Sermon on the Mount

Brethren, do you want to be sure that your spiritual house is built on a firm foundation? That it's built on the rock? That it's built on our Savior Jesus Christ? Do you want to be sure that your spiritual house will not seriously waver and will certainly not fall no matter how difficult the times become? Well, then it only makes good sense to study the teachings of the rock, to study the very foundation of God's Church, the head of God's Church, the chief cornerstone, our Savior Jesus Christ. What did He say? And how should we live by every word that He says?

It only makes good sense to read and study the words and the teachings of Jesus Christ and learn to strive by every word that He says. So we're going to continue in our series of sermons on the Sermon on the Mount. We need to take to heart what Christ says. If we could live these three chapters in the Bible, we would be in very, very good shape.

So today we will continue. This is the third part of the series on the Sermon on the Mount. In part one, we saw why we ought to listen and to heed the words of Jesus Christ spoken on the Mount. We saw that Matthew chapter 1-4 established the credibility of Jesus Christ as the very Son of God. We saw many parallels between Jesus and Moses, who was greatly revered by the Jews.

Actually, Moses was a type of Jesus Christ. Moses said that there would be a prophet that would come that would be like Him. That was Jesus Christ. So there were many parallels. We went through quite a few of those in the first part. We saw that Jesus was indeed a son of David and of Abraham and that He was totally unique.

He was one of a kind. He performed great miracles of healing. He cast out demons wherever He went. Thousands thronged to Him. Jesus taught His disciples repeatedly during His three and a half year ministry. He taught them to live by His teaching and by His instructions. And of course, they carried on with what Christ taught them. Faithful servants of God. Actually, all of them laying their lives down for the truth, except John, who lived to be a ripe old age but was persecuted and had a difficult life.

He may have even been martyred. Not really sure about that. What an example they set for us as well. The Sermon on the Mount is a condensation of Christ's greatest and most fundamental teachings. It is an amazing compilation of vital instruction from Jesus Christ. In the sermon, He speaks of great blessings upon His followers in spite of the persecution that they will need to endure. He didn't say it was going to be easy for us, but He promised to never leave us and to never forsake us.

He speaks of the importance of the example His followers are to set in a dark, dark world. He upholds the law of God and magnifies it in the Sermon on the Mount. He shows the New Covenant application of the Spirit of God's law that goes well beyond the letter of the law. He upholds the sanctity of marriage – marriage between a man and a woman. He speaks about how we are to treat our fellow men, even our enemies.

He speaks of the importance of proper prayer and fasting, and how we ought to long for His coming Kingdom. He speaks of trusting in Him and His Father and not worrying about the difficulties of this age and this life. He speaks of our focus and our need to seek first the Kingdom of God. He speaks further of how to treat one another and of the importance of humbling oneself. He speaks of persistence and how to approach Him and how to approach His Father. He speaks of our need to be aware of false prophets and teachers and how to recognize them.

He tells us to build our house upon the rock, our spiritual house upon Him and upon His teachings. Most everything we really need to know He covers in the Sermon on the Mount. In a broad sense. Last time in Part 2, we learned that Webster's says that beatitude means a state of utmost bliss. So the beatitudes are not simple statements. They are indeed exclamations.

And that's how we should approach the beatitudes when we read them. As exclamations of what God is doing right now in our lives, as His disciples, and also His followers who are putting His teaching into action in our lives. They also speak of course of a future, greater fulfillment. A Christian may rejoice now in spite of his sufferings in this age. Mr. Sweatt gave a good sermon last Sabbath. I wasn't here, but I listened to it. And it was really good about how we need to have joy. Real joy because we love God and we praise Him and we worship Him. And we should be joyful Christians, filled with power and strength through God's Spirit.

That's the way we're to become. If we're not there yet, that's where we need to be one day. And we always need to be moving in that direction. God will give us strength.

He'll give us power to do His will to help and to serve one another and to be unified as Christ and the Father are unified. We must become one as they are one. So we should rejoice now in spite of the sufferings of this age because God is on our side. He is in our hearts and in our minds. And we do realize that God has promised to never leave us and to never forsake us.

