storiesofvalue

Of course, the possibility exists He is already trying to teach me these things and I am yet too dense to see them.  Either way I am incomplete and need to pursue the poverty of spirit to come to greater knowledge…

The most obvious obstacle to this knowledge is our human will.  In the beginning there was nothing inherently evil about the will, but when Adam and Eve fell under Satan’s influence and rebelled against God, everything changed.  The drives put in us for our own survival and sense of satisfaction were corrupted by selfish ambition and bitter envy.  Our way was no longer His way, and to this day mankind continues to pursue darkness and death over light and life.

Proof of this stubborn bent toward rebellion can be seen in our blatant disobedience of God’s expressed will.  While finding God’s specific will for our lives is important, it does no good to arrive at our perceived destiny if we lack the character necessary to take possession.  For this reason, the first step in understanding God’s will is to keep His commandments.  Jesus shared this principle in His words to His disciples, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15).  Our motivation for living within God’s will should be to please Him, not ourselves, and if our hearts are truly in the right place we will begin by doing the things we already know to do.

Do you see how the poor in spirit are better equipped to grasp God’s kingdom plans?  They crucify their sins daily through unwavering obedience, and as they are transformed either God becomes more specific in His leading, they become more aware of His purposes, or both.  God isn’t going to unleash anyone for big things if they can’t be trusted in the small things.  He would be foolish to give a rebel the keys to His kingdom, and since God can’t be fooled, this scenario simply isn’t going to happen.

Some will rebel along the way, and there will be deceivers who pretend to be called, but God doesn’t employ disobedience servants.  Even Jonah, who hated the people of Nineveh, plucked them from the fire of destruction by obeying God’s command to warn them through preaching.  First he sailed the other way, but ultimately he was swayed back to His task by His Lord’s stern hand.  Obedience and great spiritual tasks go hand-in-hand.

Dear Morning Devotion Group: I apologize for last week’s absence.  I was involved in a busy week of Vacation Bible School and was unable to find the time to write.  We pick up where we left off with the second of a two-fold focus for those seeking the poverty of spirit…Larry

Understanding God’s Will 

I use “understanding” as a verb, suggesting we are involved in a process that will not be completed in this life.  It is possible to come to a limited understanding of God’s will in the noun sense, as long as we realize our vision will always be impaired by sin and human weakness.  This is another one of the realities that calls us to spiritual poverty.

Have you ever considered the fact God may not want us to understand His full will, at least all at once?  We are normally so determined to discover what He wants us to do, such an idea seems unfathomable.  Why would a God who painstakingly revealed truth to us through His Holy Spirit choose to withhold anything?  And yet, we sense a definite frustration in His writers as they strive to remain devoted in the midst of circumstances that lack clarity.  In the Psalms we read, “Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1) And again, “Why do you hide your face and forget our misery and oppression?” (Psalm 44:24)  In his first letter to the Corinthians the Apostle Paul shared his future hope of a visit, but stopped short of any promises: “I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits” (1 Corinthians 16:7).

We can only imagine how Abraham felt when God asked Him to sacrifice Isaac on the mountain.  God didn’t tell Abraham He was sending him to the mountain to test His trustworthiness.  He just told him to go and offer his only son on an altar.  Abraham went understanding (verb), but not really understanding (noun).

In my relationship with my earthly father there were many things I did understand.  I knew I was expected to do my homework, clean my room, mow the grass, take out the trash, and shoot an intruder with my 20-gauge shotgun that I kept under the bed.  Alright, so the shotgun thing was a little weird, especially since I was thirteen at the time.  But most everything else was similar to the tasks all of my friends were asked to perform.  From time-to-time my father also shared higher ideals and dreams for my life.  He wanted me to love the Lord and serve him.  He would say, “I don’t care what you do for a living as long as you find a way to please God.”

But there were also the unstated things.  I know from conversations I had with my father before his death he wanted me to find the place God had prepared for me.  I don’t mean to suggest there was only one place, but I came to realize my father was much more aware of the way God had wired me than first imagined.  He may not have known where I would end up, or even what God would do through me, but he had some definite notions of what might work best.  My father would have wasted his time had he tried to explain this to me when I was a young man.  He knew some understandings take time, and must be acquired through personal struggles.

