The Beatitudes Part 5: Mercy Sought, Mercy Found
Note: This post is part five in a series of eight posts on the Beatitudes.
MERCY SOUGHT, MERCY FOUND
MATTHEW 5:7
“BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL, FOR THEY SHALL OBTAIN MERCY.”
Jesus Christ whispered in the ear of the young emerging church and the world overheard Him speak of being “Blessed…” These eight sayings are called Beatitudes, meaning beautiful attitudes. The first four deal with initial attitudes. The last four with the productivity of a life evidencing these attitudes.
Blessed is His promise. It is a happiness, not dependent on circumstances, but character based on Christ’s teaching.
Eudaemonics is the science of happiness. The definition implies there are certain scientific principles involved in happiness. Laws of chemistry and math are fixed. Their inflexibility has been demonstrated for years. Likewise, the Beatitudes and their result are just as inflexibly fixed. Protest and pretense won’t keep 2+2 from equaling 4. Resistance and refutation won’t change the result of the Beatitudes. Jeremiah 31:33 teaches us that God’s laws governing conduct and consequent happiness are fixed in hearts.
The Beatitudes are based on the presupposition that the world does not owe you happiness, nor can it grant it. Only God can. Compliance with His guidelines enables us to enjoy it.
If you are waiting for conditions around you to produce happiness, don’t hold your breath. Latin for happiness, “fortuous,” is based on our fortune. Christ’s kind of happiness is not dependent upon fortune, but fact and their faithful employment.
Marcus Aurelius said that “very little is needed to make a happy life. It is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” Therefore, think Christ-like thoughts.
To be merciful is to manifest compassion in action. It is a word referring to going through something with another. It speaks of entering into another’s problems with understanding and acceptance. True mercy is genuine compassion.
Jesus spoke of right, not rights. Mercy is an emotion that leads to action. It unites us with the Father. “Be ye tenderhearted, merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” (Luke 6:36)
Don’t think this means that if you show mercy to others they will show mercy to you. They may or may not. God is the subject of the last part of this verse. He always shows mercy to the merciful.
Muscle, not mercy is admired. Might, not right, is applauded. To refuse to show mercy is to break down the bridge which we must all sooner or later cross. James wrote: “He shall have judgment without mercy who shows no mercy.” (James 2:13)
The song “At Calvary” has these words:
“Mercy there was great, and grace was free,
Pardon there was multiplied to me.
There my burdened soul found liberty–at Calvary.”
Because of this, go show mercy.
The Beatitudes Part 4: Are You Hungry and Thirsty?
Note: This post is part four in a series of eight posts on the Beatitudes.
ARE YOU HUNGRY AND THIRSTY?
MATTHEW 5:6
“BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST AFTER
RIGHTEOUSNESS, FOR THEY SHALL BE FILLED.”
Jesus Christ spoke the language of the common people but He gave it an uncommon application.
The Greeks had the word “makarios.” They used it to describe the blissful state of their gods. The Athenians used it to describe the living conditions of the very wealthy who were thought to have no cares. Jesus brought it down to earth and shared the secret of how such a state can be achieved by anyone regardless of their station or rank in life.
The root word from which we get our word beatitudes is the Latin “beatus,” which means blessed or happy. The happiness of which Christ spoke is not a happy passing moment of merriment but a state of wellbeing involving an internal joyousness.
Spiritually our feelings, emotions, and sentiments are not determined by what happens around us as much as by our attitude. You are no person’s marionette unless you allow yourself to be.
Jesus knew this, and He spoke of happiness as being given birth from within. This is a beatitude related to ambition. It speaks of a strong desire.
To hunger is to avidly desire something. It signifies a need for nourishment. A desire, fed by a painful lack, that God’s will be done. Athletes hunger to win.
To thirst is a yearning, a passionate desire for spiritual good. The present tense of the participle is used meaning a constant and habitual state.
