Take Away - SOM 5

 I am still processing the Sermon on the Mount. I have gone through the 25 posts and edited them for clarity and to revisit them for myself. Now I want to look at the applications I should be making for myself.

SOM Part 5

I want to begin by reiterating something from yesterday, being blessed is not something we receive as a result of performing or having the said behaviors here, it is something that we are and the reason we have these behaviors. Jesus said, "You will recognize them by their fruits." (Matthew 7:16) Grapes are not grapes because they behave like grapes, they are grapes because they come from the grape vine, it is what they are. Blessed, happy, or satisfied is not the result of things like humility or meekness or a desire for righteousness, it is a result of who you really are. Jesus continues His thoughts in Matthew 7 says that healthy trees bear good fruit, and cannot bear bad fruit, and that diseased trees cannot bear good fruit. He says that we will recognize "them" (those who are wolves) by their fruits. (Matthew 7:17-20) He is not talking about actions, for the wolves dress up as sheep to blend it. He is not talking about possessions or blessings, for there are many who are more blessed in possessions that are not Christians. He is talking about in their spirit. They are blessed, joyful, satisfied, and not because of circumstance but because of who they are in Christ.

So what is my take away for today? This is a tough one, because it kind of flies in the face of what most would call religion. In one way or another, most religions boil down to something that we do to appease God's wrath. This varies from following strict codes of behavior to just asking Jesus into your heart. I do not believe either of these are the path to the relationship with God that He desires us to have with Him. It seems to start with a fundamental change of who we are. How does that happen? It is through surrender. Surrender is something that really goes against our basic instinct of self-preservation. Think of prisoners of war, or slaves who have surrendered their rights and as a result faced tremendous suffering and abuse. But we are not surrendering to an enemy, but to a loving friend. There is one thing about surrender that strikes me here. When I have been attempting to do something on my own, and finally surrender to the idea that I might not be able to do it on my own so I seek help, there is a bit of peace that comes with that kind of surrender. Surrender to a friend, surrender to one who loves me is not a bad thing. I think again of the 12 steps of AA. The first step is that realization that we cannot do it, our addiction has a greater power over us than we can handle. The second is to believe that God (a power grater than ourselves) can. Step 3 is surrender to that power. It is only through surrender that change can occur. It is not surrender, then go back to trying again. It is surrender, period. 

Here is where I struggle: What does that surrender look like? It is not the typical surrender to the enemy, where you are imprisoned and can no longer do the things you want to do. It is a surrender where you are still "free" in a sense. Like house arrest, but with no ankle monitor. You are on the honor system. It is a voluntary surrender. For some, they do not choose to surrender until they have reached a certain point of despair. Some might call it hitting rock bottom. Others do not seem to hit that point. It seems to look different for different people. But the commonality is surrender. 

It is a process. It is a struggle. Sometimes it is not pretty. It is a process that we take on our own. No one can do it for us. We can, should, and need others as we take this process on, and yet we are only accountable for our own choices. It is a hard process to watch in others, and we can be there and offer encouragement, but we cannot make choices for others either. Sometimes I do not feel blessed or happy or satisfied in the process, but in an ironic twist, that too is part of the process. It is not a perfect process. It requires effort and honesty, yet ultimately what keeps me travelling on this road is the fact that all my effort and all my honesty are not enough. So I again surrender my efforts to Jesus, the reason I am and can be on this journey. 

Sermon on the Mount - Part 3

 I see the Sermon on the Mount as the manifesto of the ministry of Jesus. Not that Jesus is seeking to bring something new, but rather a resetting of God's intention. 

Matthew 5:17,18

(17)“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (18)For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished."

The corruption of God's intention for relationship with man started in the Garden when Adam and Eve partook of the fruit, and it has not stopped since. It certainly did not stop with the advent of the Gospel. From the book of Acts on, much of the New Testament deals with correcting issues of  corruption of the Gospel. It did not take long for the sinful ways of man to enter into the church. Even as early as the book of Acts, we see issues such as Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) and Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8:18-24). In Corinthians we find sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5:1,2). In Galatians we have the preaching of a different gospel (Galatians 1:6). The list goes on.

Yet I get the feeling that many believe that finally, 2,000 plus years later, we finally have it figured out. Well, at least our denomination does. (That's sarcasm by the way)

Matthew 5:3

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Why these words? Or perhaps more importantly, what is being mourned? Who or what has died? 

Romans 6:1,2  What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Does the mourning that Jesus is speaking of here have anything to do with our own death? Not our physical death, but the death of our old self, the putting away of our past way of life and now walking in newness of life? Some might argue, why would we mourn the death of our old self? But I believe it is healthy to do that. We should see the destructive force of that old way of living, and all of the misery it caused both for ourselves and those we love, and work through the emotions that go with that that we might be set free from a return to that life. (Matthew 12:43-45)

Again, I am reminded of the 12 Steps of AA:

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character

Do you see a mourning process here, because I do. First, we take an honest look at our past way of life. Then we admit where we were wrong and how it played out in our actions. We see the path and toll of destruction we have forged. Next, we lay that old self on the altar before God, closing the casket and sealing it up. If that isn't a reason to be mourning, what is? So now, being at rock bottom, gasping for breath, mourning over the death of our own past, we are finally ready to go to God and ask Him to bury that person. Step 7:

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

You don't have to know the steps to go through the process. Maybe you didn't write out an inventory, or share it with another, but did you not see the destruction? Do you not see your need for a Savior?

Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to finding a treasure in a field. (Matthew 13:44) Once found, the man saw the value of the treasure, and sold all that he had to possess it. Did this man mourn over some of what he had to lose in order to gain that treasure? I would imagine he did. It is difficult for me to think about selling ALL I own to possess anything. All my tools? All my Legos? All my trinkets and family memories? I might do it, but I would definitely miss some of those things. That is what the man in the parable did, he sold ALL he had because he saw the greater value in possessing the treasure. He mourned the loss of his present possessions, but the value of what he would now possess is where he found comfort.

Jesus talks about dying to ourselves often. He tells us to pick up our cross and follow Him. Is this not an invitation to our own death? What more powerful image could He have chosen that to tell us to pick up our cross? Did some picture the times they had seen men on the side of the road who were on Roman crosses? This was not an uncommon sight. Jesus did this, I believe, knowing that He would have to perform this very act Himself! When you pick up your cross, it is only for one reason, to carry it to the place of your crucifixion. Think about that. Can you imagine the thoughts running through your head as you walk down the street toward the pain and suffering that you know lies ahead? Would you not be mourning your own death? 

Jesus tells us to love everyone and pray for those who persecute us. Do you not have to die to yourself to perform such an act? Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" My thought is, how can you truly love even those who persecute you, and pray for them, if you have not first died to yourself that you might live for Christ? And why would you choose to do such a thing unless you see the beauty and value of who Christ is and what it is he offers? 

Don't many preach a different gospel today? Have we not watered down and emasculated the gospel message when we say that salvation is simply a matter of belief (head knowledge) that Jesus is Lord, and that accepting His as Savior simply means praying a prayer or even being baptized in His name? If we have not recognized the death that we must die, and what the newness of life is that we must now live in, and mourned that death, if we have not laid aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, (Hebrews 12:1), if we have do not believe that there is no treasure greater than the salvation found only in Jesus, should we really call ourselves saved? 

Edited 2/3/2022

Sermon on the Mount - Part 2

 Matthew 5:1

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

Interesting tidbit found in this verse. It mentions that Jesus sat down. This is significant, because I understand that Jews stood to read Scripture, but when giving instruction if they stood, it was seen as informal. For formal teaching, they sat. This would seem to be in line with the idea that Jesus is giving this first recorded sermon as a manifesto, or at least as a formal instruction into what He believes to be of great importance.

Matthew 5:2-3

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Looking at the big picture, I see this as Jesus setting the foundation for His earthly ministry. This stuff in important. And His audience can be divided into two parts, depending on your point of view. Jewish leaders and common Jews, or sheep and wolves. 

So what is He saying in the very first words of this message? A closer look at the words. Blessed  (can also mean happy) are the poor (as in a beggar, but also can be used to indicate distress) in spirit (as in an angel, demon, or God. Also can mean a breath of air or one's mental disposition). So in a sense, He is saying, blessed are those who are gasping for air, blessed are those who are in a place of deep distress and discomfort, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Why would He say something like that? I look to His audience and their mindset. The Jews looked to their leaders as the ultimate example of piety. Don't we do that too? If not, can someone please explain to me why many in leadership (celebrity preachers) live in mansions, have private jets, expensive clothes, etc., and we continue to send them money to fund these projects? Do we not also take their words as truth, with little or no regard for what the Bible says? Of course, there is a reason for this. Perhaps because we do not spend enough time studying our own Bibles and praying ourselves. Some might say, "But isn't all of that success and those possessions proof of God's blessing on them?" I think Jesus would say no, that real blessing and happiness comes from God alone, and unless you know what it means to be dependent on Him, you might never find it. (Matt 19:22-23) I believe that the common believers of today are not really that much different than the sheep in Jesus's time. So for whatever reason Jesus is saying this, it still applies very much today.

Jesus did not come for the righteous. (Romans 3:10; Luke 19:10). He came to seek and save the lost, the poor in spirit, the beggars for breath. And He did not come to give us material or physical blessing, He came to set us free. (John 8:31-36; Heb 13:5-6) I think of the first 3 steps of AA:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

AA does not have the power to save you from your sins. Neither does working the 12 Steps. But if your sin drives you to your knees, perhaps because you are gasping for breath and don't know where else to turn, it might just give you the clarity to turn to the one who can.

Jesus did not come to claim the righteous. He came to claim His own though His righteousness. He came to claim the poor in spirit. The broken. Much like the tax collector in Luke 18:13, who was so ashamed of his sin that he could not even lift his eyes to heaven as he pleaded for God's mercy. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Edited 2/3/2022