"The Crack in the Dam"--Sermon on the Mount Series

            Dams are impressive structures. They withstand incredible forces that press against them constantly. But from time to time, dams do fail, and with earthen dams in particular, the problem can often be traced back to one crack that compromised the strength of the whole structure and eventually led to its collapse.

            The reality behind a dam break is also a great metaphor for the way we think. A person’s way of thinking tends to be very resistant to change—its like that dam that withstands incredible pressure for years. But sometimes people do undergo a radical change in their thinking, and when they do, that change can often be traced back to one crack—one question or one thought that slowly erodes that person’s way of thinking until it all comes crashing down.

            As we study the Sermon on the Mount again today, we’re going to read about Jesus seeking to hammer that one crack into the religious mindset of his audience. The people of Israel needed a change of mind about sin and forgiveness—that’s why Jesus’ earliest message, according to Matthew 4:17, was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” But the change of mind that comes in repentance does not often come easily, so at this stage of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes a shocking statement that would become that one crack for anyone who would believe his word.

            Let’s read today from Matthew 5:17-20, and then we’ll look at that section piece by piece [READ 5:17-20]. That final statement would have been absolutely shocking to Jesus’ audience. For the most part, I can picture the people agreeing with Jesus’ sermon up to this point. I envision it kind of like this:

“Hmm…blessed are the poor in spirit; yeah, amen to that! Blessed are the meek; yeah, amen, amen! Blessed are those who are persecuted; uh, I’m not so sure how I feel about that. Oh, you say there’s great reward? Yeah, amen! Oh, we’re the salt of the earth and the light of the world? Yeah, preach it brother! You say you’ve come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets? Hey—I’m a fan of the Law and the Prophets, too! I have to be more righteous than the Pharisees to enter heaven. Wait—what? What on earth is this guy talking about!?”

Let’s take a closer look at this passage to see exactly what Jesus was up to.

Setting the Stage

            In this passage, Jesus is setting the stage for the rest of the sermon. He is about to conduct a thorough expose of the Pharisees, who were the religious leaders of the Jewish people. Perhaps the best modern-day comparison to the Pharisees in terms of their role is the pope and the cardinals of the Catholic Church. The Pharisees were the keepers and interpreters of the Old Testament for the people of Israel.

            Because of the Pharisees’ role, Jesus begins this section by clarifying what He is about to do. When Jesus starts criticizing the Pharisees, it would have been easy for the people to think He was criticizing the Old Testament, because most of their knowledge about the Old Testament came from the Pharisees. What we will see in the rest of the sermon is that Jesus is criticizing the Pharisees interpretation of the Old Testament, not the Old Testament itself.

            Jesus wants the people to understand that He is not throwing the baby out with the bathwater, so He says, beginning in v. 17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” This was quite a statement by itself. Jesus hadn’t come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but He wasn’t going to merely uphold them, either. He had come to fulfill them—to bring the purpose of the Law to its completion and fulfill the prophecies that the Prophets made about the Messiah.

            Notice the certainty that Jesus gives the people in v. 18 about His intentions [READ v. 18]. Now there’s no need to read into the fact that Jesus mentions the Law again in v. 18 but does not mention the Prophets, as He had in v. 17. Both of those statements were just a short-hand way of referring to the entire Old Testament, and Jesus affirms that everything in the Old Testament would be fulfilled down to the tiniest detail.

            The “iota” is probably a reference to the Hebrew letter yod which is the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet; its looks similar to our apostrophe in English. The “dot” is what the King James Version referred as the “tittle.” The ESV translators probably chose the word “dot” because the dot over the letter “i” is basically the smallest stroke in our language. For the Hebrew language, the word probably refers to the tiny pen strokes that distinguish two letters which otherwise look very similar.

            On a side note, notice the confidence that this statement gives us about the Old Testament. If even the tiniest details were important, that must mean that God was involved in the writing of the Old Testament down to the tiniest details. The Lord guided the human authors of Scripture in every word that they chose, with each of that word’s letters and pen strokes. That reality should give us tremendous confidence in the Bible.

Lowering the Boom

            In v. 19, Jesus begins to lower the boom on the Pharisees and the religious mindset that they were propagating. He does so with a very subtle clues in v. 19, then He really drops the hammer in v. 20. Let’s read again v. 19 [READ v. 19]. You might remember that as we studied the Beatitudes, I said that they were in one sense a commentary on v. 19. In other words, they describe the character and the actions of the person who will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Now we read about a clear dividing line between those who will be called least in the kingdom and those who will be called great. That line consists of how we keep and how we teach the commands of God.

            Because of the incredible importance of God’s commands, as Jesus expressed in vv. 17-18, it is a very serious thing to relax God’s commands and to teach others to do the same. As we will see in the rest of the sermon, that’s exactly what the Pharisees were doing by reducing the commands of God merely to measurements of external behavior.

            Here we find the subtle clue that would begin to undermine the people’s religious mindset—those who teach about God’s commands may not be teaching them correctly. They may in fact be distorting the commandments of God and teaching others to do the same. Jesus makes the same point toward the end of this sermon with much greater force and clarity. In Matthew 7:15 he says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

            The seed of that warning is planted right here in 5:19, and again, it is the beginning of that one small crack that could bring the people’s whole religious mindset crashing down. Jesus wants them to consider whether their religious leaders are actually leading them down the right path. This was a very important question for the people because they had to rely on their leaders for religious guidance even more so than we do today. Each family did not have their own copy of the Old Testament to read, so they had to rely on their religious leaders to point them down the right path. As we’re going to see at the end of this sermon, Jesus is going to challenge the people to accept His words as laying out the right path for them.

            We must ask ourselves as well if we’re following the right leaders today, and we have very little excuse for following false teachers because we have the ability to read the Bible for ourselves. It is no coincidence that the Protestant Reformation grew as the Bible was able to be read far and wide. We benefit from that heritage today with our personal copies of the Bible, but that also gives us no excuse if we become duped by the Jim Joneses of the world, or the Benny Hinns or the Joseph Smiths or the Muhammads.

            Jesus wanted His audience to question the path that had been laid out for them by the Pharisees, so He really drops the hammer on them in v. 20. In v. 19, He had mentioned people who would be called great in the kingdom of heaven, and if I can paraphrase v. 20, He says, “Let’s forget about being called great for a moment, because unless you live up to God’s standards better than the Pharisees, you won’t even get in to the kingdom of heaven.”

            This is the statement that would have just fried the people’s mental circuits. It would be like telling a modern-day farmer, “Unless you can maintain all your sections with nothing but a hoe, you’ll never make it as a farmer.” Or it would be like telling an athlete, “Unless you can jump from here to the moon, you’ll never make it as an athlete.” The people would have heard this statement and thought, “That’s impossible!” because the Pharisees appeared to be the most righteous people that they could possibly imagine.

            But “That’s impossible!” is exactly what Jesus wanted the people to think! He wasn’t actually encouraging them to try and out do the Pharisees at their own game; He wanted them to see the futility of the Pharisee’s game and thus abandon it for another path. The Pharisees thought they had lived up to God’s standards as laid out by the Old Testament Law, but in reality, they had relaxed the standards of the Law and created a system that they could successfully live out.

            But sadly, their system left them blind to their own sinful shortcomings, and that was the most tragic consequence of all. They could not receive forgiveness from God because they didn’t think they needed it, and they were offended by Jesus’ declaration that they did. The Pharisees had not lived up to God’s standards through their own effort, and the whole point of v. 20 is that no one can. That will become clear as Jesus explains God’s true standards in the next part of this sermon.

