Blessing in Relationships
Notes
Transcript
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Introduction
Introduction
This week we are returning to the Sermon on the Mount and concluding our examination of the Beatitudes. If you remember back to two weeks ago, the Sermon on the Mount is a decree from the messianic king. It is the message of his kingdom. Much of the sermon emphasizes the importance of deep holiness in contrast with shallow external behavior.
The beatitudes are a list of counter-intuitive ethics which lead to happiness. I say counter-intuitive because each beatitude seems like it should make us less happy, but Jesus says that they are the path to blessing.
Jesus says that being poor in spirit leads to blessing; we think that being wealthy is the real blessing.
Jesus says blessed are those who mourn; we think blessed are those who rejoice.
Jesus says that those who inherit the earth are the meek, while we believe that the mighty are the ones who receive the spoils.
What Jesus says belongs to the hungry, we believe belongs to those who have abundance.
Jesus’ kingdom message calls us to a radically counter-culture ethic. An ethic that allows us to be humbled and mistreated based on confidence in a coming kingdom.
This morning, we will talk about the last four beatitudes. While the first three beatitudes focused on our relationship with God, these four characteristics of the kingdom ethic are focused on our relationships with other people.
Blessed are the Merciful
Blessed are the Merciful
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Defining Mercy
Defining Mercy
The word “mercy” here is referring to generosity to those who are in need. Of course this can refer to an individual act of generosity but even more than that it is a description of an ongoing disposition of mercy. Christians ought to be persistently generous towards those who have needs.
This is again completely counter-intuitive. When we give away what we have for the good of another, we lose what we once had, right? Let’s go back to elementary school and do a basic math word problem. “If Brad has $100 and and give’s $100 to James, how much money does Brad have?” I don’t know how good you were at math back in elementary, but I’m confident every single person in this room knows the answer to this challenging puzzle! When we give away what we have, we no longer have it. Jesus however says that being generous with others is the way that we prepare to receive generosity.
True Generosity v. Transactional Generosity
True Generosity v. Transactional Generosity
Of course, we do see this happen in our lives sometimes. A parent who generously cares for their child is often cared for by that same child as they age. What goes around, comes around. However, if we have such a simplistic view of generosity we aren’t truly being generous, we are just investing. I don’t think anyone here counts the FICA contribution in their paycheck as generosity. Rather than being a generous gesture, Social Security payments are a mandated investment.
In Jesus economy though, we are enabled to be merciful because we know he is merciful with us and will be merciful with us. Even if we are not compensated in this life. Truly sacrificial generosity where we receive nothing from the recipient is enabled by the promise of our coming king. Our generosity is based on our awareness of our king’s generosity and our confidence in him to be generous with us. In this way, we can truly be merciful to those who are in need and will never be able to pay us back because we have already received so much from Jesus and anticipate even more coming.
Jesus approaches this idea from another direction in chapter 18 of Matthew. Here, Jesus tells a story of a man who was forgiven a great debt by the king. Immediately after being forgiven of his great debt a man who owed him a much smaller debt asked for mercy. However, this man who had been forgiven so much refused to be merciful himself and threw his debtor in prison. Jesus uses this story to emphasize that Christians who have received much mercy must be merciful.
Practical Application
Practical Application
Practically, how should you think about mercy. Let’s think together of some places where we have opportunities for mercy in our day-to-day lives. Perhaps the first place we think of is care for the poor. Of course, poverty care is a complex issues and we should be careful that the ways that we help do not hurt, but let me ask you, how sensitive are you to the needs of those who are poor around you? Sometimes, this applies to the visible poor of our community. We should be actively caring for those around us as well as we can. We should be wisely but abundantly generous to those who have needs as we encounter them. However, Galatians 6:10 specifically encourages us to be generous with those who belong to the family of believers.
Are you generous with your church family? We should provide financially for one another as needs become clear. This can be specific generosity as you see a need or through giving to our church benevolent fund which the elders use to care for needs that we learn about.
