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It’s the end of an era - A world gripped by terror Got people trippin’ over love ‘Cause we fell in love with a felon Ponzi schemes are sellin’ But the gold rush is failin’ We’ve been blinded by the lust And the symptoms are very tellin’
Green eyes and a coal-black heart Lead to paper thin motives And a conscience that’s brutally scarred Marred up and parked out in the driveway With a six cylinder engine That gets great mileage on the highway
The tin man is down Long live the scarecrow And Dorothy’s been on the pole Ever since she got a taste of the rainbow A case of mistaken identity Got the lion all twisted Thought he was the king of the jungle But he was only there for a visit
Whether it’s twenty-one grams Or twenty-one karats Souls sell for cheap When we raise the stock in our malice For the slippers, or the crown Or a heart that’s bought and sold…
We begin our latest study on the "Sermon on the Mount". We take an in-depth look at the words of Jesus as he lays out principles of the Kingdom of Heaven, and what it really looks like to be a lover of God and our fellow man. We begin with the counter-cultural notion of the word, "Blessed". In a day and age where the prosperity, health and wealth, word of faith "gospel" is so readily embraced, we see with great illumination from the Scripture how our Lord turns the idea on its head...
What becomes of the beggar on the street?
Is he begging or is he selling?
Can some spare change save his life
Or, will change for him spare mine?
And what's with his sign?
No gimmick- he just wears it with a grin
Not bad, I guess, for a man
Who thinks the world is gonna end
It's his saving grace-
And it's my truth that I'm not ready to face
For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’ - Deuteronomy 15:11 ESV
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
- (Colossians 3:2 ESV)
In the age of storage wars, cupcake shows
And movies about parking lots
Our longing for the ultimate entertainment experience
Has left us searching the bottom of the cereal box
For a prize that doesn’t seem exist…
So now, we’re being led to believe that the very notion
Of something other than our present reality is a myth
Score one for boredom in the win column
Because this Brave New World experiment
Has left us empty and solemn
With a penchant for comedy
And a love for treasure-seeking
Only to find that here, the moths and rust destroy it
So we inevitably end up with neither
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. (Matthew 5:27-30 ESV)
"Look, but don't touch."
This seems to be the common suggestion given these days as a way to handle lust. If you can pull this off, it supposedly demonstrates a heightened ability of self-control. You hear it all the time; "I love my wife, but it doesn't hurt to look every now and again". As long as you don't "sample the merchandise", you're golden. The ladies aren't exempt from this either. But, what is even sadder is when I hear a married woman say something to the effect of how she doesn't mind if here husband looks - as long as he doesn't cheat - because he's gonna look anyway. The only thought that runs through my mind when I hear someone say that is, "you're lying". This is the answer you get because they've just settled for having someone there, but not really having their heart. This begs the question: Is it really worth having at all? Should we not expect a higher standard of the person who has vowed to spend the rest of our lives with? And if you're single, there's no magic switch for turning off the emotions of lust. While, indeed, you have more liberty in your life than say one who is in a marraige, that liberty cannot be abused. Making a habit of lusting will become just that - a habit. If you continue to give way to it, you will reap its harvest. It won't just go away even after you've entered into marraige because you've made a career out of not being faithful with your eyes (and now the heart wants to follow).
As we have seen from the Scriptures, looking is adultery, which makes it grounds for divorce (Matt. 5:31-32). To make lame excuses for looking in a society where we are bombarded with images and words that seek to do nothing but provoke our lustful desires, we must remember that the bond between a man and woman is as much spiritual as it is physical. So, the best way to combat this is not to resolve to use mere behavior modification tactics to curb destructive and corrosive behavior. After all, an alcoholic is still an alcoholic even if he's trapped on a desert island with no where for miles to buy a beer. Christ gives us the gory anlogy of ripping and tearing off limbs and body parts (not to be taken literally, of course) in Matt. 5:29-30 of our passage. The point of the gruesome imagery is this: TRUE LOVE CARRIES WITH IT A VISCERAL HOSTILITY TOWARDS ALL IMPOSTERS.