            My friends, if you think you have lived up to God’s standards, if you think you have perfectly kept His commands, I must tell you that the Bible declares you are wrong. No one, except Jesus, has ever lived up to God’s standards. Romans 3:23 says simply, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Each and every one of us has sinned; we have broken God’s law, and because of that we stand guilty as lawbreakers in God’s court of law. We deserve to receive the penalty of breaking His law, which is death—which primarily means separation from God; estrangement from Him both now and forever in Hell unless we somehow receive mercy from Him.

            But thankfully, mercy is exactly what God offers us through our Lord Jesus Christ. Colossians 2:14 says that He has canceled the record that stood against us with its legal demands by nailing it to the cross. His death on the cross paid the penalty of our sins, and His resurrection from death declares that his promises are true.

            So today, if you will acknowledge to God that you stand guilty before Him and deserve His punishment, and if you will rely upon the death and resurrection of God’s Son as your only hope of forgiveness, you will receive mercy. And much more than that—God will not only restore your relationship with Him, He will adopt you into His own family and give you His own Spirit so that you can live out His standards today, and live with Him forever in this life and the next.

            I urge you to understand that you have not lived up to God’s standards, and I urge you all the more to accept God’s gift of mercy through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Turning on the High Beams--Sermon on the Mount Series

            A few years ago, I had a couple of questions come to mind that I thought would be helpful for me to re-visit from time-to-time throughout my ministry as a pastor. I believe I was driving around the suburbs of Kansas City where the church that I served in was located, and I thought to myself, “If our church closed its doors and folded, I wonder if anyone in the area would notice? And even if they did notice, would they care that our church no longer existed?” Those questions are just another way of asking, “What kind of impact are we making on the community?” but they really stuck with me. Would anyone notice, and would anyone care?

            So, what would the answers to those questions be for our church? If Morningside folded and closed its doors, would anyone notice, and would anyone care? That first question is pretty easy to answer—in a small town like ours, of course people would notice! People notice when we get new gravel on the parking lot! But what about that second question—would anyone care? Would some people be happy to see us go because our testimony for Christ had been a weight on their conscience? Would some people be sad because they thought that Montezuma was a better place with our church around? Would anyone notice? Would anyone care?

            I want you to keep those questions in mind as we take a look at the next section of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. A few weeks ago, we concluded our study of the opening section known as the “Beatitudes,” and now we come to a very familiar set of verses that provide a powerful purpose statement for all followers of Christ. Let’s read these verses, then we’ll make sure to set them back within their context [READ Matt. 5:13-16].

            I want to remind you about two points of the context of this passage. First, Jesus had just told his audience that they could more or less expect to face persecution when they imitate him in their own lives. Whenever the subject of persecution comes up, I think it brings with it the temptation to think, “Well, maybe if we lay low and keep our heads down, we can avoid persecution. We certainly won’t give up our beliefs about God, but if we’re just a little more private about them, then maybe we can serve God without facing persecution.”

            But notice that in our passage today, laying low is precisely what Jesus says we must not do. We are the light of the world, and light is supposed to shine! I think that’s why Jesus spoke these words at this point in His sermon—to combat our temptation to lay low in light of the possibility of persecution. And notice that v. 16 gives us the hope that some people will respond positively to our witness for God. Not everyone will respond by insulting us and rejecting us—some people will accept our testimony about God and join us in honoring Him.

            Its also important for us to remember who Jesus was speaking to when he spoke these words. He wasn’t at a convention for “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous!” He was speaking to a big collection of misfits—and I don’t mean that as an insult. These were simply people who literally did not fit in to the powerful and influential groups in their society.

            First of all, we had Jesus’ disciples—men who were just “Average Joe’s” who probably didn’t understand exactly what they had gotten themselves into just yet. Then, we had the larger group who had come to seek out Jesus. The end of chapter four tells us that this group was made up of sick people and those who brought the sick people to Jesus, and they came from all over the place, meaning that there may have been some Gentiles in the crowd, people whom the Jews really looked down upon.

            So Jesus was not standing before the Roman Emperor and his servants, nor was He standing before all the philosophers in Athens or even before the Jewish leaders in the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem. He was standing on a Galilean hillside surrounded by common folk, and He looked at them and said, “You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world.” And of course, its not that there was anything special about the common folk—its what God could accomplish through them that was special. God could give them a new identity that would bring glory to Him when they put it on display.

            And just what is that identity? Its described in these two metaphors—the salt of the earth, and the light of the world. Notice the assumption that lies behind these two metaphors. Both of them assume that our world, as it is today, is lacking something; it is needy. Our world is a dark place that needs light; it is a distasteful place that needs salt, and according to Jesus, God’s purpose for His children is to be that salt and light.

            These two metaphors really work together to teach us about carrying out God’s purpose for us in this world. The metaphor about salt teaches us about the importance of carrying out God’s purpose, and the metaphor about light teaches us about how to carry out that purpose.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these metaphors.

The Salt of the Earth

            Salt was a very valuable commodity at that time. In some cases, people were paid with salt, which gave rise to the phrase “he’s not worth his salt.” Just like today, salt had a variety of uses, the most common of which were preserving food and flavoring food. But notice how Jesus’ focus is on the uselessness of salt if it should somehow lose its potency. If salt can no longer perform its function, what use is it? Imagine if you picked up your salt shaker at lunch today and the salt inside had somehow lost its flavor. What would you do with it? How would you restore its flavor—would you pour salt on it?

            I think Jesus was being humorous here to remind us that its ridiculous to think about turning from our primary purpose of motivating others to give glory to our Father. Remember how these words are coming right on the heels of talk about persecution. Its not pleasant to think about facing persecution for obeying God, but the alternative is uselessness. The path of obedience most likely will bring some discomfort now, but it leads to great reward, as Jesus said in v. 12. On the other hand, the path of failing to let your light shine produces nothing of any value. In your life today it will produce a lack of purpose, a lack of passion, and a feeling of being distant from God, and on the Day of Judgment when you stand before Christ, you’ll watch whatever it was you chose to value instead go up in smoke!

            God forbid that I ever portray obedience as pain-free, but may God also forbid that I would fail to tell you its worth it! Just as salt was highly valued, you have a valuable role to play in this world. You can help make life more palatable for the people around you. You can help stem the tide of ungodliness that is rising all around us. The Lord gives us more of an idea of how we can do this through the next metaphor.

The Light of the World

            When Jesus looks at his followers and says, “You are the light of the world,” it is truly an incredible statement. Later in His ministry, Jesus said to the Pharisees, “I am the light of the world (John 8:12).” This idea of giving light to the world was part of Jesus’ identity, and because we are united with Him by faith, it is part of our identity as well. This connection is also a good reminder for us that the light we shine through our good works doesn’t come from us—it comes from the Lord. As Philippians 2:13 reminds us, “it is God who works in [us], both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

            So we provide light to the world in the same way that the moon provides light at night—we reflect the light that comes from somewhere else. Our role, as Christ puts it here, is to light that shine. Don’t hide it! Don’t conceal it! That would be like the salt that loses its potency—it would be useless. Rather, we are to put our light on display, and how do we do that? By doing good works, according to v. 16. That’s how we shine our light—by putting the character of Jesus on display through the way that we live.

            Now, if you’re familiar with the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, you may have a question coming to mind at this point. This verse seems to contradict what Jesus says later in 6:1—“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.” What’s going on here? In chapter 5, Jesus clearly tells us to let others see our good works, but then He warns us about doing things to be seen by others. How do we make sense of this?