Of course, mercy does not always entail money. You can be generous with your time by babysitting for someone who doesn’t have family in the area or making a meal for someone who has a surgery. There are many ways to live out this beatitude no matter what your financial condition may be. However we demonstrate mercy, we will never be at risk of being more generous with others than Christ has been with us, and we can be encouraged towards continued generosity based on our confidence that he will continue to be generous with us throughout all eternity.
Blessed are the Pure in Heart
Blessed are the Pure in Heart
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Defining Pure in Heart
Defining Pure in Heart
The next beatitude says that the pure in heart are the ones who will see God. What does it mean to be pure in heart? Let’s break down the words here.
First of all purity. This is a fairly simple word for us to understand, we use it in many contexts. Intuitively we know that the word simply means something like “free from contamination,” but our understanding can be deepened by considering the context of Jesus sermon. He is here preaching to those who follow the law. Specifically, in Israel at this time the religious leaders heavily emphasize adherence to the Mosaic Law. A significant portion of that law is what we call the “purity” law. The purity laws provide guidelines for Israel to be ceremonially pure in order to properly worship God.
The religious leaders of the day would have heavily emphasized such purity laws. They would do all the washing at the right time. Eat the right foods. Avoid the dirty people. Observing purity laws was right in line with the sort of religious performance these leaders emphasized.
Of course, Jesus himself would also follow those purity laws. He fulfills the law perfectly after all. However, Jesus adds a qualifier here that intensifies the call to purity. If we want to see God we must be pure in heart.
The purity of Jesus extends beyond mere ritual purity to true, deep, internal purity. This sincerity of heart is purity right down to the very core of the person. This flies in the face of the religious leaders of Jesus day. He calls them white-washed tombs – beautiful on the outside but concealing death inside. Jesus says that we are defiled from within our hearts rather than the things around us.
So much of the Sermon on the Mount focuses on this idea. External behavior does matter. The law did call Israel to holiness. Christian ethics are proclaimed throughout the New Testament. However, more important than external righteousness is purity of heart.
Hope for a Pure Heart
Hope for a Pure Heart
Jesus Purifies the Unclean
Jesus Purifies the Unclean
Like the other beatitudes, this is not something we accomplish on our own. This is an impossible ideal, right? When Jesus says in Mark 7 that impurity comes from within us rather than outside of us, that doesn’t make the law easier to follow; it makes it impossible!
Throughout his ministry Jesus interacts with the unclean in beautiful ways. In Lk 8 we have a record of Jesus cleansing a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. This woman was unclean because of her disease. This disease resulted in both physical and social suffering – alienating her from the community in which she lived. When she interacted with Jesus, she reached out and touched him. This would render Jesus ceremonially unclean because the unclean woman had contact with him.
However, that’s not what happens in this story! When the unclean woman touches Jesus he does not become unclean, instead she is purified. The same happens with lepers. Jesus is the one who is able to purify the unclean.
Turn to Christ for Cleansing
Turn to Christ for Cleansing
We are ourselves impure. We are separated from God because of our sin and corruption. The purity laws were a shadow of the truth. We don’t need ceremonial purity; we need to be cleansed in our deepest parts. Water will not cleanse the stain we bear. Time will not remove this impurity. When we hear Jesus tell us to be pure in heart we should immediately turn to him as our only hope to be cleansed.. We should join David in crying out: Ps 51:1-2
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
When we are called to be pure it is not to ourselves that we turn but to God:
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
Why will the coming kingdom of Christ be such a wonderful place? Because it is there that the citizens of the kingdom will be those of a transformed heart.
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
So, turn to Jesus for cleansing.
