Suppose you could be transported back in time to Palestine, in the time of Christ. What would it mean to you to be able to welcome Jesus into your home for a meal and maybe to stay the night? What would it mean to him? Is there a way that we can have this blessing even now?
MATTHEW 8:19-20: NO PLACE TO LAY HIS HEAD
INTRODUCTION
In the book of 2 Kings, in the Old Testament, we read of a wealthy woman who used to invite the homeless prophet Elisha to come into her home for dinner.
One day she said to her husband, “Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God, who is continually passing our way.
Let us make a small roof chamber with walls, and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there.”
You can read the story in 2 Kings 4:8-10. And then you can read on and learn of the blessing that came to that woman and her husband as a result of her generous hospitality to the prophet.
Nine centuries after Elisha’s time, there came another homeless prophet. His name was Jesus.
We don’t read that anyone made him a little chamber with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp.
But we do read that some who loved him took him into their homes and offered him their hospitality.
We read of one time when he was in Peter’s house in Capernaum and another time when he was welcomed into Martha’s home and still another time when he invited himself to Zacchaeus’s house.
Surely there were many more. I doubt that Jesus often slept under the stars.
I. Text: Matthew 8:19-20
“A scribe came up and said to Jesus,
‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’
“And Jesus said to him,
‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’”
We read in 2 Corinthians 8:9:
“For you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich, for your sake he became poor,
so that by his poverty you might become rich.”
When I read that Jesus had no home—no resting place, not even so much as the foxes and birds had, then I realize how poor he became that he might live among us and become our Savior.
When he told the eager scribe that he had nowhere to lay his head, he was warning the scribe that following him might involve more sacrifice than that would-be follower has bargained for.
II. When Jesus says, “…the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head,” He is speaking not only of his poverty but also of his loneliness.
A. Throughout Jesus’ childhood and young manhood he must have been well-liked and admired.
We read that he “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”
B. Jesus’ life was a lonely one. He had no kindred spirit. No one really understood him, even his family. We read that after he began his ministry “even his brothers did not believe in him” (John 7.5).
We read that on one occasion the crowds became so dense that he couldn’t even eat (Mark 3.20-21). His family came out to take charge of him, for people were saying, “He is beside himself.”
Sometimes even in a big crowd we can be lonely. So was Jesus.
C. There was no place where Jesus was “at home.
”There was no place where he could lay his head, and there was also no place where he could rest his heart.
In public Jesus was often surrounded by crowds of people, made up of a mixture of the spiritually hungry, the curious, and the hostile.
Even with his dearest friends—Peter and John and Mary Magdalene and the other disciples—he was often misunderstood and frustrated by their lack of understanding.
D. So when he could, he escaped to be alone with his Father. Sometimes this meant spending the night in prayer.
III. But the “hospitality” that delighted Jesus was something more than a welcome into a house.
A. Jesus was happy to be welcomed into Martha’s home where Martha always tried to have a special dinner for him.
But his soul was ever more refreshed when Martha’s sister Mary sat at his feet and eagerly listened to his teaching.
B. I think of that day at Sychar, in Samaria, when Jesus sat on the well and told that lonely Samaritan woman about the water of life that would well up in her unto eternal life.
So much delight did he have that day that when his disciples got back with lunch and begged him to eat, he said, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
That conversation was so nourishing to our Lord that he didn’t need food that day.
CONCLUSION
Now the Lord Jesus is at home with the Father. His homeless days are over.
But yet, still, Jesus craves a home—a home in the hearts of his people.
In the Book of Revelation we read of the risen and glorified Jesus saying to the church at Laodicea:
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me.”
You and I can welcome Jesus into our lives and provide hospitality for him.
We can enjoy his fellowship and delight him with our attention whenever we meditate on his Word, whenever we open our hearts to him in prayer, and whenever we express his love to others.
So when you hear Jesus knocking at your heart’s door, invite him in, make him at home, and let him be your constant companion.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Finding Jesus (or Letting Jesus Find Us): Acts 9:1-20: Paul’s Big Surprise
Sometimes God meets in a way we never expected, and life is never the same again. The great Apostle Paul had an experience like that.
ACTS 9:1-20: PAUL’S BIG SURPRISE
INTRODUCTION
An Object Lesson
During the First World War, the Chaplain General of the British Forces was Bishop Taylor Smith.
Once while visiting a military hospital he passed a party of convalescent soldiers seated around a table on which he spied a bowl turned upside down. He said to the men, “Do you know what two things are inside that bowl? No? Darkness and uselessness.”
Then he turned it the right way up. “Now,” he said “it is full of light and ready to hold porridge or soup or anything you like to use it for.
It is a converted bowl. Which are you men like? The inverted, dark, useless bowl, or the converted, light, useful bowl—because you have turned from darkness to light, from Satan to God?”
I. I would like to tell you three conversion stories
A. St. Augustine was born in North Africa in 354.
Augustine’s mother was a devoted Christian and prayed every day for her son.
Although Augustine loved to talk philosophy, he lived a careless, sinful life. He lived with a woman, and they had a son but never married.
As a young man Augustine found a job in Milan teaching rhetoric.
He went to church to hear the eloquent preaching of St. Ambrose.
Gradually he became interested in the true Christian faith.
One day Augustine, now 32 years old, was with a friend in a garden. He was greatly troubled in his heart because of his sinfulness. Suddenly he heard the voice of a child coming from a neighboring house, chanting over and over again, “Pick it up, read it; pick it up, read it.”
He quickly returned to the bench where his friend was sitting and picked up the book he had left lying there. It was St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans.
He snatched the book up, opened it, and in silence read the paragraph on which his eyes first fell. [It was the last verses of Romans 13]: "Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof."
Suddenly Augustine’s heart was flooded with light. He showed the passage to his friend, who read on farther where it said, “Him that is weak in the faith receive.”
Augustine’s friend joined him in full commitment without any hesitation.
He then went to his mother and told her what had happened, and she rejoiced with him.
Augustine lived a long and useful life.
He became one of most influential Christians who ever lived.
B. Sundar Singh was born in India in 1889.
He was educated in a Christian school but was deeply interested in Hindu philosophy. He hated Christianity. He threw filth on his Christian teachers. He mocked their scriptures and interrupted classes. He bought a New Testament from the Christians. Outside his house he built a fire and page by page tore up the scripture and burnt it.
But his search for the truth was only leaving him more and more depressed. Finally one night in December 1903, he rose from bed and prayed that God would reveal himself to him if he was real.
He determined that on the following day he would lay his head on the railroad track near his home and end his life. The next train was due at 5 a.m.
The hours passed. Suddenly the room filled with light. He looked out the door, but it was still dark outside.
A man appeared before him with a shining face. The man said, “How long will you deny me? I died for you; I have given my life for you.”
He saw the man’s hands pierced by nails. He knew it was Christ. He fell to his knees with a wonderful sense of peace.
Sundar Singh was baptized by the Christians.
Wearing sandals and the saffron robe of a Hindu holy man, Sundar Singh began wandering throughout India and the borders of Tibet preaching Christ.
Many believed through his witness. There seemed to be a radiance of holiness about him. Wherever he went, crowds came to hear his telling of the gospel.
Sundar Singh had a great burden to preach Christ in the closed country of Tibet. He disappeared in Tibet at the age of 41. No one knows how he died, but his influence still lives on.
C. Francis Collins is a physicist, a physician, and recently the director of the Human Genome Project. He is a super-star scientist.
As a young scientist he shifted from agnosticism to atheism. He came to the conclusion that no thinking scientist could believe in God.
But as a physician he noticed that many of his patients had a faith that provided them with a strong assurance of peace despite terrible suffering. He couldn’t understand it.
One day, he was speaking to a patient who was suffering daily from severe untreatable pain. He had discussed the important issues of life and death with this woman and she had shared her faith with Collins. One day she blurted out: “Doctor, what do you believe?
Collins was taken aback. He realized that he had never really considered the evidence for and against belief.
He visited a Methodist pastor who lived down the street and the pastor gave him a copy of C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity. He read it and became a committed Christian.
He recently published a book relating his study of genetics to his faith in Christ. It is called The Language of God. He included the story of his conversion in that book.
D. But the most famous and most important conversion story of all time is the story of Saul of Tarsus, which we find in Acts 9.
Paul’s conversion changed the course of history. For Christians, it is the most important event since the resurrection of Christ.
But today we’re not going to look at the story as a part of the grand scheme of things but only to learn what it has to teach us about living for Jesus.
II. Saul’s story. Read Acts 9:1-2.
A. We first meet Saul in Acts 8, as he watched with approval the stoning to death of the first Christian martyr, Stephen.
Here we read that Saul was convinced that this new faith was blasphemous.
He did what he could to stop the new faith from spreading. He entered house after house dragging both men and women to prison.
In Acts 26 Paul tells King Agrippa that he not only locked many of the believers in prison, but also cast his vote against them when they were being condemned to death.
He tells Agrippa that by punishing them he tried to force the believers to blaspheme—by torturing them, Paul attempted to force them to curse Christ and apostatize.
In all this he was convinced that he was offering service to God.
B. One day, with his letters from the high priest, Saul and a troop of soldiers set out to go to Damascus to arrest the believers who had fled the persecution in Jerusalem.
It was a journey of something like 150 miles. It would have taken a week. Paul had plenty of time to nurse his grudges, to justify his behavior, and perhaps to entertain some doubts as he considered the spectacle of the man Stephen dying under a hail of stones as he prayed for mercy on his assailants—of whom he, Saul was one
C. In Acts 9:3-9 we read what happened as he neared Damascus, his destination.
Here we read only of the intense blinding light and the voice. But in v19 we learn that Paul actually saw the face of Jesus.
When Jesus said, “Why are you persecuting me?” and “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” Saul was shocked into an understanding he would never forget: Jesus’ people are his family—a part of Christ’s own self.
Saul was blinded by the vision, and his companions took his hand and led him on into Damascus.
The man who had intended to lead the Christians as captives to Jerusalem is himself led a captive to Christ into Damascus. But it is not so much Saul’s weakness as the power of Christ that Luke wants to show us.
D. Read Acts 9:10-19
Ananias is one of the unsung heroes of the Bible. He has only this bit role to play in Luke’s story, but his part is essential.
If it is true that The Church owes Paul to the prayer of Stephen, it is also true that the Church owes Paul to the brotherliness of Ananias. Note Ananias’s first words to Saul: “Brother Saul…”
Ananias lived so close to God that he knew how to listen to the voice of Jesus, and he was prepared to obey it, even when what Jesus asked of him seemed unreasonably dangerous.
The mark of Saul’s conversion that silenced Ananias was this, that Saul had been three days and three nights in fasting and in prayer without ceasing. “Behold he is praying,” says Jesus to Ananias. As a Pharisee we can be sure that Saul was diligent in saying his prayers, but now he is really praying—pouring out his heart before God.
