Blessed & Peacemaking

Welcome to the Thirst with Hunger podcast with Pastor Sandy Edwards, where we destroy every obstacle that hinders people from knowing God. Here, you'll be challenged, encouraged, and equipped to pursue his presence, walk in truth, and live with bold faith. Let's dive in.

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Thirst with Hunger podcast. What a time to be alive! What a time! What a time! What a time to be alive! There are a lot of things happening in the world, and it's important to keep our anchor in Christ. It's important to bring our thoughts into obedience to Christ. It's important, more important than it ever has been. I'm a person who I really believe that the Lord is doing something amazing, even in all the things that are happening. God is moving. He is advancing. He is bringing people into the place that they were always meant to be. And I trust the Lord. I believe him. I honor him for all that he has done and just how far he's even brought me personally. Um, there's not a day that I don't think about how at one point I thought that it was absolutely impossible for me to be living the beginning of the best days of my life, what I would consider the best days of my life right now. I thought that that was impossible. I thought that I would never experience God's true peace in my life. And I am so forever going to be grateful. I'm never going to get over it. I'm never going to get used to it. I don't want to be complacent, but I am full of gratitude for everything that God has done. Even in how God has brought consequences as a result of My poor decisions and things that I did in my former years. I'm thankful for it all because I am convinced really that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord. Emphasis on love the Lord and are called according to his purpose. And, uh, I really believe that. I'm sitting in that verse In this particular time and season in my life, and I'm grateful. I'm very grateful. We have just about 16 days until my personal memoir releases called More Than a Song, and it is the healed and whole version of my testimony. As I've spent time preparing for this release, I have just been telling the Lord thank you for all the measures he went through to deliver and heal me, even the things that weren't so easy at one point in my life for me to talk about. Um, I'm so grateful God is using it for my good, you know. So let's hop right into today's topic about Matthew 5:9. We've spent this entire season going deep into the Beatitudes and how the reason why Jesus took the time to teach the disciples about character and identity is because before you can be an effective minister in the world, before you can be effective in whatever position or area of influence that God has given you, you really do need to be discipled about your character and your identity above all else. And I said in the very first episode of this season how the Beatitudes, um, have to do more with the condition of our heart and our soul than they do these just cute little things or these checklists that we like to make to make sure that we're doing all the things. And whenever you begin to view scripture as something that you just have to do instead of allowing it to take root into your heart This is where you can become very legalistic in your, in your mindset. This is where you can become and take on a religious spirit, and you won't allow the freedom that comes with Christ to really minister to your heart. And there is a difference. I talked about that in the previous episode, in episode 8, about how purity must be internal before it is at external. It's about what's on the inside, because what's on the inside is what defiles you, right? If what's on the inside is evil, it's what defiles you. Jesus made that very, very clear. Please go back and listen to that episode to hear the full context of what I'm saying. In Matthew chapter 5, verse 9, it says Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. That verse doesn't encourage you to be a person who avoids conflict. Jesus, as I've said many times before on this podcast, was very intentional about his words, and there's a reason why he said things the way that he said them. Very intentional, right? He used the word peacemakers. And when Jesus was teaching this to the disciples, he, he told them this because at the time they were living under Rome's form of peace. So when Jesus is teaching them about peacemaking, they were under Roman occupation, right? And they were living in a land where peace had been defined By Caesar, based on his perception of what peace should be. Everyone must comply with the rules and laws that we have set, and if you resist, these are the consequences. So, as I said in season two episode one, before Jesus tells. the disciples who they are, he shows them how to live in relationship with God. It was relationship with God first and then identity. And you have to look at the Beatitudes, the first couple of verses in Matthew chapter 5 and really pay attention to how he laid this out. He told them that the first thing is you need to understand that you need to rely on God, that you need to depend on the Lord, that you fully need to make sure that you're giving yourself over to him. And this is important in our world today because there are a lot of us who are Believers who are trying to do it the other way around, where we're trying to find our identity apart from God and we're confusing identity with our assignment. And they're, they're just not the same, and they're never going to be the same. This is why Jesus said, and he started out first, this is how you live in relationship with God. And then everything else about your identity stems from you knowing God. And if there is anything, as we talked about in episode 8, if there's anything that is hindering you from knowing God, it's also going to hinder you from walking in your true identity and authority in Christ. So if there are things in your life that are hindering you from fully knowing God, then there's also going to be obstacles in the way of you knowing who you are in God. Identity stems from relationship.

