What Does "Blessed Are the Peacemakers" Mean?

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." That's a pretty huge description for us! We might describe ourselves as Christians, as believers or as followers, but calling ourselves the children of God is huge. This is a term that we normally reserve for Jesus, but Jesus himself refers to us that way! Our natural inclination is to choose a language that keeps us further away from God, while Jesus chooses language that draws us closer. Jesus was saying that we were created to be more like him than we know.

This was a far more common language in Jesus' time, but not popular among Hebrews. All the Caesars of Rome were thought to be sons of God and were thought to someday become gods themselves. Because of the influence of ancient Greece, mythology brought with it the immortal men. The god Odin had a son Thor and Zeus had his son Apollos. Their understanding of God was a human mortal/human mix like Hercules. So, when Jesus provoked this language, there had to be a discomfort among them. The Hebrews believed in only one God and they considered any other claim as heresy.

Have you ever seen a film that was fantastic, but there was a surprise ending that blew you away? But the moment you saw it, you looked back and remembered all the clues and foreshadowing that were intentional but not obvious. No one was imagining back then that God would come down and take on the character of a man. This was, at the time, impossible or unthinkable to think of God being active in this way. But if you went back through time and studied the prophecies, it was almost obvious. Not only did Jesus show up claiming to be Jesus, but He then was telling us who we were supposed to be. If we truly knew we were sons of God or even cousins of God, how would we have used our power and influence? Jesus was telling us that this kind of power, the power reflecting the character of God, looked very different from what we would have normally thought. One of these characteristics was as a Peace maker.

When we think of having the power of God, we don't really go right to "peacemaker", do we? We would much prefer to have "The Three O's" of God:

1) Omnipotence - All powerful

2) Omniscience- All knowing

3) Omnipresence - Being everywhere at all times

But our call, in any part of life is to make peace. You'd think this would be easy, but it's not. We live in world filled with violence. There's violence in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Congo, in Angola and in New Mexico. There's oppression in India. There were officers killed in Oakland, New York and Detroit. Civilians are experiencing mass murders, violence, bitterness, vengeance, war and conflict. Jesus told us there would be wars and yet he tells us to "make" peace.

"In the category of 'making', I seem to be a savant", says Erwin. Some people can create in cooking with almost a natural instinct to prepare elaborate plates. Some can make cabinets or furniture literally from a tree. They can visualize it, put it on paper and create it straight from their minds.



A couple of weeks ago, Erwin was invited by a board member of an organization called DUB to meet him at a convention center for the "DUB Expo". There were hundreds of cars there; amazing cars that had been created or converted. They took a 600k Bentley, cut off the top and made it into a convertible. How can someone convert a pre-made car into art as they had done? It was incredible.

The common characteristic of people that make things is that there is something that someone can see in their minds and they can convert it to the outside and tangible world. See, when Jesus says "blessed are the peacemakers", he was probably not talking about the 6 steps to make peace. Likely, He was speaking to our inner beings where the vision of peace first exists. This is not a concept of what we do, but rather the notion of who we are; people who bring peace with them. Have you ever met someone who brings conflict with them? In their mind, everyone is a fighter, while most people in the room are just victims to their aura! Have you ever met someone who brings stress everywhere with them? These are people can stress you out because it is part of their essence and makes you feel stressed.

We are supposed bring peace with us. There's a BIG difference between peacekeepers and peacemakers. Some people simply avoid conflict and call that peace. But more often than not the problem gets bigger and bigger and bigger. It can get to the point where, if we don't face the conflict, it will face us. It can also become a much larger problem than if we had dealt with the initial conflict. These people think that if we can get everyone to not fight, we have peace. We think that if we have a world of no conflict, that would be the secret to peace. But the truth is the world is a world of conflict.

There are 3 areas where peace and conflict always seem to come to a boil,

1) Economic and financial - Seventy percent of divorces are economically motivated. When money is involved, most of the time conflict arises. The scriptures even say let there be no lending or borrowing of funds.

