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HAPPINESS THE JESUS
WAY
By Pastor Glenn Pease
CONTENTS
1. WHAT IS HAPPINESS? Based
on Matt. 5:1-12 and Phil. 4:10-13
2. PROSPERITY IN POVERTY
Based on Matt. 5:3
3. HAPPINESS IN SORROW
Based on Matt. 5:4
4. THE MIGHTY MEEK Based on
Matt. 5:5
5. HAPPINESS THROUGH HUNGER
Based on Matt. 5:6
6. HAPPY ARE THE MERCIFUL
Based on Matt. 5:7
7. THE HEART OF HAPPINESS
Based on Matt. 5:8
8. FIGHTERS FOR PEACE Based
on Matt. 5:9
9. THE BURDEN OF THE CROSS
Based on Matt. 5:10-12
10. HAPPY NEW YEAR Based
on Matt. 5:1-12
1.
WHAT IS HAPPINESS? Based on Matt. 5:1-12 and Phil. 4:10-13
Epictetus, the
ancienct philosopher said, "If a man is unhappy, this must be his own
fault, for God made all men to be happy." A Christian writer, St. Bernard,
said something similar. "Nothing can work me damage except myself; the
harm that I sustain I carry about with me, and never am a real sufferer but by
my own fault." These two men represent the internal philosophy of
happiness. External mean nothing, and need have no effect upon the happiness of
a person, is their view.
External evil is
recognized as a reality, but one does not need to let it penetrate his inner
being. Epictetus, for example, said, "I must die, but must I die
sorrowing? I must be put in chains. Must I then also lament? I must go into
exile. Can I be prevented from going with cheerfulness and contentment? But I
will put you in prison. Man, what are you saying? You may put my body in
prison, but my mind not even Zeus himself can overpower." Here is a rare
example of how even a pagan slave can, by the power of positive thinking,
demonstrate the human capacity for internal happiness without the externals
usually associated with happiness.
The facts of life and
history show that this is possible, but it is also highly improbable that more
than a few rare individuals can completely ignore the externals of life. The
vast majority of people depend upon externals almost exclusively. They grasp at
things as the only source of satisfaction. People really believe that more
money can bring happiness in spite of the fact that the suicide rate is higher
among the haves than among the have nots. Abdalrahman the Khalif had thousands
of wives, and millions upon millions of wealth, but this is what he wrote near
the end of his life: "I have now reigned above 50 years in victory or
peace. I have been beloved of my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected
by my allies. Riches and honor, power and pleasure have waited on my call, nor
does any earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity. In this
situation I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness
which have fallen to my lot: They amount to fourteen."
No amount of eternals can
guarantee happiness, yet man's natural tendency is to search for happiness in
that direction. Men have a hard time believing that there is any hope of
happiness apart from externals. Aristotle represented the Greek view when he
said that the blessed life was impossible to the diseased, the poor, and the
slave. Samuel Johnson had a close friend who said that his sister-in-law was
really a happy woman. This made Johnson mad, and he replied like the brute he
could be, "If your sister-in-law is really the contented being she
professes herself, sir, her life gives the lie to every research to humanity;
for she is happy, without health, without beauty, without money, and without
understanding." He went away growling, "I tell you the woman is ugly,
and sickly, and foolish and poor, and would it not make a man hang himself to
hear such a creature say she was happy?" The very idea of being happy
without the values so treasured by his materialistic heart made him angry. It
does not seem fair to the secularist who has struggled for all the externals of
wealth, power, and fame to see people who are happy who have not made the
struggle.
Paul would have made
him angry by his words in Phil. 4:11-12. Paul said, "...For I have learned
to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and
I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in
any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty
or in want." Paul's happiness was not dependent upon what happened, or
what he had. This means that Paul's happiness was internal. Paul did not have
control over the externals of his life, but like everybody else does, he had
control over how he would react to life internally.
If it is only going to
be a happy new year for us if we get more stuff, and all goes well, then we are
living on a different level than Paul was on. This does not mean we should not
get more stuff, and that we should not strive to make all go well. Paul advised
Christians to live peaceably with all men, and to prevent all the negatives of
life that they can. But if this is your only level of happiness you are too
controlled by the externals, and changes can quickly rob you of your joy in
Christ. We need to see the externals as fringe benefits, and not the base
salary of the Christian life. The foundation is to be internal and attitudinal
rather than external and material. Jesus and Paul agree here completely.
Happiness does not depend on what happens, but on how you face all that
happens. Jesus is saying in the beatitudes that you can be happy even if you
are experiencing many negative externals.
At this point we need
to take a detour off the main road to deal with the problem that Christians
have with reconciling being happy and miserable at the same time. One of the
major problems the Christian has in the pursuit of happiness is the sense of
failure that comes due to times of depression and other unhappy feelings. Many
feel guilty for not being happy in the Lord. Their unhappiness is magnified by
their guilt. They say, "I know I should be happy, but I just can't seem to
feel the joy of the Lord." The first thing we need to do is clarify the
Christians right to be miserable on a variety of levels. Jesus wept because of
people's rejection of God's grace. This makes it clear that the Christian has
every right to be unhappy over lost people. If a Christian feels guilty about
being sad over this lost world, he is feeling guilty for being Christlike, for
Jesus wept over this same thing.
Jesus also wept over
the sorrow of death and the lose of a loved one. He was very unhappy also with
the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, and the injustice of man to man. He felt rotten
about the way the temple was being used to rip off the poor, and how widows
were being taken advantage of, and their houses being taken from them. Add up
all the unhappy feelings of Jesus over the fallen nature of man, and you have a
host of legitimate reasons to be unhappy as a Christian. In fact, it is
unchristian if you are never sad and unhappy about a fallen and lost world.
There are legitimate
reasons to be unhappy, and it is folly to feel guilty for them. We could list
all of Paul's negative emotions as well, but it is not necessary, for if our
Lord had good reason to be unhappy with much of life, who can be so
presumptuous to expect to live on a higher emotional level then Him? Anyone who
expects to be feeling happy all the time is trying to live in a world that does
not yet exist. The only way to get there in the present is by insanity and the
loss of touch with reality. Some unhappiness is just part of the price we pay
for living in a fallen world. We have to get it out of our head that Christian
happiness means freedom from all care. It that is the case, the average cow is
happier than the average Christian. It was because Paul cared so much for the
churches that he went through so many negative emotions of frustration and
anxiety.
What we are dealing
with here is a paradox. It is the reality of being able to be miserable and
happy at the same time. Paul was often miserable over the problems in the
church, and yet he had an inner sense of well being that made him happy. This
means that Christian happiness is not always and emotion. One might be dominated
by the weeping with those who weep, and so they would feel sad at that point.
This does not rob them of contentment. Paul did not have the same emotion when
he was feasting with his friends as he had when he was in the dungeon starving
and alone. Paul is not saying that one is just the same as the other. He would
have to be a pet rock to be in such a state.
Paul had all kinds of
emotions, just as Jesus did, but his point is that he had an attitude of
contentment within regardless of his emotions. When he said that Demas had
forsaken him he was feeling bad about it. He was not indifferent to
circumstances and saying its all fine with him regardless of what was
happening.
But even when he felt
bad about circumstances, he still had his contentment in Christ which
circumstances could not change. This calls for great discipline to be truly
happy on this level. We get a glimpse into the depth of what it means to be
Christlike by looking at this inner contentment of Paul. Look at the reasons
for why we are so often discontented in life.
1. Selfishness. We
want things to be our way and good for us. When they are not we are discontent.
We will all have some unhappiness because we always want to get our own way.
2. Envy. This makes us
discontent because we see the possessions and gifts of others almost as if they
were stolen from us, and we resent it, and so feel unhappy.
3. Covetousness. We
have a strong desire for more than we now have, and this robs us of the
enjoyment of what we do have. No matter how much we get it is never enough, for
there is so much more to covet. There is always an emptiness that can never be
fully filled because we covet more.
Paul was happy because
he did not have to wrestle with these vices. He had conquered them, and so he
was content with his life. A happy life does depend on our conquering all the
temptations of life that fill us with discontent. This means that it is hard
work to be happy, for you have to die to self and all that the world appeals to
in us.
It is important for us
to be aware that almost everything that people do is because they believe it
will lead to happiness. The Prodigal Son did not take his money and go off to
live in the pleasure of sin with any other motive than the desire to be happy.
Men just do not pursue evil for evil's sake. Few if any could care less about
pleasing Satan. All they want is happiness for themselves. Men chose the path
that leads to misery only because they are convinced it leads to happiness. Sin
would have nothing to offer man if it did not hold out the deceptive offer of
happiness.
Satan competes for the
souls of men by offering and imitation of everything God offers for man's true
happiness. From the start this was the case. The first temptation was an offer
of greater happiness by eating the forbidden fruit. Satan is constantly trying
to under sell God, and he offers to men what he claims is greater happiness at
less cost. What the sinner fails to think of is that it is God who does the
ultimate billing, and the cost of Satan's happiness is eternal unhappiness. No
one who really knew the whole story could purchase temporary happiness at such
a cost, but Satan is the master deceiver. It is the purpose of the Christian to
distinguish between the false happiness of Satan, and the true happiness of
God, and then demonstrate its superiority in life to enlighten men. This is
part of what being the light of the world means.
A college girl told me
that non-Christian kids on campus think that the Christians are dull and
boring. A cab driver said he didn't like church conventions coming to town
because Christians come with the Ten Commandments and a ten dollar bill, and
they don't break either of them. His concept of happiness was the pleasure of
sin and the spending of money. The Christian cannot please men on that level,
but Christians ought to make it clear that it is a joy to be a Christian. The
world should be impressed with Christian happiness. When the non-Christian says
we are all seeking the same thing, we should agree, but be able to show him that
the happiness the Christian finds in Christ is of a much better quality.
The problem in doing
this is simply that Christians have not given enough thought to what happiness
really is, and so they are on the same level with the world in their search for
it in many different directions. Man is a complex being, and every desire, and
every different kind of disposition leads to a different theory of happiness.
The ancient writer Cicero said that in his day there were 20 rival opinions
concerning the source of true happiness. Varro was able to enumerate 280 such
opinions. There are probably more opinions on the way to happiness than on any
other subject, and the problem is that there is some truth to every one of
them. Happiness has a thousand faces to match the diversity of personalities,
gifts, and natures. The poetess Priscilla Leonard wrote,
Happiness is like a
crystal, Fair and exquisite and clear,
Broken in a million
pieces, Shattered, scattered far and near,
Now and then along
life's pathway, Lo! Some shining fragments fall;
But there are so many
pieces, No one ever finds them all.
You may find a bit of
beauty, Or an honest share of wealth,
While another just
beside you, Gathers honor, love or health.
Vain to choose or
grasp unduly, Broken is the perfect ball;
And there are so many
pieces, No one ever finds them all.
Yet the wise as on
they journey Treasure every fragment clear,
Fit them as they may
together, Imaging the shattered sphere.
Learning ever to be
thankful, Though their share of it is small;
For it has so many
pieces, No one ever finds them all.
There is no doubt that
she has in this poem expounded a basic truth which the Scriptures support.
Being a Christian, and receiving God's best, which is salvation through Jesus
Christ does not supply one with every kind of happiness. The Bible makes it
clear that there are different gifts, and different degrees of talent among
Christians. There is probably no Christian who has ever had everything that can
be had to increase their usefulness and happiness. If we could be happier with
a gain of anything either internal or external, we are not yet in possession of
perfect happiness. Complete happiness is impossible, therefore, in this life.
That is what heaven is all about. Even Jesus knew sorrow, pain, and grief in
His human life, and, therefore, the Christian goal for this life is never
absolute happiness at any price.
The Christian must
recognize the limits of the happiness that can rightly be theirs in God's will.
Sometimes God's will requires us to be unhappy, and this then brings us back to
where we begin, and that is that Christian happiness is basically internal, and
it is in the character of the Christian. Someone said, "Happiness is not a
station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling." The blessedness Jesus
speaks of in the beatitudes is an internal attitude which completely
contradicts the expected response to the external facts. The direction of
Christian happiness is within rather than external, but because many pagans
have also found this to be the best source of happiness, the Christian view
cannot be that only. Therefore, Pascal says, "Happiness is neither without
nor within us, it is in God, both without us and within us."
This sounds like a
circular argument that says it is neither, and also both. It does say this, but
so as to lift the subject of happiness out of the realm where man is the center
to where God is the center. This is where the Christian view of happiness
becomes distinct. In the pagan view even their gods are means to human happiness.
In the Christian view happiness for man is not an end in itself, but is a means
to the glory of God. In Christian theology man's chief end is to glorify God
and enjoy Him forever. Glorifying and enjoying God is the highest happiness man
can attain. Man's happiness, therefore, is only uniquely Christian and
Christlike when God receives the glory.
There is never any
doubt when you examine the life of Christ as to who is the center of His life.
In His prayer He taught us to say, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed
be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done." God was the center of
His life, the source of His power, and the end of all His acts. We very subtly
are lead into a sub-Christian view of life when we make God a means to fulfilling
our own ends. The very study of, and longing for, happiness can lead us in this
direction, and, therefore, we must ever keep in mind that the essence of
Christian happiness is in making God and His glory the end of all we are and
all we do.
Ernest M. Ligon in The
Psychology of Christian Personality says that many studies have led to the
conclusion that integration of personality is a basic key to good health in all
its aspects, and thus, to the happy life. What is integration? He writes, "Briefly,
integration is the condition of a personality in which all of te emotional
attitudes are harmonious and mutually helpful, thus permitting all of one's
natural energy to be directed toward one end." This is Paul's, "This
one thing I do." It is the life with one supreme aim and center. Ligon
says, "If an individual can organize his emotional attitudes in such
harmony with one another, that he can direct all of his urges and appetites
about one central purpose, which is always the focus of his interest and of his
attention, we find the peak of efficiency, and the perfect integration."
When God is that central purpose we have arrived at the highest happiness life
can offer on this earth.
I read of a big cat
who saw a little cat chasing his tail and he asked why? "Because I am
seeking happiness, and when I catch my tail I will be happy." The big cat
said, "I too have studied happiness and found it to be in my tail. But I
have observed that when I chase it it keeps running away, but when I go about
my business, it just seems to come after me wherever I go." The point
being, the chasing after happiness can be futile, but just being faithful to
your daily duties can be fruitful in fulfilling your need for happiness. It is
not all out there somewhere, but it is internal, and comes with the
satisfaction of a meaningful life. Paul was not out chasing happiness. Paul was
doing the best he could to fulfill the calling of God, and the result was
contentment in any state. He did not always feel delighted, or happy in the
sense that he never wept, felt angry or frustrated, or even depressed. But he
was happy that he was in the right place doing what God wanted him to do.
Happiness for Paul was
in knowing he was a tool available to God to minister to human need. It was both
internal as a sense of peace and contentment, and external because of the
evidence that he was being used. People were changed, churches were founded,
and the kingdom was expanding. The externals for Paul were fringe benefits,
however, and his basic happiness was the internal contentment of being in
Christ, and being used of Christ. Someone said, "Happiness is life a
butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it eludes you. But if you turn your
attention to others things, it will come and softly sit on your shoulder."
Happiness comes from
within.
Our attitudes are the
key.
No matter what
circumstance,
Some good we can
always see.
Try positive
attitudes.
They're so easy to
create.
In joy and
contentment,
Will be your happy
fate.
If you do good to
others,
You have made a
sure-fire start.
It is almost
guaranteed,
To put a smile within
your heart.
Catherine Marshall has
known the deep sorrows of grief, and the great unhappiness of life going wrong
in so many ways, but she has known also the joy of success in Christian
service. She writes, "I have observed that when any of us embark on the
pursuit of happiness for ourselves, it eludes us. Often I've asked myself, why?
It must be because happiness comes to us only as a dividend, as a gift given us
by God. When we become absorbed in something demanding and worthwhile above and
beyond ourselves, happiness suddenly becomes ours as a by-product of the
self-giving. That should not be a startling truth, yet I'm surprised at how few
people understand and accept it. Have too many of us made a god of happiness?
Have we been brainwashed by the magazine and television ads, featuring
happiness?"
She sees most
Americans interpreting their right to the pursuit of happiness to mean the
right to grab all the power, money, and pleasure they can get. This leads to
some very non-Christian methods of being happy. Rights need to be dealt with
right, or they become wrongs. Both Jesus and Paul make it clear that it is more
than a right to be happy, it is a duty. It is part of our commitment to Christ
to overcome all that would make us unhappy. Jeremy Taylor said, "God
threatens terrible things if we will not be happy." Robert Louis Stevenson
said, "There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being
happy." If we listen to Jesus and Paul, and follow their example we will
find happiness and contentment by knowing God as our heavenly Father, and by
being committed to that which we know is His will for our lives.
2.
