Matthew 28:19-20 "Go, Not Just Gather"

                Do you know what a congregational charge is?  By that, I mean those words printed in your bulletin that I read near the end of the service about going out into the word, enjoying the blessings of God, contending for the faith, and remaining in Christ.  Do you know what the purpose of those words really is?  Or have you just mindlessly said them (some of you your entire lives) without ever giving a thought as to what the purpose for our saying them is at all?  Well, a charge is when the minister charges or challenges the congregation to go out into the world and minister and witness in the name of Christ.  In essence, the charge is where the pastor or worship service leader challenges the hearers of the message for that day to take what they have just heard and to carry it out into the world.  Now, how effective this has been is another question.  Are you even listening to these words or are you telling yourself that now that the service is over it’s time to decide on a place for lunch?  The congregation that I used to work for in Mississippi had the whole congregation say the charge in unison, “We go nowhere by accident.  Wherever we go, God is sending us.  God has a purpose for our being there.  And He has given His Holy Spirit to us.”  Each Sunday as we prepared to leave worship, we were all reminded that no matter where we found ourselves, we were right where God wanted us to be and we were to seek how to minister to the people around us.  Even when we felt unequipped, we needed to remember that the Holy Spirit was there with us, giving us the power that we needed to accomplish God’s good work.

                Why, when our text is on the Great Commission, am I talking to you about charges and worship service ordering?  Well, it’s because I, along with many others, view the Great Commandment to be the somewhat charge of Jesus’ earthly ministry, with the benediction being the words that he gave to his disciples about being his witnesses in Samaria and Judea and all to the ends of the world.  You see, the main message behind a charge is the same message behind that of the Great Commission.  Well, at least the first aspect of them is the same.  Both a charge and the Great Commission start with going.  “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”  All of the commands of the Great Commission are imperatives.  Jesus was charging his disciples to go!  He wasn’t telling them that when the opportunity was right or when the feeling struck them that they ought to go, but he was commanding them to go.  It’s the difference between me or my wife telling our children that their rooms need to be cleaned up before we eat dinner, or simply looking at them and saying that one word, “Clean!”  One of those options provides a bit of choice, while the other is a direct command that is to be carried out that moment.  You see, Jesus tells us that the first step in reaching the lost in order to baptize them, make them disciples, and teach them is to go.  We have to go out into the world in search of the lost, in search of the hurt, and in search of those who are in need of hearing the good news of the gospel.

                The sad fact of the matter is that this is the exact opposite of the way that most of our supposed evangelism is done in the modern church.  We build fences, hire security, have certain protocols, and many other steps to make it difficult for people to get in, much less us go out.  Many Americans view of evangelism has become that they are willing to minister to only a certain type of person (usually someone who looks just like them), but only after that person makes the initial move and comes into the church in the first place.  Look, I’m not throwing grenades at others; we are just as guilty as any other congregation of doing the very same thing.  When was the last time that any of you can honestly say that you reached out to someone who wasn’t a Christian and spoke to them without them coming to you first?  Somehow, we’ve replaced the imperative “Go” with the situational “wait and see if someone comes to you and presents you with an opportunity to possibly share the gospel with them but by all means don’t be too pushy.”  I’ve made no secrets about mine and Amy’s families having some alcohol issues throughout the years.  Sitting back and waiting for someone to on their own come to church and realize that they need Jesus is like sitting back and waiting for the alcoholic to realize on his own that he has a problem.  Sure it may happen every now and then, but it most certainly isn’t the most effective way of dealing with the issue at hand.  We have to go out into the world if we are ever going to shine the light in the darkness as we like to say.

                Secondly, when Jesus tells us to make disciples of all nations, notice the word all.  Do you remember the words of the promise made to Abraham (then Abram) in Genesis 12?  God told Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you ALL the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  I mentioned just a moment ago that for many of us our evangelism stops when it comes to people who look different than us, dress different than us, live different than us, and even talk different than us.  Now, I won’t deny that or personalities and our gifts sometimes lend themselves to our being more at ease with certain groups over another.  When I was in youth ministry, I had a much easier time relating to the middle-class white children that I went to church with than the African American kids from the inner-city that I taught.  However, my responsibility to minister and witness to them and to help them see their potential and to strive for success was the same with both groups.  When I have gone to Mexico, Jamaica, or Haiti, my call to share the gospel has been the exact same as it is here in the U.S.  You see, the gospel isn’t for one people group or one nationality, but for all people.  My wife can attest to you that we talked a lot about the state of the church following the shootings in South Carolina.  While the tragedy of what happened was terrible and I’m not trying to diminish it in any way, what we found most disturbing was that the church was constantly described as a black church.  Look, I get it.  I’m from the south; I’ve never lived any further north than Starkville, MS.  I get that things are still referred to (rightly or wrongly) as black and white.  However, and this may be just because of how I see things, a church should never be classified according to race.  After all, all churches (and by this I mean real, Bible-centered, God-fearing churches) are worshipping the same resurrected Lord.  We’re all worshipping Jesus Christ.  And the truth of the matter is that none of us are worthy of what he offers us, but he stills offers.  So, we cannot ever think that the gospel is more for one group of people than any other.

