New Thoughts (11/4/05-11/12/05)
Before exploring what Jesus says in this discourse, I want to take a moment to consider the setting in which He spoke. In my mind’s eye, and in the popular depictions of the scene, It seems that Jesus is surrounded by crowds as He speaks this message. One has the image of Him speaking rather loudly so as to be heard over the noise of the multitude. Yet, both Matthew and Luke tell us that these things were spoken not to the crowds but to His disciples. Matthew in particular says that Jesus had gone up the mountain because of the crowds. In other words, He was seeking a place with at least a little more privacy, but His disciples came up to Him shortly after He had gone up. If we back up just a bit in Luke’s account, he tells us that this had been a day of powerful ministry. Jesus had been healing all who came to Him, and there were great crowds who did so. I can easily imagine that the crowds grew with time, rather than diminishing. As more people were healed, more who needed healing were attracted.
It strikes me that Jesus was tired. It was a physically and emotionally demanding ministry to labor amidst so much need. Compassion, the trademark of godly love, is draining. To be the force of love when all around is sorrow and suffering takes a toll. The first lesson that we have from our Lord is that we must take time to get away from active ministry, time to seek out the source of our strength. If we do not step away and find time for intimate communion with God, we will soon be unfit to minister in His name for we will find we are physically unprepared for the effort. Certainly, God provides the strength and the ability for whatever task He may call us to, but along with availing ourselves of His provision we must also avail ourselves of His wisdom and His ways. What science would call the law of conservation applies here. If we seek to expend power to a degree greater than our intake, we must exhaust our supply. Times of recharging must be prevalent in our ministry or our ministry will soon devolve to a ministry of the flesh alone.
With that in mind, the grace of our Lord comes across more strongly in this discourse, for He has gone apart to be alone with the Father, to recharge, but His disciples do not really understand this need. So, they have come to Him out of their own need, requiring of Him another outlay of godliness. Only our Jesus could so avail Himself of God’s grace that He could, in this instance, give out even as He took in. But, He has given to us to do as He did and, according His own words, greater things still. If He showed that He could recharge while still ministering, I must accept that this is possible for us as well. Yet, I would note that the example He sets makes a bit of a distinction in what sort of outlay can be managed in this fashion. The nature of His ministry had moved away from active compassion for a people largely lost and in the dark, and into an effort of impartation to a people already drawn to the Light.
It is a distinction worth noting. If we can go through a period of compassionate outreach ministry without feeling in some degree the pain of those to whom we minister, then I suspect we are unfit for such ministry. How can you expect to face the pain and sorrow of such great need and not feel it? This is what demands recharge. The soul must have its connection with the reason for its great hope on a regular basis, else it will begin to feel instead the hopelessness of need by which it is surrounded. It is an environmental effect, and we need to be aware of it. If we are forever surrounded by an environment of hopelessness and unbelief, it is from this environment that our spirit must attempt to sustain itself. It cannot be done. In such an environment the spirit of faith is giving out of itself into its surroundings.
Let me go back to the image Jesus gave us in Samaria, that of a well within us wherein rise up the waters of life. At the outset of ministry, these waters surely overflow the lip of the well, and it is because of this overflow that we can minister effectively to those around us. They partake of the overflow, but the well within is recharged and can easily provide. Over the course of ministry, though, the demand upon that well increases. We all know what happens to a well when the demand upon it exceeds the rate at which the springs at its source can replenish it. Either we must ration the outflow or the well will soon cease to supply our need. It is not that the well within has dried up, it is simply not able to handle the flow needed to deal with so great a demand. We might say that the flesh is incapable of handling such a great flow of power as would be necessary to constantly minister in the degree that such a situation requires. The well must have its time of rest, so that the flow from our Source can refill it without bursting its walls.
Now, Jesus had gone to be apart for just such a reason, but the disciples came to Him. He did not send them away, citing His need to be alone for a spell. No, He simply took the opportunity to teach them about the Father who was even then recharging His wellspring. But, I must note that the situation has changed with the setting. Jesus, rather than being surrounded by a dry and thirsty land in need of every drop of water that can be drained from His well, is instead surrounded by other wells. Each of these men around Him now has tasted of the Water of Life, has drunk of that cup which the Samaritan woman drank from. They, each one of them, represent another well, another place in which the waters are bubbling up and overflowing. In ministering to these, that great outlay of power that had been necessary on the plains is no longer needed. He can indeed minister to their discipline and still be recharged, for He now ministers to a well watered land.
How shall I apply this lesson? Well, as I have already said, one thing that is clear is that we cannot and should not attempt to sustain a constant ministry of active compassion. Neither can we completely abandon such ministry, for it is the hallmark of the God we serve. On the other hand, we ought not to feel that times of fellowship are a drain like unto that ministry. If we do find fellowship, teaching and learning to be such a drain, is it not a sign that something is wrong? Either there is a blockage in the flow from His springs to our own well, or those with whom we fellowship have no real well of their own. I suggest that we must first and foremost look to our own well. If fellowship is a drain, if teaching has become a chore rather than a joy, if service within the house of God and the family of God has become a burden, it’s time to clean out the channels between His springs and our wells.
Along side this, I would add a cautionary statement. Though we minister by the power of God, and though our churches are by and large families of God’s children, we remain creatures of flesh, and the churches in which we serve are managed by our fellow creatures of flesh. What this means is that we can easily find ourselves in a situation where the church itself is seeking more from us than we can supply. It is the natural course of things on this earth. When one considers the typical church situation in which a minority of the membership are willing to actively pursue the majority of the work, it becomes ever more tempting for the leadership to continue calling upon that willing minority to take on more of the work. The hearts of the willing are such that they desire to see the work accomplished, so it becomes very difficult to say no to any request. We must, however, find a way to say no. Here, as Jesus withdraws to the mountains, we are essentially seeing Him do just that. The need on the plains is still great, the work of the ministry still needs to be done, but He has done what He can for the moment. To continue at this point would be to minister flesh alone, and in doing so would be ministering death rather than life.