In other words, if we are truly compelled by the love of Christ, then we will listen to his words. And in turn this will carry over into a steadfast vigilance and zeal for our significant others (Song of Solomon 8:6). If you are in a commited relationship, you shouldn't get all geeked up off of the fact someone else is trying to make a move on you or is consistent in their blatant disregard for that bond. It should make you angry. Mind you, I'm not telling you to drill someone in the face for making a pass at you, but you should say or do something. Because if you don't take the proper measures, the second you begin to mildly entertain any sort "flirting", you've already stepped into the realm of marital unfaithfulness. The true enemy in adultery is my "inner-me". So all vigilance first and foremost must be turned on the fleshly desire to give in to temptation to throw discernment and caution to the wind.
Here's an illustration--
Say you and your wife have an argument. Okay, sure. It happens. But, let's say also that while you and your wife are having issues, a young attractive female at work (who you already know has a "thing" for you) becomes your sounding board. She becomes your encourager. Now, the next time you get into it with your wife, the first thing you think is, "I bet ___ from work would never think that way about me...". And there you are on a downward spiral toward infidelity and spiritual destruction -- all because you failed to (as Steven Lawson would put it) hear the hiss of the serpent in the statement.
For us to understand these principles clearly, our minds and hearts must be renewed from this fallen world. We must take every thought captive to the Word until it is brought under submission to it. There is not a soul with a half a bit of sanity who thinks that they can go knocking on Potiphar's door (cf. Genesis 39) and expect to make an escape from the snare the awaits them. Lust is a drowning machine; the deeper you wade into the current, the more it pulls you under. Lust is a liar. It promises you everything you could possibly want, but never truly delivers. Lust is a thief. All the while it's showing you "the goods", while robbing you of your own. Lust is a deciever. It disguises itself as passion, yet is as promiscuous as ever. Lust is a killer. It murders you from the inside out.
But you can't blame her really. The girl can't help it. She's just like her dad (John 8:44, 2 Cor. 11:14)...
"Now if I listen to this radio, then I might have to split open a swisher and fill it wit green pine--and if I listen to this TV, then you would catch me chasin' plenty chicks 'cause homie, they fine--but I DDT my mind, put my flesh in a figure 4--yeah, sometimes I fall, but this right here ain't gone kill me though--even if I have to be a blind amputee I promise that my Father here is purgin' me of all of my impurity--Bang on 'em! Bang on 'em! Go hard, Father! Reign on 'em! Reign on 'em! Show you God--'Cause every time I slow up, that's when my Father show up--make way for an escape and I'm right back scrappin' like, 'What up?!'--Tell my TV to shut up--what you sellin', I don't want it--hide that Word inside my heart--Ron Artest, gon' and guard it--So I don't want yo goodies, baby--you can keep yo cookies, baby--I know they got M&M's, but this road I'm on is slim 'n' shady." - PRo (Covenant Eyes)
That's what I recently saw on a billboard by the freeway. Then, coincidently enough, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine, where he was trying to help me reach my "full potential" with a pep talk that finished with:
"You're good. But you don't just wanna be good...be GREAT!"
"Right", I nodded. I don't think that he believed me though, because he looked at me like I was the biggest loser in the world. I think it had to do with the fact that I didn't seem too enthused with the notion of greatness.
The conversation bothered me, and at first, I didn't really know why. Was it because he was simply regurgitating what he had been spoon-fed by someone else? Was it because he sounded like Tony Robbins or Joel Osteen on crack? I just didn't know. I just sat there on his couch, zoned out for the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out why I was stewing over this. However, as I was driving home later, it hit me;I don't want to be great. Color me an under-achiever, but it's true. I'm not built for it...
I also started to notice how things change as we get older. Think back to when you were a kid. Everyday before you left the house, got on the bus, or got out of the car to go to school, you always heard the phrase, "Be good", or "Have a good day". But, somewhere along the way, good just wasn't good enough anymore. We treat goodness like old clothes that we've outgrown. But, truth be told, I believe that the shift from good to great is due largely in part to what we began to realize as we age; and that is that it is much easier to attain a high level of "greatness" (in a human sense) than it is to achieve the smallest amount of true goodness. From Samson, to David, to our modern day heroes; most individuals that we consider great at something, are usually extremely flawed. When it comes to good, we have to severely lower our standards of what that means to even put it in the same sentence with another human being. I remember a time when I was watching a prison documentary. They were talking to an inmate on death row who had killed his mother and step father in cold blood, but he still considered himself to be "basically, a good person". Yet, even though we lower the bar, the standard remains the same (Matthew 7:11). For us, we use greatness as a cover for our lack of goodness. You can be a great lover, a great athlete, a great teacher, great communicator, great leader, or even all of these great things combined, and still not be a good person. Examine for yourself: How many times have you seen or heard about someone who was "great" at something, yet they weren't a good family man/woman? How many times have we seen great athletes commit some of the most detestable acts, only to have our history books, memories, and legal systems let them off the hook? We have done this for so long that we are now beginning to think that the two words are synonymous, but a quick look at a dictionary will prove that to be very wrong.