                So, what is it that Jesus is exactly calling us to do it the Great Commission?  What does it mean to make disciples?  What does it mean to baptize people in the name of the Triune God?  What does it mean to teach them to observe all the commands of God?  Well, to try and sum all of this up into as simple a statement as possible, all of this means that we are to help others grow in their relationship with God.  We are to witness to them and help them to see the importance of what God is offering them.  Now, I will clearly state here that only God can turn someone’s heart from stone to a heart that seeks after Him.  Only God can truly change a person from being one who runs from God to one who follows Him.  However, many times it’s people just like you and me that God chooses to work through in order to accomplish these purposes in His children.  When we make disciples, we are teaching people the importance of Christ, but also helping them to incline their hearts to live lives that more honor God.  You can see very easily that this also fits in with the command that we have for teaching others to observe all that God has commanded us.  One of those commands is for all believers to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  When we are baptized, it symbolizes our admittance into the church.  Baptism is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of our being united with Christ, of our rebirth, and of our forgiveness of sins.

                One of the other great fallacies to the modern American church (in addition to the poor methods of evangelism that I mentioned earlier), is that many times little thought is given to real Biblical training.  Many times, the majority of energy and effort is placed upon bringing people in.  Even in churches that don’t fit the model I previously mentioned that have good evangelistic ministries, there is a real drop-off when it comes to Christian education.  One of the most frequently asked questions of semi-new Christians is “now what?”  In other words, after someone professes faith in Christ and is baptized; after someone has come to see the deep need that they have for Jesus in their life, they want to know what the next step is.  In essence, they want to grow.  They want to learn more, they want to dig deeper and find out more and more about God who created and sustains all things.  They want to hear more about this Savior named Jesus who was fully God and fully man at the same time who paid the price for their sins.  They want to know more about the Holy Spirit, this third member of the Trinity who dwelt in Jesus then and dwells within us now. 

Have you ever been to a really nice, fancy dinner?  I don’t mean your anniversary dinner to a nice restaurant; I’m talking about a real ornate meal surrounded by a lot of folks that you don’t know.  I know that I don’t give off the refined vibe, but my wife will tell you that I actually can function in this world when required, largely due to my upbringing.  You see, I was taught by my grandmother about table etiquette and which fork goes where and what utensil you use to eat a certain dish.  I’ve got that knowledge and I can use it when the situation requires.  Well, let’s say I didn’t have that knowledge, I would be completely lost.  In other words, just because I am at this nice dinner surrounded by a bunch of people who know what they’re doing (assuming that they actually do), that really wouldn’t be enough for me to correctly go through the steps of the meal.  Sure, I could fake it and probably make my way through the meal unscathed, but should that really be the goal, should that be the goal of our faith?  Should our goal really be about being able to fake it long enough so that we don’t get discovered for how little we know or how shallow our faith truly is?  NO!  Our goal ought to be to grow.  Our goal ought to be to grow so that we may more accurately and faithfully honor and bring glory to God.

Finally, we have to remember the final words of our text.  Jesus told the disciples, “And behold, I am with you always, to the ends of the age.”  Jesus’ name at his birth of Immanuel means God with us.  Friends, the end of the age has not come yet because Jesus has not returned.  Therefore, Jesus is still with us.  No, he may not be physically present with us just as he was with the disciples when he said these words.  In fact, he wasn’t to be with them either after only a few days.  However, he is still with us, sitting at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, serving as our eternal advocate with the Father.  Not only that, but the same Holy Spirit that we have mentioned remains with us, applying the work of Christ to our hearts each and every day.  Our objective is a simple one:  we are to go out into the world.  When we go out into the world, we are to tell everyone about Jesus.  When we find someone who doesn’t know God, then we are to witness to them and help bring them to the Lord.  Have you gone out into the world in search of the lost lately?  Have you sought to help someone grow in their already existent faith lately?  Have you even gone out into the world lately with the message of the Gospel?  The task is clear and concise, as Christians, we ought to be going and not just gathering.  Glory be to God; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Matthew 5:11-12 "Christ vs. Culture: Where is Your Citizenship?"

                Today we bring our series on the Beatitudes to a close.  We’re finishing our look at this introduction to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  Now, I don’t know if it’s my science background or what it is, but I’m a big fan of conclusions.   You know, the scientific method should always have as its end the conclusion; where a brief summation of what it is exactly that we saw during an experiment.  Well, I think it’s important after taking these last eight weeks to look at each of these Beatitudes, these steps to enjoying the blessed life, which we conclude and recap what it is that we have seen as a whole.  Now, there have obviously been things that we have taken from each of these Beatitudes and tried to apply them in our daily lives.  However, there are a couple of things that we can take from them as a whole that I think are of vital importance as we seek to live Godly lives.  The first of which is that without Christ none of this is possible, and the second is that it will cost us.  Well, let’s dive into those two things shall we?

                We’ve ended many weeks together (actually all of them) by talking about how difficult many of these concepts are.  Some of us have even left our time together doubting whether we have the ability to even attempt such changes and outlooks, much less succeed in doing so.  We struggle with wanting to be meek and humble.  We struggle with desiring only God.  We struggle with extending reconciliation and seeking the good of others, especially our enemies.  We have come to the conclusion time and time again that it is only through Christ that any of these things are even remotely possible.  After all, we’re fallen; we’re sinful.  And even with Christ working in us, we will have to fight to incline our hearts in this manner for as long as we live upon this earth.  You see, our hearts are naturally inclined to stray from God.  It’s what we call original sin.  We don’t openly and consciously want to be disobedient, but we just can’t help ourselves.  Like I said, we’re fallen.  There is a disconnect, a separation between us and God because of our sin.