            First, we need to understand that Jesus is talking about different motivations. In our passage for today, our motivation is supposed to be that God would receive honor and praise through our good works, but in chapter 6, Jesus is warning us about doing things with the motive that we would receive honor and praise. So there’s a difference in motivation between the commands in these two verses.

            Second, I think Jesus has different activities in mind in these passages. In chapter 6 when He says, “beware of practicing your righteousness,” He goes on to talk about giving money to the poor, praying, and fasting—actions that were all standard religious activities for the Jews. Our equivalent today might be praying, singing hymns, and putting money in the offering plate.

            But in chapter 5, Jesus mentions doing good works, and I think He has different activities in mind. 1 Timothy 5:10 provides a helpful list that describes what kind of activities fall into this category of good works. The Apostle Paul is writing about widows, and he mentions some good works which they may have performed: “having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.”

            Let me illustrate what I mean. To let your light shine, the best choice would not be to hold a prayer meeting in front of Eva’s so that everyone could see you as they walk in. The better choice would be to call up someone who needs a friend and invite them for a meal at Eva’s (or invite them to your house or serve them in some personal way). Or, instead of simply putting a fish symbol on your car, let someone who needs it borrow your car, or give them a ride somewhere yourself.

            Of course, in order to praise God for these things, people must realize you’re doing these things to honor God. That’s where we find the value of talking about your faith—or putting the fish symbol on your car or wearing your Christian t-shirt or praying when other people are around. This is where a truly powerful witness is found, in the combination of the testimony about your faith AND the display of your faith through good works.

            Let us remember what Jesus said: He is the true light of the world, but while He is now away in Heaven, we carry on that mission by reflecting the light of His character in the way that we live.

            Let’s return briefly to the two questions that I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon today. If our church were to close its doors, would anyone notice and would anyone care? Are people seeing the light of Christ through us, or are we hiding His light through disobedience or fear? Are we letting our light shine in such a way that there would be a noticeable difference in our community if we were not here?

            It is true that as we shine the light of Christ, some people will find it to be an annoying glare from which they want to turn away. As Jesus said, they may insult us and slander us, hoping that we will turn off the light. But some people will find the light of Christ warm and inviting. They will be glad that they have seen the light and they will praise God for sending His light into the world. And we will know that we have played our part—we have let our light shine, we have helped another person taste and see that the Lord is good, and we will look forward to Christ’s approval.

God's Pervasive Presence--Attributes of God Series

            1 Kings 20 records the details of a war between the people of Israel and their northern neighbors, the Syrians. The children of Israel were victorious in the first battle, much to the dismay of the Syrians, and later on, as the Syrian leaders gathered for coffee at the local café, they tried to figure out why they had lost. One of the leaders said, “Aha! Why didn’t we think of this before? They beat us because they had home-field advantage! Their god must be a god of the hills, so next time let’s fight them down in the plains, and our gods will give us the victory.”

            After that conversation, the Lord sent a prophet to the king of Israel, who said, “Because the Syrians think I’m only the god of the hills and not the god of the plains, I’m going to give them all into your hand.” In that moment, God wanted to make a crystal-clear distinction between himself and the so-called “gods” of the other nations—the God of Israel, the God of the Bible, cannot be assigned to one location as if His power were only operative there. Rather, the testimony of Scripture is that our God—the true God—is in all places. He is king in all places and every place at the same time.

            In other words, God’s presence is pervasive—He is in all places at once. This characteristic of God is often called His “omnipresence,” and today, I want to look at this idea so that we can understand our God in better detail, and think about some implications of God’s pervasive presence in His creation.

Where is this idea found in Scripture?

            The clearest expression of this idea is also the most moving and memorable. It is found in Psalm 139:7-12. In this psalm, David had just stated how thoroughly God knows him, and now we read that part of the reason for that knowledge is that God is everywhere. I know in years past, I have read these verses as if David was trying to run away and hide from God—probably because of the word “flee” in v. 7—but upon a closer look, these verses don’t have to be understood that way. In fact, it seems that just the opposite is the case—David sees God’s presence as comforting and reassuring [READ Ps. 139:7-12]. Notice how David considers various factors like distance, speed, and even a condition like darkness and concludes that none of these things can separate us from God. He is with us!

            But how can God be with you in your house and also with me in my house at the same time? It’s important for us to remember that God does not have the limitation of a physical body like we do. John 4:24 states that God is spirit, which means that He doesn’t have flesh and bones like we do. My body can only be in one place at one time, but since God doesn’t have the limitation of a physical body, that is one reason that he can be omnipresent.

“You’ve got some ‘splainin to do!”

            We should clarify at this point just what we are claiming when we say that God is “omnipresent.” As much as it pains me to say this, since I love these movies, the Star Wars movies have popularized some ideas that some people have wrongly associated with God. People have been tempted to draw parallels between God and “The Force” in the Star Wars movies, but we really don’t want to make that connection.

            In Star Wars, The Force is a kind of power that flows through humans and rocks and trees and spaceships and everything that exists. That idea is actually based on a religious belief called “pantheism,” which comes from religions like Buddhism and Hinduism. But when we say that God is omnipresent, we should not be thinking that God is somehow inside the wood that makes up my pulpit, or that He is somehow inside the pew that you’re sitting on.

            What we are actually claiming is that God is aware of all that is happening in every corner of creation and that He is active in every corner of creation—all at the same time. When we say that God is omnipresent, that should be the idea that we have in mind, rather than some notion that God is inside the carpet or the drywall or the lightbulbs.

Unique Reminders of God’s Presence

            Now, God does, at times, give unique reminders of His presence to specific people in specific places. One familiar example of this kind of act of God is the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night that accompanied the people of Israel during the Exodus, when they fled from their slavery in Egypt. That pillar wasn’t visible from every place on the planet! It was in a specific location, and from time to time it would move to a new location to show the people where to go.

            In such moments, when God offers a unique reminder of His presence, He does so to teach people important lessons. Think about what the children of Israel should have learned from that pillar of cloud and fire. God wanted to teach them lessons like:

·         “I am here to guide you”

·         “I am here to protect you” (like when Pharaoh chased after them)

·         “I am here to provide for you” (giving them light and warmth by night).

            Of course, the greatest example of God making His presence known in order to teach us was the Incarnation, when Jesus added a human nature to His person. John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known (NET Bible).”

Some Implications of God’s Omnipresence

1. His knowledge about me is first-hand knowledge

            I am repeating this thought from my sermon on God’s omniscience, but I think it bears repeating here. Since God is personally aware of everything that is going on in creation, then He personally knows everything that is going on with me. I think this observation is comforting, because so many of our problems with each other are either created or exaggerated by misinformation—for example, someone hears a piece of gossip about you and they start to act differently around you. Perhaps they’re less friendly or less open with you—all because they heard something about you that didn’t reflect the truth.

            But we don’t have to worry about any such issues with God! He doesn’t have to seek information about us from some other source—He sees us, so He has direct knowledge about us. This thought is also the second implication.

2. God always sees what is happening to us and what we are up to

            Many situations in life can move us to think, “God, where are you?” Though it may not feel like God is always with us, that is only an appearance; it is not the reality. God sees all that is happening to us. He sees when people sin against us; He sees when people are kind to us. He sees it all!

            He also sees what we are up to, and this thought should be a powerful reminder for us as we make choices in life. The temptations we face always look more appealing when we think that no one will see what we’re doing and no one will find out about what we’ve done. We can hide things from each other, can’t we? And when we’re only thinking on that level, our temptations look far more appealing. But when we remember that God is always with us and He sees us at all times, we are reminded that we can’t hide anything from Him.

