Matthew 5:7 "Blessed are the Merciful"

                Today we turn our attention to the fifth Beatitude, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”  Today we are also beginning, as it is, a sort of part 2 of the Beatitudes.  The Beatitudes could be divided right down the middle with four in each section.  The first section (Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness) all have to do with internal matters; they have to do with the status or attitude of our hearts.  We can’t really see these things on the outside.  The second section, beginning with the merciful today, has to do with more external attitudes and behaviors.  These are things that while also being internal matters of the heart, they do have some outward expressions that should rightly flow from them.  These are all things that we see come about as the results of a proper alignment and understanding of the first four Beatitudes.

                Now, what is unique to this Beatitude is that it uses the same word twice.  The same word is used in both the desired behavior and the promise that is given.  The word merciful and the phrase shall receive mercy are derived from the same exact Greek word.  So, it’s not like there is some hidden meaning here that we show a little and we get a lot.  These two words are coming from the exact same source as it were, and they carry with them a similar weight.  Well, what does it mean to be merciful or to show mercy?  To be merciful, to show mercy, is to extend relief to someone, particularly someone in the midst of pain, suffering, or regret.  So, “Greatly filled by God is someone who shows compassion and relief to someone, for they shall be shown compassion and relief themselves.”

                I was at a presbytery meeting this past weekend.  Mark Lee, Warren Berger, and myself all went as representatives from this church.  We attended the Gulf South Presbytery, a newly formed presbytery that covers southern areas along the Gulf of Mexico, hence the name.  There’s another presbytery that has been in the news lately.   It’s not a presbytery of the EPC, but one of the PC(USA).  Recently, the Grace Presbytery of the PC(USA) defrocked (un-ordained) Dr. Joe Rightmyer for his role in helping a mega-church in the Dallas area discern whether or not they wanted to remain a part of that particular denomination.  Now, Dr. Rightmyer is a godly man who was already retired and so the removal of his ordination status doesn’t mean much from a practical perspective.  However, the actions of the presbytery did spark a lot of criticism.  One of the running jokes of this whole matter is that apparently there is no grace to be found in Grace Presbytery.  We laugh, but grace and mercy are to be two of the big indicators of the Christian faith, yet they are quite commonly missing from our actions and the way in which we deal with others, particularly those in need.

                I want to ask you a real personal question this morning.  When someone comes up to you and asks you for something what do you first think about?  Now, it could be someone who is homeless and without food or shelter, or it could be someone you know who just needs a favor from you.  When they are asking you for something, are you thinking of ways in which you can help them or are you thinking of excuses as to why you can’t help them?  Some of you are probably sitting there wondering which of these you actually do.  And if you do help them out, is it because you love them and want to extend mercy to them; or is it because you feel obligated to help them since you can’t think of an excuse not to?  Or, I could ask you to finish this phrase, “Hate the sin; _(love the sinner)_.”  However, do we really ever do that?  Do we ever really make it all the way through that statement?  I think that many of us get so caught up in hating the sin that we never really get around to loving the sinner.

                What am I talking about?  Where am I going with some of these stories and questions?  Think back to our call to worship, “Blessed is the one who considers the poor (Psalm 41:1).”  Think about the words of Paul in Ephesians 5:1-2, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.  And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”  Or how about Jesus’ half-brother James, “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this:  to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (1:26-27.”  James is telling us that true and pure religion before God is that which seeks to show mercy.  We are to show mercy to people in their moments of grief and pain, people like the orphaned or the widowed.  We are to show mercy to all and not just those who we are comfortable with or who we think deserve mercy or remind us enough of ourselves. 

