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OBEY PEACE (7 OF 8)

by Steve Jones

Scripture: Matthew 5
This content is part of a series.


Obey Peace (7 of 8)
Series: Obeying the Beatitudes
Steve Jones
Matthew 5


INTRODUCTION: Place a picture of an 1873 Colt 45 pistol on the screen. Does anyone know what that is? It's nickname is ''The Peacemaker.'' In the Old West it was said that God made men, but Sam Colt made them equal. So when Jesus said, ''Blessed are the peacemakers'' is this what he meant? I seriously doubt it.

We're in a sermon series entitled ''Obeying the Beatitudes'' wherein we're considering the commands of Jesus that are found in those enigmatic statements.
Matthew 5:9 ''Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.''

The implied command is to be a peacemaker. That seems pretty straightforward. A peacemaker is someone who strives to make peace. Now we can have communion and go home. Not so fast. Let's head on over to the church at Philippi and look at an actual situation, IN AN ACTUAL CHURCH, that illustrates the reality of this blessing.

I. THE REALITY OF PEACE-BREAKERS
Philippians 4:2 ''I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other''

Can't we all just get along? What was the problem between these two women? We're not actually told. Maybe they were just grumpy because they each had been given such burdensome names. How many ''Euodias'' and ''Syntyches'' do we have here this morning? Let me suggest some of the common reasons for conflict in the church.

One reason Christians don't always get along is sin. When someone in the church is living in open rebellion to God's Word then that causes problems. The New Testament records an example of this in the Corinthian Church. In that case, a man was living in sexual immorality with a woman, meaning they weren't married. Not only that but it was the man's own stepmother to boot. And yet, they were ''members'' of the Corinthian church. Paul told the church to take a stand against that sin and expel them from the church until they repented (I Corinthians 5). That action ...

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