BEATITUDES PT 7 | with Jeremy Davis

Devotional

Day 1: When Peace Costs More Than Silence

The Camp David Accords required leaders to walk proposals between buildings because bitter enemies refused to sit together. True peacemaking demands courage to engage entrenched conflict, not avoidance. It means paying a personal price—like Egypt’s leader sacrificing political safety—to pursue reconciliation. Peace thrives not in passive silence but in the messy work of bridging divides. Jesus’ call to peacemaking invites us into this costly, active love. [02:23]

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9, ESV)

Reflection: What relational tension have you avoided out of fear? How might God be asking you to take one step toward reconciliation this week?

Day 2: Peace Is Alignment, Not Just Absence

Peace in Scripture isn’t merely the quiet after a fight—it’s hearts, relationships, and creation restored to God’s design. Like Eden’s harmony before sin fractured work, marriage, and rest, true peace means everything functioning as intended. Jesus’ death and resurrection began restoring this cosmic order. Our hunger for wholeness—in our families, communities, and even creation—points to the day He will make all things new. [13:23]

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4, ESV)

Reflection: Where do you feel the “old order” of brokenness most acutely? How can you actively hope for—and work toward—God’s restoration there?

Day 3: Mercy Heals People; Peace Heals Bonds

Mercy moves toward a hurting individual—peacemaking steps between clashing parties. Jesus didn’t shy from hard conversations, like confronting the Samaritan woman’s relational chaos to offer true healing. Reconciliation requires truth-telling and humility, not sweeping dysfunction under the rug. It’s messy, but necessary: we’re called to be surgeons of fractured relationships, not custodians of superficial calm. [27:48]

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18, ESV)

Reflection: Is there a broken relationship where you’ve settled for “truce” over true peace? What courageous next step could you take?

Day 4: Ambassadors Carry the Message They’ve Received

Christians don’t invent reconciliation—we model what Jesus did for us. Just as Jimmy Carter shuttled proposals between enemies, we announce heaven’s peace treaty: God reconciling the world through Christ. Our credibility as ambassadors hinges on living the forgiveness we proclaim. When we prioritize making things right—like leaving worship to mend a rift—we prove the gospel’s power. [30:58]

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18, ESV)

Reflection: How does your approach to conflict reflect (or contradict) the reconciliation Jesus offers? Where do you need His grace to represent Him better?

Day 5: Resembling the Father in the Family Business

Peacemakers bear the family resemblance—like Jesus, they move toward strife with truth and grace. The Camp David Accords reshaped history because leaders dared to act unlike their warring nations. Similarly, Christians disrupt cycles of vengeance, gossip, and division. Every hard conversation entered with love declares, “This is what my Father does.” [36:25]

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift… First go and be reconciled.” (Matthew 5:23-24, ESV)

Reflection: Who needs to see God’s peace through your actions this week? What fear might you need to surrender to obey Him?

Sermon Summary

Matthew 5:9 sets Jesus’ words, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” inside the larger portrait of the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are first a portrait of Jesus, because Jesus lived every one of them perfectly. The Beatitudes are also the portrait the Holy Spirit is painting inside every follower of Jesus as life gets pulled out of a person’s own little kingdom and into God’s kingdom.

The word “blessed” does not mean a good mood or easy circumstances. Jesus uses blessed as a declaration of God’s approval. God looks at the man or woman who has trusted Jesus, had sin forgiven, and is becoming more like Christ, and says, “This is my son,” or “This is my daughter,” “in whom I’m well pleased.”

The progression of the Beatitudes shows how this works. Poverty of spirit admits spiritual bankruptcy. Mourning grieves sin, not just getting caught. Meekness steps off the throne and lets Jesus rule. Hunger and thirst for righteousness creates a new appetite to realign life with God’s Word. Mercy moves toward visible suffering and invisible brokenness. Purity of heart means undivided devotion to God. Then Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”

Peace, in Jesus’ world, is much bigger than everybody being quiet and nobody throwing stuff. Peace is the condition of hearts, lives, relationships, and ultimately all creation being in alignment with the way God intended them to be. Scripture’s big story can be framed around peace: in the garden, peace existed; at the fall, peace was shattered; at the cross, peace was purchased; when Jesus returns, peace will be restored. Revelation does not picture an escape strategy. Jesus says, “I am making everything new,” because God has a restoration project on planet Earth.