PROSPERITY IN POVERTY Based on Matt. 5:3
After his return from
church one Sunday, a small boy said, "You know what mommie? I'm going to
be a preacher when I grow up." "That's wonderful," said his
mother. What made you decide you want to be a preacher?" The boy said
thoughtfully, "Well, I'll have to go to church anyway on Sunday, and I
think it would be more fun to stand up and yell than to sit still and
listen." Happiness is yelling rather than listening from the perspective
of a small boy. From the perspective of a mother, however, happiness is a small
boy who sits still and listens. Happiness is obviously different things to
different people, and even different things to the same person under varying
circumstances.
Someone has said, to
be happy with a man you must love him a little and understand him a lot. To be
happy with a woman you must love her a lot, and not even try to understand her.
Whatever you think of that, there is no doubt that happiness means something
different to each of the sexes. It also varies according to the interest of
persons. The poet Gray said, it would be a paradise of happiness for him if he
could lie on a sofa and read new French romances forever. Doremas Hayes, the
great Mennonite scholar wrote in response to that ideal of happiness: "To
lie on a sofa and read French novels forever would be no paradise for some of
us. It would be a purgatory by the end of one month, and it would be the
blackest depth of hell in less than a year."
We met a couple who
bought a shirt for their overweight boy, and it had these words printed on
it-Happiness is suppertime. Not long ago the sign at the Holiday Inn read,
"Happiness is eating in the Camelot Room." But we all know that the
pleasure of eating does not make life happy in any lasting sense. And there are
many in poor health who do not even enjoy the temporal blessing it can be.
Happiness, as we generally think of it, varies with the winds of circumstance.
We tie happiness so closely to emotion, and nothing could be more variable than
feelings. We can feel happy today, and depressed tomorrow, depending on the
news, the weather, or any number of circumstances.
Jesus is not
interested in this kind of subjective haphazard happiness. He goes to the inner
man, and speaks of a happiness, or blessedness, which is a matter of character
and being. It does not depend on external circumstances. Happiness rises and
falls, but blessedness is a kind of happiness that remains steady in spite of
the variations in feelings. The Beatitudes of Jesus are attitudes of being.
Happiness in the highest sense depends on what you are and not what happens to
you. There are many others who have arrived at this conclusion, but no one has
been so paradoxical as Jesus. He tells us that happiness is found in just the
opposite direction that men are going in search of it. It seems like nonsense
to the world to find happiness in poverty, mourning, meekness, and persecution.
Even Christians wonder
what Jesus means by these apparently contradictory statements. We must
recognize that Jesus is challenging the world's whole system of values. Many
worldly people speak highly of the Sermon On The Mount and the Beatitudes
because they are not aware of the radical nature of what Jesus is saying. A
true understanding of His concept of happiness will transform the life of any
person, and radically alter their character and conduct. The Interpreter's
Bible says, "The Beatitudes, far from being passive or mild, are a
gauntlet flung down before the world's accepted standards. Thus they become
clearer when set against their opposites. The opposite of poor in spirit are
the proud in spirit. The opposite of those who mourn are the light headed,
always bent on pleasure. The opposite of the meek are the aggressors. The
opposite of the persecuted are those who always play it safe."
If we intend to be
happy, from the perspective of Jesus, we will come into direct conflict with
the standards of the world. This can and does lead to opposition, and
persecution, and a great deal of subjective unhappiness for the Christian. Any
way you approach it the Christian life, at its best, is a paradox. By means of
what the world calls unhappiness, we can be happy in the highest sense, but the
consequences may be subjective unhappiness in relation to the world. This
paradox becomes easier to grasp if we distinguish between subjective and
objective happiness. Almost everyone who writes about happiness thinks only of
the subjective side-that is how a person feels and thinks. Jesus deals with
objective happiness, that is how God thinks, for He alone can see life from
God's perspective, and know the ultimate consequences of all we are and do.
Objective happiness is not based on how you feel, but how you measure up to
God's standard.
Notice how Jesus just
lays it down as a fact and law of life when He says, "Blessed are the poor
in spirit." He does not say, may they be blessed, or they should be or
will be, they just are. But what if they don't feel like it, or are not aware
of it? That is beside the point. Jesus is not talking about how people feel. He
is speaking of the objective standard of happiness, and if you measure up, you
are happy whether you feel like it or not. In fact, it is impossible to feel
happy when are mourning, or when you are being persecuted, unless you are
neurotic or psychotic. Subjective happiness at all times would be abnormal for
anyone. The poet was right who wrote,
If you can smile when
things go wrong, and say it doesn't matter.
If you can laugh off
cares and woe, and trouble makes you fatter.
There's something
wrong with you.
For one thing I've
arrived at, there are no ands and buts,
A guy that's grinning
all the time must be completely nuts.
To be subjectively
happy all the time would be unchristlike, for Jesus felt sorrow and grief. He
wept, and He felt frustration over the failure of His disciples. He was angry
and upset by evil and oppression. The world longs for perpetual subjective
happiness. They want to feel good all the time, regardless of the sin and evil
in the world. The Christian cannot and dare not even try, for that is to go in
the opposite direction of true happiness according to Jesus. The truly happy
Christian will be miserable at times in a world so full of evil and folly. The
Christian naturally wants his share of subjective happiness, but this is
secondary, and is to be a byproduct.
Our goal is to be
objectively happy according to the standard of Christ. This means a Christian
might feel terrible, and yet be very happy. He might say, I feel so ignorant
and helpless, and it is so discouraging to have so little capacity to serve
God. He feels subjectively unhappy, but Jesus says that this poverty of spirit
is just what God wants in a person, and so whether he knows it or not, he is a
blessed person headed for great reward in the kingdom of God. On the other
hand, the Christian who says, I am satisfied with what I know, and feel happy
about my service for the Lord, is really far less happy by God's standard, even
though he feels better than the other Christian who is poor in spirit, and who
mourns over his inability, and who hungers for more of God's righteousness.
It is one thing to
feel happy, and another thing to be happy. The mature Christian is one who is
able to see from the perspective of Christ, and be able to feel subjective joy
even when the circumstances of objective happiness are not joyful. When he
knows he is what God wants him to be, he is happy even if he doesn't feel it.
This calls for an eternal perspective, and a faith in God's ultimate plan.
Jesus went this way before us, and our happiness depends on our following Him.
Heb. 12:2 put it, "Looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our
faith, who for the joy that set before Him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."
Jesus was not
subjectively happy on the cross, but He was the most objectively happy person
that ever lived, for He was fulfilling everything God wanted Him to be, for He
was the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world. This is our goal as we
study these beatitudes. Being what God wants you to be is the highest level of
happiness. The first of these paradoxes is, "Blessed are the poor in
spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Poor and poverty are words
which the world flees from like the plague, for they see them as the enemy of
happiness. Jesus says there is a form of poverty which is the key to happiness,
and all are in general agreement that this is the basis on which all of the
beatitudes are built. There are three attitudes which, when combined, give us a
good picture of the person who is poor in spirit. First there is-
I. THE ATTITUDE OF
DEFICIENCY.
No person can be truly
happy who does not recognize he has a lack in his life. We often think it would
be wonderful to be totally satisfied with no sense of deficiency, but Jesus
says this would be a curse. The Christians in Laodicea made this mistake. Their
attitude was one of proud self-sufficiency, and this is what Jesus says to them
in Rev. 3:17, "You say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I have need of
nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and
naked." Failure to recognize their deficiency led them into pride. They
were blind to their poverty, and the result was a subjective feeling of
satisfaction, but objective unhappiness in the eyes of Christ. However they
felt, they were miserable according to Christ.
If they had recognized
their deficiency, and been poor in spirit they would have been dependent on
Christ and His sufficiency, and, therefore, prosperous and happy. They took the
world's way of prosperity and landed in spiritual poverty. The way of Christ is
the way of poverty, which is an honest recognition that you are deficient. This
leads to growth, prosperity, and happiness. The poor in spirit are those who
simply see the facts of life as they are. They tell it like it is, and they
know they are far from what they ought to be. Pascal said, "There are only
two kinds of men, the righteous who believe themselves sinners; the rest,
sinners who believe themselves righteous." These are represented by the
story Jesus told of the Publican and the Pharisee in the temple.
The Pharisee was proud
in spirit, and he was unconscious of any deficiency. He thanked God he was not
as other men. The Publican saw the facts. He knew he was a sinner and needed
help, and he cried out for God to be merciful to him as a sinner. He, as an
example of the poor in spirit, received the kingdom of heaven. Jesus says he
went away justified. The Pharisee felt no sorrow for sin. He shed no tear over
his callousness to human need. He felt just great, but objectively, measured by
God's standard, he was a poverty stricken wretch in the filthy rags of his own
righteousness. The poor Publican knew more of his deficiency and poverty of
righteousness, so he turned to God in mourning, and he hungered and thirsted
for God's righteousness to fill his emptiness. He went away with great wealth,
the pockets of his soul being filled with the jewel of justification, the gold
of godliness, and the silver of salvation. He found the prosperity in poverty
of which Jesus is speaking in this beatitude.
An attitude of
deficiency is essential to the highest happiness, for such an attitude keeps us
open to the blessings of God. Happy are those who know they don't have, for
they are open to receive. If you think you have already, you will not be open
to receive. The honest Christian knows that even though he may not steal, he
still covets. He knows that his spirit is far from the ideal, and is subject to
envy, jealousy, bitterness, pettiness, and love of ease and pleasure. It is
hard to be honest and admit our deficiencies, and the natural pride of man
resists it. The world holds up self-sufficiency as the key to happiness, and
the modern man wants no part of admitting to deficiency. An egocentric writer
was giving a group a running account of his own great activities and
achievements. Finally he stopped and said, "Enough about myself. Let's
hear from you. What do you think of my latest book?"
Jesus says those who
are so delighted and happy with themselves are objectively miserable, and their
final state will be tragic, but those who see their deficiency, and are
dissatisfied with themselves are objectively happy and are heading for great
heights in the kingdom of God. The paradox is, only those conscious of the
great gulf between them and God are able to draw near to God. Only those with
an attitude of deficiency can be truly happy, not because a lack of anything is
good in itself, but because this attitude leads to the second characteristic of
the poor in spirit.
II. THE ATTITUDE OF
DEPENDENCE.
A man who is truly
aware of his emptiness is looking for help. The proud man is able to make it
alone, but the poor in spirit knows he is not self-sufficient, but very
dependent. The Greek word for poor here carries in it the idea of begging, and
not merely the idea of lacking. Many translate it, "Blessed are the
beggarly in spirit." The concept of dependence is in the very word.
God alone is totally
self-sufficient, and no man can ever be truly happy until he recognizes he is
dependent upon God. The sin which led to all human unhappiness was the sin of
striving to become independent of God. Jesus counteracted the cause of all sin
with the opposite attitude of total and absolute submission, and dependence
upon God. Jesus was the greatest example of the poor in spirit. Listen to His
own testimony in John 5:19, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do
nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing." In
John 14:10 He said, The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own
authority, but the Father who dwells in me does His works." Jesus was
totally dependent upon the Father for everything. He prayed for guidance before
choosing the 12; He prayed for power before healing, and for strength to meet
His needs.
Jesus did not go about
in pride, as if He had an all powerful manhood. He knew He was powerless and
helpless in himself. His body and physical capacity was no greater than that of
other men. Without God, without prayer, and without the constant leading of the
Holy Spirit, Jesus could not have lived the perfect life anymore than you or I.
He succeeded, not because of His own divine power, for he emptied Himself of
that and became a man with all the limitations of manhood, but He succeeded by
total dependence on God the Father. According to God's standard, Jesus was the
happiest man who ever was, or who will ever be, because he alone was the
perfect example of the poor in spirit.
Ralph Sockman said of
the poor in spirit, "Whatever success they achieve they attribute to sources
beyond themselves." This was the attitude of Jesus, and must be ours if we
would be happy in the highest sense. Jesus said, "Without me you can do
nothing." Only as we recognize this, and yield ourselves to Him in total
dependence can we say with Paul, "I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me." The attitude of dependence on Christ is the door to the
kingdom, and the way to the heights of happiness within the kingdom.
Andrew Tait defined
the poor in spirit as, "Those who are conscious of their own frailties and
imperfections, who renounce all dependence on themselves and all pretension to
merit, and, weary and heavy laden, cast themselves at the feet of Christ for
mercy." You notice he includes both the attitude of deficiency and the attitude
of dependence. To feel your deficiency can lead to defeat if it does not drive
you to dependence upon God. The spies who went into the Promise Land saw their
deficiency, and they felt like grasshoppers before giants, but they were not
happy. Joshua was happy because he took the second step, and had the attitude
of dependence upon God, and thus, was assured a victory. Poverty of
self-sufficiency in one's own spirit which leads to dependence upon the power
of God's Spirit is the key to prosperity and happiness."
The saint that wears
heaven's brightest crown,
In deepest adoration
bends;
The weight of glory
bows him down,
The most when most his
soul ascends;
Nearest the throne
itself must be
The footstool of
humility.
The third character of
the poor in spirit is-
III. THE ATTITUDE OF
DETACHMENT.
Luther said,
"Poverty before God, that is, of the heart, is when one does not place his
trust and confidence in temporal things." If one is to be truly dependent
upon God, he must be detached from the things of the world that non-Christians
grasp at for happiness.
Jesus was ever calling
men to detach themselves from the values of the world to follow Him. James and
John were called to leave their boats and nets. Matthew was called to forsake
his tax collecting. Zachaeus offered to detach himself from his wealth and
share it. Paul suffered the loss of all things to serve Christ. All the values
he had established in society he gave up. He became detached from all to be a
slave for Christ. The rich young ruler could not detach himself from his
wealth, and so could not become a disciple.
The curse of riches,
fame, and power, and all the world's ways to happiness is not due to inherent
evil, but because they compete with total dependence upon God. Men get attached
to their wealth, position, and power, and, therefore, lose their attitude of
dependence upon God. The history of Israel reveals it over and over. When she
was poor and helpless, she depended completely on God, and was happy and
blessed. When she became prosperous, and became attached to riches, she lost
dependence upon God, and ended up under God's wrath. Prosperity was her
greatest curse, and led to her poverty. It was not because wealth is evil, for
it is not, but because it destroys dependence. The attitude of detachment is
essential to maintaining the attitude of dependence.
If we become
prosperous, the only way to avoid it being a destructive thing is to avoid
becoming attached to it. Literal poverty comes in here, but we don't have time
to deal with it here. The evidence would lead to the conclusion that the
literal poor stand a better chance of finding God's highest happiness than the
rich, because poverty leads to dependence on God, and it is easier to feel
detached from what you do not possess. Potentially, the poor in this world's
goods can be the richest in the kingdom of heaven.
This is a sidelight,
however. The poor in spirit are those who, be they rich or poor in this world's
goods, are detached from them, and dependent upon God. Dependence is the
central concept of the poor in spirit. The attitude of deficiency on one side,
and detachment on the other, are for the sake of increasing and maintaining
dependence. Whatever leads to dependence upon God is good and intensifies our
happiness. Poverty of spirit is the starting line, and only as we start here
can we ever hope to experience the prosperity of Christlike happiness.
3.
HAPPINESS IN SORROW Based on Matt. 5:4
The soloist asked the
visiting preacher what his subject was. She wanted to follow up with an
appropriate message in song. When he hesitated she told him to never mind, she
would listen and select something appropriate. When he concluded his sermon she
sang,
"Sometime,
Somewhere, We'll Understand." Many a sermon is hard to understand because
it is over our heads, complicated, and far removed from our experience of life.
But one of the paradoxes of life is that a sermon can also be hard to
understand just because it is too simple, and easy to grasp. This is the case
with the beatitudes. Jesus uses no big words; nor does He get complicated, or
off on areas of life removed from common experience. On the contrary, He is so
simple and clear in what He says that it becomes a problem.
Blessed are those who
mourn is just too clear, and Luke makes it even more clear when he writes,
"Blessed are you who weep now for you shall laugh." This is so clear
and obvious that it is hard to understand. The simplicity of it must be
complicated by distinctions and interpretations before it makes sense, for who
ever heard of happy sadness? Paradox always calls for careful interpretation.
If we take these words as an absolute statement without qualification we end up
as universalists. If all who mourn are to be comforted, then all shall be
comforted, for all men mourn. The aged poet reflects back on life and writes,
I've seen your weary
winter-sun
Twice forty times
return,
And every time has
added proofs
That man was made to
mourn.
Certainly, Jesus did
not mean to convey the idea that mere mourning is the key to happiness. That
would turn hell into heaven, and give us salvation by sorrow. What of the
immoral mourning of Ahab because he could not have the vineyard of Naboth? What
of Jonah's mourning because of God's mercy on Ninevah? What of Hamen's mourning
over the advancement of Mordacai? What of the mourning of Judas over his
betrayal of Jesus, and the millions who mourn because the consequences of sin
are misery and death? The road to damnation is wet with the tears of those who
mourn. It is clear that the simple statement of Jesus cannot be taken as a
absolute rule, for that would lead to the superficial conclusion that all evil
men will be comforted rather than condemned. Sin, suffering, and sorrow would
be only illusions, and we will all be happy when the light of truth dissolves
them. This is an unbiblical view of evil, and certainly this is not what Jesus
meant.
