Blessed Are The Peacemakers - Part 2

Matthew chapter 5 verse 1, and seeing the multitudes, he went up on a mountain. And when he was seated, his disciples came to him. Then 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 filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. I think one of the greatest ways that we are called to be peacemakers is the very fact that we are ambassadors of Christ, and we call people to be reconciled to our God. That comes right off the pages of 2 Corinthians 5. But of course, peace, calling people to peace with God, is one way we are peacemakers. There's a lot of peacemaking that happens within the context of the church, and even as I was talking about in the Lord's Supper. There's divisions that crop up in the church that we have to resist. Peacemakers are the people that, as soon as they see any cracks in the church, they're attacking them. And listen, it's not like there are some peacemakers in the church. Not the true church. In the true church, they all are peacemakers. Because what it says here is, peacemakers are the ones who are called the sons of God. In other words, it's exclusive. It's only them. In fact, if you have people in the church that are given to divisiveness, it may be momentary carnality, but oftentimes it's a demonstration of the fact that they're sons of a different father. So, I want us to think today, dive into Scripture. Again, when we come to these Beatitudes, we're considering what Christ said, but we are really the ones that are under the microscope. We're examining His Word, but what you find is, you're the one who's really being examined. So let's pray as we dive in. Father, I pray, help us in this place. Help us to handle Your Word of God. I want to rightly divide it. I pray that You'd give us ears to hear what we need, what each one of us needs to hear from this. I ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. So, I stuck a lot of verses in my notes. So I don't know how far we'll get, but I don't plan on doing another message here, so bear with me. I know I've been looking at some of the messages from this series being posted, and I've been averaging about an hour and 10 or 15 minutes. That's not... I don't... I'm sorry. But anyway, if it's not killing you and about at the 60 minute mark, if I don't see tongues hanging out or eyes closing and people falling over in their seats, I typically keep going. But I want to show you a verse. Hebrews 12:14. Hebrews 12:14. We often look at this text because we are concerned with holiness. We're concerned with a separateness, or righteousness, or purity in the life. And so we like to quote, if you don't have holiness, you're not going to see the kingdom. And that is definitely what the verse teaches. But there's another aspect to the verse that we often crop off, simply because peacemaking doesn't get a lot of mileage in the church. We talk a lot about holiness, but peace, it is kind of like the first message I did. We don't often think about peacemaker as being one of the primary definitions of what a Christian is, or even one of the primary attributes of God being a peacemaker. And yet that's what characterizes us as sons of God. Now notice Hebrews 12:14. Pursue peace. Now see, in the Beatitudes, no imperatives. It's all indicative. It just says, hey, if you're a peacemaker, you're blessed, and you're going to be called, you're already called, and you will be called, you shall be called a son of God. And no one else will. It's not like you can have sons of God that aren't peacemakers. It's not like there's two categories of sons of God. Some are peacemakers, some aren't. What he's saying is, peacemakers, sons of God. And the same truth is right here, although right here we do get an imperative. Over in the Beatitudes, you're not told to do anything. You're just basically told, if you're a peacemaker, you're going to be called a son of God. If you're not a peacemaker, not going to be called a son of God. Over here, there's an imperative. An imperative is a commandment. Pursue peace. That's an imperative. Pursue, with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. And you see, you have a conjunction there. You pursue peace, and you pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. And you know, we could say, well, which one does that apply to? Since holiness is last, is it only... No, I don't think you want to take it that way. The reality is, you want to take both. It's pursuing peace, without which no one will see the Lord, and pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. That's what you want to do with that verse. And it's very consistent with what we find in the Beatitude. That if you don't, you won't inherit the kingdom. You won't be a son of God. And see, this is again, I'm emphasizing, these Beatitudes cause us to look at ourselves. Are you a peacemaker? The truth is, strife follows some people on their heels. You look at their life. Basically, strife follows them where they go. It happens... You know what? It's not just strife. Because the people that aren't peacemakers are not just people who fight. They're often people who run. You see, this is pursuing peace. And you get people who want to put up their fists, and they want to go to fight. But you get other people when there's conflict, they just run away. They're not pursuing peace, and they're not peacemakers. They're just... they run away. They don't want to be involved in the fight at all. And so, that's not a peacemaker either. And so, remember peace. Remember peace. It's not just the absence of something. It's not just the absence of war, and strife, and quarreling, and conflict. It's not that. Peace actually has to do with harmony, and fellowship, and love, and closeness, and intimacy, and friendship. That's... If you're going to pursue peace, you've got to pursue the whole thing. It's not just you want to be in the state where you're making sure that there's no conflict around you. You actually want to pursue the things that make for harmony. The things that make for closeness. The things that draw things together. So, here we are. Peacemaking. This is what you need to recognize. Peacemaking is non-negotiable in both these passages. Listen, I remember when... way back. When after we'd started the church there in San Antonio, we had a conference. And a certain woman was saved. And she said that what bothered her while she was trying to live the life of a Christian. What bothered her was she couldn't get along with her mother-in-law. You see, no peace. And God convicted her and saved her. Peacemaking is just not negotiable. So, let's dive in here a bit further. A little bit of a theology of war. Theology of what's behind quarrels. And of course, that ought to take us to James. Because James chapter 4, he wants to deal with this very thing. What's behind wars? What's behind fights? Why does it happen among us? And so, if you go to James 4, just a bit of a theology of peace and strife. This is very helpful. As we're examining ourselves and we're thinking on this subject, we want to dissect this animal of warring, fighting, quarreling, striving. So, James says this, Where do wars and fights come from among you? This portion of Scripture is intense. There's no question. And it's graphic. There's no question. Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure? Now, I'm reading this from the New King James. And I recognize different translations are going to say this a little bit differently. But do you recognize when it talks about pleasure? It's the idea of that which pleases. It's like, I want my way. I want what pleases me. So, where do they come from? Strife, fighting, quarreling. Don't they come from your desires? You want something. You want what pleases you. And these desires are at war in your members. The idea is your members. But it's the kind of thing where your eyes see things and you want it. You've got desires of the body, desires of the flesh, and they want things. You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. And you know, you don't want to just write yourself off here. I'm no murderer. Yeah, but when he throws it out like this, you understand. He's talking about strife. What's the root of strife? We don't love others. We love ourselves. We actually hate each other. Paul talks that way to Timothy. Hating and hated. That's basically what categorizes mankind. We tolerate others as long as they are valuable to us. I mean, when we're lost, we will tolerate things from other people as long as it really serves us. And even the love we do, the love we have, and the way we care for people as lost people, it really is, in the end of it, it's self-serving. But you murder. John says whoever hates his brother is a murderer. And you know, Jesus said, we're going to get to it in the Sermon on the Mount. He says, you've heard that, you know, if you murder, well, you shall not murder. But he says, I say to you, whoever's angry with his brother. And so this is the issue here. When you're angry without a cause, when you hate your brother, I mean, you don't want to say, well, I've never driven a knife at anybody. But in your heart, you have. That's the issue. You've hated people. And so he says, you fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. And then he says, you ask and you do not receive. And so, well, which is it, James? Well, you see what he's doing. He sees different responses to this. He recognizes some people, it's like, well, maybe they're ashamed enough that they recognize they're selfish enough that they're not even going to dare take it to God. Or they're atheistic enough, or they're just God-hating enough that they're not going to take it to Him. Other people are bold enough where they just look at God as some celestial Santa Claus, and they're like, give me what I want. And so some people might shy away. Some people might go there. But in the end, neither gets it. And their hearts are... And the reason that God would not even think of giving it to them is they're asking to miss. That they might spend it on that which, again, pleases them, their own pleasures. Adulterers, adulteresses. Strong language. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? And we see that's what's being exuded here. There's this desire after things, after stuff, after that which pleases us. Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. And so, I want you to see what's at the root of those who are not peacemakers. Those who are not peacemakers have an adultery problem. Verse 2 says lust. You lust. See, it's a lust problem. Conflicts and quarrels. Whether it's between a man and his wife. Whether it's in the church context or whether it's nations. Do you recognize? It is a lust issue. It is an adultery issue. That is the issue. Now look, if some man came into this church and was obviously looking with lust at the sisters in this church. Even the mention of that sounds ugly. It feels dirty. But those who constantly have strife following them. You know what James is saying? Same sort of ugliness is truly following that individual. They come in here and they are lusting. Men and women who will cause problems. They'll wag their tongues. They'll gossip. They'll slander. They'll split friendships. They'll say ugly things. They'll repeat matters. They come in here and they're not trying to bring people together. It's a lust problem. It's an adultery problem. You know what? It might be a little bit perhaps more respectable than a guy that came in here and he's just glaring at all the ladies. But listen, it's just as ugly. And that's why he's using this kind of language. Because it is that. It's lust. It's adultery. There is ugliness. There is dirtiness. And listen, people who constantly have strife following them, it's written across their foreheads. This kind of graphic reality. And so, their hearts. You know what it basically says? They're not intimate with God. They're not developing a friendship with God. That's what he's... They're greedily, adulterously making love with their idols. And oftentimes it's just their own self being thought highly of. And you know what? The Bible is not afraid of being graphic about this. Listen, do you know what we didn't get to in 1 Corinthians 11? Do you know what happens when even true Christians will not repent of divisiveness? God killed them. God killed. They slept. And you can't get away from the reality that when there's division in the church, the Spirit of God caused some of those people to be sick and some of them to die. Because of that rift that was in that church. Folks, blessed are the peacemakers. They shall be called the sons of God. Now, I want you to look at something. You recognize that Romans 14. We often think of Romans 14. There's a whole chapter. It's devoted to how people can have differences of opinion in the same church and yet dwell together in harmony. So let's look at this portion. Romans chapter 14. Because there's some very instructive peace language here. Romans 14. Very instructive. I don't doubt that in our ethics class, we will probably walk through this chapter. Because there's so much that has to do with just determining what's