No matter what, we can always count on that. We talked about the blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We saw that the Greek word used here means absolute abject poverty. One who has nothing at all. Very similar to the little children, the babies that we had up here, the infants that we blessed, that God will bless and look after. Christ is saying that the person who is poor in spirit is one who realizes his abject, absolute poverty apart from God.

This is the person who has learned to truly depend and rely upon God, who has great faith in God, but also understands his own spiritual weakness apart from God. This is the person who also realizes that there is great strength in the power of his spirit dwelling in a child of God. Blessed is the man who realizes his own utter weakness and helplessness apart from God. Even physically, our health could be taken away in an instant. Blessed is the man who looks to God at all times and in every way. Blessed is the man who is poor in spirit and relies completely upon God's strength and power in him to sustain him at all times, for he shall enter into God's eternal kingdom.

We talked about, blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Those who mourn will be comforted. Of course, we need to be patient. We need to be faithful.

We need to wait on God. We need to know that he will comfort us and restore us, even in the midst of great trials. Some trials are so severe, so difficult. It takes while. It takes time. It doesn't come easy. But it will come if we trust in God, if we place our faith in Him, and we realize that He loves us no matter what. No matter what He allows, we can learn from whatever God allows. We can be stronger because of what God allows in our lives. When we see clearly the suffering of this world, we should sigh and cry, and we should mourn for the suffering of this age. We should long for a better time to come. The Feast of Tabernacles is a foretaste of what's coming. Just a tiny, tiny, tiny little foretaste. It's going to be unbelievably amazing in God's kingdom. So we have that foretaste, and we should cry, out to God, thy kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So, brethren, we're greatly blessed when we mourn our own sins, when we see and admit our sins and repent of them, and we will be blessed to be with you.

We're greatly blessed when we mourn for this world and its tremendous suffering, as we long for a much better day to come in God's kingdom. We also talked about, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. We talked quite a bit about what that means. Those who are truly meek will prosper on this earth because they're humble, and as a result, they're very strong. They're strong spiritually. They know that God is on their side, and they know that with God on their side, that's all that really matters. Nothing can really hurt them. If they have the proper reverence and fear of God, nothing else really matters. We do not need to fear this world and the ways of this world. We don't need to fear Satan. We do need to have faith in God and trust Him. The meek shall inherit the earth. Now let's go on to a new verse, chapter 5, verse 6. Matthew 5, verse 6. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. In other words, those who truly hunger and thirst for righteousness will achieve their goal. They will be filled.

They will become righteous in due time, and are even now moving in that direction and are reaping the blessings of righteousness. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. So what are some of the blessings of righteousness?

There are many, many blessings of righteousness. Certainly, peace of mind is one of the greatest blessings of righteousness. In general, the righteous person has much greater peace than the one who is continuing in his sins and is not repenting of his sins, who may be blinded totally and completely, or maybe just partially blinded, but continuing in his sins. Of course, I'm speaking primarily of an inner peace. But an overall peace is also a great benefit of righteousness. A righteous person reaps what they have sown. That's a law. It's axiomatic.

One who keeps God's commandments is greatly blessed now in this life. There are many, many ways to be blessed. And there are indeed grave consequences for committing sin, for committing adultery, idolatry, breaking the Sabbath, dishonoring one's parents, committing murder, committing theft, lying to one another, coveting what belongs to someone else. Sometimes, the consequences of sin are not quickly realized. Often times, that's the case. But be sure your sin will find you out to some degree. In one way or another, and eventually, if we don't repent of our sins, the wages of sin is death, eternal death. On the other hand, the one who truly hungers and thirst for righteousness will be repentant. His sins will be forgiven. God looks on our heart. If He sees a repentant heart and mind, He is quick to forgive. God is a loving and a merciful God. Hunger and thirst are two of the most prevalent and prominent drives in every person. Self-preservation is powerful. Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? If so, again, trust that you shall be filled, that you will make progress, that you will overcome, that God will give you strength and power to overcome. One who is starving for food becomes ravenous at one point. So much so, they have to be careful that they don't eat too much right away. The same is true of one who is thirsty. If one is deprived of water for a long time, the tendency is to drink too much. Another interesting analogy is that it is helpful in the spiritual realm. One who is hungry for food or thirsty for water will seek to fulfill that need. It will become their number one priority in life. To stay alive, to find something to eat, to find something to drink, they will become truly driven to find food and to find water. In fact, the number one priority in life for most people is self-preservation. So we should truly hunger and thirst for righteousness as much as we do for food and for water. Think about that. Could any of us do better than perhaps we are? Do we allow this world to choke out the most important things in our life? Do we hunger and thirst? Are we zealous for God's truth and way of life to the degree that we need to be to really make positive changes in our life? So those who are hungry and thirst for righteousness, they're going to seek to be filled right now. It's going to drive them. They're going to be zealous to study God's Word, to read the Bible. They're going to be zealous to pray for one another, to pray for God's help and strength, and to pray for others who are in need, who desperately need our prayers. They're going to be motivated to fast because they know that fasting is a powerful tool. It is a power tool, in that sense, if we want to grow and overcome spiritually. They'll have a burning desire to do the right thing, to please God, to make things right. Look, we all blow it at times, don't we? Sometimes our temper flares up. Sometimes we say things. We ought not say. We do things we shouldn't do. But are we man and woman enough to say that we're sorry and to truly repent and to go to the person and let them know that they blew it?

