Matthew 5:19-20

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19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. ~ Matthew 5:19-20

Today, we return to our study of Matthew 5 where the Lord Jesus had just told His disciples that the righteous requirements of the law would be fulfilled by Him on their behalf. In fact, He told them that not one jot or tittle would go without being fulfilled. This meant their salvation would be procured by Him through His perfection before God. In the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7 the Lord Jesus taught about what it looks like to enter into the kingdom of God. His Kingdom abounds with His righteousness that is totally different than that of the kingdom of the religious leaders of Israel. His kingdom triumphs over the sin and the death that was ushered into this world through Adam in the Garden of Eden.

In v.19 of today's passage we read, "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

It was at this point that the Lord Jesus began to reinforce the fact that no fallen man can measure up to His righteous demands. To not live up to the least commandment and then to teach others accordingly would render that person the least in the kingdom of heaven. Most believe that if their good behavior outweighs their bad behavior then God will see fit to allow them into heaven. This is not the teaching of the Bible. A relevant example of this were the religious leaders of Israel who gave their entire lives to understanding what it meant to be good enough to get into heaven. Understanding it and doing it are two very different things. For those who think they might be "good enough," they must ask themselves "How good is good enough?" Clearly, the religious route wasn't enough. In fact, it is arrogant to think any fallen man could measure up to the truth. The idea that we can be good enough also reveals how low of a view we have of the righteousness of God.

You will remember the Lord Jesus began this chapter with the words, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit." Then He said, "Blessed are those who mourn."  It is always the person who realizes he is spiritually bankrupt before God or that he is not good enough, who is postured to see that he cannot be good enough. Humility is a must for anyone to see this. When we recognize that before God we are poverty stricken and are broken which is what results in our mourning over our hopeless condition, it is then that we are positioned to see that we cannot be good enough. It is out of this posture that we are positioned to embrace the repentance of which John the Baptist preached. 

With reference to being in the kingdom of God, it is clear throughout the Bible that our faith in the promise of God unto salvation given to all who believe is what makes us right with Him and thus in His kingdom. Of course, the ultimate gift of forgiveness and sonship with God comes through the cross of the Lord Jesus. So, it is through His perfection both displayed through His perfectly lived life and His perfect sacrifice on the cross that makes us righteous and acceptable before Him.

In v.20 of today's passage we read, "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

In that day, most considered the religious leaders of Israel to be the epitome of righteousness. But, that was the evaluation of men. The righteousness of the religious leaders seemed better than that of the average guy but it wasn't good enough when evaluated by God. Even though someone like the Apostle Paul who was a Pharisee was blameless before the law concerning righteousness, even he could not enter into the kingdom of heaven without placing His faith in the Lord Jesus. The reason is found in Habakkuk 2:4 which reads, "Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith."

The word translated "just" means righteous. It is only those who live by faith in the God of the Bible who are pronounced by Him as righteous before Him. To trust in one’s own merit through obedience to the law is what the Scribes and Pharisees did and it was not enough according to the Lord Jesus. This religious view of the religious leaders revealed their faith was in themselves. Therefore, only by faith in the completed work of the Lord Jesus can a man possess the righteousness that exceeds the most meticulously faithful observer of the law, such as the religious leaders of Israel. 

This is the reason the Apostle Paul penned in Galatians 6:14-15, "14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation."

Matthew 5:17-18

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17 Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. ~ Matthew 5:17-18

Today, we continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. In the previous verse, the Lord Jesus told the disciples to let their light so shine that others see their good works causing them to glorify their Father in heaven. Now, He brings up words that are so misquoted and misapplied within the church that even cults have used them to teach falsely. Such is the case with false teachers who take God's words out of their context and build whole systems upon them.

In v.17 of today's passage we read, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill."

The Law of Moses and the Prophets were given by God to the people of Israel. These words of the Lord Jesus in today's passage were given to Israel, as well. No other people on the planet were given these laws but the people of Israel. The teachings of the Old Testament were specifically given to the nation of Israel by God to provide His culture to them. Throughout the Bible we see a major distinction between Israel and the Church. This is important because there are certain promises given to Israel that weren't given to the Church.

The context in today's passage was of the Lord Jesus speaking the law to the people who were under the law. The Lord Jesus was telling the people of Israel that they should not perceive that His mission was to destroy the law or the teachings of the Old Testament prophets. That was not His mission, and nobody was to accuse Him of conducting His ministry otherwise. The Lord Jesus was born under the law, and He had no design or intent to set aside its teachings that were given to Israel primarily through Moses.

False teachers down through the centuries have used these words of the Lord Jesus to teach that everybody, even Christians, must adhere to the Law of Moses in order to be made acceptable before God. These have a high view of themselves and a very low view of the truth because no fallen sinner has ever or will ever measure up to the righteousness requirements of God. This is why the Lord Jesus came to this earth to be born under the law so that all who believe in Him could realize the acceptance of God through His perfectly lived life and His sacrifice upon the cross for the forgiveness of our sin. 