In junior high, Erwin, his brother and a friend started a company, the Road Runner Lawn Mowing Company. They negotiated, bartered, kept accounts and really had it moving. But the day came when all equipment was paid for and they were winding down the business. After all the money was divvied up, there was a penny left on the table which the friend said was his. Erwin and his brother chided that they were 2/3's owner of the penny as well so it would stay on the table, but the friend seemed adamant that the penny was his. Erwin's mother urged them to give up the penny, but suddenly they found themselves in a conflict simply over the principle. The friend went home mad, told his dad, who then sent the friend back to get it!! Determined, the friend came back and there was this great divide over something as trite as a penny. "I'll never forget it."

2) Human and interpersonal relationships - "Ninety nine percent of all conversations that I've ever had that were in the category of counseling were in the area of interpersonal relationships" You don't see people getting divorces over understanding of scripture. Rather, we spend so much time arguing over little things, which can lead to a life of regret. We focus, not on things that save our lives like scripture, but things that can cause conflict. If we want to be sons and daughters of God, we should do everything possible to maintain PEACE. We have to go to bed knowing we've done what we can to do for the day. We have to go to bed knowing we were able to surrender to our need to win in order to pursue the greater good.

3) Inner peace - There was great stress, frustration, chaos and anger in the area to which Jesus was a speaking regarding peace. "I am astonished at the condition we are in. We are the most educated, affluent free people that the world's history has ever known and yet we have runaway depression and a culture of medication. Dysfunction has become the natural language of our society." Erwin hears about people that have been depressed for 20 years and they're 21 years old! Others can't get out of bed or have suicidal thoughts.

Erwin was sitting at a "celebrate recovery" table at an event for Mosaic and he was smiling thinking that this part of Mosaic's ministry was the fastest growing one. But there was a moment where it struck Erwin that this wasn't something that should be celebrated, because people were falling apart! Do we live with voids of inner peace? People can be paralyzed with stress, anxiety, fear, sadness and doubt. Here we are talking about what God can do in our lives. It's like we have Jesus sketched on our skin but it He doesn't seem to be able to sink into our inner soul

In the book of Isaiah, Jesus is described and the "Prince of Peace". Maybe we need to refocus on scripture to know that He will give inner peace to the person who will follow Him. Economic and financial chaos as well as interpersonal relationship stress can simply be systematic results of a lack of our inner peace. We should understand that making peace is a work of art that comes from the soul. But to make peace, we have to have peace. Logically, we should have the Prince of Peace and allow Jesus to bring peace to our souls.

What Does "Blessed Are the Merciful" Mean?

There are relationships in the scripture that allow us to experience the best in others. The corruption in this thinking though, is that if you have to use mercy to get mercy, it ISN'T mercy. This is the corruption of the church! We are not merciful so God will give us mercy! Jesus is telling us to practice mercy so that it becomes the natural outcome of our lives. In relationships, you will find that if you refuse to forgive, others will rarely forgive you. The more you are embittered, the less you will find grace from others in your life. It is a true human constant. If you withhold love, you will lose the capacity to experience love. Ironically, these are human virtues that you will only experience if you are willing to give them. It's almost as if your soul increase in capacity if you choose to live them out.

What is this thing they call mercy? In Matthew 5:1-11, when Jesus began to paint a picture of what it meant to be truly human, he gave us the "Beattitudes", pronounced (be-attitudes). Erwin McManus studies the fifth of these characteristics, or "the merciful", in his podcast from http://www.mosaic.org/podcast/. Don't forget how counter intuitive these Beattitudes were. Jesus was pulling us towards things that we don't normally think about wanting for ourselves, like "poor in spirit" and "meekness". He says we will find ourselves in these places, but not alone. Why is mercy so important for a relationship with Jesus?

