In Matthew, chapter 5, there are nine verses that each
start with the word Blessed, nine
short simple verses that are so filled with meaning and depth as to be
incredibly profound. And yet, Christians read them, recite them, and pass over
them as being not applicable to the dispensation we’re in as I heard a famous
Bible teacher, J. Vernon McGee say, and miss some of the most beautiful
thoughts in our faith.
They are a gift from God and a blessing that should
fill your mind, your spirit, with thoughts of what it means to be a follower of
Christ, a Christian.
Matthew 5:3 ¶ Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall
be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit
the earth.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall
obtain mercy.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall
be called the children of God.
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’
sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely, for my sake.
It is true that Jesus is talking directly to a bunch
of beard-wearing, pork-abstaining, sabbath-observing, temple-going Jews but
every verse in God’s Bible has an application to we Christians, we who profess
faith in Christ’s righteousness and not our own, who believe that He was God in
the flesh, died for our sins on the Cross at Calvary, rose on the third day,
and that by faith in His death, burial, and resurrection we are saved from an
eternity of agony in the wrath of God.
I want to talk to you about some things regarding
these verses and what they mean to me.
This is personal.
First, let me say that the best way, I think, to
interpret the Bible is by cross-referencing not the typical fundamentalist
ripping verses out of context to mean things they were never intended to mean
except in the mind of some preacher or teacher with an agenda or lack of
reading comprehension.
It has been said that these verses are the foundation
of authentic Christian discipleship and the basis for joy and happiness as a
Christian. Joy is one of those fruits of the Spirit, proof that the Spirit of
God indwells you. If you have none of these things you might want to
reexamine who you belong to.
9 declarations of
Blessedness in Matthew, 9 Fruits of the Spirit in the 9th book of
the Bible in Galatians. 3 x 9 books in the New Testament. It has been said that
9 is the number of fruit-bearing.
To be blessed is to
receive a benefit from God, to be happy in the Lord’s will for you.
Genesis 30:13 And Leah
said, Happy am I, for the
daughters will call me blessed:
and she called his name Asher.
But more importantly it
is proof of being approved by God, stamped with His seal of acceptance,
embraced by His love.
Genesis 5:2 Male and female
created he them; and blessed
them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
Genesis 22:18 And in thy
seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
God blessed us with so
much and continues to bless us with His grace, His unmerited favor, and eternal
life.
3 ¶ Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.
What does it mean to be
poor in spirit? By cross-referencing
to see how the Holy Spirit used this and similar phrases elsewhere we find it
written that;
Psalm 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a
broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit: a
broken and a contrite heart, O
God, thou wilt not despise.
Isaiah 66:2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all
those things have been, saith
the LORD: but to this man will
I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,
and trembleth at my word.
Even if think you are
saved but you are proud, are certain that you are always a righteous person,
that God is lucky to have you on His side then you will miss the point of the
first blessing. Unbelievers who don’t think they even need to be saved because
they are just good people and if there is a God He ought to include them even
if they have never thought of him are also stuck. To come to Christ you must
first understand that without Him you are spiritually bankrupt, completely
destitute of any merit at all. You have nothing with which to commend yourself
to God. That person, not the proud, self-righteous person, will acknowledge
their need for Christ.
Are you poor in spirit?
Do you recognize your helplessness before God? Or do you spend so much time
dislocating your own shoulder trying to pat yourself on the back for being
right that you cannot see that without Him you are nothing. If your sin has not
broken your heart then something isn’t quite right with you. A poor spirit is
one that acknowledges this and their guilt for sin.
Psalm 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a
broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit: a
broken and a contrite heart, O
God, thou wilt not despise.
Isaiah 66:2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all
those things have been, saith
the LORD: but to this man will
I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,
and trembleth at my word.
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall
be comforted.
That thing that
separated us from God, that even now draws us away from Him in our thoughts and
deeds, our sin, do you mourn over it? Does it break your heart?
What does it mean to repent? The
words repent and repentance don’t just carry with them an intellectual assent to
something like just changing your mind. They involve a turning from something like sin or an action you were purposed to
do.
Exodus
32:12 Wherefore should the Egyptians
speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the
mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
Jeremiah
4:28 For this shall the earth mourn, and
the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and
will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
Jeremiah
18:8 If that nation, against whom I have
pronounced, turn from their evil, I
will repent of the evil that I
thought to do unto them.
Jeremiah
26:3 If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that
I may repent me of the evil, which I
purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.
Ezekiel
14:6 Therefore say unto the house of
Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent,
and turn yourselves from your idols;
and turn away your faces from all
your abominations.
Ezekiel
18:30 Therefore I will judge you, O
house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all
your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.