right and wrong before the Lord. And the fact is, we are not always going to agree on what that is. And you know what? Scripture itself says that's okay. Look, there are certain truths. Truths about who God is. Truths about how a man can be saved. We can't budge on these things. For the sake of peace, we will not sacrifice the core doctrines of our faith. But you know, there are all sorts of areas of life that it's not so plainly spelled out in Scripture that we have to wrestle through. And in the context of dealing with this, notice verse 17. You see, the kingdom of God is not just about being right and getting your way in the church. The kingdom of God is not just about, you know, your own opinion about vaccinations, or your own opinion about vegetables, or whether you should eat meat, or be vegetarian, or vegan, or whatever. The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. But notice what it is. It's righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Peace. Now, see, you could look at that and you could say, well, I think that means, like, tranquility in my own heart. Okay, well, peace does sometimes get used that way. Problem is, context won't let you think that way. Let's keep reading. It says, He who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. Therefore, let us pursue the things that make for peace, and the things by which we may edify one another. You see exactly what he's talking about. And this is the context of the whole chapter. You've got people who come to different convictions about observing days or eating meat. And that can... Ah, I've seen it. The reason I already mentioned vaccinations. Listen, this new thing with the vaccinations and COVID, this is just another chapter of the vaccination argument that goes on within churches. Oh, I've seen it and said, well, are we going to vaccinate our children? Are we not going to vaccinate our children? And I mean, people can become heated over some of these things. We never had heated disputes over Christmas. We had heated disputes over vaccinations. There's different things that come up and arise in the church. And what clearly is being said here, is that the righteousness and the peace and the joy of the Holy Spirit, the things that the kingdom of God is really all about. We know the peace he means from verse 19. Let us pursue the things that make for peace, and the things by which we may edify one another. And notice verse 18. He who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God. As a servant of Christ, if we would serve him in a manner acceptable, there's something that you must pursue. You need to pursue peace, even when you don't exactly agree. There is a way to tell people why I think... Let's see, this is part of ethics. We're not always going to agree on whether we should wear masks, whether we should socially distance, or whether the government ought to be obeyed or not to be... Oh, if ever in the life of... Since I've been a Christian, to see something that Christians have divided on, it's at what point do we stop obeying the government when it comes to them trying to restrict what the church clearly is told in Scripture to do. And oh, there's churches that still are not meeting in your country. There are still churches not meeting in the U.S. And what you have is... Why do some people decide to start meeting at a certain time? Why is it we're even talking about whether to go back to Middleton or not? Because we've got people in the church over there that are of a mindset that they need to more strictly follow what the government says. You see, these... And what happens is, we can have our opinion, and we do it, and we need to have our opinion. I mean, you start looking here, Paul wants everybody fully persuaded. He wants people of strong conviction. You could almost say, Paul, seriously? Do you really want people that are that convinced? You see, he says, verse 5, One person esteems a day above another, another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. Wow! Don't you love that? He wants Thomas to be convinced about things. And he wants Adam convinced about things. He wants us to be people of conviction. But you know what the amazing thing is? He's acknowledging we will come to different positions on some of these things. And yet, he wants us fully convinced. You see, Paul, if anything seems like it was going to create turmoil and trouble in the church, it's to have people of really strong convictions, and that guy's come to one, and that sister's come to a different one. Isn't that the very kind of thing that creates volatility? No. Because I'll tell you this, if it's not just you trying to be, you know, Mr. or Mrs. Great, and be absolutely convinced that your opinion has to be obeyed and be bowed down to, if you're really of the mindset that we all need to be people of the Word of God, you know what I really appreciate? Spurgeon said it. Spurgeon said he'd rather have somebody in his church that he knew was wrong about what they believed on a certain point. And yet, they could present a solid biblical argument for why they believed it. He said, give me that guy. Because he sold out to this book. I just heard one of the FBC guys last Tuesday, he was talking about why he made the decisions that he made. And he walked us FBC guys through the different portions of Scripture. And you know what? I wrote him afterwards. I said, I appreciated that. Because whether I agreed with him or not, he had a solid biblical argument. And he was telling us the verses that weighed on him. You see, this is what we're going to get into in ethics. What are the verses in Scripture that weigh on us, that impact us? Because God says this, the man, the woman I'm going to look to trembles at My Word. We want to be people that are glued to this Word, that are examining everything through the lenses of it. And you know what? You can come to one conviction. I can come to another conviction. But there's a way to pursue peace in the midst of that. And to respect one another. And to love one another. And I'll tell you this, I feel like Spurgeon does. If you tell me this is why I came to the conviction that I did. And here are the verses. Now you know what? We're free to say, well, did you consider these verses? The reality is maybe they haven't. There's a place for us to be mutually instructing and challenging. There's no problem. But you know there's a way to do that, that fosters strength and edifies. See, we're supposed to be building up. That was there too as we're pursuing peace. Edification means building each other up. And