What then did Jesus
mean by this statement? Bill Graham asks, "How can one extract the perfume
of gladness from the gall of sorrow?" If not all sorrow leads to
happiness, and not all mourning leads to comfort, then we need to distinguish
between good and evil sorrow. The best way to accomplish this is to look at the
mourning of Christ.
What made Him weep and
shed tears? This will be the kind of mourning that we must do to be blessed. We
must study the attitudes of Christ which made Him mourn to see the meaning of
this beatitude. The first attitude of Jesus that led Him to mourn was His-
I. ATTITUDE ON SIN.
Jesus was a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief, not just because of what sin was doing to
Him through those who rejected Him, but because of what sin was doing to them.
Weep not for me, He said to those who felt sorry for Him, but weep for
yourselves. The consequences of sin are horrible, and those who do not find
refuge in Christ must suffer the full force of God's wrath on sin. This is why
Jesus wept over Jerusalem, and there can be no doubt that He shed many tears of
mourning as he prayed alone all night in secluded places. This kind of mourning
over sin is a key to happiness, because it leads one to oppose sin and its
consequences. This is to take a stand with God against Satan, and assures one
of eternal victory and comfort.
This attitude is
different from that of sorrow over sin because the consequences spoil your
pleasure. The worldly person mourns over sin in this way. The one thief on the
cross mourned because his sin led him to the death penalty. He did not feel bad
over his sin, but he felt terrible over getting caught, and having to pay the
penalty. The world's beatitude is, "Blessed are they that never get
caught." Bertha Buxton said, "After all, the eleventh commandment
(thou shalt not be found out) is the only one that is vitally important to keep
in these days." This is no joke, but the sincere philosophy of masses of
people. To enjoy the pleasures of sin and escape the penalty is the goal of
life for many. This leads to being insensitive to sin, and a careless and
carefree attitude which is just the opposite of what Jesus is saying.
When we cease to be
sensitive to sin, and, therefore, cease to mourn over what it is doing to God,
others, and to ourselves, we cut ourselves off from the hope of anything but
the most superficial happiness. Newman said, "Our best remedy against sin
is to be shocked at it." The tragedy is that sin is so common that we tend
to take it for granted. We adjust to it and consider our comfort and ease in
its presence a sign of strength. As a college student, John McFarland spent a
summer in the slums of Chicago. When he returned to school, and to the country
parish where he served, he told of his shock at what he saw. After the service,
a member of the congregation, who had been on the board of a large corporation
in Chicago, came up to him and said, "Don't worry about it John-you'll get
to the place where that sort of thing won't bother you any more."
He was right, of
course, but what he failed to realize is that when we adjust to sin, and are no
longer bothered and disturbed enough to mourn, we drop down to zero on God's
objective standard of happiness. By escaping the sorrow that comes with being
disturbed by sin, we place ourselves in a neutral position in the battle of
good and evil. This is the lukewarm position that is distasteful to God, and makes
you of no value in His plan to push back the forces of darkness. Happiness for
the Christian is dependent upon being sorrowful over sin, and what it does to
people's lives. Those who do not mourn over sin do not repent, and so they do
not receive God's forgiveness, and so cannot be ultimately happy.
He that lacks time to
mourn lacks time to mend.
Eternity mourns that.
'Tis and ill cure
For life's worst ills
to have no time to feel them.
Had the Prodigal Son never
come to the place of mourning over his folly, he never would have experienced
the happiness of a father's forgiveness, and a joyous welcome home. His
mourning was the key to his happiness, and so it is for millions who mourn over
their sin, and flee back to God in repentance.
God's love runneth
faster than our feet,
to meet us stealing
back to Him and peace,
and kisses dumb our
shame; nay, and puts on
the best robe, bidding
angels bring it forth.
The angels of heaven
rejoiced over the repentant returning sinner. God is happy as well, and so is
the one who has mourned over his sin. In no other kind of sorrow can so much
happiness be found. Who is happier than the one who has just lost his heavy
burden at the cross.
It is important that
we see this is to be continuous, and not just a once for all mourning at the
time of conversion. It is not, blessed are those who have mourned, but, those
who do mourn. Sensitivity to sin must characterize the Christian at all times.
This leads to immediate sorrow when we sin, and to confession and cleansing.
Paul wrote in II Cor. 2:10, "For Godly grief produces a repentance that
leads to salvation and brings no regrets, but worldly grief produces
death." There is a clear distinction between sorrow that leads to death,
and that which leads to the life of happiness. Happiness comes only from the
sorrow that is honest and realistic about sin.
Pascal said,
"There is no comfort in anything except the truth." And the truth is,
says L. P. Jacks, "We are all stockholders in human misery and
degradation." The poor in spirit recognized this, and those who mourn do
something about it, for they repent and receive God's solution to their sin
through Christ. In a very literal sense, no man will ever be truly happy who
has not mourned because of his sin, and that of others. Jesus wept over what
sin did to others, and this leads us to the consideration of the second kind of
mourning Jesus had in mind. It is that mourning which comes from-
II. ATTITUDE OF
SYMPATHY.
Thomas Jefferson said,
"Sensibility of mind is indeed the parent of every virtue, but it is the
parent of much misery too." Jesus could have lived a much more peaceful
and undisturbed life had He not been so sensitive to people's needs. He had
compassion on the multitudes over and over again, and this meant a heart
constantly bearing the burdens of others. Dr. Jowell called Jesus the divine
seismograph. He wrote, "His heart was a delicate instrument sensitively
registering the faintest tremors of the world's pain and sorrow." This is
the kind of mourning that leads to happiness by God's standard. The happiest
people in the world are not those who have sealed up their hearts, and walled
themselves off from the suffering of the world. On the surface it may seem like
happiness to be oblivious and indifferent to the needs of others, but in
reality it is a curse. It is that form of security in which you lose your life
by saving it. He who would save his life must lose it, said Jesus. He must open
his heart to the pain of involvement, and take up the cross and follow Him.
Follow Him to happiness on the road of sympathy.
Lord Shaftesbury, the
English Reformer, saw a funeral as a boy that changed the course of history.
The body of the poor man had been put in a hand made coffin, and was being
pulled by his three drunken friends on a hand drawn cart. They were singing
foolish songs, and in their carelessness they let the coffin fall and break
open. They were hilarious and disgusting, and the sadness of it hit him so
deeply that he vowed that he would do something to change that sad scene. He
was grieved by what he saw, and because he came to have the power to do
something about it, his mourning led to victory over much evil. He went on to
make a major difference in many social issues of his day. Theophylact said,
"It is one of the worst sights to see a sinner go laughing to hell."
Jesus mourned over such sinners, and so have many others, and these mourners,
because of their sympathy with the sinner have done things to lead many of them
to heaven.
"Let my heart be
broken with the things that break the heart of God," was the prayer of the
founder of World Vision. No Christian can be happy in depth if he does not have
the heart of Christ which mourns over what sin does to people's lives. David in
Psa. 119:136 wrote, "Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is
not obeyed." When you get so hardened that the power of sin to destroy
lives no longer bothers you, you have shriveled up, rather than have grown. It
may hurt to care but it is only those who hurt who care enough to help.
Isolation and the
attempt to be happy by taking care of no. 1 and leaving others to bear their
own burdens is the devil's joy. James Reid said, "The saddest thing in all
God's world is not a soul that sorrows; it is a heart so dull that it is
incapable of feeling grief at all." Abraham Lincoln said, "I am sorry
for the man who can't feel the whip when it is laid on the other man's
back." It costs to be sensitive and to have compassion. A great deal of subjective
happiness goes down the drain when you take up the cross of sympathy, and weep
with those who weep. It is a burden that lifts, however, and leads you and
others into the depths, and also the heights, of blessedness.
Samuel H. Miller, dean
of Harvard said, "There is no way to share in the agony of our world, its
darkness and shame and bewilderment, except by suffering what it suffers,
caring in our hearts what it cares in its heart, and sweating through the
Gethsemane of its travail and decision." This, of course, is what the
incarnation of Christ is all about. When Jesus, with strong crying and tears,
wept in agony in Gethsemane, He entered wholly and sympathetically into the
suffering of mankind, and by so doing opened the way to perfect understanding
between God and man, and thus, to perfect happiness. If you are never sad, but
only mad at sinners, you will not be a happy Christian.
A joy there is, in
sacrifice secluded;
A life subdued, from
will and passion free;
Tis not the joy which
over Eden brooded,
But that which
triumphed in Gethsemane.
Blessed are those who
mourn because of their attitude toward sin, and their attitude of sympathy
toward the sinner. The third attitude which shows the reality of finding
happiness in sorrow is very comprehensive, and it takes in mourning over
sickness, suffering, separation, setbacks, and sidetracks in life. It is the-
III. ATTITUDE OF
SUBMISSION.
This attitude alone
can make it possible for the Christian to find happiness in much of the
mourning of life. We have a vague idea in our minds that grief, tragedy, and
suffering somehow brings us nearer to God, but we don't believe it enough to
long for those things.
On the contrary, we
shun them, and pray for God's providence to help us avoid them. We would rather
draw nearer to God in health and prosperity any day. The world also wants the
happiness of a suffering free life, but, of course, they cannot attain it, and
Jesus knew
none of His followers
could attain it either, and so He incorporated the unavoidable sorrows of life
into His system of happiness. Suffering and sorrow from evil is real. Jesus
endured it Himself, but He also conquered it through submission. Not my will
but thine be done, was the conclusion Jesus came to as He mourned in the
garden. The only way much suffering can be redeemed for good is by letting it
drive you to God in total submission. Any mourning that leads to this attitude
will place you high on God's objective standard of happiness, and in His
providence will often lead also to great subjective happiness.
For example, when
Frank Laubach was a missionary in the Philippines, he wanted desperately to be
chosen president of the Theological Seminary in Manila. One vote cost him the
appointment. As a result, he became bitterly resentful, and so much so that in
his brooding his work and his health began to fail. Here is destructive
mourning that will never lead to happiness, but only to misery. There is only
one way that this sorrow can be a means to happiness, and fortunately for him,
the world, and the kingdom of God, Frank took it. In desperation he cast
himself before God in total submission. Without reservation, he committed his
life to be used in any way God saw fit. To demonstrate his death to self, he
went to live among the fierce head-hunting Moros, whom no missionary had been
able to reach.
For months he lived in
great danger, but he labored diligently and won their confidence, and began a
Christian work among them. Because of his submission and willingness to be
nobody, God made him somebody, and Frank Lauback went on to become one of the
best known men in all the world, as the world's greatest apostle to
illiterates. He has taught more people to read then any man in history. A
friend of his wrote of his experience. "God took the deep yearning that
had turned into mourning, and the mourning that had triumphed in
relinquishment, and out of this yearning and relinquishment brought into birth
a meek, God-controlled Frank Lauback."
Any mourning that
leads to submission to God, rather than resistance, resentment, or rebellion,
will lead to happiness. This principle holds true for the sorrow that comes
with the loss of a loved one, or the shock of finding you have cancer, or any
number of things that lead to mourning. Dr. William F. Rogers in his book, Ye
Shall Be Comforted, gives us a bit of established information that will be of
value to all of us. "As human personalities we can stand a great deal in
the way of emotional shock, but the one thing that gets us into trouble is
deceit. When we honestly face and accept the fact, no matter how distressing,
the immediate shock can be accommodated without dire consequences, but when we
try to evade or suppress unpleasant realities, then we are in for emotional
disturbances. When we express our sense of loss and sorrow, the reality of it
is fully established, it is accepted, and it is overcome."
From a scientific and
psychological point of view he concludes, "There is no comfort for those
who do not mourn." The statement of Jesus is not absolute in the sense
that all mourning will be comforted, but it is absolute in the sense that all
mourning which leads to submission to God shall be comforted. This means that
the essence of this beatitude is the same as the first one, and all of the
rest, for it is a matter of dependence upon God. An attitude toward sin that
drives you to Christ as your only hope. An attitude of sympathy that drives you
to serve others in the compassion of Christ, and finally, an attitude of
submission that drives you to your knees before God, broken and yielded to be
used as He wills. These are the attitudes that will lead us to Christlike
happiness in sorrow.
4.
THE MIGHTY MEEK Based on Matt. 5:5
A dejected coach
entered a telephone booth after losing out in the high school basketball
tournament. When he discovered he didn't have a dime he called a passing
student: "Hey! Lend me a dime so I can call a friend." The student
reached into his pocket and pulled out two dimes. He handed them to the coach
and said, "Here's two dimes coach, call all your friends." It is hard
to be a loser and still win friends and influence people. Human nature resents
defeat. Yet, defeat is necessary to test a person's strength of character. Most
everyone can win gracefully, but it takes something extra to be graceful in
defeat. It is one of the paradoxes of life that some positive values can only
be developed under negative circumstances. The poet gives an example.
Good sportsmanship we
hail, we sing,
It's always pleasant
when you spot it.
There's only one
unhappy thing;
You have to lose to
prove you've got it.
Richard Armour
What is true for
sports, is true for the game of life in general. Only those who know how to
respond properly to defeat, anger, insult, and persecution, can be truly happy
and good sportsman in the game of life. The natural tendency is to meet every
challenge to the ego with aggression. Any insult to the I on the throne must be
met with revengeful retaliation. This attitude was at one time built right into
the framework of society. The code of honor required men to duel to the death
of one of them over an insult. The man who could avenge himself by eliminating
anyone who dared to offend him was a hero. Although this tragic code has longed
been outlawed, the attitude it represented still reigns in the hearts of men.
So much so that the
words of Jesus, "Blessed are the meek," are themselves and offense to
men. It is an insult to their dignity, and contrary to what they feel are the
facts of life. It is the aggressor who gets what he is after. The meek are
crushed and trampled under the feet of the strong, and rather than inheriting
the earth, they are fortunate if they can hold on to what little they have. The
only happiness you can get out of this beatitude, say the critics, is the
happiness of a good laugh. Kim Hubbard considers it a joke and writes,
"It's going to be fun to watch and see how long the meek can keep the
earth after they inherit it."
Meekness has come to
be so closely associated with weakness that it loses all attraction. Even
children want no part of it. A little boy said to his mother, "Don't call
me your little lamb, call me your little tiger." Power is what appeals,
and words that speak of strength. Meekness may be a good word for the female of
the species, but it is as out of place in the masculine camp as lace. Aristotle
was afraid of meekness, even though he considered it a good thing. He wrote,
"The meek man is not apt to avenge himself, but rather to forgive."
He feared the very thing that Jesus holds up as the key to happiness,
which is the ability
to forgive one who has insulted or injured you. This beatitude brings us into
conflict with the value systems of the world, and the sinful pride of our own
nature. Only if we are poor in spirit, and recognize our own deficiency and
dependence upon God, and only if we mourned over our sin, and submit ourselves
to God, can we find the happiness that comes through meekness.
Jesus is always our
greatest example of every virtue, and when we see what meekness is in Him, we
discover it is not weakness, but power and strength. Jesus was the mighty meek,
and His meekness of being the Lamb of God was not incompatible with His
mightiness of being the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. His lowliness of being the
Lily of the Valley is not incompatible with His loftiness of being the Bright
and Morning Star. Meekness, when rightly understood, is not only compatible
with strength, it is the way to strength, and, as Jesus says, it is the means
whereby Christians will accomplish what all the power of aggression has failed
to do, and they will inherit the earth. We want to look at three attitudes
which characterize the meek.
I. THE ATTITUDE OF
REASONABLENESS.
Meekness is a matter
of the mind. Matthew Henry, the well known Bible commentator writes, "The
office of meekness is to keep reason upon the throne in the soul as it ought to
be; to preserve the understanding clear and unclouded, the judgment untainted
and unbiased in the midst of the greatest provocation." The opposite of
being meek is to be a victim of passion. Alexandra the Great in a drunken fit
of anger threw a spear at one of his best friends and killed him. When I was in
high school doing jail visitation on Sunday, I met and Indian who had gotten
mad at his friend. He went and got a sawed off shotgun and blew his friend in
half. He was drunk, as was his friend. These are illustrations of the power of
the non-meek, and those who are ruled by unreasonable passion.
As tragic as passion
and brute force can be, the world still holds that this is the way to be
victorious in the dog eat dog life. The Saga Of King Olaf by Longfellow gives
us the world's philosophy.
Force rules the world
still, Has ruled it, shall rule it;
Meekness is weakness,
Strength is triumphant.
Over the whole earth,
Still is it Thor's-Day.
Jesus says this is
blind unreasonable deception, and that meekness is the true power that will
conquer. Those who allow emotion and unreasonable force determine their
response to life's blows, blow up and destroy the happiness of others as well
as their own. Jesus rejects such nonsense, and says in Matt. 11:29, "Take
my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart."
Paul was wise enough to take this advice, and he writes, in
II. Cor. 10:1, "I
Paul, myself intreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ."
