The Long Drive Home

One Saturday afternoon almost three years ago my wife, Pam, and I were driving home from church.  As far as I can remember the drive was relatively uneventful and quiet -- neither of us really wanted to talk.  We were both, I am sure, exhausted and to an extent lost in our own thoughts.

The route we took is the same one I take five or six days a week, so it is more than familiar to me.  And, there is one intersection in particular that is a bit odd, and so I normally approach it with a little extra caution.

For some reason, despite a clear dotted line on the road, drivers occasionally get confused -- thinking they can enter the middle lane on Denton Tap from the right of two left turn lanes coming off the 121 frontage road. (See the picture to the right).  So, when I turn properly into the middle lane from the left turn lane I always watch for confused interlopers.

On this particular Saturday my mind was definitely elsewhere, but nevertheless I fortunately noticed the dark SUV that wrongly, and illegally, encroached into my lane as I turned left.  The cars never actually came all that close to colliding, but even so the lady in the SUV was furious.  She began honking her horn at us and yelling words I can only imagine.

In a way it was almost comical at the time -- to see someone so angry and also so completely unaware that she was the one in the wrong.  How could she be so angry about such a trivial matter?  I mean, no harm was done to either vehicle -- they never even touched.  What in her life could have caused such an overblown reaction?

And then I wondered -- Pam and I both wondered -- how that lady might have felt about the way she was acting if she had known that we were driving home from our son's memorial service.  How might she have acted if she had known we were just trying to make it through the worst week of our lives?  She was angry because she thought I had violated her space on the road.  Our entire world had been destroyed.  She was worried about her rights.  We were worried about surviving the worst disaster any parent can imagine. 

On this one occasion, at least, Pam and I were on the receiving end of insensitivity -- indeed an insensitivity beyond anything this woman at the time could possibly have imagined.  At the end of the day, though, she didn't need to know what was going on in our lives in that moment in order to do the right thing.  She only needed to know that her duty -- if she was a follower of Christ -- was to love us -- to be patient and to show us kindness.  I suppose there is a lesson in this for all of us.     

The Pure In Heart

Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.

                                  

                                         Matthew 5:8

Although Matthew 5:8 is often rendered "for they will see God," it is probably better rendered "blessed are the pure in heart, for they continually see God."  It means something akin to being "admitted into the more immediate presence of God."  In other words, for the pure in heart the promise to see God is not simply a future promise -- it is also a present reality.  As our hearts are purified by the power of the Holy Spirit, we see and experience God more consistently.

The Greek word that is rendered "pure" in English is καθαρός (katharos), and none of us would be surprised to know that it means "clean, pure, or unsoiled."  But it also implies "undivided" or "unmixed."  A pure heart is focused on God and his righteousness, and not on the world.  Cf. James 4:4.

If our walk with Jesus seems confusing at times it is not so much that Jesus is confusing as it is that our own hearts are confusing.  The heart is, after all, deceitful above all things.  Jeremiah 17:9.  The heart resists purification and, in fact, is usually content to be divided.  And so, we struggle between the things that please us and the things that please God.  And, we allow ourselves at times to be confused about both what God wants for us, and what God wants from us. 

As I was thinking about all of this two scriptures came to mind.  The first is where Jesus talks about the sheep and the goats.  He tells us that about the righteous -- those who take care of the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the imprisoned.  And, He tells us about the unrighteous -- those who do not do these things.  Matthew 25:31-46.  And, if we are not careful we will conclude from this that the secret to eternal life is about what we do or do not do.

But Jesus also told us that there will be those who prophesied in his name, who cast out demons in his name and did many miracles, but Jesus will nevertheless deny knowing them.  Matthew 7:21-23. And so, we might conclude from this that "doing" will not be enough to earn us a place in heaven. We might be deceived into thinking that something more is required.

Hopefully, we know at the end of the day that it is faith alone that saves us.  And, we know that true faith will lead to purification of the heart.  Then, and only then, will the things we "do" matter.  They matter then because they will be motivated by a pure heart.  We do the right things not out of discipline or duty, but because a pure heart desires to do good.

The past couple of weeks -- not thinking about God bringing us to this place -- I have been searching my own heart.  And, I have not always liked what God has exposed.  It is never a fun process -- but it is necessary to do on occasion.  Among other things, I think there have been times when I have been more concerned about being right than I have been about being godly.  There have been some things to repent about.

We all have them.  They are often easy to find.  One way is to ask ourselves if others see the same "me" in every context.  For me, and for many of you, I need only ask myself if I am the same person at home (or anywhere else) as I am at church.

One of the problems the Pharisees often had was that they externally looked like lovers of God, but internally they were lovers of themselves.  They were a lot more like us sometimes than any of us care to admit.  The problem is always the same -- God is not looking at the externals; he is looking at the heart.

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:  “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.  So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.  They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;  they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;  they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
                                                                                     Matthew 23:1-7.


“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.  You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."
                                                                                         Matthew 23:23-28.