so, you know what? Perhaps you've thought about a verse that I didn't think about. Have you ever had that happen? Somebody says, you know, in fact the FBC guy. You know what he really has been challenged by? Mordecai. Because Ahasuerus told everybody to bow to Haman. And Mordecai refused to do it. And this man was saying how he wrestled with, when do you bow to Haman and when don't you when the emperor of the land has told you to do it? And there was no obvious reason why he did it. Why he refused to bow. There's no obvious reason given in the letter. And in fact, there's no commentary from God that says Mordecai did right or wrong. And so he said he was wrestling. That was helpful because that is a text that I had not really wrestled with that way. And so, see, we can help each other that way. But that produces peace rather than just attacking each other. Because you know what happens? Well, you don't vaccinate your kids. You don't love your kids. Well, no. Actually, the reason I don't do that is because I do love them. And I mean, I have reasons. You see, our first thought should not be that we're each ignoramuses. Like, oh, you know, look at... But look, there are all sorts of things we have to sort through. And you know what, if we're going to be honest with Scripture, you know what's a good thing to do sometimes? Is to put yourself in the feet of other people. In fact, I've already considered this. So be on guard, guys. That in our ethics class, if I see that two guys are diametric... And I hope this happens because we need to be fully convinced. And we're going to talk about things that we are not going to agree on. But you know what I'm going to do sometimes? I'm going to say, hey, you two guys are obviously at the ends of the spectrum. What I want you to do is come next week and I want you to defend his position. And I want you to defend his position. And make the best possible argument you can. I mean, in all honesty and sincerity. Because if we really want to deal with truth, we ought to be willing to do that. It shouldn't be, I'm right and I'm right and that settles it. And I'm digging my heels in and I'm not going to consider anything else. Well, that's the kind of thing that causes the disunity in the church. That we want to abhor and run from. So, you see this. We have to edify one another. Brethren, you know what? You'll never pursue peace unless you're pursuing people. You have to pursue people to build them up. Because that's really the agenda. Brethren, do you recognize we're in this together? One of the reasons that God calls us to meet together in a church is because as we come together, we stir up one another. As we come together, we don't let each other be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. As we come together, we comfort one another. We instruct one another. We use our spiritual gifts on one another. Do you realize the task we have? We are each responsible for helping the other people in this church get to the finish line. And see, when you're in it like that, and you're running along, and you look around, and you recognize, hey, you know what? Our militia here, our regiment is, somebody's missing. And they're straggling back. Wait, we got three that are lagging back. Well, if you're really wanting to win the war, I mean, you know, they have a thing. I don't know how it is in the UK, but among the American Marines, especially special forces, I mean, even if you're dead, they will not leave one of their comrades' bodies, let alone if you're taken prisoner. They will give their lives to try to rescue that person, rather than to leave them in the arms of the enemy, even if the body is dead. And so, that's how we need to be, watching out for one another. We're trying to get each other to the line here. We're trying to help each other to not fall out of this race. That's what's really behind this kind of peace. So, listen to this. A little bit before this in Romans, it says, if it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. As much as it depends on you. Sometimes there's aspects of peace, obviously, that are out of your hands, because peace is had between two parties, and if you've done everything you can, sometimes still the other individual is not wanting to make peace. Pursue peace with all people. That's what Hebrews 12 says. Romans 12 says, live peaceably with all men. And these are the sons of God who do this. None else are. And so, this allows for no neutrality. Jesus never said, by this the world is going to know that you're my disciples. Simply that you avoid quarrelsomeness, or fights. It's not that. It's, by this you'll be known to be a son of God, your peacemaker. And if you don't pursue peace, you won't see the Lord. And so, remember, peace isn't merely an absence of conflict. It's all about intimate harmony and fellowship. We need to be pursuing this. Now, let me tell you something. You know the scripture says, don't grieve the Holy Spirit. I don't want to get into this, because it would be more extensive than I think what our time right now is going to allow for. But here's the thing. You just hear that. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit. Sealed for the day of redemption. But, if you ever stop and think, well, I wonder what grieves the Spirit. You know what's very interesting about Ephesians 4, where that's stated? If you look at the context, it basically says this. Hear this very carefully. It says, Therefore, putting away lying, Let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Okay, you just think about that. You know what? Lying, not telling each other truth, that does not make for peace. You lie to each other, that makes for hostility. But notice what it says. It says, Speak truth with your neighbor, for we are members of one another. Or it says this. Let him who stole, steal no longer. You start stealing, and you can steal other things than just possessions. You can steal somebody's reputation by just flapping your lips in a way that does damage to other people. But it says this. Stop stealing, but rather labor, working with your own hands, what is good, that you may have something to give to him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the ears. You keep going along here. It says, Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking be put away from you with malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God and Christ forgave you. Sandwiched in the middle of that is don't grieve the Spirit. It's very interesting. If you take that in context, do you recognize what Paul is saying to people? Stop with the wicked conduct that is destructive to one another, and do that which helps one another. See, it's not just out there in a vacuum. He's basically saying, Stop using your mouth to destroy. Use it to help each other. Stop using your hands to steal from each other, and use them to be able to give to each other. Don't be bitter. Don't be clamorous. Rather, forgive one another. And in the midst of all this, you get, Don't grieve the Spirit. Remember the Lord's Supper. Division, the Spirit of God starts killing people. Do you want to know what grieves the Spirit? This type of thing. And Paul deals with the Corinthians. Listen to this. What? Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Remember, Assuredly I say unto you, As much as you have done it unto one of the least of these, you have done it unto him. Listen to this. He wraps up with the Corinthians saying, Finally, brethren, farewell. Be complete. Be of good comfort. Be of one mind. Live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. Now that's conditional. You have to hear it that way. Live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. Do we want God with us? Do we want God manifestly with us? Well, then live in peace with one another. You know what's very conducive to the Spirit of God moving in here? It's us loving each other. It's peace. You want to grieve the Spirit? You want people sick and dying? Brethren, this is what we're dealing with. God will do things, and He'll reveal Himself, and He'll be with us in ways He won't when there's strife, quarrel, and conflict. Listen to Paul. You are still carnal for where there is envy, strife, divisions among you. Are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? You know what? Christians are not mere men. People that are merely man, we expect them to fight or run. Fight or take flight. That's what mere men do. You know what some Christians do? The sons of God do. They pursue peace. And he says you're acting like mere men when you allow this in the church. Paul, you know what? He warns them to stop, and he warns them to stop at once. Listen to what he says. He says, brother goes to law against brother. You see the strife. And you're doing that before unbelievers? It's already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept the wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat. And you do these things to your brethren. You see, it's how he argued to the Ephesians. You're members of one another. You're doing this to brethren. You're taking the Lord separate. These are people for whom Christ has died. You're doing this to them, and in front of unbelievers, he says, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of heaven? You see where he takes it? Yeah, you're acting like mere men, but I want you to know this. People that act like that don't inherit the kingdom of heaven. And what he recognizes is this. If these people are genuine, they're going to respond. And you know when you get to the second letter, they did. Brethren, people can act merely like men for a season, but if you act merely like a man habitually, you show that you're not a son of God. And he says, don't be deceived by this. The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. So we warn. We admonish. And then we take action. Do you know that there's at least two very clear passages, one in Romans and one in Titus, that tells us if we've got divisive people in the church, do you know what we do? Now see, you might think this isn't peacemaking, but this is very peacemaking. If we've got somebody divisive in the church, and after we rebuke them and confront them, it's not repented of. It says, avoid these people. In other words, you put them out of the church. I know some seasons of eradicating the church of people, those seasons can be difficult, but oh, I have seen such peace come after people like that are eradicated from the church. And here's what it says, Romans 16, 17, I urge you, brethren, take note of those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned. See, it's contrary. People that are creating division, they're basically going against what has been taught by the apostles. Avoid these people. Titus 3:10, Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned. See, he doesn't inherit the kingdom. Self-condemned. He's not a son of God. This is what we're dealing with. So, what happens? We put a person... I'm going to talk a little bit here about disciplinary action in the church, because dealing with sins in each other, I mean, if we're really going to pursue peace, as much as possible, as much as lies in you, if we're going to pursue peace, we have to be people that are pursuing our brothers and sisters in the way of purity. We cannot allow sin upon one another. And the Bible is very clear about that. There are ways that we seek to address this. Blessed are the peacemakers. So, how do we pursue peace? If it is possible, as much as depends on you live peaceably with all men. How do we do that? How do we do it? I'll tell you right in the beginning. You've got to abide in Christ. Because Christ said, without me you can't do anything. One of the things that's absolutely critical for the church is peacemakers are people who are not mere men. We're not mere men because we're plugged into Christ. You do recognize that, I hope. We draw resources that mere men never draw from. We draw from wells of salvation that the mere man cannot draw from. Do you recognize that Christ gives love, and he gives wisdom, and he gives strength, and he gives power, and he gives mercy, and grace, and forgiveness for us to approach conflict with in daily life that the mere man doesn't have access to? I mean, you do realize that, right? We're not mere men. There's not a conflict that comes up in this church that we can't go to Christ for the resources to deal with. And you know where those come from? Those resources come from Christ. They come from being like Mary and sitting at Christ's feet. They come from people who live day in and day out. They live day after day in the Word, finding Christ, in prayer, speaking to the Father, speaking to Christ. That is absolutely essential. You know what? You get lazy. You get distracted. You know what it'll lead to? Carnality. Carnality, you start acting like mere men. You start moving away from spending quality time with Christ. Don't be surprised that you move towards a fleshliness that will begin to grow in you. You'll be sharp with people. You'll be short with people. Thoughts will come up. If you're going to really be a peace pursuer, you need to be a Christ pursuer. The