July 30, 2014

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" Matthew 5:8 

For the past several years there has been much concern over distracted driving. In a world of distractions "distracted driving" usually refers to driving while checking messages on your phone. Obviously, when your attention is divided between the traffic and the texts you are putting yourself and others at risk.

When Jesus commands His Kingdom people to be "pure in spirit" He is capturing the same idea. It does the text no injustice to say, "Blessed are those who are not spiritually distracted".

Esteemed Bible scholar and teacher, Dr. William Barclay, shares these helpful insights into the Sixth Beatitude:

"Here is the beatitude which demands that every man who reads it should stop, and think, and examine himself.

The Greek word for pure is "katharos", and it has a variety of usages, all of which have something to add to the meaning of this beatitude for the Christian life.

(i) Originally it simply meant clean, and could, for instance, be used or soiled clothes which have been washed clean.

(ii) It is regularly used for corn which has been winnowed or sifted and cleansed of all chaff. In the same way it is used of an army which has been purged of all discontented, cowardly, unwilling and inefficient soldiers, and which is a force composed solely of first-class fighting men.

(iii) It very commonly appears in company with another Greek adjective--"akiratos". Akiratos can be used of milk or wine which is unadulterated with water, or of metal which has in it no tinge of alloy.

So, then, the basic meaning of "katharos" is unmixed, unadulterated, unalloyed. That is why this beatitude is so demanding a beatitude. It could be translated:

"Blessed is the man whose motives are always entirely unmixed, for that man shall see God."

When I read this I think of what James says in his Epistle: "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." James 1:8

So as you begin to get you mind around this idea of heart purity, let's begin here. Purity is having motives that are single-minded. Obviously, when your motives are clear your vision will be more keen as well.

Just as you can't be looking at your phone and focused on the highway, you can't be focused on the world and clearly focused on God.

You can't be thinking about your phone message and have your mind purely focused on driving can you?

Where will you fix your focus today?

If you want to see God clearly, clear the clutter out of your spirit.

July 29, 2014

The great Zig Ziglar said, " A hypocrite is one who gripes and complains about all the sex, nudity and violence on his VCR."

While the technology may be a bit outdated, the point is not.

James tells us that "a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways."

A hypocrite is a person who says one thing but does another. It harms the faith and damages local churches. The Early Church was not exempt from this destructive behavior and God dealt with it severely. Here's the story:

"Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God." When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?" "Yes," she said, "that is the price." Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also." At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events." Acts 5:1-11

Well, that's one way to solve the hypocrisy problem. But I fear that if God killed all the hypocrites who populate the Church of Jesus Christ, we wouldn't have many Christians left.

In yesterday's post I made the point that Cain and Abel both wanted to please God but only Abel did it on God's terms while Cain tried to please God on his own terms. In short, he was disobedient.

The story of Aninas and Sapphira shows us another ugly facet of hypocrisy, trying to impress men with how spiritual you are.

As the Church in Jerusalem was exploding with growth, the needs were incredible. So, these committed, Spirit-filled believers were selling off their possessions and giving the proceeds to the Apostles to distribute to those in need. They gave willingly and they gave as they saw fit. There was no pressure or force place upon them. THAT is true faith!

Enter Ananias, who with his wife, sold a piece of property and decided to give a portion of the profit to the Church and tuck part of it away for themselves. There was nothing wrong with that. They could have kept the whole amount or they could have given the whole amount. These were free-will gifts.

Their hypocrisy developed when they decided to misrepresent their gift. When they brought it to the Apostles they claimed that they were giving the entire amount of their sale. Why would they do that?

Only one reason. They wanted to look more generous than they were. They wanted the Apostles to praise them and shine the spotlight on them. They wanted the other believers to admire them. Not good.

In their desire for praise and attention, they succumbed to the temptation of being man-pleasers rather than God-pleasers.

It is always bad to lie. Lying to the Holy Spirit can be fatal. Ananias and Sapphira are living (er - dying) proof of that. While hypocrisy will not kill you on the spot, as it did them, it certainly kills your spirit, kills your witness and damages the health of your church. It is highly destructive.

Being respected and admired by men is a strong desire in the human spirit. Often it is even stronger than the desire to please God. That is the double-mindedness that James refers to that leads to unstable behavior.