Recently, Erwin was in Beverly Hills meeting with this managing partner of a multi-billion dollar company that did terrific things like focusing on economically sound and green technologies to implement for job creation in highly impoverished countries. The business man invited Erwin to see all that they were doing and he introduced Erwin to his partner as a "faith leader". Erwin reflects on the introduction,"That was like saying, 'Hi, this is Erwin. He's a cannibal. Want to go to lunch?'" Erwin was caught off guard when the partner (not abbreviating) responded by saying, "So, tell me, how is your BS different from everyone else's BS?" But Erwin understood exactly why he asked this question! It was because, in our society, when we get into this conversation about religion, it can becomes a question of how the church will manipulate people to a belief system through guilt and condemnation. Two thousand thousand years after Christ, we are a church that is recognized more for knowing what people are doing wrong and for what we are doing right than by being merciful and forgiving.

"One of my favorite movies was Gladiator...It's timeless... I like Russell Crowe, but I really love Joaquin Phoenix." Erwin took his wife, Kim, to the movie one night. On the way home, Kim told him that she was worried about him and his tolerance for violence. In fact the week before, he had taken her to "The Patriot"! So that night, she even hazed him because she said, in both movies, the wives were violently killed! (Funny side notes.) But there is a line in the movie, "Gladiator", where Joaquin is now emperor of Rome and he tells his sister that if she betrays him, he will kill her son. But because he has chosen not to kill him already, he asks her, "Am I not merciful? AM I NOT MERCIFUL??!!?". Erwin loves that line and kiddingly tries to use it with his kids sometimes. But the rule of thumb here, though, is if you have to ask if you are, you are not.



We, as humans, have the extraordinary ability to take the highest virtues and corrupt them to the lowest low of humanity. Mercy is different from meekness. Meekness is controlled strength. Mercy is when two unique things come together; compassion and power. The word mercy is derived from a word that describes a guilty person before a judge, but gets an out-of-the-ordinary pardon from judgement.

Have you ever been in a relationship where you just blew it? You violated trust you had with someone and you'd give anything to take it back? The consequences can bring more devastation that we could ever imagine. So, if you know that feeling, then you know the power of mercy. People can have compassion, but it doesn't activate mercy if they have no power. There are some who have power, but not the interest or concern; i.e. no compassion. If you need mercy, you are postured such that you have no power. But if you have the power, you can find out how you truly are.

Sometimes we talk to God about how we love Him, sometimes to the exclusion of others. But real love from God ALWAYS involves others. And the moment we go to God seeking forgiveness, He begins a conversation with us about forgiving others. In essence, the moment we ask for mercy, that is the moment God demands we give it to others. It's never just enough mercy for us. The moment we experience the mercy from God, it pours out from Him, through us, to others. It's like love. Love is not a limited commodity and He never gives us just enough for us, He gives us more love than we can handle so that it will flow out to others. God WANTS to give His mercy to the person who will GIVE it away.

When Erwin was getting his Masters, he was taking a course from a world reknown scholar; a brilliant man. It seemed that, after every course, Erwin would see a flaw in his thinking and argue with him in front of the class until he was utterly frustrated. You could see that every time Erwin raised his hand, the professor would slump. Erwin admits he was very curious, but he also very arrogant. One day when Erwin walked into class late, he was surprised to find the whole class taking the mid-term. He thought it was two days later. He looked behind him and there was the professor he had antagonized all year, Dr Brooks. "In the hall, Mr. McManus..." Erwin remembers his heart pounding and how he recalled every smart remark he'd ever said to this man.

This was the moment it would all come back. Dr. Brooks asked Erwin what was going on, to which Erwin sheepishly answered that he had been mistaken about the date of the exam. "So what should we do, Mr. McManus?" Erwin humorously talks about all the answers that went through his mind, but he says this was the moment Dr. Brooks could stamp his head "Guilty" or "Condemned". Instead, his professor said, "You know Mr. McManus, I've learned that every human being comes to a place where they need a moment of grace and mercy. This is yours. So, come on Thursday and take the exam." There was no reason in the world for Dr. Brooks to do that and there was every reason in the world for him not to. Walking away, Dr Brooks stopped Erwin and said, "Oh, and Mr. McManus...You only get one. This one's yours."

