The Beatitudes Part 4

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

This is yet another analogy that Jesus draws to paint a picture of people who desire to become a part of his kingdom. Hunger and thirst are two very human desires and ones that are at the basis of our lives. We need food and drink to survive and those who truly thirst or are hungry are willing to do almost anything to be fulfilled. It is in this way that Jesus is describing the starvation or deprivation of the human spirit. The empty bellies that hunger for love, compassion and acceptance. Righteousness is often seen as being pompous or arrogant with your faith. We see righteous people as those who look down on the world with pious eyes. They see everyone as lower or less of a Christian then themselves. This of course is not what Jesus is referring to here. It is the perfect love and forgiveness that makes us clean before God. What we thirst after is the fulfilling living water that Jesus described in the parable of the woman at the well, the water that will quench our thirst forever. It is a hunger for truth that brings us to the foot or the cross. Our starvation is due to a lack of a connection to our God and his love. Our own sin and that of the world has cast us into a place of poverty that causes us to search out fulfillment. We often find it with in the bounds of the world. Many times our thirst is quenched by things that are fleeting and therefore we end up where we started. When our quest is for Jesus and in this case his righteousness, we can be quenched forever.

It is also important to look at the people Jesus was addressing here because he was inviting them to drink from the well. Christ was letting the multitude present that day hear the truth of what lies ahead for them even after he is gone. He is making a promise to them, saying I will not forget you. Jesus is reassuring the people who are aching for a messiah that they have in fact found him and that soon they will all be set free. In attendance that day was followers of Christ, cynics, and I imagine several curious observers. Jesus knew in all of them regardless of there motive for coming were hungry for something. Some were hungry for love, acceptance, truth, compassion, healing, and he was offering a way to fulfill all of these needs. He used a simple analogy of hunger and thirst because it was universal. The unique thing is that his solution to their problem was exclusive to the Gospel. It was the good news that he was presenting that would satisfy the hunger and thirst of all who were in attendance that day.

In many ways our society has tried everyway possible to fulfill our thirst and hunger for just about everything. Whether it is fast food or high speed internet we have a way to get instant satisfaction. We have a channel now for everything we could possibly be interested in and a media outlet for just about all views and ideas. The problem is we still are searching for fulfillment. Our souls are still looking for something to give us sustenance. As Christians many of us feel unfulfilled despite having been saved. We search out churches, denominations, doctrines, theologies; self help books and just about every other concept we can get our hands on to find that food for our hungry soul. The problem is we can look everywhere and we will never find what our heart desires. Jesus said those who search for righteousness will find it through him. He is clear in what we have to do in order to be hungry no longer. It is a running theme throughout his life and ministry. Drink the living water and never thirst again. The fulfillment is the perfection of his love and the awesome power of his grace. It is our ability to enter his kingdom and do so cleanly before God. This is something we must remember before we run off to find the next great book that will tell us how to be fulfilled as Christians. Jesus made it quite clear. We can relax a bit because if we are Christians we have received that fulfillment through grace. The key is now we must surrender ourselves to him so that we can actually experience that feeling of being full. The longer we try and find it on our own the longer we will not realize it is already inside of us.

Amen

The Beatitudes Part 3

Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

The word meek according to Webster’s Dictionary has three meanings:

1 : enduring injury with patience and without resentment
2 : deficient in spirit and courage
3 : not violent or strong

None of these meanings are very attractive to most people. These are not qualities that one would seem to desire let alone would they expect god to bless them for. We live in a “Me” society where strength, courage, pride and self promotion are taught as key to success. Yet here in the third Beatitude, Christ says that the meek will inherit the earth? Though the opposite of the meek is what the world expects of great men and leaders Christ was not. He was the definition of meek. He was patient while enduring injury with no resentment for his pain, instead he forgave. Now Jesus was certainly not deficient in spirit or lacking courage, although in a worldly sense he surely was. To those who did not understand who Christ was, he died in vein. They felt is he was the true son of God he would have fought for his life, thus showing courage. So in essence he was a coward to those who prescribe to the world’s view of courage. Finally Jesus was certainly not violent in his approach nor did he do things with strength. He chose to come to the world with love and a gentle spirit. While he did speak an uncompromising gospel, it was never done in a way that was to hurt or destroy. Jesus spoke life and challenged others to do so as well.