E. And as soon as the scales fell from his eyes and Saul can see again, Ananias confronted him with his destiny.
What we call Saul’s “conversion” wasn’t simply the entrance into the “abundant life.”
Right at the beginning of his new life Saul is given a calling: to be a witness for Jesus:
And right at the beginning, Ananias warns him of the cost of his decision to follow Jesus: Saul will suffer much for the sake of Jesus.
We also need to keep in mind these two facts of the Christian life:
The Christian life is a life of service—service to Christ by serving others. We are not saved just to soak up God’s love but to spread it around. We are “saved to serve.”
And the Christian life is a way of life that costs. For Saul it cost dearly. For believers in countries hostile to the faith of Christ, it costs dearly. For us, if we are whole-hearted for Jesus, it will also cost.
CONCLUSION
Christ finds each of us in a different way.
For several years at the Men’s Fellowship of our church we have asked a different man each month to tell us the story of his faith journey. Each has been unique; no two are very similar. Jesus calls in different ways and heals us in different ways.
Few conversions are as clear-cut as that of Saul of Tarsus. A few of my friends have such dramatic stories to tell. For most believers the realization of Christ’s lordship comes more slowly.
I can’t point to the time when I “passed from darkness to light,” but I can remember the week when I realized what it really meant to be a true Christian.
The experience came through an experience of Christian fellowship and listening to calls to discipleship at a missions conference for college students.
The Bible verse that sums up the realization came so strongly into my conscience that week is one that Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians: “You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
That verse showed me that to believe in Jesus really simply means to give myself to him. I would belong to him. Jesus would be the Lord of my life.
That was 60 years ago, and since then I’ve never looked back. Sometimes the way has been rocky and rough. I’ve had doubts and fears. I like that verse from “Amazing Grace” that goes like this:
“Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come;
tis grace hath led me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.”
ACTS 9:1-20: PAUL’S BIG SURPRISE
INTRODUCTION
An Object Lesson
During the First World War, the Chaplain General of the British Forces was Bishop Taylor Smith.
Once while visiting a military hospital he passed a party of convalescent soldiers seated around a table on which he spied a bowl turned upside down. He said to the men, “Do you know what two things are inside that bowl? No? Darkness and uselessness.”
Then he turned it the right way up. “Now,” he said “it is full of light and ready to hold porridge or soup or anything you like to use it for.
It is a converted bowl. Which are you men like? The inverted, dark, useless bowl, or the converted, light, useful bowl—because you have turned from darkness to light, from Satan to God?”
I. I would like to tell you three conversion stories
A. St. Augustine was born in North Africa in 354.
Augustine’s mother was a devoted Christian and prayed every day for her son.
Although Augustine loved to talk philosophy, he lived a careless, sinful life. He lived with a woman, and they had a son but never married.
As a young man Augustine found a job in Milan teaching rhetoric.
He went to church to hear the eloquent preaching of St. Ambrose.
Gradually he became interested in the true Christian faith.
One day Augustine, now 32 years old, was with a friend in a garden. He was greatly troubled in his heart because of his sinfulness. Suddenly he heard the voice of a child coming from a neighboring house, chanting over and over again, “Pick it up, read it; pick it up, read it.”
He quickly returned to the bench where his friend was sitting and picked up the book he had left lying there. It was St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans.
He snatched the book up, opened it, and in silence read the paragraph on which his eyes first fell. [It was the last verses of Romans 13]: "Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof."
Suddenly Augustine’s heart was flooded with light. He showed the passage to his friend, who read on farther where it said, “Him that is weak in the faith receive.”
Augustine’s friend joined him in full commitment without any hesitation.
He then went to his mother and told her what had happened, and she rejoiced with him.
Augustine lived a long and useful life.
He became one of most influential Christians who ever lived.
B. Sundar Singh was born in India in 1889.
He was educated in a Christian school but was deeply interested in Hindu philosophy. He hated Christianity. He threw filth on his Christian teachers. He mocked their scriptures and interrupted classes. He bought a New Testament from the Christians. Outside his house he built a fire and page by page tore up the scripture and burnt it.
But his search for the truth was only leaving him more and more depressed. Finally one night in December 1903, he rose from bed and prayed that God would reveal himself to him if he was real.
He determined that on the following day he would lay his head on the railroad track near his home and end his life. The next train was due at 5 a.m.
The hours passed. Suddenly the room filled with light. He looked out the door, but it was still dark outside.
A man appeared before him with a shining face. The man said, “How long will you deny me? I died for you; I have given my life for you.”
He saw the man’s hands pierced by nails. He knew it was Christ. He fell to his knees with a wonderful sense of peace.
Sundar Singh was baptized by the Christians.
Wearing sandals and the saffron robe of a Hindu holy man, Sundar Singh began wandering throughout India and the borders of Tibet preaching Christ.
Many believed through his witness. There seemed to be a radiance of holiness about him. Wherever he went, crowds came to hear his telling of the gospel.
Sundar Singh had a great burden to preach Christ in the closed country of Tibet. He disappeared in Tibet at the age of 41. No one knows how he died, but his influence still lives on.
C. Francis Collins is a physicist, a physician, and recently the director of the Human Genome Project. He is a super-star scientist.
As a young scientist he shifted from agnosticism to atheism. He came to the conclusion that no thinking scientist could believe in God.
But as a physician he noticed that many of his patients had a faith that provided them with a strong assurance of peace despite terrible suffering. He couldn’t understand it.
One day, he was speaking to a patient who was suffering daily from severe untreatable pain. He had discussed the important issues of life and death with this woman and she had shared her faith with Collins. One day she blurted out: “Doctor, what do you believe?
Collins was taken aback. He realized that he had never really considered the evidence for and against belief.
He visited a Methodist pastor who lived down the street and the pastor gave him a copy of C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity. He read it and became a committed Christian.
He recently published a book relating his study of genetics to his faith in Christ. It is called The Language of God. He included the story of his conversion in that book.
D. But the most famous and most important conversion story of all time is the story of Saul of Tarsus, which we find in Acts 9.
Paul’s conversion changed the course of history. For Christians, it is the most important event since the resurrection of Christ.
But today we’re not going to look at the story as a part of the grand scheme of things but only to learn what it has to teach us about living for Jesus.
II. Saul’s story. Read Acts 9:1-2.
A. We first meet Saul in Acts 8, as he watched with approval the stoning to death of the first Christian martyr, Stephen.
Here we read that Saul was convinced that this new faith was blasphemous.
He did what he could to stop the new faith from spreading. He entered house after house dragging both men and women to prison.
In Acts 26 Paul tells King Agrippa that he not only locked many of the believers in prison, but also cast his vote against them when they were being condemned to death.
He tells Agrippa that by punishing them he tried to force the believers to blaspheme—by torturing them, Paul attempted to force them to curse Christ and apostatize.
In all this he was convinced that he was offering service to God.
B. One day, with his letters from the high priest, Saul and a troop of soldiers set out to go to Damascus to arrest the believers who had fled the persecution in Jerusalem.
It was a journey of something like 150 miles. It would have taken a week. Paul had plenty of time to nurse his grudges, to justify his behavior, and perhaps to entertain some doubts as he considered the spectacle of the man Stephen dying under a hail of stones as he prayed for mercy on his assailants—of whom he, Saul was one
C. In Acts 9:3-9 we read what happened as he neared Damascus, his destination.
Here we read only of the intense blinding light and the voice. But in v19 we learn that Paul actually saw the face of Jesus.
When Jesus said, “Why are you persecuting me?” and “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” Saul was shocked into an understanding he would never forget: Jesus’ people are his family—a part of Christ’s own self.
Saul was blinded by the vision, and his companions took his hand and led him on into Damascus.
The man who had intended to lead the Christians as captives to Jerusalem is himself led a captive to Christ into Damascus. But it is not so much Saul’s weakness as the power of Christ that Luke wants to show us.
D. Read Acts 9:10-19
Ananias is one of the unsung heroes of the Bible. He has only this bit role to play in Luke’s story, but his part is essential.
If it is true that The Church owes Paul to the prayer of Stephen, it is also true that the Church owes Paul to the brotherliness of Ananias. Note Ananias’s first words to Saul: “Brother Saul…”
Ananias lived so close to God that he knew how to listen to the voice of Jesus, and he was prepared to obey it, even when what Jesus asked of him seemed unreasonably dangerous.
The mark of Saul’s conversion that silenced Ananias was this, that Saul had been three days and three nights in fasting and in prayer without ceasing. “Behold he is praying,” says Jesus to Ananias. As a Pharisee we can be sure that Saul was diligent in saying his prayers, but now he is really praying—pouring out his heart before God.
E. And as soon as the scales fell from his eyes and Saul can see again, Ananias confronted him with his destiny.
What we call Saul’s “conversion” wasn’t simply the entrance into the “abundant life.”
Right at the beginning of his new life Saul is given a calling: to be a witness for Jesus:
And right at the beginning, Ananias warns him of the cost of his decision to follow Jesus: Saul will suffer much for the sake of Jesus.
We also need to keep in mind these two facts of the Christian life:
The Christian life is a life of service—service to Christ by serving others. We are not saved just to soak up God’s love but to spread it around. We are “saved to serve.”
And the Christian life is a way of life that costs. For Saul it cost dearly. For believers in countries hostile to the faith of Christ, it costs dearly. For us, if we are whole-hearted for Jesus, it will also cost.
CONCLUSION
Christ finds each of us in a different way.
For several years at the Men’s Fellowship of our church we have asked a different man each month to tell us the story of his faith journey. Each has been unique; no two are very similar. Jesus calls in different ways and heals us in different ways.
Few conversions are as clear-cut as that of Saul of Tarsus. A few of my friends have such dramatic stories to tell. For most believers the realization of Christ’s lordship comes more slowly.
I can’t point to the time when I “passed from darkness to light,” but I can remember the week when I realized what it really meant to be a true Christian.
The experience came through an experience of Christian fellowship and listening to calls to discipleship at a missions conference for college students.
The Bible verse that sums up the realization came so strongly into my conscience that week is one that Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians: “You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
That verse showed me that to believe in Jesus really simply means to give myself to him. I would belong to him. Jesus would be the Lord of my life.
That was 60 years ago, and since then I’ve never looked back. Sometimes the way has been rocky and rough. I’ve had doubts and fears. I like that verse from “Amazing Grace” that goes like this:
“Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come;
tis grace hath led me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.”
Living for Jesus: Matthew 7:13-14: Choosing the Road That Goes Where You Want to Go
Life is a journey, and the most important choice we ever make—and we make it over and over again—is the road we take through life.