We don't deserve even one. Mercy is what you can do when you have the choice to bring judgement or to forgive. You are powerful whenever you choose mercy over condemnation. Why are we so quick to judge and slow to forgive? Do you remember the section in "Schindler's List" where the commander of the concentration camp took pleasure in the suffering of others? He would shoot people from his perch just because he could. Schindler went up and convinced him what real power was. It was forgiveness and grace. The commander, as if introduced to a new toy, played with it and practiced it in front of the mirror saying, "I forgive you." He trolled about the camp telling these people, who had experienced absolute evil from him, that he forgave them, but it was as if he took pleasure in seeing their fear of not knowing what he would do next. But the novelty of his new "toy" soon wore off and he went back to his torturing behavior.



What would happen if we all became merciful? This was not what the disciples wanted to hear. All the people of Israel were slaves to the empire of Rome. They wanted a leader who would bring appropriate revenge! But Jesus tells them that their source of power is in love and forgiving. This is a human narrative that remains rare. But if we will practive mercy, we will stand out from the traditional fabric of society. How often do we look in the mirror and measure ourselves by how merciful we've been in the past week?

Erwin challenges us to use our power to withhold condemnation and choose compassion. Then he wants us to begin focusing on how our lives begin to change as we focus on this attribute. The most powerful and compassionate person in the world was Jesus, who was crucified. Even when he came back, He didn't wipe us out as we deserved, He brought more power and more compassion. He brought mercy.

What Does "Blessed Are the Meek" Mean?

For the recent weeks, Erwin McManus has been talking about the "Beattitudes" of Jesus. Jesus talks about the life He calls us to which can be tricky because He was consistently counter intuitive. Remember that the disciples didn't have all the information that we have in knowing that Jesus would be crucified and that he would rise from the dead. This was their first opportunity to wrap their arms around who He really was, where His Kingdom would be, how He would rule His Kingdom and what it would be like to be His followers. They also wanted to know who would be qualified to be His followers.

Jesus, right off the bat, starts with an extraordinary broad stroke that wipes out everyone who thought they were a sure "in" and gives hope to everyone who thought they were eliminated from the picture; "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." But if that weren't strange enough, He moves quickly to "Blessed are those who mourn." So, right away, He paints two pictures of things that we seek to avoid in life. We don't want to be poor or miserable and often we go to God to get rid of these things. But Jesus frames these attributes up as being the realities of life.

Reading Matthew 5:1-10, Erwin reminds us of all the beattitudes. We focus today, though, on the 3rd attribute, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth". Do any of us really believe this one? There is no practical evidence that Jesus is right on this. Rarely do we even use the word "meek" and we associate it with the word "weak".

Years ago, Erwin rode "open jumpers", doing fox hunting with no foxes. He jumped over obstacles and rode through a course. "Popcorn" (he was a good jumper) was the horse he often rode. "One of the things I learned was that the word 'meek' was part of the horse vernacular." Imagine these stallions bucking and snorting and defiantly daring handlers to try and ride them. When the horse was finally "broken", it wasn't that the horse was weak, it just meant that the horse now had "controlled strength". So, whatever it means to be blessed to be meek, it DOESN'T mean blessed are the weak. It addresses us in our harnessed strength.

When Jesus says, "blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth", we don't believe that for a second. Who do we think gets the "earth"? The powerful, the wealthy and those with authority, right? So, we often discount these words as being what happens when it is all over as in when life is extinct. The meek might inherit the earth, but up until then we have to be powerful. Isn't that what we really believe? We doubt Jesus' words because they are "out of touch with reality". In life, we try to leverage power, because, after all, power gets us the earth (in our minds). If we wrote the Bible, we might say "blessed are the powerful". Few of us live lives of meekness. But meekness is Jesus' strategic process of inheriting the earth.