The reality is, there is only One who is great (Isaiah 40:9-26). He is great because he is truly good (James 1:17). And while he doesn't share his greatness with anyone, he bestows his goodness on us all, even those who don't care for him (Matt. 5:45; Luke 6:35; Romans 5:6-11; 2 Cor. 5:21). This is the best news of all, because if you're like me, you probably realize by now that no matter how good you try to be, you just can't be "good enough" (Rom. 3:11-12, 21-26). So the real question is, why aim for something I can never be when I can't even attain what I was meant to be (Genesis 1:31)?!
So, I don't strive for greatness, but for gratefulness. I don't need to be great...I need to be good. For that, I need GRACE! (Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 15:10; 1 Timothy 1:12-17)
If I'm good, I'm straight. That's what is truly great (Philippians1:6)...
"Nobody knows how bad they are until they have tried very hard to be good." - C.S. Lewis
"For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God." - James 1:20
Reading the words of Christ in this passage (Matt. 5:21-26) takes us back to the story of Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-16). This is a pivotal story in the course of mankind, as well as the very beginning of the case study on human anger. The anger that is produced in the heart of Cain is so closely linked to the type of anger here in this passage due to the fact that it is anger without cause. It is important to note that Jesus is not saying that all anger is wrong. He himself got angry on several occasions (Matt. 21:12, Mark 16:14). The anger that is discussed here is not a righteous anger, but one that is born out of our sinful nature that seeks to covet and destroy (Romans 3:10-18). Cain didn't just decide to murder his brother on a whim; it was premeditated (Genesis 4:8). To examine it closely we will see that he hated his brother because of his willingness to do right by God (Genesis 4:6-7). Cain, desiring to have the approval of God himself, decides that it would be so much easier to eliminate the obstacle (than to do right by God as he is told). His unjust anger was the precursor to the crime. He has killed his brother in his heart long before he actually laid a hand on him.
And so it is with all of us (James 3:8-10, 4:1-3). How often do we call names out of anger or speak ill of another person? This is something that we should really give a lot of thought to for good reasons:
1. All men are created in the image of God.
Man is a peculiar creature because of this very distinction. Therefore, God takes the shedding of man's blood very seriously. To degrade, disfigure, or destroy another human is to attack the very image of God. If you stop to consider all of the crimes against humanity throughout the ages, it will be clear that before any form of physical abuse, oppression , or genocide ever took place...there was poisonous rhetoric that began to flow out of the mouths of certain individuals. Spilling forth from a heart of darkness came the wrath of Cain that set the course of bloodshed into motion. So it is with all men in their fallen, unregenerate state. Any unjust attack on the character of our fellow man is an attack on the Creator himself (Genesis 9:5-6). We must be conscious of this before we speak in judgment on anyone (John 7:24) .
2. Christ brings about reconciliation for both us and God and one another.
Being followers in Christ we must remember what he truly accomplishes in his earthly ministry. The key theme is reconciliation from start to finish. Because Christ has died for our sins, thereby reconciling us to God. In turn, as we are being conformed everyday more and more to the image of our Savior by the Holy Spirit, we will in turn out of our love for God, be reconciled with our fellow man. We will not regard them only as there status allows or by the size of there pocket books, or whatever petty means by which we judge, but we will see all men the same: even though the image has been shattered, ALL men, women, and children are made in the image of the Creator, which gives them infinite worth in the sight of the Lord. After all, God sent his Son to earth, in the form of a man, to bring man into his presence and to glorify his name throughout the earth. This is where man's true identity lies in Christ - not as some sort of cosmic mistake that slithered out of some sort of primordial ooze and then grew legs. And if it is important enough for God to crush his own Son for our sake, how much more important should it be for us to do the same. It is through reconciliation that the gospel is born (Matt. 5:7; Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:18-20, 7:10-12).
