Blessed Are - Part 7
by Kevin Allen
April 6, 2026 · Centerpointe Apostolic Church (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Matthew 5, Matthew 5:9, Matthew 27:17-26, John 19:15, Matthew 5:9, Mark 15:10, Luke 23:23-24, Luke 23:21, Romans 12:18, Matthew 18:15-17, James 3:17-18, Isaiah 53:7, Luke 23:34, Colossians 1:19-20, Ephesians 2:14, 2 Corinthians 5:18, 2 Corinthians 5:20, James 4:1

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/kevin-allen--blessed-are-part-7
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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We are in the middle of a series called blessed are talking about the biatitudes and I'm going to continue on in that tonight and then we'll move towards communion at the end of service today. I hope everyone was able to get communion cup. If you were not available to get one or did not pick up one, you can get one here towards the end of service. I'll have the ushers come back and we'll just ask for those that didn't receive one to raise a hand and we'll make sure everyone has one. I'll give some more instructions towards the end of service. From the very beginning of Jesus's ministry, he defined blessing in a way that culture never did. Instead of pointing to power and success or status or comfort, he spoke about humility and surrender, mercy, hunger for righteousness and faithfulness in the face of opposition. With these words, Jesus wasn't just giving a motivational speech. He wasn't trying to make people feel better about themselves. He was inviting ordinary people like you and I into an upside down kingdom where hearts are being transformed and lives are being changed. And it's in this series we've been going through and walking slowly and intentionally through the biatitudes, we discovered that Jesus is revealing far more than just a list of virtues he wants us to live by. Instead, he's talking to us about the values of his kingdom and how they were so countercultural for the day and they still are.

The biatitudes are called that because each one begins with the word blessed from the Latin word beatotus meaning divinely favored or spiritually fortunate. In other words, if you do these things that he was talking about, you will have a blessed life. He talked about things like being poor in the spirit or those who mourn or meekness is not weakness. The hungry, the merciful, and the pure in heart. All of these things he tied to by using the word blessed are they. We're going to continue on in that. Tonight, we're going to go to Matthew chapter 5, which is where the biatitudes start. And then I'm going to go to Matthew 27 to lay out a background for where I feel like the Lord wants us to go tonight for this message. Matthew 5:9 is the continuation of the beginning of his sermon on the mount where the biatitudes are taken from and he simply says this. This is Jesus speaking blessed are the peacemakers. Everybody say peacemaker for they shall be called the children of God. And then in Matthew 27 starting verse number 17. Therefore when they had gathered together Pilate said to them who do you want me to release to you? Barabus or Jesus who is called Christ. For he knew that they had handed him over because of envy. While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, "Have nothing to do with this just man.

For I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him." But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabus and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" They said, "Barabus." Pilate said to them, "What then shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?" They all said to him, "Let him be crucified." Then the governor said, "Why? What evil has he done?" But they cried out all the more, saying, "Let him be crucified." When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that the tomult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude and saying,"I am innocent of the blood of this just person. You see to it." And all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us and on our children." Then he released Barabus to them. And when they had scourged Jesus and delivered him to be crucified, let me take you into this moment. What I just read to you is not a peaceful moment. It's not a story to be taken lightly. It's not a quiet moment, but it's one of the most intense and emotionally charged scenes in all of human history. Jesus is standing before Pilate as a crowd has gathered. Religious leaders are present and tension is rising around this event. And instead of crying out for truth, instead of crying out for mercy, the crowd begins to shout, "Crucify him!

Crucify him!" Never mind that many of the that are in the crowd had just days earlier as we celebrated this past Sunday, Palm Sunday, as he was riding on the donkey coming into Jerusalem were crying out, "Hosana! Hosana!" Or the interpretation of that is, "Save us. Save us. We need a savior. Some of those very same ones now stand in the crowd again and they shout and they yell, but it's not hosana. They say instead it's crucify him. Listen to how scripture records in John 19 verse number 15. But they cried out, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priest answered, "We have no king but Caesar." This is not confusion and this is not uncertainty that was being trans transpiring here. This is unified hostility. What seems crazy to me is these are not outsiders. These are not people from outside the faith. These are people who were very much a part of what was going on. This was not only the common people. This was the religious elite of the day. The people who were in the know. And now the picture that you have in your mind, this unified division, people who have heard him teach, people had seen the miracles, people that knew the law, people that should have recognized prophecy being fulfilled in front of them. Instead of them buying in to what was going on, the reality of the truth of the moment, instead they fear.