MATTHEW 7:13-14: CHOOSING THE ROAD THAT GOES WHERE YOU WANT TO GO
INTRODUCTION
Did you know that Christianity is not a New Testament word?
The earliest Christians called their Faith “the way.”
The word they used was "hodos," which means “way,” “road,” or “journey.”
This new “Way” that the believers followed was a new way of thinking,
a new way of feeling,
a new way of behaving.
When Jesus called his disciples, he said, “Follow me.”
They walked the roads of Galilee with him. They listened to him. They watched him. They shared his life.
The believers of the next generation called themselves “disciples,” or “followers of Jesus.”
They knew the way Jesus traveled included a Cross. They budgeted for that, and some of them gave their lives because of their faithfulness.
They remembered that Jesus told people: “If any of you want to come after me, you have to deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9.23).
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus issued this invitation (Matthew 7.13-14):
“Enter by the narrow gate;
for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction,
and those who enter by it are many.
For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life,
and those who find it are few.”
I. Let’s look first at the road that the wide gate leads to.
A. The road is easy. It’s just the natural way to go—the obvious choice.
The Greek word here means “spacious,” or “roomy.”
There’s a lot of company on this road.
There’s plenty of room for a variety of opinions and lifestyles.
You can choose whatever philosophy or beliefs you feel comfortable with.
You can be religious or irreligious. You can live and let live.
You don’t have to make any decisions because we are all just naturally on this road.
B. But there’s a big problem with the easy road: it leads to destruction.
The idea of a road that leads to destruction isn’t a very popular part of Jesus’ teaching. People don’t like the idea that our choices on earth have eternal consequences.
II. But Jesus urges us to enter by the narrow gate and take the hard road.
A. The road the narrow gate leads to is narrow, like its gate.
The word for the road is translated either “narrow” or “hard.” The Greek word means both. It is literally, “pressed together,” “restricted,” or “afflicted.”
Jesus says the hard road isn’t popular, but it leads to life.
We read in Acts 14.21-22 of how Paul and Barnabas exhorted the new believers “to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”
An old minister came to die. His friends were gathered around his bedside listening to his last words.
“Would to God I were back in my pulpit but for one Sunday,” he said.
“What would you do?” asked a brother minister at his bedside.
“I would preach to the people the difficulty of salvation,” he answered.
Sometimes Christians are surprised when the road of salvation becomes far more difficult than anyone told them it would be.
We who lived long know about the hard road.
We have become more and more aware of our limitations. Sometimes we feel useless.
It is hard to be spiritual when you are feeling crummy.
It is hard to keep faith bright when you are separated from your Christian friends.
A famous saint from long ago—St. Bernard of Clairvaux—said this true saying: “The road winds uphill all the way—yea, to the very end.”
B. But this narrow way, this hard road, this way of affliction is glorious because it leads to life.
It is our hope of glory that gives us cause to rejoice in the Lord.
Paul wrote to the Romans (5:3-5): “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering producer endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.”
It’s a hard road, but it is glorious because we know that it leads to the New Jerusalem, the Holy City—our Eternal Home.
CONCLUSION
Some of you have heard of the classic book written on the Christian journey called The Pilgrim’s Progress.
It was a book that every child in a Christian family would have read in our grandparents’ time.
I read somewhere that in the log cabin in which Abraham Lincoln grew up, there were three books: The Bible, Aesop’s Fables, and Pilgrim’s Progress.
The Pilgrim’s Progress has been translated into more than 160 languages, and more copies have been printed than any book written in English.
Once when I was young a preacher visited our church and gave a week messages for children based on this book. He had an old-fashioned magic lantern and projected pictures of the story on the wall.
The Pilgrim’s Progress is a commentary on the road to the Celestial City, or what we call “Heaven,” told as a dream.
The story starts out with a man, named Christian, clothed in rags, with his face turned from his house, a Book in his hand, and a great bundle on his back.
He opened the book and read from it. He began to weep and then broke out in a lamentable cry, “What shall I do?
He went to bed hoping for sleep but the night was as troublesome to him as the day. He spent the night in sighs and tears.
When he awoke they asked him how he did and he told them: “Worse and worse.”
Each day he felt worse and worse.
As he walked one day in the field reading his Book, he cried out: “What shall I do to be saved?”
This part of the story represents conviction of sin.
Then he met a man named Evangelist, to whom he told his tale of woe.
Evangelist pointed into the distance: “Do you see yonder wicket-gate?” (A wicket gate is a little door cut into a big door.)
Christian said, “No.”
And Evangelist said, “Do you see yonder shining light?”
And Christian said, “I think I do.”
Then said Evangelist, “Keep that light in your eye, and go up directly to it. Knock at the door.”
So Christian made his way to the wicket-gate and knocked.
The gate was opened by a grave man named Good Will.”
Good Will had to pull him inside because, just at that time, Beelzebub began to shoot his flaming arrows at him.
The wicket gate represents the narrow gate that leads to life.
Still carrying his great burden Christian went on until he came to a hill on which was a Cross, and a little below the Cross a sepulcher, or open grave.
As Christian came to the Cross and looked upon it, his burden loosed from his shoulders and came off his back and tumbled into the sepulcher.
Three shining ones came to him and said, “Peace be to you,” stripped him of his rags, and clothed him with new clothes.
Then Christian gave three leaps and went on singing,
“Blest Cross! Blest Sepulcher! Blest rather be
The Man that there was put to shame for me.”
This scene represents forgiveness and being clothed with the righteousness of Christ who died for us.
Christian went on his way singing with joy but his troubles were far from over.
He came to the Hill Difficulty.
He had to pass roaring lions beside the path.
But finally he came to the Palace Beautiful and met four lovely ladies: Discretion, Prudence, Piety, and Charity.
The ladies listened to his story and conducted him to a large chamber whose window opened towards the Sun rising, and the name of the Chamber was Peace, and there Christian slept until the break of day.
The next day they instructed him in the way he should go and outfitted him with a suit of armor for the battles ahead.
They gave him the Helmet of Salvation, the Breastplate of Righteousness, the Shield of Faith, and the Sword of the Spirit.
This part of the story represents church fellowship.
Christian went on alone and came to the Valley of Humiliation, where he fought a desperate battle with Apollyon—the Destroyer—who represents Satan.
At the end of this valley poor Christian had to go meet an even worse test in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. He was almost to despair when he heard a voice saying, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me”
So Christian went on. But soon he met another kind of temptation in the town of Vanity, where they were having a fair, Vanity Fair. There people tried to sell him the merchandise of the town and to tempt him with many pleasures to deter him from his journey.
And when he spurned their wares, they arrested him and he barely escaped with his life.
The Valley of Humiliation, the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and Vanity Fair represent the temptations we Christians face in our journey.
In Vanity Fair Christian almost lost his life, but he found a companion, Hopeful, who continued with him until they blundered into By-Path-Meadow and were captured by Giant Despair and locked up in a dungeon in Doubting Castle.
But they found the key called “Promise” which could open the door of the dungeon, and so they escaped.
This part of the story represents the doubts Christians sometimes have about their salvation.
Finally Christian and Hopeful came to the river that represents death, within sight of the Celestial City, shining with pure gold and sparkling jewels.
As they entered the river Christian began to be afraid, but Hopeful said, “Be of good cheer, Brother, for I feel the bottom, and it is good.”
And they heard the Lord’s voice saying, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through rivers, they shall not overflow.”
So they came out of the river and were met by two shining ones who led them to the gate of the city.
And so they came to Mount Zion, the Heavenly Jerusalem with the innumerable company of angels and the people of God who had gone on before.
There they were clothed in white robes.
There they were met by trumpeters and the bells began to ringing to welcome them.
And a voice said to them, “Enter into the joy of your Lord.”
And so the story ends. And so ends my message for you today.
MATTHEW 7:13-14: CHOOSING THE ROAD THAT GOES WHERE YOU WANT TO GO
INTRODUCTION
Did you know that Christianity is not a New Testament word?
The earliest Christians called their Faith “the way.”
The word they used was "hodos," which means “way,” “road,” or “journey.”
This new “Way” that the believers followed was a new way of thinking,
a new way of feeling,
a new way of behaving.
When Jesus called his disciples, he said, “Follow me.”
They walked the roads of Galilee with him. They listened to him. They watched him. They shared his life.
The believers of the next generation called themselves “disciples,” or “followers of Jesus.”
They knew the way Jesus traveled included a Cross. They budgeted for that, and some of them gave their lives because of their faithfulness.
They remembered that Jesus told people: “If any of you want to come after me, you have to deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9.23).
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus issued this invitation (Matthew 7.13-14):
“Enter by the narrow gate;
for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction,
and those who enter by it are many.
For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life,
and those who find it are few.”
I. Let’s look first at the road that the wide gate leads to.
A. The road is easy. It’s just the natural way to go—the obvious choice.
The Greek word here means “spacious,” or “roomy.”
There’s a lot of company on this road.
There’s plenty of room for a variety of opinions and lifestyles.
You can choose whatever philosophy or beliefs you feel comfortable with.
You can be religious or irreligious. You can live and let live.
You don’t have to make any decisions because we are all just naturally on this road.
B. But there’s a big problem with the easy road: it leads to destruction.
The idea of a road that leads to destruction isn’t a very popular part of Jesus’ teaching. People don’t like the idea that our choices on earth have eternal consequences.
II. But Jesus urges us to enter by the narrow gate and take the hard road.
A. The road the narrow gate leads to is narrow, like its gate.
The word for the road is translated either “narrow” or “hard.” The Greek word means both. It is literally, “pressed together,” “restricted,” or “afflicted.”
Jesus says the hard road isn’t popular, but it leads to life.
We read in Acts 14.21-22 of how Paul and Barnabas exhorted the new believers “to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”
An old minister came to die. His friends were gathered around his bedside listening to his last words.
“Would to God I were back in my pulpit but for one Sunday,” he said.
“What would you do?” asked a brother minister at his bedside.
“I would preach to the people the difficulty of salvation,” he answered.
Sometimes Christians are surprised when the road of salvation becomes far more difficult than anyone told them it would be.
We who lived long know about the hard road.
We have become more and more aware of our limitations. Sometimes we feel useless.
It is hard to be spiritual when you are feeling crummy.
It is hard to keep faith bright when you are separated from your Christian friends.
A famous saint from long ago—St. Bernard of Clairvaux—said this true saying: “The road winds uphill all the way—yea, to the very end.”
B. But this narrow way, this hard road, this way of affliction is glorious because it leads to life.
It is our hope of glory that gives us cause to rejoice in the Lord.
Paul wrote to the Romans (5:3-5): “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering producer endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.”
It’s a hard road, but it is glorious because we know that it leads to the New Jerusalem, the Holy City—our Eternal Home.