Lord Have Mercy

"Blessed are the merciful,

    for they will be shown mercy."

                                   Matthew 5:7



It is because of the mercy of God that we are saved.  Indeed, it is because of his unmerited love and unmerited grace that God extends his mercy to the undeserving -- the spiritually bankrupt.  We see this frequently expressed in the Bible.

In Titus Chapter 3 we are told:  "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.  But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."  Titus 3:3-7.  We find a similar and perhaps more familiar expression of this truth in Paul's letter to the Romans:  "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  Romans 5:6-8.

God is love, and because of that mercy is an essential part of the very character of God.   We see the mercy of God, exhibited both directly and through those people who were called according to his purpose, throughout the whole of the Bible.  When God told Moses He would pour his wrath out on the Israelites for worshipping the golden calf and for their rebellion, Moses pleaded to God on behalf of the people:  ^"But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?  Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.  Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’”  Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened."  Exodus 32:11-14.  Later, Moses would plead with God again on behalf of the people -- asking the Lord to blot his own name out of the Book if He could not forgive the sins of the people.  Exodus 32:32.

In the New Testament, if anyone should convince us that there is none beyond the mercy of God it is the Apostle Paul -- the former persecutor of God's church.  The mercy of God was never lost on the apostle.  He was acutely aware that he did not deserve salvation; much less to be used mightily by Jesus:   ^"I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. ¹³ Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. ¹⁴ The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
¹⁵ Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. ¹⁶ But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. ¹⁷ Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen."  1 Timothy 1:12-17.

So, what is the point of all of this?  Matthew 5:7 says "blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."  The question I think we need to ask ourselves is "what will those who are not merciful in this life will be shown?"  It is a sobering question, and raises a sobering thought.

We can dismiss the question easily enough.  After all, our God is a God of mercy.  But we should be careful if we so choose.  Yes, our God is a God of mercy.  But He is also a God of judgment.  And, the truth is that genuine followers of the Lord are being conformed to the image of Jesus.  He is merciful, and if we really love Him we will become merciful too.  We must become merciful too.

In the Catholic tradition there are what is called the "Seven Corporal Works of Mercy."  If you are not Catholic (or maybe even if you are) this may be foreign to you.  But, the acts themselves should not be.  They are (1) to feed the hungry, (2) to give drink to the thirsty, (3) to shelter the homeless, (4) to visit the sick, (5) to visit those in prison, (6) to bury the dead and (7) to give alms to the poor.

If most of these seem familiar, they should.  And, if you want the answer to the question "what will those who are not merciful in this life will be shown," Jesus answered that question in Matthew 25.  So, read it and discover this for yourself.

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

 

Righteousness

"Blessed are those who hunger  and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled."






Looking back, it was at times impossible to see the progress.  There were certainly those light bulb moments -- we all have had them.  But most of the time the advance was in increments too small to perceive.  He was drawing us closer -- and He continues to do so.

At the same time He was humbling us.  To move forward we had to recognize and accept our own spiritual poverty.  The kingdom of God, as it turned out, would not be opened to the strong and the self-sufficient; but instead to the weak and the wholly dependent.  We needed to mourn over our sin -- to truly repent.  It is only from this place could we pursue righteousness -- that we could thirst and hunger for it.

To pursue righteousness from out own strength would prove fruitless.  It can not be achieved as a mater of self-discipline.  The Pharisees tried that and failed miserably.

We have, through Jesus, a righteousness that comes through faith.  It is a righteousness not our own, and it allows us to stand holy and blameless before God.  It is a righteousness that leads to salvation and that was paid for by the very blood of Christ.  See Philippians 3:8-10. 

It would be a miserable mistake, though, to think that this is the righteousness that Jesus has in mind in Matthew 5:6.  If we have true faith in Jesus the righteousness that comes through faith and that is now within us will display itself externally.  We will begin to live differently.

I am afraid that many "Christians" claim faith in Jesus but then see no real fruit in their lives.  They claim to be a new creation in Christ, but life looks not different after Jesus than it did before.  But the Apostle John warns us not to be deceived -- if we are truly righteous we will do what is right:  "Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.  The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning."  1 John 3:7-8.

The point of all of this is not to allow us to test the faith of others, but only our own.  When we look in the mirror do we see someone who increasingly is conformed to the image of Jesus, or are we the same person we have always been?

Soon, Heartland Church will begin twenty-one days of fasting and prayer to start the new year.  Do you want your prayer to be heard?  Do you want your fasting to mean something to God?  Then you might consider whether you are living a life a righteousness.  And you might consider what God has to say about fasting and prayer in the Book of Isaiah.

“Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
    Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
    and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
² For day after day they seek me out;
    they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
    and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
    and seem eager for God to come near them.
³ ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
    ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
    and you have not noticed?’

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
    and exploit all your workers.
⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
    and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
    and expect your voice to be heard on high.
⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
    only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
    and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness^[a] will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.
¹¹ The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.
¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
    Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

¹³ “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
    and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
    and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
    and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the Lord,
    and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
    and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Blessed Are The Meek

Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.