The Lord Jesus came to fulfill or to sustain the righteous requirements of God given through the law and the prophets. The phrase "law and the prophets" is synonymous with the entirety of the Old Testament scriptures. It's a nickname for what we call the Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi. Formally, the Jews divided up their scriptures into three sections; the first is what they call the Torah which is the law. The second are the Nevi'im which are the prophets, and the third, the Ketuvim, which are the writings. In God's eyes, the law is binding on Israel as much today as it was when Moses gave it to them at the foot of Mount Sinai. Due to the fact that no one can fulfill the Law of Moses, the Lord Jesus came to rescue sinful and hopeless man by fulfilling and substantiating the truth on the behalf of all who claim as Savior the Lord Jesus. 

In Romans 8:1-4 we read, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."

It was through the Lord Jesus Christ that the law’s requirements were met on the behalf of hopeless man. In Colossians 2:13-14 we read, "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." This does not mean that the Law has been set aside. No, our requirement to meet it has been fulfilled by the Lord Jesus. He did this so that we could enjoy through Him the blessing of being sons and daughters of God.

In v.18 of today's passage we read, "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled."

After preparing the ears of His disciples and the Jewish folks who had gathered to hear the Lord Jesus teach, He continued to underscore the absolute necessity of the Law of Moses. The problem had been created by two things, the Fall of Man and the fact that the Jews believed that their adherence to the Law of Moses was what made them right in the eyes of God. For some reason they lost sight of the fact that the Old Testament sacrifices made them right before the Lord and that the Law of Moses could not make them right before Him due to their inability to adhere to it. 

In today's passage, the Lord Jesus assured us that He would substantiate the teachings of the Law and the Prophets so that we could realize their teachings in a practical sense everyday. This is why He said, "one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." The Greek word translated "jot" is found only here in the Bible. It is the Greek word "iota" which equates to the smallest Hebrew letter. It would be easy to miss a jot when transcribing a document. The "tittle" is even smaller than the jot and it is the little protrusion on Hebrew letters. It seems to be most insignificant but for those who know the truth, it is huge because even the fulfillment of the smallest letters made us perfect in the eyes of God through the Lord Jesus.

Sadly, for those who fail to come to Christ for forgiveness, they are condemned by the Law of Moses. Any individual Jew who comes to Christ is freed from the requirements of the law. And, for all who reject the free gift of God through the Lord Jesus, there remains no salvation. However, there is coming a day when the people of Israel will fully recognize the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah. This is noted in many Old Testament passages, especially in Zechariah 12:10 which reads, "And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn."

Matthew 5:14-16

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14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. ~ Matthew 5:14-16

Today, we return to our study of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 which is about the inculcation of the culture of God into the believer's life. This is also known in the Bible as sanctification. In our last study, the Lord Jesus Christ noted that His disciples were the salt of the earth. In today's passage, He makes another comparison, He said that His followers are like "the light of the world." It is through our brokenness that the Light of the world shines best. And, it is most difficult to dim the light that shines from within.

In v.14-15 of today's passage we read, "14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house."

In Israel many cities are built on the tops of hills. In the evening these cities are seen from very far distances. So is the believer in Christ who is learning to give his heart to the Lord and the Lord is granting him His heart. The goal of our sanctification is that God be glorified and He is best glorified when those who once were in the darkness enter into the light through a personal relationship with Himself through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.

On the heels of His teaching on the process of sanctification or the process of the change of the human heart toward God, the Lord Jesus used two metaphors to reveal the result of that process: salt and light. Having considered the first metaphor in our last study, today we consider the second, light. Believing the gospel is only the beginning of being a light in this fallen world. The fuel to make that light effective is found in our daily walk with the Lord whereby we are talking with Him and receiving from Him His instructions about life through the Bible. 

Here, the Lord Jesus also used another metaphor to get His point across, the lampstand. These little terracotta lamps provided an incredible amount of light in a house. It made absolutely no sense to hide such a useful tool while in the darkness. These lamps had a spout on one end, a little handle on the other end, and a little floating wick in the middle. They were filled up with oil, and they did what was expected, they burned throughout the night. These lamps were about three to four inches wide, two inches high, six inches long, and they lit everything up.

The phrase "You are the light" is written in the emphatic plural  meaning believers in Christ alone are the light of this world. No one else in this world has what the believer in Christ has. And, if people can't see Christ through our lives, guess what, they won't see Christ. God has so designed it that we are His living ambassadors in this dark world. And, God rarely blesses us with only us in mind. As is illustrated by the two bodies of water in Israel, the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, it is more blessed to give than it is to receive. If we make ourselves the center of our world we are in danger of becoming lifeless as the Dead Sea.