                The second universal theme that I take from our look at the Beatitudes is the cost of it all.  You see, these eight principles or values, these “blessed be’s” that we have been talking about over the past few months are not only difficult to accomplish, but our merely attempting to accomplish them will cause us to be hurt dearly.  Our text for today, tells a bit about that cost.  Matthew 5:11-12 reads, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  Now, yes, I’m well aware that Jesus here is speaking about the great reward that we have in heaven.  I’m also well aware of the fact that with each of these calls to live a more Godly life we are told what promise, what benefit we will receive because of our obedience.  However, I’m not talking about some type of relative cost where we give something and in return are given something much more; even though that is exactly what is happening in each of these statements.

                Last Sunday, I told y’all a story about my momentary sympathies for this stray cat causing me to become a moving target for my friends when I was a kid.  I was attacked for doing what I thought was the right thing.  I told y’all about a friend of mine who was insulted by many folks for take a stand that he felt he had to as part of his being a Christian.  We ended our time together by me telling you that if your faith doesn’t cause you to come under fire then you may not be standing as close to Jesus as you think you are.  I mean, think about how Jesus is concluding this introduction here, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.”  Come on; who really wants to sign up for something like that?  Remember what I told y’all was the greatest friend repellent out there?  That’s right; the gospel.  Why is it such a repellent for others?  Well, it’s because it is opposed to the world around us.  You see, the ways of the world and the ways of God will never be fully and completely in line because the world is filled with sin, it’s fallen and inclined towards promotion of things that are opposed to God.  Jesus is telling us here that we will be filled completely by God when other insult us and seek our harm simply because of Jesus’ name.  We don’t doubt that for one second, but it’s tough for us to think of insults and physical harm as part of a blessed life.  In fact, those are two of the last things we would associate with a blessed or happy life.

                Just think about what we’ve seen over the past few months.  Jesus calls us to be poor in spirit, to understand our own sin.  The world doesn’t even recognize sin.  The world tells us that what I call sin someone else calls their way of life.  Jesus tells us to grieve our own sin.  The world says be your absolute best; don’t focus on your failures.  There’s no time for self-pity.  Jesus tells us to be meek, to be humble servants.  The world tells us that if we’re not successful then we are nothing; we need to strive to be in charge and in a position of leadership.  Jesus tells us that we are to hunger and thirst for righteousness, to fill our lives with God alone.  The world tells us to fill our lives with stuff; to hunger and thirst for more things.  Jesus says that we are to show mercy.  The world says that victory is all that matters; win at any cost.  Jesus calls us to be pure, holy, and set apart.  The world says that there is no such thing as true purity; it’s just a matter of perspective.  Jesus calls us to extend peace, to extend that shalom that we looked at a few weeks ago to others.  The world tells us to take care of ourselves and stand our ground.  And finally, the concept that we looked at last week which really is sort of the intro to this last section and the summation of the entirety of the Beatitudes, Jesus tells us to rejoice in our suffering and persecutions.  The world tells us that we would rather be the cat than the mouse any day; that a life without hardships is one that is truly blessed.

                You see, we’re all at a crossroads when it comes to where we find ourselves today.  Are we members of the kingdom of heaven or are we citizens of the kingdom of this world?  We can’t be part of both.  I have to admit that I spent a lot of time trying to walk a fine line between these two worlds.  I spent a lot of time saying that I was a different kind of Christian, a different kind of pastor, who could balance himself on this tightrope that let me be a part of both kingdoms.  However, I wasn’t some new kind of Christian.  I was an average, typical, run-of-the-mill confused sinner.  I was someone who was so clouded by the ideals of this world that I couldn’t even see what my own sin, what my own selfish desires had done to me.  You see, that’s the thing about sin, it’s subtle.  We can all recognize what I call “obvious sins.”  We can all acknowledge that stealing and murder are bad, or can we?  I’ll let you think about that one for just a second.  Have you ever justified stealing in your mind?  Have you ever justified a murder?  Like I said, sin is subtle and dangerous.

                The kingdom of God and the ways of this world will never be fully in line with one another because one is filled with sin and one is not.  I know that I keep saying it, but it’s worth repetition.  Does this mean that we give up all hope and all efforts to make this world a better place?  Do we give up ever trying to shape society in the image of God?  Of course not, it’s just that we never really expect it to happen.  Jesus is speaking here primarily to his apostles.  He’s reminding them that all those who proclaimed Jesus before his birth, the prophets, were persecuted.  He’s telling them of the persecution that they will Jesus endure during his earthly ministry.  And he’s telling them that they too will be persecuted simply because they follow Jesus and are associated with him. 

                Look, here’s what I’m getting at here and what I’ve been working towards for the past couple of months:  the Christian life, the blessed life, is a new way of life and a different way of life.  We’re not to be driven by what the world defines as successful.  We’re not to desire power and money and fame.  We’re to desire Christ, to hunger and thirst for him.  The goals of life shouldn’t be to have a perfect family, a good job, a comfortable life, financial security, etc.  Now, I don’t want to make it seem like any of those things are bad in-and-of themselves because they’re not.  They are if they become our primary focuses in life, but kept in proper perspective they’re all good things.  You see, our goals in life as Christians are simply:  we are to glorify God and enjoy him always.  Those are to be our number one priorities in life.  We are to seek God’s glorification above all other things.