Colossians says Jesus made peace “through his blood shed on the cross.” Romans says justified people have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Reconciliation is the process of restoring a broken relationship to God’s intended design, and Jesus is the great Peacemaker.

Peacemaking is not suppressing problems, compromising truth, or hiding abuse to protect an abuser. Peacemaking is courage that moves toward relational conflict with the goal of reconciliation, even when it comes at great personal cost. Mercy moves toward broken people, but peacemaking moves between broken people. Jesus gives His people the ministry of reconciliation, making them Christ’s ambassadors. The promise is that peacemakers will be recognized as children of God, because they look a lot like Jesus when they move toward brokenness with humility, truth, and grace.

Key Takeaways

1. Peace means God’s intended wholeness. Peace is not just the absence of yelling, fighting, or visible conflict. Peace is life put back in alignment with the way God created it to be, from the heart all the way out to relationships and creation itself. The ache for peace is really the ache for the old order of things to pass away and for God’s design to be restored. [13:03]
2. Jesus purchased peace through blood. Jesus did not make peace by pretending sin was small or by avoiding the cost. Colossians says peace came “through his blood shed on the cross,” which means reconciliation required sacrifice before it ever required comfort. The Christian’s peace with God is not fragile optimism, but a purchased reality grounded in the death and resurrection of Christ. [18:38]
3. Peacemaking moves toward conflict. Peacemaking is not the same thing as peacekeeping, because peacekeeping often tries to keep everything quiet while brokenness stays buried. Jesus’ kind of peace moves toward relational conflict with the goal of reconciliation, even when the room gets tense and the cost gets personal. Avoidance can look polite, but it can leave wounds untouched and relationships unrepaired. [26:43]
4. Reconciliation requires courage, not denial. Jesus does not call His people to suppress problems, compromise truth, or protect an abuser for the sake of appearances. Real peacemaking tells the truth with humility and grace, and it knows that forgiveness is always required even when reconciliation is not always wise or possible. Faithfulness is measured by the honest attempt to pursue peace as far as it depends on the believer. [33:49]
5. Children resemble the great Peacemaker. Jesus says peacemakers will be called, or recognized as, children of God. The family resemblance shows up when a person moves toward brokenness the way Jesus moved toward sinners. The world avoids conflict or fights to win, but the child of God steps in with truth, humility, and grace because that is exactly what Christ has done. [35:15]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[01:13] - Camp David and the Cost of Peace
[04:22] - Blessed Are the Peacemakers
[05:13] - The Beatitudes as a Portrait of Jesus
[06:16] - What “Blessed” Really Means
[08:02] - The Progression of the Beatitudes
[12:16] - Defining Peace Biblically
[14:06] - Peace as the Story of Scripture
[16:47] - Peace Purchased at the Cross
[19:37] - Peace Fully Restored When Jesus Returns
[22:56] - What Peacemaking Is Not
[26:43] - What Peacemaking Is
[29:13] - The Ministry of Reconciliation
[31:21] - Jesus’ Practical Examples of Reconciliation
[37:15] - The Broken Relationship to Move Toward

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Matthew 5:9
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” [04:13]

Colossians 1:19-20
“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” [18:38]

Romans 5:1
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” [19:11]

2 Corinthians 5:18-20
“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” [29:13]

Observation questions

In Matthew 5:9, what promise is attached to peacemakers, and what family language does Jesus use to describe them?
According to Colossians 1:19-20, how did Jesus make peace, and what did that peace make possible between God and what was broken? [17:50]
What repeated word stands out in Colossians 1:19-20 and 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, and how is that word connected to broken relationships being restored? [17:36]
What are some things peacemaking is not? Which false versions of peace need to be rejected? [22:56]

