Pursuing Peace

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matt. 5:9)

Peacemaking. As a starting point for looking at this crucial topic we need to understand that God is the ultimate peacemaker and to answer the question, “How has God made peace?” Then, with that as our foundation, we can answer the questions, “What does it take to be a peacemaker?” and “What does a peacemaker do?” This week’s sermon, Pursuing Peace: Part 1, tackles the first question, seeking to uncover the peacemaking heart of God and what we learn from the cross about the nature of peacemaking.

Click to listen to Pursuing Peace: Part 1

Click to listen to last week’s message, Undivided Living from Matthew 5:8

Showing Mercy

As I ended my sermon yesterday, I shared this prayer that I have been praying a lot lately…

“God help me. I am so prone to think only of myself and to be unmerciful. Spirit of God help me to grow in my understanding of your gospel of grace and mercy, so that I am growing in my practice of mercy to those you put into my life. Make mercy my natural response when I see needs.”

Click to listen to the sermon, Showing Mercy from Matthew 5:7.

Cease and Desist

“Christianity is not about making yourself Christian. It is about ceasing and desisting from the futile and foul attempt to save yourself by your own record or merit or background. It is about repenting of your righteousness to embrace the righteousness of Christ—and it is about doing this every day.” (RW Glenn)

What Else Could You Want?

“On the cross, God emptied your account of sin, transferred it all to Jesus, and made Jesus pay what you owe him; and on the cross, God filled your account with Jesus’ comprehensively perfect righteousness, transferred it all to you, never to make you pay him back. How could you want anything else?” (RW Glenn)

Christians Need Continual Rescue

RW Glenn, in his helpful book, Crucifying Morality, offers this gem of a thought as he is writing about what it means to “hunger and thirst for righteousness“…

“You do not need Jesus simply as your example. You do not need Jesus merely as your helper. You need Jesus ultimately as your Savior. You do not need reformation. You need rescue. Christians need continual rescue.”

Dissatisfied with Substitutes?

“The more we are satisfied with God, the more we are dissatisfied with substitutes.” (Warren Wiersbe)

We Do Not Desire That Which We Do Not Love

“Hungerings after righteousness proceed from love. A man does not desire that which he does not love. If you did not love Christ, you could not hunger after him.” (Thomas Watson)

Made for God

“The hunger and the thirst of your life that cannot be satisfied by anything in this world is the constant beckoning of God to remember that you were made for another world, you were made for God.” (John Piper)

Am I Really Starving?

Commenting on the words of Jesus, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6) J.N. Darby said,

“To be hungry is not enough; I must really be starving to know what is in his heart towards me…When the prodigal son was hungry he went to feed upon husks, but when he was starving, he turned to his father.”

Finding the Place of Rest

“You made us for Yourself, and our heart is restless, until it rest in You.” (Augustine)