When the well is running dry, we really have to stop and make an earnest assessment of our situation. Again, I note the two possibilities. Either we have simply been laboring beyond the point of exhausting our ability to supply, or we have been neglecting that supply. Either we have simply expended everything in the well or we have allowed garbage to block the precious flow that fills the well.
I am put in mind of something I read regarding Jacob’s well. It was noted that while the well still stands to this day, so much rubble has fallen into it that little water can be drawn from it any more. This was a well fed by living water, by a running, underground stream. It was no cistern merely holding whatever runoff it happened to catch. Yet, because it is largely untended, refuse had clogged the flow of that stream until little was to be found in the well any more. Now, the stream hadn’t changed. The springs had not dried up. That little, underground river still flowed with the same force and ability to supply that it flowed with when Jacob dug the well. The problem is not with the supply. The problem is a problem of maintenance.
So it is with us. If we allow our busy lives to keep us from tending to the maintenance of our well, we too will find that the streams of heaven no longer provide as they ought. The problem is not with heaven or with heaven’s God. The problem is with us. If the streams of life do not flow in us as they used to, it is imperative that we wake up and clean out the well before it dries up completely. It is an early warning for us. It is an early warning that we need to take stock of what we have allowed to pile up in our own lives, to see what is blocking the flow and clean it out.
Consider the floods that happened during the recent rains around here. The issue was not that culverts and drainage paths were not sufficient to the flow of water that came due to the rain. The issue was that those culverts and paths had not been maintained. Branches and debris were strewn about the course down which the waters would run, and the waters picked up all in its path and carried it along. Eventually, though, the debris was too big for the passage, and began piling up. Now, notice that the flow of the water did not change. There was just as much water flowing as there would have been without the pile, and it would proceed on its course regardless. All that happened was that the water would now find a different path. It would bypass that point that was blocked and find another way. So it is with the water of life. If we allow local blockages in our own life, due to the junk that we have allowed to collect, the water will not cease to flow. It will not fail of its purpose, for it is the very power of God flowing out. It will, however, bypass us. Floods of life-giving water may be flowing all around us, yet we will remain parched because we have allowed a dam to build up between us and God.
If your flow is running low, this must be your first response. Look to see what has built up between you and God. It’s time for a self-assessment. What have I allowed to creep into my life? What habits, mindsets, activities, what have you, have I been ignoring? In what ways have I been neglecting my part in this matter of sanctification? If I am feeling more distant from my God it is not because He has withdrawn from me, it is because I have been choking off His communications with me. I have allowed the weeds of this life to overwhelm the seed of His Word. It is time to tend to cleanup operations.
God, I cannot escape the fact that You are speaking to me by my own words this morning. I know that feeling. I know that I have felt dry and thirsty of late. I have felt it in these studies, I have felt it in the things I prepare to teach. I have felt such a great desire to be less involved. And, I know I have been ignoring the warnings, allowing the dams to build up rather than cleaning them out. The cares of this life have been too much at the forefront of my thinking, and I have too often been forgetting Whom I serve. I know there is that one thing You want so much for me to let go of, yet I find I am near powerless to do so. Of course I am. It is that very destitution of spirit of which You spoke. It is such a raging battle in me, yet I seem ever to lose when I know I should be dwelling in Your victory. What is wrong, Father? There is so much in me that wants to cast off those shackles and yet there is so much that refuses to be freed. How can this be? Oh, God! Bring me the strength to do what must be done to put an end to this struggle once for all. It is for this very reason You came, for this that You died, that I might know freedom, might cease from bowing down to the enemy of my soul. Free me, sweet Spirit, free me!
I have come so close before, Lord, so close, and yet fallen back into old ways. I fear the tensions and the anger and the attitude that seem to come whenever I try to let go. It seems so wrong to subject my family and my friends to all that junk. Why, Lord, should they suffer for my sins? It isn’t right. It is this, at least in part, the seems to bind me. God, I must have freedom! I must, for I am slowly but surely killing myself, and this, too, can only lead to sorrow and suffering for those You’ve put in my charge. I cannot be free, my God, if You do not free me. I cannot sustain the effort to quit if I do not know Your peace, Your grace, and Your calm there with me every moment. I know You are willing to walk through it with me, yet I fear to take that first step. I fear the failure I’ve known too many times, now. Even this morning I have failed to so much as put up resistance.
Yet, You remain faithful to me. It is too marvelous, Lord. I can’t even pretend to deserve the love You pour out on me. Oh, how great a blessing that You do not abandon me to my choices. Give me courage beyond my own, Lord. Let this be the day that victory comes to the camp! Let this be the day that the waters begin to flow freely once again! Oh, Lord! I’ve seen You clearing out the streams in my daughter, and I rejoice to see it, but I need that same clearing out myself. Forgive my neglect, Holy God, and come once more in fullness and power. Burst through the dams, and let Your river flow fully in my life. Without You, Lord, I can’t do it. I can’t do anything. Restore me to remembering that with You, doing as You ask me to do, I can do all things, for all things are possible in that place that is Your will. I know it. I sing of it. Oh, Lord! Let me live it, let me live it in truth!
Turning to the words Jesus spoke it cannot help but be noticed that in every case He speaks of those who are blessed. Somewhat less obvious is that the reason for their blessed state is largely the same, as well. The reason for the blessed state of a man is always related to his place in the kingdom of heaven, God’s kingdom. It is because of His kingdom and their place in it that they shall be satisfied and comforted. It is because they hold a position as God’s own sons that they know His mercy, that they progress in sanctification, that they find themselves in that day of His coming as ones qualified to see God in His fullness.