In this verse Jesus is urging us to follow in his footsteps and be meek. He is explaining why this is a virtue to embrace despite the obvious contradiction of human behavior. It is a challenge to live in the world but not of it. This lifestyle is one that is seen as failing or non competitive. This is not a good business model or even a plan for most career minded people. To be meek is not something that most people grow up striving for. We are not taught to endure with patience without resentment. Instead we are taught to learn from our pain and use the injury as motivation to get ahead of those who hurt us. There are plenty of books and self help courses that teach us to be self reliant. To never show weakness and to win at all costs. Courage is a word used to describe solders and others who are physically strong and willing die for others. While laying down ones life for others is a Christian principle, to do so out of pride for your own strength is not. The Christian version of courage is known as agape or unconditional love. Loving your neighbors despite of how they have treated you. It is forgiving your enemies and loving them more then you did yesterday. This is the courage of Jesus but not in the world’s eyes. To love your enemy who hurts you is seen as foolish and weak. The world’s way to courage is through violence, pride and great strength. It is the individual rising above the average and saving the day. We often compare soldiers and athletes the same way because while both representing a collective group their individual accolades are what defines courage. With Christ it is the ability to show love, endure suffering and loving people no matter the cost.

So now that we understand who the meek are, why do they inherit the earth? I can only imagine Christ is speaking of the earth in a heavenly sense. It is the new earth that will come once this one passes away. The reason for this inheritance is that we as a body will reign with Christ on earth for eternity. Is this really a job for the meek? Can these weak individuals really be counted on? Of course! The meek are those who speak life, live peacefully with their neighbors and serve others. They are the ones who put others before themselves and are humble. As Christians we are called to live our lives separate of the world’s ways, to not seek the rewards of man but the blessings of God. If we are to inherit his new earth we also must live accordingly on this one. Like the song states “They will know we are Christians by our love.” They will not know us by our physical strength, our monetary value or our vast amounts of personal achievements. Our lives are to be of service to God and to our neighbors. In this me first society we can easily lose sight of why Christ said what he said. Sure hard work is good and should be rewarded but why are you working so hard? Is it because you wish to get ahead, be the best and win the game? Or is it because you wish to please God, help others and use your rewards to better those around you? Are you a servant or a master? This is a question we must ask because it is essential to living out the life Christ taught us to lead. Our individualistic society is based on pride and self reliance. The Christian life is based on community, service and love. These are principles that the world is not built upon because sin has corrupted it. The only way we can avoid falling victim to this pattern of selfishness is to rely on others. We must return to our community of believers as well as put our trust in God who gives us our spiritual strength. This is a strength that is not like our understanding of the word. It is not a power that can help us defeat enemies through violent or physical means but a strength that comes from love. This love is pure, powerful and never ending. It is because of this that we must not be loners, taking on the world alone but servants of our king who has given us all we need to win our battles. In the end our reward is much greater than any worldly honor. Our blessings are the gift of salvation, the life everlasting and a place in the kingdom of God. Grace has given us this without even our slightest clue as how to live out Christ’s message and yet we must strive to do just that. Not to gain our place in heaven but to honor our loving and perfect savior.

May God bless us with compassion, humble hearts and peaceful live.

Amen

The Beatitudes Part 2

Matthew 5:4 blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

In this second Beatitude we find Christ address those who mourn. In the most basic sense one would assume he is talking about those who have lost loved ones or something dear to the. While I feel this is part of the equation, we must look at it from a different angle. Much like the first beatitude, the poor in spirit, and this verse also is dealing with those who are in spiritual poverty. Jesus is speaking to those who mourn because of there need for God. They are lost with out his love and grace. The souls weep because they have a need for Christ and know that their sins is what keeps them from him. It is this mourning along with the more physical version that Christ seems to be addressing here.

The idea of mourning for God is one that is somewhat abstract. It is hard to think we mourn for someone we have yet to meet, but because of sin we have lost connection to. This mourning of the spirit over God’s love is something that shows the power of that love. It is a love that draws us near and makes us realize our need for God. Now the sadness may not be felt on the service but in the spirit it is much different. I also feel that in a similar way God mourns us as when sin came into play we were separated from him as well. This verse really points out the drama that is played out between man and God. It is a love story that is often times very tragic but also always gives hope.