With God.

So blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. I want to explain the difference between peacemaking and peacekeeping. Often we confuse the two, and they're not the same. Peacemaking is active, right? It moves toward conflict, not away from it. And most of the time it involves reconciliation, which is like sitting down, naming the issue, and working towards restoration. But here's the key difference between peacemaking and peacekeeping. With peacemaking, all of that is bound by truth and grace together, not grace alone. And this is where a lot of the body of Christ is falling short, because we try to separate truth from grace when they are supposed to work together to bring reconciliation. They are supposed to work together To bring reconciliation. So it's not peacemaking if you remove truth from the equation. It's not peacemaking if you're being passive, right? Peacekeeping, on the other end, is passive. It doesn't move toward anything. It only manages a problem. It only puts a Band-Aid on whatever the conflict is. It doesn't actually address the tension, and it only pleases one person in the end, and usually it's the person who caused the offense, where you won't say anything, you won't do anything about it or any of that, because you just believe that it is your responsibility to keep the peace instead of making peace.

Right?

And it only pleases the person who is upset and who wants to remain comfortable. That's you people pleasing. If you spent your whole life, you know, being told that you're such a peaceful person, I, I really want you to understand what that compliment is implying, right? Is being a peaceful person the, the true peace that comes from Christ? Or are you being peaceful because you don't like conflict or having to address things? You just rather stay silent. Again, it's the motive behind why you're such a peaceful person that matters. When you are trying to peacekeep, you let issues sit unaddressed because whatever is the conflict, you feel like if you say something, it's gonna cost you your reputation, the relationship, or somebody's approval of you. Peacekeeping, it leads you into confusion. And we think that if we ignore an issue long enough, or we trick ourselves into believing that we are at peace, that everything is going to be resolved. But that's not how this works. Why do we keep peace instead of making it? Peacemaking requires confrontation, and again, it must be partnered with grace and truth. And it also requires your heart to be free from personal offense. That's the root of this. When we aren't discipled correctly about what the peace of God is, we will form our own version of peace that is not the peace of God. Hey, people of God, we have so much more that is coming down the road from Thirst with Hunger. So go to thirstwithhunger.com or thirstwithhunger.instagram.com. And become an email subscriber so that you don't miss anything we have going on. And so we walk into hard situations, hard conversations, carrying whatever we feel like is the obstacle. And those things can be our own need to be right, a fear of rejection. And we think that those things are going to produce peace if I just dress this up as me being honest. If I just retreat from the situation, it'll go away. But again, that's not the way of the kingdom. And we have to unlearn these ways that we have dealt with situations, dealt with issues. We have to unlearn these things. We cannot continue to go down this road of forming our own version of peace. Tricking ourselves into believing something that's not really true or real. James 3:14-16 says, but if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but it is earthly, Unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. This is why we try to peacekeep, right? Notice what the scripture says: do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above. But it's earthly, unspiritual, demonic. And this is the root of peacekeeping: selfish ambition, where you put on this false pretense of peace in order to avoid conflict, and you look like you're calm or unoffended on the surface, but underneath it. It's demonic activity going on. So here it is again, another scripture addressing the things that are manifesting in our hearts and telling us to be honest, telling us to tell the truth, to not be false to the truth. That's what peacekeeping does. It is false to the truth.

It boasts.