                Before Amy and I moved from Mississippi down to Houma we had some friends of ours over to our house for supper.  The purpose of our gathering was two-fold.  On the one-hand, they were our friends and we just wanted to get together.  On the other hand, the husband was sort of just coming to know the Lord and getting involved in church for the first time in his adult life.  However, he had some hesitations about it and wasn’t quite sure he was ready for such a big commitment yet.  In the midst of our conversation, he confided in me that while he knew the importance of the church in the life of the Christian, he didn’t think he was good enough for her, for the church.  He thought that he had too many improvements to make in his own life before he was good enough for the church.  I told him that I understood where he was coming from and that I respected his high view of the church.  However, I also told him that he was giving way too much credit to those in the church, and especially to me.  You see, I wasn’t, nor am I yet, anywhere near as good as I ought to be to come before God.  Yet, I’m not only called to come before Him, but I’m called to help others do the exact same thing.

                You see, where I’m sort of going with all of this is that I’m poking and prodding around this issue of mercy and I’m trying to deal with it as it relates to judgment.  Now, the reason why I’m trying to do that is because when it comes right down to it, we tend to link these two together.  We know that we are to show mercy and compassion to others, but many times we judge whether or not they are worthy of our mercy.  We sort of become like Pharisees in that regard.  Once again in the epistle of James he writes, “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy.  Mercy triumphs over judgment.” (2:13).  I’ve got a little footnote in one of my Bibles that says of this verse:  Though God is never obligated to show mercy, He freely chooses to do so in abundance.  He reserves the divine prerogative to show mercy upon whom He wills (Rom. 9).  By His law, however, we are commanded to temper justice with mercy.  He warns that if we refuse to show mercy we will not receive mercy from Him.

                Now, we’re starting to get at something here.  Remember how I said that we sort of become a little Pharisaic when it comes to matters of mercy and judgment.  I want you to think about whom the Pharisees really were, at least the majority of them.  At their core, the Pharisees were a group of men who loved God.  They loved God so much that they didn’t want to just settle for some Godly rule in their lives, but they wanted all matters of society to be controlled by God.  A noble endeavor, but they took it too far.  They took it and they corrupted what God’s intentions were.  Take for example laws concerning the Sabbath.  The Sabbath was of such importance to God that He placed it as one of the ten things that men ought to do in order to live Godly lives.  The Pharisees were so overzealous for God that they actually made laws forbidding things on the Sabbath, and not just work matters, but good things as well.  We see at various places through Scripture where they condemn people, namely Jesus and his disciples, for eating, healing, and cleansing on the Sabbath.  They tell Jesus that he can’t do that and he has to respond with basically saying, “Are you kidding me!”  Jesus had to remind them that the entire purpose of the Sabbath is for our benefit and that it would be foolish to prevent something that would be for our benefit to be done on a day that is set apart for our benefit.  You see, there’s a sense in which we spend so much time judging who is worthy of our mercy that we miss the concept of mercy all together.

                Think this doesn’t happen in today’s world?  Look at a group like Westboro Baptist Church.  Now, this is a group that is widely known as spreaders of hate and vitriol in the world.  However, in our own thinking about them, we show little mercy and compassion to them and more judgment and condemnation.  You can tell that we do because I can almost read the thoughts that came to your mind as soon as I mentioned that particular group.  It can also go the other way.  More progressive and liberal Christians will so over-emphasize the concept of mercy that they will throw out all notions of judgment and all concept of there being a standard set by God.  Also, think about the condemnation and negative emotions that came to your mind when I said the words progressive and liberal.

So, where do we draw the line when it comes to mercy?  How much do we show and how much do we not show?  Where do we draw the line between being just and being merciful?  The writer of Hebrews says, “Therefore he [Jesus] had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” (2:17).  James Boice says that when we think of the word mercy we cannot and ought not be able to think of anything other than the cross.  “Grace is love when love is undeserved, and mercy is grace in action.  Mercy is love reaching out to help those who are helpless and who need salvation.  Mercy identifies with the miserable in their misery.”