Meekness is that
attitude of God when He said, "Come now let us reason together." All
through the Bible the appeal is to be meek and gentle, for this is the only reasonable
way to face life. Jesus, in meekness, faced scoffing, pushing, whipping,
spitting, and every indignity men could inflict upon Him. Even unto to
crucifixion. He went as a lamb to slaughter, and He opened not his mouth. This
was not weakness, but incomparable strength. Jesus had the power to retaliate
to the injustice of it all with a just wrath, but instead, He prayed,
"Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Jesus not only
kept cool when being provoked to a point that would make most men boil, and
overflow with rage, He responded in love.
Reasonableness leads
to restraint, so that a man's energy and temper are brought under the control
of a purpose. Meekness, therefore, leads to strength, for it keeps energy on
the right track where it fulfills goals. Xenophon used the very Greek word we
have here for meekness to describe horses broken to bridle. They were made meek
by being tamed, and this was not to make them weak, but to make their strength
useful. The wild horse burns up power in useless displays of wildness. The meek
horse is just as strong, but his energy is being channeled into creative
usefulness. The meek man is not weak, but the man who uses his strength for
accomplishing a reasonable purpose.
The reasonable man, or
the meek man, does not strike back and fight, and go about defending his ego,
because he is not foolish, and has better things to do with his energy. Paul
says be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. This is the
reasonable response of the man of meekness. This takes far greater power than
letting your nature respond to its natural desire for revenge when it is
insulted or injured. Hugh Martin said, "Weakness is yielding to our
nature; meekness is mastery over it." Those who master their nature, and
control it by reason, are the mighty meek. Prov. 16:32 confirms this.
"He who is slow
to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who
takes a city."
The reasonable of meekness
is demonstrated in many ways. It is a great preserver of life. The meekness of
Christ spared all of us, and the meekness of the wise through the ages has
prevented much bloodshed. Sr. Walter Raleigh was once insulted by an
ill-tempered young man who challenged him to a duel. Raleigh refused to take
him seriously. The friends of both men were looking on, and the youth spat upon
his clothes and said, "Now then will you do it?" Sir Walter took out
his handkerchief and said, "Young man, if I could as easily wipe your
blood from my conscience as I can this insult from my person, I would draw my
sword at this instant..." That was not weakness, for weakness would have
run him through. That was the strength of meekness; the strength of reason and
restraint over the passions.
You and I will never
save anyone's life by refraining from a duel by the power of meekness, but the
principle is just as relevant to us, for studies indicate that meekness is an
effective life preserver in our automotive society. Dr. Tillmon and Dr. Hobbs
of Canada, in an analysis of highway accidents, have shown that the proud and
aggressive drivers are the killers. High accident rate people have one thing in
common, the lack of reasonable restraining meekness. They consider no one else but
themselves, and demand their rights at any cost. They cannot take an insult,
like being passed, without a fight. They demand to get even, and allow their
passions to take over.
If you study other
areas of life, you will find that lack of meekness is the cause of so much
chaos. This is true in marriage also. Someone wrote,
There's was a
"beef stew" marriage,
And their case was
somewhat crude.
The wife was always
beefing,
And the husband,
always stewed.
Such marriages are the
result of egocentric people who are too proud to share blame, admit error, and
control their temper. They are blind and weak because they are not meek. This
is true for many areas of life where the lack of meekness leads to trouble and
unhappiness. Blessed and happy are the meek for their attitude of
reasonableness and restraint will stand them in good stead for time and
eternity. Another aspect of meekness
is-
II. THE ATTITUDE OF
RECEPTIVITY.
Again, Jesus is the
greatest example, for He was the most receptive of any person. None who come to
Jesus will be cast out. Christ receives sinful men, for all are welcome to come
and receive His forgiveness, His love, and His guidance. Jesus was also
receptive of truth and guidance from His heavenly Father. Jesus never felt so
adequate and self-sufficient that He could stop praying. Even though perfect,
He hungered and thirsted for righteousness, for in His manhood He needed
constant grace to maintain that perfection.
Meekness precedes the
hungering and thirsting, for the meek are receptive, and only the receptive can
be filled. The proud and the arrogant are not open to new truth. They have
arrived, and what does not fit their philosophy is rejected. Neither the Bible,
nor the Holy Spirit are permitted to offer any new light. Such persons are not
happy, for they must live in a non-expanding self-created world. They have
reduced God to a finite being, and must live in fear less some new discovery
shake their faith. When a Christian gets to this point, he is no longer open
and receptive to more of the infinite truth and wisdom of God. He has lost the
virtue of meekness, and will, thereby, cut himself off from many of the
blessings of God.
E. Stanley Jones tells
of the newspaper strike that went on for a year and a half in India. A
subordinate was rude to a superior officer. He was dismissed and the other
employees went out on strike until he was reinstated. After a lengthy strike, a
Christian government labor official suggested that the dismissed man apologize
and ask for forgiveness, and that the officer forgive him, and reinstate him.
This was done, and the strike was over. Because of pride, it took a year and a
half. The meek are those who solve such problems before the sun goes down.
Meekness is power because it refuses to let man sinful pride run the show, and
make life complex. Meekness keeps life simple because it does not need all
kinds of defense mechanisms.
In the French New
Testament, a very interesting word is used for this beatitude. They say,
"Blessed are the debonair." That is a word the world uses, and it is
an attractive word, so they do not need to defend this virtue like we do the
word meek. Debonair people are fun loving, courteous, well-mannered, and all
that a gentleman should be. Blessed are the debonair, therefore, for they are not
burdened by prides response to insults. They bypass slights and personal
attacks with light-hearted indifference. They are receptive even to learning
from their critics. They are not given to ramroding their own views down
anyone's throat, but to listening, growing, and learning to be all things to
all men that they might win them to Christ. Life is ever fresh to them, for as
God's gentleman, they are always expanding in their knowledge of God and man.
This receptivity of the meek leads them to present riches beyond compare, plus
the inheritance of the earth.
The non-meek who are
non-receptive, and unteachable lose everything. Hitler, like most great
servants of evil, was perceptive enough to see this weakness in men. He wrote
in his book Mein Kampf, "The receptive ability of the masses is very
limited, their understanding is small, their forgetfulness great--out of
indolence and stupidity they trot toward their doom." The devil himself
could bear witness to the cursedness of the non-meek, because they are hard,
closed, and self-centered.
The meek are soft and
flexible, and meet the challenge of changing times, because they are not so
brittle that they break, but can be molded by the Holy Spirit to fit the need.
They are ever open and receptive and gentle, all of which leads to great
strength. But note, they do not conquer the earth by their power. Jesus says
they inherit the earth. An inheritance is not earned, it is a gift. The meek
would never seize the earth, it must come as a gift. There are many interpretations
of this promise. Many point out that history supports the truth we read in the
Interpreter's Bible. "The mammoth creatures that once terrorized the
planet are gone. They blundered to destruction, victims of their own too great
strength, but the sheep still graze on the hills." The aggressors destroy
earth, they do not inherit it. This is true in the animal kingdom, and among
men.
This statement of
Jesus is a direct quote from Psa. 37:11. It says, the meek will possess the
land, and is referring to the promised land. There can be no doubt that Jesus
is simply enlarging the concept of the promised land for the new Israel. The
promised land
for the meek in Christ
is the whole world. We look for a victory over all the earth, for this is the
territory where Satan reigned. Our hope is not just a matter of mansions in the
sky, but of paradise on earth where it first began. The goal of aggressors
through the ages had been to conquer and control the earth. It will never be
realized by anyone but the meek. The mighty meek shall reign with Christ. Let
us, therefore, be strong in the Lord, and develop meek, debonair, attitudes of
reasonableness, restraint, and receptivity.
5.
HAPPINESS THROUGH HUNGER Based on Matt. 5:6
A woman leaving church
said to the pastor, "Thank you for that sermon, it was so helpful."
The pastor said, "I hope it was not as helpful as the last one."
"Why what do you mean," she asked. "Well," he said,
"that last sermon lasted you three months." On the other hand,
there's a pastor who told a woman how glad he was to see her so faithful in
attendance each Sunday. "Yes," she said, "it is such a rest
after a hard week to come and sit down and not think about anything."
These two cases are
extremes, but nevertheless they are typical attitudes which are happiness
killers for many professing Christians. A poor appetite means trouble in the
body, and a lack of craving for spiritual food is a sign of an unhealthy soul.
Jesus says in order to be happy we must hunger and thirst after righteousness.
It is not enough to nibble at it at your convenience. To hunger and thirst is a
painful experience which motivates a person very strongly. A craving for food
and water makes a person desperate and leads to revolutionary action. Nothing
matters to the person who is starving or dying of thirst but the satisfying of
that burning desire.
David entered the
house of God and ate the bread of the Presence which was unlawful, but he did
it because he and his men were so hungry. The Bible tells of two mothers in
Samaria who, when the city was besieged by Benhadad, made a pact to eat their
own babies. This has happened many times in history, and even here in America.
The Donner party on its way to California in the frontier days got stranded in
the mountain snows. Even though they represented the best of American life,
hunger drove them to eat the flesh of those that died.
Thirst also drives men
to desperate measures. People who heard Jesus knew more about real thirst than
we do. The hot sun in the desert made water more precious to them than we can
realize. Rider Haggard in King Solomon's Mines tells of three men and their
guide who are running out of water. The Zulu guide says, "If we cannot
find water, we shall all be dead before the moon rises tomorrow." One of the
men reflecting back on the torture of thirst and the hallucination it created
said, "If the Cardinal had been there, with his bell, book, and candle, I
would have whipped in and drunk his water up, yea, even if I knew that the
whole concentrated curse of the Catholic Church should fall on me for so
doing..."
Men become desperate
when they hunger and thirst, and all the energy of their being is concentrated
on one goal-to satisfy their need. This sounds like misery, and it is, but it
is in the spiritual realm another example of the paradoxical misery that leads
to happiness. Without hunger men will not crave what they need. If the Prodigal
Son had not ended up eating husks being fed to pigs, he may never had returned
to his father. The misery and hunger motivated him to go home, and to the
spiritual banquet of forgiveness, as well as the physical banquet of food.
Happiness through
hunger is the next logical step in the beatitudes of Christ. The first three
have been downward. We must be emptied of self; dependent upon God, and
submissive in humility before we can be filled with the righteousness of God.
Those who are poor in spirit, who mourn, and are meek are sufficiently detached
from self, and now ready for this new direction in which we are to climb.
Empty of
self-righteousness and ready to be filled with the righteousness of Christ.
There are three attitudes that will characterize us if we have arrived at this
point, and truly hunger and thirst after righteousness. First there will be:
I. THE ATTITUDE OF
ADMIRATION.
Admiration is the
appetite of the soul. Sir John Suckling said, "Tis not the meat, but tis
the appetite makes eating a delight." To be happy in hungering and
thirsting after righteousness we must have an appetite for righteousness. If we
do not admire the righteousness of Christ, and men of righteousness in history
are not our heroes, we will have a hard time being a happy Christian. A happy
Christian who does not admire righteousness is as contradictory as a gourmet
who is repulsed by food, or a clown who does not like laughter.
If the Christian still
finds sin very appealing, he will not hunger or thirst after righteousness. The
man who does not mourn over sin, and long for the sanctified life that Jesus
can give can never find the happiness of this beatitude. He's hung up back on
the negative beatitudes, and is yet full of self-satisfaction. To such a person
the righteousness of Christ is as unappealing as a full course meal to one with
the flu.
Dr. William S. Sadler
wrote, "I doubt if the highly self-satisfied and conceited person is
capable of genuinely admiring anything or anybody. And we must not overlook the
fact that when we enlarge our capacity for admiration we at the same time
increase our capacity for joy and happiness." Admiration is an admission
there is something better than what you have, and it stimulates hunger. What
you admire
you desire. This, of
course, can lead to good or evil, but it is necessary if we are to go anywhere.
If you admire the movie stars, you will hunger and thirst after fame. If you
admire the wealthy you will hunger and thirst for money. If you admire
Christlikeness, you will hunger after righteousness.
The whole Sermon On
The Mount focuses on the inner man as the realm of true happiness. Whatever you
admire in the inner man is what you will become. If you admire the proud and
arrogant who get their way by force you will not be poor in spirit nor meek. If
you admire the Casanova who deceives women you will let your lust be the
controlling factor in your inner life, but if you admire the man who cherishes
his wife and is faithful to her as long as they both live, then you will be
guided by that admiration to be just such a man yourself. We must be aware that
we are ever becoming what we admire. Nobody wants to be a doctor unless they
admire doctors; nobody wants to be a pastor unless they admire pastors, and
nobody wants to be a better Christian unless they admire those who are better
Christians. Everybody is going in the direction of their admiration.
It all starts on the
inside where you develop your appetite. The history of a fisherman starts with
a boy admiring his father, or some other man catching fish, and he desires to
do it too. He develops a taste for it and just loves catching fish, and he
aspires to become good at it, and thus begins to commit time and money to
acquire all that he can to reach this goal. He buys tackle of all kinds,
electronic gear for the boat he has purchased, and he is filled with
anticipation of landing bigger and better fish. This is the normal pattern of
life for the happy fisherman. The same pattern is what Jesus is saying is
essential in the spiritual life.
Whatever wins your
admiration wins your appetite, and becomes the motivating factor in your life.
Jesus does not want His followers to miss out on all the blessings of admiring
music, art, sports, and numerous other values, but He demands a priority in our
admiration. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and
all these things shall be added unto you." In other words, the higher and
nobler the object of our admiration, the higher will be our happiness. The
ultimate is an attitude of admiration for righteousness. The second attitude
that is essential is-
II. THE ATTITUDE OF
ASPIRATION.
Aspiration is reaching
out for what you admire. Richter said, "There is a long and wearisome step
between admiration and imitation." Many people admire Jesus and the life
He lived who do not aspire to be like Him. It would be all right with them if they
could attain some measure of righteousness, but they do not hunger and thirst
after it. These will never know the blessedness of being filled. Only those
whose aspiration is like that of the Psalmist will be: "As the heart
panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul
thirsteth for God, for the living God...." And elsewhere he cries, "O
God, Thou art my God, early will I seek Thee, my soul thirsteth for Thee, my
flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land..." And again, "My
soul longeth, yea, fainteth for the courts of the Lord, my heart and my flesh
crieth out for the living God."
Here is a man whose
appetite and thirst for God was unquenchable. He wanted more and more, and more
yet. This is the kind of aspiration that will lead to fullness and happiness.
The paradox is you have to be always hungry to be filled. You must be ever
dissatisfied with what you are to find satisfaction. Perpetual discontent is
the only way to contentment. We must feel like Tennyson when he wrote-
An Oh for the man to
arise in me,
That the man I am may
cease to be.
Andre Kostelanetz, one
time the most listened to conductor on earth with such orchestras as The New
York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and The Boston Symphony, tells
of how important inspiration is to him as a musician. He writes, "It is, I
think, a sense of discovery, a keen appetite for something new.... Someone has
described the whole feeling as a divine discontent."
You can see how all
that has gone before in these beatitudes are the foundation for this one. You
have to be poor in spirit and meek to go on perpetually admitting you are still
deficient and far from the goal of righteousness. The only way to keep moving
along the road to perfection is to be ever conscious of our imperfection. We
tend to feel our dignity demands that we level off and be content with where we
have gotten. If we are fine respectable people that should be good enough. We
don't have to go to extremes. But Jesus says, you cannot know God's best and
experience the highest happiness unless you persistently aspire to go all the
way to the top. How far we get is not as nearly as important as how far we
desire to go.
Jesus does not say,
blessed and happy are those who are righteous, but rather, blessed are those
who hunger and thirst after it. Many Christians have died before they got far
along, but if they aspired to go all the way with Christ, they shall be filled.
The thief on the cross only lived a matter of hours, but he got to taste heaven
that very day because he hungered for it. Paul says he never arrived at his
goal because his goal was so high it could not be attained in this life. Right
up to his death he was pressing on toward the mark of the high calling of God
in Christ Jesus. He was hungering and thirsting to the end. That is true
happiness, and many Christians miss it because they are too early satisfied.
The only way to be like Jesus is to want to be like Jesus.
We are not honest with
ourselves, and poor enough in spirit to admit we are in desperate need of more
of God's righteousness. With the evidence of spiritual malnutrition obvious, we
in pride pretend we need no food for our souls. Abraham Lincoln deserves the
title honest Abe because of his willingness to admit his deficiency and need for
God's guidance and righteousness. He said to a friend one day, "I have
been reading the beatitudes and can at least claim one of the blessings therein
unfolded. It is the blessing pronounced upon those who hunger and thirst after
righteousness." Those who have arrived and are satisfied with their
righteousness can never claim this promise. If, however, you are discontent,
unsatisfied, and aggravated with your poor grasp of God's Word and ability to
live it and communicate it, rejoice, for this honesty with self leads to the
attitude of aspiration for greater things, and this is the key to happiness.
Dean Stanley says that
on the Christian tombs in the Catacombs of Rome the first sign of Christian
life is pictured by a stag drinking eagerly at the stream of life. This should
be the perpetual attitude of every believer. When the thirsty stag is no longer
attracted to the refreshing stream, then we can cease to hunger and thirst
after righteousness. This, of course, means a never ending aspiration.