So, what does it mean to be blessed? For many today this term has become diluted and distorted. When we think of those who are blessed, we tend to think in terms of what they have been blessed with, their endowments and talents. Yet, when I go to Webster’s dictionary, that definition that we think most common is actually the least native meaning of the word. Indeed, looking at the derivation, it is found to come from an Old English word for blood, modified to reference the blood of consecration. In other words, it speaks of things consecrated and set apart for God’s use – sanctified. It speaks of those under divine care, and approved by Him. Now, if I turn my attention to the underlying Greek of the Gospels, I find a word that indicates one having characteristics of deity. What does that mean? It means simply that in some fashion they reflect the essential nature of God Himself. How could He not approve that which is serving its intended function of bearing His image?
That Greek word also identifies the one addressed as being such a one as is fully satisfied, but satisfied for a very particular reason. He is not satisfied because God has provided him with all manner of material wealth. He is not satisfied simply because the crops were good this year. He is not satisfied because of his circumstance at all. He is satisfied because he knows God dwells within him. He knows God dwells within him because his own character bears the stamp of God’s character.
Let me put these thoughts together if I can. Throughout this first section, Jesus is describing those whose satisfaction is in the indwelling God whose character they reflect. By that reflection, they show themselves to be truly sanctified, consecrated, ‘under the blood,’ as we would say. Of course, the blood of Jesus had not yet been shed for them as man measures things. But, in God’s perspective, in that place where He resides, outside of the time that He created, the end was known and present from the beginning. He dwells in eternal present. What shall be is, what has been is. The blood of the Son has always covered the children of the Father. Those who are under the blood, sons of God by calling, are indwelt by God and because this is so, the image of God is more manifest in them as life progresses.
With this in mind, we might divide each of Jesus’ statements in half. The first half declares to us a characteristic that gives proof to the indwelling God in that one’s life. The second half gives the reason for their satisfaction, and as I noted before, however that reason is worded, it finds root in the kingdom of God.
So, let me turn to the first halves. Let me take a good long look at these characteristics that God says define the ones who most look like Him. Amazingly, if we look at these as describing God by His character, the leading characteristic, that one which is put at the head of the list is humility. For man, it is declared as being poor in spirit. Granted, Luke leaves that qualifier out, yet I think it must be understood as being present anyway. Now, I can easily understand that man has every reason to be humbled by God’s presence and His active interest. Indeed, I can well sense that total helplessness of spirit, the utter starvation for holiness that is the soul of man apart from God. Where can there be anything but humility and destitution in such a condition? But as an attribute of God, this seems almost shocking. What cause has He for humility? He created everything! Why oughtn’t He boast of the great things He has done? He has every reason to do so. Yet, He does not, and this is most amazing indeed. Oh, there are those occasions when He makes His reality clear, those moments of miraculous intervention in the affairs of mankind. Yet, even these are not so much a matter of bragging on His part as they are reminding man of his true estate. They are less aimed at making God famous as making Him known to those He would reach out to.
We have that adage about not blowing our own horns, which has its place in the wisdom of Scripture. This is a part of that character God loves because it is part of the character that is God’s. He allows others to sing His praises, making Himself known to those He would have to sing.
One other thought about that humility which is uniquely God’s: He, who was God in form as He is God in truth, was willing to take upon Himself the body and life of man, and at that a man of no means, a bond-servant. He was willing to stoop down out of His eternal dwelling place, and reduce His omniscient knowledge to a form understandable to finite man. Knowing that words alone would not convey sufficiently the knowledge He wished to impart, He came in Himself to demonstrate before His children what His children ought to behave like. Yes, and to satisfy all that was needed for man to understand his Maker, the God who came down to man humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the laws that governed man, even when those laws led inevitably to His own death by the most gruesome and degrading of means at man’s disposal (Php 2:7-8). He was willing to become utterly destitute in our seeing, that we might recognize our own destitution and turn to our Satisfaction!
Next, we see that God mourns, for those who mourn reflect His own character. Shall we then think of God as being forever sorrowful? Not at all. We have, after all, the promise that in His kingdom there is no mourning, all tears will be wiped away. Indeed, if I recall the laws governing the feasts that marked the Old Covenant, it was decreed that there should be no mourning. It is not that God prefers mourning, or somehow desires after it. It is that God cannot look upon the fallen state of mankind without mourning for its condition. How He longs to comfort, but they won’t have it (Mt 23:37). Those who share His sorrow over the present state of creation reflect His character in doing so. It is not, then, that mourning is God’s chosen emotion, it is that it reflects His feelings towards all those who dwell in thick darkness still. He is not willing that any should be lost. He takes no pleasure in the punishment that He must dole out to rebel man. He has extended His mercy to the very limit of what Justice can allow, offered clemency and forgiveness, but in their blindness, man continues to prefer the punishment that seems deferred. How can He not mourn to see so many choose destruction?
What shall I say of gentleness? Some would look upon recent events and say that God is not gentle at all, if we are indeed to credit Him with the weather. Yet, if I stop to consider what I deserve, and how He has treated me in light of that, how gentle He has been with me! It goes hand in hand with His mercy. In His mercy towards me, He has been gentle. He has sought to teach me by the gentlest of means in hopes that I would correct my ways with no more prodding than that.
Looking back at that time when He revealed Himself to me, I see that same gentleness displayed. He did not force my acknowledgement of His reality. He did not come demanding my worship. He gently suggested a few thoughts for me to ponder, and unfolded such a sequence of events around me as would convince me of the truth of those thoughts. It was a gentle leading from unbelief to belief, not a forceful demand to bow down.