CONCLUSION
Some of you have heard of the classic book written on the Christian journey called The Pilgrim’s Progress.
It was a book that every child in a Christian family would have read in our grandparents’ time.
I read somewhere that in the log cabin in which Abraham Lincoln grew up, there were three books: The Bible, Aesop’s Fables, and Pilgrim’s Progress.
The Pilgrim’s Progress has been translated into more than 160 languages, and more copies have been printed than any book written in English.
Once when I was young a preacher visited our church and gave a week messages for children based on this book. He had an old-fashioned magic lantern and projected pictures of the story on the wall.
The Pilgrim’s Progress is a commentary on the road to the Celestial City, or what we call “Heaven,” told as a dream.
The story starts out with a man, named Christian, clothed in rags, with his face turned from his house, a Book in his hand, and a great bundle on his back.
He opened the book and read from it. He began to weep and then broke out in a lamentable cry, “What shall I do?
He went to bed hoping for sleep but the night was as troublesome to him as the day. He spent the night in sighs and tears.
When he awoke they asked him how he did and he told them: “Worse and worse.”
Each day he felt worse and worse.
As he walked one day in the field reading his Book, he cried out: “What shall I do to be saved?”
This part of the story represents conviction of sin.
Then he met a man named Evangelist, to whom he told his tale of woe.
Evangelist pointed into the distance: “Do you see yonder wicket-gate?” (A wicket gate is a little door cut into a big door.)
Christian said, “No.”
And Evangelist said, “Do you see yonder shining light?”
And Christian said, “I think I do.”
Then said Evangelist, “Keep that light in your eye, and go up directly to it. Knock at the door.”
So Christian made his way to the wicket-gate and knocked.
The gate was opened by a grave man named Good Will.”
Good Will had to pull him inside because, just at that time, Beelzebub began to shoot his flaming arrows at him.
The wicket gate represents the narrow gate that leads to life.
Still carrying his great burden Christian went on until he came to a hill on which was a Cross, and a little below the Cross a sepulcher, or open grave.
As Christian came to the Cross and looked upon it, his burden loosed from his shoulders and came off his back and tumbled into the sepulcher.
Three shining ones came to him and said, “Peace be to you,” stripped him of his rags, and clothed him with new clothes.
Then Christian gave three leaps and went on singing,
“Blest Cross! Blest Sepulcher! Blest rather be
The Man that there was put to shame for me.”
This scene represents forgiveness and being clothed with the righteousness of Christ who died for us.
Christian went on his way singing with joy but his troubles were far from over.
He came to the Hill Difficulty.
He had to pass roaring lions beside the path.
But finally he came to the Palace Beautiful and met four lovely ladies: Discretion, Prudence, Piety, and Charity.
The ladies listened to his story and conducted him to a large chamber whose window opened towards the Sun rising, and the name of the Chamber was Peace, and there Christian slept until the break of day.
The next day they instructed him in the way he should go and outfitted him with a suit of armor for the battles ahead.
They gave him the Helmet of Salvation, the Breastplate of Righteousness, the Shield of Faith, and the Sword of the Spirit.
This part of the story represents church fellowship.
Christian went on alone and came to the Valley of Humiliation, where he fought a desperate battle with Apollyon—the Destroyer—who represents Satan.
At the end of this valley poor Christian had to go meet an even worse test in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. He was almost to despair when he heard a voice saying, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me”
So Christian went on. But soon he met another kind of temptation in the town of Vanity, where they were having a fair, Vanity Fair. There people tried to sell him the merchandise of the town and to tempt him with many pleasures to deter him from his journey.
And when he spurned their wares, they arrested him and he barely escaped with his life.
The Valley of Humiliation, the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and Vanity Fair represent the temptations we Christians face in our journey.
In Vanity Fair Christian almost lost his life, but he found a companion, Hopeful, who continued with him until they blundered into By-Path-Meadow and were captured by Giant Despair and locked up in a dungeon in Doubting Castle.
But they found the key called “Promise” which could open the door of the dungeon, and so they escaped.
This part of the story represents the doubts Christians sometimes have about their salvation.
Finally Christian and Hopeful came to the river that represents death, within sight of the Celestial City, shining with pure gold and sparkling jewels.
As they entered the river Christian began to be afraid, but Hopeful said, “Be of good cheer, Brother, for I feel the bottom, and it is good.”
And they heard the Lord’s voice saying, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through rivers, they shall not overflow.”
So they came out of the river and were met by two shining ones who led them to the gate of the city.
And so they came to Mount Zion, the Heavenly Jerusalem with the innumerable company of angels and the people of God who had gone on before.
There they were clothed in white robes.
There they were met by trumpeters and the bells began to ringing to welcome them.
And a voice said to them, “Enter into the joy of your Lord.”
And so the story ends. And so ends my message for you today.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
The Good Life: Matthew 5:5: “Blessed Are the Meek…”
Do you remember the old comic strip Caspar Milquetoast? Some people think to be meek is to be like Caspar Milquetoast, but Jesus had a different idea.
MATTHEW 5:5: “BLESSED ARE THE MEEK, FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH.”
INTRODUCTION
Jesus begins his “Sermon on the Mount” with a series of short sentences describing the people that are most fortunate and most to be congratulated.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit…”
“Blessed are those who mourn…”
In these short sentences he turns the world’s values upside down.
Most people think the people to be most envied are those who are good looking, have loads of friends and admirers, have perfect health, and who can have anything they want.
Today I want to talk about the third beatitude. Matthew 5.5: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
“Meekness” isn’t a very popular virtue nowadays. People think of meek people as being wimpy, spiritless, people who don’t stick up for themselves.
Would you consider it a compliment if someone told you: “I admire you because you’re so poor in spirit”? Or if they said, “I wish I could be as mournful as you are”? Or if they called you “meek.”
I would be reminded of the old newspaper comic about Casper Milquetoast. It was called “The Timid Soul.”
Poor Caspar Milquetoast was painfully shy.
He was so timid that if he saw a sign that said “No Loitering” he would walk faster.
One cartoon pictures him looking at his hat that has blown onto a lawn marked “Keep Off The Grass.”
Caspar is standing on the sidewalk a few feet away from his had and scratching his head.
He says to himself: “Oh well, I had to buy a new hat anyway. I might as well get one today.”
But that isn’t what “meek” means in the Bible.
The word has changed its meaning.
I. The original Greek word here translated “meek,” was used in several ways:
Mild words were "meek."
Soothing medicine was called "meek."
Kindly people were called "meek."
And tame animals were called "meek."
In English also people used to use the word “meek” to describe a gentle, obedient animal, a horse, for example that had a good disposition, that was obedient and easy to control.
In our neighborhood as we take our walks we always see one or two neighbors walking their dogs. Most of the dogs aren’t very meek. They are straining this way or that way on the leash. They want to stop and sniff. They bark and snarl and growl. They want to chase something. They want to go faster or slower than their master wishes.
But now and then we see a meek dog that is a true companion of its master or mistress. It walks quietly beside its owner. They enjoy each other’s company.
So the word for “meek” in this verse could maybe be better translated: “humble,” “gentle,” “considerate.”
II. The meek person is gentle. Courtesy and kindness and consideration of others’ feelings is part of meekness.
A. Paul wrote to the Philippians: “Let your gentleness be known to all.”
People may be unpleasant, but we should be as gracious as possible in return.
I have a prayer that ends like this:
“Let Christ be formed in me, and let me learn of him
all lowliness of heart, all gentleness of bearing,
all modesty of speech, all helpfulness of action,
and promptness in the doing of my Father’s will.”
(from John Baillie, Diary of Private Prayer, day 26, evening)
B. One can be gentle and still be strong.
When I was a child I had a subscription to Popular Mechanics. I remember that in every issue there was an advertisement for Hastings Piston rings. Each advertisement featured a tough-looking man—cap pulled down, square jaw, stubble on his chin, and a sweet smile on his face. He was always doing something tender, such as holding a kitty, smelling a flower, feeding a squirrel, or holding a baby. Underneath the picture was the caption: Hastings Piston Rings. Tough, but oh, so gentle!”
I used to be a public school teacher. I noticed that the strongest teachers—the ones who had good control of their classes—were the ones who never raised their voices.
C. I will confess to you that some people in my church irritate me. I think unkind thoughts about them.
But I remind myself that God would not have me think that way. So I go out of my way to be friendly to them and think of ways to pay them compliments.
I am a sinner too. I must grieve God, but he is patient with me.
If someone slights me, I try to remember when someone spoke too highly of me.
It takes constant attentiveness to behave with meekness towards some people.
D. I want to tell you about the gentlest man I know.
He has had a few heart attacks and has fragile health, but God seems to use him when he’s in the hospital more than any other time.
Recently while riding in an ambulance to the hospital be began talking to the nurse—a very professional lady, maybe a little hard.
He told her that he wasn’t afraid if death came soon because he knew Jesus and was sure of eternal life.
As he continued to talk in this way, she visibly softened and tears formed in her eyes.
She said, “I need to do something about that.”
He said, “If you ever need someone to talk to, here’s my phone number.”
His gentleness softened her heart and turned her toward God.
E. Jesus is our great example of meekness.
Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
To “bear Christ’s yoke” means be obedient to him, to put our lives under his direction. But he is a kind master. His yoke is easy and his burden is light.
Jesus showed his meekness when he gave himself for our sins. When he was insulted, he didn’t answer back. When was struck, he didn’t defend himself. When he was cursed, he didn’t curse in return. He gave us an example of submission to his Father’s will.
III. Jesus says that the meek will “inherit the earth.”
A. Charlotte and I encourage our children and grandchildren to tell us what they would like to inherit of our possessions. We write them down, so there will be no question.
When our granddaughter comes to visit she says, “Now I want to play my piano.”
Another granddaughter has asked for the workbench, a grandson wants the music CDs, and another granddaughter would like to inherit the Japanese prints.
Maybe you’ve inherited something precious—but nothing like inheriting the earth!
B. The meek aren’t necessarily rewarded in this life.
They may be well-liked because of their goodness, but they don’t usually become leaders in government or industry or on Wall Street.
But they can have the satisfaction of usefulness and knowing that God is their friend.
The meek may not have comfort and ease, but they can have the pleasure pleasing the Savior who bought them.
C. But the real reward of the meek will be in the coming world. In the kingdom that God is preparing for those who love him, the meek will have it all.
CONCLUSION
Someone found in one of the countries of the Bible the ancient grave of a Christian named Atticus. On it was written: “My soul dwells in goodness.”
We know nothing more of Atticus except what is written on his tombstone.
Probably Atticus’s life had not been any more unusual than yours or mine.
He had probably experienced plenty of disappointments and trouble and hard times.