I want to close by reading to you what German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said of this Beatitude as it pertained to the disciples of Jesus then and the followers of Christ today.  This is Bonhoeffer’s view of who the merciful are and what they look like:  They have an irresistible love for the down-trodden, the sick , the wretched, the wronged, the outcast and all who are tortured with anxiety.  They go out and seek all who are enmeshed in the toils of sin and guilt.  No distress is too great, no sin too appalling for their pity.  If any man falls into disgrace, the merciful will sacrifice their own honour to shield him, and take his shame upon themselves.  They will be found consorting with publicans and sinners, careless of the shame they incure thereby.  In order that they may be merciful they cast away the most priceless treasure of human life, their personal dignity and honour.  For the only honour and dignity they know is their Lord’s own mercy, to which alone they owe their very lives.  He was not ashamed of his disciples, he became the brother of mankind, and bore their shame unto the death of the cross.  That is how Jesus, the crucified, was merciful.  His followers owe their lives entirely to that mercy.  It makes them forget their own honour and dignity, and seek the society of sinners.  They are glad to incur reproach, for they know that then they are blessed.  One day God himself will come down and take upon himself their sin and shame.  He will cover them with his own honour and remove their disgrace.  It will be his glory to bear the shame of sinners and to clothe them with his honour.  Blessed are the merciful, for they have the Merciful for their Lord.

Greatly filled by God are those who show mercy, who show the love of Christ to others, because that love from God will be shown to them.  The merciful seek to put others first and do whatever it takes to heal them and save them, just as Jesus went to the greatest imaginable and possible length to heal and save us through his merciful death upon the cross.

Matthew 5:6 "Blessed are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness"

                Before we really begin looking at this Beatitude today I want to start off by asking each of you a question.  However, before I can ask you that question I have to ask you to take your mind out of the church setting.  In other words, I don’t want the church answer.  You know…if you ask a kid in church what’s brown furry and has a tail, then they’ll answer you by saying either Jesus or God even though everything in them is telling them that the answer is a squirrel.  I don’t want that.  I want you to be completely honest with yourself here.  I want you to at least let down your guard with yourself to answer one simple question.  What is your desire in life?  What is it in life that you want more than anything else?  What is that one thing that if you could have you would want above anything else?  Now I know that that answer tends to change over time.  When I was a kid it was to be great at sports.  I got older and it became about the right car, the right college, and eventually the right girl.  I became a parent and my desires shifted from myself to my children.  I know that as people get diagnosed with certain diseases and illnesses that their main focus is upon beating whatever afflicts them.  So, I know that our desires change over time, but what about our number one desire?

                Well, that’s what’s at the heart of this Beatitude, the fourth Beatitude.  We’ve looked at three Beatitudes thus far that deal with our needs, with our emptying of ourselves.  Blessed are the poor (empty) in spirit, those who mourn their sin, and those who are meek (humble before God).  Well, now we come to something a little bit different.  Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that this fourth Beatitude is the statement to which the first three lead.  He says that it is the logical conclusion to which they come.  “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”  Let’s change the wording up a bit so that it reads, “Greatly filled by God are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”  Now, before we deal with the rest of this verse, I want to flush out the severity of several words here.  Unfortunately, in translating these words from Greek to English and now finding ourselves in the age that we are in, we lack some understanding in these areas.

                The first few words I want to look at are the words translated “hunger” and “thirst”.  Do we have any idea what it’s like to actually hunger or thirst?  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been hungry and thirsty before, but I mean real hunger and real thirst.  I mean you don’t feel like you have anything strength to go on and you would give anything for a morsel of food or a sip of water and it just isn’t anywhere to be found.  I don’t think many of us understand hunger or thirst in that sense.  You see, these two words carry with them a sense of need and an earnest desire.  In other words, it’s as if they are so vital that they are the most important things of this world. 

Let me place my finger there to hold my place and just really quickly look at the second word that I want us to look at; the object of this hunger and thirst, the word “righteousness.”  Righteousness has to do with a purity that is up to God’s standard.  It has to do with being completely without sin and receiving God’s divine approval.  We need only look to Romans 1 to find Paul exposition of what righteousness truly is; “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”  Friends, Paul is saying that the gospel reveals the righteousness of God to us, and what the gospel reveals to us is Jesus.  Jesus is the righteousness of God revealed.  Jesus is the righteousness, the purity, the perfection of God revealed and made available to us.