3. Failing to carry this out has serious consequences - both physically and spiritually.
We cannot ignore Jesus' warning at the end of this passage. Several things must be taken into consideration. The first is that reconciliation should come before sacrifice. If we know that we have wronged someone or that someone has something against us, we should take care of that before we go before the alter. To go without being reconciled only produces a hardness of heart on both parts; our sin of impenitence will only serve to incite the sin of vengeance in the hearts the one who has been wronged. As we heard it said be fore, two wrongs don't make a right...and in this case the seeds of anger planted will reap wrath on all sides the wrath of Cain in our own hearts, and even worse still, the wrath of God on our vengeful, slanderous, murderous hearts (Psalm 79:12, Isaiah 65: 6-7, Matt. 18:23-35, Luke 6:38) .
So let us turn away from our sin, by accepting the reconciliation with God through Christ, who turns away the wrath of God, and in doing so we shall be able to learn how to turn away our wrath against our own kind as we are commanded; Let's put anger in its proper place - towards the sin in our own lives (Rom. 8:13, 12:17-21; Eph. 4:26-27; 1 John 3:11-16; 1 Peter 3:18).
"An I for an I will never satisfy 'til there's nothin' left to see." - Derek Webb
"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.For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
Growing up, I had this passage explained to me on several occasions, but I can say in all honesty, none of those explanations ever gave me any sort of feelings of eternal peace or rest in Jesus. The way that those in charge of my spiritual formation explained this passage to me sounded something like this:
"Now that we've accepted Jesus, we have to do everything in our power to follow his commandments, or else we won't receive our reward in heaven."
This is more or less a composite of several explanations, but the implication remains the same. Even recently, I heard a well-meaning minister urge his congregation to follow the Savior using this same sentiment. The problem with approaching this passage in this manner is that it:
(1) will only drive us to despair. and, (2) unless we look to Jesus himself as the key to interpreting this passage, we will miss the point altogether.
Jesus coming to fulfill the law is not meant to be seen merely as a parroting of what Moses brought to the people of Israel (Hebrews 3:1-6). The Pharisees accused Him of breaking the law because they (much like so many of us today) did not see Jesus as THE fulfillment of the OT law and prophecy(Matthew 17:1-5, Rom. 3:21). Therefore, they spent their time manufacturing righteousness. It is important to remember that the Pharisees were extremely lawful. Their righteousness was founded upon this very fact (they also believed that it was their lawful righteousness that would usher in the Messiah and his kingdom). However, their fanatical need to fulfill the law via their own abilities left them lopsided; for they neglected the greater issues and purpose of the law (Rom. 3:21, Gal. 3:24). This led them and the people that they were supposed to be serving into total despair. While they were so busy following the law, as well as making up new ones to keep, they ignored the law altogether (Matthew 23:1-39).
And so it is with us. When we look to ourselves or a jury of our peers as a parameter for our righteousness, it will lead us to nothing less than many sleepless nights (Matthew 10:28). By these standards, when are we ever good enough? Especially when we take into account the law of God, which we are all guilty of breaking. We are all aware of the fact the we just don't measure up. So we, like our first parents, spend our lives making suits of fig leaves; trying to hide the truth of how flawed we are (Gen. 3:1-7, 1 John 1:8,10; 2:4).
Enter the despair. We know that we're not right (Psalm 14: 3, Eccl. 7:20, Rom. 3:9-18). We just don't want anyone else to find out. But a leaf that isn't attached to vine begins to wither (John 15:1-5). If we keep cutting down the forest to make the suit, we run out of resources. No more leaves or even a tree to hide behind. What do we do then when left to face the judgement of the law, naked and ashamed (Jer. 2:35)?
But there is good news, even within this passage. It is Jesus that is the righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees through his life and death (Romans 10:4-13). The Apostle Paul appropriately points to Jesus as the answer to the treacherous natural state of our humanity. He shows us that if we attempt to live by the letter of the law, we are justly condemned for our inability to follow it . In pointing out his own inability to follow the law, he himself is driven to despair, but calls to remembrance the salvation that he has in Jesus and gives glory to God for giving us the Son (Romans 7:13-25).