In Ephesians 5:8-11 we read, "8 In the past you were full of darkness, but now you are full of light in the Lord. So live like children who belong to the light. 9 Light brings every kind of goodness, right living, and truth. 10 Try to learn what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the things done in darkness, which are not worth anything. But show that they are wrong."

Once we have departed from the domain of darkness and have entered into the light of a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, we will naturally desire to see others leave the domain of Satan. Throughout the Bible God equates the light with the truth and the darkness with sin. Only in coming into a personal relationship with God do we become light. And, even though we have come into a personal relationship with God, we must work hard to walk in His light so that others benefit from our Spirit-filled existence. 

In v.16 of today's passage we read, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

In this verse the Lord Jesus personalized His teaching. The usage of the word "your" highlights the goal. The Greek word used here and translated "good" means good in terms of beauty being manifested. This beauty is to communicate an attractiveness, a winsomeness. In other words, we are to let people see the attraction of the application of the gospel to our lives. The Lord Jesus wasn’t just speaking of their good deeds, He was speaking of the beauty of God that is manifested through the broken and yielded life of the believer. The beauty is seen in the authentic nature of the believer's heart for God and for the lost. The believer in Christ never produces the light. It is the Lord Jesus who is the true light and as we allow Him to have His way in and through our lives, He will shine. We have just got to let Him shine through our broken and yielded lives. 

Living out of this new place where God defines us is what it means for us to be the light now. 
To daily be seen as we are in the light we must turn to the Lord in the midst of our trials and hearing His voice in that context. The problem comes when we try to avoid pain, pressure and problems. In so doing, we miss the opportunity to grow in faith or our heart's ability to see God. We rob ourselves of a deeper intimacy with the Lord. Darkness is the absence of light, it really doesn't exist. It is useful, though, because it magnifies the light. The light is the Lord Himself. Without the darkness, we do not know the Lord, we do not know His presence, we do not know His life. It is in the context of relationship with the Lord that we discover His expression to and through us because He is the only true Light. 

Matthew 5:13

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"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." ~ Matthew 5:13

Today, we continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount where we are taught a new way of living contrary to the fallen way of living that we have always known. Today's verse was preceded by the Beatitudes which provide a description of how the God of the Bible changes us from the inside out. As a result of this change, the disciple of the Lord will take on a new disposition to others, even those who treat them in a wrong way.

Today's verse begins with, "You are the salt of the earth." In the New Testament "salt" is used metaphorically of Christians who have become the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a time when people were paid with salt. Salt, literally, is used by everyone. It has many great qualities, in particular, it preserves, it flavors and it heals. Here, the Lord Jesus used it to reiterate how when the believer is being defined by the Lord he will naturally spread the truth that he is learning from Him through his life and his lips. As salt enhances flavor and prevents corruption and aids healing, so the believer in Christ impacts those around him. 

In Exodus 30:34-35 we read, "34 Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Take these sweet-smelling spices: resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense. Be sure that you have equal amounts of each. 35 Make incense as a person who makes perfume would do. Add salt to it to keep it pure and holy.'" The Lord told the priests to add salt to the ingredients that made up the incense, it was used as the base of the temple incense. When we get to the book of the Revelation we learn that the incense was analogous of the prayers of the saints.

In Number 18:19 we read, "Anything the Israelites present as holy gifts I, the Lord, give to you, your sons and daughters as your continual portion. This is a lasting agreement of salt before the Lord for you and your children forever."

In this verse salt was a symbol of covenant faithfulness. This covenant of salt was an agreement between God and man which lasted forever. As such, the believer in Christ who has confidence in the veracity of God's Word is to reflect the covenant promises God in our lives. The Lord Jesus equated all believers to salt to indicate how we should conduct ourselves as we live our lives while here on this earth. 

Salt benefits the earth by playing a crucial role in maintaining healthy ocean ecosystems, regulating climate patterns through its impact on ocean currents, and even acting as a source of minerals for plant growth, essentially acting as a natural fertilizer in specific soil conditions. The believer in the Lord Jesus, having experienced the process of a changed heart will benefit those around him by created in them a thirst for God. The unbeliever looks at the authentic believer who is doing his best to walk with the Lord and thinks to himself that he could benefit from what the believer has. Of course, what he has is a personal and growing and intimate relationship with the Lord.

Today's verse ends with the idea that if a believer isn't salty and thus benefitting the world around him, he is useless to God in the furtherance of His kingdom in this world. This is why the Lord Jesus went on to say, "It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." This, of course, is not referring to the believer losing his salvation because he never earned it in the first place. What a foolish thought when we think that the law is so low that we could measure up to it. Here, the Lord Jesus was referring to the believer's potential effectiveness in this world as a child of God. All of this underscores the utter necessity that we are growing closer to the Lord each day because without such intimacy we lose our saltiness or effectiveness for the Lord.

In Colossians 4:6 we read, "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt." 

