I am hungry

Matthew 5:1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed 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. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

On Saturday night we had our work Christmas party. We went to an exclusive restaurant in Buckhead and I was very much looking forward to it. I was very excited about the meal that I was going to have and curious as to what they would serve us. I was not disappointed. The food was excellent. They had various appetizers including shrimp cocktail that was my favorite. For the meal, we started with a crabcake that was perhaps the highlight of the evening. This was followed by a salad that was topped with some fried goat cheese. This was a very interesting concept, but not quite as good as the crabcake. For the main course, I had chicken and filet mignon with potatoes and asparagus all of which were cooked perfectly. Finally for dessert I had a chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream on the side. When I was done, I was stuffed. I could not even quite finish my dessert because I was so full of the meal that they had prepared for me.

Now, I enjoyed this meal very much. How strange it would have been if I had not waited for the meal and instead tried to fill myself beforehand. I would have missed out on all of the food prepared for me and I have no doubt that it would not have been anywhere near as good. The very concept is somewhat laughable. Why would I eat before I was going out to eat?

I know that the analogy is not perfect, but don't we do exactly that in our walk with Christ? We try to make ourselves righteous instead of waiting on God to fill us. Wouldn't it be much better to wait to be filled with the only one who can provide us with righteousness? The only one who can satisfy our soul? My prayer for you today is that you can become like Paul who prayed this prayer in his letter to the Philippians:

Philippians 1:9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Note that it is through Christ that we can obtain righteousness to the glory and praise of God. This passage says nothing about any acts that we do that might fill ourselves with righteousness. Yet every day we get up and try to "do" something to earn God's good favor so that He might be pleased with us. But we should be doing something shouldn't we? Well, yes. We should be growing in the knowledge of Christ so that we can discern His will and then we will know what it is that we should be doing.

Paul prays in his letter to the Ephesians:
Ephesians 3:16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

This is what I hunger for: to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. I need to get myself out of the way though. In order to be full to the measure with God, I can't have any other stuff already filling me up. That is why I should not eat before I go out to eat.

Peace, Bruce

Meekness anyone?

Matthew 5:1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed 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. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

There is a certain progression in the Sermon on the Mount as I am reading it. The first two verses I discussed were more internal on the part of the believer. The believer first recognizes his spiritual poverty before God, or his lack of righteousness. He then contemplates the meaning of this and mourns over the sins that he has committed, others have committed, and that will be committed. We now get to a verse that is more of an external action on the part of the believer. It is a verse that seems to be contradicted in every day life and is the exact opposite of what is expected of you in the secular world.

To get ahead in this life here on earth today, you are expected to be forceful and proud and to toot your own horn. Jesus here is telling us that to be blessed, we need to be the opposite of that. We need to be meek or mild or humble if you will. These are not the qualities that the average employer is looking for. However, I would suggest that there is at least one job that these would be ideal qualifications for:

John 13: 2The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

Perhaps the best illustration of meekness is a willingness to serve others. First to serve God, then to serve your neighbors. I remember when I first came to know Christ and before I was born again, that my greatest fear was submitting to God. I did not want to lose my "self" by becoming a follower of Christ. This was part of the reason that it took me a year or so to come to the decision after affirming belief in Him. However, what I did not know then and have realized since, is that I am never more the "me" I was intended to be than when I am serving God and others. What a joy it is to serve!

God does not want half hearted commitment either. If you read the passage in John 13 very carefully you will notice something. Or perhaps it is better phrased by saying you will not notice something. You will not notice it saying "and when Jesus came to Judas, he refused to wash his feet." Jesus washed the feet of the one who betrayed him right along with the rest of the disciples. I do not think I have reached that level of servanthood yet. I do not think my heart would be in the right place if I was serving someone who I knew hated me, but I am still pressing on toward that goal.

I want to close tonight by reflecting on what Jesus says after washing the feet of His disciples:

John 13:12When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. 13"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Peace, Bruce

Blessed are those who mourn?

Matthew 5:1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed 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. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

I used to be confused about this verse. I used to think that we were blessed when we mourned because it meant that we had loved someone enough to mourn for them. This may be a secondary meaning for the verse but the primary meaning is something else. The primary meaning relates directly to the previous verse that we examined. If you remember our tax collector from Luke 18, he had sensibly come to the conclusion that he was a sinner. You have some options when you come to the conclusion that you are a sinner. My suggestion tonight is that the appropriate response is not to wallow in your sin; nor is it to be nonchalant about it. The appropriate response is to mourn over your sin.

When I first came to the realization that there was a God and that we could know Him I began to feel what could be best described as unease. This was probably not the typical reaction, but I could not help but feel uneasy at the idea of someone else other than myself knowing all of the really bad things that I had done in my life. As I learned more about God and His expectations for me and His holy nature, this unease grew to concern. I don't think that it ever quite got to outright terror, but that was probably because I was learning about God's mercy and love at the same time. As I learned more about God's love and mercy, my unease was transformed to shame.

I still had much to learn at this time (and still do), and one thing I definitely did not understand was that salvation was available to me. Strangely, this misconception was very beneficial to me. You see, I thought to be saved, that I had to be perfect. So I tried. Really Hard. Needless to say, I did not attain perfection. But as I pursued perfection I felt a longing for a relationship with Christ and I became more and more sorrowful over my past (and current) life of sin. Sorrow because I had offended a holy God. Sorrow because I had separated myself from Him. Sorrow because it was my sin that caused Him to die. Curiously, it was at this time that the thought of Christ's righteousness being sufficient to cover over my sins was made manifest in me. Perhaps some other time I will share the whole story here, but for now I will leave it at this: I have trusted that Christ is sufficient and I have been comforted.

I want to ask you tonight if you have come to the sensible conclusion that you are a sinner. I want to ask you if this realization has caused you to reflect on the nature of God. Do you know Him? Once you do know Him, I hope that you reflect on the effects of your sins. I hope that you do not simply ignore them or wallow them. I hope that you too can join me in mourning and perhaps you too can be comforted.

Poor in Spirit

Matthew 5:1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying:
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed 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. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

So what does it mean to be poor in spirit and just how are we blessed if we are poor in spirit? I think that we can see this illustrated in a parable of Jesus told here in Luke 18:

9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

The tax collector here was poor in spirit because he realized that standing before God, he was not a righteous man. He had sensibly come to the conclusion that he was a sinner. He did not have an overinflated opinion of his own worth and knew that he was dependent upon God's mercy.

When I was in college, I took calculus and struggled at first. I knew that I was not good at calculus or you could say I was poor in calculus. Because I was willing to admit this, I was able to do something very important. I was able to get help from someone who was rich in calculus. If I had not been willing to admit my "poorness" then I would not have sought help and I would have failed the class. I sought out a tutor and they helped me to learn what it was that I needed to know to be rich in calculus. The next year a friend of mine was struggling with calculus and I was able to help him because I had previously sought out help for myself.

This is why it is a blessing to be poor in spirit. When you realize this (that you are not righteous before God), it puts you in a position where you know that you need help. When you know you need help, you are much more likely to ask for help. You will realize that there is only one that can put you in a right standing before God and you will call out to Him. This is a blessing because it is the first step to salvation. I don't think it is possible to be saved until you realize that you, in fact, do need saving.

The really cool part is that once you have recognized this in yourself, you will be able to recognize it in others as well and you will be able to point them in the right direction so that they too can be saved. I thank God that He has humbled me and allowed me to have a low opinion of myself so that I could reach out to Him.

Peace, Bruce