The word of God calls this earthly, unspiritual, demonic. So when you are peacekeeping, you are reinforcing demonic behaviors. When you are peacekeeping, you are reinforcing and strengthening darkness. When you are peacekeeping, You're actually not being a son or daughter of God. You're taking on the identity of another mindset and strengthening the arms of whatever is happening in front of you when you are peacekeeping. The Bible calls this earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. And it's deeper than just people pleasing, you know. It is very much so a word that is embedded in our culture. Everybody's talking about people pleasing, people pleasing, people pleasing. But deeper than that, the word of God calls it earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. So we need to be delivered from people pleasing. We need to be delivered from peace keeping, because that's not our responsibility. We are blessed when we make peace, and there is a difference here. As I've said many times before, we should never be cherry-picking scripture, right? Anything that's in the New Testament can be confirmed in the Old It can. We just have to search out the scriptures to find out. Jeremiah chapter 6, verse 13 through 15, it confirms that. God speaks through Jeremiah, who confronted prophets and priests for the same exact demonic behavior of peace Keeping. They were peacekeeping. I'm going to read the verse. Jeremiah chapter 6, verse 13 through 15. It says, for from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain, and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace! Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown. Notice what it says in that scripture. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying peace, peace when there is no peace. That's peacekeeping. God is offended with these people because they have healed the wound of the people lightly. Heal the wound of the people lightly, just declaring peace over the wound instead of addressing the wound, instead of repenting for the wound, instead of taking and doing what they should be doing concerning the wound. God is offended here, and he's saying they have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying peace, peace when there is no peace. That's peacekeeping, declaring peace over something that hasn't been healed. And again, this can be confirmed in two to three other places in Scripture. Ezekiel 13, verse 16 says, "The prophets of Israel." Who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the Lord God. When there was no peace, declares the Lord God. That's the danger of peacekeeping, is that you can declare it with confidence That you are okay. You can declare with confidence that you are fine, and you can say with all of your chest that it is well, and all of that can still be a lie. It's not that we don't declare things by faith, but what the Lord is really after today is this false sense of peace that a lot of us walk around with. And that's what hinders us from, one, knowing God, two, walking in our identity in Christ, and three, exercising our authority in the earth. That's what hinders us from, one, knowing God, and two, walking in our identity in Christ, and three, exercising our authority in the earth. Relationship with Christ, identity in Christ, and authority in Christ all work together. Again, the soul and the spirit work together to make one whole person in Christ. And we do this in our churches. Now, in Christian denominations, this is what we do. We pronounce peace over things that still need to be repented for, and we try to call it faith. We pronounce peace over things that still need to be repented for. We think that we can just say that, oh, it's at peace, it's at peace, at peace, as if there's a— that's an excuse or a way out from from us not repenting for the sin. There's no amount of peace that will cover repentance. We actually have to repent for the sin. You can't just say, I'm at peace, I, I just stopped doing it for a little while. No, you have to repent and turn. And some of us within the body of Christ, we are guilty For the very thing that God was offended by in Jeremiah chapter 6:13-15, some of us are very guilty for that. The Lord is the one who said, they have healed the wound of my people lightly by saying peace, peace, when there is no peace. When there is no peace. That's dealing falsely. That's doing exactly what James chapter 3, verse 14 through 16 says, for where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder in every vow practice. That's doing exactly what it says about how jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts cause you to be false to the truth. That's dealing falsely.

Dealing falsely.

That's one of the 10 Commandments, where some of us ain't bearing false witness against others. Some of us are bearing false witness against ourselves. Which causes us to bear false witness against other people. You declaring peace when there is none is you bearing false witness. Because it's a false testimony. It's not a true testimony. You're lying about being at peace. You're saying that you're at peace. You're saying that the situation is at peace, but it's not. You're still offended. You're still hurt. You're still bound. You're still experiencing brokenness. Again, these things are internal before they are external, right? The internal work has to happen in order to produce a fruitful life on the outside. The soul and the spirit work together to make one whole person in Christ. Exodus 20, verse 16 says, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. So when you lie and you pronounce peace over situations that are really not at peace, they are not in the condition of the peace of God according to scripture, then you are bearing false witness against your neighbor when you're peacekeeping instead of peacemaking. How do we know this to be true? Because what did Jesus say? Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all of your mind, with all of your soul, with all of your heart. And the second commandment is just like it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as yourself.

As yourself.