Salt has antibacterial and antiseptic properties that can be used to aid healing. This is why we use warm salt water to rinse and to treat a sore throat. The Lord Jesus may also have had this medicinal use of salt in mind here when He shared these words. Although only the Lord Jesus can accomplish salvation, as His followers we can participate in healing the world from the effects of the Fall and holding back its corruption until this world is finally made new. 

The most salty among us are those who have experienced and understood God's grace the best. It is the nature of God's grace that causes the believer who has been seasoned by it to be winsome. Grace reminds us we are acceptable when we are actually not. Grace reminds us that God not only did the heavy lifting for our salvation, He does all of the lifting for us. He is the One who not only pronounced us right before Himself, He gave us His very righteousness. As a result, may we be used of the Lord at aiding those who hunger and thirst for more than this world has to offer. And, may our yielded and blessed lives point all who hunger and thirst for more to the Living Water Himself.

Matthew 5:11-12

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11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. ~ Matthew 5:11-12

Today, we close out our study of the Beatitudes found at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. The Beatitudes describe the process involved in the changing of the rebellious human heart toward God. The Beatitudes describe the process we know as sanctification that we entered into once we became believers in the Lord Jesus. Through this process we experience the Lord Jesus who informs us that true happiness comes into our lives as the result of letting Him clean us out from the inside out. This process begins with poverty of spirit or the understanding that we are totally bankrupt spiritually before God. This process takes us to the ultimate step where we find purpose even in the persecution that comes from those who know not the Lord for themselves. We find joy in persecution because through it we bring glory and honor to the Lord Jesus who laid down His life for us. 

In v.11 of today's passage we read, "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake."

Unlike all the other beatitudes, the Lord Jesus elaborated upon this last beatitude because it demands further explanation. Since it is so very contrary to the human default mode, the Lord Jesus had to provide this further explanation. The key to it all is that it is done for His sake. The fact is the Lord Jesus has won our heart's allegiance by dying for us on the cross. Since He died to secure our eternity with Him apart from sin and death, we naturally, out of gratitude, desire to bring Him the greatest honor and glory.

The word translated "revile" means "to disgrace, mock, insult, or to cast blame upon." In context we learn that this ill-treatment is due to the fact that we are standing up for the Lord and His definition of things. The picture the Lord Jesus gave here was of someone continually being persecuted by those who are not being defined by Him. These persecutors continually defame us and their reviling is their means of persecuting us.

In 1 Peter 4:14 we read, "If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you."

We do not appreciate and understand the power and the presence of God unless we see it displayed in our lives. We do not really experience God's power nor do we recognize His presence unless we go through suffering. Those who cut the process short, desiring comfort or relief from the pain, they miss out on the deepening of their hearts for the very pronounced power and presence of God in their lives. Our comfort, which is what our suffering disrupts, blinds us from the reality of God's presence and power. It is our fallen condition that almost always requires us to go through suffering in order to be made more intimate with God. And, we will not know the pronounced presence and power of God personally until we turn to Him in the midst of our suffering. 

In v.12 of today's passage we read, "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

The word translated "rejoice" literally means "to leap much." The reward of that which the Lord Jesus spoke of here is not the product of the suffering but the forerunner to the suffering. Knowing that we will spend eternity in heaven is what gives us this perspective that leads us to see the value in our suffering. In the same way that the prophets of the Old Testament were persecuted and endured such, so will the disciple of Christ. And the same lessons that they learned, we will realize with exceeding gladness. It is His joy that enables us to endure the unwanted discomfort.

When we have entered into a personal relationship with the God of all creation, we experience a change that will eventually render in us the ability to endure the ill-treatment from others and we will learn to see the world through the eyes of the God of the Bible because He is actively granting us His heart and eyes to see things as they truly are. It is from this posture that we will view this world for the King of heaven. We can endure persecution because we know that the purpose behind it is to bring glory to the God who made and redeemed us.

The Beatitudes describe the process whereby the believer in Christ is daily learning to submit ourselves to the rule of God in our lives. We do this with joyful willingness because we have come to know how good the Lord truly is. When our wills agree with God's, we will be rendered powerless and helpless to do our will. This is where we encounter the joy of God. It is always out of this context that the Lord reveals His power and His presence to us most profoundly. As a result, we will increasingly allow the very life of the Lord Jesus to be manifested in us, to us, and through our yielded lives. The very will of God will increasingly become ours. It is out of this posture that we truly discover that we were made to be completed by God and by God alone.

Matthew 5:10

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"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." ~ Matthew 5:10

In our last study the Lord Jesus Christ noted the blessings of those who have recognized their bankrupt spiritual state before God and have entered into a personal relationship with Him through believing the death of His Son on the cross paid the penalty that our sin created for us before God. Of course, it is only in the presence of God that we experience this type of bankruptcy because He is the arbiter of truth and what is right and it is in His presence it is easy to recognize our wretchedness. Today, we come to the eighth beatitude. 