                Ok.  So, if we go back and understand righteousness in terms of Jesus as God’s revealed righteousness then this verse now reads, “Greatly filled by God are those who deeply desire and deeply need the righteousness of God that is Jesus Christ, for they will be filled.”  Now, before I finish this all the way through, I want to talk about this word “filled.”  It could also be translated as satisfied, fed, or fattened.  You get the picture don’t you?  This isn’t just a “I’m not hungry or thirsty anymore”, but a “I’m so full that just the thought of eating or drinking anything else will make my stomach hurt.”  I want to invite you to turn to two passages in the gospel of John, the first in chapter 4 between Jesus and the woman at the well.  “The Samaritan woman said to Jesus, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?’  Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’  The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep.  Where do you get that living water?  Are you greater than our father Jacob?  He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.’  Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’  The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.’”  The second text that I want us to see in John’s gospel is 6:35, “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.’” 

                What does all this really mean?  What does it mean to hunger and thirst for righteousness?  It means to place Jesus as that number one desire in our lives.  I opened up by asking you what your greatest desire in life is?  How many of us can honestly answer that question by saying Jesus.  My wife has read all the Harry Potter books and we’ve each seen the movies numerous times.  In one of the first few books/movies, there is this mirror, the Mirror of Erised.  This mirror, when you looked at it would show you your deepest desire, the thing that you wanted most in this world.  How many of us could look into that mirror and see Jesus standing beside us?  Now, I certainly don’t want to offend, but I don’t think many of us would.  We would see ourselves surrounded by our family, healed of our infirmities, living the life of luxury, or finally hitting that target weight or status in life.  Now, none of these things seem dangerous or sinful in and of themselves, but think back to those words that we just looked at from John’s gospel.  Jesus, the well of living water and the bread of life, is the only source of true fulfillment.  Seeking and desiring for other things outside of Christ may provide temporary relief, but they will never fully satisfy.

I want us to see what I view as Jesus’ commentary on what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to hunger and thirst for him.  You only have to turn in your Bible one page, Matthew 6:25, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?  And why are you anxious about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles [or pagans] seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

                Christ knows what we need.  Christ knows what we need better than we do.  This is the promise of God spoken through His Son that he will care for our every need.  Now, I’m going to hit close to home for you for just a second.  None of us live without worrying; therefore we fail to live up to Jesus’ words here.  I heard someone say recently that many of us look at Jesus as being of great use in the afterlife, but as for this life, we feel the need to work for ourselves and get what we can for ourselves.  Friends, this Beatitude doesn’t say, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for happiness, for their needs will be met.”  It says that we are to desperately and deeply desire Christ above all others so that we will be filled with him.  If we are able to place Christ as our deepest desire, then there is no need to worry about things of this life because Christ has promised to care for our every need.  Unfortunately, virtually none of us can actually say that Christ is our deepest desire.  We desire our comfort, our luxury, our security, and even our continued existence.  Yes we need to care more about Jesus than we do about our own lives.  Yes, I know how hard/impossible that actually is.  It is completely impossible for us to reach this point.  It’s impossible on our own.  However, we have the righteousness of God, Jesus Christ, revealed to us and made available to us.  We can rest on the promises of God.  We’re not Old Testament Israel; we’re not waiting for the Messiah.  He’s come, he’s died, he’s risen, he’s conquered sin, and he’s ascended into heaven.  He’s achieved for us what we cannot and could not on our own.  There is nothing greater than that which he has given to us.  Therefore, our number one desire in this world should be to come to know him as closely and as intimately as we can.  And when we do that, everything else will take care of itself, not necessarily because it will be easy, but because we will be so filled, fed, fattened, and satisfied with the love, mercy, and grace of Christ, that nothing else will matter.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Matthew 5:5 "Blessed are the Meek"

                Several months back, I was talking with another pastor, a friend of mine who I talk with on occasion about things like church administration, sermon series, and other pastoral matters.  He’s a guy with a little more ministerial experience than me, so I very often find good wisdom and prudent warning in much of what he tells me.  I mentioned that I was preaching through Acts, what I was going to do for Advent, and then that I was going to do a series on the Beatitudes.  After hearing that I was going to take time to look at each of the Beatitudes individually (a task that he undertook a few years prior), he warned me that there were going to be moments where I found myself more confused than I was before I even started digging deeper into these commands that Jesus makes for how to live a holy life.