Will you take a moment and ask God to search your spirit to see if your desire to please man is stronger than it should be? 

Will you commit to being single-minded in your pursuit of God?

July 28, 2014

"So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him." II Peter 3:14

There are three great qualities that mark those who are prepared for eternity. Peter mentions them here:

The morality - "spotless"

Those who want to spend a happy ever after in Heaven make sure they are living spotless lives. Spotless means that there are no unconfessed sins in their lives. They understand the truth of John's statement in I John 1:7 - "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

It is possible to live a spotless life by walking in the truth and living in obedience. By walking in truth and obedience you will avoid many sins and the moment you do sin the Holy Spirit will convict you of your sin and you can repent of it. When you repent the blood of Christ cleanses the spot from your life.

The motives - "blameless"

Blameless means that your motives are pure and you do not commit intentional, willful sins. Your hearts desire is to please and honor God. You are entirely commited to pleasing God. When you do sin it is because of a momentary flare up of your selfish will or a moment of weakness of the flesh.

People who are hoping for Heaven have surrendered their will to God and consecrated themselves to serving Him. They walk in the Spirit and do their best to overcome the flesh.

The mentality - "peaceful"

Heaven bound people know that they are spotless and blameless because they have peace in their spirit. God has given them a spirit of power and of love and a sound mind. He has sent their hearts in perfect peace because they have fixed their mind on Him.

They have no fear of the judgment and they have fellowship with God and know that all is well. Also, because they love God they are committed to living in fellowship with their brothers.

Heaven bound people live godly lives in the here and now. They live spotless, blameless and peaceful lives.

How are you measuring up?

July 27, 2014

"Blessed are the merciful for they will obtain mercy." Matthew 5:7

I like to tag profound truths to practical daily realities, so I have defined mercy as "giving grace to those who give you grief". An equally practical tag line is this "trying to be helpful to those who are being hurtful to you".

Several Biblical examples of where Jesus gave illustrations of mercy can be found in:

The parable of the unmerciful servant - Matthew 18:21-35

The story of the Good Samaritan - Luke 10:25-37

Straining a gnat and swallowing a camel - Matthew 23:24-24

I recommend those for further study to help you wrap your head and heart around this important Kingdom virtue of mercy.

But here is powerful contemporary illustration of what mercy looks like:

 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/-of-amish-school-shooter-shares-amazing-story-of-forgivenessmother/

Wow!

Meditate on how their merciful response impacted their community and the world.

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and measure your mercy quotient.

July 26, 2014

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" Matthew 5:7

This fifth of eight Beatitudes marks a transition between an emphasis on inner spirituality to the outward expression of faith.

In sharing these spiritual principles Jesus is telling you what it takes to gain God's approval and presence. Let's review:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit" - God approves when you comprehend and confess your utter absolute spiritual depravity.

"Blessed are they who mourn" - God approves when you come to grips with your sinfulness and it breaks your heart. 

"Blessed are the meek" - God approves when out of your sense of powerless over sin you surrender to His sovereignty and rest in His will.

"Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled" - God approves when you have emptied yourself to Him so He can fill you with His righteousness and give you the appetite to crave more.

So, the promise of His righteousness is clear but what is the evidence of His filling?

"Blessed are the merciful" - God approves when you, having experienced His mercy and grace, express that mercy to others. The first outward evidence of His righteousness is mercy for others.

This spiritual virtue is unique in that to get it you must give it to others. If you want mercy you must be merciful! 

Being merciful requires sympathy, the ability to connect with the hardships of others. And being merciful required empathy, the desire to actually identify with the pain of others. But mercy goes beyond sympathy and empathy, it gets involved to share the pain while trying to solve the problem.

A simple way to think of mercy is this, "Mercy gives someone grace when that someone gives you grief."

Or, another way to express mercy, "Mercy tries to help someone who is trying to hurt you." Mercy asks, "I wonder what is hurting him that would cause him to want to hurt me?"

"Blessed are the merciful......."

Who needs mercy from you?

Who is trying to hurt you? Do you know how you can help him?

July 25, 2014

"For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6

It is crucial to understand the meaning and manifestation of mercy so you can use it rather than abuse it.

