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Continuing with the Teaching on the Mount with Jesus instructing the Disciples, and of course by extension all who claim the name Christian today.

Mathew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. In the King James Version the word sons is translated as children and rightly so, for all who are of the faith and work for peace are children of God. Chrysostom, who was Bishop of Constantinople and lived from 349 to 407 AD had this to say about Mathew 5:9: “The Blessings of Peace. Chrysostom: Here he not only responds that they should not feud and become hateful to one another, but he is also looking for something else and something more, that we bring together others who are feuding. And again he promises a spiritual reward. What kind of reward is it? “That they themselves shall be called sons of God.” For in fact this was the crucial work of the Only Begotten: to bring together things divided and to reconcile the alienated.” I have to agree with this word of truth. God sent His Son Jesus into the world that the world might be reconciled to God. It was the death of the perfect man, who was also God, to bring the possibility of reconciliation of the creature (man) with the creator (God). Thus when this reconciliation is completed, through our repentance and acceptance of the Lordship of Christ that we also receive peace in our innermost being. As the Spirit works within our lives to bring us closer to God, we also find a peace in our lives that has no comparison with any man-made peace. It is indeed the peace of God that passes all understanding.

In the gospel of John verse 14:27 Jesus says this to His disciples: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” As He was preparing to leave this earth and return to His place in Heaven Jesus wanted the disciples to receive that which only He could give them. This gift is still available today to all who will accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. I hear many politicians talking about peace, but we seem to have nothing but war on every side, even amongst those same politicians. The only peace, the only true peace comes when we realize that God is in charge, and although things may be going awry, God is still in charge and will be with us and help us to come through the tough times we face, His peace is that which is truly beyond understanding.

This next one is troubling to many today Mathew 5:10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” We of course live in a nation where we are free to worship as we please, yet, there are those who are not allowed to worship as they wish, even in our nation today. There are those who want to change the Constitution, ridding it of the First Amendment, the one that says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” We have heard the cries of politicians and lawyers that the First Amendment should be done away with, it is antiquated and no longer fit for our generation. Others are saying that we, the Church, must change our way of reading and interpreting scripture to rid ourselves of the antiquated ideas we hold about morality. In many places in our world, people of faith are arrested and jailed for daring to read the words of the Apostle Paul who said in the epistle to the believers in Rome.
Romans 1:24 “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; “ speaking about immorality in all manner of works and beliefs. Here is the rest of the quotation: “being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.” This is through verse 32 in Romans chapter 1 (NKJV).

Note that this speaks of sin in all its various iterations. Understand that all that goes against God’s law, is sin and all is equally punishable by death, not as we understand death but a second death after we leave this life. There is an eternity and we choose by the way we live our lives how we will live in that eternity, heaven or hell. God does not consign you or me to heaven or to hell, the choice is our own. This should make those who speak of choice as they murder babies quite happy as you do have choice. Many times in scripture we see the choice offered, choose life or eternal damnation also life but divorced from God. Today we hear the word martyr bandied about as if blowing yourself up in order to kill others makes you a martyr. It does not make you a martyr, it makes you a murderer and a believer in a falsehood. True martyrdom comes to those who do not want to die, they want to live, but for God and for the sake of the gospel. The Apostles except John all died horrible deaths, from Peter who was crucified in Rome, to Thomas who was killed and reportedly drawn and quartered in India. They died for preaching the Love of God and brought many souls into a right relationship with Jesus Christ. They harmed none, they killed none, they loved all and tried to help them to find righteousness for themselves.

Next we come to the truth of working against the sinfulness of the world in which we live, Jesus says that we should rejoice when persecuted for the gospel: Mat 5:11-12 NKJV “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Again let us hear from Chrysostom: “But to keep you from supposing that being slandered of itself makes people blessed, he has added two qualifications: first, that it happens for Christ’s sake, and second, that what is said be false. Do not expect to be blessed if you are being reviled for something evil, and what is being said is true.” All through the history of Judaism and Christianity there have been times when people were persecuted because they were speaking truth against lies and hatreds. Today it happens in many places in the world, and lest you think it cannot happen in the USA please do not believe that lie. Those who stand for the truth today are ridiculed and brought into court fined and castigated. Violence is becoming a way of life for those who hate the light of the gospel message. They have won some battles and are working now to win more, soon the Church in America will have to make a choice to either stand for the truth, or perhaps even suffer greatly or die.

During the “Arab Spring” we saw crucifixions in Egypt. Now with ISIS on the march across the Middle East, we see people beheaded and we have even seen beheadings in this country and will see more as time moves on.
Do not think that you are safe from persecution, if you truly believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, and you follow His teaching and avoid the things of this world, you will find less and less willingness for you to be able to speak the truth. Look at what has happened with the advent of Obamacare. This law has tried to force the Church to provide types of coverage that goes against the teaching of the Gospel. Forcing nuns to have to provide insurance which covers abortion for their fellow Sisters, they are still fighting against this craziness.

Now of course there will soon be people branded as bigots and brought up on charges of hate crimes for refusing to perform homosexual weddings, simply because it is against the belief structure under which these men have lived as Pastors. This has happened in many places in history and will come upon us as we stand for the truth. Rejoice in that persecution for you are not alone, they persecuted Christ and put him to death, if you follow in his footsteps, you may have to suffer as he suffered.

The next rule if you will of living the Christian life is this: Mat 5:21-22 NKJV “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”

Chromatius was Bishop of Aquileia from 388 to 407 AD and wrote on this passage: “This is what the Lord said: “I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.” In other words, to accentuate what was considered least; that is to say, to reform for the better the precepts of the law. For this reason the holy apostle says, “Do we, then, overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” The law commands us not to murder. The gospel commands us not to get angry without reason, that we may remove every root of sin from our hearts, because anger can even lead to homicide.”

Jesus came to fulfill the law, and not to abolish it, we need to be aware of all of the law and of those parts that truly are abolished by God, such as the dietary laws. But the Holiness Code which is what is being spoken of here, is still in effect today, we as Christians are to live holy lives because our God is holy. It is something we strive for everyday, and sometimes it is extremely difficult, but we strive anyway. The apostle Paul speaks of running the race that he might win the prize. That is our task to run the race that we might receive the word of Jesus Christ, “well done thou good and faithful servant.” If you are truly a follower of Jesus Christ, then it means that you will study and learn and become more and more like Christ every day of your life. Too many have fallen by the wayside, and have given up the race. Keep going brethren, for the goal is eternal life in the presence of almighty God.