Jonah
3:9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away
from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
Repentance
also implies belief as you repent from sin and turn to God. Sin is downplayed
in today’s Christianity so repentance from it usually receives short shrift
except in the most fundamental of churches. Consider these verses;
Romans
5:8 But God commendeth his love toward
us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
1John
1:9 If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
So, if sin before we are
saved and after we are saved is not an issue then what do you think about these
verses, if we are just to admit we sin like we admit we chew gum and move on?
And why did Christ trouble Himself to die on the Cross?
1Corinthians
15:3 For I delivered unto you first of
all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures;
It looks to me based on
the context that Jesus here makes a spiritual application for mourning as in
regard to contextually mourning for sin’s very existence.
I realize preachers have
taken this too far. The most stunning example is Charles G. Finney’s insistence
that if you weren’t trying to make up for all of your past sins to the people
you had wronged then you probably aren’t saved, which is foolish. But modern
preachers not preaching against sin is just as foolish, if not moreso.
You cannot simply dismiss
sin and your sin nature as a bad rash and forget it. We need to deal with our
sin, or, more importantly to have Christ deal with it.
1John
1:9 If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
Have you mourned for your
sin? Do you weep even now over what you feel so helpless to overcome? Haven’t
some of you ruined your families, driven your children away from you? Haven’t
some of you wasted your youth on alcohol and promiscuous sex, looking for love
and acceptance, a replacement for your father or mother, pursued money and
found bankruptcy, messed up your kids? Do you feel nothing? Has someone gotten
you to believe that everything is just peachy? David was forgiven but he
suffered terribly for his sin, in his family. Don’t you mourn?
Death in this world was
one consequence of sin. There is no dignity in death, I heard it said. There is
suffering if we are not killed instantly and unless we are drugged in our last
hours. Death is often agonizing, lonely, painful, and fraught with tears and
pleas for mercy. Death is all around us. How can you be awake, acknowledge that
our sin caused this condition, and not mourn for sin?
Those who realize they are spiritually bankrupt without
Christ will have the kingdom of heaven and of God. Those who weep and mourn
over their sin and the very fact that sin itself exists will be comforted by
God. My sins have cost me a great deal of satisfaction and contentment in my
life. My life is so much less and my choices are so much more limited because
of the sins I have committed. I have wept over sins already forgiven, wept
because I wish so much that I had never done them. I know that is selfish. I
know I’m supposed to just be saying that my sin put Christ on that Cross. But,
I know what I know and I feel what I feel and I’m just being honest with you. I
do know that my sin has offended a Holy God and separated me from Him before I
trusted Christ. My sin is personal to me and to those I’ve wronged. Man’s sin
brought death into the world where death did not have to be present.
Hebrews 2:14 ¶ Forasmuch then
as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of
death, that is, the devil; 15 And
deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage.
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as
by one man sin entered into the world,
and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that
all have sinned:
But, we have this
promise, a promise I cling to as I yet mourn for sin, a promise to be
comforted.
Revelation 21:4 And God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit
the earth.
In the Bible the meek is often associated with the poor.
Isaiah 11:4 But with
righteousness shall he judge the poor,
and reprove with equity for the meek
of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with
the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
Isaiah 29:19 The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the
Holy One of Israel.
Amos 2:7a That pant after
the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek…
But for this interpretation of this sermon let’s look at this statement.
Numbers 12:3 (Now the man Moses was very meek,
above all the men which were
upon the face of the earth.)
Moses was hardly poor
and also why would a man who killed an Egyptian and led a couple of million
people through the desert be called meek? What is this definition of meek?
I think it is clear
that we are talking about Moses’ relationship with God. You know that poor
people, oppressed people even, can be just a wicked as the powerful in their
oppression of each other and defiance of God so meekness as poverty cannot
possibly be the definition in this case. No, Moses was meek towards God and
toward God’s will. Moses’ pride did not puff Him up.
Meek is contrasted with
wicked.
Psalm 147:6 The LORD
lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.
You aren’t righteous
just because you don’t have any money. There is something else going on here
with these words.
Exodus 32:31 And Moses
returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and
have made them gods of gold. 32 Yet now,
if thou wilt forgive their sin — ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee,
out of thy book which thou hast written.
Notice the similar
statement by Paul.
Romans 9:1 ¶ I say the
truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy
Ghost, 2 That I have great heaviness and
continual sorrow in my heart. 3 For I
could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen
according to the flesh:
4 Who are Israelites; to
whom pertaineth the adoption,
and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 5 Whose are
the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
The essence of meekness
then is a heart for the lost, mourning for those who are bound for an eternity
in God’s wrath, who do not see the truth because that is what God wants so
badly.
1Timothy 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Meekness is also a
profound meekness toward God’s will. Jesus said;
Luke 11:2 And he said unto
them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in
heaven, so in earth.
Matthew 26:42 He went away
again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not
pass away from me, except I drink it, thy
will be done.
Remember what Job said.