Blessed are the Peacemakers
Blessed are the Peacemakers
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Jesus the Great Peacemaker
Jesus the Great Peacemaker
Next, we we see, “blessed are the peacemakers.” Jesus himself is the greatest peacemaker. Mankind has rendered itself a hopeless enemy of God. As God’s enemies we are hopeless because we cannot end hostilities by defeating an omnipotent God. Nor will he look the other way and ignore or rebellion. As a just God he will deal with sin. This is why it is so important for Jesus to be a peacemaker: Col 1:20
and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Our Peacemaking Task
Our Peacemaking Task
Just like it makes sense for those who have received much mercy to show mercy, those who were enemies but are now beloved children ought to be peacemakers. Jesus has made peace between God and man, but we follow him in making peace with other men. Christian brothers and sisters, we have been forgiven and reconciled to the father so we ought also be those who forgive and pursue reconciliation.
This is not just a call to be a “peacekeeper” who maintains peace that already exists; no, it is far more active than that. We are called to be peacemakers. We live in a world of conflict and strife and must be active in our pursuit of peace.
Later in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus acknowledges that following him will at time mean that we are treated badly. He tells his followers that they should turn the other cheek when someone slaps them. He commands that if someone demands they go one mile for them, they should go two. Most challenging – he says that we ought to love our enemies. Because of this, we will never heave a shortage of peacemaking opportunities!
But peacemaking will not happen on accident. It is not the natural bent of the human heart to be wronged and not wrong back, but instead pursue peace. When we are wronged we naturally just want to win the war that ensues. If we will be peacemakers, we must be focused on it. We must train ourselves to respond with peacemaking rather than war. When we are wronged we must discipline our minds to immediately turn from anger and retaliation to trust in our king.
As with all of these counter-cultural characteristics, our ability to be peacemakers is dependent in our confidence in our king. If we are focused on making peace with others we will have to turn the other cheek. They will take advantage of us and persecute us. However, we can be peacemakers because we know that our king is coming and one day he will make peace.
Sometimes we have this idea that Christians are weak people who can get pushed around. In some sense this is true, but ultimately, our king is coming and he will do right. We are not called to an eternity of suffering, but an eternity of victorious worship of the king who conquers evil. But, we will suffer before then – so we suffer with confidence and expectation of the coming king.
Peacemaking and War
Peacemaking and War
Now, I want to pause for a moment to acknowledge that the events of the past 8 days have made peace-making pretty unattractive. This feels much more like and eye for an eye situation than a peace making situation. The truth is, we all long for justice when we see wrongs committed – especially against those who we call innocent. When we see footage of civilians being gunned down at a concert or pictures of desecrated corpses we cry out for justice. Does this beatitude tell us that is wrong?
What does the Bible have to say about responding to cruelty and evil in the world. Following the flood God commands that if a man sheds another’s blood, his blood should be shed. Then, the Law creates a clear framework defining crime and outlining punishment. The book of Revelation talks about the the one who is called Faithful and True waging war with justice. How does peacemaking coexist with such justice?
The answer lies in understanding spheres of authority. In the Old Testament law a civil code was provided which created a government for the purpose of executing justice. Similarly Romans 13:4 tells us that the government bears the sword for a reason. Ultimately when the rebellious hordes who oppose the rule of Jesus face their judgement it will be Jesus in his role as king who conquers these enemies and pours out his justice. The authority of being a terror to evildoers lies with the government not with individual Christians – and not with the church.
So, how does this help us to balance out the call to be peacemakers with our righteous anger at evil in the world. God has given to nations the responsibility to prevent wrongdoing and therefore protect their people. He has also given them the authority to wield the sword to do so. When the government punishes evil, it is not doing this in violation of God’s command, but in faithfulness to God’s command.
However, we as individuals are not the ones who have been given this responsibility. We are called to turn the other cheek. We are called to be willing to be wronged. Here, in this text, we are called to be peacemakers. We can do so with confidence not because it is right for others to do wrong to us, but because we are confident in the goodness of our omnipotent king who controls everything and will care for his people and deal with evil – whether through his ordained authorities in the government or through his own righteous rule as king.
Further, our confidence in his righteous kingship allows us to be peacemakers even when earthly governments fail to do their job, as they often do. It allows us to be peacemakers even when earthly governments are the ones treating us unjustly. Which leads us to the final beatitude – blessed are the persecuted.