                                   Matthew 5:5




If you were to study the biblical definition of "meekness" as Jesus uses the word in Matthew 5:5, you would likely at some point read something along the lines of "meekness is strength under control" or "meekness does not mean weakness."  These are ideas that are in a sense true enough.  But even more they are ideas that are attractive to us.

By our very nature we recoil at the idea that we are weak, or worse yet that weakness is something to embrace. We want to be thought of as strong and self-controlled.  What father teaches his son that meekness is something to be pursued?  No, we encourage our children to be strong -- to stand up for themselves.

But, as He seems to do so often Jesus turns common sense on its head.  It is the meek who are blessed, he tells us.  They are the ones who will inherit the earth.

In the face of this odd proclamation we take solace in the fact that meekness doesn't mean weakness.  We can be meek and still be strong, or so we think.  Indeed, if we were so inclined we could make that guy who hurled the insult at us, or that guy who stole from us, pay for fooling with the wrong follower of Jesus -- we just choose not to do so.

Unfortunately, to the extent that strength can be associated with meekness I do not believe that is what Jesus has in mind.  Jesus has already told us that it is the "poor in spirit" -- not the strong -- who will inherit the kingdom of heaven.  To enter the narrow gate we must accept that we are beggars with nothing to offer -- utterly unable to save ourselves.

He has also told us that it is those who mourn who will be comforted.  True spiritual mourning -- true repentance -- is a gut wrenching experience.  Spiritual mourning does not leave us with a feeling of strength, but a feeling of dependence and hopefully gratitude.

It is this place of recognizing our spiritual poverty and mourning over our sin that makes the call to meekness possible.  What pride could remain in us from this vantage point?  We have nothing and we are nothing -- we have no strength of our own to commend to anyone.

The language used by Jesus himself does nothing to suggest that meekness in any way implies or is connected to our own human strength.  The Greek word found in Matthew 5:5 is πραύς (praus), which means "meek, gentle, kind, forgiving, mild, benevolent, or humane."  "Meek" in English simply means "quiet, gentle, and easily imposed on; submissive."  I personally think that "easily imposed on" and "submissive" are pretty good definitions.

This is not to say that "strength" has no part in the conversation about meekness.  I think it does.  But I also think there are two aspects of this strength that we should seriously consider.

The first is that, like everything else, whatever strength is required to be successfully meek cannot be human strength.  Jesus has made it abundantly clear that we can do nothing apart from Him.  John 15:5 (“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.").  Meekness is not a matter of self-discipline -- mastering self-control.  It is something that comes from the grace  of God.

The second is that the strength that is required to be truly meek is not abstract or indiscriminate -- it is purposeful.  It is not merely a matter of showing that "I am the bigger person" or I am "taking the high road."  That is the strength people use to bring glory to themselves. 

No, the strength that is needed to be truly meek will never show the world how great you are -- but it will always show the world how great Jesus is.  It is the strength that allowed Paul to "become all things to all people so that by all possible means some might be saved."  1 Corinthians 9:22.  Paul did not become submissive or easily imposed on for his own glory -- but for the glory of God.  "I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings."  1 Corinthians 9:23.

There is much more so say about all of this.  But I will leave you with this quote from FB Meyer.

"Many ancient authorities place meekness next [after mourning], and it seems the natural order, for the soul that realizes its own nothingness and helplessness is likely to be meek. The meek are so occupied with their desire that God's grace should pass through them to their fellows that they are prepared to sink all considerations of their own standing and position so long as nothing may interfere with the effect for which they long. Their only thought is to carry their point, to bless men who do not want to be blessed, to vanquish hate by love, and rebellion by loving-kindness and tender mercy. They cannot afford, therefore, to be always standing on their own dignity and defending their own rights. These are willingly cast into the furnace to augment the flame, that the obdurate metal may be fused. "Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things; but all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace through the thanksgiving of many may abound to the glory of God."

The way to become meek is to be absorbingly taken up with the love of Christ for me. Be lowly before God, allowing His love to enter and fill thy heart, and thou wilt find it easy to be meek towards man. Thy pride will be driven out by the expulsive power of the new affection. Thou wilt be prepared to accept flouts and sneers, if only thou canst bless and help others; even as God who answers not the blasphemous and hard things that are said against Him, but continues to send His rain and cause His sun to shine to bring men back in penitence to His heart.

 It would be a great mistake, however, to suppose that the meek are cowardly, deficient in strength of purpose or force of will: they are among the strongest and most strenuous of men. But they are strong in patience and strenuous in seeking the salvation of others. Let the cause of righteousness, justice, or truth be in question, none are so unbending or stalwart as they. Of the wrongs done to themselves they are disposed to take no count, but they dare not refrain from bearing witness, both by speech and act, whenever the sacred majesty of truth is assailed and in danger of being trampled under foot."