Mercy is the flip-side of grace. Grace is blessing someone with what they don’t deserve and mercy is withholding what they do deserve. You can’t extend grace without having mercy.

The Greek word used in here, “eleemon” means essentially the same as its English counterpart, "merciful." However, in all likelihood Jesus spoke in Aramaic, and the idea behind His statement about mercy come from Old Testament—that is, Hebrew—usage and teaching. The word He would have used is the Hebrew and Aramaic “chesed.”

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible commentary on Matthew states regarding this word:

“It does not mean only to sympathize with a person in the popular sense of the term; it does not mean simply to feel sorry for some in trouble.” Chesed,” mercy, means the ability to get right inside the other person's skin until we can see things with his eyes, think things with his mind, and feel things with his feelings.”

"Clearly this is much more than an emotional wave of pity; clearly this demands a quite deliberate effort of the mind and of the will. It denotes a sympathy which is not given, as it were, from outside, but which comes from a deliberate identification with the other person, until we see things as he sees them, and feel things as he feels them. This is sympathy in the literal sense of the word. Sympathy is derived from two Greek words, syn which means together with, and paschein which means to experience or to suffer. Sympathy means experiencing things together with the other person, literally going through what he is going through." (p. 103)

So the translation of the fifth beatitude might read:

“O the blessedness of the man who gets right inside other people, until he can see with their eyes, think with their thoughts, feel with their feelings, for he who does that will find others do the same for him, and will know that that is what God in Jesus Christ has done!”

You need to understand mercy so you can become merciful as God demands.

As you become merciful to others, you receive mercy from God.

Let me share one more very contemporary reason for understanding mercy. Mercy can be used against you!

For example, those who believe in open borders and amnesty for those illegally crossing our Southern border make the claim that prosecuting these illegals or deporting them is unmerciful. They cite the thousands of children flooding into our country to appeal to our sense of mercy while ignoring the obvious violations of law and the tens of thousands of adults who are also crowding into border states. If anyone tries to point out the manifold problems and potential dangers created by unchecked immigration, they are shamed for being unmerciful.

Mercy operates within the context of justice. Jesus made that clear in Matthew 23:23 - "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."

Let's have mercy on innocent children who have been lured to our land by lies but let's also do justice to our laws and be faithful to our Constitution!

July 24, 2014

"Blessed are the merciful for they will obtain mercy." Matthew 5:7

So, how do I become a more merciful person?

Jesus gives us a good insight in His rebuke to the religious leaders:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!" Matthew 23:23-24

Jesus' indictment of these Pharisees and scribes was their tendency to "major on the minors" and "minor on the majors". In His words they, "neglected the weightier matters" such as justice, mercy and faith. They were making rules and religion more important than relationships.

They set their standard of judgement at the level of their own "self-righteousness" and had little mercy for others who didn't measure up. I guarantee you that if you measure your worth by the unworthiness of others you will have little room for mercy.

This portion of Scripture is an example of the humor of Christ. He is shaming them through this ridiculous image of "straining gnats while swallowing a camel". 

His point is they had become so focused on keeping the finer points of the law they lost touch with the spirit of the law - LOVE. They extended mercy to themselves and judged others harshly.

When Jesus calls us to mercy He is calling us to be merciless toward our own weaknesses and extend mercy to others.

Have you ever lost your faith focus?

Have you ever found yourself straining gnats?

Have you allowed yourself to get caught up in self-righteous judgments?

A good example of this idea is Jesus story of the Good Samaritan. The religious people walked past the injured man because they were focused on their "religious obligations". They didn't have time for mercy because they were on a mission. 

But along came a despised half-breed Samaritan who stopped to care for the suffering Jew. After administering first-aid, he then tenderly lifted the man onto his donkey and carried him to a place where he could be cared for, promising to cover the cost of his recovery.

Why do you think the "non-religious" Samaritan showed mercy while the religious Jews neglected mercy?

Could it be he was mindful of mercy because he received so little mercy himself? 

Will you search your heart and ask God to give you a heart of mercy?

When you put mercy in the company of justice and faith it elevates its status! Mercy must be something that pleases God and it needs to be important to you!