            You may remember a children’s song that tried to teach us this lesson when we were young. It goes like this: “Oh be careful little eyes what you see, oh be careful little eyes what you see, for the Father up above is looking down in love, so be careful little eyes what you see.” That little song reminds us that God is watching us, and it contains such an important reminder when it says that God is “looking down in love.” God is watching, yes, but He’s watching in love! He is not like some grumpy piano teacher who’s waiting to slap you on the hand any time you play a wrong note. Remembering that God watches us in love will help us think accurate thoughts about God, and it still leaves us with the awesome realization that we will one day answer to God for everything that He has seen us do.

3. I am never alone—God is always with me!

            When God asked His people to carry out some task in Scripture, He always reminded them that they would not be alone—He would be with them. When Moses was preparing to lead the people of Israel toward their first attempt to conquer the Promised Land, God said to him, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest (Exodus 33:14).”

            When the people rebelled before their first attempt, and God prepared Joshua to lead the second attempt, the Lord told him to remember what he had been promised, to remember God’s commands, and he wrapped it all up by saying this: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9).”

            When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, and He told His disciples on the night before He died that He would be going away, He said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you (John 14:18).” And when He gave those men the Great Commission to make disciples of all the nations, He said, “behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).”

            We are not alone as we seek to carry out the tasks that God has for us. When you’re going around town and you see that person that you know you should forgive, you are not alone. When you walk into the office to co-workers who do not share your faith, you are not alone. When you are facing down the temptation that has tripped you up a hundred times, you are not alone. The Lord your God is with you wherever you go!

Persecution: A Badge of Honor--Sermon on the Mount Series

            In the early 1900’s, a man organizing an exploratory journey to the South Pole is said to have placed an ad in a newspaper that read like this: “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness. Constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.” There’s nothing quite like the truth, huh? I suppose that captain could always tell his crew, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

            Throughout the Gospels, we see a similar honesty from Jesus concerning the troubles that his followers could expect to suffer because of their testimony for him. With apologies to Joel Osteen, if Jesus had been a published author, he certainly would not have entitled his book, “Your Best Life Now.” Jesus consistently told his closest followers that following him would result in suffering in the here-and-now. Consider just a few examples:

·         Matthew 16:24-25—“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

·         Matthew 24:9—“…they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.”

·         John 15:20—“Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”

Of all the statements Jesus ever made, perhaps none have been proven true with more consistency than statements like these about persecution. The history of Christianity has been written in the blood of men and women who have faced hatred simply because they have faithfully followed Jesus Christ. Even today, one organization estimates that 100 million Christians around the world are being persecuted for their faith—and that number doesn’t even include people like you and me, who may not face violence because of our faith, but may still face insults and other forms of rejection.

But predictions about persecution were not Jesus’ only words on this subject. In fact, we will see in the Beatitudes today that Jesus pronounces a blessing on those who face persecution for him, and we’ll find out why as we take a closer look at Matthew 5:10-12 [READ Matthew 5:10-12]. Let’s break down these verses by talking through three questions that will help us get to the heart of the matter.

WHY IS THE PERSECUTION MENTIONED HERE TAKING PLACE?

            We should note that Jesus is not talking in these verses about suffering we may face from a health problem or from world events like a tornado, a drought, or a downturn in the economy. I do think we will be blessed if we maintain a good testimony in those events, but that simply is not what Jesus is talking about at this time. He is thinking specifically about moments in which we become a target for the hatred of others because we are living by his standards and proclaiming his message.

            It is easy to think that we in the United States really don’t face persecution for our faith, and I will admit that the rejection we face does seem like nothing compared to Christians in other parts of the world who face imprisonment or death because of their faith. But notice that in v. 11, Jesus mentions examples of persecution like insults, slander, and gossip. Those are precisely the forms of persecution that we are most likely to face in our lives today, so I think these verses are more directly applicable to us than we might think.

            We should also note that Jesus would not be talking about times where we might face hostility for representing him in a way that’s just downright obnoxious! Sometimes we find ourselves in heated conversations about religion where we lose our cool or act with arrogance and a lack of love. We may be insulted by others in those moments, but that’s not really persecution—that’s just a case of people responding with the same attitude that we displayed through our tone of voice or choice of words or our actions.

So, I am a target of persecution only if someone makes me the target of their hatred because they see the character of Christ in me.

HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND TO PERSECUTION?

            It is never a pleasant experience to be the target of someone’s anger for any reason, so how should we respond when we find ourselves being persecuted for our faith? The Lord’s answer is very clear—“rejoice and be glad!” That sounds strange enough, but wait ‘til you get a load of this—the Greek verb translated “be glad” really encourages expressions of gladness. One Greek dictionary says it conveys gladness that often involves verbal expression and appropriate body movement. In other words, we’re talking about doing a touchdown dance!

Now why in the world would we respond this way to something as unpleasant as persecution?

WHY SHOULD WE RESPOND THIS WAY?

1. We have a great reward to look forward to

            This is why we can have such joy and gladness during persecution despite the pain of the moment. All persecution hurts, whether you face insults, slander, abuse, or even death, but Jesus is not calling us to some sadistic love of pain or even to a denial of the pain of the moment. He is simply calling us to change our perspective from the present to the future; to lift our eyes from the suffering of the moment to the satisfaction that will be ours down the road. Enduring persecution in a God-honoring way today will produce benefits for us in heaven.

            We have already talked about this concept of rewards in some of the earlier Beatitudes. Now sometimes it sounds “unspiritual”—almost selfish—to think about obeying God with the motive of receiving a reward, but the Bible actually leads us to the opposite conclusion. Hebrews 11 says that Moses made the choice to stand up for his people “because he was looking to the reward (Heb 11:26).” The Apostle Paul wrote that he presses on toward a deeper knowledge of Christ “for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:14).” In the very next verse he wrote, “Let those of us who are mature think this way!”

            So its actually a sign of maturity to be motivated by the rewards that God promises. And why is that? Because it reveals that we believe the promises of God! So we can celebrate when we face persecution because the experience produces a reward for us which we will claim when we one day see the Lord.

We can also respond to persecution with joy because…

2. We are in great company

            Jesus reminded His audience in Matthew 5:12 that the Old Testament prophets faced persecution for speaking up for God. Those men were godly men, faithful servants, and it is an honor to be placed in the same category as them even if we’re placed there because we face similar persecution.

            Hebrews 11:32-38 contains a description of the accomplishments and the sufferings of the prophets. Why don’t you look at that passage with me? [READ Heb 11:32-38]. I think the parenthetical statement of v. 38 says it best—these were men of whom the world was not worthy. Now in some ways, we’d rather not be in a group like that because of what they had to suffer. That’s okay on one level because we’re never told to seek for persecution. But if it comes to us, we find ourselves in the company of people of whom the Bible says the world was not worthy.

            This is why we can have such great joy and gladness even in the midst of persecution. We can look to the past and see ourselves stepping into the company of great men, and we can look to the future and see the reward from God that awaits us. Its really all about a change of perspective, isn’t it?

            John Chrysostom provides us with a great example of the perspective that we should have during persecution. Chrysostom was a pastor in Constantinople in the late 300’s AD, and his faithful gospel preaching got him into trouble with the Roman Emperor. At one point, he was called before the Emperor because he had denounced the Emperor’s wife, and he was threatened with banishment if he did not recant his statements:

            “Sire,” he replied, “you cannot banish me, for the world is my Father’s house.”