There will come a time when His essential Lordship must be displayed in such forced acknowledgement of His authority. In that day when every knee bows, not every knee will do so willingly. Yet, the general course of His dealings with man make it clear that this is His least desired option. Just as He has no desire to see men choose an eternal punishment for themselves, He has no desire to force a confession of submission from recalcitrant rebels. But, God is not a man to be ruled by His passions and desires. They are a part of who He is, but they are a part in balance with the whole. His passions are not allowed to overrule His nature. Where His justice demands that His desires be set aside, they shall be set aside. When every avenue of mercy has been explored, when every possible way of satisfying justice without destruction of the sinner has been tried and refused by willful men, then justice must have its day. Until that day, though, gentleness and mercy describe every effort of the Father to rescue His wayward children.
Then we come to purity and an overwhelming desire for righteousness. Clearly, the God we serve is Purity incarnate. In Him is no shadow of turning. In Him is no imperfection, no least propensity for evil or deception. He is the God of Truth, of Purity, and of Righteousness. So righteous is He that He is able to rescue us from our sins by His own righteousness. So righteous is He that we, as we come before Him, are clothed not in some misbegotten righteousness of our own, but in His own righteousness!
I shall not turn yet to the matter of persecution, as we ought to consider once again the meaning of that word ‘blessed’ before we turn there. Blessed: Those who are described by these things have the characteristics of God Himself. No, it is not suggested that they are perfectly alike to Him, nor that they are gods in some sense because they have displayed this trait. It says that they share in His characteristics, seek to emulate His character, and have made His character manifest in their own. However much I may desire righteousness in this life, I shall never desire it so strongly as He does. His desire for righteousness is so great that He cannot so much as abide the presence of sin around Him. His purity is so great that sinfulness must cease where He is. However much I may seek to act in merciful ways, displaying compassion towards those who remain lost and apart from Him, however much I may seek to keep peace between all men, I shall never have labored so hard at that task as has He. His compassion has spent His own lifeblood to bring peace between mankind and Himself. His compassion has endured every insult of man, every wound that man deserved has fallen instead upon Him, and still He seeks that peace. “Father, forgive them…” There is nothing in me that can hope to match that, yet I can seek to approach it with all that is within me, and by doing so, to make Him known to all who are around me.
At the end of this list of ways in which men reflect the character of God comes the issue of persecution. How, I might ask, does one find persecution to reflect God’s nature? In truth, it doesn’t. What it does reflect is how thoroughly we have come to identify ourselves with Him. We have willingly joined Him in His humiliation, taken up that cross which He bore. Does that not fit the description? They will hate you as they hated Him, and for the same reason; because when they see you they can no longer deny their own blood-guiltiness, and so they lash out. They will ostracize you. Jesus, who had walked through their lands for years, was one of them, had healed and helped so many of them, was cast away from them, handed over to the hated Romans, and sentenced at their insistence to a death reserved for the worst criminals. They will cast insults on you. If this were not insult enough in itself, there remained the treatment He would undergo at the hands of the soldiers, and at the hands of the priesthood in His own Temple! In the very place where He ought to have been most worshiped, He suffered insult and humiliation instead. They will say all manner of evil about you, giving false testimony in order to bring you down. This is exactly what they did to the Son of God. They could find nothing about His ministry by which to accuse Him, yet He threatened their comfortable power structure, so He must be done away with. The spiritual leaders of Israel did not want to consider their own bankrupt morals as they must in light of this Jesus, so rather than face themselves they determined to destroy Him from amongst them.
The world will hate you because the world hates Me, and you are Mine. Because you are so clearly not joined to the world’s ways, therefore the world hates you (Jn 15:18-19). The world hates Me because I testify the truth of it, that it is evil in all it does (Jn 7:7). But you should be glad when you suffer as I have suffered, as all the prophets and spokesmen of God have always suffered, for it marks you out as true yourself! Their fathers were always quick with the praises for those who spoke tripe to them and declared it God’s truth. Men will always prefer the comfortable lie to the painful truth. Yes, they will cast you out of their synagogues and think they do God a service. They will wrest the Church away from godly men and make of it a celebration of sin, and in the midst of it they will still claim to be guided by a holy God. Oh! And how they will howl at those who would dare to proclaim a Biblical standard in opposition to their great wisdom! How they seek to dismiss those who insist that Jesus is who He is and not the all-accepting, blind-eyed idolater they wish to worship! How the devils hate it when their cover is blown. These ‘angels of light’ who would twist the Scriptures however they must to excuse their own chosen sins, they want no word of knowledge, they want no traffic with any man who can read the Word of God for himself. No, they will insist that there are deeper things, things that we simply cannot grasp in our untrained condition.
They have become like the priesthood of old! The Reformation fought against the very power of death to bring the Scriptures to men in their own language, knowing that men, if they could but read the Scriptures, would understand them perfectly well. Now, in so many cases, those who received the inheritance of these brave men and women have gone out of their way to convince the common man that he can’t really understand after all. Oh, see you’ve only read the translation. If you could really understand the Greek and the Hebrew, then you’d see that God didn’t really mean that He hated sexual sins when He said that He hated sexual sins. You’d see, I am sure, that He didn’t really claim to be the only way to salvation when He said He was the only way to salvation. He didn’t really mean that there is a place of eternal punishment awaiting those who reject that One Way. Surely, you will not die. How are the new lies any different than that first lie that led to the downfall of mankind? These lying leaders are without an excuse! The know the truth about God, for God makes Himself quite evident to them, even as He does to us (Ro 1:19). They know Him, yet they refuse to honor Him as He is, preferring their own nonsense, and so He has allowed their hearts to be darkened by their stupidity, allowed them to become fools by their own wisdom (Ro 1:21-22).