Blessed are the Persecuted
Blessed are the Persecuted
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Up until here, each beatitude has been a very short statement of blessing and reason for blessing. This last beatitude shares that structure but then follows it up with an extended exposition. Perhaps that’s because this – more than any other beatitude will be hard to do. We can exercise each of the other beatitudes in times where we are not personally being wronged, but this one requires that we are mistreated in order to be applied.
We may be merciful, but this world might not be merciful to us. We may be peacemakers, but we have no guarantee that others will make peace with us. There will be times when we are wronged and mistreated. Of course we can be mistreated for any number of reasons, but here the emphasis is on being persecuted because of righteousness.
Living out these counter-cultural beatitudes will lead to blessing. However, it will also lead to hardship. In some ways, we might say that the beatitudes are a recipe for being mistreated. If you faithfully seek to be this kind of person you will not lead a life free from suffering. You will be insulted, persecuted, and lied about. But Jesus continues to remind us that – even in insult, persecution, and dishonesty we will be blessed.
As has been the case throughout this entire section of Scripture, the only way this works is if one day Jesus reigns. In his kingdom there will be blessing. When we do right we will be surrounded by others that likewise follow the way of righteousness. We will receive blessing and reward because we do right. But, Jesus warns us that that day is not now.
Jesus himself was reviled. He was beaten, mocked, and crucified. Why would would we expect anything less? Jesus explicitly tells us that we will similarly suffer. Paul in Colossians 1 tells us that we will share in the sufferings of Christ if we follow him, but in that suffering is blessing because reward is coming.
Notice that Jesus doesn’t command his followers to flee or fight persecution. He expects them to be persecuted and endure the insults and lies of persecution because of their great reward in heaven. Sometimes, we respond to persecution and even the fear of persecution by doing all that we can to stop it. Unfortunately, sometimes, we respond to persecution by ignoring the other beatitudes in order to fight against it. Jesus instead helps us to endure persecution by emphasizing that it is blessed to be persecuted.
This is not to say that Christians should be persecuted. Paul tells Timothy to pray that the government would allow Christians to live peaceful and quiet lives – saying that such is good and pleases the Savior. However, avoiding persecution is something we pray for rather than fight for.
When persecution does come, we embrace it with joy. This has been the response of the church throughout the centuries. Yes, it is good to live quiet and peaceful lives and we do pray to that end. However, if the day does come where we are truly and seriously persecuted we face that persecution with joy – not because it is easy, but because we trust confidently in the coming of Christ who will make all things right.
In the second century there was a pastor in Smyrna named Polycarp. Polycarp lived from AD 69-155 and was a disciple of John the Apostle himself. I want to read to you a portion of a letter that was written about his martyrdom.
And as he was brought forward, the tumult became great when they heard that Polycarp was taken. And when he came near, the proconsul asked him whether he was Polycarp. On his confessing that he was, [the proconsul] sought to persuade him to deny [Christ], saying, “Have respect to your old age,” and other similar things, according to their custom, [such as], “Swear by the fortune of Cæsar; repent, and say, Away with the Atheists.” But Polycarp, gazing with a stern countenance on all the multitude of the wicked heathen then in the stadium, and waving his hand towards them, while with groans he looked up to heaven, said, “Away with the Atheists.” Then, the proconsul urging him, and saying, “Swear, and I will set you at liberty, reproach Christ;”
Polycarp declared, “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?”
The proconsul then said to him, “I have wild beasts at hand; to these will I cast you, unless you repent.”
But he answered, “Call them then, for we are not accustomed to repent of what is good in order to adopt that which is evil; and it is well for me to be changed from what is evil to what is righteous.”
But again the proconsul said to him, “I will cause you to be consumed by fire, seeing you despise the wild beasts, if you will not repent.”
But Polycarp said, “You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour, and after a little is extinguished, but are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly. But why do you tarry? Bring forth what you will.”
If the day comes when we face serious persecution, may we face it like Polycarp – with our gaze fixed on eternity and our joy grounded in Jesus.