            “Then I will slay you!”

            “No, you cannot, for my life is hidden with Christ in God.”

            “Then your treasures will be confiscated!”

            “Sire, that cannot be, either. My treasures are in heaven, where no one can break through and steal.”

            “Then I will drive you from men and you will have no friends left!”

            “You cannot do that either, for I have a friend in heaven who has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’”

What a difference our perspective can make!

            Allow me to close our time now with a couple of thoughts on the application of these verses to our lives. There is some irony in the fact that this statement “blessed are those who are persecuted” comes directly after the statement “blessed are the peacemakers.” We might think that if we’re trying to live at peace with others, we won’t face persecution. If only that were true! But this statement about persecution reminds us of the tremendous importance of living at peace with each other in the church.

            We’re not all that surprised when we face insults and rejection from people outside of church. In fact, the Apostle Paul told his young assistant, Timothy, “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Tim. 3:12).” We’re going to face it in some form, but when we face insults and rejection from people inside our own church, the pain can be almost unbearable. After all, where else can we turn to find love and acceptance? If we do not have peace with each other, our great temptation then is to make our peace with the world. It is very tempting at that point to stop living an obedient Christian life just to feel acceptance from someone, even if it comes from people who do not hold Christian values.

            Our church should be like an oasis from the rejection that we face in the world. That is why we must be peacemakers, as Jesus said. On so many levels, we simply cannot afford to fight with each other.

            Finally, as we take some measure of comfort in the fact that we rarely face the most severe forms of persecution in our country, let us never forget that many of our brothers and sisters around the world cannot say the same. Many Christians at this moment face imprisonment, physical abuse, and even death because of their faith. In Hebrews 13:3, we are commanded to remember our brothers and sisters: “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.” There are a number of good organizations today that work to help us remember the plight of our persecuted brothers and sisters. I would recommend to you The Voice of the Martyrs—you can find out more about their work at www.persecution.com. Let us remember to pray for our Christian family.

A Chip Off the Old Block--Sermon on the Mount Series

            There was once a man who attempted to sail all the way around the world by himself. He didn’t make it very far before a storm in the Pacific Ocean destroyed his boat and washed him ashore on a deserted island. A massive search-and-rescue effort was launched, but the man wasn’t found until five years later when a low-flying plane spotted his campfire. The plane radioed the location back to a US Naval Base, who sent a boat out to rescue the man.

            The man was ecstatic when he saw the ship coming to the island. He ran out to the beach and started jumping up and down, and when the sailors stepped foot on the island he just started hugging all of them. They were about to take him out to the ship when the man said, “Could I take a few minutes to show you around at what I built during the last five years?” The sailors figured it couldn’t hurt, so the man took them over to an impressive cabin that he had made for himself. Then he said, “Here’s a garden that I planted, and I even diverted a stream that flows down from the mountain so I could irrigate my crops. And here’s a canoe that hollowed out from a log so I could paddle out into the ocean and go fishing. But let me show you the best thing of all!”

            So he took the sailors up to the highest point on the island, and there they saw a small hut with a cross on it. The man said, “Here is my church! This is where I come to worship God. I built it on the highest point of the island because I feel so close to God up here.” As the man was speaking, the sailors noticed another small hut with a cross on it about 50 yards away, so they said, “What’s that over there?” The man looked a little annoyed and said, “Oh, that place? That’s the church I used to attend.”

            Sometimes that joke seems all too real—that if a Christian were by himself on a deserted island, he would still find a way to have a church split! We are not universally known for our ability to get along, which is very sad on so many levels—especially in light of the next Beatitude that we’ll be discussing today. In Matthew 5:9, Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” As we study this Beatitude today, we’ll see just how attractive this idea of being a “peacemaker” really is, and it should inspire us to have that kind of reputation in our own lives and in our church.

“BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS…”

            This phrase presents us with a clear example of how easily ideas can sometimes get lost in translation. Jesus was quite possibly speaking these words in Aramaic, which was a dialect of Old Testament Hebrew, Matthew then recorded them in Greek, and this morning we are reading them in English. Our English word “peace” doesn’t capture everything about the concept of peace of Jesus and his fellow Jews would have had in mind.

            We basically define peace as the absence of something—the absence of war or the absence of fighting. Its good to be in that kind of state of peace, but the Jewish people would have said that we have a pretty wimpy idea of peace. After all, by our definition, a nation like Haiti has enjoyed peace for a long time, but obviously they still haven’t had very pleasant conditions in their country. The United States was technically at peace with the Soviet Union during the Cold War because we never issued a declaration of war, but no one would say that our nations had a good relationship.

            Instead of defining peace as the absence of something, the Jewish people defined it as the presence of something. To them, peace was really the presence of all good things. The Hebrew word for this idea was shalom, and I don’t think we have any single word in English that’s just like it.

            When the Jewish people spoke of shalom, they probably would have pictured two things—the Garden of Eden and the kingdom of the Messiah. In the Garden of Eden, there wasn’t merely the absence of war, there was the presence of all good things. Adam and Eve enjoyed perfect relationships with God, each other, and the animals all around them. They had perfect health and perfect strength; they were surrounded by natural beauty that had no trace of death or decay. The ground was fertile and cooperative for growing good things.

            The Jewish people also looked forward to shalom in the kingdom of the Messiah. Isaiah 9:6 called the Messiah “the Prince of shalom,” and the prophecies about his kingdom describe not merely the absence of war (although that’s included as well), they describe an almost complete return to Edenic conditions—long life, good health, sincere worship of God, godly behavior, peace between men and animals, and fertile, productive ground.

            So when we read this Beatitude, we should think of a “peacemaker” as someone who works toward shalom in the lives of others—someone who not only removes a bad thing like hostility but actually replaces it with good things in the lives of others. When we think in these terms, we start to see how woefully inadequate our concept of peace really is compared to the concept we find in Scripture. This is never more obvious than when we have a fight or a disagreement or a misunderstanding with someone else. Our concept of peace tells us that as long as we are not actively hostile to someone else, then we have fulfilled the biblical commands. In other words, as long as I’m not doing bad things to you, then I’ve forgiven you and I’m living at peace with you.

            But then Scripture comes along and says, “Wait a minute! Don’t stop there! That’s the first step, but now how are you seeking to do good for that person?” That’s a much different way of thinking than our normal concept of living at peace with each other.

            I’m going to hit very close to home for just a moment. I think in a small town like ours, we are very good at maintaining this appearance of “peace” where we’re not actually doing bad things to each other because we know that’s wrong, but under the surface we’re not quite getting along as well as we let on. In larger towns and cities, when people have fights or disagreements they normally just end up avoiding each other. If two people in a church butt heads, one of them normally just ends up leaving. If you’ve lived in a larger town, you know what I’m talking about—there’s practically an invisible conveyor belt between churches that just takes people from one church to the next. People just sign their kids up for a different baseball team, or they join a different health club. They just avoid each other.

            Well around here, we don’t really have that option so much. You’d basically have to move away if you wanted to avoid someone completely, so in some ways I’m tempted to think that we’ve perfected the skill of putting up a good front. We mumble “hello” to each other and then we pat ourselves on the back for the great thing we’ve done, when all we’ve really done is the bare minimum that we could do to truly have healthy relationships with each other.

            I’m not going to lie—living at peace with each other is one of the hardest things that God calls us to do. But if we’re going to hit the bull’s eye on this one, the first thing we have to do is make sure we’re aiming at the right target! Peacemakers are those who work to see good things come about in the lives of others. Jesus pronounces a blessing on such people because, as he says, “they shall be called sons of God.”