                Well, today is one of those days; this text is one of those texts.  Before we really begin, I’m going to go ahead and change the wording of this text to fit what we’ve said all along.  “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”  Changing the wording to convey what we’ve already established, this verse could read (for the moment), “Greatly and completely filled by God are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”  The question now becomes, what does it mean to be meek?  Well, this is where the confusion comes in.  You see, in my quest to really define what it looks like to be meek, I think I have come to understand what meekness isn’t more clearly than what it is.  You see, meekness isn’t being feeble or weak.  So often when we hear the word meek, we think of someone who is incapable or unable.  Now, there is a sense (speaking in terms of salvation) that we are incapable, but that’s not what I’m talking about here.  I’m talking about meekness being seen in a negative light.  Many times, when we hear the word meek, what comes to mind is something negative, a mark against someone.

                In an effort to build an understanding of what it means to be meek, I did a little research, some within Scripture and some outside of Scripture.  What I found, surprisingly, was that traditionally the term meekness (praus in Greek) has been seen as something positive.  Aristotle said that meekness was the right balance between a person who become angry too easily and one who become angry too slowly.  In other words, a person who is properly adjusted from a mental standpoint.  Another sense in which the word meek would have been understood at this time was similar to that of a domesticated animal.  Now, I know that this sounds bad upon first hearing, but it’s really more about learning appropriate behavior than anything else.  Then there’s the third meaning that has been proposed which refers to being subservient to and have a trusting attitude towards God.

                Now, you would think that this latter definition would be the obvious choice as to Jesus’ intentions here.  However, I don’t just want to assume something because it fits into my understanding, but I want to get to the heart of what Jesus is saying regardless of my thinking.  This is where I had to turn my attention to Scripture itself in search of the real meaning of this word meek.  And the place that I started was in a Psalm of David; my personal favorite, Psalm 37; the very same psalm that we received as our call to worship this morning.  Having read parts of verses 3-11 earlier, let us look at the entirety of these verses:  “Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.  Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.  He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.  Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!  Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!  Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.  For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.  In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.  But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.” (Psalm 37:3-11).  In addition to being told the very words that “the meek shall inherit the land,” we also find a good deal of language here about trusting the Lord and delighting ourselves in the Lord.  We find words about committing ourselves to God and waiting patiently for Him.  In other words, it seems to be trending itself in the direction of a humility and submission to God.  In fact, several different English translations actually don’t use the word meek here in Matthew 5:5, but instead use the words “humble” or “gentle” in this verse.

                The second text that I looked at to discover the meaning of this work “meek” is Numbers 12:3 where we find the words, “Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.”  Now, I can think of a lot of descriptors of Moses, but weak or feeble (some of the common words that we think of as being meek) rarely come to mind.  When I think of Moses, I think of a strong man, I think of a strong leader.  So, meek (I don’t think) can refer to someone being weak or incapable of doing something.  After all, Moses was able to lead Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness and right up to the edge of the Promised Land wasn’t he?  Well, this is where the definition of meek really comes into play.  You see, Moses was able to lead them, but only in a manner in which he was God’s instrument for leading them.  You see, Moses, better than any other person understood his place in the plan of God; hence his being the meekest of all men.  Moses asked God “Who am I to lead your people out of Egypt?  Who am I to go before Pharaoh?”  When Israel came to the edge of the Promised Land and God told Moses that he would die before entering, Moses didn’t respond with questions and criticisms of it not being fair or just.  I know if it were me, I would be asking God, “Lord, you mean to tell me that I had to lead these people around for 40 years and listen to their complaining and whining and talking about being better off as slaves, and now I don’t even get to enjoy the Promised Land?  I don’t even get to set one foot on that soil that I have so longed to touch for these 40 years?”  We’re starting to see that meekness has less to do with capability and more to do with ability; that is the ability to rely upon God and trust completely in him, even when we don’t understand all of what’s going on.

