Materials
Conflict and Community in the 1st and 21st Century
Blessed Are The Peacemakers
Matthew 5-7
by Dale Pauls and R. Todd Bouldin
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Last week – Peace is at the heart of the Christian agenda.
B. Again the purpose of this class is to normalize conflict. Every church has conflict. Unmanaged or wrongly managed conflict is the biggest hindrance to growth.
C. Prayer
II. PEACE IN THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT
A. Matthew 5:1-2. Who is this sermon delivered to? Who is Matthew addressing?
B. Matthew 5:3-10. “Blessed are the peacemakers.” What does this Beatitude mean?
1. It means first that peace must be made – you have to focus, work at it, seek it, envision it, make it. Peace does not happen by passivity or acquiescence.
2. How do we become peacemakers? Each beatitude leads to the next, so we must have a passion for rightness, merciful, poor in spirit, meek, mourn, and be pure in heart.
3. The Beatitudes, and the Sermon, address the real issues that undermine peace. At the most basic level, alienation from God is the biggest barrier to realizing peace.
C. Matthew 5:23-24 The Offending Brother. Principle: Reconciliation is even more important than worship. (I John 4:20).
1. The offending one takes the initiative - the one who is the subject of the grievance of another. (v. 23)
2. Settle matters quickly before they fester.
D. God forgives us as we forgive each other. (6:12, 14-15). We extend to each other the same right to be wrong and make mistakes that we reserve for ourselves.
E. The Christian Difference: Be not angry with your brother (5:22).
1. Raca means empty-headed or “you fool.”
2. Subject to judgment for anger.
F. The Christian Difference: Love Your Enemies (5:47). What are you doing more than others do?
G. “Do not judge.” (7:1-5). I believe this means to suspend your need to judge and control people. The Greek word means “to express an opinion about, especially in an unfavorable sense.” Jesus is not telling us to just not hold an opinion about everything, to just let it be, to consign certain things to mystery, and accept. I believe Jesus is cautioning us against our knee jerk response to what we first see or hear without carefully evaluating the facts that make up the bigger picture. (Kabat-Zinn Quote)
III. BECOMING PEACEMAKERS
A. Key: TRUSTING GOD. Letting go of the need to control people and life. Most anger is not a matter of righteous indignation but rises out of a sense of fear or being threatened.
1.This means getting rid of our ultimatums to God: ultimatums, shoulds, oughts.
2. It means giving up the idea that others must treat me fairly and considerably and not frustrate me, or they are rotten people if they do.
B. Must learn to see in your brother the weak, needy and flawed person he is . . . complex, convoluted person … “fuzzy.” Every person is in as much need for grace as I am. Put people in their context.
C. Become disciples that embody the Beatitudes.
D. Holding your tongue vs. retaliation.
E. Not repeating hurtful or unkind things or calling names.
F. Attempting to see the other person’s point of view.
IV. THE PARADOX OF PEACE: TRUTH VS. PEACEMAKING
TRUTH PEACE
Conviction Modesty
Courage Humility
Clarity Tolerance
No compromise Refusal to browbeat, name call, pigeon hole
Resolving the paradox: Matthew 7:5 – See clearly. We all have blind spots. Acknowledge the truth you know, but always admit that the other person may know truth you don’t know. All of us have our blind spots, saw dust or planks. No one knows everything.
Passionate belief in: Trust, Grace, Free Will.
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