Job 13:15a Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him…
Moses did not want to
go speak to Pharaoh. He was very resistant to the idea. But, in the end he did
as he was told. You can read about his reluctance in Exodus 3. Moses and Paul,
strong, self-willed characters, did what they were told even if it took a few
turns to get to that point. In the end they were meek towards God’s will.
If you simply refuse to
obey God, complain constantly about His will for your life, twist His Bible to
meet a political or social agenda you have, and just all around actually
worship a God who reflects you rather than the God of the Bible you are not
meek by this definition. You are a tare, a phony, or maybe you are Christian
who will have to dragged by your feet down the street by the Holy Ghost on your
way to heaven kicking and screaming. Pride, self-righteousness, and arrogance
are example of the wickedness I am talking about.
6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Jesus and Paul
condemned the tradition of men and much of what men call authoritative; in Mark
7 the oral law of the Pharisees and in Colossians 2 including worldly
philosophy called a vain deceit.
But, God has a standard
of righteousness and it is His standard of righteousness we should seek. Christ
set the standard for righteousness and is, in fact, our righteousness. We
should long to be filled with the Spirit of God rather than our own spirit.
Christ’s standard of
righteousness is clear.
Matthew 7:12 ¶ Therefore
all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to
them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Matthew 22:35 Then one of
them, [a Pharisee] which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and
saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind. 38 This is the first and great
commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
John 13:34 A new
commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you,
that ye also love one another. 35 By
this shall all men know that ye
are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
In fact, read the
entire sermon that starts in Matthew 5 to get a picture of Christ’s standard
for His followers. It is a blessed state we are in when we hunger to be filled
with God’s standard of righteousness, His law, and His word.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall
obtain mercy.
Mercy is one of the
most magnificent traits of our Creator. In fact, mercy is so important that He
wants us to view it in a special light.
James 2:13 For he shall
have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
Most of us have the
opportunity every day to show mercy with our speech. However, we speak roughly
to those around us and seek revenge for real and imagined slights and hurts
with our words. We even try to dominate each other with words. It is shameful
the way Christians don’t feel that they need to watch what they say. I get so
sick of hearing mean-spirited Christian say things like, “I just tell it like
it is,” or, “You gotta have a thick skin.” There are a lot of excuses
Christians have for not acting like Christ. Oh, I know what you’re gonna say. Christ
spoke roughly to the Pharisees and Sadducees. Well, I’m not talking about you
standing in front of some highly self-important Baptist Dr. Whosit and
admonishing him harshly for twisting the Bible into knots. Jesus reserved his
toughest language for the religious establishment but was kind to the common
people and to people who sought Him.
Mercy like this is very
difficult for me. I want so much to lash out when I feel that someone deserves
it but I need to be kind even when others are not. Please stop with the double-entendres, the
veiled threats, the hidden insults, and the snide comments. It does not draw
anyone to Christ through you. It repels them.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall
see God.
David had this to say
about what it means to be pure in heart.
Psalm 24:4 He that hath
clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul
unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
Paul gave us;
1Timothy 1:5 Now the end of
the commandment is charity out of a pure
heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
2Timothy 2:22 Flee also
youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that
call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
And Peter;
1Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have
purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love
of the brethren, see that ye
love one another with a pure heart fervently:
Choosing not to sin as
much as lies within you, maintaining a good conscience, having sincere faith,
avoiding the lusts of youth that sadly determine so much of so many of our
future lives, and following righteousness, faith, love of one’s brothers and
sisters in Christ, and peace with them are very important facets of striving to
be pure in heart.
We need to pray each
day that God keeps us from sin and does not allow us to harm our own testimony
for Him. Sin quenches the voice of the Holy Spirit in our heads and hearts and
sin is what separates the unsaved person from God. Sin is our main issue
spiritually as death is our main issue physically. Christ paid the penalty for
our sin, reconciling us to God but we can so often try to go it alone in this
world by choosing service to sin rather than obedience to Christ.
I really do want to be pure in heart. As a Christian I’ve been
promised that I will see God and I do see God in His constant action right now
in my life and in the world around me. But, I want this blessing, this joy,
from communing with our Creator with a pure heart, desiring not to sin and
loving the brethren.
John 13:34 A new
commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you,
that ye also love one another. 35 By
this shall all men know that ye
are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Romans 6:1 What shall we
say then? Shall we continue in sin,
that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How
shall we, that are dead to sin,
live any longer therein?
9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall
be called the children of God.
In the 1970s a popular
recording duo released a song about Henry Kissinger, who was trying to make
peace in the Middle East, entitled ‘Peacemaker’. This verse in Matthew is NOT
about a diplomat trying to make peace between warring countries no matter how
much the worldly twist it out of its context.
This verse is about
those who are part of the effort of God to make peace with mankind, who is in
constant rebellion.
Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful
upon the mountains are the feet
of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth
salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
Christ, God in the
flesh, is the instrument of that peace with God.
Luke 1:78 Through the
tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
79 To give light to them that sit in
darkness and in the shadow of
death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Which brings us to this
very important passage from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.
Ephesians 2:1 ¶ And you hath he quickened, who were dead in
trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time
past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all
had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the
desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others. [This shows that conversation in the Bible is more than just talk,
but behavior. See Galatians 1:13; Philippians 1:27; and James 3:13 for
examples]
4 ¶ But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great
love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are
saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: [notice
the implication that we are already seated in the heavens] 7 That in the ages to come he
might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest
any man should boast. 10 For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them.
11 ¶ Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the
flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision
in the flesh made by hands; 12 That at
that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in
the world: 13 But now in Christ Jesus ye
who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
14 ¶ For he is our peace, who hath made both one,
and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15 Having
abolished in his flesh the enmity, even
the law of commandments contained
in ordinances; for to make in himself of
twain [Jew and Gentile] one new man [the church], so making peace; 16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in
one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17 And came and preached peace to you which were
afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18
For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 19
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but
fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 And are built upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed
together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an
habitation of God through the Spirit.
They are called the children
of God who pursue God’s ministry of reconciliation to bring peace, an amnesty,
in man’s rebellion against God. These peacemakers, not worldly diplomats, are
God’s ambassadors.
2Corinthians 5:20 Now then
we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you
by us: we pray you in Christ’s
stead, be ye reconciled to God.
Ephesians 6:20 For which I
am an ambassador in bonds: that
therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for
righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for
my sake.
Persecution and staying
faithful to Christ and God in response to it is an important doctrine in the
New Testament. Persecution is expected and perhaps in some sense, even welcome.
But, it is a fact of life at some point if you live as a Christian and announce
your faith to others. Jesus said in the context of sending out His Jewish
disciples to the nation of Israel;
Matthew 10:16 ¶ Behold, I
send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as
serpents, and harmless as doves. 17 But
beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will
scourge you in their synagogues; 18 And
ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony
against them and the Gentiles. 19 But when
they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall
be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit
of your Father which speaketh in you. 21
And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father
the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. 22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that
endureth to the end shall be saved. 23
But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for
verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till
the Son of man be come. 24 The disciple
is not above his master, nor
the servant above his lord. 25 It is
enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord.
If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his
household? 26 Fear them not therefore:
for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall
not be known. 27 What I tell you in
darkness, that speak ye in
light: and what ye hear in the ear, that
preach ye upon the housetops. 28 And
fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but
rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and
one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30 But the very
hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value
than many sparrows. 32 Whosoever
therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father
which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever
shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in
heaven.
Keep this in mind when
reading what Paul said;
2Timothy 2:12 If we suffer,
we shall also reign with him:
if we deny him, he also will
deny us:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot
deny himself.
And John wrote what he
was told;
Revelation 2:10 Fear none
of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may
be tried; and ye shall have tribulation
ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Christians were accused
of many things falsely in the early days such as being cannibals because of the
Lord’s Supper or as the Romans would accuse them of, as the historian Tacitus
noted, hatred for humanity.
Obviously the stakes
are higher here than your bellyaching because your boss made you take an Old
Testament Bible verse saying homosexuals should be killed down from your
cubicle. Let us not trivialize the Bible to match our lack of commitment to
Christ.
But let us also not
forget that Freedom of Conscience is not Freedom of Religion. You being free to
think what you think and believe what you believe is fine and dandy but it is
not the same as the freedom to practice what you believe, to worship where and
as you think right, and to tell others about your faith. There may come a time
in this country soon when Christians may not be able to worship openly because
we and those before us backed down on our right to Freedom of Religion.
It is difficult to
think of being persecuted and lied about as a blessing or as a state of being
blessed. Are you willing to be truly persecuted, not inconvenienced, but to
experience life-threatening contempt and hatred, and lies, thrown against you
and your family for your allegiance to Christ?
These blessings are
wonderful expressions of what it means to follow Christ.
Matthew 5:3 ¶ Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall
be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit
the earth.
6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall
obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall
see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall
be called the children of God.
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’
sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely, for my sake.
You will not experience
these blessings without the fruit of proof of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling.
Galatians 5:22 But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against
such there is no law. 24 And they that
are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
This is our calling,
commanded by our Lord. Its not very macho by our culture’s standards. It
doesn’t guarantee you’ll get man’s respect. No, it rather suggests you will
receive his and her contempt. But, they are your marching orders as well. We
cannot claim Christ without obedience to Him. If we want His blessings, they
begin here;
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto
him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me.
And end here;
John 10:28 And I give unto
them eternal life; and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck
them out of my hand.
What I have talked
about is what lies between. Please consider it.
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