                Now, I want to take a quick moment and try and wrap this look at meekness up.  And the best way I can think of to do that is to look at the antithesis of a meek person.  If you were to turn in your Bibles to Matthew 19, you would find the account of a conversation between Jesus and a man referred in Scripture as the rich young ruler.  Now, many of us know this story, but for those of you who don’t I’ll give you the abridged version.  Basically, a guy who on the surface has everything and knows that he has everything comes up to Jesus and asks him, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”  After some discourse, Jesus tells him to keep the commandments.  The man wants to know which ones specifically.  Jesus says all of them, which the man responds to by saying that he has done just that.  Then, Jesus follows up by telling the man, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  The man ultimately goes away with great sorrow.

                Now, I don’t want to focus so much on the man’s attitude upon leaving, but his attitude upon approaching Jesus.  First, if he thinks that Jesus is who he claims to be, then his approach shows no meekness or humility at all.  Secondly, his seemingly blatant thoughts that he has kept every single commandment completely and perfectly from his youth show little humility as well.  He seems much more like a man who has placed his trust in himself and not in God.  Contrasting him with what we see in the meekest man, Moses, this young man looks like someone who is coming to Jesus for mere affirmation of his good deeds and not a willingness of trust in and be led by God.  He doesn’t seem to fit that definition of being meek that means to be subservient to God or have a trusting attitude towards Him at all.

                Now, pressing pause on the word meek for just a moment, what is it to inherit the earth?  Mind you, this doesn’t say kingdom of heaven, but earth.  This isn’t some promise that you endure hardships in your life and your reward is heaven.  That may be true, but it isn’t what’s said here.  This also isn’t a promise that if you are faithful to God that you will have great earthly wealth.  Somewhere along the line we feel into the trap of viewing earthly power and riches as proof of God’s blessings upon us.  The truth is that this just simply isn’t true, nor are poverty and want signs of God’s condemnation or punishment.  Let me propose two meanings to what it means to inherit the earth; one current and one future.  The current meaning of inheriting the earth is that we are able to enjoy God’s creation.  We get to take in beautiful scenery, wonderful smells, and experience some amazing things in this life.  However, only those who believe in God and profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior truly get to see them for what they really are.  It is only the Christian that sees nature as God’s handiwork.  It is only the Christian that views a child as a gift from God and not just the result of a biological process.  It is only the Christian who can accurately appreciate this world for what it truly is:  God’s creation. 

Now, the future sense of inheriting the earth has to do with Christ’s return.  It has to do with the day of judgment.  We are told that at Jesus’ second coming that he will judge and establish a new heaven and new earth.  Look at the words that Paul wrote to the younger Timothy, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal.  But the word of God is not bound!  Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.  The saying is trustworthy, for:  If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.”  Did you hear that?  “If we endure, we will also reign with him.”  That sounds somewhat familiar to the language of the Beatitudes.  If we just make it through the hardships, then we shall rule with Christ.  We will go from a state of survival to a place of authority.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”  Greatly filled by God are those who are subservient to God, those who are humble, and those who are willing to become instruments of God, for they shall see the full beauty of what God has created, and they will reign with Christ at the time of his second coming.  Now, the problem that arises from this type of command is that we struggle with being humble; we struggle with doing what God wants us to do and not what we want to do.  We find great difficulty in setting ourselves aside and following God.  In fact, some of us find it impossible at times.  Well, the answer is that you’re right.  It is hard and in many cases impossible.  It’s going against human nature, which can seem impossible.  However, it isn’t impossible with Christ.  Through Jesus Christ, we can overcome all barriers and all the things within us that separate us from God.  We may not think ourselves meek or even think that meekness is possible within us, but with Christ it is.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Matthew 5:4 "Blessed Are Those Who Mourn"