No one is good enough to save themselves and we already stand condemned (John 3:18). The notion that we can somehow clean ourselves up enough to be acceptable before God is akin to taking a bath in dirty water (Job 14:4, Isaiah 64:6). It accomplishes nothing. But God, in his mercy, sent his Son to live under the law faithfully. In his justice, he sacrificed his Son as an unblemished offering for my sinful disregard for his law (2 Cor. 5:21). And for his glory, he raised his Son, so that those that he came to save may be raised with him, giving all glory to God for being just, and the justifier of their faith (Rom. 3:23-26, 1 Cor. 15:20-23). Furthermore, in his faithfulness, he gives us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who bears witness to our surety in Christ (2 Cor. 1:22, Eph. 1:13-14), and gives us the ability to obey his commands (Ezek. 36:26-27, Matt. 22:34-40, Gal. 5:22-23, 1 John 4:19, 21).
Contrary to popular belief (and Poor Richard's Almanac), the Lord does not "help those who help themselves". For that, we should thankful.
For all who rely on works of the law areunder a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written,“Cursed is everyone who is hangedon a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spiritthrough faith. - Galatians 3:10-14
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” - Mark 10:17-31 ESV
Taking into account what has already been discussed (about what Jesus lays out for those who wish to enter the kingdom of heaven at the beginning of the SOTM), we need to look no further than scripture itself to see this lesson aptly applied to show the relevancy of the conclusion. To review, let's summarize what has been stated previously:{What Jesus says to his followers in the first three beatitudes (blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, and blessed are the meek) are not statements of kingdom living, but how one must enter the kingdom itself.}The reason that this needs to be stressed is simple; if we don't follow the pattern that Christ sets before us, it becomes perilously easy to accept someone on mere appearances--only putting stock in the superficial. It reminds me of what Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said:"When you see a man with a great deal of religion displayed in his shop window, you may depend upon it, he keeps a very small stock of it within."A Case StudyIn the verses above, we meet the rich young man who is eager to follow Christ. However eager he may be, Jesus does not let him come easily. He doesn't just take the man at face value; he gets to the issues of the heart. There is no "easy believism" when it comes to following the Savior. This young rulers answers show him for what he truly is and not what he presents himself to be. Granted, he may have been sincere in his pursuits, but he pursued them wrongly.
'Why do you call me good?' (and why that's so bad)
While the young man does see Jesus as "good teacher", he does not truly see him for what he really is. He does not recognize Christ as Lord and Savior--only as a teacher of righteousness instead of righteousness itself. Mark records that the man knelt before him, yet at the same time, he fails to bow the knee of his heart. Here is where we can see a lack of poorness in spirit. He wants to gain eternal life, but not necessarily because he is lacking. After all, what do you get the man that has everything except everything? He asks what he must do; he never repents of anything. Basically his question is actually something along the lines of "tell me what to do and I will do it", never realizing that there is nothing that he can do at all. He may have made the intellectual connection to the truth of Jesus' teachings, but his heart remained unchanged.
The Law as Child's Play
Systematically, the next thing that we see is, due to the lack of a poorness in spirit, a lack of mourning for the fallen state of his human condition. When Christ asks the young man about the commandments, he says that he has kept them all, "from his youth". There you have it. No mourning on his part because he obviously has nothing to mourn. The irony of the statement is that he claims to have kept the law from his youth and yet the scriptures attest to him being a young man. His answer is impetuous (we could give him the benefit of the doubt as to whether or not he kept them all, but it is highly unlikely). The failure to see the emptiness of himself in terms of salvation are due largely in part to the fact that he fails to see the proper function of the law in bringing us to salvation (Romans 7:7-25; Galatians 3:19-26). He sees the law as a means of salvation, not as the thing that points to salvation; therefore he sees no need to mourn, for keeping the law for him is something that even a child could do. He is only concerned with what he is doing externally, but Jesus is trying to break him open to reveal the truest nature of his heart (Mark 7:14-23).