The friend who wrote this epitaph must have loved Atticus and was thinking of Atticus’s blessedness as he had “entered into the joy of your Lord.”
Those words—enter into the joy of your Lord—are the words Jesus used of the faithful servants in the story of the talents.
To inherit the earth is to possess all the goodness of the world to come.
It is to enter into the joy of your Lord.
It is to dwell in goodness.
MATTHEW 5:5: “BLESSED ARE THE MEEK, FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH.”
INTRODUCTION
Jesus begins his “Sermon on the Mount” with a series of short sentences describing the people that are most fortunate and most to be congratulated.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit…”
“Blessed are those who mourn…”
In these short sentences he turns the world’s values upside down.
Most people think the people to be most envied are those who are good looking, have loads of friends and admirers, have perfect health, and who can have anything they want.
Today I want to talk about the third beatitude. Matthew 5.5: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
“Meekness” isn’t a very popular virtue nowadays. People think of meek people as being wimpy, spiritless, people who don’t stick up for themselves.
Would you consider it a compliment if someone told you: “I admire you because you’re so poor in spirit”? Or if they said, “I wish I could be as mournful as you are”? Or if they called you “meek.”
I would be reminded of the old newspaper comic about Casper Milquetoast. It was called “The Timid Soul.”
Poor Caspar Milquetoast was painfully shy.
He was so timid that if he saw a sign that said “No Loitering” he would walk faster.
One cartoon pictures him looking at his hat that has blown onto a lawn marked “Keep Off The Grass.”
Caspar is standing on the sidewalk a few feet away from his had and scratching his head.
He says to himself: “Oh well, I had to buy a new hat anyway. I might as well get one today.”
But that isn’t what “meek” means in the Bible.
The word has changed its meaning.
I. The original Greek word here translated “meek,” was used in several ways:
Mild words were "meek."
Soothing medicine was called "meek."
Kindly people were called "meek."
And tame animals were called "meek."
In English also people used to use the word “meek” to describe a gentle, obedient animal, a horse, for example that had a good disposition, that was obedient and easy to control.
In our neighborhood as we take our walks we always see one or two neighbors walking their dogs. Most of the dogs aren’t very meek. They are straining this way or that way on the leash. They want to stop and sniff. They bark and snarl and growl. They want to chase something. They want to go faster or slower than their master wishes.
But now and then we see a meek dog that is a true companion of its master or mistress. It walks quietly beside its owner. They enjoy each other’s company.
So the word for “meek” in this verse could maybe be better translated: “humble,” “gentle,” “considerate.”
II. The meek person is gentle. Courtesy and kindness and consideration of others’ feelings is part of meekness.
A. Paul wrote to the Philippians: “Let your gentleness be known to all.”
People may be unpleasant, but we should be as gracious as possible in return.
I have a prayer that ends like this:
“Let Christ be formed in me, and let me learn of him
all lowliness of heart, all gentleness of bearing,
all modesty of speech, all helpfulness of action,
and promptness in the doing of my Father’s will.”
(from John Baillie, Diary of Private Prayer, day 26, evening)
B. One can be gentle and still be strong.
When I was a child I had a subscription to Popular Mechanics. I remember that in every issue there was an advertisement for Hastings Piston rings. Each advertisement featured a tough-looking man—cap pulled down, square jaw, stubble on his chin, and a sweet smile on his face. He was always doing something tender, such as holding a kitty, smelling a flower, feeding a squirrel, or holding a baby. Underneath the picture was the caption: Hastings Piston Rings. Tough, but oh, so gentle!”
I used to be a public school teacher. I noticed that the strongest teachers—the ones who had good control of their classes—were the ones who never raised their voices.
C. I will confess to you that some people in my church irritate me. I think unkind thoughts about them.
But I remind myself that God would not have me think that way. So I go out of my way to be friendly to them and think of ways to pay them compliments.
I am a sinner too. I must grieve God, but he is patient with me.
If someone slights me, I try to remember when someone spoke too highly of me.
It takes constant attentiveness to behave with meekness towards some people.
D. I want to tell you about the gentlest man I know.
He has had a few heart attacks and has fragile health, but God seems to use him when he’s in the hospital more than any other time.
Recently while riding in an ambulance to the hospital be began talking to the nurse—a very professional lady, maybe a little hard.
He told her that he wasn’t afraid if death came soon because he knew Jesus and was sure of eternal life.
As he continued to talk in this way, she visibly softened and tears formed in her eyes.
She said, “I need to do something about that.”
He said, “If you ever need someone to talk to, here’s my phone number.”
His gentleness softened her heart and turned her toward God.
E. Jesus is our great example of meekness.
Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
To “bear Christ’s yoke” means be obedient to him, to put our lives under his direction. But he is a kind master. His yoke is easy and his burden is light.
Jesus showed his meekness when he gave himself for our sins. When he was insulted, he didn’t answer back. When was struck, he didn’t defend himself. When he was cursed, he didn’t curse in return. He gave us an example of submission to his Father’s will.
III. Jesus says that the meek will “inherit the earth.”
A. Charlotte and I encourage our children and grandchildren to tell us what they would like to inherit of our possessions. We write them down, so there will be no question.
When our granddaughter comes to visit she says, “Now I want to play my piano.”
Another granddaughter has asked for the workbench, a grandson wants the music CDs, and another granddaughter would like to inherit the Japanese prints.
Maybe you’ve inherited something precious—but nothing like inheriting the earth!
B. The meek aren’t necessarily rewarded in this life.
They may be well-liked because of their goodness, but they don’t usually become leaders in government or industry or on Wall Street.
But they can have the satisfaction of usefulness and knowing that God is their friend.
The meek may not have comfort and ease, but they can have the pleasure pleasing the Savior who bought them.
C. But the real reward of the meek will be in the coming world. In the kingdom that God is preparing for those who love him, the meek will have it all.
CONCLUSION
Someone found in one of the countries of the Bible the ancient grave of a Christian named Atticus. On it was written: “My soul dwells in goodness.”
We know nothing more of Atticus except what is written on his tombstone.
Probably Atticus’s life had not been any more unusual than yours or mine.
He had probably experienced plenty of disappointments and trouble and hard times.
The friend who wrote this epitaph must have loved Atticus and was thinking of Atticus’s blessedness as he had “entered into the joy of your Lord.”
Those words—enter into the joy of your Lord—are the words Jesus used of the faithful servants in the story of the talents.
To inherit the earth is to possess all the goodness of the world to come.
It is to enter into the joy of your Lord.
It is to dwell in goodness.
The Good Life: Matthew 5:7: “Blessed Are the Merciful…”
If we have received God’s mercy, our greatest desire should be to pass it on to other people. But how can we go about doing that?
MATTHEW 5:7: “BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL, FOR THEY SHALL OBTAIN MERCY.”
INTRODUCTION
I want to share with you two stories I read in the news recently.
This story was reported just last September:
A man named Ed Peirce of Rock Hill, South Carolina, was retired but went back to work full time to cover the costs of two families who live in rental property he owns.
Just recently the fathers of both families lost their jobs.
Mr. Peirce, their landlord, would have been perfectly within his rights to send his tenants, including their small children out on the streets, especially since he needed the money from their rent for his own living.
But Mr. Peirce refused to evict them. Instead, he left retirement and went back to work to cover their expenses while they looked for jobs.
Mr. Peirce told the reporter: “I sat with them and prayed for better times. These are stand-up guys. Proud. They paid me before, when they were working. You don’t show your faith, your Christianity, in words. You do it in deeds.”
The other story came from The New York Times, August 2005
Ryan Cushing, a 19-year-old was one of six teenagers out for a night of joyriding and crime.
Ryan’s companions were charged with stealing credit cards and forgery, but Cushing was charged with assault for tossing a frozen turkey through the windshield of a car and nearly killing a woman named Victoria Ruvolo. Ms. Ruvolo needed many hours of surgery to rebuild her shattered facial bones.
Convicted, Ryan was facing 25 years in prison.
Upon leaving the courtroom the boy came face-to-face with his victim, Ms. Ruvolo.
He said he was sorry and begged her to forgive him.
Ms. Ruvolo did. She cradled his head as he sobbed. She stroked his face and patted his back. “It’s O.K., It’s O.K.,” she said. “I just want you to make your life the best it can be.”
The prosecutor wanted to impose harsh punishment on a crime he denounced as heedless and brutal, but Ms. Ruvolo’s resolute compassion, changed his mind.
The story ends with this observation: “Given the opportunity for retribution, Ms. Ruvolo gave and got something better: the dissipation of anger and the restoration of hope, in a gesture as cleansing as the tears washing down her damaged face, and the face of the foolish, miserable boy whose life she single-handedly restored.”
The story doesn’t say that Ms Ruvolo is a Christian believer, but I am sure that her generous act of mercy came from her love for God.
I. Jesus said (Matthew 5.7): “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
A. As we saw from the two stories from the news, mercy has two ways of expressing itself:
Mr. Peirce was merciful because he had compassion on his renters. His mercy cost him something. He went back to work to keep from having to evict them from their homes. Mr. Peirce’s mercy is also called “compassion.”
Ms. Ruvolo was merciful because she forgave a terrible injury, and by her action helped to redeem a young man from the consequences of his crime. Ms. Ruvolo’s mercy could also be called “forgiveness.”
B. Mr. Peirce and Ms. Ruvolo were like God.
To be merciful is to be like God.
In his beautiful song of praise in Luke 1, Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father speaks of how God gives salvation to his people. He says,
"By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sat in darkness
and in the shadow of death."
II. Jesus says that the merciful will obtain mercy.
A. A lot of people think that God is bound to love us no matter how we behave. They say, “God is love,” and that’s the only verse they know.
It’s true that God loves even the worst of us. Nothing that we ever do can make God stop caring for us and seeking to draw us to himself and make us his children.
But if we experience the love of God, it has to make us different from the people we were.
Jesus told a story about a master whose servant owed him a gigantic sum of money. When the slave begged to be allowed more time to pay off a loan (which he actually could never have paid) his master generously forgave him the entire loan.
But that servant found a fellow servant who owed him a small sum. When his debtor begged for more time, first servant refused.
When the master heard of what the ungrateful servant had done, he revoked the forgiveness of the loan and handed the wicked servant over to the tormentors.
Then Jesus said something very serious: “So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
We have no special claim on God’s mercy just by being alive.
We have no special claim on God’s mercy just by going to church or by believing certain things in the Bible.
Only when we reproduce God’s mercy in our own lives, do we place ourselves in the position where we can experience the fullness of God’s mercy.
If we are unmerciful, we are proving that we have not really experienced the mercy of God.
In the Lord’s Prayer we say, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
In the story of judgment in Matthew 25 Jesus, as judge, tells those who were unmerciful, that because they have not fed the hungry, clothed the naked, welcomed the stranger, taken care of the sick, and visited those in prison, they have rejected him.