next thing is this, faith. You know what? A peacemaker is somebody that can step back and view conflict through the lens of faith in a God who is absolutely sovereign altogether. Who never allows anything to happen in my life by chance. Have you ever read about what happens with sparrows? He knows. He knows all about the sparrows. Not one of them falls to the ground apart from your father's will. The very hairs of your heads are numbered. Do you know if every single hair on your head is numbered, he also has numbered the conflicts that he has designed to come into your life. And you need to recognize this. In first Corinthians, just listen to this. Paul said, first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you and in part I believe it. For there must be factions among you. Have you ever read that? What? We're supposed to be trying to keep the factions out and yet Paul says there must be factions. But listen, why? That those who are approved may be recognized. That's what the New King James says. You know what approved means? Those who are genuine. Do you recognize what happens when strife comes into the church? Those who are genuine rise to the surface. Why? Because those who are genuine peacemakers and that's who's genuine, the peacemakers, it's shown. Have you ever recognized that you get problem people in the church and there's certain other people that are problematic in the church that tend to side with them? Even if they're not directly involved, they kind of like them, they kind of sniffed each other out, they kind of found each other. I have very often found that to be exactly the case. But brethren, we need to recognize this. God specifically is going to bring things into this church to test us. Even though right now, you all came through a season of testing a little over a year ago. I recognize that. I recognize things happen. But you know what? Even though we may have a season of peace right now, especially if God begins to save, if God begins to use this church and the devil really sits up and takes notice, I'm going to tell you something. We heard a message last week, we have an enemy and he is in the business of sowing tares. And there is nothing in that parable that seems to indicate that God is going to prevent it. In fact, God is going to allow it to show who is genuine among us. That's what we find in Scripture. And so know this, whether God has designed there to be some tension in your marriage, some tension in your workplace, or some tension in this church, this is all by God's design. What happens is we get tested. You see, what we're made of. You might not think that. You know, wow, there's a problem in the church. Yeah, you're being tested. Even though it may be happening over on the other side. I mean, what I mean by that is people that you're not so directly involved with, or you're directly involved with them, but the conflict doesn't really involve you. It's between two other parties. It still is going to test you. Because peacemakers are always not the people that are in the conflict. Oftentimes, a peacemaker is a moderator that comes from the outside, that helps in that sense. But God specifically brings this. And you know what Scripture says. There's no temptation that has overtaken you except that it's common to men. And what does God do? God promises you a way out. God promises that He's faithful. He's not going to allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able. God is always going to make available to you the strength and the wisdom. I mean, as a child of God, as a son of God, He is going to make available to you the things that you need access to, to weather the storm. And see, that's what proves us. We're tested. That's why the factions come. They test. Who is it that's really clinging to God in faith? Every time there's a conflict in this church, or in your marriage, or wherever, there's an opportunity that gets laid before you. I mean, it shows what you believe about God. Is God in control? Does God have the resources here? Is God giving me a way out? A way of escape that we may be able to bear up under this? It's up to us to accept and use His assistance and His resources and His truths. I mean, God can heal. God can help. And our faith needs to be locked into this. But, listen, I have watched. I mean, I was thinking, even thinking about this. Like, I remember one time where Ruby told me something that was really difficult to hear. And I walked out and I was praying and I was pleading with the Lord. And supernaturally, something happened. And I know, I can think of different times when my wife has had some situations where there's been conflict and she's gone to prayer and just testified how God just took it right away. Hudson Taylor. I remember reading about him. He said there was conflict. And he really believed prayerfully that he was right in what he was wanting from certain missionaries in the China Inland Mission. And there was conflict. They were disagreeing with him. And so they basically separated. He just went to prayer. And God changed the hearts of all of those other missionaries. Listen, this is something we've got to be convinced of. Do we believe that God is able to do what we cannot do? And have you ever thought that God brings us into these conflicts to put Himself on display? We need to cling to Him and plead with Him. See, conflict provides these kind of opportunities to put God on display. Not so much us. If we're peacemakers, we're peacemakers by His grace. And it's just going to be an opportunity for God to demonstrate His power working through the people. And I'll tell you, a lot of times you're doing this contrary to how you feel. I mean, we have to be guided by truth, not by emotion. Because there are times our emotions... I remember one time I butted heads hard. And I don't even remember what all the issues were. Over my pastor in San Antonio, not at Grace. This is Community Baptist Church. I sat under a brother. And there was a season where Ruby and I, there was some conflict. And I wanted to leave that church. So did Ruby. But I was convinced of this. The way I feel right now feels awful carnal. And I am not going to make this kind of decision based on these feelings. And I said, I'm going to fast until God gives me an answer and shows me what to do. And you know what the answer was? And this is typically His answer. Stay and seek peace. And I did. And you know, in the not too distant future, I was then ordained in that church. And the not too distant future after that, sent out to start Grace. And you know, I've looked