If it was this way with my earthly father, then how much more must it be so with my Heavenly Father.  He has revealed portions of His will to me in scripture and helped me discern other aspects of His plan for my life, but is waiting until I have matured in my journey to show me many other things.  Of course, the possibility exists He is already trying to teach me these things and I am yet too dense to see them.  Either way I am incomplete and need to pursue the poverty of spirit to come to greater knowledge.

This is the point at which we break some of the unfortunate stereotypes associated with the poor spirited.  They are not emotionally impoverished or stoic, mindless automatons.  Instead, they are zealous for the kingdom and often offer their last ounce of devotion for the One who gave His life for them.  Though David saw the Messiah through a dim mirror, he shared the perspective of New Testament worshippers when he wrote, “For zeal for your house consumes me”! (Psalm 69:9).

As followers of Jesus, this should be our ideal.  But we should never define zeal as an undisciplined crusade.  We must remember this is not our kingdom, or our battle.  Indeed, the battle belongs to the Lord, and as long as He reigns in our lives our highest goal is to obey Him in everything.

Perhaps it has already occurred to you how important the filtering of our sinful self is to our deeper passion for God.  The impurities indoctrinated into our former self by the Deceiver are gradually removed and our true self emerges.  This self, poor in spirit, offers its full allegiance to the King.

Once this process begins, our development as ambassadors of the kingdom flourishes.  We can’t help but be more effective in our witness in a world that craves authenticity and loathes rote religious practice.  Practice alone can create a false passion that places more attention on spiritual jargon and activity.  Real passion is first humble, then fully subservient to God’s kingdom agenda.

From yesterday…”Two areas of concentration will help us stay this course: growing in our passion for God and understanding His plan for us.  As a growing dynamic, these two pursuits bring us to a place of spiritual poverty and put us in line for kingdom blessings.”

Our Passion for God   

When we hear the word “passion” we think of intense emotions that drive us to give our whole being to a person, thing or cause.  I passionately love my wife.  My wife and I are passionate about our children.  Our whole family is passionate about the work of the kingdom of God, and each member has found a way to be a useful spiritual citizen.

But emotional drive alone doesn’t fully capture the meaning of passion.  The Latin root of the word means “to suffer or endure.”  Does this mean when we are passionate about others we are really just willing to endure them?  No.  Instead it suggests our love is so deep we will do anything for them, even if it involves dying.

This is why Jesus’ death on the cross is referred to as His passion.  He completely poured Himself out for our salvation.  He loved us with His heart, but He showed us His love with his body and blood.  Passion involves the whole person, given in complete surrender.  The Apostle Paul described Jesus’ attitude this way: “Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:6-7).

The poor in spirit are those who have surrendered to the Father in humble servitude.  With Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane they cry out, “Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36).  Their old rebellious spirit tempts them to live for themselves, but the cross compels them to give up self and live as slaves.  They are indentured to grace, and though free to leave cannot imagine life without their Master.

God’s kingdom is unlike any on earth.  Where else do we find a perfect Ruler who is willing to give His very best to every citizen, including those outside the city walls who curse His holy name?  What other kingdom rewards its leaders by demanding greater service to the least of all?  When believers stand before Jesus on the last day, they won’t be singled out for their achievements.  Instead they will be covered by the grace their Savior won for them at Calvary, and He will honor them for their willingness to be used for His glory.

Together with the Apostle Paul, we no longer live for ourselves.  The Lord has redeemed us for a holy purpose and therefore we struggle daily against spiritual lethargy, lest we return to our old ways.

Our preoccupation with the sinful self takes many forms.  The words “selfish”, “self-centered”, “self-absorbed”, “self-indulgent”, and “self-righteous” each describe a different way of living out the same rebellious attitude toward God.  We all battle these demons since it is difficult to completely discard the dead carcasses of our former beings.  In some unfortunate cases Satan might even gain a significant foothold in our hearts and rekindle our spirits of disobedience.

This is why the filtering process must never stop.  We must take up the cross of Christ “daily” and guard against anything that threatens our ability to sense God’s leading.  Two areas of concentration will help us stay this course: our passion for God and understanding His plan for us.  As a growing dynamic, these two pursuits bring us to a place of spiritual poverty and put us in line for kingdom blessings.