                We’re to seek his glorification over our own achievements, our own security, our own comfort, and our own desires.  There will be times in life when glorifying God means making the difficult choice.  There will be times when we’re persecuted, insulted, and maybe even harmed physically because of our desire to glorify him.  I know that sounds harsh, but I’m simply relaying the message that Jesus gave over 2000 years ago.  He told his disciples then (and us today) that persecutions weren’t just a possibility, but that they were going to happen when we truly live Godly lives.  We saw last Sunday Jesus tell us that very thing.  We saw the Apostle Paul say that, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” 

                I’ll close things today simply by asking a few questions.  First, are you insulted, persecuted, or harmed in any way because of your faith?  Second, do you desire God’s glorification more than you desire your own personal worldly success?  Third, are you making the difficult choices for the sake of following Christ?  If you’re being honest with yourself, does your faith really ever come into play when making a decision?  Fourth, do you trust God in those moments of hardship and suffering to care for you or do you just pray for things to be over as quick as possible.  Now, I’m not trying to ask these questions to make anyone feel bad about themselves.  I’m simply asking them because many times we hear about suffering and being persecuted because of our faith but we never actually do.  We claim that our moments of hardship that we’re trusting in God, but we never even considered him when getting to that low point.

                Friends, it’s a tough place outside these walls.  When I step outside into the world I feel like I have to have my head on a swivel.  I feel like evil is out to attack me and my family at every turn.  And you know what, it is.  You see, sin is everywhere.  Even in the good things in life, there is sin hiding somewhere waiting for a moment of weakness to occur.  Like I’ve said, the world is sinful, and therefore not in line with God’s will.  We’re going to be persecuted, we’re going to be hated, and we’re going to be insulted; that just means that we’re doing our job right.  That means that we are following Jesus.  The question becomes if you feel that you’re hated, insulted, or persecuted.  If you don’t, much like last Sunday, maybe you’re not standing or following Jesus as close as you thought you were.  But if you are, “rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.”

Matthew 5:10 "Blessed are the Persecuted"

                I’ve always been a convicted person.  I’ve typically always had the right motives in mind, but I’ve always been one of those people who make a decision and stand behind it no matter what.  It used to infuriate my parents when I was younger.  “Why can’t you just give a little bit?  Why do you have to be so stubborn?”  Well, the good news for them is that about 10 years ago it became more of Amy’s problem; although they do still have to deal with it from time-to-time.  When I was a kid I was out playing with some friends of mine with our bb guns, which as far as we were concerned were high powered sniper rifles.  We were in the woods behind one of my friend’s house when we discovered an abandoned building.  It was decided upon by the group that we were going to start shooting our bb guns at various places on this old building.  All of a sudden, a cat came walking out.  One of my friends decided, “Hey let’s shoot the cat.”  Now, I don’t know what it is with me, but I have this weird thing about killing animals.  I won’t bat an eye when it comes to shooting a dove, turkey, deer, or any other animal as long as I’m hunting it.  However, if it’s an animal that isn’t supposed to be hunted, then I don’t deal with death very well.  My mom can probably still tell you about the week-long mourning for my pet hamster, which ended in a 30 minutes funeral service that I conducted when I was in elementary school.  But getting back to my friends, I told them that they needed to stop shooting the cat because it hadn’t done anything to them.  However, they had already gotten used to trying to shoot a moving target, so guess where their crosshairs turned to next?  That’s right, I got real used to dodging enemy fire that day.  I’m just glad none of them were good shots or had guns strong enough to shoot as far as I ran.

                Why do I tell you this story?  Well, as I was running from my friends, I couldn’t help but think “This is not what I had in mind when I spoke up.  I was only doing the right thing and this is what I get for it?”  “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Now, I’ll admit that saving a cat may not be the most righteous of acts, but you get the idea.  Do you know what the primary complaint that I hear from people who are struggling with their faith is?  I hear many folks say that they didn’t know that it was going to be so hard to be a Christian in this world.  They didn’t expect persecution; they didn’t expect hatred from the world around them.  We mentioned last Sunday that the world many times laughs at calling Christians peacemakers because Christians seem to be the ones who don’t let peace happen.  Also, remember that peace, as far as we Christians are concerned, is much more than simply the absence of conflict.  Paul, writing to the younger Timothy, encouraged him by reminding him on the presence of persecution.  Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3 saying, “You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.  Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

                Now, I’m going to take some time next Sunday and go through some of the persecutions and conflicts that we face in this life and in our society today, so I don’t want to give everything away today.  However, I want you to either follow along in your Bibles or just listen as I read these words from Matthew 10:16-25.  “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.  Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.  When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.  For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.  Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name's sake.  But the one who endures to the end will be saved.  When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.  A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.  It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.  If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.”

                You see, anyone who doesn’t know that persecution is part of the Christian life, part of this blessed life, simply hasn’t been paying attention.  Numerous times throughout his earthly ministry, most notably in the text that we just read, Jesus told his disciples that persecution is going to happen.  We’ve already seen that it was part of the Apostle Paul’s teaching.  We spent a great deal of time reading and looking closely at the book of Acts a while back.  We walked through the history of the establishment of the early church.  If you will recall, during that look, persecution was the norm for what the apostles faced.  The second half of Acts 5 tells the story of the apostles being arrested and beaten (flogged) in front of the crowds.  They weren’t treated as such because they opposed God, but because they were speaking and teaching and preaching in the name of Jesus.  You see, it was because of the name of Jesus that the apostles faced hardships.  I was because of the name of Jesus that Stephen was put to death.  It was because of the name of Jesus that Paul was persecuted at almost every moment of his life.  It is because of the name of Jesus that so many Christian martyrs are put to death each year.  It is because of the name of Jesus that we are under attack today.  Folks are fine with agreeing that there is some higher power out there who is over all things.  Some are even alright with attaching the name God to this higher power.  However, it is when we bring Jesus, as the Son of God, into the equation that things start to get a little uneasy.  It’s then when those folks start pointing to Christians and saying that we are the divisive ones who just can’t get along or play well with others.