As pants the wearied
hart for cooling springs,
That sinks exhausted
in the summer's chase,
So pants my soul for
Thee, great King of Kings,
So thirsts to reach
Thy sacred dwelling place.
As admiration must
lead to aspiration, so aspiration must lead to the third attitude which is-
III. THE ATTITUDE OF
ANTICIPATION.
A mother said to her
little boy, "Don't you think your older brother should have the biggest
piece of pie?" "No mama," he responded, "He was eating pie
three years before I was born." Here was a little guy who felt behind in
his pie consumption and he was trying to catch up. That may be a foolish goal
in the physical realm, but in the spiritual realm it is not. The new Christian
can anticipate eating on the same level as the mature Christian. You can go from
milk to meat very rapidly if you only hunger to do so. Some stay on milk all
their lives, but others are rapidly into the meat of the Word. A five year old
Christian may be eating bigger and better meals than a twenty year old
Christian if they hunger to do so. The Christian who anticipates catching up
and eating spiritual meals fit for a king can soon be at the king's table.
Hunger and thirst are
a curse and not a blessing to the man who has no hope of satisfying these
desires. Hunger and thirst are only blessings when you anticipate satisfaction.
The man who is hungry before a banquet is the happy man because he anticipates
satisfying that hunger. The Christian cannot be happy who admires
righteousness, and aspires to reach out for it, if he cannot do so with a sense
of assurance that he will be filled.
Jesus promises that if
we hunger and thirst we shall be filled, and, therefore, we must press on with
expectancy anticipating each day that God will supply daily bread for the soul.
The problem with the average Christian is that he does not really anticipate
any exciting and delicious morsels for his soul. He is so accustomed to the
crumbs of spiritual food that he does not expect anything more. This lack of
anticipation for a new spiritual meal every day lessens the appetite, and the
poorer the appetite, the weaker the aspiration and desire.
If you woke up this
morning with no anticipation, and no expectancy that this could be a day of
delicious and delightful meals for your soul, you are robbing yourself of one
of the keys to the happy life. Every day we must live with the attitude of
anticipation. If we are empty vessels longing to be filled with the water of
life, we are assured of being filled. T. E. Brown wrote,
At God's sweet
fountain
Some one left me long
ago;
Left my shallow soul
expectant
Of the everlasting
flow.
And it came, and
poured upon me,
Rose and mounted to
the brim;
And I knew that God
was filling
One more soul to carry
Him.
You should never be
content with the great meals you have had in the past. We have all had
delightful experiences of eating, but we are not content to leave it at that.
We anticipate having other great meals ahead. So it is to be with spiritual
food. There is no point in the previous beatitudes which leave us empty of self
unless we follow through and anticipate being filled with all the fullness of
God.
Tennyson gives us a
brief word portrait of the men who combined all the beatitudes we have looked
at so far.
We feel we are
nothing-for all is Thou and in Thee;
We feel we are
something-that also has come from Thee;
We know we are
nothing-but Thou wilt help us to be.
This anticipation of
God's helping us to be, combined with admiration for Christ, whom we are to be
like, and aspiration that keeps us climbing to this goal, leads to the highest
happiness of which we are capable.
As we now by means of
eating and drinking remember Him by whose life and death we are saved, let us
pray that beginning today we will hunger and thirst after righteousness, and
begin every day in the attitude expressed centuries ago by Bernard of Clairvoux
in this poem:
From the best bliss
that earth imparts,
We turn unfilled to
Thee again.
We taste Thee, O Thou
living bread,
And long to feast upon
Thee still.
We drink of Thee, The
Fountain Head,
And thirsts our souls
for Thee to fill.
6.
HAPPY ARE THE MERCIFUL Based on Matt. 5:7
The tallest Methodist
church in the world stands in the loop of Chicago. Skyscrapers of offices are
around it, but stretching still steeper into the sky is the slender steeple
symbolic of man's aspiration to reach God. Sometime ago bells were installed in
this steeple in order to peal out a Christian witness to those in the streets
far below. When the installation was complete, and the bells were rung, they discovered
that they could hardly be heard because they were so high. The crowd thronged
the canyon-like streets unimpressed because the message of the bells went
uselessly into the sky.
So much of what the
church does goes uselessly into the sky because it never reaches the man in the
street. This is the very danger that faces the Christian who hungers and
thirsts after righteousness. He can obey Scripture, and set his affections on
things above, and aspire to climb to perfection, but without the attitude of
mercy which keeps him relevantly and realistically related to his fellow man,
he may literally become so heavenly minded he is no earthly good. It is
possible to be so involved with your own righteousness that you become narrow
and harsh and holier than thou. Some of the old Puritans got this way, and were
such brutal perfectionists that in there determination to be heavenly they made
it hell on earth for those around them. They lost all sense of tenderness,
compassion, and mercy for the sinner. This is the very thing Jesus does not
want, and He condemned the Pharisees for their cold and hard-hearted
righteousness.
In Matt. 23:23 Jesus
said to the Pharisees, "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for
you tithe mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of
the law, justice, mercy and faith." Jesus is not interested in bells
ringing so high they cannot be heard, and He is not interested in a
righteousness that cares about all kinds of details, but which neglects to meet
the needs of the common people. Jesus wants to make it clear what kind of
righteousness it is we are to hunger after, and that is what these next few
beatitudes are all about. A righteousness that is not merciful is not the
righteousness of Christ. A right relationship with God is always demonstrated
by a proper attitude toward man. If mercy does not characterize our relation to
others, there is reason to doubt that we are right with God. John says we
cannot love God whom we do not see if we do not love men whom we do see. Mercy
is love in action, and without it there is no possibility of being happy in any
true and lasting sense.
A merciful attitude
has always been God's requirement for His people. One of the outstanding Old
Testament texts is Micah 6:8: "He has showed you, O man, what is good, and
what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God." Jesus kept telling the Pharisees that God wants
mercy and not sacrifice. The New Testament letters are filled with references
to mercy. E. Griffith Jones wrote, "Mercy is the richest fruit of the
divine love. The Bible is full of it from the first page to the last. It is
ankle deep, as it were, in Genesis, knee deep in the prophets, shoulder deep in
the Psalms, and fathomless as midmost ocean in the New Testament."
Paul says it was
according to God's mercy that He saved us, and we are urged in Heb. 4:16 to
call upon God for more mercy constantly. "Let us then with confidence draw
near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help
in time of need." The poet wrote,
O King of mercy from
thy throne on high,
Look down in love and
hear our humble cry.
Thou art the bread of
heaven, On Thee we feed.
Be near to help our
souls in time of need.
Thou art the mourner's
stay, the sinner's friend,
Sweet fount of joy and
blessings without end.
Our salvation,
blessings, victories, and all that contributes to our happiness comes from the
mercy of God. Therefore, whatever opens the door to God's abundant mercy is the
key to happiness, and Jesus says here that being merciful is that key. In other
words, if we are not merciful in our relationship to others, we choke off our
own supply line of mercy from God. The Bible is filled with texts that make
this clear. Prov. 21:13, "He who closes his ear to the cry of the poor
will himself cry out and not be heard." This says in effect, cursed are
the unmerciful for they shall be treated unmercifully.
Later in the Sermon On
The Mount Jesus repeats the same idea in different words. In Matt. 7:2 He says,
"For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure
you give will be the measure you get." No where did He put it so
forcefully as after the Lord's Prayer in 6:14-15, "For if you forgive men
their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not
forgive men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your
trespasses." In James 2:13 we read, "For judgment is without mercy to
one who has shown no mercy." These texts make it clear we are not dealing
here with any minor matter that we can ignore if we like. Our whole Christian
experience of the mercy of God in life and for eternity depends upon power
being merciful to others. It is essential, therefore, that we understand just
what it means to be merciful. There are three things which will characterize us
if we are merciful, or becoming merciful. First-
I. KEENNESS OF HEAD OR
AWARENESS.
This means one is
sensitive to the needs and feelings of others. There is sharp awareness of, and
keen interest in the problems of others. One of the surgeons at Homestead
Hospital confessed that he never bothered to go down to waiting families after
an operation to tell them of the outcome. But one day his wife discovered he
has cancer of the breast, and he took her to a friend for surgery. Being a
surgeon he knew exactly what was taking place and how long it would take. When
his friend did not come and talk to him for an hour and a half it seemed like
eternity to him, and ever since that he goes down immediately to inform loved
ones. Those moments of misery led to much happiness for many people because it
made him keenly aware of what it is like to wait in suspense. His mind was
sharpened to the needs of others, and he became more merciful.
We cannot be merciful
if we are blind and dull to how people feel. The doctor was not trying to be
mean, he was just without an awareness of what his neglect was doing. He was
not very sharp. The sharp man and the keen man perceived the needs of others, and
how their acts and words meet, or fail to meet, those needs. Keenness is
essential to being merciful.
In the day of Christ
people were not very sensitive. Cruelty was very common. Slaves were treated as
mere tools, and could be killed for the slightest mistake. Children who were
not wanted were thrown out like garbage. It was not done in hate and anger, but
cool deliberation. There was just no keen awareness of the preciousness and
infinite worth of the individual. We have a letter that was written in the year
1 B.C. that illustrates this so clearly. Let me read it to you.
"Hilarion to his
wife Alis, warmest greetings.... I want you
to know that we are
still in Alexandria. Don't worry if, when
they all go home, I
stay on in Alexandria. I beg and entreat
you, take care the
little child; and, as soon as we get our pay,
I will send it up to
you. If-good luck to you!-you bear a child,
if it is a boy, let it
live; if it is a girl, throw it out."
Here is a husband
concerned about comforting his wife, but thinks nothing of telling her to throw
out her child if it is a girl. To make things worse these exposed children were
often picked up and trained for brothels, or deliberately maimed and used as
professional beggars. Even the Jews, in spite of the Old Testament teaching,
were lacking in mercy. A popular view of suffering was that it was the direct
punishment for sin, and so the tendency was to look upon the sufferer as one
who was deserving of what he was suffering. This destroyed compassion. In a
world like that Jesus came with His love, compassion, and mercy. He was so
keenly aware of the need of every individual. He was embarrassed with the woman
taken in adultery, and he helped her escape the cruelty of those who would have
stoned her. He felt deeply for parents whose children were suffering, and girls
were as precious as boys. He healed the daughter of Jairus and the daughter of
the Syrophonesian woman, and raised the dead son of a poor widow, and cured the
boy who kept falling in the fire because of fits.
Jesus was so sensitive
to people's needs that He had compassion on them just because they were hungry,
and He performed a marvelous miracle to satisfy that need. Keenness
characterized Jesus in all His relationships with people. He entered right into
their sorrows and fears. He saw life from their perspective, and did what he
could to lighten their burden. Jesus was so willing to forgive the sinner, for
he saw most people as victims of sin. He took no pleasure in condemnation, but
rather in seeing people set free from the bondage of sin. He prayed for the
forgiveness of those who crucified Him, because they knew not what they were
doing. He saved Paul because His persecution was done in ignorance. We say
ignorance is no excuse, but it makes a big difference to the keen mind of
Christ. The Word of God is sharper than a two edge sword, and splitting hairs,
and making distinctions on the basis of hair splitting is part of being
merciful. It takes a keenness of mind that enters right into the life of the
sinner and finds a basis for compassion and forgiveness.
For example: In
Detroit in June of 1957 the sorrowing father of 6 year old Mary de Coussin, who
was murdered by a sex maniac said, "I would not blame the man so much as
the society which produces such a man. It is a society that allows sex
magazines on newsstands for kids to read, a society that measures Hollywood
stars by their bosoms, and a society where the telling of dirty stories and the
use of foul language in commonplace, that produces sex perverts out of people
who have only the slightest abnormal tendencies."
The man with a
sensitive heart and mind says there but for the grace of God go I. The
self-righteous are quick to pronounce judgment and condemnation, but the
merciful are too keenly aware of their own sin to deal harshly with others.
Jesus told a parable of a man forgiven a great debt and who went out and dealt
harshly with one who owed him a small debt, and he had him thrown in jail. When
this got back to the one who forgave him there was anger, and he lost his mercy
and ended up in prison himself. His lack of mercy lost him his mercy. Jesus
says, so it will be with us who have received God's immeasurable mercy if we
are dull and insensitive to others who need our understanding and mercy.
Keenness of mind is the beginning of mercy, and out of this will come the
second characteristic which is-
II. KINDNESS OF
HAND-ACTION.
This is a basic
meaning of the word mercy. 38 times in the Old Testament the Hebrew word for
mercy is translated kindness. Mercy does not just think toward men as God does,
it acts toward men as God does. It is possible to stop short at feeling, and
consider your pity for others a sufficient demonstration of mercy. Mercy that
ends as an emotion is not the kind that Jesus is speaking of. No doubt the
priest and the Levite who passed by the beaten man on the road felt pity for
the poor soul. They were not necessarily cruel and hard hearted to the point
that they had no feeling about his misfortune. They may have even prayed for
him and his family. The point is, they did not act in kindness as did the good
Samaritan. Their emotion of pity and possible prayer were bells in the sky that
communicated nothing. The action of the Samaritan was a demonstration of
Christlike mercy. He stretched forth a kind hand.
Jesus could have sat
on His heavenly throne and wept in pity over sinners forever, but it would not
have saved a single soul from hell. It was not the emotion of Christ that saved
us, but His mercy in action which brought Him to earth, and then to the cross
to atone for our sin. God's mercy is manifested in action which does something
to relieve the problem. We do not express God's mercy unless we, like Him, act
in kindness toward those in need. Billy Graham in his book The Secret Of Happiness
writes, "Satan does not care how much you theorize about Christianity or
how much you profess to know Christ. What he opposes vigorously is the way you
live Christ-the way you become an instrument of mercy, compassion, and love
through which He manifests Himself to the world. If Satan can take the heart,
motive, and mercy out of Christianity, he has killed its effectiveness."
We need to get down
out of the ivory tower, and stop ringing bells that are never heard, and start
meeting people where they are with the compassion and kindness of Christ. Many
of you have probably heard of the story of Sir. Launfal's search for the Holy
Grail-the cup out of which Christ drank at the Last Supper. The poet tells of
how he spent his whole life in search of it. Returning home, old, weary and
worn, and possessing nothing but a piece of crust he meets a leper who is
starving and begging. Sir. Launfal shares with him his crust, and brings him
water from the stream. Suddenly the leper is no longer a leper, but the Crucified,
and the cup from which he drinks is changed into the Holy Grail. In showing
mercy to another he found what he had so long and mainly sought. Every need we
can meet is an opportunity to be Christlike in kindness and mercy.
In 1914 a tourist by
the name of Sadie Smithson, a humble seamstress, was caught on a battlefield
one night. It was a house of horrors, but she pitched in and bandaged wounds,
brought water to the thirsty men, and scribbled notes to loved ones. Like an
angel of mercy she worked until an ambulance came. A young doctor saw her and
asked, "Who are you, and what in thunder are you doing here?"
"I'm Sadie
Virginia Smithson and I've been holding hell back all night," she replied.
"Well," said
the young officer, "I'm glad you held some of it back for everybody else
was letting it loose last night." The ministry of mercy is being among
those who are holding back hell, and all of the forces of evil, and the
consequences of sin, by the power of Christlike action in kindness. If you do
not act in kindness toward others, you will not experience the happiness that
Jesus speaks of in the beatitude.
The third
characteristic we need to look at concerning the merciful is-
III. KINSHIP OF
HEART-ASSOCIATION.
The merciful recognize
all individuals as actual brothers in the flesh created in the image of God,
and potential brothers in the spirit by recreation into new men in Christ. The
United Nations Charter Of Human Rights says in its preamble, "Man is
created equal and is endowed with freedom and conscience and should act toward
man in a spirit of brotherhood." What it says is good, but has no
foundation apart from Biblical revelation. Who created man equal, and how are
they brothers, and how can they have a spirit of brotherhood? These questions
have their answers only in Scripture, and Christ alone can make men truly
brothers. In His mercy He identified with man completely in His incarnation. He
endured all that we do, and is sensitive to our needs and temptations. He is
not ashamed to call us brothers. He became one with us. This is what Biblical
mercy is all about. It is to get so close to another in their need that you
enter right into their point of view. Self must surrender in total
identification with another in sympathetic understanding. As Barclay says,
"The supreme example of mercy is God's identification with men in Jesus
Christ."
We become merciful
only when we really identify with others. Many are not merciful because they
refuse to admit their kinship with those who differ, and with those who are
living in sin. The self-righteous have no pity for the sinner just as the brave
have no pity for the coward. We must be poor in spirit to be merciful in
identifying with others as brothers in need. The merciful are those who admit
their kinship with sinners, because they know they are only saved by the grace
of God, and not because they are superior and worthy. Longfellow wrote,
Being all fashioned of
the self-same dust,
Let us be merciful as
well as just.
Lincoln was the greatest
man of mercy in American history. He was asked when the war is over, and the
South has been conquered, how are you going to treat those rebels? Lincoln
said, "I am going to treat them as if they had never been away." They
were kin to him, and in mercy he welcomed them home like the father did the
Prodigal Son. Justification is God treating the rebellious sinner just as if he
had never been away. Lincoln was sensitive to the deserters who could have been
shot, but in mercy he pardoned them. Many are the stories of those whose lives
he saved because they in some moment of weakness failed to do their duty.