On Friday night, Erwin was coming back from a Lakers game and his family was going towards an interstate, which was jam packed. As they were going through a green light, a truck raced past his red light right in front of Erwin's car, nearly hitting any one of the cars. He did it only because he could! But most of us always stop at a red light right. Have you ever stopped at a light and you were convinced that the light was broken? Then, have you been at a long light and another car went right through the light, leaving you there wanting to run the light? Well, when you didn't, you were demonstrating "meekness". What would happen if everyone ran red lights? It would be chaos and people would die! Ironically, our entire traffic control system is based on the concept of meekness! It's waiting for our turn. We are able to go throught the light, but we yield our rights for the good of others.

For the last 50 years, there is no way that the Christian church has demonstrated meekness to society. It doesn't seem to be the posture of the church sometimes. To be meek, you have to have strength! In order to have controlled strength, you have to have strength, right?

There are a couple of controversial passages on this subject. In 2 Kings 2, Elisha is a disciple of Elijah. Elijah was pretty cool. He prayed fire from heaven one time and another time, he outran a chariot. Elisha followed him around and asked God for a double portion of Elijah's power. In this passage, Elisha went up to Bethel and some youths came out jeering at him and making fun of his bald head. Elisha looked at them and called a curse from God on them. Suddenly, two bears came out and malled 42 of these kids! Elisha then went on his way to Mt. Carmel as if nothing happened. What is that all about? What kind of lesson is learned here? "Don't trust power to a bald man" kids Erwin. Elisha had been trusted with all this power, but didn't have the character to manage this power. This was a brutal act of violence by the prophet! "Don't tell me Elisha was a good guy!"

Another place in the Bible are the tales of Sampson. He wasn't the brightest in the world and, at the end of his story, he is imprisoned, his eyes are gauged out and he dies a horrible death. But there is a place in his story where he has good reason to be angry. In 1 Judges 15:3, Sampson is mad because the Philistines have given away his wife to a friend. So, he goes out and gets 300 foxes, ties them together two-by-two, attaches torches to each pair and releases them to run out and set fires to all the crops of the people. He used his power to overpower rather than to empower. He lived a life of uncontrolled strength; a true tragedy. (Artwork courtesy of http://www.davidlangonegallery.com/.)

Calling up two volunteers, Elisa and Chris, Erwin asks them to go through an exercise (that is supposed to work, but it doesn't- pretty funny) that demonstrates how, at different angles, we can be stronger or weaker base on our position. Jesus teaches us to take a posture of strength, not of weakness. The word meek is derived from means "liquid, fluid, adaptable". What is the most fragile thing we think of? Maybe an egg? We can crush the shell of an egg, but we actually cannot crush the egg itself, right? The egg is fluid and adaptable. Another point is, what do we have to have in order to inherit something? We have to have the right to inherit the earth. Jesus is saying, "these are the ones who will inherit". Have you ever inherited anything? There are different things we have the right to inherit.

Not to long ago, Erwin was part of a DNA project, "23 and Me". It was a good experience for him being a guinea pig, "a little bit of spit and a lot of information". It told him where his ancestors were from all around the globe. Other information he was going to learn was that Erwin was in the highest category prone to have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or ADD, but in the lowest category for heroine addiction. There are a lot of things we do inherit from our parents. Jesus tells us that God is looking for those He can entrust with His earth. If the meek controlled Wall Street and the banking industry, wouldn't we be in better shape today? Wouldn't there be fewer broken families and stronger parent/child relationships if fathers were meek? Is it possible for each one of us to choose meekness and not weakness to impact this world?

Matthew 26:47 demonstrates one of the greatest acts of meekness in the Bible. Judas approaches Jesus and kisses Him, essentially betraying Him. Peter grabs a sword and swings at a guard, cutting off his ear. Jesus stops Peter and asks him if he doesn't realize that Jesus could pray to His Father and have legions of angels wipe the guards out if He chose. Not only does He exercise controlled strength, but He even replaces the guard's ear. Erwin says, "wouldn't it have been cooler if Peter had cut off his head so Jesus could replace it? :) " In 2 Corinthians 10, Paul says we should take on the meekness of Jesus. So, grow in strength and become a powerful person, BUT use it to EMPOWER.