So how is it loving to your neighbor for you to be a peacekeeper? How is it loving toward God for you to be a peacekeeper when he called you to be a peacemaker? How is it loving toward your neighbor for you to pronounce peace over a situation when it's not. Is that loving your neighbor well? Is that loving yourself well? Is that loving God well? It all works together. And if one of them are off, if you're peacekeeping with your neighbor but peacemaking with God, it, it's still going to be off balance because it's all supposed to work together. You are to peacemake with God. That means you address conflict that you have between you and the Lord and stuff that's going on in your heart and things that are manifesting in your life and all of that stuff. You live a life of vulnerability with the Lord and you tell him everything. You run to him. You don't leave nothing as a secret that you keeping in your heart because he already knows it and he can be trusted and he is not fallible and he doesn't disappoint. And he does not fail. And then that peacemaking that you do internally with the Lord should stem and flow into your life in relationships with others. It's all supposed to work together. So if you're telling yourself that you're at peace and the fruit of your life is telling a different story, then you're not at peace. You're dealing with the wounds of yourself lightly, and that's not faith. Faith declares that what God has said is true. Faith deals in truth, only ever deals in truth. It does not deal in lies. It does not come about in lies. It is not produced through lies. It is produced through truth and grace. Not grace apart from truth, but truth and grace together. In 1 Thessalonians 5:3, it says, while people are saying there is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. Those are the kind of things that are that are happening right now as we patiently await for the return of Christ. Because there are people all around us in the body of Christ, in the world of life, where they are so busy trying to establish earthly peace and security in this world. But first Thessalonians five and three says. There is peace. They, they're gonna say that there is peace and security, and then sudden destruction, sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. So this lets us know one day you get to the end of being able to keep the peace. Because that's the thing about walls. That's the thing about, uh, false security and false peace, is that one day it's gonna all come crashing down. It's not stable. It's not built on the firm foundation, so it can't be peace. And we can keep lying to ourselves. We can keep telling ourselves All these things, all we want, but it's not peace, and it never will be peace. And then in James chapter 3, verse 17 through 18, that verse continues and says, but the wisdom from above is first. Pure. There's that word again. Then peaceable, then gentle, then open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown In peace by those who make peace. Notice the pattern here. In episode 8, we talked about blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. James Chapter 3, verse 17 through 18 puts all of this in order. Because when we deal falsely, when we pronounce peace falsely, it produces disorder and confusion and every vile thing. Right. So notice what this verse says in James chapter 3, verse 17 through 18. But the wisdom from above is first pure, pure, and then is peaceable, then is gentle, and not just peaceable and gentle, but open to reason. Come and let us reason together. Means let us deal with whatever is going on and be open to that. And as we're dealing with the thing that is going on, whether internally or externally, we're going to be full of mercy and good fruits. And not only are we going to be full of mercy and good fruits, we're going to be impartial and sincere. And then the last part of that verse says, and a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. There's that word make, make, make. Blessed are the peacemakers. For they shall be called the sons of God. So what does it mean to be a peacemaker? To first be pure in heart so that you can see God, and then to be peaceable, and then to be gentle. This is how you peacemake. You are open to reason. How else do you peacemake? Being full of mercy and good fruits. How else do you become a peacemaker? You're being impartial and sincere. And it tells you that the harvest of all of these— you're sowing in peace because you're making peace. Again, when you are peacekeeping, you, you form your own version of peace instead of the actual peace of God. Again, Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-39, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment, and a second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So again, if you're not peacemaking internally, you will not be effective at peacemaking externally. If you're not peacemaking internally with the Lord, that means repenting for the sin, turning away from every form of wickedness, turning back to the Lord, confessing your sin. Dealing with the consequences of your sin, if you're just avoiding, you will not be effective at peacemaking externally. What separates the peace that Jesus is establishing in Matthew 5:9 from the peace that was surrounding the disciples Prior to this Sermon on the Mount. And Jesus here is producing peace through surrender before God. And this is where the Bible can kind of sound like it's contradicting each other, right? In John 14:27, Jesus says, peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. And then before that, in Matthew 10:34, he says, do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I've not come to bring peace, but a sword. So both of these