Mercy is the very
heart of the Gospel, and the message of mercy is the message we must get out to
our world. John Bunyan tells of a battle where a soldier said, as they laid
siege to a fort, "As long as those besieged were persuaded they would not
receive mercy they fought like madmen. But when they saw one of their fellows
taken captive and treated with favor, they came tumbling down from their fortress
to surrender." Bunyan writes, "I am persuaded did men believe that
there is grace and willingness in the heart of Christ to save sinners, as the
word imparts there is, they would come tumbling into his arms; but Satan has
blinded their minds so they cannot see this..."
David Wilkerson in his
book Have You Felt Like Giving Up Lately writes, "I feel so ashamed of
myself when I think back over my early ministry, because I condemned so many
sincere people. I meant well, and often my zeal was honest and well-meaning.
But how many people I brought under terrible condemnation because they didn't
conform to my idea of holiness! But lately God has been urging me to quit
condemning people who have failed and, instead, preached to them a message of
love and reconciliation. Why? Because the church today is filled with
Christians who are burdened down with mountains of guilt and
condemnation."
Is David getting soft
on sin? No, he hates it more than ever as he sees its destructive power in
lives, but he now sees better that there is only one way to deal with sin that
works. You can't beat it out of people, but you can forgive it, and therefore,
only the merciful can do anything with the sinner that really matters. If
blasting it and rejection would help, the Pharisees would have had the perfect
system with no need of improvement.
The merciful are
willing to identify with others and their need. They are willing to get
involved with people because they look upon all men as potential brothers in
Christ. They are the light of the world, and the salt of the earth. They are
not ringing bells in the sky. They are down where men are with keenness of
head, or awareness of their need; kindness of hand, or action to meet their
need, and kinship of heart, or association with them in their need. These are
the blessed merciful who will be happy in the mercy of God.
7.
THE HEART OF HAPPINESS Based on Matt. 5:8
Two soldiers were on a
transport going overseas. Standing on the deck they gazed out across the vast
expanse of water. One who had never been near the ocean said, "That's the
most water I've ever seen in all my life. Did you ever see so much water?"
His companion responded, "You haven't seen anything yet-that's just the
top of it!" Even the surface of the sea is impressive, but the depths take
away your breath in awesome wonder. The beatitudes we have looked at so far are
far from being shallow surface saying of Christ. They are deep and challenging,
but they are at least within the range of what seems possible to us.
But in this sixth
beatitude, Jesus plunges to such depths in the ocean of holiness that we feel
it is impossible to follow Him deeper, and that up to now we have only seen the
top of it. We feel we are just not built for this kind of depth. The pressure
we feel would crush us. Both the condition of purity of heart, and the promise
of the vision of God seems so far beyond our capacity that the whole thing
appears impractical. It is like asking a man with a snorkel and swim fins to
follow an atomic powered submarine.
No one claims to be
adequate for the task of even explaining this beatitude. Preachers apologize
for their audacity in even presuming to try and preach on this text. It is
agreed, however, that Jesus is not mocking us here, but offers the hope of
attaining an apparently impossible ideal. It is agreed that Jesus gets to the
very heart of happiness in this beatitude. All else stands or falls on the
basis of what we do with this one. Matthew Henry in his commentary writes,
"This is the most comprehensive of all the beatitudes; holiness and
happiness fully described and put together. Here is the most comprehensive
character of the blessed; they are the pure in heart. Here is the most
comprehensive comfort of the blessed; they shall see God."
Hastings in the Great
Texts Of The Bible writes, "If in blessedness there be a crown of
blessedness it is here." A. R. Clippinger says, "In the bright
constellation of the beatitudes this star of promise shines the farthest and is
the most beautiful."
The great hope of God's
people has always been to see God and behold His presence. Moses cried out,
"I beseech Thy, show me Thy glory." (Ex. 33:18). In Psa. 17:15 the
Psalmist describes his greatest bliss: "As for me, I will behold Thy face
in righteousness." In Psa. 41:12 he expects his integrity to be rewarded
by being set before God's face forever. In Psa. 63:2 he says, "So I have
looked upon Thee in the sanctuary, beholding Thy power and glory." Isaiah
saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and many are the texts
in the Old Testament that refer to seeing God, or the great hope of seeing God.
This is true in the New Testament also.
Jesus said, "He
who has seen me has seen the Father." Paul holds forth the hope of seeing
Christ face to face, and no longer through a glass darkly. In Rev. 22:4 it says
of the servants of God, "They shall see His face and His name shall be in
their foreheads." In both the Old and New Testaments the condition for
seeing God is a pure heart. In Psa. 24:3-4 we read, "Who shall ascend the
hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands
and a pure heart." In I John 3:2-3 we read, "We know that when He
appears we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is, and everyone who
has this hope in Him purifies himself as He is pure." The longing of every
Christian should be for a pure heart. Walter C. Smith expressed it in poetry:
If clearer vision Thou
impart,
Grateful and glad my
soul shall be,
But yet to have a pure
heart
Is more to me.
Yea, only as the heart
is clean
May larger visions yet
be mine,
For mirrored in its
depths are seen
The things divine.
The clearer the heart
the greater the vision. The heart is the telescope whereby the believer sees into
the heaven of heavens, and the cleaner the lens the further he sees. As a man
thinks in his heart, so is he. A man is what his heart is. The heart is the
telescope by which we see beyond the heavens which declare the glory of God
into the heaven of the very presence of God. A man with a telescope can see
what others do not, even though it is present to all. He can point at a star
and say it is two stars, but you look and see one, and you do not believe it
until you look through the telescope. So the man with a clean and pure heart
can see God at work where others see nothing, or only men working.
Jesus is not just
talking about the vision of God when time is over, and we see Him face to face.
The seeing begins now in the life of the pure.
1. When you point to
the big dipper and look up and say, "I see it," that is physical
sight.
2. When you tell me
how to find the big dipper by looking to the Northwest, and I say, "I
see," that is mental sight.
3. But when I look up
at the dipper and feel the wonder of God's creation, that is heart sight. You
are seeing God on a level that the physical and mental cannot penetrate. You
are going beyond the body and mind into the realm of the spirit where you have
the ability to enter the presence of God and praise Him for His creation.
Men only see what they
are prepared for seeing. The man who loves and studies nature sees the beauty
of animals and plants that most men never see. A sightseer once stopped to
watch Turner the great artist at work. "Why Mr. Turner," he said,
"I never saw any such light and color in nature as you put on your
canvas." Turner merely replied, "Don't you wish you could? As for me,
I never can hope to match with pigments the glory I see in the sky."
Wesley had this same experience in the spiritual realm and wrote:
Lo! to faith's
enlightened sight,
All the mountain
flames with light.
Hell is nigh, but God
is nigher,
Circling us with hosts
of fire.
Keith Miller in his
book The Second Touch tells of two men who were traveling at night in the brush
land of the Southwest. The driver lived on a ranch in the area, but the
passenger was from the East. As they approached a cut in a hill the Easterner
saw in the headlights a boulder rolling down into the road ahead of them. He
yelled and leaped into the back seat in fear. The driver, however, drove on
undisturbed, for he knew it was a tumbleweed. Both saw the same object, but
what they saw was determined by their experience in that environment. So it is
with all of life, and so it is in the spiritual life. We see what we are fit to
see, and prepared to see, and only the pure in heart are prepared to see God.
This includes both the literal vision of the future as well as the spiritual
vision of the present.
Alexander Maclaren,
one of the most famous preachers of all time, summed up all that is meant by
the present vision of God that is helpful to our understanding. He wrote,
"Whether you call it the vision of God, or whether you call it communion
with God in Jesus Christ, or whether you fall back upon the other metaphor of
God dwelling in us and we dwelling in God, it all comes to the same thing. The
consciousness of His presence, the realization of His character, the blessed
assurance of loving relations with him, and the communion in mind, heart, will,
and conduct, with God who has come near to us all in Jesus Christ." In
other words, purity of heart is the condition of experiencing all that the New
Testament says about having fellowship with God. The impure lose the sense of
the presence of God. The Christian with sin in his life is out of fellowship
with God. The lens of his telescope is out of focus and smeared. The paradox
is, many feel God has faded from their life, and is no longer a vital factor,
when in reality, it is they who have lost focus, and their impure heart has
clouded their vision.
This beatitude keeps a
balance on the former one of being merciful. Some may interpret mercy for the
sinner to mean toleration of his sin, and even participating in his sin. Jesus
clearly destroys that idea, and make it plain for all to see that mercy that
sinks to the level of fellowship with the sinner in his sin cuts one off from
fellowship with God. We must be merciful, but at the same time be pure. Notice
how the happy life must maintain a perfect balance in relation to God and man.
In hungering and
thirsting after righteousness-God is central.
In being merciful man
is the object of attention.
In being pure in heart
we are back to God and
In being a peacemaker
we are again relating to men.
Get out of line on anyone
of these and you destroy the framework of the perfect life of happiness. If we
learn nothing else from these beatitudes, we will certainly learn why most
Christians are not as happy as they could, and should be. It is because they do
not work at following the pattern Christ has given, and they do not give heed
to keeping their life balanced.
Even a partial
understanding of this profound beatitude will do wonders in our lives if we
heed what we hear. We must come to it with the attitude of David who prayed,
"Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within
me." We must already be poor in spirit, and totally dependent upon God,
for pride is the worst contamination of the heart. With Joseph Hart we look to
the power of God.
Tis Thine to cleanse
the heart,
To sanctify the soul,
To pour fresh life in
every part,
And new create the
whole.
We must look at two
things that will characterize us and be evident if we are becoming pure in
heart by the grace of God. The first is-
I. SPIRITUALITY.
By this we mean a
perspective on life that sees the inner man as central. It is to see life as
God sees it who looks, not on the outward appearance, but at the heart. The
Pharisees were very religious, as were the pagans Paul spoke to on Mars Hill,
but neither group were spiritual in the sense that Jesus demands of Christians.
Their concept of purity was external and ceremonial. They cared only for that
purity that was visible to the eye. Jesus demanded purity in the heart which
was not visible to the eye. Jesus was not opposed to keeping clean and washing
your hands and feet, but He was opposed to making this kind of purity the
ultimate. Jesus said, there is no sense on cleaning the outside of the cup if
the inside is left filthy. What good is whitewash on a tomb if the inside is
full of rottenness and corruption? This is what the Pharisees were doing, and
Jesus rejected their purity as superficial. It is the inner man that really
counts. The real man is represented by the heart. The heart in the Bible is the
symbol of man's mind, emotions, and will. All of this is unseen, but all of it
is far more than what is seen. Shakespeare put it-
I am but the shadow of
myself.
My substance is not
here,
For what you see is
but the smallest part,
And least proportion of
humanity.
The pure in heart are
those who see this, and are vastly different than those who emphasize only the
external. The spiritual person is far more concerned about controlling his
temper than controlling the weeds in his garden. He cares more for cleaning up
his thoughts than cleaning the car. He does not neglect the externals, but he
does not make them primary. The man who is spiritual has his eyes focused on
the inner man; on motives more than conduct. He longs to see as Jesus sees-
Out of the mist into
the light,
O blessed gift of
inner sight.
The spiritual man is
sensitive to his own sin. He mourns for it, confesses it immediately, and
trusts in the blood of Christ alone for forgiveness. He does not trust in
externals like the Pharisees. If a Christian thinks he can atone for sin by
reading his Bible, going to church, and having family devotions, or anything of
this nature, he is a carnal Christian. His very Bible reading and church
attendance can be a sin, for he has a false perspective. His heart is not pure.
His motives are mixed, and he does not have a spiritual perspective. Like the
Pharisees, he paints the pump when the water goes bad. He changes the crystal
when his watch spring breaks. He putties the cracks when the foundation decays.
He never gets to the heart of the matter, because he fails to see that the
source of all troubles is the inner man. He is like many neurotics who wash
their hands a hundred times a day to try and wash off guilt, because they do
not see that externals do not cleanse the inner man.
The pure in heart do
not forget externals, but their focus is on internals. You can test your own
spirituality by asking yourself on what you really rely for comfort, courage,
and guidance in the Christian life. If you are depending on externals and
conformity to someone else, you will never be the Christian God wants you to
be, and you will miss the happiness He wants you to have. Each of us must let
go of those things that keep us floating on the surface, and we must plunge
into the depths of the inner life. Keith Miller has done this, and his
testimony is so refreshing and honest that he became a speaker in great demand.
For example, he was a typical Christian man who wanted to be the best Christian
he could be, and so he wanted to have family devotions.
Good Christian
families did this, and so he tried it after an evening meal. The phone rang
consistently; dishwashing and homework were delayed, and the whole thing left
the family tense and cross. Mr. Miller found himself becoming so determined to
be spiritual that he was cross and aggravated at meals all the time, but he was
having family devotions. He finally woke up to realize that it was not Jesus
who needed him to have family devotions. It was his need to conform to what was
suppose to be a standard of spirituality. He had very subtly become a Pharisee
and didn't even know it. He forgot devotions and worked out a plan for prayer
with his children that fit the shape of their lives and schedule. It was a plan
that was from the heart, and not an external appendage. In many other areas of
life he did the same, and became honest with himself before God. He became a
deeply spiritual man rather than a superficial conformist. This is part of what
it means to be pure in heart. The second thing we want to consider is-
II. SIMPLICITY.
The Greek word for
pure means without blemish, admixture, or alloy. The Greeks used it to describe
an army unit purged of every undesirable element, or of language free of error,
or gold free of any other metal. Anything that is pure is fully one thing. Pure
nylon is 100% nylon and not 99% and 1% cotton. Oneness, or singleness
characterizes that which is pure. It is reduced to its simplest form with no
mixture.
The idea of purity of
heart is several times expressed as singleness of heart or eye. In chapter 6:22
Jesus says, "If your eye is single your whole body will be full of
light." Singleness of heart and light of vision are again connected. Paul
in Col. 3:22 tells slaves to serve their masters, not with eye-service as man
pleasers, but with singleness of heart fearing the Lord: that is, without
duplicity-not looking to men but to God only. The double minded are unstable in
all their ways says James. Duplicity and the tainted motive is what blinds and
blurs one's vision of God. Pureness of heart is singleness and simplicity. One
motive dominates. One master is served. This is the way to God's best.
Ibsen's character Peer
Gynt made his money by sending shiploads of idols each spring to China, but to
soothe his conscience he sent missionaries to China each autumn. He was double
minded, and thus impure, and, therefore, not happy. He compared his life to an
onion that you can peal and peal and never find a core, but discover, as he
did, that he had no inner life. He was all outsides and superficial with no
depth, and blind to ultimate values. Christians sometimes try to serve two
masters and wonder why they are not happy. God made man to be happy only when
he has an ultimate loyalty. Even the sinner who is sold out to sin is often
happier than the double minded Christian, because he has a simplicity to his
life with only one master.
Keats said, "Oh!
What a power has white simplicity. G. K. Chesterton said, "The only
simplicity that matters is the simplicity of the heart." To be pure in
heart is to be controlled and motivated by one, and only one, source of power:
The power of the Holy Spirit. Who would dare say that they have arrived. Many
times Christians feel they are pure, when really they have just been still and
unmoved so long that the sediment has settled to the bottom. The liquid looks
pure at the top as long as it is undisturbed. Let something come along and jar
them, and shake them up, and all the dirt and mud in them rises and clouds the
pureness, and they see they were not so pure after all. True pureness of heart
is when you can be shaken, and still be totally yielded to the Holy Spirit, and
react with singleness of heart, rather than with a mixture of self-pride.
Satan gains his
greatest victories over the Christian when he can divide their loyalty, and
split their simple and pure devotion to God. C.S. Lewis in the Screwtape
Letters picture Satan instructing Wormwood on how to best corrupt Christians.
He advises, "The point is to help a man feeling that he has something
other than God, and the courage God supplies, to fall back on. So that what was
intended to be a total commitment to duty becomes honeycombed all through with
little unconscious reservations."
Just a few spots of
reservation can spoil the pureness and simplicity of the Christian heart, and
destroy his happiness. Along with the happiness it also destroys health. Dr.
Ligon says, "All mental disorders are the result of the failure to
integrate one's drives into a single purpose." Let your life stray from
the simplicity of wholehearted commitment to Christ, and the result is
complication and chaos, and loss of happiness and health. Thomas a Kempis, way
back in the 15th century said, "The more a man is united within himself,
and interiorly simple, the more and higher things doth he understand..."
This is just another way of saying, blessed are the pure in heart for they
shall see God.
Eternal light! Eternal
light!
How pure that soul
must be,
When, placed within
Thy searching sight,
It shrinks not, but with
calm delight
Can live, and look on
Thee.
This can be our happy
experience if we become truly spiritual, and focus our eye on the inner man,
and focus it in simplicity on Christ alone. Christ in you the hope of glory.
