In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus describes two things: what life in the Kingdom of God is like, and what should characterize those who live in it. Specifically, He says that Kingdom people will be characterized as peacemakers.  Those who are committed to becoming agents of peace will be called children of God.  The Kingdom of God is all about reconciliation – bringing that which was broken back into wholeness.  Reconciliation is defined as the re-establishment of a friendship; the resolving of a dispute. We certainly need peace and reconciliation in our world! However… We will never see societal peace until there’s individual peace. It’s always bottom up, and inside out. Of all the ways you could be described, would observers of your life say, “In this world where conflict is the norm, she/he is a peacemaker?”    The reality is that relationships naturally tend toward disconnectedness. Even the most spiritually mature have enough residue of our sinful flesh that we struggle to live in peace with others at times. So, we would do well to see what the Bible has to say about handling the breakdowns that will inevitably occur. In this series, we’re going to be talking about the different aspects of peacemaking.   We’re going to grapple with the importance of personal confession, with issues of forgiveness and the “how to’s” of reconciliation. We’ll even get to how to handle those occasions when all of our peace-making efforts are to no avail. But we have to begin by recognizing that… Our capacity to reconcile with others is rooted in our reconciliation with God.     Text: Mt. 5:1-9; 2 Cor. 5:17-18 Originally recorded on August 4, 2013, at Fellowship Missionary Church, Fort Wayne, IN.

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