They let fear grip them. So with that picture in mind because just a couple of years earlier Jesus stood on the hillside and said in Matthew 5 verse number N blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God. I want you to keep these two scenes in your mind for just a few minutes tonight. We're talking about peacemakers but we're in the middle of this Holy Week celebrating an empty tomb in just a few days. Well, we know what's leading up to it right now in this moment. I want you to know there was a lot of hostility. It was a volatile situation. There was a lot of lot of yelling, a lot of screaming, a lot of unsettled nerves, a lot of anxiety that was being felt. It was palpitable. But just before that, just a few years before that, he stands on a hillside and says, "Blessed are the peacemakers." So, he's calling you and I to be a peacemaker. But we see in this picture that we just read here, anything but peace. Why would he do that? We need to answer that question. Why would he call us to be peacemakers? So I'm going to ask us, why would we become peacemakers? Especially to those who are crying out for crucifixion. How is it possible that they can make peace? If I look closely what's happening leading up to the crucifixion and what you see is not peace.

You see conflict at every level. You see religious conflict. The leaders of the day they're not pursuing truth. They were protecting their position. Living in fear of losing power and control. Isn't it amazing the lengths that mankind will go to if they fear losing control? I know many of you were a part of the last semester's life class where they talked about the illegal trials of Christ. How many of you were in that class? Many of you. As he talked about, how many of their own rules they broke, how many laws they completely dismissed and paid no attention to. All because they were afraid of losing control, losing power, losing their ability to continue to do what it is they wanted to do when they wanted to do it. We know this is true because Mark 15:10 says, "For he knew," talking about Pilate, that the chief priest had handed him over because of envy. Many times it was stated, "We got to do something about this man, Jesus, if we don't handle the situation. We're going to lose our authority, lose our power, lose our control." Not one minute did the ones who knew the prophecy stop for just a minute and say, "Could it be possible that this is him? Could this be the one we've been looking for? But instead, all the focus and attention was put on the fact that they were about to lose their control. Envy, jealousy, control. They weren't asking the question need to be asked.

Is this the Messiah? They were asking this question, is he a threat to us? And if so, how can we eliminate him? When protecting position becomes more important than pursuing truth, peace disappears. I want to say that again because that's a good one if you're a notetaker. When protecting position becomes more important than pursuing truth, peace disappears. There was political pressure. Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, but instead of standing for truth, he chose to manage the crowd. He knew he was innocent. when he stood before them and poured water on his hands and said, "Look, I'm washing my hands of this. I see nothing wrong. I see no fault. I see no blame. I'm released of any guilt." Why was he doing this? Because he wanted to give them what they wanted so that they would leave him alone. Political pressure. Luke 23 and 23. But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that he be crucified. And the voices of those men and the chief priests prevailed. So Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested. Not as he thought. Did you pick that up there in the verse? What wasn't being said? It wasn't what he had the power. He had the power to give the thumbs up and the thumbs down. But instead, he gave them what they requested. Why? Political pressure. Political pressure. He knew if they raised a big enough stink, it would eventually reach Rome and he could be replaced also.

So because of the political pressure of the moment, he released. Pilate chose what looked like peace, but it was not peace. It was compromise. And more often than not, compromise comes with a very high price tag. We got to be careful. We're called to be peacemakers. I'm going to get into that a little bit more detail in just a minute. You got to be careful in life when you find yourself compromising, especially against core convictions in your life. Especially when conditions are not ideal. That's when we always find ourselves willing to negotiate inside our own mind, isn't it? when the pressure's on and the heat's turned up and things aren't going the way we want it to go or when their circumstances are out of our control or we just don't understand or when we don't think something's fair or something's right and then we find ourselves going back and evaluating our core convictions. Then we're letting fear be the driver. You got to be careful about how much control you give fear, how much control you give anxiety. False peace sacrifices truth to avoid tension. False peace sacrifices truth to avoid tension. And then there was chaos in the crowd. And what I find interesting here is it didn't seem like it was very hard to incite the crowd. Every time I read through scriptures, I find it was pretty easy to get a mob. They didn't have a lot going on. They didn't have Netflix.