Oh, my soul, hear, though, the warning that follows: You, too, are without an excuse! Every one of you that judges these men aright, for by that very judgment you condemn yourself, for you do the very same thing (Ro 2:1)! What, Paul? I do not seek pervert the priesthood, do I? Yes, inasmuch as you allow your understanding of God to be shaped by your own opinions, inasmuch as you pick and choose what part of faith and belief you will participate in, in that much have you exchanged the living God for a dumb idol. In that much have you become a slanderer and a hater of God. In every effort you undertake to minimize your own sins, in every effort by which you seek to make your own sins somehow acceptable in God’s sight, you are as guilty as they, for you, too, have chosen to call darkness light and light darkness. You, too, have sought to make God a liar that you might be true yourself. Yes, and to guard your own choices, just like the Pharisees before you, you give hearty approval to all who do as you do, for how could you do otherwise?
Do you see the danger? Every one of us, I suppose, has this sentence read against us. Every one of us has our own little piece of God’s truth that we’d as soon pass over. Every one of us has that place where we’re kind of hoping God has developed a blind spot. But, He hasn’t. He hasn’t, and He continues to work upon us in this process of sanctification by making sure we know He hasn’t. He keeps cajoling, prodding, rasping away at us, working to bring that hidden thing out into the light. Why? Because the light must overwhelm every darkness. As the wound is exposed to sight, it can be treated and it can heal. The sin that we keep hidden is the sin that will surely destroy us. The sin we deny to ourselves will inevitably lead to His own denial of us in that critical moment when we stand before Him. He has told us that no such men will enter the kingdom, yet we convince ourselves He’s talking about somebody else. No! He’s talking to us! Those things were not written to unbelievers but to the faithful. Know this, He cries out! Such as cling to these habits, who insist on maintaining their sins even as they maintain their place in the Church will be cast into the fire. The thin disguise of their attendance record will be of no avail, for they remain fruitless trees, barren fields choked by the briars of their own self-deception.
You, who think yourself free of these problems, look to your walls! You, who writes these words, be aware of yourself! The well is choked with rubble, and yet you are unwilling to remove the rocks that prevent the waters of life from overflowing in your life as they ought. You know it! You’ve been hearing it, for I’ve been speaking to you in every imaginable way. Wake up! Shake off every sinful habit that hinders you. It’s time and past time. Rise up, oh man of God. Rise up, if you truly wish to serve the Living King. Rise up and play the man. Stand against the destructive lies, refuse to accept any substitute for the real and eternal God. The darkness cannot withstand the Light of My Truth, but with your eyes closed tight against My Light, how shall I clear the darkness from your soul? No, I will not leave you. No, I will not forsake you, yet you struggle with Me, wrestle with Me when I would cleanse your wounds. My child, how it hurts. How it strikes at My very heart to know your rejection. Will you not accept My love? Do you know Me so poorly, still, that you do not allow Me to heal you?
How shall I answer You, my God? You know. You know me perfectly. There is nothing I can say in my defense. God! I know, I do know that there are these things that I refuse to do away with in myself. I don’t even understand why, myself, Holy Father. No, I have no desire to hurt You, to bring sorrow to You by my willfulness. And, I know this is what I do, yet I seem powerless to do otherwise. God, it is anguish to me as well, a tormenting thing. Yet, I would be lying to You if I said I wholly and completely wanted to be done with it. Yes, and You would know it to be a lie. How, oh, God, can this be? How can it be that this flesh so overwhelms what heart and mind know better than to do? Oh! Bring such exercise of spirit, Lord, as will strengthen me to play the man, as You call me to do. Resisted unto bloodshed? Hardly, Lord. Strengthen me that I may resist unto victory.
There is that other aspect of the word ‘blessed,’ though, which deserves equal attention. There is that sense in which the one who is blessed is so thoroughly and completely satisfied by God that nothing else really matters very much. It is this inner satisfaction that allows us to undergo the outward difficulties. It is that deep satisfaction that allows us to consider the world around us through His eyes. It is because He is in us that we can manifest Him to those around us. It strikes me that if I look at these things Jesus declares of those who are blessed, in every case I could say that they have the characteristics He mentions because they are blessed, because their knowing God to be resident in their soul has fully satisfied every desire of their heart.
This is the same thing Paul wrote to the Philippians about, and I suspect understanding this to be the case will help to understand better what Jesus was and was not saying here. Paul wrote that he had learned how to ‘get along with humble means.’ Put differently, he had come to a place in his faith where a lack of material comforts really didn’t bother him. He wasn’t going to grumble, complain or fret because he knew that even without these things God was still with him, and God would provide. Along with this, he said he had learned how to ‘live in prosperity.’ If God chose to pour out abundance upon him, he was not about to reject that situation, but neither was he going to allow abundance to distract him from purpose. He had learned a secret, he said; the secret of being full and going hungry, of having abundance and suffering need. And in that secret he had learned, he had found the confident knowledge that because of Him who strengthens him, the indwelling God of heaven and earth, he could do all that God’s purpose required (Php 4:12-13).
Understanding what Paul had learned is so key to our properly parsing what Jesus is telling us as He talks to His disciples. Is He really saying that the rich have no reward in God beyond their current abundance? Clearly not! Paul had known times of material abundance, yet remained an apostle absolutely confident in his reward. We could look to Joseph of Arimathea or Nicodemus the Pharisee. Both of these men were quite wealthy, yet the record of Jesus’ life leaves us with no doubt that they had found for themselves an eternal reward. The key lies in understanding how to handle that abundance without neglecting the God who has poured it out.