Forgive me. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have behaved that way. I shouldn't have acted that way. There's tremendous healing that comes with that sort of approach, with that humble approach, with a willingness to admit that you're not perfect. None of us are perfect.

You've heard the expression, we are what we eat. In other words, what we eat will affect who we are. In other words, what we eat will affect who we are. It will affect our overall general health. If we eat nothing but junk food, eventually we will become very ill. If that's all we're eating, eventually we're going to become very ill. It will literally kill us. There's been movies about that. I forget some of the names of the movies or documentaries they made, where people eat nothing but McDonald's hamburgers and french fries for months. Finally, it catches up with them.

Eventually, I don't know, maybe you could eat french fries and hamburgers and live to a ripe old age. I don't think I'll try it. I think you need a more balanced diet.

We need to be balanced in our approach toward God's truth and His way of life. I talked about godly balance, what that is and what that looks like. We should all strive to become godly balanced in our lives. Hungering and thirsting is something we should do. That is balance. To really be zealous and on fire for God's truth and God's way of life. That is godly balance, because there's nothing better. We should worship God and praise God and learn to love Him and dedicate and devote our entire lives to Him and His way of life. We will be much happier for it and more joyful for it. Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. We are to put on the mind of Jesus Christ. Remember what Christ told Satan during His time of great temptation by Satan after He fasted 40 days and 40 nights? Christ said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. That's why we come here on the Sabbath. It is a commanded assembly. We're told to be here. But we also come here to be taught to write God's laws in our hearts and minds. This is a wonderful place to be on the Sabbath. We can grow spiritually if our minds are right. If we have the mind of Christ, we can really learn on the Sabbath day. Not just here, but at home, in our own personal Bible study, our own prayer. Not to say that the Sabbath is the only day for that. It certainly isn't. But we all know we live hectic lives. Many of us work full-time, and we don't have as much time, perhaps, as we would on the Sabbath. So we really need to use the Sabbath properly to draw near to God, to draw close to Him. And again, to have a proper balance. Fellowship is wonderful on God's Sabbath day. Fellowshipping, praying, studying the Word of God, listening to sermons, preparing sermons... These are all wonderful ways to utilize God's Sabbath day.

We are to live by every word of God. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. For they are going to be filled. If we are praying people, if we are people who study the Word of God daily, continually, if we are people who fast regularly, then we are going to be filled with righteousness. We are going to become like God. We are going to become like Christ as we put on His mind. So those who hunger and thirst will be filled now. They will be greatly blessed for their diligence in seeking spiritual knowledge, spiritual wisdom, spiritual understanding, and then applying it, being righteous in their conduct, being repentant, being humble. They are going to be filled in God's Kingdom as well, for they will be born into the family of God. And there, they will be clothed in righteousness, unable to sin, having no desire to sin, becoming as God is, truly members of His family forever.

So blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Verse 7, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

They shall obtain mercy. Well, brethren, it pays to be merciful. Of course, that should not be our motivation to get something. That's not what this is all about.