“…FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF GOD.”

            In Jewish culture, calling someone a “son of” something was simply a way to describe what kind of character they were displaying. For example, Jesus called the Apostles James and John the “sons of thunder,” probably because of an incident when they wanted to call down fire from heaven on a village of Samaritans. Judas was called the “son of perdition,” which means utter loss or ruin.” In Acts 4, the apostles gave a man named Joseph the nickname “Barnabas,” which means “son of encouragement.”

            So to put it simply, I think Jesus was saying that peacemakers are blessed because they display the same character as God. Its like saying that peacemakers are “a chip off the old block.” After all, God has set an example of doing good things even to those who are hostile to him. Notice what Jesus says just a short while later in this sermon in Matthew 5:43-45 [READ 5:43-45]. When Jesus says, “love your enemies…so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven,” He reveals that the idea of showing love is synonymous with the idea of being a peacemaker. That connection shows us that being a peacemaker is central to our mission as Christians.

            In John 13:35, Jesus told us as plain as day how other people would know that we are his “disciples”—a word that means “student.” How will people know that we are students of Jesus, that we are learning His ways? Here’s what he said: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:35).” When people see us loving each other, then they will know that we are students of Jesus because they will see that we have learned his way of life.

            On the night before Jesus died, he prayed a very moving prayer that’s recorded in John 17—why don’t you turn there with me? In that prayer, people just like you and me came to his mind at one point, and what do you suppose his prayer request was for us? Let’s read it, beginning in v. 20. The Lord had been praying for the apostles, and now in v. 20 he says, “I do not ask for these only (meaning the apostles), but also for those who will believe in me through their word”—that’s you and me and all the other people who have been saved since Jesus returned to Heaven. What was his request for us? “That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us.”

            But why? What would be the result of this unity? “So that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Why is it that some people refuse to believe that Jesus came from Heaven? Could it be because they see nothing heavenly among the people who call themselves His students? Let’s go on to v. 22: “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

            Do you know why some people don’t believe there’s a loving God in Heaven? Its not because they see tornados or earthquakes or because they get cancer or because they lose a child. Its because they see Christian people who can’t get along, and then they hear us say, “We’re God’s children!” If you see grown-up siblings who can’t get along, does it lead you to think that their parents must be kind, gracious, and loving? No, you’re led to think just the opposite.

            My friends, we do unimaginable damage to our proclamation of the Gospel if we cannot live at peace with one another. What does it do to our testimony if people see us fighting and then hear us say, “You know, you can have peace with God, too, just like we do?” Living as peacemakers—according to a biblical standard of peace—is absolutely essential to Christ’s mission for us to make disciples of all the nations.

            I’ve mentioned over the last few weeks that there are a lot of similar themes in the Sermon on the Mount and in the book of James (that James was actually the Lord’s brother). In James 4, he tells us exactly why it is so hard for people to get along with each other [READ James 4:1-2; when you read “murder,” remember that Jesus said harboring anger in your heart is just as bad as murder].

            It all really comes down to selfishness. It starts with the fact that my desires are at war within me; my sinful desires are battling in my heart for supremacy, and if I indulge them, before long I’ll be battling you for supremacy. My sinful desires put me in that mindset where I want what I want, when I want it, and from exactly the people from whom I feel I deserve it. When I allow that mindset to reign in my heart, its like a conquering general—always looking for new lands to conquer.

            So how can we become peacemakers, so that we can have the blessing of living like a chip off the old block? I think we’ve taken an important step today by realizing that we often assess ourselves by the wrong standard. We’ll never hit the bull’s eye if we aim at the wrong target! We need to repent of patting ourselves on the back simply because we’re not actively doing harm to others. As we learned last week when we talked about purity of heart, our hearts will not be pure as long as we assess ourselves by the wrong standards, because we will ignore the dirt that needs to be cleaned up.

            The next step is fairly obvious—we need to actively do good to others. We need to pray that God will bless them with every good thing in their lives, and do what we can to make that happen as God gives us opportunity.

            May we be a community that presents a convincing case to the world through our unity that God is love because they see the family resemblance in us, his children.

Cleaning up the 56/100ths--Sermon on the Mount Series

            My father spent all of his working years as a general maintenance man at the Proctor and Gamble manufacturing plant in Kansas City. Proctor and Gamble produces a very diverse range of products, but they’re probably best known for making soap. In fact, after they started to produce radio and then television shows to market their products, those shows became known as “soap operas” because they were sponsored by Proctor and Gamble.

            The company’s most famous brand of soap is Ivory, and for years their advertising focused on the claim that Ivory Soap is “99 and 44/100ths percent pure.” I remember seeing an ad about that claim on a Christmas gift box from the company that we had around our house for years. I guess that’s a pretty high standard for purity, but after I learned about fractions, I remember wondering what was in that remaining 56/100ths! After all, rat poison is basically a bunch of harmless ingredients—with just a tiny portion of stuff that’s deadly!

            Obviously, that ad campaign was meant to emphasize the purity of the soap and just how desirable that level of purity should be. In the Beatitude we’ll be discussing today, Jesus also praises purity, but of a very different sort—the kind of purity that no bar of soap can provide. In Matthew 5:8, Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” This statement foreshadows many of the ideas that the Lord will discuss in this sermon. We’ll see some of those connections as we take a closer look at this verse.

“BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART…”

            The word “pure” means to be unmixed, unalloyed—free from any contaminant that may pollute a product or lower its value. Our English word “pure” lines up very well with the Greek word that lies behind this translation. Researchers have found that word in documents where it’s used to refer to wine that has not been diluted with water, corn that has been sifted and separated from all of the chaff, and an army that has been purged of all cowardly soldiers.

            So to paraphrase, we could say that Jesus is praising a heart that is unmixed, undiluted, and uncontaminated. But unmixed with what, exactly? I think the answer becomes clear in the rest of Jesus’ sermon, so let’s draw on those words for clarification.

A PURE HEART IS FREE OF…

1. Improper standards

            Here I’m speaking of standards that judge obedience to God only by external behavior. Jesus speaks extensively in this sermon about the proper way to gauge our obedience to God. We cannot measure our obedience simply by looking at our external behavior—we must also assess the attitudes of our heart. For example, Jesus says that God’s command against murder is violated if we simply harbor anger and hatred against someone in our heart. We don’t even have to commit the physical act of murder in order to violate the command; the attitude of the heart is enough to make us guilty.

            So a pure heart belongs to a person who assesses not only his external behavior, but the attitudes of his heart as well. This person’s heart is pure because it is free of hypocrisy; this man doesn’t pat himself on the back for merely conforming to external standards while his heart remains rotten and filthy.

            This kind of attitude is in direct contrast to the attitude of the Pharisees, which is why Jesus so often butted heads with them in the Gospels. On numerous occasions, Jesus challenged them with various statements like this: “You are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness (Matt 23:27).” The Pharisees had created all kinds of standards to judge whether they were following the Law that God had revealed through Moses, but their standards could only assess external behavior—they couldn’t judge the heart. Nevertheless, they confidently used their standards to proclaim themselves righteous in the sight of God, which is like measuring something with a 12-inch ruler and then confidently proclaiming that its 20 feet long!

            The pure in heart remember that they must assess their heart as well. Thus, they seek to root out hypocrisy so that their behavior is a true reflection on what’s in their heart.

2. Improper motives

            In chapter six in particular, Jesus warns us about doing things simply to receive acknowledgement and praise from other people. If that is our motivation, then according to Jesus, when we receive that praise, we have received all the reward we will ever get for that action—even if it was a religious activity like praying!