Too Hard to be Humble
After all is said and done, Jesus loves the young man enough to tell him what he lacks. What is missing in this young man's plight for eternal life is a heart of total devotion for God. He is unable to give up all of his worldly possessions because he is unable to see the infinite value in the inheritance of Christ himself. Why? Well, if he doesn't see himself as spiritually bankrupt, he won't mourn that loss. This places the means of salvation firmly upon his own ability to accomplish it if he knows what to do. Christ is just the guide--a "teacher" to point him in the right direction. So, it is only right for him to count this cost of absolute submission to God through the giving up of all worldly possessions as to high a cost. He is staring everything he will ever need in the face, yet he can't let go of what he has in order to keep it. Again, he may have liked what Christ was teaching, but doesn't have faith that Christ can sustain him. This will be his ruin (Hebrews 11:6). The truth of this condition definitely causes him grief. However, let's not be mistaken; it's the idea of losing his worldly possessions that cause him mourning, not loss of eternal life. He has chosen his master and for him there was no turning back (Matthew 16:26; Luke 16:13). Christ cuts to the heart of the matter and exposes the true nature of the young man's being, where meekness is nowhere to be found.
Conclusion & Application
Here we see a perfect biblical antithesis of what it is to be in the kingdom of God. There are several key points to be learned even for us in the church today if we want to avoid making some of these faulty assumptions:
1. Salvation is of the Lord. There is nothing that a man can do or say from within himself that can better his position with God. Natural man is an enemy of God whether passive or aggressive in nature. Only God can remove that hostility and bring man into right fellowship and communion with himself (Psalms 65:4; Ezekiel 36:25-27)
2. God sees the heart, not merely duty. We may fool others by actions and lip service (or be fooled ourselves), but never God (1 Samuel 16:7; Jeremiah 17:9-10).
3. Money and possessions should never be placed as a priority over Christ. Many of today's churches have resorted to teaching a prosperity "gospel", which seeks to make heaven on earth now; placing our greatest value on the inheritance of worldly things and not Christ (the living Word of God) and his kingdom that is to come. To quote Francis Grimke':
"And yet how often we find men in our pulpits searching heaven and earth for something new to preach about, while this treasure-house of wisdom and knowledge, of the things necessary for salvation, is neglected, passed by, and overlooked."
and again,
"They have preached on almost everything except Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God whose blood alone cleanses from sin. The thought of sin, from which we need to be saved, has largely dropped out of most of our preaching."
Money can never save the soul. Having more worldly possessions will never bring you everlasting happiness, nor should this be our chief pursuit. These are things that can only be found in God, through salvation in Jesus, alone. We may certainly have blessings in this world--monetary, as well as others. But those blessings will only come with pursuing a proper devotion to Christ and the Kingdom of God (Proverbs 30:7-9; Philippians 4:10-13; 1 Tim 6:6-10; James 4:1-3).
Let the world their virtue boast and works of righteousness; I a wretch, undone and lost am freely saved by grace--Take me savior as I am; Let me lose my sins in Thee--Friend of sinners, spotless Lamb; Thy blood was shed for me. Full of truth and grace Thou art; And here is all my hope; False and foul as hell, my heart to thee I offer up--Thou wast given to redeem my soul from iniquity--Friend of sinners, spotless Lamb; Thy blood was shed for me. Nothing have I Lord to pay, nor can Thy grace procure; Empty, send me not away for thou knowest I am poor--Dust and
ashes is my name; My all is sin and misery--Friend of sinners, spotless Lamb; Thy blood was shed for me.
- Charles Wesley
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." - Matthew 6: 19-21 ESV
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." - Matthew 5:2-5 ESV
As we look at the beginning of the Jesus' discourse known as the 'Sermon on the Mount' (SOTM), one can't help but take notice of the first three conditions that he places on his followers:
-to be poor in spirit
-to mourn
-to be meek
Yet he called these conditions "blessed". The actual Greek interpretation of the word means "happy", which may leave one even more confounded than at first glance. These are not conditions by which I would begin to look for happiness in my life, yet this is what the savior asks--better yet, commands--of those who seek to follow after him. From a secular perspective, these are seen as weaknesses; traits of which no one who really wishes to seek out fulfillment in life would gladly heap upon themselves. There has to be something more, right? And there is. So much more.
Within these three verses, we are not looking simply at what it takes for kingdom living. After all, first things first; how am I supposed to live in the kingdom, if I'm not yet in it?! This is what Christ lays before them--we must know how to come to God before we can serve him. Salvation must come before any other action can be taken (John 3:3,5).