back on that. And I have thought... Often when I've counseled people that are in conflict, I've brought this story up. Because I am pretty convinced that I would not be where I am now if I had walked away from that church. So I'm being transparent with you. Don't act on emotion. Sometimes the right way, the way according to truth, is exactly opposite of what your flesh wants to do. We want to strike out or we want to run. Because that's what the mere man does. And we've still got this stuff that clings to us. And there's tendencies here. So, I'll tell you this. One of the things Peter says, if you're going to do everything possible, one of the things Peter says is love covers a multitude of sins. One of the starting points is we need thick-skinned people. Thin-skinned people, easily offended people. They're a blemish on the church. Why? Because they walk around all the time and you just... You know the kind of people I'm talking about. You've got to walk on pins and needles around them because they're just so easily offended. Brethren, we need to thicken up. One of the ways to overlook sin... I mean, look, overlooking sin. Sounds easy in theory, right? Oh yeah, we can do that. But when somebody actually insults you, they snub you, they ignore you, they hurt you, or they hurt your child, or they hurt your wife, or they hurt your husband. You see, now we're touching the apple of the eye. You know, in theory, oh yeah, we can do that. Until it actually is that thing that slaps you beside the face and it's... And see, the Lord knows how to bring the conflict that touches you in the sensitive place. And if we're going to be the kind of people that can overlook this thing, do you know what has to control us? Again, the idea of love. That we're watching out for each other and we're trying to get to the end. So you've got to attack these things with truth. Because, and here's the truth, if the person that hurt me is lost, well there went I, aside from the grace of God. I was just like that. I hurt people like that. I was insensitive like that. And they're lost. They don't know what they do. You remember Stephen? He could do the same thing his master did. Forgive them. They don't know what they do. Even as they're bouncing stones off his head. Because he cared for them. See, brethren, it's like I said some weeks back, we can afford to overlook sin. Do you recognize in just a few more years, if you're a child of God, you're going to be in such glory. And you know one of the things you'll hear well done for? Is when I brought that conflict into your life. You did well. You clung to me. You clung to grace. You see, we're the richest people in the face of the earth. If somebody does us a slight snub, I mean, you think about it. Somebody ignores you. Oh, I'm offended. I'm hurt. Christ didn't ignore you. I mean, do you realize? It's just you don't have to, you can afford not to be like that. We can overlook these things. And if they're a Christian, it's like, well, I got my own rough edges still. And so do they. And you know, the kind of church where we're able to overlook things and go on, we need, you know how water is off a duck's back. Just beads up, boom, it's gone. That's how we need to be. And we can be that way if we're geared with truth. We're thinking about this. God is for, I mean, it's kind of like the Lord's Supper we're thinking about. Christ died for them. God's Spirit is at work in their life. I mean, I can look at them and recognize, you know what? Yeah, they've got rough edges, but God's not going to leave them like that. And I'm glad because He's not going to leave me like that either. And so we can forgive. I mean, we can forgive because God has forgiven us of so much. I mean, look what we did. And by the way, forgiveness is a decision. It's something you decide to do. It's deliberate. And remember this, brother goes to law against brother. That before unbelievers. It's already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? You see what he's saying there? You'd be better off to not take your brother to court and just allow yourself to be defrauded. That's what he's saying. He's better off. In other words, you as Christians, you can do that. Do you recognize there's nothing so... I hope we would never get to this place in this church. You know what he says? Isn't there somebody among you that can judge this matter? You see, there does come a place where we need to get involved with this, set up tribunals in the church, or even bring matters before the whole church. But let me tell you something. Do you know the first step to dealing with problems in the church? Even if you can't overlook it. And you know when not to overlook it? When that sin is harming that person and you can't just let them go on in it. Or that person's sin is harming others. And it's harming this church. We can't let them go on. Or it's doing such dishonor to God, we can't allow that to continue. You see, there are problems. There's questions to ask. And there is another time to not just overlook sin. And that's if you feel that this person's sin against you has caused you to create a wall in your heart. You've prayed against it. You've tried to overlook it. But you just recognize it's not going away. Those are times to not overlook it. But here's the thing. If your brother sins against you, you know what Scripture says? Go to him alone. Do you know one of the things that does not make for peace? Is when somebody offends you and you have to go tell other people. What a carnal approach that is. Contrary to peacemaking. Somebody hurts you. Well, you need pity from somebody. You need allies. And so you know what you do? You go tell people. And it can seem a very holy thing. I'm going to go tell the pastor. I'll tell one of the deacons. Why, they're officers in the church, so this is more formal. You know what? When people come to me and want to rat out somebody else, first thing I'm going to ask them is, have you gone to them? Because I'm going to throw it back in your lap, because that's what Scripture does. You're supposed to go alone. You're not supposed to go telling other people about how you got offended, how you got hurt, how somebody did this to you, that to you, or the other thing. If you're really going to resolve conflict, you go alone. Alone. And you know that if you come to me and actually tell me, oh, I have had this happen so often, people come to me and they say, oh, you know what happened in this person's life? But please don't tell them that I'm the one that told you. Don't ever put me in that position, because you know