Jesus chose two basic appetites to dramatize our desires. David described his desire for the Lord as being like a little deer who is thirsty for water.
Every person has an appetite. To fill our appetite with improper substance is to defeat our potential happiness.
The Prophet Jeremiah described the perverted spiritual thirst of his day by speaking of leaky cisterns. A cistern is a water container. Jeremiah said, “My people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)
Our unsatisfiable appetite must be for righteousness, present tense, continuous action.
Happy is the person whose most intense desire is to enter into a right relationship with God. Sin is not hurtful because it is forbidden.
A person who is righteous desires to see the cause of righteousness vindicated. Our entire being should be fuel for His fire.
Righteousness, translates the Greek “dikaiosune” which means “to be right with God.” Only when you have a craving ambition above all else to be right with God will you be happy.
“I have been reading the Beatitudes,” Lincoln said to a friend, “And can at least claim one of the blessings therein unfolded. It is the blessing pronounced upon those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.”
How is your appetite?
The Beatitudes Part 3: Enjoy Your Inheritance
Note: This post is part three in a series of eight posts on the Beatitudes.
ENJOY YOUR INHERITANCE
MATTHEW 5:5
“BLESSED ARE THE MEEK,
FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH.”
A person is not meek because he can’t help himself, but because he is confident in eternal resources.
The Hebrew word for meek “anaw” depicts a malleable person, one who out of love is open to divine guidance, submitted to authority.
The Greek word for meek “praus” was used to describe a horse who was reined and can be led.
It was also used of Roman soldiers who were under the control of their superior officers. They were described by this term indicating they were under control of their commander.
When used relating to a Christian, it means they are under the control of Jesus.
The promise is they shall be blessed. Adjusted and stable are the persons who bring their drives under the control of Jesus. Blessedness lies in character.
Reality reveals that not everyone is going to have an abundance of physical goods. Therefore, we must either find a different basis for happiness or have a lot of unhappy people. Attitude is the arena in which the battle for happiness is won or lost.
Meek means to calm that which is irritated or excited and bring it under control. It enables one to avoid a hot head or cold feet by maintaining a warm heart for Christ. It refers to mastery by the Master.
To be meek is to be under Jesus’ control, to be teachable, coachable, responsive to His rules.
It is not an encouragement to cowering conduct. “Moses was very meek, above all the men which were the face of the Earth.” (Numbers 12:3)
Jesus was “meek and lowly of heart.” (Matthew 11:28-30) Yet, He clashed with the Pharisees until the sparks flew.
Such persons inherit the earth. The word translated “inherit” means to enjoy. If persons possess certain legal rights, they enjoy them. To inherit the earth is to possess it. To possess it is to enjoy it. In light of this the spiritually meek are wealthy. I own: Jekyll Island, the Montana mountains, Marshes in Louisiana, the craggy coast of Oregon…. My inheritance has made me wealthy.
What one inherits represents the work of another. What the Christian inherits is what is Christ’s. When you have Christ in your heart, you have what is Christ’s.
The meek, that is, persons who are Jesus-tamed, are Jesus-tempered and have the ability to enjoy their inheritance, the earth. Enjoy your inheritance today.
The Beatitudes Part 2: How Mourning Can Become a Blessing
Note: This post is part two in a series of eight posts on the Beatitudes.
HOW MOURNING CAN BECOME A BLESSING
MATTHEW 5: 4
“BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN,
FOR THEY SHALL BE COMFORTED.”
Jesus Christ had the capacity of distilling an ocean of fact into a drop of truth. He revolutionized the world’s ideals. He inverted His society’s concepts. He who was sharing these truths was the living embodiment of them.
Jesus Christ was a living incarnation of His teachings. The Beatitudes are a pocket-sized biography of Christ.
The Greek word for mourning, pentheo, means a grief that consumes the whole person. Christ is a spiritual seismograph, sensing the needs of His subjects. He knew mourning was inescapable. His intent is to give it meaning and purpose. God takes no pleasure in our pain. He will take a part.