                “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”  How many times have all of us heard these words?  How many of us, having just lost a loved one to death’s painful sting or sitting in a funeral service, have heard someone recite these words?  One of the great blessings of the Christian faith is that when a believer dies, those whom he/she leave behind can take great comfort in the reality that their loved one now enjoys.  We know that, as Christians, the heavenly reality that one enters into upon residing within heaven is so much greater than anything that we can imagine.  However, many times that doesn’t provide enough comfort to cause us to cease our mourning for them in that moment.  Now, whether it should or not is an entirely different matter that I won’t be taking up today.  However, we do know that eventually comfort does come in our mourning, and that comfort comes from Christ.  That comfort comes from eventually realizing in a fuller manner that because of Jesus our loved one is better off.  Have you ever thought about what an unbeliever thinks during a time of mourning?  The funeral of an unbeliever’s would be really short:  “Welp!  He lived a pretty full life but I guess it’s over now.” 

                You see, there is something that I almost feel goes without saying; however it needs to be said, and I didn’t say it last Sunday.  The Beatitudes, while a list of characteristics for living godly lives as disciples of Christ, like we said last Sunday, are promises made to believers, to followers of Christ only.  You see, so often we try and make the blessings and promises of Christ so inclusive that they apply to even those who do not profess faith in Christ as their Lord and Savior.  There are blessings that God bestows on all of humanity regardless of their being found in him.  We call this general or common grace.  However, there are those things that are specifically for only those who are believers and professors of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  We call this special grace.  We got into this a little bit last Sunday during Sunday School when talking about people wanting all of the benefits of Christ without having all of the need for him.  You know, wanting all of the good that the cross brings without having to admit that I’m a wretched sinner who is in need of Christ’s saving grace.  Thinking along such lines has led to the notion of people thinking that everyone is saved by Christ’s death.  That somehow it is God’s job or obligation to save all of His children instead of an act of great mercy and love that He chooses to save any of us.  This type of thinking has also led people to have much greater views of themselves than they ought to have, especially from a spiritual, righteousness, and salvific perspective.

                Often times, you will see the first two Beatitudes discussed together because they play so greatly off of one another.  In order for us to find comfort in our mourning, we must realize that we are in need of comforting.  We must realize that we are unable to provide our own comfort and that we need another to provide it for us.  We need to realize that we are poor in spirit; that we are completely empty of the anything good that makes us worthy of salvation.  Then, once we realize this, that is when we begin to be truly comforted.  How many people have fallen and destroyed themselves and others by seeking their own comfort?  They seek comfort in earthly things.  They seek comfort in drugs and alcohol.  They seek comfort in lust and adulterous relationships.  They seek comfort in amassing power and wealth and fame.  They are willing to destroy everything that they have been given in this world in an effort to bring themselves what they think is ultimate comfort and you know what always happens?  Do you know what the result always is?  No matter how hard we may try, we cannot provide the type of comfort for ourselves that Christ is talking about here.  We can try, but we’re never going to get there.  Our efforts to try and do something that only God can do are what lead many to addiction, just trying to get to that place of comfort.  Things don’t make sense to us and we refuse to acknowledge that there is some higher power, God, who is unfolding His plan and we try and comfort ourselves.  Or maybe we do acknowledge God, but we just don’t think that He is capable of providing the type of comfort that we can give ourselves.  We try and provide for ourselves the type of peace and comfort that is only available through Jesus Christ.

                I want to remind you of what we said last Sunday that “blessed” or makarios in Greek means.  It means to be completely filled by God.  So, we are completely filled by God in our mourning.  In our pain, suffering, and guilt, that is where we find comfort and the presence of God.  I realize that that seems like an odd statement, but remember that I said one of the great characteristics of the Beatitudes is that what may seem like an ironical or contradictory statement on the surface is actually not.  Once we see these words through the lens of Jesus Christ and the gospel, then they begin to make perfect sense to us.  They begin to become something very profound when it comes to our faith.