                Look, we all know that we go through hardships in life.  They are a part of life whether we like it or not.  However, are you suffering just in general or are you suffering for the name of Christ?  Is your suffering an earthly one or are you suffering for as Jesus called it “righteousness’ sake”?  Is your suffering because of your faith?  People get sick.  People die.  Those are natural sufferings.  What I’m talking about is if you are suffering for the glorification of God’s kingdom and the spread of his gospel.  I’ll be honest with y’all, I’ve lost a lot of friends over the past few years of my life.  If you’ve got any unwanted friends in your life I know how to get rid of them.  Tell them that you’re going to become a pastor.  Tell them that you have felt God place a specific calling upon your life and that you will spend the rest of your life leading God’s people however he calls you.  Now, I know that not everyone is called into pastoral ministry, but even if you tell someone that you have made a newer and deeper commitment to Christ, some people will try and drop you like a bad habit.  You see, we’re all called into ministry.  Martin Luther referred to this as the priesthood of all believers.  “Whoever comes out of the water of baptism can boast that he is already a consecrated priest, bishop, and pope, although of course it is not seemly that just anybody should exercise such office….There is no true, basic difference between laymen and priests….except for the sake of office and work, but not for the sake of status.”

                I talk to a lot of people throughout the week via social media, text messaging, and email that have all known me for quite a while.  They knew me prior to my call to ministry and so they have seen the sort of two periods of my life, the pre-pastoral and pastoral stages of my life.  They often share stories with me about friendships that get severed and lost because of one growing in their faith and their love for the gospel while the other grows more in their consumption of the world.  Like I said, I’m going to really get into the opposition that exists between our culture and our faiths next Sunday, but I think this one example will help us in clarifying what it means to suffer for righteousness’ sake.  One of my friends confided in me that he and someone who was in his wedding were no longer friends because of a recent discovery that his friend had as to his being a homosexual.  Nothing divisive happened between them, but my friend just thought that for the sake of his relationship with the Lord that he didn’t need to spend all that time around this non-repentant sinner.  He would love to witness to him, to exemplify that being a peacemaker that we saw last Sunday, but that’s not what his friend wants.  His friend wants to act like nothing has changed except for instead of his being married to his wife; he’s now divorced and dating men.  My friend’s stance, which he made clear to his friend, caused all the friendship to stop.  His newly realized homosexual friend began to hurl insults at him and degrade him and call him everything under the sun except a nice guy.  Mutual friends of theirs began to hate my friend for being so closed-minded that he would turn his back on his friend because of what some book says.  Obviously anyone who can look at Scripture as just some book isn’t a heart that has heard the call of God and run to him yet.  But as my friend was telling me this story, he said, “I was just trying to follow God’s commands.  I was just trying to do the right thing.”  Immediately my mind went back to that cat coming out of that abandoned building.

                When you stand for righteousness, when you stand for the gospel, how comfortable are you?  Or let me put it like this, are you having rocks thrown at you or bb’s shot at you when you stand close to Jesus.  Now, in our country today, these things rarely literally happen, but you get what I mean.  If you’re so comfortable in your faith that you don’t feel persecuted, that you don’t feel even just the slightest bit at odds with the world around you, then maybe you’re not as close to Jesus as you think.  Now, I’m not trying to tell everyone that they’re wrong in their faiths.  What I’m trying to get across is that if you don’t feel persecution from the outside world, then something isn’t right.  If you don’t feel like this broken, fallen, and sinful world is at odds with what you believe in your heart to be right and true, then you have to ask yourself if you truly understand the gospel.  Like I said, we’re going to get into the contrast between this blessed life that we’ve spent the past two months looking at and the successful life as the world defines it next Sunday.  But in the meantime, I want all of you to take this list of eight things and to think them over.  Do I mourn my sin?  Do I long for Jesus above all other things?  Do I extend mercy?  Am I persecuted by a world that looks different than me or am I just another part of the world?  And I want you to bring those answers with you next Sunday as we conclude this series on the Beatitudes.  You see, a blessed life doesn’t necessarily mean successful life in terms of wealth and fame.  It doesn’t mean easy life.  It can be those things, but it doesn’t have to be.  The Blessed life means a life that is filled by God, and that is a life that puts us directly at odds with all the sin of the world that surrounds us every day.  But just know, that in that persecution, that is where true blessedness lies.  “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:9 "Blessed are the Peacemakers"

                “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”  When I read these words my mind immediately goes to two places.  The first is the old single action Colt .45 revolver (commonly called the peacemaker), but that’s not what this text is about obviously.  The second (and more applicable) place that my mind goes is, what does it mean to be a peacemaker?  Now, what is unique about this particular word that is translated almost universally in all English versions of Scripture as peacemaker is that this is the only usage of this word as it exists in the entire New Testament.  It has as its root, the word for peace (which is used much more frequently).  But this word peacemaker literally means one who makes or extends peace; one who declares God’s terms for someone becoming whole.  To be whole is to be at peace, but we’ll flush that out a little more in just a second.  Now, so often we think of peace as simply being the absence of strife.  Y’all we had a long week this past week at our house.  Amy and I both had a fair amount of hectic scheduling and work to get done and all we wanted at times was peace, the absence of strife.  If one child wanted something then we just wanted the others to roll over and give it to them.  Basically we wanted a lack of conflict.  Well, the biblical definition of peace (shalom in the Old Testament and eirene in the New Testament) is something much more active.  It’s something much more complex than simply the absence of strife or disagreement.  Maybe thinking of that single-action revolver is getting more at the definition than I thought it was.