For them only awaits judgment.
B. The gift of mercy is especially precious because it doesn’t only come from one human being to bless another, but it also comes from God’s heart and God’s hand through his servant.
A Christian, grieving about all the suffering in the world, cried out to God, “Why don’t you do something! Why don’t you do something!”
And then he heard God say, “I did do something. I made you.
A reporter challenged Mother Teresa: “When a baby dies alone in a Calcutta alley, where is God?”
Mother Teresa answered, “God is there, suffering with that baby. The question really is, ‘Where are you?’”
CONCLUSION
God wants to bless us, but only when we let him change us into channels of his mercy into a lost and sorrowing world can we be truly blessed.
I have a prayer I use that ends like this:
"And seeing that it is thy gracious will
to make use even of such weak human instruments
in the fulfillment of thy mighty purpose for the world,
let my life today be the channel
through which some little portion of thy divine love and pity
may reach the lives that are nearest to my own."
(from John Baillie, Diary of Private Prayer, day 2, morning)
MATTHEW 5:7: “BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL, FOR THEY SHALL OBTAIN MERCY.”
INTRODUCTION
I want to share with you two stories I read in the news recently.
This story was reported just last September:
A man named Ed Peirce of Rock Hill, South Carolina, was retired but went back to work full time to cover the costs of two families who live in rental property he owns.
Just recently the fathers of both families lost their jobs.
Mr. Peirce, their landlord, would have been perfectly within his rights to send his tenants, including their small children out on the streets, especially since he needed the money from their rent for his own living.
But Mr. Peirce refused to evict them. Instead, he left retirement and went back to work to cover their expenses while they looked for jobs.
Mr. Peirce told the reporter: “I sat with them and prayed for better times. These are stand-up guys. Proud. They paid me before, when they were working. You don’t show your faith, your Christianity, in words. You do it in deeds.”
The other story came from The New York Times, August 2005
Ryan Cushing, a 19-year-old was one of six teenagers out for a night of joyriding and crime.
Ryan’s companions were charged with stealing credit cards and forgery, but Cushing was charged with assault for tossing a frozen turkey through the windshield of a car and nearly killing a woman named Victoria Ruvolo. Ms. Ruvolo needed many hours of surgery to rebuild her shattered facial bones.
Convicted, Ryan was facing 25 years in prison.
Upon leaving the courtroom the boy came face-to-face with his victim, Ms. Ruvolo.
He said he was sorry and begged her to forgive him.
Ms. Ruvolo did. She cradled his head as he sobbed. She stroked his face and patted his back. “It’s O.K., It’s O.K.,” she said. “I just want you to make your life the best it can be.”
The prosecutor wanted to impose harsh punishment on a crime he denounced as heedless and brutal, but Ms. Ruvolo’s resolute compassion, changed his mind.
The story ends with this observation: “Given the opportunity for retribution, Ms. Ruvolo gave and got something better: the dissipation of anger and the restoration of hope, in a gesture as cleansing as the tears washing down her damaged face, and the face of the foolish, miserable boy whose life she single-handedly restored.”
The story doesn’t say that Ms Ruvolo is a Christian believer, but I am sure that her generous act of mercy came from her love for God.
I. Jesus said (Matthew 5.7): “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
A. As we saw from the two stories from the news, mercy has two ways of expressing itself:
Mr. Peirce was merciful because he had compassion on his renters. His mercy cost him something. He went back to work to keep from having to evict them from their homes. Mr. Peirce’s mercy is also called “compassion.”
Ms. Ruvolo was merciful because she forgave a terrible injury, and by her action helped to redeem a young man from the consequences of his crime. Ms. Ruvolo’s mercy could also be called “forgiveness.”
B. Mr. Peirce and Ms. Ruvolo were like God.
To be merciful is to be like God.
In his beautiful song of praise in Luke 1, Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father speaks of how God gives salvation to his people. He says,
"By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sat in darkness
and in the shadow of death."
II. Jesus says that the merciful will obtain mercy.
A. A lot of people think that God is bound to love us no matter how we behave. They say, “God is love,” and that’s the only verse they know.
It’s true that God loves even the worst of us. Nothing that we ever do can make God stop caring for us and seeking to draw us to himself and make us his children.
But if we experience the love of God, it has to make us different from the people we were.
Jesus told a story about a master whose servant owed him a gigantic sum of money. When the slave begged to be allowed more time to pay off a loan (which he actually could never have paid) his master generously forgave him the entire loan.
But that servant found a fellow servant who owed him a small sum. When his debtor begged for more time, first servant refused.
When the master heard of what the ungrateful servant had done, he revoked the forgiveness of the loan and handed the wicked servant over to the tormentors.
Then Jesus said something very serious: “So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
We have no special claim on God’s mercy just by being alive.
We have no special claim on God’s mercy just by going to church or by believing certain things in the Bible.
Only when we reproduce God’s mercy in our own lives, do we place ourselves in the position where we can experience the fullness of God’s mercy.
If we are unmerciful, we are proving that we have not really experienced the mercy of God.
In the Lord’s Prayer we say, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
In the story of judgment in Matthew 25 Jesus, as judge, tells those who were unmerciful, that because they have not fed the hungry, clothed the naked, welcomed the stranger, taken care of the sick, and visited those in prison, they have rejected him.
For them only awaits judgment.
B. The gift of mercy is especially precious because it doesn’t only come from one human being to bless another, but it also comes from God’s heart and God’s hand through his servant.
A Christian, grieving about all the suffering in the world, cried out to God, “Why don’t you do something! Why don’t you do something!”
And then he heard God say, “I did do something. I made you.
A reporter challenged Mother Teresa: “When a baby dies alone in a Calcutta alley, where is God?”
Mother Teresa answered, “God is there, suffering with that baby. The question really is, ‘Where are you?’”
CONCLUSION
God wants to bless us, but only when we let him change us into channels of his mercy into a lost and sorrowing world can we be truly blessed.
I have a prayer I use that ends like this:
"And seeing that it is thy gracious will
to make use even of such weak human instruments
in the fulfillment of thy mighty purpose for the world,
let my life today be the channel
through which some little portion of thy divine love and pity
may reach the lives that are nearest to my own."
(from John Baillie, Diary of Private Prayer, day 2, morning)
The Good Life: Matthew 5:9: “Blessed Are the Peacemakers…”
One of Jesus’ best blessings was for the peacemakers. But what does that have to do with me?
MATTHEW 5:9: “BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS, FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED CHILDREN OF GOD.”
INTRODUCTION
We have two sons and a daughter. The children are very close together in age. John and Peter are the oldest and youngest and Susan was in the middle.
When the boys were little, sometimes they would quarrel. Susan would come between them and make peace.
She didn’t know it, but she was a peacemaker.
I want to tell you about another peacemaker.
This happened in the little town of Ibillin, Israel, in 1966.
There was a great conflict in this town.
Father Chacour, an orthodox priest, had recently come to the town to pastor the Orthodox Church there. The little town was full of strife and anger.
He was greatly troubled by the hatred he saw all around him.
He went into the town and preached about the necessity of making peace with one another. But no one listened.
One day he received a note from one of his congregation. It said, “Begin first to reconcile brothers, sisters, and families together.”
He took those words to heart.
On Palm Sunday, 1966, the church was overflowing.
As he celebrated the Lord’s Supper he felt burdened because he could see how much his people were at odds with one another.
He said, “Every time I turned around to bless the congregation to give them Christ’s peace, I was reminded all over again that there was really no peace among these people.”
So Father Chacour made a startling decision.
He walked down the center aisle and at the back of the church locked the only two doors to the church and kept the key.
He then marched back up the aisle, turned around, and told the people both that he loved them and that he was saddened to find them so filled with hate and bitterness for one another.
He addressed his congregation. He said:
“While I was celebrating the Lord’s Supper I found someone who can help you.
That person is Jesus Christ. He is the only one who can bring peace to this village, and he is here with us.
So on Christ’s behalf, I say this to you: The doors of the church are locked. Either you will kill each other right here in your hatred, and then I will celebrate your funerals free. Or you will use this opportunity to be reconciled together before I open the doors of the church.
If that reconciliation happens, Christ will truly become your Lord, and I will know I am becoming your pastor and your priest.”
Ten minutes passed and no one said a word. The people sat in silence, locked inside their church.
Finally one man stood up. It was a villager serving as an Israeli policeman, who was in uniform.
He stretched out his arms and said, “I ask forgiveness of everybody here. I forgive everybody. And I ask God to forgive me my sins.”
He and the priest then embraced with tears streaming down the policeman’s cheeks.
Chacour then called on everyone to embrace one another and “tears and laughter mingled as people who had said such ugly words to each other or who had not spoken to each other in many years now were sharing Christ’s love and peace” (quoted in L. Gregory Jones, "Embodying Forgiveness: a Theological Analysis," pp180-181).
I told that story because I think it’s a great story and it illustrates what Jesus was talking about when he said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
But what does it have to do with you who live at Village Ridge?
This is one of the most peaceful places I know.
I never even hear people raising their voices at one another.
There may be people who don’t get along, but I doubt there are many.
What does it have to do with Charlotte and me?
The members of our family are at peace with one another.
We live in a peaceful neighborhood and go to a church where people love one another?
I. “Peace” is a special word in the Bible
A. The word “peace” in the Bible means more than just the absence of conflict.
Both the Hebrew word “Shalom” and the Greek word “eirēnē” mean “wholeness” or “a sense of well-being.”
That is why Paul addresses so many of his letters: “Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”: grace and peace sum up all the blessings of salvation.
B. Jesus said that the peacemakers will be called “children of God.”
There’s a peculiarity in the Hebrew language. When they wanted to ascribe a certain quality in a person they could say he was a son of that quality.
Thus, a worthless person was called “a son of worthlessness.”
To be called a “son or daughter of God” is the highest honor and the richest grace. It means that we are like God and are doing God’s work.
II. First I want to talk about peace with God.
A. We read: “Therefore since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).
Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27).
And again: “I have said this to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
And in Colossians 3:15: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you ere called in the one body”
B. But the peace that God gives us came at great cost to himself.
The Bible teaches that without Christ we are at enmity with God.
We were estranged from God—like the Prodigal Son who was living in the far country.
And God is the original peacemaker.
God doesn’t make peace by simply saying, “Let there be peace.”
God made peace by sending his Son, our Lord Jesus, to die and rise again for our peace.
We read,
“In Christ all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile to himself all things,
whether on earth or in heaven,
making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:19-20).
C. People live in fear—fear of sickness, fear of death, fear of poverty. If we can help them find God, we can help them to have peace in their hearts.
Maybe just a word or two expressing our hope in God—or how much it means to feel God’s comfort in hard times—may turn their minds toward salvation.