"Blessed are the poor in spirit..."
The first thing that is required for anyone to come to Christ is that we realize that we bring nothing to the table in a salvific sense. Regardless of what talents and abilities we may possess, they serve us no purpose when it comes to entering the Kingdom of God (Isaiah 57:12, Isaiah 64:6). The act of salvation rests solely with God through Christ alone (Psalm 37:39, John 14:6). Mankind in his natural state is spiritually bankrupt (Romans 3:9-20). To place salvation on anything and anyone other than the grace of God through the person of Jesus Christ amounts to unbelief (John 6:44, Acts 4:11-12). It is only to those who are poor in spirit that the Kingdom of Heaven is promised (Psalm 51:17).
"Blessed are those who mourn..."
As John Calvin states in his Sermons on the Beatitudes,
"Here he affirms more or less what we have already learnt. For if we are poor in spirit, we cannot avoid weeping; we cannot be other than distressed."
One cannot be poor in spirit (that is, made to see his lack of spiritual uprightness) and not mourn his condition. Or to say it better--one can; but this puts him on the same path that Cain went down. Instead of receiving the chastisement of God for his good, he became bitter. He becomes so embittered, in fact, that he receives neither consolation or warning from God. This hardens him to the point that he sinks deeper into the depths of sin (Genesis 4:3-8). As Calvin again says,
"There may be many who indeed chafe at the bit...Although the Lord Jesus Christ keeps them on a tight rein, still they fume and grind their teeth, and their pride bursts forth worse than before. So God, for his part, has to bear down hard on them so to expel the poison which otherwise might kill them. Not that they improve as a result. They grow even worse, rant and rage and flaunt their devilish fury in the face of God...Does this mean, then, that their poverty, their experience of adversity, serves no purpose? Not at all! It makes their guilt all the worse when they appear before the bar of God. They are examples to us all."
May these examples serve us well. We must learn that our poorness of spirit should bring about our mourning--our repentance. There is a right way and a wrong way to grieve a broken spirit (2 Corinthians 7:10-13a). We must understand that the revelation of the wretchedness of our natural state and the subsequent mourning are all a part of God's discipline of grace to bring us to salvation and to furthering our sanctification; to make us more like Christ (Romans 8:28-30; Hebrews 5:7-8, Hebrews 12:3-11). God hears our cries and promises that those who are his will indeed be comforted (Psalm 13:1-2; Psalm 56:8; Isaiah 42:3; Revelation 6:9-11).
"Blessed are the meek..."
This third key to true happiness actually serves as the culminating point to the first two beatitudes. If anyone is poor in spirit, not to mention mourning that poorness, how can we be anything but meek? As Martin Luther so eloquently states: "We are beggars". We all know that beggars can't be choosers. For a person to come before God as if he is owed is an unholy insult. It is not by our works that we are saved, but through the person and work of Jesus Christ (Romans 4:4-5; 2 Corinthians 5:21). We are to be like the tax collector, not the Pharisee (Luke 18:9-14). We live in a culture today that rewards the braggart; the more that a man makes of himself, the better. Our society tells us that meekness is weakness. This sort of thinking has even begun to effect the Western Church at large. However, nothing could be further from the truth. According to the Scriptures, we need to turn this paradigm on its head (Habakkuk 2:4). Any form of arrogance before almighty, holy God is sinful. For what does a beggar have to be proud? The only thing that sinful man has earned is death, but God has, through Christ, given us eternal life (Romans 6:23). If we are to boast anything, it should be that--not ourselves (Galatians 6:14; 2 Corinthians 4:7-11; 1 Timothy 1:12-16). If there is ever any doubt that should creep in and try to prove us wrong, all we need to do is look to the author and perfecter of our faith himself (Hebrews 12:2) as the truest example of what it looks like to live in meekness and submission to God (Matthew 11:28-30, Matthew 26:39).
It is through him alone that we find ourselves before God; the risen Christ is our inheritance. We need nothing more. We can be rest assured and comforted to know that if it is this "weakness" that grants us the power, then we thrive on what is greater than all of the world (Matthew 13:45-46; Luke 17:20-21; John 14:1-3; Genesis 17:4-8; Galatians 3:7-9, 29; 1 John 4:4; Revelation 1:4-6).
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. - James 4:6-10 ESV