Look back into the opening pages of this history of God’s people. From the outset, His promise to Abraham and his descendants included abundance of goods. As He led His people out of Egypt to bring them into that very land of promise, He made clear, though, that in abundance there is a hidden danger. Yet it is God who promises that abundance. Is He then leading us into temptation? No way! Is He giving us something that can only be bad for us? Not a chance! God is good at all times. Even in His wrath He remains good, and we should know without a shadow of doubt that He gives good and perfect gifts to His children. That being the case, the gift of material abundance cannot in itself be evil, or even harmful. The problem is not in the abundance, the problem is in us – fallen men and women who are ever ready to trade away all that really matters for a shiny bauble or two. Here the warning that He gave to those Israelites crossing over from Egypt into the land of milk and honey. “Beware lest you forget the LORD! Beware, for when you have eaten your fill, when you have fine homes to live in and all your goods are multiplied before you, then will your heart become proud if you are not careful. There is danger that in the midst of My provision for you, you will forget Me, the One who took you from abject slavery to this place, who led you and fed you in the wilderness. Beware, lest you fall into thinking that all this great blessing has come to you by your own power and strength! Beware, and remember at all times the LORD your God who gave you the power to prosper because of His own promises to your forebears” (Dt 8:11-18).
This is the issue Jesus is addressing. It is an issue that the prophets before Him had found it necessary to address on numerous occasions. God so desires to bless His people in accord with His promise, but He knows His people, too. He knows that they remain in this weakened state where it is all too easy for them to forget His role in their lives, to neglect Him in the good times. The prophets cried out to the wealthy traders of Israel not because they were wealthy, but because their wealth had led them to forget their purpose. All around them, their brothers were going hungry, in need of basic provisions that God had put into their hands to distribute, but rather than distribute the provision of God, they had horded it for themselves. Think back to the days of manna in the desert. Always, the command was to gather only what was needed for the day. To cling to more than that was to invite rot. You could horde it if you wanted to, but it would be of no use to you, for it would mold and be infested with vermin. God was training His people to deal with abundance.
For the most part, we are still in that training camp. We still find ourselves distracted by abundance. I’ll confess that when I first looked at the end of Luke’s account of this lesson, I was shaken. Woe to the rich, for this is the full extent of your comfort. Am I rich, then? Well, I’m surely not poor, although I can fall into a sinful habit of thinking I am. No, by most people’s standards I’m well off, if not exactly rich. Have I blown it, somehow, then? The question, thanks be to God for making it clear, is not whether I have enough, or even more than enough, it’s how I deal with what I have. It’s a matter of stewardship. Have I learned, like Paul did, to live in prosperity? Have I learned not to let what I have distract me from why I’m here? Have I learned to recognize that whatever I have, it came from my God not from my talent? Have I learned that even should He take it all away, yet I need not fear? I need not fear that He is angry with me, and I need not fear that I will starve for He remains my faithful Provider. In all honesty, that last is a question I find myself asking quite often, and it’s not one I really wish to discover the real answer to. For, I cannot say with absolute certainty that I would face it without fear. In fact, I could probably say with assurance that I would face it with a fair amount of fear, frustration, even anger. Yet, I think I can also say that I would, should the situation come to pass, come to my senses and remember my God who sustains me, who gives me songs in the darkest night.
We could look at those other stark contrasts that Luke gives us and have the same questions regarding our own estate, and just what sort of God it is we serve. Is He really upset with us when we find we’ve had enough to eat? Is it really a stench in His nostrils if we should find ourselves enjoying good company, enjoying the world He has created for us? Of course not! It cannot be! How could He possibly be offended by our pleasure in the very things HE has provided for us! That’s not the issue, just as wealth is not the issue. The issue is that we often allow these fleeting pleasures of the moment to completely blank out our thoughts of God.
In regards to eating, some of the translations will clarify that woe as being towards those who are gluttonous in their habits, who are constantly eating not only their fill, but more besides. Yet, even this, I suspect, is missing the point. The issue is that in pursuing their own gastronomic satisfaction, they have turned a blind eye on the need around them. They would not be caught dead inviting one of those needy neighbors into their dining room to share in their portion. They have completely neglected the message of God. Remember the instructions He gave His people for the harvest. Leave the corners, don’t go nuts trying to make sure you’ve scraped out every last grain from the fields. Leave a bit behind so that those who have no fields to provide for themselves can find their provision in what you have left. He is making the point that what He has given to those who have, He has not given simply for them to keep to themselves, but as a means to provide for His people at large. Just as wealth is not given to His children for them to collect and garner a bigger bankroll, He has not given abundance of goods for us to cram our houses full while allowing our brother or sister to be out on the streets without so much as a blanket.
Wealth and fullness do not offend God. They are, after all, gifts that have come to us from His own hand. What offends Him greatly is our abuse of those gifts. When a father gives his son a baseball bat, he is hardly offended to find his son out playing baseball with it. Indeed, it delights him to see his son delighted in that gift. But, when his son uses that bat to threaten those around him, or to extort their lunch money from them, Dad is no longer happy at all. His son has taken that good gift and turned it to evil purpose. Our neglect in delivering the provisions God has entrusted to us is as evil as if we had gone out and forcibly taken those provisions from the ones we have neglected. Oh! It is theft! It is theft even though we have not gone out and taken from that poor soul anything that he had to hand. It is theft because we have stolen it from God! He didn’t give us that abundance four ourselves, but He entrusted it to us as His servants. Our job, as His servants, is to ensure that the goods He has entrusted to us are distributed to those for whom they are intended. If we instead take all those goods and put them into our own accounts, have we not stolen from Him?
It is as if we had ourselves capped the wellspring of the waters of life within us. He puts that well within that it may bubble up and overflow and spread those living waters to the spiritually needy around us, but when we refuse to give of these things we think are ours, we are reaching over and sealing up that well within us to make sure nobody else drains those waters away. And all the while, because the well is capped, we are becoming dehydrated ourselves. We are killing ourselves with the effort to keep everything to ourselves, and we don’t even realize it.