The "persecuted" in today's verse are those who have experienced God's mercy and peace and now they desire to see others at peace with Him. The problem is, most do not recognize the fact that it is only through the Lord Jesus Christ that we are pronounced forgiven by God and have therefore entered into a personal relationship with Him. And, due to the myopic nature of the gospel message that the Lord Jesus is the only way to God's forgiveness, many do not trust the message or the messenger. 

In 2 Timothy 3:12 we read, "All who will live godly in this present age will suffer persecution." 

This serves as a reminder that believers in Christ Jesus share in His reproach. We should expect to be persecuted by those who do not know the Lord Jesus as their Savior, especially if we are increasing in Christlikeness. Christianity was never intended to be merely a creed that we recite on Sunday morning in the safety of the church building. Christianity is a person whom we relate to, rely upon and walk with day-by-day. Christianity is counter-cultural and it will often be against the grain of the norm in society. We who believe in the Lord Jesus enough to be defined by Him will be misunderstood, marginalized and persecuted. And, God knows this world is getting worse but He has seen fit for us to be on this earth at this moment to make a difference for His glory.

Throughout the Bible we see that those who represent the God of the Bible in this world will suffer in various ways. In many ways, persecution is a token of our relationship with God. In Philippians 1:29 we read, "For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear to be in me." Since God has granted us the ability to believe in Him, we are grateful. Such gratitude causes us to be faithful to Him. This kind of grateful faithfulness will always be misunderstood by the world and we mustn't be surprised by their fear expressed in their persecution of us and the gospel message. We must never take the world's persecution personally for God has been known to use such to draw unbelievers to Himself.

In John 15:18 we read, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you’re not of the world but I chose you out of the world, therefore, the world hates you." The world hates our association with the Lord Jesus because they live under the control of the evil one. When we are being defined by God, indirectly we will aggravate the world because God's righteousness will be seen in and through our yielded lives. Note that it's God's righteousness, not ours.

In today's verse the Lord Jesus wasn't describing those who are persecuted for being arrogantly offensive to others. He was describing those who have entered into a personal relationship with the true and living God. He spoke of those who have experienced poverty of spirit for themselves which leads to mourning over their sin. He spoke of those who were being changed from the inside out, those who have come to appreciate meekness and righteousness. These are those who hunger and thirst for the God and His righteousness. 

The word "persecuted" literally means "to pursue." The phrase, "Blessed are those who are persecuted," is a passive participle which gives the idea of permissiveness. Literally, it reads, "Blessed are those who have allowed themselves to be persecuted." The structure of these words clearly indicate the idea that these willingly endure persecution as their persecutors pursue them. This means they don’t run from the persecution, they accept it when it comes.

In addition to being a passive participle, this word translated "persecuted" is written in the perfect tense indicating continuous persecution. "Blessed are those who have willingly allowed themselves to suffer continuously." You see, willingness is the issue here. We could say, "blessed are the willing." Persecution isn’t always going to be there to the same degree, but these are those who are willing to take the persecution for the sake of righteousness or the right way of doing something. The right way is realized in our lives when God is defining us and we know that God is defining us when we are obeying His Word. This is what the Lord Jesus meant when He ended this verse with "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." To be given the kingdom of heaven is to be defined by the King of heaven.

Matthew 5:9

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Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. ~ Matthew 5:9

Today, we continue our study of Matthew 5 which is commonly referred to as the Beatitudes. In actuality, in these verses the Lord Jesus gave us the process involved in our hearts growing more amiable toward God. This process begins with the realization that we are bankrupt before God spiritually. This condition naturally leads us to mourn over our sin which leads to our willingness to begin to give up control to God over our lives. As we experience God for ourselves, we naturally find ourselves hungering and thirsting for Him more and more. The more of God we experience the more we find ourselves becoming more like Him. One way we express His likeness is that we will become more merciful toward others. With this increased interaction with God, we will begin to see that our hearts are being changed enabling us to see God's hand at work in our lives even through the unwanted moments of our lives. This positions us for the next beatitude which is found in today's verse.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

The word "peacemakers" is an adjective which means to promote peace. Since we live in a world of conflict and broken relationships, peacemakers are desperately needed. There is no peace until we are brought back into a personal relationship with God and those who work to bring peace between God and man are in focus here. Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden there has been a state of enmity between God and man. Without addressing this enmity through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on the cross which earned the needed forgiveness from God, there can be no peace in the presence of God for any human. Those who work to reconcile others by sharing the gospel message of forgiveness through the cross of the Lord Jesus are the true peacemakers. 

We tend to think that peace is the absence of conflict but this isn't quite what the Lord Jesus was getting at here because God’s definition of peace is not the absence of something. Throughout the Bible, peace is not the absence of anything, peace is the presence of all that is blessed, all that is good, and all that is truly satisfying. Peace is a creative force producing goodness and well-being. When the power of love overcomes the love of power, it is then that we will know peace.