Now, up until this point I have spoken of mourning largely in situations involving the death of someone.  However, mourning is not confined or limited to simply the loss of someone or something.  You see, it’s possible to mourn other things.  We do it all the time.  We can mourn our own sin.  We can mourn the sin of others.  I know that I’ve mourned over things that I’ve done that were sinful.  I know that I’ve mourned over the sin of others.  Fairly recently, I had a mentor pastor of mine fall into the sin of adultery.  He began a relationship with someone other than his wife of 20+ years and wrecked things between himself and his children, his friends, and his congregation.  I mourned greatly at the ravaging effects that sin reeked on my friend and his life and his family and his ministry.  To be quite honest with you, it took me some time to get over.  It took me really pouring over the words of Romans 5:3-5 (but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.) and 2 Corinthians 4 (We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.) and praying about it before it really became clear to me that God alone could provide the comfort in this situation that both myself and everyone else needed.

 

Eventually, I was able to see that underneath it all I was really mourning because of the sins of my friend against God.  I was able to get to a place where I was able to see past my own hurt in this situation and realize that this episode should serve as a reminder as to how great God’s love for me really is.  I was able to see how often I turn away from God seeking my own comfort and worth in something else.  Now, I have never gone as far as adultery, but how many times have I sought refuge in other things, earthly things?  How many times have I thought that buying something new or taking a trip or “just getting away” would give me comfort?  No, it’s only when I recognize that Christ is the only one who can grant such comfort and when I seek Him that I can truly find what I’m in need of.

When I read the words of Jesus as he says, “Blessed are those who mourn” my mind immediately jumps to Jesus himself.  I think of how Christ mourned there in the Garden on the night of his arrest. I think of Jesus looking up to his Father and begging Him, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.”  I think of Jesus being in so much agony as he prayed that he actually began to sweat blood.  I think of the sadness and disappointment that he must have felt as he was nailed to the cross.  I think of the mourning that he felt as he looked out of his swollen eyes, through the sweat and blood that ran down his face, and saw people who were actually glad that he was being crucified.  I think of the pain and mourning that it must have caused the Father to sit by and watch His Son go through such a painful death (and he knew how it would all turn out).

You know, it’s hard for us to picture the cross as a place of comfort.  It’s hard for us to picture a scene of such violence and brutality to be a place for those who mourn.  However, for Christians, that is exactly what it is; because that is the place where our source of greatest mourning finds its comfort.  You see, the Greek word that is translated here as “comfort” carries with it a sense of being drawn nearer to God.  That is the place where we find the price for our sins paid in full.  That is the place where we find our salvation achieved.  I said a moment ago that the first two Beatitudes are commonly linked together.  Let me sort of explain that a little farther.  When we realize that we are poor in spirit and realize that we are completely unworthy of salvation and have nothing good to offer on our own(1^st Beatitude), then we mourn greatly at this fact and that we continue to sin against God (2^nd Beatitude).  However, in our recognition of both our lack of good and our continued sin, we are given the comfort (promise of 2^nd Beatitude) of knowing that because of Jesus’ sacrificial death upon the cross that one day our reality as professors of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will one day be in heaven with God the Father Almighty (promise of the 1^st Beatitude).

“Greatly filled are those who mourn, weep, or feel guilt over their sin, for they will be comforted in God’s sending for them and His drawing them nearer to Him.”  Friends, the notion of spiritual comfort is similar to the difference between happiness and joy; one is momentary while the other is eternal and everlasting.  True comfort comes in knowing that the price for our sins has been paid in full and that God has forgiven us of them.  Temporary relief from our sins and troubles may be found in earthly things, but true comfort comes only from God.  Perhaps you know someone who is seeking comfort in relationships, money, food, drugs, work, material possessions, or something else.  Well, we all know that there is no true comfort to be found in any of these things.  Sure, there’s momentary relief, but there is no everlasting comfort.  The only source of such comfort is Jesus Christ, our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.  The only place where we are truly comfortable is in the presence of the Son.  Don’t spend your time or let someone else spend their time running around trying to find comfort in earthly things because it’s just not there.  Seek Christ.  Realize that you’ve sinned and that you are in need of a savior and run to him.  It is in his arms and his presence where we will truly know comfort.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.