Filtering out Self 

We must never lose ourselves.  Jesus’ first disciples were undeniably independent and although they needed to learn humility and obedience, they were never asked to relinquish their identity.  On the contrary, Jesus drew on Peter, Andrew, James and John’s experiences as commercial fishermen when He said he would make them “fishers of men.”  When Matthew traded his tax tables for the kingdom, he invited his tax-collection buddies, some other town sinners and Jesus to a feast.  Matthew had no intention of hiding his future from his friends, or his past from his Savior.  He knew who he was and who he hoped to be.

It is true, in order to follow Jesus, we must crucify self.  The Apostle Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).  Yet, Paul wasn’t suggesting some sort of mindless emptying of personhood.  Instead, he was describing a transformation to a new kind of self.  In fact, this new self is really the old self, as we all were before our hearts were tainted by sin.  One might even say Jesus came to die for our sins so we could be ourselves again.  Just as we were created in the image of God, our new life in Jesus restores the “image of the Creator” in us (Colossians 3:10).

This means, when Jesus said “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”, we can be certain He wasn’t asking us to dissolve our membership in the human race.  Nor was He necessarily expecting us to put away our passions and dreams.  He was, however, inviting us to reorder our lives; to think and act from a different perspective.  The cross would become our new reference point and His grace our new environment.

We must see the Beatitudes as a spiritual filter through which our whole being passes.  Each phrase has the ability to cleanse our human hearts and bring both the kingdoms of God and of this world into clearer focus.  As our heart is made pure, so is our vision of Christ and His vision for the lost.

While this process of becoming better conduits for the 100% Jesus may sound simplistic, the actual experience is not.  The Apostle Paul was concerned about the spiritual development of the Galatian Christians and addressed them with these words: “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19).  Did you catch that?  Watching others go through the painful struggle of discipleship is like giving birth.  The same can be said for the disciple’s own experience.  Granted, Paul could not claim first-hand knowledge of the birth process, but he had seen enough to know this was an appropriate metaphor to describe how the Holy Spirit orchestrates our transformation.

It is time now to begin pouring our hearts and minds through the strainer.  As we do, we must be careful not to focus too much on ourselves.  I realize this may feel counterintuitive since we must examine ourselves in order to evaluate our progress.  Yet, our purpose for this struggle cannot be self-centered, lest we become like the Pharisees who strained out the gnat and swallowed the camel.  Our desire should be to see Christ more clearly, to understand the kingdom more perfectly, and to kindle our passion for lost souls.  In fact, the more Jesus is found in us, the more naturally these things will occur.  It is impossible to grow in our Savior’s grace and not be affected by His kingdom vision and His compassion for the lost.

Join with me now as we take hold of Christ’s first Beatitude and attempt to embrace it fully.  I must offer this warning to which I have already alluded: blessings sometimes involve pain and sacrifice.  They require us to give us what we don’t need to possess what we must have.  But I promise you the joy will be worth the pain.

Three Things to Keep in Mind

The filters through which we view anything biblical will impact how we apply truth to our lives.  This doesn’t mean truth changes, but rather that the way we perceive it is multi-faceted.

When I was a young boy, my grandfather and I frequently fished in a large pond that belonged to our cousin.  We had been there so many times we had a mental map of every underwater ledge, drop off and tree limb.  We knew where the water was shallow or deep, and where we were most likely to get “hung up”.  Every trip made us wiser.

But we were still guessing.  Trial and error taught us many things, but the world where the fish lived remained very much a mystery.  One day, for reasons no one was ever able to determine, a large dam at the end of the pond developed a catastrophic leak.  Within hours all but a small two-foot puddle full of fish was left.  Several fish passed through the leak and ended up in a nearby creek.  Some just disappeared into an underground abyss.

That evening my grandfather and I stood on a hill overlooking the pond in shock.  It was like a death in the family.  But the sight was also very revealing.  For the first time we were able to see the terrain of the pond as it really was.  There were old rusty chairs, tree stumps, and a tire or two.  We were most surprised to discover a fence, still intact, stretching across the bottom of the pond.  Suddenly so many things made sense.  The fence, still covered with fishing lures, hooks and monofilament line, was our mystery revealed.