                Shalom, a word that we’ve probably all heard before, doesn’t just mean that there is no present conflict.  Shalom is more than just simply peace; it is a complete peace.  It is a feeling of contentment, completeness, wholeness, well-being, and harmony.  It is a peace that doesn’t sit back and wait, but a peace that is proactive and reaching out to someone to draw them in to a state of completeness or wholeness.  “Greatly filled or greatly contented by God are those who seek the wholeness of others, for they shall be called children of God.”  Those who fit this term peacemakers are not just those who are content themselves but those who are actively seeking peace, contentment for others.  They are actively seeking out those whom they can help with reconciling their relationships with God and other people.  These are the people who will be called sons of God, or children of God as some manuscripts have it.

                You don’t even have to turn the page of your Bibles for many of you.  I want you to glance over at Matthew 5:43-48.  Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons [children] of your Father who is in heaven.  For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?  Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  Now, I know that a lot of you when you read this text tend to get hung up on the word perfect, but I want you to set that aside for now.  This is a call that Jesus makes in his expounding upon the Beatitudes to love our enemies just as much as we love our friends.  However, this isn’t the type of love that has us feeling warm and fuzzy for them, this is a different type of love.  This is a love that calls us to pray for them, to want their well-being, and to hope for them to be blessed.  It’s that sense that we may never really like someone, but we would never wish evil on them, or would we?  Dr. R.C. Sproul says of Christian love that it “is a principle of action rather than of emotion.  It is a matter of doing things for people out of compassion for them.  It is by their active love to one another that [followers of Jesus] can be recognized.”  Are you getting it?  Loving our neighbors, being peacemakers, can’t be something that is passive, it must be active.

                You see, we all want for ourselves to prosper and for our enemies to suffer or perish.  Some of you are sitting there say, “Look, I don’t know who you think I am, but I don’t have enemies.”  Well, let me put it this way.  I was running in my neighborhood one afternoon and almost got hit by a bus; not my car but my person.  The bus came around the corner so fast that it jumped the curb and came about 2 feet from running over me.  I was so mad that after my run I called the TPSD transportation office and reported the bus and demanded that they start putting police in my neighborhood while the buses were running.  Now, not too long before that I was upset at the police presence in my neighborhood because I got caught running a stop sign.  You see, I wanted the police there to catch someone else, but I didn’t want them there to catch me.

                You know it’s funny when we speak about the call for Christians to be peacemakers.  You see, to much of the outside world we are anything but the promoters of peace.  “You Christians are so divisive.  We were all getting along just fine until you guys showed up.  We could all agree to disagree until y’all showed up with your ‘Jesus is the only way’ stuff.”  You see, the world doesn’t view peace as we view it.  The world views peace the way that I mentioned earlier, by simply viewing it as the absence of conflict.  The world views love (as in loving our enemies) as complete acceptance without any expectations or disagreements.  However, that’s neither what biblical peace nor biblical love looks like at all.  In fact, that’s sort of what destruction looks like.  The Irish-born Edmund Burke famously said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”  Now, Burke had no theological assertions in mind when he made this statement, but I think it fits in with the world’s view of peace and love.  You know, the view that seeks to just not rock the boat and keep the peace; i.e. no strife.  There are times when, contrary to what we may think, love means having to be honest and open with someone even when we know they don’t want to hear it.  Sometimes we have to say some harsh and hurtful things to be peacemakers, to extend peace and declare God’s terms for becoming whole and complete.  Sometimes we have to tell someone that they have a problem.  Sometimes we have to tell them that they’re hurting other people, drinking way too often, or that they’re going down a dark path.

                I want to take some time and ask some questions that for some of you will hurt.  Others among you will get angry at me for even asking or suggesting what I’m going to.  Think about you enemies.  Ok, you won’t admit that you have enemies, let me phrase it another way.  Think about those people in your life that you want to suffer.  Think about that person who you feel has done you wrong who you can’t stand.   Think about that person that when you see them and think about them you just think to yourself, “If the rest of the world could see you the way that I see you then they would despise you just like I do.”  Do we all have at least one person mind now?  If you’re like me, then you’ve got a couple in mind.  Now let me ask you this:  have you prayed for that person lately.  Have you spoken to God and said, “Lord, meet them where they are and bless them, reconcile them to yourself, give them this peace, this shalom that makes them complete.  Lord if I can be of service to you in redeeming this person please use me as you will.”  Notice that I’m not saying that we pray for them to have everything they want but everything that they need in order to be filled by God.  All of the people whom I consider my enemies are people who are actively seeking the destruction of the gospel, many of whom I don’t even know.  Of course I don’t want them to get everything they want, but I want God to give them what they need.  I want him to open up their eyes and reconcile them to himself.

