9 Ways To Be Happy According to Jesus (Part 3)

We come now to the final three beatitudes in the great sermon by Jesus from Matthew chapter 5.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

This is one of those verses that we so often see used on little statues of police officers or soldiers. With no disrespect meant to those men and women that have the tough job of doing either of these jobs: that is not what this verse speaks about. Police officers are not peacemakers, they are peacekeepers, and though through the efforts of soldiers sometimes peace comes out of war, the job of a soldier is to make war, not peace. The only path to real peace is love and quite frankly, without the love of Christ made manifest through the power of the Holy Spirit, peace, though it may visit us, will not reside permanently until the return of Christ. We can, however, experience peace within our hearts.

So then, who are the peacemakers? They are those who go out into the world and love others as Christ as loved us. They are those who have learned the power of love as expressed in death to self.  Conflict requires two people to live. But when one learns how to truly live out the Christian call to love, they can change their environment to a place of peace. Philippians 2:3-8 captures the essence of how we can become peacemakers.

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

No one likes this one. How in the world can we be happy to be persecuted? Here is how. By being sure that your persecution is for righteousness sake. If we are persecuted in this way, we can have complete assurance that we are truly Christ’s. Jesus tells us this in John 15:18-20,  “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. “

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.”

The ninth way to be happy is an extension of number eight. When we are being faithful to what God call us to, then the unsaved world will come against us. Again this seems backwards. We are happy when people curse at us?

It’s not that we are happy they are offended and irritated by what we preach and how we live; it’s that we can be happy that we are faithful to God’s call on our lives to share the Gospel. We can be happy that it isn’t our job to save people, that is the work of God. The truth is the Gospel is offensive to people. They do not want to be told that their way of life is wrong. They are in rebellion to God. But our peace and our joy are dependent on one thing: obedience to Christ.

Jesus finishes up this section of the sermon with a command. Matthew 5:12,
“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” We are to rejoice and be glad.

So go forth today and live out the message of Jesus in this sermon. Read over the passages I have spoken of in this message. Pray through them and ask the Holy Spirit to make them real in your life. If we apply these things to our lives and let God empower us by His Spirit then He will bless us. The world will see something new and exciting in us. They will want the joy we have as they see us expressing happiness in the midst of the chaotic world we live in.

God Bless each of you.