But we should understand that it will pay wonderful dividends if we learn to be merciful. For we shall be treated by God in the same manner that we treat others. We will be treated by God in the same manner that we treat others. We are in a state of bliss when we are truly merciful to each other. When we are able to forgive, there is a great burden that is lifted from us. If we are holding resentment toward someone or bitterness toward someone, if we are not able to forgive, there is a great burden that we are carrying. Be good to yourself. Lighten the burden. Go to whoever it might be you have offended in any way and make things right. Set things right. To be unmerciful is to be hardened and to be cold. To be unmerciful is to be hard and to be cold. To be merciful is to be loving and to be warm. That doesn't mean you can't do some very difficult things and hard things while you are being merciful. Think of what God is going to do when He returns to this earth. What is Christ going to do? He is going to put down rebellion with tremendous force.

With tremendous force. That is merciful, however. That is a way of a God of mercy.

God knows what to do. He knows how to make things happen. He knows what has to be done to fulfill His plan and to bring about sons and daughters in His kingdom.

So those who learn rebellion will be met with tremendous force when Christ returns.

So being merciful does mean to be loving and warm. Christ can be loving and warm while He wreaks havoc on a rebellious people. It is an aspect of mercy. Being merciful does not mean being foolish. It does not mean allowing others to take advantage without some consequence. Mercy is extended to those who show mercy. So if a person is not being merciful in his actions, perhaps he should not be met with mercy. Again, it depends on what your definition is of mercy. Whatever is the right thing to do is merciful. Whatever helps the person, that's merciful. Whatever we need to do to set things right and to help a person, that's what needs to be done.

What did Christ teach in regard to the unforgiving servant? You remember the servant who was unforgiving? In Matthew 18, the master forgave the servant's great debt. Remember that? There's a servant who had a tremendous debt. The servant came to God and begged. He begged God to forgive him that debt.

So God had...the king it was, Matthew 18. The king had great compassion on him. Or the master, I guess it was the master. He forgave him. He forgave the debt. But when he found out that the same servant treated another person in an merciful, unforgiving way... In fact, let's go to Matthew 18. Let's go ahead and look at that example here to make sure we get the impact of what Christ was saying. Matthew 18.

Peter is coming to the Lord. He says, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, I don't say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servant. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold with his wife and children and all that he had. And that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him saying, Master, have patience with me and I will pay you all. Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion. He released him and forgave him the debt. It was a tremendous debt. He would have never been able to pay it back anyway. According to what I've heard and read. But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, a very small amount of money. And this man laid hands on the man who owed him money. And he took him by the throat and he said, Pay me what you owe. So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, Have patience with me and I will pay you all. He said the same exact thing that that man had said to the king. But he would not, verse 30, the man would not forgive him as the king had done. But he went out and threw him into prison until he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servant saw what had been done, they were very grieved and they came and they told their master all that he had done. And his master, after he had called him, said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. You came to me and begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you. His master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So my heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses. So we have to find forgiveness in our hearts. And blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. There's a great lesson in this, isn't there, that God will treat us in the same manner that we treat others. So let's treat each other well. Blessed are those who are merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. There's much more that could be said about this subject. Sometime I'll give a whole sermon about it. Let's go on to verse 8. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Brethren, we must be pure in heart if we are to be in God's kingdom. If we're going to see God, no one has seen the Father, right? The Son has revealed the Father to us. We will be able to see the Father. We will be able to see God ultimately in His kingdom. If we learn to become pure in heart, remember, nothing that offends will be allowed in God's kingdom. Nothing that offends. The Greek word for purer is the word katharos.

It's K-A-T-H-A-R-O-S. It means blessed is the man whose motives are always entirely unmixed, for that man shall see God. It's a person who has truly pure motives. Now, that's difficult for a human being. Very, very difficult. I find that very, very difficult. When I look at my motives, even though I'm striving to do the right thing for the right reasons, oftentimes I find vanity and pride. I find that vanity and pride color my thinking to a point. Vanity and pride tends to color all of our thinking to a point. We must always be on guard for vanity, for pride, for selfishness, and for self-exaltation. We should be able to admit that it is very difficult to be absolutely pure in all your motives. That is to become God, to be absolutely pure, totally, at all times, in all of our motives, in all of our ways. That is to be changed into a spirit being, to be completely pure.

