Encouragement

The Need for a Peacemaker: By Henry Jaegers

by Henry Jaegers 
08/25/20
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 The Need for a Peacemaker:
By Henry Jaegers

First, because this beatitude is an essential part of the others, it reminds us that being a “peacemaker” is not some optional thing required for only a select few. Imagine what our world would be like if everyone was a peacemaker? Then again, what if all Christians were “peacemakers”? Because we see so few of them in action, it is easy to conclude that only certain Christians are called to be peacemakers. If we took the rest of the Beatitudes that way, then we might come to the same conclusion about the rest of them. Our verse states very specifically, "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. So, the peacemakers are active Christians in the world turned upside down due to selfishness and ignorance of God. Being a peacemaker is an essential quality of the Christian, especially as he lives in the world which is crying out for peace and cannot find it through the means they had tried to achieve this peace. Let me explain it this way:

First of all, our God is called throughout the Scripture "the God of peace. Next, we see that Jesus is the Prince of peace. Finally, we see the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who is the arbitrator of peace. By this we mean that through our various struggles and failures, the Holy Spirit is still at work causing us to experience the presence of God in our life, thus not only having peace with God ourselves but enabling us to bring peace to the rest of the world.

Then we must conclude, that men who live under the power of darkness and who are controlled by the god of this world, can only find the peace that is superficial and artificial and temporary at best. You see, the problem with men is that they are men. Formulated and controlled by the old man who lives only to please himself. The problem with peaceful protesters is not that they are seeking peace, but they are demanding something that they think that they have a right to. They think it is the government or society's duty to fulfill the needs of their empty heart. They turn to places like the League of Nations, the United Nations, and all of these social organizations, who help them formulate large groups of people to force society to give them what they think they deserve and what is owed to them.

This is a problem we have in the world in which we live. The god of this world causes men to think that true peace can only take place when their desire for happiness is fulfilled. Christians belong to a different world. We are children of the kingdom of God and as children of God we are to be “peacemakers”. When Jesus said, "ye are the light of the world, and ye are the salt of the earth", he was not speaking of a future time. He is telling us that where he has placed us, no matter what the situation is, that is what we are to be. He has purposed it to be so and we must recognize it as both our privilege and responsibility to the world around us.

But too often we are tempted by the world to seek peace in the same manner that they do. Instead of being violent protesters, we formulate what we think are called peaceful protesters. That merely means that we are not subverting our souls to violent procedures but we are still making demands upon our world forwhich we think it owes to us. Society and the government cannot give to us this happiness that we demand. That describes the society in which we live today and has always been around even during the times when Moses led the children of Israel through the wilderness after leaving Egypt.

As for the problems in the world, does God have a solution to their quest for peace? Does the God of peace, the Prince of Peace, and Arbitrator of peace have anything to offer to help them to find what is needful? If nen rejects the only solution to man’s quest for peace, they have trodden under foot the blood of the son of God and made his sacrifice of no value. To them His death meant nothing and they are willing to take the risk of pursuing their empty quest for meaning and purpose.

But there is good news, and the peacemaker has a message that will bring true peace to their souls. For a man to find peace, God offers us forgiveness for all of our past and present sins. We are told in Psalm 103, that God has forgiven, forgotten, removed, and placed as far as the east is from the west, all of our sins. Since God remembers them no more than we do not need to rim remember them either. When Jesus cried on the cross "it is finished, it involves several things, but the most important of all is that through the sinless blood of Jesus, God has made it possible for a man to receive complete pardon for all of his since. P. We are told elsewhere, God has removed the wall of separation that kept us from God and is now made it possible through the blood of Jesus to have that wall of separation removed. But that's only the first part. You may ask what about the rest of my life? Is it possible that I might sin again? Once our sins have been forgiven, it's like the teacher wiping the blackboard clean and washing it afterward. God has given us a new slate, so to speak, and the opportunity for this new life begins. That is what we mean by the term "being born again". It's starting all over with a clean slate.

But God has taken care of that possibility. Not only has he removed our sins, at the same time he places within us his Holy Spirit that gives us the power to say no to temptation and live a life of true happiness that brings glory to God. That is good news that the peacemaker has four worlds who were crying out for a piece that the world cannot give. The world that the peacemaker lives in, is his privilege and responsibility to bring true blessing and happiness to others.

Do we understand fully our privilege and responsibilities as followers of Jesus to be light, sat, and peacemakers in this world so far from the kingdom of God. It is the quality of the Beatitudes outflowing from our lives that makes being a peacemaker possible.

The world needs to see it and understand it and embrace it, but we must first demonstrate to them the possibility because the need of the world is great and they must see and believe it as it is demonstrated by the crucified life of the Christian.