The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 10:34, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword." The Lord Jesus said these words because before peace can come, the sword must fall. The Lord Jesus came to this earth to deal a final death blow to sin and death. He did this through His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. Once we believe in His finished work on the cross and we enter into a personal relationship with God, we will find ourselves incongruent with those who do not know the Lord. This incongruence will always rob the peace that we all long for because this peace only comes from the Prince of Peace. 

In James 3:17 we read, "The wisdom from above is first pure then peaceable." Peace comes from the truth and wisdom of God. Peace is never sought at the price of truth. Peace is never sought at the price of error. Peace is never sought at the price of sin or unrighteousness. In Hebrews 12:14 we read, "Follow peace with all men and holiness." Peace naturally follows holiness or completeness. We are only made complete through the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not possess true peace if we do not confront our sin which is what keeps us from God. We only become hosts to the peace of God only after we are at peace with God. This is why true peace will always be associated with holiness. We must follow the peace that is first pure and reflects the wisdom that is from God where truth prevails. If we are going to be at peace with all men, it’s because we all are being defined by God. True peace only comes after we have entered into a personal relationship with God. 

Those who invest themselves at making peace through reconciling men to God's will, indeed, these will be called the sons of God. True peace is only truly enjoyed by the child of truth. That’s the only real peace that God recognizes. With false peace nothing is resolved because it ignores that which is true and righteous. And so we may have to endure temporary trouble in order to bring real peace. That’s what the Lord Jesus did and He was the greatest peacemaker that ever walked the face of this earth. He offers all those humble enough to see and embrace their need for peace with God. 

So, in order to be a peacemaker, we must have gone through this Beatitude process. A peacemaker, then, is one whose sins have been dealt with in Christ. He has been given a new nature, a pure heart. He has a whole new perspective on life now that he has entered into a personal relationship with God through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. He now views life through the eyes of the Lord. As a result the peacemaker sees himself as humbled, and he is dependent upon God. Most people think well of themselves because they have been taught that in order to be whole and healthy, they have to have high self-esteem. But, this is not the way of the God of the Bible. According to the Lord Jesus, we are most blessed when we recognize that we need God more than anything else. And, once we are at peace with Him, we can be at peace with everyone else.

Matthew 5:8

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

Today, we continue our study of Matthew 5 which is the Lord Jesus' teaching on the process of the changing of the human heart in reference to God. As we have seen, this change of heart begins with coming to the place where we recognize  ourselves as being poor in spirit which means we are bankrupt spiritually before God. This understanding naturally leads to a state of mourning over our bankrupt status before God. This, in turn, leads to our willingness to give up control to God over our lives because we know that we are helpless and hopeless on our own. As we experience the person and goodness of God for ourselves, we naturally find ourselves hungering and thirsting for Him for He truly is our sustenance. The more of God we experience the more we find ourselves becoming more like Him. One way we express likeness to God is that we will become more merciful to others.

The next step involved in this process of a changed heart is seen in the words "Blessed are the pure in heart." This is the first use of the word "heart" in the New Testament. The heart is mentioned over 800 times in the Bible, and in today's verse it is used figuratively to refer to the essence of our being that grants us our moral code. The heart is used in Scripture really most commonly to refer to our soul which is made up of our minds, wills and emotions. We are trichotomous beings with a body, a soul and a spirit. It is in our spirit that we are born again and it is in our souls that we are being changed from one degree of glory to another. We know this as sanctification. As we think in our heart, the Bible says, so are we. In Proverbs 4:23 we read, "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." That’s the best Old Testament definition of the heart. The heart is that part of us from which all the issues of life arise. 

Morality and spirituality are not the same. As is clearly being spelled out here by the Lord Jesus, spirituality comes before morality. There are many moral people in this world. The question is according to whose morality because God's morality is not the same as this world's nor does it prioritize in the same way. God always values the weak and the poor and the helpless. The key to it all is "purity of heart" which isn't about perfection, it is about disposition and motive.

In Ezekiel 36:25-26 we read, "25 I will sprinkle you with pure water, and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh." 

This is God's promise of the new covenant that the Lord Jesus procured for us at His cross. The kingdom of God has always belonged to those hearts that are being cleaned. A sinner is naturally totally unacceptable before God, no matter how religious, altruistic, or moral he may be. If God has not granted us the righteousness of His Son, we will never see God. God requires holiness and this is why the Lord Jesus had to die on our behalf as He did.

This process of getting a more and more purified heart is the product of regeneration or new birth. It is our regeneration that gets us into heaven and it is God's purifying work in our hearts that gets heaven into us now. Once we have come into a personal relationship with God by believing that His Son's sacrifice paid the penalty for our sin, it is then that God begins His work of sanctification in our hearts. Essentially, to be pure of heart is to be undergoing the reality of God cleaning out our heart for His glory.