We should ask ourselves, why do we do what we do? Why do we do good deeds? Do we do them to be seen of others and to be thought well of? Is that ever your motive for volunteering? Why don't you volunteer more? Perhaps you could do more. I'm often told that we don't have enough volunteers. I'm often told that. That hurts me. Why is that? Why don't we just overwhelm everyone and make them turn us away? Oh, we've got plenty of people. Why do we have to get up here and ask continually about getting more volunteers? Perhaps we could do better as a congregation. I'm not pointing any fingers at anyone individually. I'm just pointing at all of us. Let's do better so that no one will ever come to me again and say, I can't get enough volunteers. Our congregation is big enough. We should have enough volunteers. So if everyone will volunteer at least some of the time to help out, don't assume that you're not needed. Volunteer. Examine your motives.

Do we do good deeds because we want God to think well of us? Well, of course we want God to think well of us. But do we also do it because we really want to help people who are already volunteering? When you have someone that heads up a project, they take on responsibility.

That's not always an easy thing. It's difficult to head up a project. They need your help, perhaps. I know the sound crew appreciates volunteers. They appreciate help because before church, if you weren't up here, there was a lot going on to make things happen. When you come to the Embassy Suites, it's a whole new ballgame. It's not the JCC. They kind of got a handle on that. But it's different. It's more work. So maybe talk to someone, volunteer. Be of some help. Examine your motives.

Do we do things completely out of the motive of serving and helping others with absolutely no thought or consideration of ourself?

Yes, it is a sacrifice. Christ laid his life down for you. He gave his life, and he was perfect. Maybe you could do more. Maybe. You answer that question. John Bunyan. You guys know John Bunyan, right? I'm not talking about Paul Bunyan. You remember the blue ox? That's Paul Bunyan. This is John Bunyan. John Bunyan was a preacher in the early 1700s in England. Upon being complimented for a sermon that he had just given, someone complimented him and told him it was a great sermon, he replied, The devil already told me that as I was coming down the pulpit steps.

The devil told me that.

Satan does try to get to leaders.

Anytime we do something good, Satan will tell you it was a great job. How do you respond? Thank you, Satan.

It's not to say that you shouldn't appreciate a sermon, because men like myself, we appreciate hearing something now and then, to know that we're on the right track, that maybe we're not totally boring and totally useless. Sometimes you want to be a person, because sometimes you wonder. If you haven't heard anything in several years, then you tend to wonder, is it like, what am I doing up here? Now that's not the case. I do have some compliments. I'm not fishing for compliments. My motives are pure.

I've examined them. I really think they're mostly pure when it comes to this. We should find balance in this. Once in a while, it wouldn't hurt you to say, good job. Once in a while, it wouldn't hurt you to say, I really appreciated that. That meant something to me. That was important to me.

Let's get real with each other. Can we do that more, maybe, than we have in the past? Maybe become a little more open, and sharing with one another, and encouraging one another. There's nothing wrong with encouragement. Again, there's a balance here. I hope you realize that's what I'm striving for, is godly balance in all these things.

But I have to be careful with myself sometimes. In fact, I've told Barbara on a number of occasions, speaking about myself, I've said, it's rather amazing that one so mediocre could think so highly of himself.

Have you ever thought that about yourself? I'm a mediocre guy. I'm an average guy for the most part, pretty special in some ways. We're all special in a lot of ways. God loves each and every one of us. God gets the credit. Sure, I'm a great guy. Am I not?

God gets the credit. You're a great person. I love you. And I mean that. Every single one of you, I can look you all in the eye, I love each and every one of you.

I look at you as children of God.

You are my brothers and sisters in Christ. I love each and every one of you.

And, you know, it's good to tell people that you care for them, that you love them, that they're important to you. There's nothing shameful in that.

That doesn't make me less of a person. It doesn't make me a weak person.

Sometimes we men, you know, we need to be a little more vulnerable. We need to tell our wives how much we care for them, how much we love them, how much they mean to us.

You know, in the past, especially, it wasn't macho. To say things like that. God is our example. Christ is our example. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.