                Now, that’s my enemies.  What about yours?  Maybe yours is like mine, or maybe it’s someone much more personal.  Maybe it’s that friend that said something behind your back.  Maybe it’s that family member who you feel has wronged you?  Maybe it’s that spouse that just doesn’t seem to measure up to what you want?  Maybe it’s even a child that just won’t stop causing you problems at home.  Whoever it may be, have you prayed for that person?  Have you earnestly sought that person’s well-being?  Have you honestly sought for them to experience this contentment, this completeness, this shalom, this deep and all-encompassing peace?  Look, I can hear it now.  “Tommy, there is no way I could ever pray for this person even if I wanted to, and it’s just not going to happen.”  I get the sentiment, I really do.  I get something or someone being so awful from where we sit that we shudder to think of helping them at all, much less being active in their restoration.  However, I also thank God that he didn’t take a similar view when it came to us.

                I can promise you that there isn’t a person alive that any of us have more reasons to dislike than God has to be disappointed with every single one of us.  You think what that person did to you was bad?  Try being God and watching how you stray from him so much that you don’t even do it consciously.  You think that relative isn’t even worth your time?  Think about how much more awful we would be if God took the same view.  Friends, I know it’s hard to pray for someone that you don’t like.  Every day that I read something on the internet about ISIS it’s hard for me to pray for restoration and not retaliation.  When I see that the Freedom from Religion Foundation has stirred up some new mess it’s hard for me to ask God to redeem them and not wreck them.  You see, it’s a tough thing to seek peace actively.  It’s a tough thing to love all of our neighbors and pray for our enemies.  Anyone can do nothing and like their friends and those similar to them.  However, that’s not what Jesus is calling us to do.

                This entire series that we’ve been studying is about how to live the blessed life.  It’s about how to live a life that is greatly filled by God.  It’s about how to live a life that is so complete and so wholly and holy.  They way that we do that is by following Christ.  The way that we do that is by placing our own selves aside and seeking the righteousness of Christ first and foremost.  Is it tough?  Absolutely!  Is it impossible?  Well, on our own it is.  Even if we have a group that is committed to going at this together it’s impossible.  If this entire church committed to living out these Beatitudes and we all agreed to keep each other accountable, we would still fail in our endeavor.  However, with Christ, there is a chance.  With Christ and through Christ, there is no limit to what can be done.  The elements on this table before us represent that very promise.  These elements represent the means by which the righteousness and suffering of Christ become our reality.  In just a few moments we will partake of these elements that sit before us.  The bread and the cup represent Jesus’ being a peacemaker for us.  They represent his redeeming us, reconciling us to God, and his making us whole.  As we partake of them in just a moment, I want us to realize just how thankful each of us ought to be that Jesus didn’t just stop at the absence of conflict, but that he sought actively to restore us before the Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:8 "Blessed are the Pure in Heart"

                “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”  Well, as a means of beginning our look at this Beatitude, let’s do a bit of word study here shall we?  We’ve said that the word blessed means to be content, happy, or fully and greatly filled by God.  Next, the word pure; it means to be clean, unstained, undivided, guiltless, innocent, or upright.  We all know what purity is.  Purity is the presence of only what is supposed to be there and no trace of anything else.  If we were to drink completely pure water (which oddly enough cannot be achieved), then it would be water that is completely made up of water molecules with nothing else in it.  The next word that I want us to see is the word heart.  Now, the Greek word for heart is kardia, which we can easily connect with the word cardiac.  However, in the Greek world of this time, the heart was something much more than an organ (actually a muscle) that pumped blood to the rest of your body.  This word kardia meant not only heart, but mind, character, inner self, will, intention, or center.  In essence, the heart was seen as the central character of a person.  Their heart was who they were at their core, in every fiber of their being.  So, Jesus is saying here that “greatly filled by God are those who are completely guiltless and undivided in their core, in all that they are, because they will see God.”  Well, what does that mean?

                I want to take a moment and speak to the severity of this Beatitude.  You know, it’s one thing to be outwardly pure and to always make the right external choice, but it’s a whole different matter to be pure of heart, to be completely undivided between obedience and sin.  Mind you, this Beatitude, this statement from Jesus on how to live a Godly life, doesn’t say blessed are the pure in public, but blessed are the pure in heart, where we can’t see.  It’s not about just doing the right thing, following God’s will, but it’s about not even considering the wrong thing.  It’s about sin and disobedience to God never even being entertained in our minds; not even for one second.  I want to make my job this morning a little more difficult and I want to take you back to the prophet Jeremiah, to Jeremiah 17:9.  The prophet says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?  ‘I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.’”  Now, let that sink in for just a moment.  Jeremiah is telling us that off all the things of this world, the heart, the center of a person, is the most deceitful and corrupt thing there is.  Also, that God can see through all things to find what is truly in someone’s heart.  Now, how in the world can we read here that the heart is so wicked and deceitful and divided and sinful and yet be told by Jesus that it ought not to be?  How can we reconcile the notion that Jesus calls us to be completely pure and obedient in our hearts with the fact that Jeremiah says that the heart is the thing most incapable of such obedience and purity?  I mean, surely Jesus isn’t telling us to do something that we can’t do is he?  That would be a pretty lousy thing to throw out there wouldn’t it?  To set a standard that is not just seemingly unattainable but literally unachievable in order for us to see God.