Once again, today's verse reads, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." For those who are experiencing the purifying presence of God in their heart, they shall see God. This is not only a reference to the fact that we will one day see God with our very own eyes, this also speaks of the everyday occurrences in our lives where we see God at work in our lives. As God is cleaning us out from the inside out, we will see His work in our lives. Through the good and the bad, we will see that He is at work. So often, I have discovered that disappointments are His appointments. When I go through a trial of some sort, if I give God enough time, He will show me that I went through that trial not only for my benefit but for the benefit of others. Trials are essential for the growth of our faith in God which is essentially our heart's ability to see God.

As a result, instead of questioning God or getting mad at Him for allowing this trial in my life, I have discovered that He will show up in and through my life through the trial that I have experienced. For example, several years ago my middle son died three separate times on a Wednesday night. The doctors told us that he had a ten percent chance to live. To make a long story short, eight days later, my son walked out of the hospital. Eight days later. Let me remind you that the number eight in the Bible is analogous of new beginnings. Through that most difficult trial, I witnessed three people make a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Also, I have been able to empathize with many, especially those who have lost a son or a daughter. My pain isn't the same as theirs because my son lived, but I've an idea about their pain and having gone through that intense trial I have been able to enter into their pain with them. Purity of heart is what enables us to see that the Lord is really good even through those most difficult moments of our lives. This is what it means to see God.

Matthew 5:7

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

Today, we return to our study of the Beatitudes which is a description of the process involved in the changing of the sinful human heart in reference to God. As we have seen when we get to poverty of spirit, we recognize our need for mourning over our sin. This, in turn, leads to our willingness to give up control to God over our lives because we know that we are helpless and hopeless. This understanding of this life renders a desire within us to hunger and thirst for God for He truly is our sustenance. Today, we come to the next step in this process which renders a desire within us to be merciful.

God always works in our lives from the inside out. Throughout the three year earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus through His teaching and healing ministry, He went right for the heart of the people. In doing so, He identified for us the fact that salvation is something that happens to us at the very center of our being. The Lord Jesus was never interested in external religion, He was not interested in superficial works with wrong motives. He is always interested in sincere, transformed hearts that are honest and humble. This is what brings Him pleasure.

In today's verse the Lord Jesus, essentially, said to His hearers, "Blessed are the compassionate." The word translated "merciful" is best translated compassionate. It can also be translated as "being full of pity." This word is only used one other time in the New Testament. It is found in Hebrews 2:17 which reads, "For this reason Jesus had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every way so he could be their merciful and faithful high priest in service to God. Then Jesus could die in their place to take away their sins."  

The Lord Jesus Christ was motivated to go to the cross and die a gruesome death on the behalf of sinful man so that we could enter into a personal relationship with Him. In that context then, the Lord Jesus gradually grants His heart for sinners to the believer. As we give our hearts to God, He grants to us His heart for the lost. This must never be the basis upon which we find our hope for eternal life but it is a clear sign that we have been made alive to God. As a result of experiencing God's heart for ourselves, we extent it to others. God says, "Happy with a deep seated joy are those who have experienced the compassion of God for themselves for they will be compassionated." 

Mercy and grace are throughout the Bible inseparable but they differ from one another. While God's mercy rescues us from God's judgement, His grace grants us an intimate and personal relationship with Him. Similarly, God's mercy and His justice goes together. They have to because God could not be merciful if in some way His justice were violated. God's mercy is not some shallow sentimentality which disregards sin and ignores justice. That’s a false and unholy mercy which wants to conceal justice and undermine the truth.

A great example of God's mercy is found in the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18 where the point was for the Apostle Peter to forgive others up to seventy times seven. This type of forgiveness is directly connected to our experience with God's merciful compassion. If we have experienced His mercy, we will extend it to others in an unlimited way. By the way, this doesn't means God's justice is ignored, it just means we continue loving those who have violated us in some way. Henri Nouwen once aptly said, "Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to the place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely, and broken."

As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we, like all humans, stood at odds with God. We stood in a state of eternal condemnation as a result. Our rebellion against God forever separated us from Him. Hell was our sure destination until the Lord Jesus decided to pay our penalty and uphold the justice of God. The fact is, God, in order to be merciful and to show us mercy, had to express His justice, so He poured out His justice on Christ while on the cross, satisfying the requirement of a just and holy law. So mercy fits together with forgiveness, though it’s different. It fits together with grace, though it’s different. It fits together with justice perfectly, though it is also distinct.

God took the first step, a step that did not need to be taken but He took it by sending His only begotten Son to rescue us from our sure damnation. Our understanding of this truth should create in us a heart for others, especially the least. The late theologian, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, once said, "We are not meant to control our Christianity but, rather, our Christianity is meant to control us."  This is why it is so essential that we daily walk with the Lord, making it our habit of giving our heart to Him. And the whole point of the Beatitudes is that He gives His heart to us.