The reason Jesus was addressing the issue of sadness I believe was to show his true love for those listening that day. His compassion for those who are suffering because of a separation from there God was felt on that mountain. We must remember Christ had yet to die so therefore salvation was not completely available. He was giving them hope as to the fact that he, the Messiah, would be able to comfort that aching in their hearts. Therefore he was also letting them know that when he would be killed, they would mourn him, but there is hope. The hope that even though he was killed, he would return! It is in this way that this verse even takes on another meaning. It was as if Jesus was preparing those believers among the crowd for his death and eventual resurrection.

He states that those who mourn will be comforted. As many of us no when we are sad and going through a period of great loss, we want comfort. Whether it is in the form of a hug, food, a movie or something else, we desire comfort. I think of times when I have gone through hard times, I almost always have a pattern for mourning because in that routine is my comfort. So in this verse when I read those who mourn will be comforted it naturally makes me feel like God cares for me. Then when I looked further into it and realized it was also talking about spiritual mourning for God, well it really hit home. From a young age I had always been taught that grace is why we are saved and nothing else can make us whole. Knowing this and reading this verse make things much clearer. The fact that my soul was in mourning due to the separation from God because of sin made me truly amazing grace is.

This about the comfort he speaks of. It is not just a hallmark card saying I am sorry for your loss. It was a sacrifice of God’s only son to ransom the world from their own demise. The comfort is the fact that there is a free gift waiting for us that hold the key to eternal life and the relationship with God our souls long for. This comfort is much more than any we could imagine because it is so undeserved. It is something we could never earn, buy or obtain through earthly means. The beauty of Jesus was his ability to relate such a mind blowing thing as grace to the very human emotion of sadness and loss. As the song says “I was lost and now I am found” our relationship with God was lost due to sin but through Christ we are found. That is a comfort that can never be taken from us again, it is ours for ever. We should consider this when we think about why we are Christians? Are we grateful for that gift that brought our souls out of suffering and made us whole before God? Then when we are out living our Christian lives we must consider the souls of others. Those who are in mourning, both physical and spiritual, so that we can bring hope to them, remembering that it is comfort they seek not judgment or condemnation. May God continue to comfort you as you walk through life.

Amen

The Beatitudes Part 1

Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This is the first of the initial statements Jesus begins his sermon on the mount with. It is powerful sentence that is often quoted and talked about. To really understand this verse we must consider who are the poor in spirit? To be poor in spirit is to be humble, convinced of our need for God. It is a place of poverty that allows us to look beyond the riches of the world and to those that are heavenly. The poor Jesus is speaking of are those who know they are lost without him. These are people who seek to know God in a way that is beyond our widest imagination. This is the poverty of man, the want to be near to Christ. The poor in spirit know that grace is their redeeming factor and they are thankful for it. The term blessed means “happy” when translated from the Greek. So therefore the poor in spirit should be happy because they will inherit the kingdom. It is because of this humbleness or poverty that they may be saved.

When Jesus spoke these words he of course had not yet been crucified so it was important that he stress the importance of the poor in spirit. These would include all who were seeking the Messiah and those who would after he had gone. I believe that those in attendance that day would fall under the category poor in spirit as they came to hear the words of Jesus. The spirits of those listening that day must have been impoverished and crying out. I can only imagine the power of those words as they were preached. He not only tells them to be happy but to be happy because they will inherit the kingdom. They will be saved!

It is in this poverty that we must find ourselves because as followers of Christ. We must be diligent in our search for truth. The world around us is fixated on wealth, greed, and materialism but our wealth is in knowing we are saved from death. Our lives are transformed because of the power of Christ’s love not by man’s success. We are to be humble whether we have everything or nothing because it all is worthless without grace. We could be millionaires and yet without Grace we are just as poor as a homeless man. That is the essence of the poor in spirit, those who recognize their need for god, their poverty, and are humble enough to cast aside the things of this world.

I challenge all of us to think about this as they go through their week. We need to look at what we strive for in this life. Are we so proud of all we have accomplished? Or are we poor knowing it all means nothing without Christ? Maybe we should consider the blessings Jesus offers.. In our spirit we should never be rich, because we never can forget how poor we as humans really are without the love of Jesus Christ who blesses us.