            The person who is pure in heart seeks to keep his motives undiluted by such self-serving goals. Rather, his motive is to love God with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love his neighbor the way he loves himself.

3. Improper masters

            Later on in this sermon, we will encounter the famous statement, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other (Matt 6:24).” Perhaps you’ve worked in a job before where the people above you weren’t on the same page. That’s not uncommon in companies where you have a corporate headquarters somewhere with a lot of local branches scattered around. Sometimes policies are handed down by the corporate office that the branch manager doesn’t want to keep, so now what do you do as an employee? Two people are asking you to do different things, and you can’t please them both!

            That’s the kind of situation that Jesus is describing. The pure in heart take their marching orders from Jesus. They don’t follow the commands of anyone else, so they don’t have divided loyalties. Often we’re tempted to carry out the wishes of our sin nature, or we’re tempted to carry out someone else’s desires because we want to impress them. But the person who is pure in heart says, “I have one master, and I only take orders from him!”

So this is a sketch of the person who is pure in heart. He or she is free of improper standards, improper motives, and improper masters. Jesus pronounced a blessing on this person by saying...

“…FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD.”

            This statement must have been jarring for those Jewish people who were listening to Jesus. In fact, “seeing God” may not have sounded like a blessing at all! Throughout the Old Testament, people who saw visions of God came to one unanimous conclusion—“I’m toast!” Both Isaiah and Ezekiel were terrified when they first saw their visions of the Lord. It wasn’t until the Lord calmed their fears that they had any measure of comfort at all.

            Perhaps the story of Moses would have quickly come to mind for these people. In Exodus 33, Moses asked the Lord, “Please show me your glory.” God told him that he would hide him in a cave and pass by that place, but Moses would only see him after his glory had passed by, because he said no one can see my face and live (Ex 33:18-23).

            So it must have been an astonishing thing for these people to hear that the pure in heart would see God—and that it would actually be a blessing! This statement was a clear declaration from Jesus that he was introducing something that was superior to what had come through Moses. The Lord had given his commands for the children of Israel to Moses, and as a message from God, those commands were a good thing, but as the Apostle Peter said in Acts 15, those commands became a heavy burden that the people could not bear because their sin nature prevented them from living up to those standards. But now, Jesus was proclaiming something new which would break down the walls that separated sinful mankind from their holy God.

            So what did Jesus mean when he said that the pure in heart would “see God?” I think first and foremost, he meant that they would come to recognize God in Jesus, and would thus learn about what God is like in greater depth. The pure in heart would come to recognize that they were already seeing God right in front of them! This is why most of the Pharisees never came to understand that Jesus was God, because they did not have this purity of heart. As I mentioned earlier, they had their own standards which allowed them to declare themselves acceptable to God, so when Jesus told them they did not, in fact, measure up to God’s standards, they proclaimed that he was a deceiver. As Jesus continues in this sermon, it would have become more and more apparent to the people that if they wanted to see God, they could not follow the path of the Pharisees. Instead, if they would follow Jesus, they would come to understand that God was right there in their midst!

            They would also come to have a greater understanding of what God is like. As Jesus would later say to the Apostle Philip, “He who has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9).” Those who come to understand the truth about Jesus, understand the truth about God. In that statement to Philip, Jesus used the word “see” in the sense of understanding something. We sometimes use the word “see” in the same way. If I ask you the question, “Do you see what I’m saying?” I’m not asking if you see one of those cartoon word bubbles beside my face with words in it! I’m asking if you understand my point.

            I think this idea of greater understanding is what Jesus meant to emphasize in this Beatitude. So if I were to paraphrase Matthew 5:8, I would say it like this: “Blessed are those with a whole-hearted devotion to God, for they shall come to see him as he is.” This “seeing” involves a deeper understanding of God today, and it will be a literal reality for us one day, as Revelation 22:4 says, “we will see his face.” Do you remember? That was the very thing that Moses was told he could not do—see God’s face. But when we are living with God in the New Heaven and New Earth, all barriers will be removed, and we will see God’s glory in the person of Jesus Christ.

            Long after the Apostle Paul had been converted, after he had even seen visions of God and followed him in obedience for many years, Paul stated that his primary goal was still “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death (Philippians 3:10).” Each one of us still has the goal before us of knowing God in a deeper way.

            But remember—that greater understanding is the result of a whole-hearted devotion to God. The commitment to God comes first, and only then does the greater understanding come. That order is very important to remember. As the old saying says, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating!” If God says, “This is the proper way for you to live,” we won’t fully understand why until we choose to live that way! This is just another way of saying that we must follow God by faith. We must choose to believe that his ways are true before we will gain a greater understanding of them.

            You can think of it like an extreme sport. How do you really come to understand what skydiving is like? By stepping out of the plane! You can read all about it and listen to other people talk about it, but you won’t really understand what its like until you take the plunge—and by then you’re fully committed, right? Growing in your knowledge of God works the same way. As long as you try to serve two masters, as long as you judge yourself by standards that are not God’s standards, as long as you have mixed motives, you will not grow in your knowledge of the Lord.

            There’s a verse of the old hymn “Trust and Obey” that puts it well. This verse isn’t as well-known as the others, but it deserves to be! It goes like this:

But we never can prove

The delights of His love

Until all on the altar we lay

For the favor He shows

And the joy He bestows

Are for them who will trust and obey.

"What Goes Around, Comes Around"--Sermon on the Mount Series

            Some people may think the word “Coolidge” is a new slang term, but if you’ve reviewed your presidential history lately, you’ll remember that Calvin Coolidge was our 30^th President (he served during most of the 1920’s). A story is told of how Coolidge was burglarized one night while he was staying in a hotel. He was sound asleep, but was awoken by the sound of a man going through his belongings. He was understandably startled, but he told the man he didn’t want any trouble and simply asked him not to take the chain on his pocket watch because it was special to him.

            Coolidge then noticed that the man was rather young and actually started to ask him about his life. The robber told him that he was a college student on a trip and had simply run out of money, so he was stealing to pay for his hotel bill and a ticket back to campus. The President then proceeded to give the man the money he needed and told him to consider it a loan. He also told the man he had better leave the way he came in so as to avoid the Secret Service!¹ (I hope they’re a little better at their job today!)

            It is easy to admire a man in a position of power who nevertheless chooses to show compassion to others. It is said that power corrupts, and far too often we have seen that statement proven true. But I think that’s why we admire people who can hold power in one hand, yet still extend compassion with the other.

            That is the idea of showing mercy, and mercy is the quality that Jesus blesses in the next Beatitude—“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy (Matt 5:7).” Let’s talk about the message of this verse, and then we’ll focus on some specific situations in which we may have the opportunity to show mercy.

“BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL…”

            An act of mercy is very similar to an act of compassion—there is just one important difference. An act of compassion is an act of kindness that you perform for someone else because you have seen them in a position of need and you’ve been moved to help alleviate that need. Compassion can be shown by anyone to anyone else—that’s actually what makes it different from mercy.

            Mercy is an act of compassion that is done by someone in authority to a person who is under their authority. Mercy and compassion are identical in many ways, the only difference is in the relationship between the two people who are involved. Its hard enough to show compassion to others because we all struggle with selfishness, but when an authority structure is introduced into a relationship, the degree of difficulty is raised to a whole new level.