Many of your fellow residents have at some time in their lives gone to church or had fellowship with Christian believers but have gotten away from God.
Maybe something you say can remind them of church and God and lead them back.
If someone shares a disappointment or a deep discouragement, you may say something like this: “I have had an experience like that, but I find comfort in knowing that God loves me and will never leave me.”
To help people find peace with God is one way to be a peacemaker.
III. And we can help people find peace with themselves.
A. People may have no conflicts with other people, but they may have conflicts within.
People may have stored up disappointments and bitterness and doubts that destroy their peace of mind.
I have known people who came to the end of their lives with resentments still burning in their hearts.
They need the peace that only God can give, and maybe you can help them find it.
B. Offering friendship can help bring peace into the lives of other people.
We make peace when we help people to feel loved,
…when we offer our friendship,
…when we offer sincere compliments,
…when we listen to peoples’ troubles.
Paul wrote to the Romans: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another…” (Romans 12:15-16).
I know that some people like to be left alone. But many others are lonely and want a friend.
Maybe the best gift you can give to people is to appreciate them, to notice them, to act like you’re glad to see them.
Your kindness may lead them to God.
CONCLUSION
The Bible says,
“The wisdom that is from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, open to reason,
full of mercy and good fruits,
without uncertainty or insincerity.
And the harvest of righteousness
is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 3:17-18).
MATTHEW 5:9: “BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS, FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED CHILDREN OF GOD.”
INTRODUCTION
We have two sons and a daughter. The children are very close together in age. John and Peter are the oldest and youngest and Susan was in the middle.
When the boys were little, sometimes they would quarrel. Susan would come between them and make peace.
She didn’t know it, but she was a peacemaker.
I want to tell you about another peacemaker.
This happened in the little town of Ibillin, Israel, in 1966.
There was a great conflict in this town.
Father Chacour, an orthodox priest, had recently come to the town to pastor the Orthodox Church there. The little town was full of strife and anger.
He was greatly troubled by the hatred he saw all around him.
He went into the town and preached about the necessity of making peace with one another. But no one listened.
One day he received a note from one of his congregation. It said, “Begin first to reconcile brothers, sisters, and families together.”
He took those words to heart.
On Palm Sunday, 1966, the church was overflowing.
As he celebrated the Lord’s Supper he felt burdened because he could see how much his people were at odds with one another.
He said, “Every time I turned around to bless the congregation to give them Christ’s peace, I was reminded all over again that there was really no peace among these people.”
So Father Chacour made a startling decision.
He walked down the center aisle and at the back of the church locked the only two doors to the church and kept the key.
He then marched back up the aisle, turned around, and told the people both that he loved them and that he was saddened to find them so filled with hate and bitterness for one another.
He addressed his congregation. He said:
“While I was celebrating the Lord’s Supper I found someone who can help you.
That person is Jesus Christ. He is the only one who can bring peace to this village, and he is here with us.
So on Christ’s behalf, I say this to you: The doors of the church are locked. Either you will kill each other right here in your hatred, and then I will celebrate your funerals free. Or you will use this opportunity to be reconciled together before I open the doors of the church.
If that reconciliation happens, Christ will truly become your Lord, and I will know I am becoming your pastor and your priest.”
Ten minutes passed and no one said a word. The people sat in silence, locked inside their church.
Finally one man stood up. It was a villager serving as an Israeli policeman, who was in uniform.
He stretched out his arms and said, “I ask forgiveness of everybody here. I forgive everybody. And I ask God to forgive me my sins.”
He and the priest then embraced with tears streaming down the policeman’s cheeks.
Chacour then called on everyone to embrace one another and “tears and laughter mingled as people who had said such ugly words to each other or who had not spoken to each other in many years now were sharing Christ’s love and peace” (quoted in L. Gregory Jones, "Embodying Forgiveness: a Theological Analysis," pp180-181).
I told that story because I think it’s a great story and it illustrates what Jesus was talking about when he said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
But what does it have to do with you who live at Village Ridge?
This is one of the most peaceful places I know.
I never even hear people raising their voices at one another.
There may be people who don’t get along, but I doubt there are many.
What does it have to do with Charlotte and me?
The members of our family are at peace with one another.
We live in a peaceful neighborhood and go to a church where people love one another?
I. “Peace” is a special word in the Bible
A. The word “peace” in the Bible means more than just the absence of conflict.
Both the Hebrew word “Shalom” and the Greek word “eirēnē” mean “wholeness” or “a sense of well-being.”
That is why Paul addresses so many of his letters: “Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”: grace and peace sum up all the blessings of salvation.
B. Jesus said that the peacemakers will be called “children of God.”
There’s a peculiarity in the Hebrew language. When they wanted to ascribe a certain quality in a person they could say he was a son of that quality.
Thus, a worthless person was called “a son of worthlessness.”
To be called a “son or daughter of God” is the highest honor and the richest grace. It means that we are like God and are doing God’s work.
II. First I want to talk about peace with God.
A. We read: “Therefore since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).
Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27).
And again: “I have said this to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
And in Colossians 3:15: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you ere called in the one body”
B. But the peace that God gives us came at great cost to himself.
The Bible teaches that without Christ we are at enmity with God.
We were estranged from God—like the Prodigal Son who was living in the far country.
And God is the original peacemaker.
God doesn’t make peace by simply saying, “Let there be peace.”
God made peace by sending his Son, our Lord Jesus, to die and rise again for our peace.
We read,
“In Christ all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile to himself all things,
whether on earth or in heaven,
making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:19-20).
C. People live in fear—fear of sickness, fear of death, fear of poverty. If we can help them find God, we can help them to have peace in their hearts.
Maybe just a word or two expressing our hope in God—or how much it means to feel God’s comfort in hard times—may turn their minds toward salvation.
Many of your fellow residents have at some time in their lives gone to church or had fellowship with Christian believers but have gotten away from God.
Maybe something you say can remind them of church and God and lead them back.
If someone shares a disappointment or a deep discouragement, you may say something like this: “I have had an experience like that, but I find comfort in knowing that God loves me and will never leave me.”
To help people find peace with God is one way to be a peacemaker.
III. And we can help people find peace with themselves.
A. People may have no conflicts with other people, but they may have conflicts within.
People may have stored up disappointments and bitterness and doubts that destroy their peace of mind.
I have known people who came to the end of their lives with resentments still burning in their hearts.
They need the peace that only God can give, and maybe you can help them find it.
B. Offering friendship can help bring peace into the lives of other people.
We make peace when we help people to feel loved,
…when we offer our friendship,
…when we offer sincere compliments,
…when we listen to peoples’ troubles.
Paul wrote to the Romans: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another…” (Romans 12:15-16).
I know that some people like to be left alone. But many others are lonely and want a friend.
Maybe the best gift you can give to people is to appreciate them, to notice them, to act like you’re glad to see them.
Your kindness may lead them to God.
CONCLUSION
The Bible says,
“The wisdom that is from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, open to reason,
full of mercy and good fruits,
without uncertainty or insincerity.
And the harvest of righteousness
is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 3:17-18).
The Good Life: Matthew 5:10: “Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted for Righteousness’ Sake…”
Unlike Christian believers in many nations, we in the United States probably haven’t experienced much persecution for our faith. So how can we share the blessing of the eighth Beatitude?
Matthew 5:10: “BLESSED ARE WHOSE WHO ARE PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS’ SAKE, FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.”
INTRODUCTION
The disciples who listened to Jesus that day when he gave them the Sermon on the Mount would pay a high price for their faithfulness.
So in the last Beatitude Jesus is preparing them for the persecution they were going to experience because of their faithfulness to him.
According to tradition, only one of the 12 disciples was not required to give his life for his faith. That was John, who lived into old age and died a natural death.
The history of the early Church records the death of many believers—old and young, men and women.
Some died by mob violence. Some were executed by government officials. And many suffered death by being torn in pieces by wild beasts in arenas for the amusement of spectators.
Some of those who suffered for their faith rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for their Savior. They remembered the words of Jesus who said, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.”
And sometimes their unbelieving neighbors, seeing their faithfulness and trust, decided that the faith they died for must be true and became Christians.
Let us not forget our debt to those martyrs of the faith.
If they had not been willing to remain faithful to death, the name of Jesus would have been forgotten.
We would never have learned of God’s love for us.
The knowledge that Christ died for us and rose again for our salvation would never have come down through the ages and reached us.
We have probably not experienced much persecution.
I can only imagine what I might have done if I had been faced with the choice of denying Christ and living or confessing him and dying for my faith.
I. But sometimes, even in our culture, sincere believers may suffer a kind of persecution.
In many circles it’s not considered “cool” to be “religious.” In other situations unrighteous conduct is expected.
I think of believing high school students who face isolation or ridicule because they don’t go along with the crowd.
I think of college students may hear the Bible and the Christian faith ridiculed by their professors.
I think of politicians who tell the truth and as a result may lose elections to those who tell people what they want to hear.
Of business people who, because consider the welfare of their employees and customers, may lose out to unscrupulous business people who think only of profits.
Sometimes faithful employees have been penalized for refusing to go along with unethical practices.
II. But now I want to talk about the real persecution that hundreds of thousands of Christian believers face right now in our world.
Here are some of the news stories I have picked up from the news during the last few weeks.
If you use the internet, you can find more stories of persecution every day.
[Use as many of these items as seems appropriate.]
In Malaysia there is a big movement going on to deny the right of Christians to use the Malay word for “God” in their publications. Gasoline bombs have been thrown at churches, and they have been burned to ashes.
Christian communities have thrived in Iraq almost since the time of Christ, but the war in Iraq is quickly extinguishing the Christian faith in Iraq as Christians have been killed and others are being forced to flee the country as refugees to avoid death. One 14-year-old boy was actually crucified.
Christian girls in many Islamic nations have been kidnapped and forced to marry Muslim men. Children have been taken away from Christian parents and given to non-Christian relatives.
The greatest danger to Christian believers in the world today is to Muslims who dare to profess faith in Christ.
They are accused of “apostasy,” which is a crime punishable by death in 8 countries: Iran, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, Mauritania, Pakistan, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
In other Muslim countries, where it’s not illegal to become a Christian, authorities look the other way as Christians are killed.
A Muslim shopkeeper in Pakistan was arrested and imprisoned because a competing shopkeeper falsely accused him of burning a Koran. He was arrested under their “blasphemy law.” In such disputes the Christian is almost always considered to be in the wrong.
A Christian man and his son have been in hiding in Egypt for many months, afraid to come out in public because they have been told they will be killed if they do.
In Saudi Arabia there are “religious police” who keep constant watch to insure that no one is carrying a Bible or wearing a cross or gathering even in groups of three or four to study the Bible.