Amen

Blessed are the Poor

The issue of poverty, both spiritual and physical, has been one of great importance in the history of Christianity. Jesus spoke about the poor often throughout the Gospels. We are told repeatedly that the poor are our responsibility yet the church often seems reluctant to except this task. Sure there are plenty of churches and ministries that do help the poor. The problem in that in our country we are so fixed on wealth and power that our efforts are often unseen. America is the richest country in world, and yet we have millions living in poverty. The gap between rich and poor is growing by leaps and bounds while the middle class is shrinking. We have millions of citizens without health care yet we seem to be obsessed with health issues. Every week there is a new disease or sickness affected us yet a large number of Americans can’t afford treatment. Where is the church in all of this?

Now we have political campaigns talking about health care and social issues that they claim to have answers for. Whether these candidates have real answers to these issues or not does not get Christians off the hook as far as our service to those in need. While the church can’t obviously provide health care for the 47 million of so Americans without insurance, we can be voice for their concerns. There are several ways we can be effective in providing help to the neediest in our country as well as around the world. This is not an issue of politics or partisan loyalty. It is a mandate by our Lord Jesus Christ to remember the poor and take care of each other. We are called to love our neighbors who would include those who need more than we do.

Too often we seem to just sit back and rely on the government to take care of the poor, the hungry and the least of these among us. We argue about which political party should be in power and what their responsibility to social issues should be. Some complain that their tax dollars shouldn’t go to people who don’t pull their weight while others feel everyone should support the lower classes in society by their taxes. Again, which ever side you are on in this debate, it is our responsibility as Christians to care for people. It has nothing to do with party lines, voting records or even paying taxes. We should not be waiting for the government to pick up and do something. Regardless of their commitment to the needy we should be setting the pace. The body of Christ is more powerful than any government program. We can change the world because we have Christ, not some legislation helping us. The church is the single best resource for aid that the world has ever known; unfortunately we are not using our gifts to their full potential. Much of this is because we have put the burden on the government.

Before you get defensive let me praise the church for work it is doing and has been doing for years. Our mission fields are full of selfless servants who are working to better the physical and spiritual lives of people everywhere. In Asia, Africa, Europe, South America, and even in the United States churches and ministries have served the poor as Jesus instructed. The fact is while these great workers for God are out there doing amazing things for the kingdom of God, there is much more to be done. There is hope because we are one body united in Christ, whether we like that or not. I see signs that the church is beginning to step up even more in the last few years to serve more than let others take the lead. When natural disasters like the Tsunami and hurricane Katrina hit, it was the church who responded in an enormous way. They dwarfed the government in their effective response to those affected by these events. It was not only a great sign of the church doing God’s work but it was a sign that Christians in America aren’t a stereotype. We are not just politically conservative, white upper class, distant people who view the world through stained glass eyes. We are a body of believers that have very different views and ideas about things in our lives. The beauty is we all share one thing in common, Jesus! We share his spirit which guides us to serve the poor, regardless of our political leanings. When it comes down to it most Christians will at least try and step up to serve people, maybe not in the way we may expect but the spirit is able to get us off our collective behinds and into the field of service.

So before we have a huge party to celebrate our accomplishments let us not forget that we are not done. Our mission goes on and it is very clearly pointed out to us in Matthew 22:36-38 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” It seems pretty simple but I will be the first to tell you that it isn’t as easy as it sounds. The first question is obviously who are our neighbors? Are they just the poor? Are they just the people we like or that like us? Well of course they are those people as well as our enemies, the rich, and everyone else who is our collective neighbor. So we have many people to love and even more to serve. The main thing is to seek God and find where you are best used. As Paul states in Romans 12: 6-8 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Maybe it is at your job serving those around you with love and respect. Perhaps you are to quit your job and join the mission field in another country. Maybe you are being called to become a pastor and serve a congregation. There are many ways that we can be serving those who are in poverty, both spiritual and physical. The point is we must be doing it and not sitting around hoping someone else will do it for us. Jesus commands us to love and if we are not doing it we should be and if we are loving people, it probably isn’t enough. The love of our Lord knows no bounds and it is this love that we must show the world to the best of our human ability. We need to love until it hurts and then love so much more. This is all of our duty, including myself. Let us continue to hold each other up, support one another and become unified as the body of Christ.

Amen