Matthew 5:6

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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. ~ Matthew 5:6

Today, we return to our study of the Beatitudes which is in essence the Lord Jesus description of the process involved in the changing of the human heart toward Him. All of us were born antagonistic to God due to the fact that we were influenced by the author sin. Once Eve availed herself to the cunning devil, there was no stopping the influence of the evil one in the human existence. 

In Psalm 51:5 King David said it well when he wrote, "Behold, in iniquity was I brought forth, and in sin did my mother conceive me." Like our mothers and fathers, David’s mother was a sinner. Our moms inherited this sinful nature from their parents, and they from theirs, and so on throughout the genealogical line all the way back to Adam and Eve. Of course, this disposition was introduced to us through the most powerful thing that God has ever created, the devil himself. He wasn't created as such, no, God created him righteous and he distorted God's plans for himself.

As we have pointed out in our previous studies, this changing of the human heart from hardheartedness toward God to submission to Him is a process. This process leads us to being broken of our waywardness with reference to God. This brokenness renders a true happy joy despite our circumstances. The Lord Jesus used the word "blessed" to describe the inward, happy, joyful, and contented state of those who are in and being defined by God's definition of things.

Today's verse reads, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness."

The verbs "hunger" and "thirst" are present participles meaning "craving and longing." These words describe those who truly desire something more than what this world has to offer. It is a longing for what is right in a situation where it is obviously lacking. We find ourselves in the realm where the evil one rules and there is therefore wickedness all around. We find ourselves in a place where righteousness is not practiced. We are like those in a desert who desperately search for food and water but our search is for that which is far more substantive than the temporal.

When we face hunger, it can be quelled temporarily with a few morsels. But when that is lacking, there is nothing to take away the agony found in the human body. The Lord Jesus combined hungering and thirsting with a fervent intensity to reveal how desperate our situation truly is. This is why He preceded today's beatitude with poverty of spirit and mourning which leads to surrendering control to God. So, the Lord Jesus compared our real need for righteousness with our felt needs of hungering and thirsting.

The Lord Jesus was fully informed having come out of forty days and forty nights where He was deprived of the needs of His human body. He was famished for food and drink, however, despite this, He craved something far more substantive. Our longings in this world whatever they may be are mere echoes of our longing for God and His righteousness. While our physical life depends on food and water, our spiritual life depends on God and His righteousness.

As indicated in the remainder of today's verse, the result of such a pursuit is fulfillment or satisfaction. The word translated "filled" is a word that actually means the satisfying grazing of an animal. The Lord Jesus says that as a cow dines in an open field, so those who learn to be fed by God are satisfied with His continuous supply of righteousness. And, we can only truly hunger and thirst after these things when we have gained faith that God not only exists but that He is good. The beatitudes describe the process whereby we are led by God to the open terrain of His definition of things are He intended them to be.

Those who are not preview to this process that leads us to the Lord Jesus Himself hunger but they hunger and thirst for the physical. They can't see beyond the material and temporal. They have a hunger and a thirst for happiness and fulfillment, but they look for it in the wrong place. Every human heart was created by God with a hunger for Him. The problem is we live in a world which has stunted that hunger. The man or woman who has not entered into a relationship with God tries to satisfy their longings in the lesser things of this world. How many times have we all experienced something that we thought would totally fulfill us only to discover that it didn't deliver as we expected?

The Lord Jesus, on the other hand, offers something different. He offers us Himself as the living water. In Jeremiah 2:13 we read, "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewed them out broken cisterns that can hold no water."  In other words, God has made man with a thirst and a hunger for Him, but man refuses the well of living water and makes himself broken wells that can’t even hold water. Even believers hunger and thirst for happiness and meaning and fulfillment and inevitably try to fill themselves up with self-indulgent pleasures, possessions, power, and the praise this world offers but to no avail. 

The prodigal son is a great example of this. He longed for the pleasures of this world and the world didn't deliver as he thought it would. In fact, when he returned home broken he realized satisfaction was only found at home with his father. He longed to possess, he longed for the popularity of a party life, but he went hungry in his soul and finally he had the sense to come to himself and say, "How many of my father’s servants have bread enough and to spare?" It was at that point that the prodigal went back to his father’s house and was given a feast. 

The feast that the prodigal arrived home for pictures for us that which God created us for in the first place. The world, in its distracted living, tries to satisfy itself with the husks of the swine and it comes up absolutely empty every time. We have all been there, and those who respond to the leading of the Spirit of God come running back to Him only to discover a feast that satisfies the longings of his hungry and thirsty soul. Our hunger and thirst is actually for the One who created us, the Lord Jesus Himself. It is His righteousness that satisfies our hollowed out souls. This is what prompted the words of Blaise Paschal who said, "God has created us with a god-shaped vacuum which only God can fill."