Such spirituality, simplicity, and singleness of eye will, Christ promises,
lead you to the depths and the very heart of happiness.
8.
FIGHTERS FOR PEACE Based on Matt. 5:9
One of the paradoxes
of life is the fact that the peacemaker must be a fighter to be effective.
Edwin Markham just before his death in 1940 remarked that his fondest hope had
not been realized. He had wanted to write a poem that would dispense the armies
of the world. Unfortunately, peace is not achieved by poetry. It takes
something more than beautiful words. It takes risky and sacrificial action.
The peacemaker must
take the same risks as the warmaker. It costs Jesus His life to be a
peacemaker, and this is the price many have paid to bring peace between God and
man, as well as between men. The soldier of the cross is subject to all the
dangers of the soldier in physical warfare. The New Testament is filled with
references to the Christian life in terms of the military. Putting on the whole
armor of God; fighting the good fight, and other such phrases are common. The
Christians as peacemaker is in the midst of constant battle. He would be
useless and irrelevant where strive and conflict are absent, but he is God's
most relevant on the field of battle.
Christian, seek not
yet repose;
Cast thy dreams of
ease away;
Thou art in the midst
of foes;
Watch and pray.
The Christian who is
aware that peacemaking is as difficult, or more difficult, than war making will
recognize that diplomacy is not enough. Diplomacy is essential, but sometimes
it is like having a bayonet when the enemy is ten miles away. You never get the
chance to use it. Such was the case of the experience of a banker in Melbourne.
He was out for a walk one evening, and passed a fence of a shabby home where he
heard screams in the back yard. Climbing up on the fence, he saw a man
attacking his wife with an ax. He shouted at him, but this had no effect. He
climber over the fence and attempted to protect the woman. As he did, he was
not only attacked by the man, but the woman also turned on him as an intruder,
and he was lucky to get away without serious injury. The way of the peacemaker
is indeed hard, and often seems as futile as war. On the other hand, though he
received no thanks, he did end the quarrel by uniting them against a common
foe-namely himself.
So much of the peace
between nations is due to their unity against a common foe. Herod and Pilot
even got together, and so did the Pharisees and Saducees, over their common
opposition to Christ. Jesus in this beatitude says the peacemaker will stir up
war against himself, and will be persecuted. He will be slandered and called
everything but a son of God. It is important that we do not get a superficial
view of what it means to be a peacemaker. If we think it means we will never be
in the turmoil of battle, but always at a place of calmness, we are deceived.
Paradise needs no peacemakers; only the battlefield does. That is why it is so
hard and costly to be a peacemaker. You have to be one who loves peace and who
hates war, and yet you must be in the midst of war fighting with everything you
have for peace.
John Foster Dulles
said, "The world will never have lasting peace so long as men reserve for
war the finest human qualities. Peace, no lest then war, requires idealism and
self-sacrifice and a righteous and dynamic faith." Christians often fail
to be dynamic as peacemakers because they feel it is futile. The Bible seems to
indicate wars will continue to the end until the Prince of Peace Himself comes
to silence all guns forever. This sounds like a logical basis for defeatism,
but it is not.
J. C. Macauley in
Moody Monthly said, "The fact that wars are predicted in Scripture, and by
our Lord Himself, does not mean that Christians should encourage war! It is our
privilege to put on the brakes by demonstrating those attitudes which tend to
peace." He goes on to say these attitudes are to be the opposites of the
world. The worldly man delights in the suffering and defeat of the enemy. They
rejoice in retaliation. There is nothing Christian in such emotions. Even
enlightened pagans have known this.
Homer in the Illiad
wrote,
"Curs'd is the
man and void of law and right,
Unworthy property,
unworthy light,
Unfit for public rule,
or private care;
That wretch, that monster,
that delights in war.
The Christian may be
up to his neck in war, and may be forced by circumstances beyond his control to
participate in its horrors, but he is no peace maker unless he hates it. If he
enjoys it and finds satisfaction in killing and destroying, he is not only
sub-Christian, but it is more than likely anti-Christian. The Christian
attitude in war is expressed by General Grant: "Though educated a soldier,
and though I have gone through two wars, I have always been a man of peace,
preferring to see questions of difference settled by arbitration. It has been
my misfortune to be engaged in more battles than any other American general,
but there never was a time during my command when I would not have chosen some
settlement by reason rather than the sword."
Here was a man of war
who hated it, and loved peace, and thus, was a peacemaker even in the midst of
war. He was not one deceived by the glory of drums, flags, and victory parades.
All the glory of war is pure paganism. It deceives millions, however, who are
immature and ignorant. We could expect to find confirmation of this from the
writings of pacifists, but the most powerful evidence comes from men who have
been great leaders on the battlefield. General Sherman made a famous pronouncement
which we seldom hear in context. He said, "I confess without shame that I
am tired and sick of the war. It's glory is all moonshine. It is only those who
have neither heard a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who
cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell."
Wellington, another
great general, said, "War is a most detestable thing. If you had seen but
one day of war, you would pray God that you might never see another."
Multiplying quotes is unnecessary, for it should be obvious that a peacemaker
is one who despises war, even if he is engaged in it, just as a fireman hates
the destructive flames even though he would have no job without them. To be
deceived by the so called glory of war is to be as sub-Christian as the fire
bug who starts a fire occasionally to bring out the bravery and valor of the
firemen. There is no glory in war, for even if it were a case where only evil
men were being killed, if God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, how
can we glory in it and profess to be Christian? The peacemaker, therefore,
though he cannot always by diplomacy prevent war, never praises war, even if it
is inevitable. He despises it, and is daring in self-sacrifice to try and end
it. Cowper wrote, "Those Christians best deserve the name,
Who studiously make
peace their aim."
This means getting
into the center of things with all of the determination of a war monger. This
is where I feel the weak point is in pacifist groups such as the Jehovah
Witnesses. They are passive spectators in the bleachers shouting to the players
on the field to play fair. The man who gets into the game has not just the
power to shout about fair play and peace, he has the power to be a fair player
and peace maker. Christians of wisdom and love in government, and in the
military, can do more for the cause of peace, if they will, than those who
shout, but have no policy making power. An Esther in the palace is worth more
than masses of protesters in the streets for saving the Jews from an unjust
slaughter. If godless men and warmakers are given the job of making all the
decisions with no Josephs or Daniels as advisers, then the poets picture will
be true:
The devil's kingdom is
come,
Ill is the news I
tell,
The devil's will is
done
On earth as it is in
hell.
Even so, the Christian
peacemaker never ceases to do God's will on earth as it is done in heaven. Lack
of peace does not hinder his persistent and determined efforts for peace, since
he knows that he is laboring for what will be ultimately. The golden age is as
sure as the Word of God.
Down the dark future,
through long generations,
The sounds of war grow
fainter and then cease;
And like a bell with
solemn, sweet vibrations,
I hear the voice of
Jesus Christ say-Peace!
The assurance of ultimate
victory is what enables the peacemaker to be as determined as the warmaker.
George Fox the Quaker leader, said he strived to live "in the power of
that spirit which takes away the occasion of all war." When the Indians
went on the warpath in Pennsylvania, he and his family did not go to the fort,
but stayed in their cabin with no weapons to defend themselves. About as
unrealistic as anything could be, but he depended upon God alone for
protection. In those days you opened a door by pulling a throng of deer skin on
the outside, which raised a heavy wooden latch inside. The latch string was
pulled in when there was to be no admittance. To say the latch string is out
meant visitors were welcome. Fox always let his latch string out, but one night
he drew it in. His wife could not sleep, and said it was not trusting God to
pull in the string. He felt so too, and put it out again.
In the night they
heard the wild cries of Indians all around them. They crept to the window and
saw on the edge of the forest the Indians were in counsel. They thought they
were deciding to either kill them, or take them prisoner. Soon a tall chief in
war paint came to the door of the cabin and fastened a long white feather to
the top of it, and then they all left. They never took it down, and later a
friendly Indian who spoke English told them what it meant. "This is the
house of man of peace. Do no harm." Only a peacemaker could ever have such
an experience, for only a peacemaker is willing to take such risks for the
cause of peace.
But what if the ending
of such a risk is not always so pleasant, and the peacemaker loses his scalp?
It does not change the picture at all, for Jesus says, "Rejoice and be
glad for great is your reward in heaven." The warmaker may win many battles,
but it is the peacemaker who will win the war. May God grant us each the
courage, when we find ourselves in the midst of any conflict, to be fighters
for peace.
9.
THE BURDEN OF THE CROSS Based on Matt. 5:10-12
Florence Chadwick was
the first woman ever to swim the difficult and cold 21 mile stretch of water
between Catalina Island and the California coast. She failed on her first
attempt because of poor vision. After 15 hours and 55 minutes of numbing cold
she asked to be taken out of the water. A heavy fog blanketed the area and
obscured her vision of the land only one mile away. She said, "If I could
have seen the shore, I could have made it." She was defeated because she
lost sight of her goal. The fog did not hinder her physically, but psychologically
it sapped her of her strength and courage to go on by robbing her of the vision
of her goal.
Jesus, the creator of
the mind, is naturally the master psychologist. He knows how important vision
is to strength, courage, and happiness. He knew that the fog of persecution
that would settle down around His disciples would lead to doubt, confusion, and
discouragement. He knew that these things blind Christians and rob them of the
vision of their goal, and can defeat them, and cause them to lose the happiness
of all the other beatitudes. Therefore, in this last beatitude Jesus provides
His disciples with a defensive weapon to penetrate the fog of persecution. He
promises great reward in heaven to those who will press on in the dark, knowing
the light is still shining beyond.
Joseph Conrad in
Typhoon has the captain shout to Jakes the mate as great waves pound the ship,
"Don't you be put out by anything! Keep her facing it! Facing it, always
facing it-that's the way to get through-face it! That's enough for any man.
Keep a cool head and face it." This is what Jesus is saying to His
disciples. The storm of persecution is coming. If they try and turn back to
escape it, they lose all. Their victory and happiness depends on their keeping
a cool head and facing it. It is hard to keep cool in the fires of affliction,
however. How many of us could face the cruelty of Nero, who put Christian men
and women in sacks, covered them with oil, and set them up on poles in his
garden; then lit them as living torches to light up his garden at night. Yet
this is what Jesus calls His disciples to face. This is the burden of the
cross.
Lowell wrote, "By
the light of burning heretics Christ's bleeding feet I track. Toiling up new
Calvary's ever, with the cross that turns not back." Happiness is pressing
on whatever the cost with your eyes upon Him who bore the cross for you. Jesus
says, happy are those who take following me seriously enough to bear the burden
of the cross. Take up the cross and follow me Jesus said, and His demand is
still the same today, and the promise is still the same, that those who suffer
with Christ shall also reign with Him.
This beatitude must
have been shocking to those who first heard it. They were expecting honor and
Jesus offers them hostility. You would naturally think that the person who
developed all the qualities of character in these beatitudes would be loved by
all. He would be so pleasant and helpful in society that his friendship and
presence would be treasured, you would think. One of the unfortunate paradoxes
of life, however, is the fact that the best people are often the most despised.
Jesus, who alone embodied all of these beatitudes perfectly, was crucified.
Excessive goodness provokes opposition because it makes the conscience of evil
men burn with shame and guilt. Too much light clashes with darkness, and
holiness clashes with evil, and so the Christian is under constant pressure to
conform to the world so as not to rock the boat, and stir up opposition. There
is a tendency to abuse the former beatitude and be a peacemaker at any price,
even the price of compromise and silence. Everyone one of these beatitudes can
be perverted.
Some of the other
beatitudes have been difficult to grasp, but this last one is the crowning
paradox of them all. It is equivalent to Jesus saying His burden is light. How
can a burden be light? If it is light it is not a burden is it? Yet Jesus calls
us to take up the burden of the cross which is a very costly act, yet one which
leads to
much joy and
happiness. What could be more paradoxical-a crushing burden that lifts you to
the skies. Being exceedingly glad when you are hated and despised. Jesus knew
this was a hard statement to believe and understand. That is why He states it
twice. It is so incredible. All other beatitudes are in one verse each, but
this one takes three verses to state. It is both the hardest to grasp, and the
one offering the fullest reward for time and eternity.
It is hard to grasp
because it contradicts our feelings and thinking. We feel that as Christians in
America we are more blessed than any Christians ever, because we live in a
tolerant society where we are free to worship as we please without penalty or
interference. We feel so sorry for those Christians in Russia and China who
have to suffer so severely for their faith, and we pray for them to be able to
have the blessings we have. Yet, this beatitude would lead to us to believe
they are the blessed ones. They are the gloriously happy Christians, and it is
we who have the crumbs of blessedness. This is very hard to believe, and
certainly there must be some mistake we feel.
Yet if we look at the
other side of the coin that Luke gives us, it points to the same conclusion. In
Luke 6:26 Jesus says, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so
their fathers did to the false prophets." If everyone like us and praises
us as such wonderful people, it may be because we never disturbed them, but
only tickle their ears and make them feel comfortable in their sins, like the
false prophets. But if we are attacked and slandered, we show ourselves loyal
to Christ. Yet, Paul says we are to live peaceably with all men as much as lies
within us.
Let's be honest and
admit that this is confusing. Sometimes I think we feel we would be better off
if Jesus had never explained to us how to be happy. We feel like the students
who teacher said she was going to give them an epitome of the life of Paul. She
said, "You may not know what an epitome is. It is in its signification
synonymous with synopsis." The explanation is harder to grasp than the
original difficulty. So happiness is hard to understand, and how to gain it is
a problem, but after Jesus explains how to do it, it seems harder to grasp than
ever. This is because some truths are not a matter of logic, but of life. You
cannot analyze this beatitude and demonstrate the truth of it on paper. It can
only be proven in life and experience. It calls for the courage to step out and
take a risk for Christ. As long as we play it safe and sit in silence so we
don't rock the boat, we can never know the joy of bearing the burden of the
cross. We must speak out against the sin and injustice in our society. We need
to renounce sin in ourselves, and denounce it in others, and take the
consequences.
A football referee was
once asked about a certain player in the game he had refereed. "I can only
say this, I never have to pull him out from the bottom of a scrimmage. I often
have found him on top of a pile of players, where he had jumped after the man
with the ball had been stopped by another player. He never was the first to
make the tackle." So many of us are like this in the game of life. We jump
on the band wagon if someone else takes a stand and bears the burden of the
impact, but we are never the first to make the tackle. The result is we miss
much of the joy, excitement, and adventure of bearing the cross. Lest we jump
to the false conclusion that we are to find happiness in going out and starting
trouble, let us look at two important points of this beatitude. First-
I. THE REQUIREMENT.
In both verse 9 and 10
Jesus qualifies His statement by saying that persecution must be for
righteousness sake, and for His sake, and the evil slander must be false. In
other words, any suffering that you must endure because you are a trouble
maker, or because you rub people the wrong way by your obnoxious attitude and
actions, does not increase your happiness. The people of God through the
centuries suffered much opposition and persecution, not because of their
righteousness, but because of their lack of it. Sometimes persecution is the
judgment of God on His people for their sin and indifference.
It is false to assume
that persecution is a blessing in itself, or proof of one's righteousness. Many
of the false cults faced the same persecution in Rome, as did the Christians.
Jesus is saying that only those who meet the requirement can reap the benefits
of this beatitude. The suffering must be because the persecutor hates the
righteousness of the persecuted, and is opposed to Jesus Christ. The accusation
must be false. For example, in the early church Christians were charged with
cannibalism because of the words said at communion about eating of the body and
drinking the blood of Christ. They were charged with immorality because they
called their meal together a love feast. This was interpreted to mean a sex
orgy, and Christians were linked with the immoral cults. Their practice of
giving a kiss of peace did not help clarify things at all, and so all manner of
evil was spoken against them, but falsely in ignorance, or malicious hatred,
and, therefore, they were blessed.
Peter warns Christians
not to suffer as busybodies or thieves etc. The Christian has to be very narrow
in what he calls persecution for the sake of Christ. So much of the opposition
Christians face is because of their zeal for some non-essential idea, or man
made system of theology. They often have to endure much pain and abuse from
other Christians, as well as from the world. The tragedy of it is that it is
all in vain, and does not qualify them for the reward that Jesus speaks of
here. One is not suffering for Christ because he stands for a position which
many others in the body of Christ oppose. Much suffering and persecution is for
the sake of self and pride, not for the sake of Christ. Someone said,
He who crowns himself
is not the more
Royal, or he who mars
himself with stripes
The more partaker of
the cross of Christ.
The blessedness that
comes to the persecuted is a very specialized suffering. We need to examine
ourselves if we do suffer, and make sure it is because of righteousness; that
is-because we are Christlike. Because the requirement is so narrow, there are
few who reach the heights of happiness connected with this beatitude. Narrow is
the way and few there be who find it. Next we see-
II. THE RESPONSE.
Jesus does not say if
you are persecuted, reviled, and slandered, you should grin and bear it. That
is what we call common sense, but Jesus does not give us any of the common
sense, but he gives us the very uncommon advice to rejoice and be glad.
