Blessed are the...

One of my favorite passages of Scripture is the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7). I love it because, as our Pastor Ben preached last Sunday morning, it turned the world upside down. Ben's sermon covered the Beatitudes. The English word Beatitude is derived from the Latin beātitūdō, which can  be translated roughly "perfect happiness." The Gospel according to Matthew, like the rest of the New Testament, was written in Greek, so what we have in our English Bibles has been translated from Ancient Greek, and sometimes something may be lost in translation. The word translated "blessed" derives from the Greek word μακάριος (makarios) which means something like "supremely happy" or "to be congratulated." Sorry for the detour into linguistic nerdiness, but I want to help you understand what I am writing about today. 

As Ben spoke about the Beatitudes this morning, he made the point that they are not a list of virtues. That is to say spiritual poverty or mourning are not something to strive for; they are things that are part of the human condition. He went on to say they are not a collection of commandments; for example we are not to seek out persecution for its own sake. My mind followed what Ben was saying and the Lord gave me a new vision in my heart of the Beatitudes as they apply to my own life. So, here goes. 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (verse 3)

What does poor in spirit mean? Another way to express this phrase might be "spiritual poverty." Scripture teaches that a man is made up of body (the physical, mortal part), soul (the immortal, animating part that makes him a living being), and spirit (the consciousness that makes him a unique person). Spiritual poverty, as I see it, is the state of having a downtrodden spirit, one that makes consciousness unpleasant or even painful. How can being poor in spirit, then be a blessing? In my case, I went through a long stretch of my life trying to gratify my own longings, sometimes at the expense of others. I was living in a spiritual desert, and medicating myself with addictions to sensual "pleasures," which didn't cut the mustard. 

I now know that my spiritual poverty was a blessing, because it ultimately brought me to the end of myself, the the point of hopelessness, to the point where my only hope was to concede defeat and look outside of myself for salvation. That's when I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ, the King of kings. That's when I entered the kingdom of heaven; when I began to give homage to the King of heaven. 

 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." (verse 4)

When we suffer loss, we mourn. It doesn't matter whether the loss is great, like losing a loved one, or small, like losing our car keys or having our favorite sports team lose the big game, or personal like regretting all the times I fell short of God's glorious plan for my life. You have mourned for something. Made a bad decision? Had a failed relationship? Lost the big promotion? Felt bad for the way you treated someone else? We mourn all of these things. Sometimes, we find that we even mourn when our circumstances improve. When Jill and I were first married, we had some struggles in building our relationship. We were both better off in a number of ways, but we also had lost some things: our independence, our previous routines. Whether we admit it or not, we all mourn any significant change in our lives. 

So, how is mourning a blessing? One of the great lessons of my current illness is that, no matter how bleak things may seem to be, "God will never leave you nor forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5) I recall my first couple of nights alone in a hospital bed as the reality began to sink in that I had leukemia. It was startling. It was terrifying. It changed everything. I was in mourning. But in those hours, the love and faithfulness of Christ enveloped me. I slept better than I have in years. He gave me insights I might not have gained in any other way. In short, He comforted me. And He continues to comfort me day by day in ways I couldn't have imagined, when my life was untouched by this life changing illness. As I mourned the loss of my health, He was blessing me.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." (verse 5)

Some synonyms for "meek" are forbearing, uncomplaining, unassuming, pacific, calm, obedient,  timid, soft, yielding. I think if you were simply to use the word "humble,"  it would capture the connotation most often attached to this word. The Lord Jesus is sometimes referred to as "Jesus meek and mild." In the Apostle Paul's letter to the church in Philippi, he writes, 

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:4-7)  

In other words, Jesus, who came as God in the flesh, chose to set aside His godly powers and instead live as a mere  human, and not only as a human, but as a servant. He was by His own choice "meek and mild." Meekness is a character trait that a person may aspire to, but I think in this Beatitude it refers to persons who may be meek for many reasons: an accident of birth into a socio-economic class; a person who has been degraded by life circumstances, an uneducated person, perhaps, or one, like me, who has come to the end of himself and turns to the Lord.

The meek, i.e, the humble, who submit to the will of God may not have many possessions, but they are heirs with Christ to God's kingdom. The earth is God's kingdom now at hand, and one day there will be a new heaven and a new earth for those who trust in the Lord. I have been blessed with many blessings, including some material wealth, a loving family, dear friends, but all of these are temporal things that might be taken away from me, and I would be powerless to stop that. As an heir of the kingdom of heaven, however, I know that I shall inherit the kingdom in the now and in the not yet, by which I mean a place on earth now and in the new earth yet to come.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." (verse 6)

After decades of hungering and thirsting for the trappings of this world, fame, fortune, earthly pleasures, and having achieved most of those things to a greater or lesser degree, I can say without reservation that I wasted a lot of time pursuing the wrong "blessings." I realize now that my hunger and thirst could never be satisfied by those temporal things. But righteousness does satisfy. I do not mean self-righteousness or piety or trying to live a perfect life. I mean righteousness. The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth

For our sake he [God the Father] made him [God the Son, Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21 emphasis added)

Scripture tells us that all of my "righteous" deeds are as filthy rags when compared to those of Christ, and yet Christ died on a cross bearing the guilt for my sins, all so that I might become as righteous in the sight of the Father as Jesus Himself. The only truly righteous man who ever lived was Jesus of Nazareth. Since I began to hunger and thirst for Jesus, I have never been disappointed in Him. He satisfies my soul.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy." (verse 7)

Mercy, what is mercy? Here's how I learned it: Mercy is not getting what you do deserve; grace is getting something you don't deserve. Suppose you were convicted of a crime, but the person you wronged dismissed the "charges." That would be an act of mercy (you didn't get the punishment you deserved). Now suppose you were convicted and sentenced to punishment, and a stranger comes forward and takes the punishment in your place. That would be grace (getting something you don't deserve).