forms of peace are true. The peace he gave to you, you externally make that and extend that into your external life with others. It's first stemming from relationship with God, you and God, peace, because he said, peace I leave with you. And peace, my peace I give to you. Not just I'm leaving it with you, but I'm also giving you my peace. How are we able to make peace? Because we have peace. It has been given to us. So we don't need the world's version of peace. We don't need the world's version of peace, which is in James chapter 3 about earthly Peace and wisdom. We don't need that because we have the peace of God in us. Jesus made it very clear in John 14:27: Not as the world gives you, do I give to you. I'm giving you my peace. That means my peace don't live here. It's not formed here. So he's saying to them, I didn't bring Rome's kind of peace. I didn't bring the world's kind of peace. That's what he means by came. I've not come to bring peace, but a sword. To cut through all the pretenses of peace, of what man thinks peace should look like. I've come to cut through all of that, and with a sword. Where do we see in scripture that mentions a sword? Hebrews 4:12 says, for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. That's what it says about the Word. This is why Jesus said, because Jesus is the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word is God, and the Word was God. Okay, Jesus says in Matthew 10:34, do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword. And because Jesus is the Word, it says in Hebrews 4:12, for the Word of God is living And active sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The whole word works together. That's why you can't cherry-pick scriptures. Okay? Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I've not come to bring peace, but a sword. He gave us peace. He didn't need to bring it. He gave it to us. And this sword that he brings is living and active, and it's sharper than any two-edged sword that a human being could create, and it's piercing to the division of soul And of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and it discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Why do you think David said, thy word have I hidden in my heart that I may not sin against you? Because in Hebrews 4:12, David understood that the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of his soul and of the spirit of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Why was David able to say so confidently, thy word have I hidden in my heart that I may not sin against you? Because he understood if I hid the word of God that is living and active and sharper than any human-made sword, Then it will pierce to the division of my soul and my spirit, of joints and of marrow, and it will help me to discern the thoughts and intentions of my heart. Thy word have I hidden in my heart that I may not sin against you. So here's what I want to leave you with today. Before you go trying to make peace with others, make peace with God. Be honest with, with God about where you are and what's happening in your life. Yes, he knows all the things, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't confess it to him. Confession is a beautiful thing. A lot of us live in regret because we won't confess. A lot of us live in these low-level places because we will not confess how we really feel on the inside between us and God. We won't make peace with God. We so busy trying to make peace with everybody else, and there's a time and There's space for that. But the first thing you need to do is make peace with God. If there's offense in your heart that you've been saying, I'm gonna just be quiet to keep the peace, you're lying to yourself and calling that peacekeeping. But God has not called us to be peacekeepers. He's called us to be peacemakers. Peacemakers stemming from relationship with Him, identity in Christ, which causes us to exercise our authority in the earth. James 3:17-18, but the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, Full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. And once you make peace with God, then go and make peace with the people that you need to make peace for. If you need to repent, For something that you've done, that you've said. Repent specifically for dealing with the issue lightly. This upcoming week, sit with Matthew 22:37-39 and James 3:17-18 and ask God to search Your heart. Search out your heart. Ask Him about the the person that you need to make peace with, not keep the peace. Every single beatitude that Jesus taught in Matthew chapter five, poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Peacemaking flows from the same root. John 14:15 says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Peacemaking.

Peacemaking. Blessed are the peacemakers. It's about your obedience to God. We are commanded to be peacemakers. We are commanded to extend mercy. We are commanded To be meek, we are commanded. To be poor in spirit, we are commanded. To be pure in heart. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. You don't work up the ability to be a peacemaker. You start with loving God, and loving Him is what produces peacemaking in you. Again, Peacemaking must first be internal between you and God before it is external in your relationship with others. Peacemaking must first be internal between you and God before it is external In your relationships and dealings with others. God bless you.

Thank you for listening to the Thirst with Hunger podcast. We truly appreciate you joining us on this journey. Your support makes it all possible. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our channel, hit the like button, and leave a comment below with your thoughts.