One day, all of God’s truth will be crystal clear, but now we must do our best to examine it from as many angles as possible to overcome the limitations of human vision.  As we move into the Beatitudes, we must view it through: 1) the 100% pure Jesus, who is transforming us through the presence of His Spirit, 2) the kingdom of God, which is expanding on earth, even as it is challenged by the Prince of Darkness, and 3) the tragedy of those living in darkness who will be eternally lost if they don’t find Jesus.

Remember, the church is the kingdom, but the kingdom is more than the church.  God reigns in heaven and on earth, and He will be victorious.  As you spend time with each Beatitude ask yourself how it can make you a better conduit for Jesus, where you can apply His grace, and who God might have brought into your life for just this purpose.  The Beatitudes are more than commands with a promise.  They are the truth of God, cutting to our inner core, and carving out the image of Jesus.  In the end, all that really matters is that He is seen in us.

Why Beatitudes?

We are ready now to move forward with our study of the Beatitudes.  Our goal is to grasp Jesus’ kingdom vision of the people we should be, that we might live organically or naturally.  When we do this there is no need to be consumed by other’s perceptions.  Our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees so we become conduits for the purest representation of Jesus possible.  He doesn’t need us to be perfect.  In fact, as the Apostle Paul reminds us, His strength is seen in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).  But He does need us to be honest, and to pour ourselves out in humble submission for the sake of the lost.

The Beatitudes are a kingdom reality check.  I am convinced Jesus’ words made His disciples’ heads spin as they tried to understand how they could possibly live out these ideals in their daily lives.  They are the proverbial “shot over the bow” for every Christ-follower.  It is ironic that something promising so much happiness should also require fearful obedience.

We must accept the fact kingdom blessings are serious business.  In our culture we are led to believe joy should be easy and free of pain.  It shouldn’t require commitment and sacrifice.  Perhaps this is why the joy people seek never lasts.

Take courage!  You are about to be blessed!  I promise you any temporary discomfort you feel will be worth the journey.  It may take a while for you to fully disembark the train of spiritual industrialization.  Our goal is still to win the world for Jesus, and to make more disciples with great urgency.  But I believe you will feel better about the mission as Jesus takes His rightful place.  He is the 100% Jesus.  To the extent His perfection finds its way through our tainted lives, we will touch our world with His grace.

The Sermon’s Key Points

It is difficult to summarize the Sermon on the Mount in short form, since it can be viewed from so many different perspectives.  But if we focus on one subject, the disciple, it is possible to be a little more specific.

The first section of the sermon describes kingdom citizens (Matthew 5:3-16).  The Beatitudes, which we will examine in greater detail later, are included in this portion.  In the Beatitudes Jesus paints a beautiful picture of the believer’s heart as it is transformed into His image.  He continues by highlighting our relationship to the world, calling us “salt” and “light”, and encourages us to maintain our salty and visible for the sake of those who need to find God.

Section two builds on Old Testament Law and helps define kingdom righteousness (Matthew 5:17-7:12) for its citizens.  The Pharisees practiced a misguided form of righteousness that presumed they were capable of satisfying the Law with good works.  They may have been theoretically accurate, but the fact no one seemed to be able to keep the Law perfectly rendered their approach irrelevant.  Jesus came to fulfill the Law by paying the penalty for our sins on the cross, and in His Sermon on the Mount He reminded His listeners that true righteousness was a matter of the heart.  There is no spiritual virtue in doing the right thing for the wrong reason.  Kingdom righteousness is rooted in a sincere conscience toward God and our acceptance of the grace He offers through His Son Jesus.

The third section is both an encouragement and a warning to correctly discern kingdom truth from falsehood (Matthew 7:17-7:27).  There have always been false teachers who mislead kingdom citizens.  Jesus wanted His followers to evaluate the firmness of their spiritual foundation and the motives of those who lead them.  The best building blocks for kingdom life were the Lord’s own words and the willingness of His disciples to put them into action.

There are other themes within these broad divisions, but it is clear Jesus’ sermon was a kingdom constitution for all who would come after Him.  As you ponder this outline, it is possible you are already connecting some dots between this important section of scripture and other examples of Jesus’ ministry and teaching.  Like detectives uncovering a mystery we are led to exclaim, “Eureka!  It all fits.”  Indeed it does if we view it through the kingdom window.