They didn't have broadband internet. They didn't have smartphones in their pockets or turbans. So, somebody got a little action going over here. People would run and flock to it because they like being entertained. And it's interesting to me how quickly a crowd could build. The crowd is unstable. Just days earlier, as I mentioned while ago, they're crying out, "Hosana, save us." But now they cry out according to Luke 23:21, they shout saying, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" There's a lot of noise, but there was no peace. And here's something that I feel like it's important that we recognize tonight. It wasn't just them, ladies and gentlemen. This is human nature. Left to ourselves, we don't drift towards peace. left to ourselves, more often than not, we drift towards division. We can be selfish little creatures. We can be very self-focused and self-centered, consumed with what it is we want and how we want it and when we want it and the way we want it. And then it doesn't help those of us who live in North America that our culture encourages it. It strokes the or lights the fire and keeps it going. Keeps it stoked. Keeps it going. And then you and I then we find ourselves wrestling with why it can't always be about me. And then in the contrast of the picture I'm painting is Jesus saying, "Blessed are the peacemakers." So I got all of this going on. And I have this background of noise and chaos and fear and anxiety and pressures socially, pressures politically, pre pressures religiously.

Here's all this crazy mob mentality that's going on all centered around the one who said, "Blessed are the peacemakers." What did Jesus mean by peacemaker? I feel like it's important that we define that. How do I know to be it if I don't know what it is? Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers." He didn't say this. I think this is important. Sometimes it's important to ask yourself, what is it not saying? So, here's what it's not saying. It says, "Blessed are the peacemakers." It didn't say, "Blessed are the peacekeepers." You guys with me? Peacekeepers avoid conflict. Peacekeepers say, "Let's not deal with it. just ignore it. Time will fix it. But scripture doesn't teach avoidance. Scripture teaches engagement. Romans 12 and 18. This is a great verse for you to memorize. If it possible, everybody say possible. >> Which means if it there's a possibility that it could be impossible. If it's possible as much as depends on you. Everybody say you. >> You >> live peaceably with all men. If possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceibly with all men. That doesn't mean avoid people. Now, some of you introverts are like, I got this worked out. Kroger delivers to my front door. Amazon does, too. I can get my yard mode and I can Vinmo the guy. I don't ever have to interact with anybody ever again. That's somebody's version of heaven right there. Before you know it, you smell real bad and you have dreadlocks.

Does not mean avoid people. It means pursue peace. Peacemakers step into conflict and address issues and speak truth and seek restoration if possible. And this is the you get a subject matter I'm just going to it's communion night. So let's be real. We're all going to repent. We all going to need it in a minute. Let's just be transparent. We are a people and I'm talking to the church. This is I'm going to talk about inside the walls right now. Everybody say inside the walls. >> Inside the walls. That's us. We can be some of the most petty people ever. Petty and we have Bible for what to do. We conveniently don't memorize these scriptures. We don't like when pastor says, "I'm sorry that they're doing that to you. Have you read Matthew 18? Let's read Matthew 18. It says this verse number 15. Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him. Go and tell him. You go, not me. Go. You go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. Everybody say alone. >> Alone. >> Why? To save embarrassment. It says, "Look, if he hears you, you have gained your brother." Now, here, this is where we start. If a brother's done you wrong, if a brother, if you can say, "Sister, if a sister has done this to you, if she has sinned against you, if she has done something, if he has done something, you are to go to them alone and say, "This is what you have done to me.

Let's work this out. You and I 16 because I know you're asking if he will not hear then take with you one or two. Everybody say one or two. >> It didn't say four or five. It did not say post it on social media. Take one or two more that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be what is that about? That's so that sometimes you need somebody to help you with your perspective. Now, what am I talking about tonight? Peacemakers. Jesus said, "If you know your brother's done something wrong to you, don't sit on that. Don't live there. Don't let it fester inside of you because it it'll become something that'll eat you from the inside out." When you know it's there, go to them. go to them alone and if you work it out, you gain a brother. If he doesn't listen, then go find one or two more and take them with you so that they can hear both sides of the case and help you because there may be a moment that just take a chance. Maybe just maybe just maybe you maybe maybe just maybe you're wrong. Just maybe you I guarantee you you've been wrong at least once. At least once. Anybody have been wrong once? Once. Yeah. I like how there's a lot of giggles and eye pointing going on some fingers out there. Especially amongst the married folks. And if he refuses to verse 17, if he refuses to hear them, look, here's what's next.

tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be like the heathen and a tax collector. Now ladies and gentlemen, I don't know about you, but this is not avoidance. This is not about peace seeking. This is about peacemaking. This is intentional reconciliation, which means you should not run to tell your side of the story to other people first. Peacekeeping protects comfort. Peace peace making pursues reconciliation. Peacemaking is costly. Making peace isn't easy. It requires humility, courage, and patience. I'll show you another scripture verse that you should spend some time studying out. You guys ready for this? It's in the book of James. Everybody say, "Oh my." Brother James says verse 17 of chapter 3. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then it's what? Gentle. Look at that next part. Willing to what? >> Oh man, some of y'all done turned me off now. I'm with you, pastor. But I don't know about that yelling. I do some yelling. How about the yielding? full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are the sons of God. Peace, ladies and gentlemen, let me give you some nuts and bolts here, okay? piece has to be seown and anything that is sewn cost the sewer something. Now, here's what I know and I've used this example before.

My wife her flower beds right now are full of tulips. They are beautiful. Beautiful. Just like the gardener. They're beautiful. Looks like it looks like it looks like an Easter commercial outside our back window. All we need is little bunny rabbits. But she said I couldn't do that because they'd eat the tulips. It's beautiful. But here's what I know is she went out and she planted those bulbs a long time ago. She didn't go put the bulb in the ground and come back out the next morning and be like, "Where's my tulip?" The problem is we want peace, but we don't like sewing peace. We don't like the process, brother Span. We like instant. We're in instant world. We're in a microwave world. We want to go drive-thru. We want to go. We need it now. And usually when we seek peace, you know, when we want peace is when it's chaotic, right? Those of us have little kids and I got we got our kids in here tonight. You know, there's moment when you're driving down the road and all of a sudden you just check out. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I was the only father that ever did that. But I know there were at least a half dozen many moments when I'm just like I want everybody to just stop talking. I don't even want you to breathe. Just I need some peace and quiet now. Was that was I sewing peace?

No, I was not sewing peace. I needed to reap some peace. But what the problem is instead of being peacemakers, we're people who demand peace when it's all of a sudden out of control. When you have to do the work up front, if you're going to have peace, you have to sew it, which means it cost you something, which is exactly what Jesus did. It's what he taught. He demonstrated it. He was the ultimate peacemaker. Let's talk about what happened to him on the cross of Calvary. Because while all the chaos is happening around him, while he's being drugged in the court and falsely accused, while he's being mocked and made fun of, while he's been wrongly convicted, while he's being whipped with a cat and tails, why he's being spat on, why he's been punched, why he's had a crown of thorns placed on his head, why he's had a cross strapped to his back, why he's dragging it out to Calvar's heel. That's anything but peaceful. Does any of that sound like peace to you? But he endured those things. Even when he gets to Calvary, it says this. Isaiah 53 and 7 says when he was oppressed, yes, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He didn't cry out. He speaks peace in the middle of violence because Luke 23 and34 says this. This the these are the first words recorded of Jesus at Calvary. Father, forgive them. The first words out of him in all of that chaos, the first thing that he sws is forgiveness.

I don't know about you, but that one's a hard one for me because if you're nailing me to a cross, I'm not having happy thoughts about you. But Jesus is demonstrating how to be a peacemaker. That's not weakness, ladies and gentlemen. That is power under control. He creates reconciliation through sacrifice because peace is not free. Peace was purchased for you and I. It was afforded to us. Colossians 1:19. For it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to himself. by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. He purchased that for you and I. Jesus didn't avoid the conflict. He stepped into it and he paid the price to resolve it. He became our peace. Ephesians 2:14 says, "For in him, for he himself is our peace, not just the teacher of peace, he is peace. He's the prince of peace. And now he turns to us and says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God." Why a peacemaker? Why a peacemaker? I kept asking myself this question like I want to I want it to make sense in my mind. Why a why a peacemaker? The first thing I came up with is a peacemaker often reflects where their peace comes from. Our peace comes from him. I'm to reflect my father. God is restoring back, ladies and gentlemen, what was broken.

