make excuses for abhorrent behavior because of past suffering of abuse have not met the likes of Cornelia Johanna Arnolda ten Boom. This lady suffered at the hands of a most vicious and wicked prison guard in WWII. She was abused and tortured. Less than three years after her release in 1944, one of the most brutal and savage camp guards approached her. Instead of reacting in a violent and hateful manner, which to our natural heart would be just, she sought to forgive him. She had to actively suppress the hate-filled vengeance in her heart, and seek God’s love and ability to forgive the wretch standing before her. He had since become a Christian, a believer in Christ Jesus.
True peacemakers, then, seek the truth in God for a positive end. They seek God actively to promote peace in their lives, and the lives of those around them. In this way, peacemakers seek to be a peacemaker in quarrels that take place around them. This tender hearted quieting down of a heated situation may inspire the unsaved to seek the source of such strength. When people see the child of God, able to keep their temper and promote goodness and peace, even in the most difficult of situations, they seek that strength. People want to know where you get this strength.
Tell them – it is Jesus.
What realities do we see, then, for the believer to exhibit this active peacemaking? Can we actually take this to heart and actuate it in our lives?
C. Reality
One of the first efforts is to know where you stand. This is not necessarily an effort to abase yourself before others. It is a realization that, without Christ Jesus you would be taking the same action of those around you who are lost in the world and have no guidance. You realize, not arrogantly, that you are chosen of God. You are part of a holy priesthood going before the Lord with boldness. Those around you have no standing before God. You do have an edge, you have a weapon, you have ability, and you have a being within you, the Holy Spirit, whom those around you lack. Your edge is that your spirit is already mourning for purity. Your weapon develops from your hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God. The very word of God is poured into you as you drink and eat sumptuously at His table. That Word is sharper than any two-edged sword and cuts to divide man’s soul from his heart. You have ability, then, in your pure heart to give this gospel to others, because you have the Holy Spirit within you.
Because of this, peacemaking cannot mean that you tend to remain quiet even when you know you are right. James tells us that we are to be “swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath,” but this does not mean we do not speak, and we never get angry. It means that these tempers and emotions should develop slowly, and our spirit should be focused upon God and His precepts. We must focus upon Him and His testimony to others. Our concern is not for ourselves or to make us right or wrong, but to present the truth. When people argue against the truth of the Word of God, they argue with God, not with you. We should not take these dissentions personally; just face the fact that man is inherently at enmity with God. Man does not want to bow to God.
Equally we might ask, Does this mean that honesty is the best policy – even when it hurts? No. Just as Moses was promised, we will be given engaging and sensitive language where needed, unless we put our old self back on. We are called to change into His image, not be changed by the world. We are not called to argue like the world, but to argue like Christ. Though Christ asked many challenging questions, the tenor of most of His challenges was sensitive. Jesus did not tell the Pharisees every time that He saw them, “You are a sinner and you are going to hell.” He did not say, “You murder everyone you talk to in telling them to obey your laws and not those given by God.” Yes, there are times when Jesus got very rough with those who rejected Him. However, we are commanded to give the truth in love, not give the truth in spiteful hate. Jesus challenged, but was never spiteful or hateful.
Consider things, therefore, outside of yourself. When we see biblical peacemakers and Christians in history practicing this Beatitude, we find people who considered things bigger than themselves. They considered the things of Christ. They wanted the things of Jesus to permeate their lives and the given situation.
The question, dear Christian, is: Has Jesus made a peacemaker out of you, or are you still attempting in your own strength to make peace in your life? Are you seeking actively to implement the truths of God in your life? Alternatively, are you just seeking to appease all those who create conflict in your life? Which is it?
What, then, does peacemaking look like in the Christian? We have seen some of these evidences, but what does it look like in action?
D. Christianity
One of the first marks of true Christian peacemakers, as we have mentioned, is a true self-recognized and submitted poor spirit. Peacemaking has great empathy in its operation. This empathy, from the Christian perspective, not only understands, but also quite literally feels the great tension that is being experienced by those who are in conflict, feel conflict, or endure conflict. This is because the Christian still feels it themselves. The difference is in the power available in the Christian peacemaker to suppress these sinful reactions through the Holy Spirit.
A second mark is the mourning soul a Christian has for self-cleansing and for others to be cleansed. The soul of a Christian seeks the purity that is God and knows that he has none of it. This purity, this pure heart, and the righteousness that comes from God, is painfully apparent to the Christian. The mourning of a Christian heart is a pain developed from a known emptiness that needs to be filled with this pure righteousness.