The same can be said for those who laugh now. It’s not that we laugh, it’s what we laugh at. It becomes an issue when we laugh at the adversity of others. It becomes a sin when we become like the rich man in Jesus’ parable, who completely ignored the situation of the poor on his doorstep. Indeed, he did worse than ignore the poor man, he added to his humiliation. He allowed the condition of those unfortunates of this world to become a source of amusement for himself. Oh, but look to the final state of that rich man, as he pleads for even a sip of water as he dwells in hot torment for eternity.
Finally, there comes that warning against allowing ourselves to be pleased by the praises of man. If all are speaking well of you, it is good to think that you are indeed doing well. Really, just consider the history of man! What sorts of people have they praised in the past, and what has been their opinion of the godly? Well, then, what does their praise of your good self say about you? Does it really suggest that you are a good man? Oh dear!
But, let me correct one common misconception that arises out of this passage. We must be careful to keep in view the reason for persecution, and therefore the reason that men are likely to speak poorly of us. The reason we are given, the only reason, is because of the Son of Man, on account of the Christ. He does not say that we are blessed if we behave like jerks. He does not say blessed are the offensive. No, He calls upon us to be peacemakers, but with the realization that there will be many who have no desire for peace. Such as prefer to antagonize will do so in spite of the most godly display on our part. If, in the face of this, we maintain our focus on the kingdom of God and continue to make His character manifest by our own, then is our calling made clear, then are we the more assured of our heavenly estate.
On the other hand, if we are merely being rude and obnoxious, even as we hold out our Bibles and trinkets, insisting that everybody should come to Jesus, it is not for His sake that we are reviled. It is not, in this case, the message of the Cross that has turned our hearers against us, it is simply that what we are presenting to them by our own demeanor is not the example of godliness, but something else. If we are rejected because we deserve to have been rejected, there is no blessing in that. Bullies for the faith remain bullies, and as such they do not manifest the Father’s character at all.
I have looked in some detail at the character of the blessed. I will turn myself now to the reason for their being blessed. It seems that there’s a strong tendency to view this whole thing backwards. We look upon it as if, should we make ourselves poor and sorrowful, then we shall be blessed and therefore receive the kingdom and its comforts. The truth is it’s completely the other way about. We are blessed because the kingdom and its comforts are already ours by inheritance. It is because of the inheritance we know is ours that we reflect the character of Him whose will has made these things ours.
Are you blessed because you’re sad and completely destitute? No! You are blessed because the kingdom of heaven is your certain destiny. You are blessed because in spite of your present state, you are assured of being comforted in the end. You are blessed because on top of knowing God’s kingdom as your sure heritage, the earth is also to be given you. You are blessed because you have received a calling from the God of heaven and heart. He has given you this inheritance because He has put you in the place of inheritance, having declared you His own son! Notice that in every case, we can trace the cause of blessing back to this one source, our place in the kingdom. If we are to know real comfort, it shall come from our dwelling in His kingdom. If we are to know true righteousness, it will be because we have entered fully into His kingdom which cannot be entered apart from true righteousness. If we are there, have we not received mercy beyond measure? And, because of the righteousness that has come to us by Christ, allowing our entry into His house, we shall see God – truly see God as He truly Is!
It all comes back to the inheritance that is ours in Christ Jesus. In that sense, it comes back to what seems to me to be a key concept from this passage: that we shall be called sons of God. It is not simply that those who know us will think of us that way. Indeed, it is doubtful that many will think of us that way. No, it is the fact that we have been named as sons. We can look at that as a matter of legal adoption. Just as Joseph named Jesus as his legal son, acknowledging His legitimacy insofar as man and law were concerned, so God has declared us His legal sons and heirs. Insofar as the people and the Law of heaven are concerned, we are His children because He has legally acknowledged us as such. Because we are His children and heirs by Law, we know our inheritance in Him is sure. But, it goes even further than this. Yes, such legal declaration has secured for us a hope and a future, but there is something in this for our present as well.
See, He has named us with a calling. That is, after all, what it means to be called. We have been put into a particular vocation, and that vocation is to be understood in the name He has given us. What name is that? It is the name ‘son of God’. It’s as simple as that. We are called to fulfill the job of being His children. In other words, we are called to be like Him, to be like Jesus. We are called to manifest all these character traits that Jesus has just enumerated, because these are the character traits that reflect the Father’s own. As His children, we are called to do as He does, to feel as He feels, to care as He cares. Unlike our earthly fathers, He does not have us do as He says rather than as He does. No, He tells us, “Do as I AM”.
The sons of God dare not present their Father as some antagonistic warrior. That mistake has been made too many times already. One wonders how the Church could have arrived at the idea that either the Crusades or the Inquisition were an appropriate means of spreading faith. If I look at what Jesus has said of the sons of God – that by their calling they shall be peacemakers – and combine this with what is said in Hebrews, I find no proper place for a militant, violent church. Seek peace with all men, say the author (Heb 12:14). He is not restricting this to peace within the family of the Church. That really ought to be a given, although in practice we know it is not always the reality. No, he is writing of our relationship to that world we remain in, though not as part. Wow! If I consider the things that early church was facing: Jewish persecution and threats, Roman torture and abuse, attacked on every side; and the command of God to His children in such dire straits is to seek peace with all, even those attackers. If, by your gentle example, you succeed in bringing them to faith then rejoice! You have gained a brother. But, if your example and your explanations do not suffice, you are in no wise to revile such a one. Even as you pursue John’s harsh advice regarding false teachers, you are not to refuse them fellowship at the point of a sword. No, with all men, insofar as it lies within your power, maintain peace.