            If you have siblings, you know exactly what I’m talking about. It was hard enough to get along with each other under normal circumstances, but what happened when your parents went out for a while and left one of you in charge? All kinds of havoc broke loose! When there’s an authority structure in a relationship, it introduces all kinds of new temptations. Now there is the temptation to abuse your authority, or to rebel against the person in authority over you. There may be new temptations toward pride or resentment.

            That’s why we admire people who show mercy. They demonstrate that they have not allowed power to warp their character, but they are still capable of extending compassion to others. And of course, mercy is something that God has extended to us, so when we show mercy, we are imitating God—which is something that Scripture repeatedly calls us to do.

Now, many of us may think that we’re not in any position of power over others, but in just a moment I’m going to mention some situations that you may not have considered. For now, let’s talk about the second half of this verse.

“…FOR THEY SHALL RECEIVE MERCY.”

            It seems here that it literally goes without saying that the merciful shall receive mercy from God. There is no guarantee that you will be shown mercy by other people simply because you have shown mercy yourself, so it seems clear that Jesus means the merciful shall receive mercy from God. This becomes even more apparent when we encounter two similar statements later on in the Sermon on the Mount:

·         Matthew 6:14-15—“If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

·         Matthew 7:1-2—“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”

All of these statements teach us that God will deal with us in the same way that we deal with other people.

            Now this observation brings up a question that we need to address—is Jesus saying that showing mercy is a requirement for getting into Heaven? Many people have that question when they read this verse, and I think it reveals to us how important it is to incorporate the doctrine of rewards for Christians into our thinking. If we fail to incorporate the doctrine of rewards into our thinking, we end up tying everything that sounds good in the Bible with going to Heaven and everything that sounds bad with going to Hell. With that mindset, we end up reading Matthew 5:7 like this—“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall go to Heaven.” But that creates all kinds of confusion for us because we think, “I thought going to Heaven was a gift and we don’t receive it through our works, but this verse seems to say that I have to show mercy to get into Heaven—and that sounds like works!”

            What we must understand from Scripture is that within God’s grand plan called “salvation,” there is a gift and a reward (or perhaps I should say a gift then an offer of reward). If we fail to distinguish between those things, we will have no end of confusion when we try to understand Scripture. When we encounter this confusion, we need to take a step back and say, “Is this referring to the gift or the reward?”

            I think Matthew 5:7 is most definitely referring to the reward. Let me point you to a passage of Scripture that offers an important commentary on this verse. Turn with me to James 2:12-13. Here James is writing to people whom he has repeatedly called “brothers,” and in 2:1 he refers to their faith in “our” Lord Jesus Christ. Then in 2:12-13, he writes about the judgment that we as Christians will face in the light of God’s Word for our rewards. He states [READ James 2:12-13]. The first part of v. 13 expresses the same basic idea as Matthew 5:7, just from a negative perspective instead of a positive one, but the last part of the verse—mercy triumphs over judgment—expresses the same thought as our Beatitude.

            That statement—mercy triumphs over judgment—should give us tremendous comfort. When I think about having my life evaluated by Jesus, I don’t get very optimistic about a good outcome. When Scripture tells me that I will give an answer for every word that I have spoken and every deed that I have done, and when James in chapter 3 says that teachers of the Word will receive a stricter judgment, I have little hope to hear “well done, good and faithful servant.”

            But just as God’s grace and mercy were poured out when He declared me righteous and adopted me into His family, there will be grace and mercy available on that day, and apparently I will receive mercy from Jesus to the degree that I have shown mercy to others. Mercy triumphs over judgment! We do have hope for a good evaluation; we do have the opportunity to have a positive assessment because we are dealing with a merciful Lord, and He has said that we will receive mercy if we will show mercy to others.

WHAT ARE SOME SITUATIONS WHEN ANOTHER PERSON IS IN YOUR POWER?

            Now as I have said, mercy is shown from a person in a position of power to someone who is under their power. Given that definition, many of us may think, “Well, I don’t really have any opportunities to show mercy then, because I’m not in any position of power!” Let me mention some situations that you may not have considered.

1. When someone has sinned against you and has asked for your forgiveness

            Perhaps you’ve never thought of it this way, but when someone wrongs you and then asks for your forgiveness, you are placed in a position of power. They have admitted their guilt, and now the future of that relationship is in your hand. You can choose to forgive or you can choose to hold a grudge or to take revenge. They have humbled themselves before you, and now—at least in that moment—you are in the driver’s seat. That is a position of power, which means it is also a perfect opportunity to show mercy.

2. In your relationship with your children

            While your children are in your home, they are commanded by God to obey you. Thus, you are in a position of power. So how do you exercise that power? Are you reasonable with your rules and your discipline? Do you treat your kids like they exist for your benefit, rather than the other way around? Do you berate, dictate, manipulate, castigate, or otherwise dominate your child? How do you exercise that power?

3. In your relationship with your employees

            Even if you’re not the head honcho where you work, many of us have people who answer to us on the job. How do you exercise that power? Many of you who farm have hired men who work for you—how do you treat them? Do you give them a fair wage? Do you make them work hours that you would never keep yourself? If money gets tight, is your hired man the only one who has to take a pay cut, or do you absorb some of that as well? How do you exercise that power?

HOW CAN WE CULTIVATE A MERCIFUL SPIRIT?

            Now as I also mentioned earlier, being in a position of power brings additional temptations into our lives. Its hard enough to show compassion to someone who is our equal in every sense, so when you add an authority structure into a relationship, it just becomes that much more difficult. So how can we cultivate a merciful spirit?

1. By reflecting on the incredible degree of mercy that we have received from God

            You may remember the parable that Jesus told about the man who was forgiven a debt that was like the size of our US national debt—just a mind-blowing amount that you can’t even wrap your head around. Then that man turned around and punished someone who owed him a few weeks’ pay. The lesson of the parable is that such a lack of mercy is improper in light of the staggering mercy that we have received. The misdemeanors that people commit against us are nothing compared to the outright treason that we have committed against God, yet He has shown us mercy. We can increasingly reflect this mercy in our actions by reflecting on it in our own minds.

2. By walking in the shoes of those under your authority

            I want to point you to a fascinating passage of Scripture in Hebrews 2 [READ Heb. 2:14-18]. By walking around in our skin and facing the temptations that we face, Jesus became a merciful and faithful high priest—a representative for us in the presence of God. Verse 17 says he had to be made like us in every respect, so that he might become a merciful high priest.

            Developing a spirit of mercy requires that you walk around in the skin of those who are under your authority. You must make an effort to mentally step into their world and take a look around. Mercy is an act of compassion, and the literal meaning of the word compassion is “to suffer with someone else.” When you show compassion, you are coming side-by-side with another person to walk down the same path together.

            Power has the tendency to create distance between people. It can lift my ego higher and higher as my opinion of others gets lower and lower. Thus, to show mercy, we have to swim against the current of that tendency and step into the world of those who are under our power.

            So to show mercy to someone who has wronged you, remember how you feel when you’re in their shoes. What do you desire? What’s going through your mind? To become more merciful with your kids, ask yourself, “What must it be like to have a parent like me?” Maybe the next time your child gets frustrated with you, you’ll think, “Wow! You’ve actually shown a lot of patience, kid!” Show greater mercy to people under you on the job by trying to understand what their experience must be like. What must it be like to have you as a boss?

            In short, to become merciful we must act like Jesus! He has shown us mercy, so we must show mercy to others. He became a merciful high priest by walking around in our shoes, so we must follow the same path to grow in this trait.

Notes:

1. www.bible.org, filed in Sermon Illustrations under “mercy,” cited from Today in the Word, October 8, 1992.