Certainly Jesus did not expect Christians to respond to persecution like mad
men. But then, who but a mad man can rejoice and be glad when he is hated and
opposed. This is contrary to our very nature. We love to be loved, approved,
and accepted. Nothing hurts worse than to be falsely slandered, and to be
rejected for our very goodness. Yet Jesus says this is to be our response. Is
it possible? We don't have to speculate. History is full of testimonies
concerning the joy of bearing the burden of the cross.
In Acts 5:41 we read
that after Peter and John were beaten: "Then they left the presence of the
council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the
name." Paul and Silas sang songs at midnight while in prison. Thousands of
Christians have gone to their death singing praises to God. The records are
full of men and women experiencing the paradox of joy in suffering. John
Chrysostom, the great preacher in the early church, said, "Were any to ask
whether he should place me on high with the angels, or with St. Paul in his
bonds? I would choose the prison....I count not St. Paul so happy because he
was caught up into paradise, as because he was cast into the dungeon."
Listen to the
testimony of a 20th century Paul of India-Sadhu Sundar Singh. He was a man who
suffered constantly for Christ, and yet had the happiest life conceivable. He
lived in a miracle world, because the Christ of miracles was ever present with
him in power. He writes of his going into forbidden territory to preach.
"I often remember
that day when, for preaching the Gospel in Tibet, I was thrown into a deep
well. For three days I was in that well, without food or water. The door was
locked and it was quite dark. There was nothing but dead bodies and bones in
that well. It was like hell. There I was tempted, 'Is your Christ going to save
you, now you have been put in this prison?' But I remember a wonderful peace
and joy came to me in those hours of persecution, when my arm was broken, and
there was such a bad smell. That hell seemed heaven. I felt the presence of the
Living Christ." He goes on to say his arm was healed by a touch, and the
door was opened and he escaped. He spent his life bearing the cross and said,
"I can say this much from my personal experience, that the cross lifts
those who lift it."
To grasp the happiness
that can be ours in bearing the cross, we must see Jesus as a double Savior. He
saved us from our sins on the cross, but He will also save us from the
consequences of sin in the future, and often in the present as well. We need to
look back to the cross and His salvation there to gain the courage we need to
bear the cross, but we need to look ahead to the victory and reward of the
future to sustain us when the going gets tough. There have been some great
cases of double salvation in history. Let me share with you one of the most
amazing.
A wealthy family in
England went for a holiday in the country, and went for a swim in a pool. One
of the boys stayed behind when the others left. He got into serious trouble and
began to drown. Fortunately the son of the gardener heard the cries for help
and came to the rescue. He jumped in and pulled the boy to safety. The parents
were so grateful they asked the gardener what they could do for the youthful
hero. He explained that his son wanted to go to college to become a doctor. The
wealthy family gladly paid his way, and that boy went on to become the famous
Dr. Fleming who developed penicillin. When Winston Churchill was stricken with
pneumonia, Dr. Fleming was called to treat him, and by means of penicillin was
able to save his life again. What do I mean by again? Churchill was the boy
that Fleming pulled from the water. He saved him as a boy, and he saved him
again as a man.
Jesus is also a
dual-Savior. The salvation He purchased for us on the cross does not save us
from life's trials and persecution. Often Christians must suffer just because
they trust in the cross and the Christ of the cross. This is the burden of the
cross, but Jesus will save us from this also, and the reward will be so great
for those who are faithful under the burden of the cross. Happiness in not
found in what you have, but in what you hope for. It is the expectation of
receiving God's best that gives life meaning when circumstances are far from
happy. Being loyal to Christ when it does not pay is the real test. Many of us
have never yet been put to this test. We need to ask ourselves honestly: Is
Christ so precious to me I would stand loyal against an opposing society?
Samuel Shoemaker,
touring Westminister Abbey years ago, heard another tourist say to the guide,
"This place thrills me." The old guard said, "Yes madam, but you
can't thrill for 30 years." We can sympathize with the guard, for we know
it is true that the thrill of life's wonders do wear thin. However, Dr.
Shoemaker met another guide on his trip in one of the great Cathedrals. He
stood in awe at the splendor of the sun's rays coming through the marvelous
stained glass windows, and he knew it was possible to keep the thrills of life
alive. You must keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, and your mind filled with the
promise of his reward, however, to do so. Take your eyes off Him, and, like
Peter, you begin to sink in the stormy seas of life's troubles. If you expect
to stay on top and be happy you must keep your eye on Him in all circumstances.
William H. Sheldon
said, "Happiness is essentially a state of going somewhere,
wholeheartedly, one-directionally, without regret or reservation." How
many times have you said, "I'll be happy if only I had more of this, or
lived there, or had that job,
or better health,
etc." All of us can think of changes for the better that would make us
happy, but who would ever think of saying, "I would be happier if I could
suffer this, be hated for that, reviled and despised for my faith." Anyone
talking that way would be quickly labeled sick, and they would be shunned
rather that persecuted. Obviously Jesus is not picturing the ideal life here.
He is simply facing the reality He knows will be a part of history, and He is
offering His followers a special bonus if they will bear the burden of the
cross, no matter how heavy it gets. We are not to look for persecution, or
promote it, but rather, avoid it, but if it comes we are to be ready to pay the
price.
We can't look at the
many testimonies of others, but the ones we have looked at are sufficient to
show that this paradoxical beatitude can be realized in life, and the cross can
be borne in joy. It is a burden that is light, as Jesus said. As we remember
again the cross Jesus bore for our sin, let us renew our commitment to Him, and
pray for the courage to stand and speak out for Him whatever the cost. Let us
pray for the courage to take up the burden of the cross.
10.
HAPPY NEW YEAR Based on Matt. 5:1-12
Edwin Markham in his
poem The Shoes Of Happiness tells the story of a king in Istanbul who was ill.
He called his wise men together to find a cure. They studied the situation and
announced that only one thing could cure him, and that was for him to wear the
shoes of a perfectly happy man. Off they went, therefore, to find this rare man
and bring back his shoes. They went to a rich man, but found him unhappy
because of worry over his money. They were disappointed everywhere they went,
for they could not find happiness where they expected it. Neither the young nor
the old supplied their man.
The young were
restless that youth should stay;
The old were sad that
it went away.
On they searched
finding lovers worried over their beloved, and soldiers unhappy over their dead
comrades, and even the wise carefree pilgrim did not fit the bill.
But the pilgrim
answered with star-still eyes,
I am not glad, I am
only wise.
It appeared that the
search was hopeless until one morning they met a tramp of a man with laughter
on his face, and he was singing as he walked. They had found their happy man at
last, and they rushed to him eagerly only to discover that he had no shoes.
Markham was expressing
his philosophy of happiness. He felt it could only be found by giving up
things. He had a point, for Jesus recognized that some people are unhappy just
because they are possessed by their possessions. He counseled the rich one
ruler to find satisfaction and happiness by giving up his riches. It is
possible then to find happiness by the giving up of things. John Oxenham wrote,
Some have much, and
some have more.
Some are rich, and
some are poor,
Some have little, some
have less,
Some have not a cent
to bless.
Their empty pockets,
yet possess
True riches in true
happiness.
In Luke 6:20 Jesus is
recorded as speaking to the literal poor and saying, "Blessed (or happy)
are ye poor for yours is the kingdom of God." On the other hand, it would
be very superficial to conclude that poverty is the biblical road to bliss. The
facts of life, and the rest of Scripture no more support this than the other
fallacy that riches are the key to happiness. Kim Hubbard said, "It's
pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness. Poverty and wealth have both
failed. Most of what Jesus taught about happiness does not deal with the
absence or presence of possessions at all, but with what a person is in
himself. The blessedness, happiness, and joy of Christ was not in anything he
had, but in what he was. If our goal is to be Christlike than a happy new year
for us will consist in becoming more like Him. Happiness on its highest level
is not to be found in what comes to us, but in what we come to be. That is what
the beatitudes are all about.
Jesus knew the
importance of being happy, and that is why He begins His greatest sermon with a
list of ways to be perfectly happy on earth for those who would follow Him and
be citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus wishes to each of His followers,
not only a happy new year, but a perpetually happy new life. Jesus expected His
disciples to be the happiest people on earth. Sometimes this has been true, and
sometimes not. Tertullian, and early Christian writer, said, "The
Christian saint is hilarious." Jesus said to His own, "My joy be with
you." The fruit of the spirit is joy, and time and time again through
history Christians have produced hilarious saints. A member of the Salvation
Army band was once asked not to beat the drums so loud. He replied, "Lord bless
you sir, since I have been converted I am so happy, I could bust the blooming
drums."
Every person wants to
be happy, or if they are already reasonably happy they want to be intensely
happy. William James in his classic book Varieties Of Religious Experience
writes, "How to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness is in fact for
most men at all times the secret motive of all they do, and of all they are
willing to endure." Happiness is not only a result of health and peace of
mind, it is also a cause of these values. Philip Gibbs in The Hidden City
writes, "Unhappiness affects the internal secretions. It has an odd effect
on the heart sometimes. It lowers physical resistance. It debilitates the
nervous system and weakens willpower. Sometimes it leads to queer obsessions.
Louis Evans went so far as to say, "More people are sick because they are
unhappy than are unhappy because they are sick." Happiness is medicine for
the body, mind, and spirit of man, and Jesus the Great Physician prescribes
this medicine in its greatest potency.
If we are to have a
happy new year, we must know what happiness is, and how to obtain it. Our
Declaration Of Independence declares that all men have certain inalienable
rights such as the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. There
is no question about our right to pursue happiness, but there is considerable
question about the chances of catching it, and the means by which it can be
caught. Happy is a word that comes from hap, which means chance. Happiness is a
matter of luck for many, and when they wish you happy new year, they mean good
luck-we hope you get all the breaks, and that no misfortune befalls you. The
happy-go-lucky man is one who trusts to luck.
The earnest social
worker said to the village reprodate, "Robert, the last time I met you,
you made me very happy because you were sober. Today you have made me unhappy
because you are intoxicated." "Yes," replied Robert with a
beaming smile, "Today its my turn to be happy." Many feel that the
essence of happiness is to be intoxicated. It is fools paradise, however, and
Paul warns in Eph. 5:15,18, "Be very careful, then, how you live-not as
unwise but as wise,....do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.
Instead, be filled with the Spirit." The filling of the Spirit leads to
all the values that intoxication offers without any of the dangers and defects.
The joy of the Christians at Pentecost led people to accuse them of being
drunk. Jesus was also accused of being a wine bibber because of His happiness
in relation to sinners.
The loss of power in
attracting the world to the church is due in large measure to the loss of
happiness. Happiness is essential, not only to the health of the individual,
but to the health of the church as a whole. All men are looking for happiness,
and only when they see examples of the joy of Christ in human flesh will they
be attracted to the happiness He can give in forgiveness of sin, and assurance
of eternal life. We want to be happy, therefore, as a means to personal health
in our total being, and as a means to be used of God for attracting others to
God. In this introductory message on the beatitudes it is our purpose to get a
broad view of the subject of happiness before we concentrate on the specifics.
We are not interested
in the purely materialistic concept of happiness. Rousseau said,
"Happiness is a good bank account, a good cook and a good digestion."
There is some truth in this view, but nothing that is distinctly human let
alone Christian. This is the happiness of a dog, a cow, or any animal. We want
to look at those philosophies of happiness that rise above the animal level,
and which are part of a total Christian view of happiness. These philosophies
fall into two basic categories. There are those which find the key to happiness
in externals, and those which find it within the mind of man. Let's look at the
external system first.
I. EXTERNAL SYSTEMS.
J. M. Goad said,
"Now happiness consists in activity; such is the constitution of our
nature; it is a running stream, and not a stagnant pool." Happiness is
doing is the essence of this philosophy, and it is to be pursued by work.
Tolstoy said, "The happiness of man consists in life, and life is in
labor." Whittier wrote,
He who blesses most is
blessed;
And God and man shall
own his worth,
Who toils to leave as
his bequest
And added beauty to
the earth.
Many are philosophers
and poets who expound the doctrine of happiness through creative work. If you
want to have a happy new year, you must labor, build, and create. You cannot
leave it to luck. You must work to be happy. We can't go into the biblical
philosophy of work at this point, but nothing is more clear in the Bible than
the truth that work is a part of God's plan for man's happiness. God is a
worker, Jesus was a worker, and He urged His disciples to work for the night
was coming. "Sweet is the sleep of the laboring man," is the Old
Testament proverb. Work gives purpose to life, and gives a person an outlet for
creative energy. It brings the reward of satisfaction and material blessings.
Canon Liddon, the
great English preacher, said, "The happiest days of my life have been
those in which I have had the most work to do, with fair health and strength to
do it." Spurgeon, the most famous of Baptist preachers, said, "The
happiest state on earth is one in which we have something to do, strength to do
it with, and a fair return for what we have done." Robert Louis Stevenson
kept writing even when he was in terrible pain. He did it because it was his
secret of happiness. He wrote, "There is no duty we so much under-rate as
the duty of being happy."
Helen Keller who was
blind, deaf, and dumb, all of her life did so much good because she felt it was
her duty to be happy. She wrote, in her book My Key Of Life, "But since I
consider it a duty to myself and to others to be happy, I escape a misery worse
than any physical deprivation." Where did she get her inspiration of such
a view of happiness? She wrote, "His joyous optimism is like water to
feverish lips, and has for its highest expression the 8 beatitudes." We
see then that on paper and in real lives the finding of happiness in externals
is consistent with the happiness Jesus would have us possess. What we do will
certainly play a large role in determining our happy new year. This is not the
whole truth, however, so we need to also consider-
II. INTERNAL SYSTEMS.
Centuries ago Cicero
said, "A happy life consists in tranquility of mind." You can do all
kinds of great work, but if you are filled with fear and anxiety all your labor
will not make you happy. Jesus recognized the basic need for peace of mind and
heart, and this was one of the greatest gifts He offered to men. "Blessed
are the pure in heart," puts the emphasis on the inner nature of
happiness. Henrich Ibsen wrote, "Happiness is above all things, the calm,
glad certainty of innocence." Here is peace and purity combined. It is the
peace of sin forgiven and eliminated.
No one can dispute the
internal nature of happiness. Jesus says the externals can be such as to make
you mourn, and you can be in the midst of persecution, and yet it is possible
to be happy because happiness is not dependant upon the externals. This means
that the handicapped, the old, and the ill can still experience true happiness,
even if they cannot work and create. This is what lead Joshua Liebman to write
his book Peace Of Mind, which lead to an avalanche of books on the subject both
Christian and secular. The danger of the peace of mind and happiness cults is
that they make this partial grasp of truth the whole, and expect to find the
ultimate in the mind. This is not new, for Seneca the ancient Roman said,
"Unblessed is he who thinks himself unblest." There is basic truth
here, for Jesus said, "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he." You
can build a strong case for the totally internal system of happiness.
Epicurus, the ancient
philosopher, said, "Whoever does not regard what he has as most ample
wealth, is unhappy, though he be master of the world." Paul would not
reject this partial truth of a pagan, for he said, "I have learned to be
content in whatever state I am." Paul found happiness in the power of
positive thinking. The truth of happiness by means of peace of mind is
universally recognized. We had a Hindu from India for dinner on one Christmas.
He was a vegetarian from a community of vegetarians. He said that the motive
behind not eating animals was compassion on all life. Some carried this to a
greater extreme than others. Some of his people ate supper at 5:30 rather than
7 or 8 like most. They do this for peace of mind. If they ate later they would
need to turn on their lamps, and dozens of bugs would come to the light and be
killed. So they eat before the sun goes down, and avoid the needless killing.
This gives them peace of mind and makes them happy.
We see then that both
the external and internal views of happiness are valid in that both do account
for much of what we call happiness in human life. Both are recognized by
Christians and non-Christians alike. This means that in themselves neither of
these systems of happiness are distinctly Christian. The reason we have looked
at them briefly is that we might recognize that Christian truth does not
eliminate pre-Christian or non-Christian truth, but rather gathers up the
fragments and unifies them into a whole.
Jesus magnifies the
meaning of happiness, and He goes beyond the systems men have expounded so as
to be all inclusive. Jesus introduces something strikingly new into the
philosophy of happiness with His beatitudes. They are paradoxes in that they
include among the happy those that the systems of men exclude. Jesus is saying,
even those who are not happy according to the philosophies of men can be happy.
Even the unhappy can be happy. That is the paradox of His teaching on happiness.
His is the only truly universal philosophy of happiness, for no person needs to
be excluded. The happiness He can give is not only universal, but it is unique
in that He adds to the external and internal the third dimension of the
eternal. The happiness of Christ is lasting, whereas the best that men can
offer is temporal.
What happens to the
happiness in work philosophy when the boss says you are getting a raise because
they want your last week to be a happy one? What happens to the happiness in
the peace of mind philosophy when tragedy strikes? In a moment all the
happiness men can gain by their philosophies can be shattered. Goethe said,
"The highest happiness, the purest joys of life, wear out at last."
Because this is so we need to move into a new and lasting dimension of
happiness in which we grasp and comprehend the teachings of Jesus in the
beatitudes.