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Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons

of God (Matthew 5:9)
One important fact about this Beatitude is that the Beatitude does not hold
out a blessing to the peaceful or peace-lovers, nor to those who yearn for
peace but to the peacemakers. People who make it happen, making peace a
reality on this earth.
A man may know that there is something wrong in a situation, in his family
or some group of which he is a member. He may know that something
ought to be done to rectify the situation; but he may also know that any step
taken to mend the situation may well involve difficulty and trouble and
problems which is not pleasant to face.
In such a situation, a man may well decide to do and say nothing for his own
peaces sake. Such a man may be called a peaceable man and a peace-lover
but he is certainly not a peacemaker.
The man who is blessed is the man who is prepared to face difficulty,
unpleasantness, unpopularity, trouble in order to make peace. It is the peace
which comes not from evading the issue but from confronting the issue.
The greatest peacemaker of course is Jesus the Prince of Peace. He makes
peace between God and man by removing sin which was the ground of
alienation. He makes peace between God and man by removing sin and
bringing men into a right relationship with God.
The Christians role as a peacemaker extends not only to spreading the
Gospel but to lessening tensions, seeking solutions, ensuring that
communication is understood.
He will not be guilty of generating more heat than light, he will learn to
lower his voice and smile more broadly in proportion to the intensity of the
argument.
Peacemakers will be called sons of God and not children of God as in the
King James Version. The difference is significant because in Jewish
thoughts, son often bears the meaning partaker of the character of. Thus
when John and James were called the sons of thunder it meant that they
Simon Siew
Southeast Asia Union Mission

were impulsive, headstrong and quick tempered. To be a son of God is to be

God-like.
No man is more nearly close to God than the man whose life is spent
bringing peace among men and no mans happiness is greater.
The peacemakers reward then is that he will be called a son of God because
he reflects his heavenly Fathers wonderful peacemaking character. For
example, when Christians enter into a meeting where there is a heated
debate, the Christian will keep calm, respectfully listening to the viewpoints
with fairness and courtesy and spreads oil on the troubled waters.
The Greek word for peace is eirene which translates the Hebrew word
shalom. Shalom has 2 meanings. It describes perfect welfare, serenity,
prosperity and happiness. The eastern greeting salaam wishes a man not
just freedom from trouble but everything which makes for his contentment
and good.
Secondly, shalom describes right personal relationships; it describes
intimacy, fellowship, uninterrupted goodwill between man and man.
In every mans life, there are 3 relationships:
a.
There is a mans relationship to himself, and blessed indeed is the man
who has succeeded in coming to a right relationship with himself. It
is a fact of experience that every man is at least to some extent a split
personality. Romans 7:19 describes this, The good that I would, I do
not but the evil which I would not, I do.
Such a man knows that he is a mixture and there is clearly neither happiness
or security in a life like that. There is a continuous tension, continuous inner
debate. A man is a walking civil war and stands in need of integration.
Blessed indeed is he whose inner battle has been stilled in the control of
Christ.
b.
There is a mans relationship with his fellow-men. Blessed is he who
produces right relationship between man and man. We live in a divided
world. There are all sorts of divisions in politics, race, religions and nation.

Simon Siew
Southeast Asia Union Mission

There seems to be in the human mind an ineradicable suspicion of the

stranger, so the suspicion of nation against nation continues. Such a world is
neither happy or safe.
The ideal of God for human society is a spiritual condition in which
jealousy, rivalry and hostility have disappeared and a universal harmony
prevails. In no other power can this unity be found than in the power of
Jesus.
b.

Man has a third relationship and that is with God but his relationship
with God is usually one of fear and alienation due to sin (Genesis 3:8).
But again through Christ, God and sinners are reconciled.

The Greek word eirene occurs 88 times in the New Testament. Paul
begins every one of his letter with the prayer that grace and pace may be on
the people to whom he writes. When Jesus was leaving his disciples, he said
to them: Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you (John 14:27)

Simon Siew
Southeast Asia Union Mission