There are believers in these countries, but many are forced to believe secretly because they know if they openly confess Christ they will be killed.
Some Muslims have decided to become followers of Jesus because they have seen the courage and faith of persecuted Christian believers. They say, “Look, they are willing to die for their Faith! It must be true!”
But the country most hostile to the Christian faith is not a Muslim country, but North Korea where many believers are now in prison and many have been executed.
In one state of India recently Christians have been attacked by Hindu mobs who seek to force them back into Hinduism. A Christian family was burned to death when their house was set fire by a screaming mob. Many were forced to flee to the forest and try to survive in the wild.
In Laos, Christians, who refuse to worship the ancestral gods, have been robbed of their livestock and farms and forced out of their villages.
III. So what can we do?
A. We can hold up these persecuted brothers and sisters in prayer.
The author of Hebrews was writing at a time when many believers were being killed or imprisoned.
In Hebrews 13:3 he writes, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you also are in the body.”
They may not know that we are praying for them, but God will make our prayers give them strength.
We can pray that the lives of the persecuted believers will be so pure and loving and righteous that others will see the Truth they confess.
We can pray that the Faith will not die out in these nations where there are so few believers.
B. And we should give thanks to God that we are not faced with such terrible choices as they are but can worship freely and speak of our Lord to others.
C. And, most of all, we can make use of our opportunities for worship and fellowship and service.
It is sad that so few in this care facility come to worship services and Bible studies.
Many here have gone to church in times past and consider themselves Christians. But they no longer practice their faith in fellowship with other believers.
And yet it is so easy, and there’s so little cost to us to be faithful to our Lord.
This story comes from the early days of Christianity, during the terrible persecution of the emperor Diocletian.
It was the year 304. A group of 49 Christian believers was meeting secretly in one of their homes in Abitene, a town in what is now Tunisia. Among them was Senator Dativus, the priest Saturninus, the virgin Victoria, and the reader Emeritus.
They were gathered to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
Suddenly, soldiers burst in and arrested them. They were taken to Carthage to Proconsul Anulinus to be interrogated.
When the Proconsul asked them if they kept the Scriptures in their homes, the martyrs answered that they kept them in their hearts.
As they were tortured, they bore witness to their Lord. As Emeritus was being tortured the Proconsul asked him: “Why have you received Christians in your home, transgressing the imperial dispositions?”
“Sine dominico non possumus” (we cannot live without Sunday), answered Emeritus. Emeritus explained that without the gift of worship and fellowship Christians simply could not live.
On that day 49 followers of Jesus gave their lives because they refused to deny their Lord by refusing to gather together in worship.
We read this in the book of Hebrews (10:23-25):
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,
for he who promised is faithful;
and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some,
but encouraging one another,
and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
CONCLUSION
In all of the Beatitudes, Jesus is the great example:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit…” Jesus was humble; he is poor in spirit.
“Blessed are those who mourn….” Jesus is the “man of sorrows”; his heart is moved by the sorrows of the world.
“Blessed are the meek…” Jesus is meek and lowly in heart—always gentle with the weak and sinful.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…” Jesus always hungered and thirsted to do the will of the Father.
“Blessed are the merciful…” Jesus is merciful; he said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
“Blessed are the pure in heart…” Jesus is pure in heart; he was always obedient to his Father.
“Blessed are the peacemakers…” Jesus is our peacemaker; he made peace by the blood of his cross.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake…” Jesus suffered and died that he might bring us to God.
The surest way to experience the truth of these beatitudes is to keep our eyes on Jesus.
As we worship Jesus, as we love Jesus, as we obey Jesus, we gradually become more and more like him.
Christ is formed in us and he lives through our lives.
Then the blessedness Jesus promised will fill our lives.
Matthew 5:10: “BLESSED ARE WHOSE WHO ARE PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS’ SAKE, FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.”
INTRODUCTION
The disciples who listened to Jesus that day when he gave them the Sermon on the Mount would pay a high price for their faithfulness.
So in the last Beatitude Jesus is preparing them for the persecution they were going to experience because of their faithfulness to him.
According to tradition, only one of the 12 disciples was not required to give his life for his faith. That was John, who lived into old age and died a natural death.
The history of the early Church records the death of many believers—old and young, men and women.
Some died by mob violence. Some were executed by government officials. And many suffered death by being torn in pieces by wild beasts in arenas for the amusement of spectators.
Some of those who suffered for their faith rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for their Savior. They remembered the words of Jesus who said, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.”
And sometimes their unbelieving neighbors, seeing their faithfulness and trust, decided that the faith they died for must be true and became Christians.
Let us not forget our debt to those martyrs of the faith.
If they had not been willing to remain faithful to death, the name of Jesus would have been forgotten.
We would never have learned of God’s love for us.
The knowledge that Christ died for us and rose again for our salvation would never have come down through the ages and reached us.
We have probably not experienced much persecution.
I can only imagine what I might have done if I had been faced with the choice of denying Christ and living or confessing him and dying for my faith.
I. But sometimes, even in our culture, sincere believers may suffer a kind of persecution.
In many circles it’s not considered “cool” to be “religious.” In other situations unrighteous conduct is expected.
I think of believing high school students who face isolation or ridicule because they don’t go along with the crowd.
I think of college students may hear the Bible and the Christian faith ridiculed by their professors.
I think of politicians who tell the truth and as a result may lose elections to those who tell people what they want to hear.
Of business people who, because consider the welfare of their employees and customers, may lose out to unscrupulous business people who think only of profits.
Sometimes faithful employees have been penalized for refusing to go along with unethical practices.
II. But now I want to talk about the real persecution that hundreds of thousands of Christian believers face right now in our world.
Here are some of the news stories I have picked up from the news during the last few weeks.
If you use the internet, you can find more stories of persecution every day.
[Use as many of these items as seems appropriate.]
In Malaysia there is a big movement going on to deny the right of Christians to use the Malay word for “God” in their publications. Gasoline bombs have been thrown at churches, and they have been burned to ashes.
Christian communities have thrived in Iraq almost since the time of Christ, but the war in Iraq is quickly extinguishing the Christian faith in Iraq as Christians have been killed and others are being forced to flee the country as refugees to avoid death. One 14-year-old boy was actually crucified.
Christian girls in many Islamic nations have been kidnapped and forced to marry Muslim men. Children have been taken away from Christian parents and given to non-Christian relatives.
The greatest danger to Christian believers in the world today is to Muslims who dare to profess faith in Christ.
They are accused of “apostasy,” which is a crime punishable by death in 8 countries: Iran, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, Mauritania, Pakistan, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
In other Muslim countries, where it’s not illegal to become a Christian, authorities look the other way as Christians are killed.
A Muslim shopkeeper in Pakistan was arrested and imprisoned because a competing shopkeeper falsely accused him of burning a Koran. He was arrested under their “blasphemy law.” In such disputes the Christian is almost always considered to be in the wrong.
A Christian man and his son have been in hiding in Egypt for many months, afraid to come out in public because they have been told they will be killed if they do.
In Saudi Arabia there are “religious police” who keep constant watch to insure that no one is carrying a Bible or wearing a cross or gathering even in groups of three or four to study the Bible.
There are believers in these countries, but many are forced to believe secretly because they know if they openly confess Christ they will be killed.
Some Muslims have decided to become followers of Jesus because they have seen the courage and faith of persecuted Christian believers. They say, “Look, they are willing to die for their Faith! It must be true!”
But the country most hostile to the Christian faith is not a Muslim country, but North Korea where many believers are now in prison and many have been executed.
In one state of India recently Christians have been attacked by Hindu mobs who seek to force them back into Hinduism. A Christian family was burned to death when their house was set fire by a screaming mob. Many were forced to flee to the forest and try to survive in the wild.
In Laos, Christians, who refuse to worship the ancestral gods, have been robbed of their livestock and farms and forced out of their villages.
III. So what can we do?
A. We can hold up these persecuted brothers and sisters in prayer.
The author of Hebrews was writing at a time when many believers were being killed or imprisoned.
In Hebrews 13:3 he writes, “Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you also are in the body.”
They may not know that we are praying for them, but God will make our prayers give them strength.
We can pray that the lives of the persecuted believers will be so pure and loving and righteous that others will see the Truth they confess.
We can pray that the Faith will not die out in these nations where there are so few believers.
B. And we should give thanks to God that we are not faced with such terrible choices as they are but can worship freely and speak of our Lord to others.
C. And, most of all, we can make use of our opportunities for worship and fellowship and service.
It is sad that so few in this care facility come to worship services and Bible studies.
Many here have gone to church in times past and consider themselves Christians. But they no longer practice their faith in fellowship with other believers.
And yet it is so easy, and there’s so little cost to us to be faithful to our Lord.
This story comes from the early days of Christianity, during the terrible persecution of the emperor Diocletian.
It was the year 304. A group of 49 Christian believers was meeting secretly in one of their homes in Abitene, a town in what is now Tunisia. Among them was Senator Dativus, the priest Saturninus, the virgin Victoria, and the reader Emeritus.
They were gathered to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
Suddenly, soldiers burst in and arrested them. They were taken to Carthage to Proconsul Anulinus to be interrogated.
When the Proconsul asked them if they kept the Scriptures in their homes, the martyrs answered that they kept them in their hearts.
As they were tortured, they bore witness to their Lord. As Emeritus was being tortured the Proconsul asked him: “Why have you received Christians in your home, transgressing the imperial dispositions?”
“Sine dominico non possumus” (we cannot live without Sunday), answered Emeritus. Emeritus explained that without the gift of worship and fellowship Christians simply could not live.
On that day 49 followers of Jesus gave their lives because they refused to deny their Lord by refusing to gather together in worship.
We read this in the book of Hebrews (10:23-25):
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,
for he who promised is faithful;
and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some,
but encouraging one another,
and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
CONCLUSION
In all of the Beatitudes, Jesus is the great example:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit…” Jesus was humble; he is poor in spirit.
“Blessed are those who mourn….” Jesus is the “man of sorrows”; his heart is moved by the sorrows of the world.
“Blessed are the meek…” Jesus is meek and lowly in heart—always gentle with the weak and sinful.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…” Jesus always hungered and thirsted to do the will of the Father.
“Blessed are the merciful…” Jesus is merciful; he said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
“Blessed are the pure in heart…” Jesus is pure in heart; he was always obedient to his Father.
“Blessed are the peacemakers…” Jesus is our peacemaker; he made peace by the blood of his cross.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake…” Jesus suffered and died that he might bring us to God.
The surest way to experience the truth of these beatitudes is to keep our eyes on Jesus.
As we worship Jesus, as we love Jesus, as we obey Jesus, we gradually become more and more like him.
Christ is formed in us and he lives through our lives.
Then the blessedness Jesus promised will fill our lives.
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