For the Christian, truth also strikes and reveals itself in meekness. This meekness develops from the truth that the Christian can be just as evil as sinful man can, because the Christian was first lost, too. Meekness also develops an understanding that man still has nothing to fight the evil within him. This is where Christianity and peacemaking begin to take action. Prior to this point, it is an internal recognition and awareness, here the peacemaker begins to actuate the truth in life.
Seeking righteousness then is not forsaken in passivity. Seeking righteousness is an active effort that does not just walk away but moves to promote God’s precepts. Mercy is shown with submission to God for strength. Hearts, and therefore attitudes are purified through this obedience and this drives peace. Can you actually say, and do you actually believe the apostle Paul when he says,
“15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me (Rom 7:15-20, ESV)
The Beatitudes, and here peacemakers, exemplify Christ. Christ will return and take this earth. Jesus will destroy all opposition and rebellion when He sets up His kingdom. Peacemaking therefore must also mean a forceful and decisive conclusion, not just smooth talking, disarming, and convincing arguments. This is a peace between God and man, first. It begins with the vertical relationship of submission to God. This develops a peace between men, or a horizontal relationship of submission to one another. The peacemaker then is God focused first. As Lloyd-Jones put it:
“He is a man who is ready to humble himself, and he is ready to do anything and everything in order that the glory of God may be promoted. He so desires this that he is prepared to suffer in order to bring it to pass. He is even prepared to suffer wrong and injustice in order that peace may be produced and God’s glory magnified.”[2]
Are your efforts, attitudes, and behaviors beholden completely to God and His Son Jesus Christ of Nazareth? Do you get angry when someone challenges your personal authority, or when you read something out of scripture? You should only stay meek and humble and understand that man is lost without the truth, and that man is at war with the truths of God. Man, then, is arguing with God, not with you. Be a peacemaker and stay steadfast in the Word, but loving in your communications.
How we actuate peacemaking in our lives then gives us a recognized position. This position is not only recognized by God, but by man.
II. Family
Peacemakers are to be called the sons of God. This is the Greek word “kaleō.” The word is much like our word “call” in that it has a wide variety of meanings. Here, specifically, it indicates someone voicing, properly, aloud, in a way that indicates their proper name that the peacemakers are sons of God. When we consider the saved life of the believer and the things that believers will exhibit in their lives, this seems to make no sense. Those exhibiting this attribute are already children of God. This, then, is the label, not being called to God, but literally recognized for what you are – a child of God. You have been brought into the family of God and it shows. It shows because God is permeating your life such that you are acting godly. You are acting just as Jesus the perfect peacemaker. God is seen in you. Man frequently mislabels the God of love whom we worship as soft. Many who think along these lines would say, “If he really loves us, he’ll forgive us our sins and we can all be happy in heaven.” People will properly label the peacemaker as godly, of the house of God, one who is recognized as a godly man or woman not because of passivity, but a steadfast character.
We must never lose sight, though, that this label is for the proper peacemakers, not the worldly ones. This label, this recognition, whether from man or from a brother in Christ, is only appropriate when the individual actually exhibits biblical peacemaking. This peacemaking first seeks God and His righteousness. Then it submits to God and His Son for this righteousness. The peacemaker that is a member of the family of God is not passive, not placid, and not inactive in any way. They are, in fact, actively seeking the peace of God in all things while striving to implement the precepts of God in all ways. This means in their lives, and through their lives. True peacemakers are Christians.
When we look back at what we have discussed today, we first recognized that peacemakers are individuals completely unlike the world. Peacemakers actively remove the world from themselves, layer by layer, through the salvific act of the Savior, and the sanctification of the spirit through the Holy Spirit of God. These peacemakers are not simply active to be involved and change the world to a better place from their point of view. They actively show God in their lives to others such that God through them can change lives. The reality of these activities is that souls are called to Christ and saved. Because this is an outworking of the saved spirit, Satan will attack. Believers continue, though, knowing that the attacks are against God and His Word, and not against the believer personally. This is Christianity, and this Christian then is known to be in the family of God.
Some questions for you today are: Does this peacemaking spirit permeate your life? Does this meek and tempered spirit mark your life? Are you slow to anger and slow to speak? Do people around you see you as a child of God – as belonging to the family of God? Would someone, if you were on the cross, actually say as you died, this truly was a child of God. We are supposed to be Christ-like, and strive to be more Christ-like. A heathen recognized Christ, on the cross, between two thieves, as the Son of God! Do people in the world see you in this light regardless of what others might say about you? Are you a peacemaker for Christ?
[1] Though I attempt to capitalize even pronouns to honor our Lord, this is purposefully left lower case because in light of these thoughts, man does not see Jesus as God, but as simply a great moral man. There is no salvation in this empty philosophical error.
[2] Lloyd-Jones, D. Martyn, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, One-volume edition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976), 106.