So let's be a little more encouraging to one another in the future. Let's examine our motives. Let's do it for the right reasons.

To examine one's motives may be painful. I realize that. It could be very painful. As seldom do we do anything out of completely pure and unmixed motives. Catharos. Pure and unmixed. That is the human condition in large part.

Jesus said that the pure in heart would see God. We only see what we are able to see at any given moment in our lives. We are often in the dark. We don't see clearly. Scripture says we see through a glass darkly. Oftentimes we are deceived. We are deceived to one degree or another. Sometimes we are so sure that we are right about something. Only to learn that we were dead wrong.

Reminds me of a time I was driving through Kellyville, Oklahoma. Where I lived for 19 years. Drove through there many, many, many, many times. This was after years of having driven through there. Well, I looked in my rearview mirror and... Okay. I was stunned. Because I thought I was going within the speed limit. In fact, I knew where these speed limit signs were. And I was 100% convinced that I wasn't speeding. Well, the officer pulled me over, and in my haughtiness...

I could tell that his whole demeanor changed quickly. I think he would have let me off if I would have taken the humble approach. But I was so sure that I was right. I was so convinced. Because I knew where those speed limit signs... There's a 45 and a 55. Well, the fact of the matter was, there were three signs. Not two. And I was wrong, and I was speeding in the 45 zone. I don't remember all the details, but all I know is I was convinced I was right, and I was going to fight this tooth and nail. I'm going to go and fight this speeding ticket. I turned around after he left, went back, and realized there's three signs. I think subconsciously I knew there must have been. I knew something wasn't right. After I spoke up and acted like an idiot, I thought, wait a minute, maybe I was wrong. I went and checked it out. I was wrong. I went and paid the fine. Sometimes we can think we're absolutely dead on, correct. I was convinced that I was wrong. When you look up in the night sky at night, you'll only see a fraction of stars that are present. You look up there, you'll only see a few stars. Even if you see a ton of stars, you'll only really see a few, because there's many, many more out there. If you were an astronomer, you would be able to look at the stars. You would be able to call some of them by name. You would be able to look at the constellations, point them out. You would be able to look at the planets, perhaps, if they were visible. The average person wouldn't be able to see that, but an astronomer would be able to see it. A trained botanist will look at the stars. A trained botanist will look at a garden. He'll look at a prairie or woods much differently than the average person, someone who really knows plants, and knows certain proclivities of the tundra, perhaps, or whatever. He'll see things completely differently than someone who is not well skilled. An engineer will see things much differently than the average person. Some of you who are engineers, when you look at a project, you'll see it so much differently than I would, because you know much more than I do about that subject.

Well, the point I'm trying to make is, sometimes we don't know our own hearts and minds as well as we think we do. We're not experts.

Becoming pure in heart is a life-long quest. The more purely we see things, the better we see God for who He is. So, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Let us examine ourselves continually that we might see God. Let's look at our motives.

In verse 9, it says, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. God is for peace. We should all be for peace.

In Greek, the word for peace is irinei, or e-i-r-e-n-e, and in Hebrew it is shalom. You've heard that. In Hebrew, this word is never in only a negative state. It never means only the absence of trouble. It means an active pursuing of peace, a real desire that there is peace for all people involved. The blessing is on the peacemakers, not the peace lovers. We all love peace. We say we do. But are we peacemakers? Will we do what we should do to actively make peace? Will we seek peace? Will we pursue it earnestly? With all whom we come in contact. Of course, we ought not compromise and encourage bad behavior to make peace. That's not what I'm saying. We ought not embolden someone to do wrong, or in any way reinforce their tendency to do wrong, because we're not willing to get involved. Yeah, it's peaceful, maybe if you don't say anything. But maybe you need to say something. Maybe there's a time when you need to say something, and if you can humbly say it, then there's no wrong in that. If you can humbly say it, perhaps it could benefit the other person. So we have to weigh these things carefully, don't we? But we should strive to make peace. If someone's running roughshod over people, there's no peace in that.