Broken where? Broken in the garden. He's restoring that back. From Genesis to Revelation, God is in the restoration business. 2 Corinthians 5:18. Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of what? Who' he give it to? It didn't say he gave it to Kevin Allen. He said he gave it to us. That's our business. We're in the reconciliation business. Some of you need to get your card changed. We're about reconciliation. Why? Because he brings opportunity to everyone. No one's excluded from this. And in order for that process to take place, you and I have to understand that we have a responsibility and an obligation to be reconcilers. And the only way we can reconcile is if we have peace. Because a hostile person is hard to deal with. Do you want to reconcile with a hostile person? Yeah. But we live in a world today where these scenarios are playing out where it's becoming commonplace for people to lose their mind in public and no one points it out and says, "What are you doing? Hang on." We've all had some of those uncomfortable moments where we've been at a restaurant or a grocery store and somebody didn't get something served the way they thought it was and next thing you know they're turning over the table cussing and fussing and raising all kind of cane over a chicken tender that was cold.

and nobody says anything. It's because no one wants to get involved. No one wants to step up and say, "Hey, brother. I see that you seem to be really upset about that chicken tender. Let me buy those chicken tenders for you and let's talk about what's really going on because I feel like there's maybe more in your life wrong than that chicken tender. Where are we at being peacemakers? Blessed are the peacemakers because they are the sons of God. They are reflecting their father's image. There should be so much Holy Ghost radiating from you that when you walk into the room, the comforter comes with you. And people will say, "I don't know why I'm saying this to you. I don't know why I'm talking to you this way. I just feel so comfortable." It's not you. >> It's the Holy Ghost in you. What would happen? Center point. What would happen if we really understood our mission to be peacemakers? If we owned it, that I got to keep myself where I'm supposed to be. that I have to be in right relationship with God, in right relationship with my brother, so that there's nothing here and there's nothing here. And if I do that, if I walk with him, then his spirit will abide in me and it'll go everywhere I go. And I can walk into hostile situations and they can be disarmed. Why? because the comforter comes with me >> and then I reflect him and he gives me the best opportunity to be in the reconciliation business is because when the spirit of God is there it has a way unlike anything ever has in disarming situations even on the cross when Jesus drew his last bre last breath and he said, "It is finished." And the veil was rent.

>> The one guard looked up and said, "Surely this was >> the son of God." In the middle of that hostility and all that fear and anxiety, you're stressing right now, aren't you? All that was going on, there was peace because that's what he does. So, where are we? Now that we're called this, because our responsibility and our obligation to be peacemakers is actually a little bit deeper. We have an assignment. 2 Corinthians 5:20. Now then, we are what are we? Big word. Now, you want to put that on your card, don't you? Kevin Allen, ambassador for God. Ambassadors don't create their own message. They carry the message of the king. So the question becomes, how do I apply this in my life? So let's bring this into our real life. Let's bring this into our conflict zones. Everybody say conflict zones. Because you and I, we have conflict zones. Did you know that? Some of you may be sitting by your conflict zone right now. For some we have conflict zones in our marriage. For some it's in our family. For some it's in our job. It's in our school. It's in our church. It's in our heart. James 4:1 this is why I say this. James 4:1 it says, "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desire for pleasure? That war in your members conflict starts inside. So, where have you I'm going to ask you three questions.

Where have you avoided instead of engaged? Where have you avoided instead of engaged? Where have you protected comfort instead of pursuing reconciliation? Protected comfort instead of pursuing reconciliation. And the last one, where have you justified division instead of making peace? Where have you justified division instead of making peace? You cannot receive the peace of God if for if you refuse to make peace with others. You cannot. It doesn't work. You can't do it. >> So, I know you're getting antsy. 19 minutes till I'm supposed to shut everything down. We haven't even taken communion. So, let's transition because I laid that out for a reason. We're getting ready to come and we're going to partake of the Lord's supper. But I needed you to understand now that you have been given this information, you cannot unlearn it. Teddy, peacemaker. I want his peace. I need it in my life. I need it. But in order for me to have it, I got to be willing to be a peacemaker. I got to be willing to dive in and do some reconciling myself. I got to learn to ask myself, am I doing all I'm supposed to be doing or am I avoiding areas that I'm uncomfortable with? So, as we get ready to partake in communion, some instructions that I'm going to