Did you ever go about trying to get revenge for a wrong (real or perceived) done you by someone else? If you succeeded in avenging the wrongdoing, did it make your situation any better? Did you feel good about yourself? Someone has said, "Unforgiveness is like taking poison and hoping the other person will die." Forgiveness is an act of mercy that we give to someone who has harmed us.

The beauty of God's kingdom is that the Lord offers us both. In Romans chapter three, the Apostle wrote, "...all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (3:23) In other words we are all guilty of sin. He also wrote, "The wages [sentence] of [for] sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life (6:23) (mercy: we don't get the punishment we deserve) through Christ Jesus our Lord (grace: He died on a cross in payment for our sin debt. We get something we don't deserve: eternal life instead of death, which is the penalty for sin.)"

In my lifetime I have spent many fruitless days looking for a way to get even with someone who did me wrong. But when I recognized God's mercy in not giving me what I deserve, I realized that revenge, like all worldly pursuits doesn't lead to peace. It leads to escalation of the hostilities. But mercy breeds mercy. Besides, even if the other fellow doesn't choose mercy, who am I to complain, when God has shown me immeasurable mercy in forgiving all my transgressions. 

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (verse 8)

What does it mean to be pure in heart? Later in chapter 5, Matthew gives us a clue:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ ²² But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire."

Whoa! That's pretty harsh! Jesus is really telling us here that the condition of our hearts is as important as our actions. Maybe I have never taken someone's life, but I can tell you that I have been angry enough to insult people, yes and even call them fools. Anger is one of the emotions that God gives us. Emotions are real, but I am learning that they are more like alerts than calls to action. 

Strong emotions like anger or hatred should cause me to pause and assess the situation, so I can gain a rational understanding of my circumstances. When I do, when I look at the situation from both sides, I usually find that my anger is really based in fear. This is the time when I need to turn to the Lord for mercy to share. He tells us dozens of times in Scripture, "have no fear" or "do not be afraid." Why? Because "I will never leave you nor forsake you." 

Jesus is the only man ever to live a sinless life, and yet He has paid for my countless sins, so that I might have the righteousness of God, that is a pure heart. There is no other way I could have a pure heart. The pure in heart are those who have surrendered to Jesus. In John's Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." (John 14:9) If I have "seen" Jesus, truly seen Him, that is if I have laid claim to His promise that He has forgiven me and cleansed me of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9), then He has given me a pure heart, and my experience already tells me that I have seen God in myriad blessings, not to mention in the promise that one day I will dwell with Him forever!

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." (verse 9)

Who are the peacemakers? Many a peace treaty has been written. Do they all bring peace? I think the countless wars that have plagued mankind since Cain murdered Abel will pretty much answer that question. So, who are the peacemakers? If I have been able to bring you along on this journey through the Beatitudes, perhaps you will see that peacemakers are those who purvey grace and mercy to others. 

As I see it there is peace and there is Peace. Peace [small p] is what we proclaim when the guns of war are silenced; Peace is a calm heart, a pure heart, a heart that sees others as my brothers and sisters who are facing the same struggles I do and choosing to love them and not to despise them, or worse, ignore them. The ability to purvey this kind of Peace comes from a heart surrendered to the Lord. And Scripture tells me that when I repent of my pigheadedness and admit that I have "fallen short of the glory of God," then turn myself around to be guided by Him, I am an adopted son of God and a fellow heir with Christ to His kingdom.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (verse 10)

I thank God that there is very little persecution of those who choose to follow Jesus in the USA. But I also recognize that there is significant animosity that has built up in my lifetime toward Christians. Worldwide, people are put to death for their faith in Jesus. Why is that so? In part it is because we fallen humans, even when we claim an identity in Christ, still struggle with our selfishness and fear at times. When we do, we don't reflect Jesus, and the world sees a counterfeit Jesus, one who is mean-spirited and judgmental. But when we stand for righteousness, that is, the true Jesus. Things can even get worse. 

The Apostle Paul wrote:

"...we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm." (Ephesians 6:12-13) 

Whether we choose to believe it or not, every person on earth is engaged in a spiritual war between good and evil; in fact, between God and evil, personified by Satan. Jesus said that Satan is "a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:44)  The further our culture drifts from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the more susceptible we become to the lies of Satan. One of those lies is that Jesus is a hateful character, because He reminds us of our sin and what it costs us. In fact, if Jesus hates anything, it is sin, because it hurts those He loves, including "sinners." 

I have already mentioned above that our righteousness comes only from Jesus. Now I will say that those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake are already in the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is wherever God reigns as king whether here on earth in the heart of a man, or in the not yet in heaven above. I am blessed by Jesus' provision for me to live in His kingdom. I don't desire to be persecuted, but if that is my lot, it is a small price to pay for "the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." (Philippians 3:8)

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (verses 11-12)

Here Jesus concludes the Beatitudes with a further reminder that His followers may find themselves on the receiving end of some of the lies of Satan at the hands of those who reject God's offer of citizenship in His kingdom. Christians can expect to be hated, because the world first hated Jesus. I am blessed that I have not experienced much of this first hand.  But I rejoice at the thought that, if I were to fall victim to a barrage of false accusations because of my faith in Christ, and even if I were persecuted for things I didn't do, to be compared to the Old Testament prophets is to be included in some pretty heady company.

I am so blessed that Pastor Ben started me thinking about what the Beatitudes have to do with my own life. It has given me an opportunity to reflect on how supremely blessed I truly am.  

*https://www.dictionary.com/browse/mercy 

**https://www.dictionary.com/browse/grace