Running roughshod over people will never bring peace. So hopefully that person who's guilty will learn to stop doing that. Stop behaving that way. Sometimes a simple statement of fact is best and sufficient. When a person is not willing to admit their wrongdoing, to press the issue typically only makes things worse. For example, if I'm being difficult and I'm not willing to admit that I'm wrong and my wife keeps pushing at me, that might not be helpful. That may not be what I need at that particular moment. Maybe I need just a simple statement. Honey, I love you, but listen, you're wrong. Goodbye. Whatever it is, try to figure it out. What's really going to help the person?

Sometimes in life, especially in marriage, you have to pick your battles carefully. Pick your battles carefully, but sometimes you have to do battle. Because only peace will come once the battle is done. Once it's over.

Be a peacemaker. Figure out what that means. The beatitude is not saying that one should passively accept the situation simply because it would be difficult to face the real issues that may be hurting someone. We should actively face our trials and problems with the hope and the goal and the desire of making things better for everyone.

Sometimes, again, we have to just say nothing and be patient because sometimes wounds have to heal. Things have to heal more before you can engage. So you have to know when to speak up and when not to. In 1 Peter 3, verses 8-12, we'll wrap this up in a moment. 1 Peter 3, 8, 8. Finally, all of you, be of one mind. He's summing things up. These are important words. Finally, all of you, be of one mind, having compassion for one another. Love as brothers and be tender-hearted, be courteous, not returning evil for evil or reviling, but on the contrary, blessing. Knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. For he who would love life and seek good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good. Let him seek peace and pursue it. Seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Eternal are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the face of the Eternal is against those who do evil. And we should be against those who do evil. We should be. Now, again, a right balance. Peace is one of the fruits of God's Holy Spirit, and we are to be producing it abundantly in our lives. That's a fruit of God's Spirit. God is a God of peace. You can look it up in the Scriptures. Several times in the Scriptures it speaks of God as a God of peace. We're to be like our Father in this way, children or sons of God who are men and women of peace. Making peace with oneself is also important to consider. We need to make peace with ourselves. Paul said he learned to be content in whatever state of being he found himself in. Whatever it was, no matter how difficult, he learned to find peace and contentment.

Primarily, this beatitude is talking about our relationship with other human beings. Of course, with God as well. Our goal should be to seek a right, godly relationship with all people as best we can at this point and juncture in our lives. Do what you can do now. You can't do something that you should have done years ago, but you can do something now that you should be doing now. The person who unites and brings people together is doing a God-like work. We are the United Church of God. Recently, I wanted to mention this in the announcements. I didn't write it down, so I didn't do it. I visited with Rafael and Silvio Menendez last night. They wanted to thank all of you for your prayers for them. Rafael has been doing miraculously well. His blood count has gone way, way down. He just finished his sixth treatment, which is the end of phase one. Things are looking good for him. He's got a couple of weeks where he doesn't do anything. Or a couple of months, I think. Then they check him to see what the blood count is doing at that point. He and his wife Silvio would appreciate your prayers, fervent prayers, for the next couple of months. Let's not forget them. Let's pray for them daily. Let's try to make it a goal, a priority in our life, to pray for Rafael, to pray for Silvio.

It means a lot to them. Your prayers mean a lot. The cards that they got, they mentioned that the Lawton congregation had sent a card to them and how special that was to get a card from people they didn't know. And it makes a difference. I just wanted to be sure and mention that, but it does make a difference how we treat one another. Outgoing concern is important. Loving each other is very, very important. Primarily, this beatitude we're talking about now of making peace is, don't be a troublemaker. Don't make trouble, make peace. Learn to make peace. Sometimes you might have to make some trouble if it's the only way that we'll get the needed results that are right and godly and good. I've had to make trouble. I've told you about my drainage issues. I made trouble for that. I'll admit it. I think I did, for the most part, what I needed to do. So the person who unites and brings people together is doing a godlike work. Hopefully we can all be buddies someday. I hold no ill will against anyone. So blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Well, that brings us to the conclusion of this sermon today. Next time we'll start out with, well, we'll probably have a summary, like I normally do, but then we'll start out with blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. Because theirs is the kingdom of heaven. We'll talk more about what that means, and we'll continue on in this series. So if you want to build your spiritual house on the rock, take heed. Listen to what Christ says in the Sermon on the Mount. You've heard the words, now go out and do them.