Mourning is sober judgment. It prompts people to weigh values. It reveals one’s true character. The blackest of velvet is used to display the rarest of diamonds. This speaks of those who have not realized and acknowledged their spiritual poverty. Sorrow in life is inevitable. What we sorrow over is what matters. This sorrow, mourning, is over our former spiritual arrogance and reluctance to acknowledge our spiritual poverty.
Mourning is a corrective of a condition. It is essential to recovery from an adverse condition. Godly sorrow results in repentance. To mourn is natural. It is not optional. Our response is optional. Sorrow with a purging purpose is profitable. It is mourning with a meaning. It can bring godly repentance. That is why it is a blessing.
The word “comforted” comes from two parts: “com” meaning together with and “fort” meaning strength. Christ shares His strength and together with Him we become strong.
If mourning over sin brings us to this conclusion commissioned by Emperor Fredrick III by the faculty of Heidelberg University, the oldest university in Europe, to write a statement of faith in 1562
The Heidelberg Catechism:
“Question: What is your only comfort in life and death?
Answer: That I, with body and soul, both in life and death am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserved me that without the will of my Heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; yea that all things must be subservient to my salvation, wherefore by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him.”
Pause now and talk with the Lord about your own core of values.
The Beatitudes Part 1: Exalted Happiness
Note: This post is part one in a series of eight posts on the Beatitudes.
TO BE HAPPY IS TO BE POOR IN SPIRIT
MATTHEW 5:3
“BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT,
FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.”
Jesus Christ in love has charted the way to happiness for you. On the scenic slopes overlooking The Sea of Galilee, He spoke eight utterances that form milestones on the road to happiness. Obedience to them brings happiness.
The pursuit of happiness for many people ends in a freakish traffic jam. Motors keep accelerating, but nobody can move. This has caused many to forget their pursuit of happiness and wrap themselves in a cocoon of cynicism.
This in no way speaks of financial poverty being a virtue. It is poverty in spirit that is the intent.
This kind of happiness differs in kind from ours by definition. Our’s is dependent on happenstance, that is, conditions and circumstances. The happiness of which Christ spoke is independent of circumstances.
The Greek word “Ptocho,” translated poor, describes a beggar who lives off the alms of another. He is speaking of the poor in spirit not the poor-spirited, not dejection, self-pity, those without backbone or “stuffin.”
As the physically poor are dependent on others so we who are poor in spirit have come to the realization that we are personally spiritually bankrupt and dependent.
The good news is preceded by the bad news. That is only when a person realizes they are lost, poor in spirit, and need the good news are they open to the gospel.
Not to admit poverty of spirit is self-deception. Abject poverty of spirit results in reliance on Christ for resources.
The poor in spirit consider themselves stewards not collectors. They are to use what they receive to the glory of God not for their own greed. Substance is theirs with which to serve not to save.
To be poor in spirit involves: humility, submission, gratitude, contentment.
I pity the poor, for they think riches would answer all their needs.
I pity the rich, for they know riches won’t meet our needs.
I rejoice with those who know and experience the truth of which Christ spoke and who are truly poor in spirit but rich in the faith.
(A) Avoid comparisons.
(B) Realize your weaknesses.
(C) Hedge against pride
The poor in spirit avoid the pitfall of pride.
“God resists the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.” (James 4:6)
The poor in spirit realize themselves to be conductors of praise on its way to the supreme source, Christ.
There has never been a supremely happy egotist. The cavernous capacity of a narcissist for recognition is like a bottomless pit. The consuming lust for self-elevating flattery depletes one’s friends.
The result is blessedness. Blessed translates the word “macaria.” The Island of Cyprus was once called Macaria because it was alleged to be able to produce and provide all that man could require or desire.
The poor (ptochos) are beggars of God who can make them blessed (macaria). He can give to the poor in spirit all that they require and desire. That is true happiness.
Spiritual poverty is the beginning of spiritual nobility.