This does not outlaw self-defense, or the defense of the Faith. What it does do, along with the description of our character that requires we be gentle with those unbelievers about us, since we know we’ll have the earth in the end anyway, is define the rules of engagement. By all means, engage the culture! By all means engage all those competing world views, but not in anger, not with violence. Rather, look to the example of the apostles. Paul did not come to down and shout down the philosophers. He did not go out destroying the temples of the pagans. He simply came and spoke Truth to those who would listen. He would minister to any and all who were willing to lend an ear to what he had to say, but he would force a hearing on no man. Any idea of forced confession, of convert or die, was so beyond the pale to the thinking of the Christian as to be reviled. I cannot imagine any of the believers of that first century or so even connecting the acts of the Crusades with their own faith. Such a militaristic, political religiosity would have been unimaginable to those who had faced the scorn of Rome and preferred death to impurity. Oh, how that victory over Rome destroyed the Church. Even today, the damage done by that victory reverberate. In our day, it is perhaps even worse, for the Church is no longer meek and peaceable, it is somnolent and lazy. It is so permeated by the world it was to stay out of that it can no longer distinguish between faithful and faithless. They act the same, think the same, and sin the same.
The Church, it seems, has sought peace with all men, but neglected the second half of that command: Simultaneously with this pursuit of peaceful coexistence, seek sanctification. In other words, we are denied the option of selling out righteous behavior in the name of peace. We are denied the option of adopting the ways of the heathens that surround us in order to preserve peace with them. For, by accepting this antipathetic world view as our guide, we have denied God’s right to explain His world. We have joined the heathen in exchanging His Truth for a lie. We have abandoned the very righteousness He imparted to us, and left off sanctification as even a slight concern. The warning contained in that verse is one we ought to hear proclaimed loudly and clearly from every pulpit in the land today: “Without that sanctification, you aren’t going to see the Lord” (Heb 12:14). There are leaders in the Church today who ought to be quaking at the thought that this verse is true. There are congregations, indeed entire denominations that have bent over and away from God to such great degree in their pursuit of worldly acceptance that this verse is pretty much their epitaph. Here lies so and so. Throughout his life he pursued religion without sanctification. He has not seen the Lord.
That call is not for perfection, but for at least giving our all to the attempt! The testimony of Scripture is quite clear in that regard. Consider John’s words to the Church. Even though we are not yet what we should be and will be, still we are God’s children right now! Yes, and we know that when He appears, then we will be complete – just like Him in every way, for in that moment of His appearance we will finally see Him in His fullness, as He truly is (1Jn 3:2). Don’t you see it? Yes, we are God’s children, and for that reason we are peacemakers, seeking to bring peace between Dad and His wayward creation. Does that mean we must never know a moment of frustration? I think not. We are not yet as we shall certainly be in our perfected end. We are not yet in position to see Him in His fullness, for there remains the sinful flesh in us. While it is no longer dominant, it remains, and it breaks out in rebellion every now and then.
If there remains any difficulty with understanding that our present reflects neither our past nor our future perfectly, consider Peter. Here was an apostle, appointed by Christ Jesus Himself, and thanks be to God that he was chosen. For, in his example, we should find clear confirmation that we, too, are accepted in Christ in spite of our failings. Peter had walked with Jesus, had declared himself as steadfast as the name Jesus had given him. Yet, in the moment of crisis, he had turned, had denied everything, and run away. There had come a point where things had gone beyond what he could stand up to. We all know, however, that Jesus came back with a special message for Peter. Above and beyond the joyous news of His return, the incredible revelation that death could not hold Him, there was a special concern for fallen Peter. Tell him, Mary. Go tell Peter that I’m back. Not only was Peter accepted back, he was given visions from heaven to guide the course of the nascent Church. He was blessed with the revelation that this Gospel and its Christ were for the world, and not just tiny Israel. He was blessed to stand witness to the first of these converts from amongst the Gentiles, and carrying report back to Jerusalem, he could say with confidence that God is impartial. God, he declared, welcomes every man that honors Him (Ac 10:34-35).
Notice what he didn’t say. He didn’t say God welcomes every man that keeps His Law in absolute perfection. He didn’t say God welcomes every man who completely abandons his past sins and never, ever falls short again. No! God welcomes those who honor Him. They honor Him by acknowledging Him for all that He is – God, Creator, King, Provider, Father, Lord. They honor Him by giving Him the first place in their thoughts and actions. They will make mistakes. They will still fall short on occasion, but they will be quick in acknowledging their wrong and coming to Him for forgiveness. More than anything, they honor Him by making nothing of their own abilities. They walk humbly before Him, as He has commanded, knowing that whatever good thing they may accomplish has come about by His hand upon their lives, and they are blessed to know His care. They honor Him by praising Him and trusting Him without regard for circumstance. They honor Him by sharing with Paul that secret of being satisfied in God no matter what.
Lord, I thank You for this confidence that is mine because You are You. I thank You that I can rest in Your promises, knowing that even though I fail so often, yet You are with me, and You are determined that I shall come to that place John foresaw. Though this flesh is so weak, and old habits still maintain their hold, I know You are still faithful. You are still changing this man daily from who he was to what he ought to have been all along. Oh, that You would clean away all that foolish pride that keeps trying to convince me it’s up to me! Oh, that You would cast away that deluded self-confidence, and allow me to lean more completely on You. Lord, even now, grant that I might remain mindful of these traits that You have declared to be evidence of my inheritance. Let me increase my passion for pursuing the sanctification You require, even knowing that it remains to You to complete that work in me. Oh, precious God, who both wills and works in me! How can I fail, knowing You are with me? Thank You, Lord! Thank You.