Interpretation questions

If peace means more than the absence of conflict, what does it mean that peace is hearts, lives, relationships, and even creation brought back into alignment with God’s design? How does that deepen the meaning of Matthew 5:9? [12:16]
Colossians says peace was made “by the blood of his cross.” Why does that matter for understanding peacemaking? What does it show about the cost of real reconciliation? [18:38]
2 Corinthians 5 says believers have been given the ministry of reconciliation and are Christ’s ambassadors. What would it look like for an ordinary Christian to actually live that way in daily life? [30:42]
Jesus says peacemakers will be called sons of God. In what sense are peacemakers recognized as God’s children when they move toward brokenness with truth, humility, and grace? [35:21]

Application questions

Is there a broken relationship right now that has been left alone in the hope that time will fix it? What has made it easier to avoid it than to move toward it? [33:03]
Peacekeeping often tries to keep things quiet while deeper problems stay buried. Where is there a temptation right now to keep things calm on the surface instead of pursuing real peace? [23:25]
Peacemaking requires courage to move toward relational conflict with the goal of reconciliation. What specific conversation, text, phone call, or meeting might be the next faithful step for one relationship in view? [26:43]
Jesus did not make peace by ignoring sin or avoiding hard truth. In a difficult relationship, what would speaking truth with humility and grace actually sound like? [36:36]
Forgiveness is always required, but reconciliation is not always possible or wise. Is there a relationship where clear boundaries are needed even while forgiveness is still being pursued? [33:49]
Believers have been given the ministry of reconciliation. Where might that calling show up this week—in a marriage, family tension, friendship, workplace situation, or church relationship? [29:13]
The question is not whether every relationship can be fixed, but whether a faithful attempt has been made as far as it depends on the believer. Looking at one strained relationship, what would a sincere attempt at peace look like this week? [34:33]

Sermon Clips

36s

#MinistryOfReconciliation

“```That's all Jesus asked. He's like, you do for others what I have done for you no matter the cost because I paid the ultimate cost for your reconciliation to deal with your sin, the barrier between you and your heavenly father. So don't don't worry about what the cost is. You move towards that. And when you move towards that, I'm with you. Because if I've given you the ministry of reconciliation, I'm gonna be with you when you engage in it.”

55s

#MoveTowardsBrokenRelationships

“So the most uncomfortable question that I can leave you with this morning is this. It's a question nobody really wants to answer. What broken relationship do I need to move towards this week? That's a tough question because somebody during this talk, somebody probably popped in your mind. Whether it involves you or it involves someone else, you're like, no. No. No. No. And God's like, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Like, what broken relationship do you need to move towards this week and do whatever Jesus would do with humility, truth, and grace.”

51s

#BePeacemakers

“You see the story and framework of scriptures in the garden, peace existed. At the fall, peace was shattered. At the cross, peace was purchased for those that put their faith in Jesus and Jesus, when he returns, peace is restored once and for all for all time. That is the story of scripture. That's why this beatitude is so powerful because Jesus is talking about what do we do between this time when Jesus has died on the cross and has been risen from the grave. He's ascended into heaven where he rules and he reigns. What do we do between here and here? And his answer is, you're to be peacemakers.”

76s

#PeacemakingIsCourage

“So, with that being said, peacemaking is. This is what it is. Peacemaking is courage that moves toward relational conflict with the goal of reconciliation. We've talked about that word even when it comes at great personal cost. I'm not going to read it again but for some of you, you're like, man, that sounds kind of familiar and the reason it may sound familiar is if you were here two weeks ago when we talked about what mercy is, it sounds very similar. Let's look at the definition of mercy. It's very very similar. Mercy is compassion that moves towards someone's visible suffering or invisible brokenness with the goal of restoration even when it comes at great personal cost. You'll see, they're very similar and in a lot of instances, they overlap but there is a significant distinction that's worth noting. So, think of it this way, mercy mercy moves toward broken people. Peacemaking moves between broken people.”

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