what? I can't go to the person and dogmatically address them about something when they're wondering, how do I know? And I say, I can't tell you. You know what that promotes in the church? Suspicion. Because now they're just thinking all the, who said that, you know, you know what Paul did? Chloe's people told me about what's going on over there. I just want you to know this. You come tell me about something, somebody else, I'm going to send you back there. And if it is something I feel like I have to get involved with, I am going to tell the individuals, so-and-so told me this. That is being transparent. That is how you avoid suspicion. That, listen, we got to operate that way. But you go alone. Don't go tell someone else. And if they won't hear you, and you can't gain your brother, oh, by the way, when you go alone, Scripture does say a few things. One, it says get the log out of your own eye. A lot of times the person who goes and addresses somebody else about sin, a lot of times they're people that just simply can't cover sin. Because they're very proud, they're very thin-skinned, and they've got this two-by-four just sticking out of their own head, and they're going to go try to help somebody else with the speck. You really need to examine yourself. And I'll tell you this, if you come in this condescending way, blasting somebody else about their sin, you know what they're going to do? They're going to get defensive. If you actually come to somebody, and you're trying to talk to them about a problem that they have, but you're also telling them about the two-by-four that you've seen in your own eye, either presently or in the past that God has helped you deal with, you know, as soon as you start talking that way to people, it's amazing how, right, they soften up. Do you know what else we're told? Is He going to restore a brother taken in sin? It says to do it with gentleness. Sometimes we think we're being some kind of these peacemakers, but we full well know the thing we're saying is provoking to other people. It is not the kind of thing that is done in a gentle way. I mean, a soft answer turns away wrath. There's just a reality in Scripture. And you know what it says there in Galatians 1? It says, you better be careful, because if you're not gentle, you may fall into the same temptation. What you need to recognize is God is very intimately involved in these things. And do you realize if you don't deal with gentleness, God who's watching may say, okay, if you're going to deal proudly like that, I'm just going to withhold the restraints, and I'm going to let you be tempted in a way that you fall flat on your face. Just be careful, brethren. Be careful. But here's the thing. If you go to a brother and they don't hear you, Scripture says to take two or three, including yourself, you take one or two others, and you go seek to resolve it. You know what you don't want to do? Don't take your closest friends. Don't take your closest allies. For one, if you've got other people in the church that have actually witnessed the same sin in the person, they're good people to take. But if you really want to take the people that are going to most help bring peace, bring the people in the church that you know to be peacemakers, not the people that are most given to fighting and quarreling and difficult to deal with, take peacemakers with you. Take people who are not afraid to find fault in you, even though you're trying to point out the sin in somebody else, they are the kind of moderators that will be faithful to everybody involved. And then you know what? If it doesn't work at that level, then you bring it before the whole church. And the whole church basically becomes the courtroom. And the whole church goes after the person and seeks to call the person to repentance. And if at that point it doesn't work, now these people are out. You treat them like a Jew would have treated a tax collector. They were not welcome in the synagogues. Or like they would have treated a Gentile. You don't want to stay away from them. You don't have them over to your house. You don't eat with them. That's what Scripture calls us to do. And that is the greatest way to bring peace, if you've got somebody that is just absolutely opposed to peace in the church. Now I know, again, I've probably overstepped my bounds in how long I've gone. But brethren, if we just close by this reality, why did Jesus come into the world? He came into this world to bring peace. Prince of peace. Peace between us. The peace of His cross. The peace that is bought by His blood. Listen, we don't pursue peace at all costs. We don't pursue peace at the cost of truth or doctrine. The foundations of our Christian faith. No way. But you know what? We pursue peace at great cost to ourselves. I mean, if you're going to pursue it, you're going to put a great effort into it. And I want you to know, that's what Christ did. He put great effort into procuring peace for us. That's why He came. God condescended in the person of the Son of God to bring this peace. And you know what? This is where peacemakers come from. He came to make us peacemakers. We're sons of God because we imitate Him. If God had simply stood on His rights, we'd be in hell. We'd be headed for a long damnation. If He just simply said, you know, they've wronged me. Don't they know who I am? I'm going to stand on my rights. That isn't... We have a God of peace. And if we're children, we're going to bear those same traits. God help us to be truly children of the God of peace. Father, I pray for that grace, for that help. Lord, undoubtedly, You have ordained that there are many battles ahead for us. You're going to test those of us that are genuine. You're going to test all of us as to what we're made of. And I just pray for the grace of God that we as a church would be given the strength, the wisdom, the grace, the mercy, the forgiveness to weather the storms. That grace to overlook sin when we should overlook it. That boldness and courage to deal with it when it needs to be dealt with, the sin, disunity. Help us to be strong, to put divisive people out of the church. Lord, we want this place to be a place in our meetings where the Spirit is not grieved, but where there is love and intimacy and closeness, where the Spirit is fully operating, moving among us. We don't want the Spirit to be quenched. Father, if there is anything here that is quenching to the Spirit of God, I pray You'd expose it. I pray that You'd fix it. I pray that You'd be a help to us, Father. In the name of the Lord Jesus, I pray, Amen. You're dismissed.