Peacekeepers are rare, but peacemakers are rarer still and receive the Lord’s blessing. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Mat 5:9).1 In Scripture, we find man blessing God and God blessing man, which helps us to determine its meaning. “Blessing” essentially means to approve. And there can be no higher blessing than to be approved by God.2
Since peace is part of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22), every Spirit-filled person (i.e., every Christian) is capable of being a peacemaker. Peacemaking is not a spiritual gift possessed by a few within a local church, but a spiritual quality of every believer in Christ. And whether we are a mediating party or the offending (or offended) party, we can all be peacemakers by following the principles of God’s Word when conflict arises.
It is true that we act as peacemakers to the world around us when we bring the gospel to unbelievers. We come “preaching peace by Jesus Christ” (Act 10:36 KJV). But we desperately need peacemakers within our local assemblies. “The ministry of reconciliation” (2Co 5:18) has been entrusted to us not only as a message to share but as a model to emulate. Why would people believe our message telling them how they can have peace with God when we don’t have peace among ourselves? But when we do, when we act as peacemakers, a great reward is ours: being “called sons of God.” Others will recognize the Father’s peacemaking character within us and know we are His children.
We should not miss the connection with our Lord’s previous beatitude: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mat 5:8). Before we can be peacemakers, we must be pure. Before others will see God in us, we must first see God ourselves and be changed by His righteous character and standards. “And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever” (Isa 32:17). “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable … a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (Jas 3:17-18).
Peacemaking is costly and painful work. It cost God the life of His own Son, who painfully endured the cross to make peace for us (Col 1:20). To achieve peace, I must endure the pain of apologizing to the person I injured, or the pain of confronting the person who injured me. If I serve as a mediator, there is the cost of time (perhaps many hours) which will be needed to bring about reconciliation. There might be pain as I listen to how believers have hurt each other. Peacemaking is always a painful process.
I once saw a shirt that read “Blessed are the pacemakers.” Inside the wearer of that shirt was a device keeping the heart beating at just the right rhythm that life might be preserved and flourish. More blessed still “are the peacemakers” among us, who work that the life of our assemblies might be preserved and flourish for the glory of God.
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the ESV unless otherwise noted.
2 D.A. Carson, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1987), 16.