                I want you to listen to some of the words that David puts forth in Psalm 51.  He says, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse [purify] me from my sin (1-2)…Create in me a clean [pure] heart and renew a right spirit within me.”  Now this call of David to create within himself a pure heart uses the same word used in Genesis 1:1 of the creation of the heavens and the earth.  In other words, David was acknowledging the truth of Jeremiah’s statement (obviously well before Jeremiah himself spoke it) and saying that he needed God to create something in him that he was incapable of creating himself.  He didn’t just need God to come in and help him straighten up a bit, but to create something new that didn’t exist within David.  He knew that no matter what practices or habits he had in place or how noble his efforts, he could not create for himself a pure heart.  He could create something that on the outside looked pure, but he couldn’t change the inside.  So, I ask again, what hope do we have today of having pure hearts ourselves?  And again, surely Jesus wouldn’t set a standard that we can’t achieve?  Of course not, that’s what David just made clear.  He knew that God alone was capable of creating this pure heart within him.

                I want you to hear again the words of our call to worship, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?  And who shall stand in his holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.”  Being pure of heart means that you are in essence single-minded (and I don’t mean that in a bad way).   Being pure in heart means that you don’t lift your heart up to vain, fleeting things.  It means that you don’t lift your heart up to both God and something else.  The pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, Tim Keller, says that “If you need something in addition to God to make you happy, that is your true King.”  You see, Keller, in this statement, is getting to the heart of what it means to be pure in heart.  If there is one thing that we say that we can’t worship God without, then that one thing has (consciously or unconsciously) taken the place of God in our lives.  Look, I know it’s hard to say that we’re going to focus upon Jesus no matter what.  If you’ve had a chance to read the newsletter for this month already, then you probably can tell how much I’ve been wrestling with this notion all week.  I, like David in Psalm 51, know that I can’t do it.  I simply cannot create in myself a pure heart that seeks only God and the righteousness of his kingdom.  That’s why I have to cry out to him and beg him to come, send his Holy Spirit, and rip away all of the double-mindedness within me.  I have to ask God to strip away the things in my heart that cause me lose sight of him; both good and bad.  I have to ask him to not let my security and my selfish desires get in the way of obeying him just like I have to ask him to not let my love for my family and friends get in the way either.  Look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7, “I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband (32-34).”  Paul isn’t calling everyone to a life of singleness, but putting forth the truth about just how hard it is to serve and seek God alone.  We know it’s a tough thing; a thing that is only possible through Jesus Christ.

                Now, hoping that we’ve done a fair job of creating a vision for what it means to be pure in heart (or at least having seen how all-encompassing it is for someone to be so single-minded), I want to turn our attention to the blessing or promise of this Beatitude.  We are told that the pure in heart, “shall see God.”  Now, this word see could actually mean a litany of things.  It can be translated as to see, to look upon, or to experience.  Can you imagine such a reality?  To get to see, look upon, and experience God.  In other words, the pure in heart get to enjoy God, know God, and eventually be like Him (to a certain extent) forever in heaven.  You see, the heart that wants only for God will find Him.  The life that truly places God above all other things is a life that not only weathers all other storms, but is almost oblivious to them because they are so fixated upon God that everything else around them is of no consequence almost.

                The first time I met my mother-in-law was a bit of a disaster.  I was working at a church camp for a weekend when I was in college and my mother-in-law just happened to be with her church as a volunteer leader for that weekend, mind you that Amy was nowhere to be found.  We had only started dating a few weeks prior, but word had gotten out about our blossoming relationship.  Amy’s youth director from high school, a mutual friend, decided to call me over to introduce me to my girlfriend’s mother.  So nervous and so affixed upon getting to my destination and planning out all of the things that I wanted to say (or not say), I didn’t even notice the gigantic hole that was directly in my path.  I don’t have to tell you what happened other than I managed to walk away embarrassed but not injured.  You see, I was so focused upon getting to my now mother-in-law that I didn’t notice anything else around me.  When we fixate ourselves upon God and our obedience to him, we’re oblivious to the things around us.  We may walk away embarrassed or injured, but we won’t be worried about it.  The world may leave it’s scars, it may beat us up, but it is nothing compared to what our Savior endured.

                I don’t mean to make light of the single-mindedness that we are to have when follow Christ.  However, are we ever fully fixed upon him like we should be?  I don’t have time to go into like I would like to, but Romans 7 is a wonderful chapter for anyone to read who is struggling with the Christian life.  In Romans 7, the Apostle Paul, who many of us rightly look upon as the giant of biblical truth and Godly living, goes through and talks about his struggles.  He talks about how despite his wishes and desires, he finds himself in the midst of sin.  He finds himself unable to do what he wants to do and incapable of not doing the things he doesn’t want to do.  However, I want you to hear the final words of this chapter of Romans, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin (24-25).” 

                You see, there it is.  How do we become pure in heart?  We cry out to God how wretched we truly are.  We thanks God for Jesus Christ.  We thank him that through his death and resurrection that we are able to have the mind of Christ.  We thank him that we have been given a gift that is above anything that we could ever ask for.  We pray that we would be give minds that seek Christ and Christ alone.  That’s not to say that there cannot be enjoyment and satisfaction and contentment with many of the things of this world.  It is merely to say that the thing that drives us must be Christ, it must be God’s kingdom, the spread of the gospel, and the glorification of His name.  To give you Tim Keller’s statement again, “If you need something in addition to God to make you happy, that is your true King.”  Does that describe you?  Are their things in your life (family, financials, comfort, security, occupational struggles) that you have to have resolved in order to feel true happiness and joy?  If so, there is no way that you can become pure in heart, single-minded towards God, until you cry out to God to remove them from His rightful place in your life.  However, all of these things ultimately end with the passing of this life, but our being single-minded for God ends in our experiencing Him for all eternity.  Doesn’t seem like a tough choice does it?  Then what’s stopping us from seeking only God this day?

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.