Category Archives: Faith and Practice

Blessedness is…

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“And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:”
(Matthew 5:2 (ESV))

Reading through the Beatitudes as recorded in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:3-12), I began to wonder, “Are these attributes that we would associate with ‘blessedness’ today?”  When we consider those qualities and characteristics that the world admires and endorses, we find a strikingly different list. 

Today’s Beatitudes

  • Blessed are the financially secure
    Those who have no needs are the really fortunate ones.  They can stand on their own two feet.  They need no one’s help.  They possess their kingdom.
  • Blessed are the happy
    Happiness is a right, and nothing should infringe upon an individual’s right to be happy, however that may be experienced.  Sorrow should be avoided at any cost, for it is a sign that things just aren’t right.  If you are successful in life, you will be happy.
  • Blessed are those in power
    No one wants their lives to be out of control.  Those who have power, and are in control of their destiny are blessed.  They determine what they will do and when they will do it.  They have influence and authority over others.  They’ve got their lives well put together.
  • Blessed are those who are secure in their own morality and would never impose it on others
    We avoid the term self-righteous, it sounds smug and pretentious, but it reality we kind of admire it.  As long as your “self-righteousness” doesn’t’ infringe on my “self-righteousness” we should get along.  Each of us should be able to determine what’s right and wrong for our lives.  The only thing that we won’t tolerate in intolerance.
  • Blessed are the nice
    The greatest compliment that we can pay to someone today is that they are “very nice.”  They are polite, well-mannered, doing good for others, holding their tongue, socially acceptable.  The nice people don’t make waves, they don’t upset or confront those around them.  They’re just nice.
  • Blessed are those who find compromise
    It’s perfectly acceptable to have integrity and values for yourself, but compromise is the highest sign of sensibility.  When we can cross the aisle and embrace those who disagree with us, casting aside the peripheral matters, working our way down to the lowest common denominator, then we have achieved unity and maturity.
  • Blessed are those who can avoid conflict
    The world is full of conflict and war, struggle and oppression.  It happens on a global scale, but it also happens individually.  Fortunate are those who can go through life with little conflict, who can avoid having to confront the difficult problems of life, and can sleep well through the night.
  • Blessed are those who are treated well and are well-liked
    When you are treated poorly, perhaps it’s because you have acted poorly.  If you are persecuted for the things you’ve said and believe, maybe you need to reexamine your faith, or at least learn when to keep your mouth shut.  The world likes those who like the world.

Now compare that with what Jesus taught.

The Beatitudes

  • Blessed are the poor in spirit
    Those who realize they have nothing of their own to offer God, but come empty handed, in desperate need of God’s help – theirs is the kingdom of God.  The kingdom of God is the promise of God’s presence and provision.  He will, and has, supplied our every need.
  • Blessed are those who mourn
    The sorrow that comes from an awareness of our sin and the brokenness of a fallen world drives us to seek forgiveness in the grace of God.  Such an awareness comes only from the Holy Spirit; this kind of righteous mourning leads us to true comfort in Christ.  The Holy Spirit is our comforter, our encourager, only in Him will we know the true joy of the presence of God.
  • Blessed are the meek
    The meek are those who recognize that power and control are actually an illusion, that God is in control, and we must learn to trust and obey.  The meek put aside their plans and agendas to serve others first, following Christ their Lord.  The meek long for the treasure that awaits us, and therefore are not preoccupied with the trappings of power and possession of this world.
  • Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
    To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to recognize that as bread and water are essential for life, righteousness (true holiness and justification before God) is the greatest need for the soul.  To hunger and thirst for righteousness then, means that our greatest desire is to be right with God, and to see righteousness in the lives of others.  When our greatest goal in life is to pursue the glory of God in righteousness, we will be truly satisfied.
  • Blessed are the merciful
    Mercy is different than nice.  Mercy is illogical, irrational, and uncommon.  It means not lashing out when wounded, but offering grace and forgiveness instead, showing compassion especially to an offender.  Mercy, like grace, is a gift that comes with no expectations of return.  It is loving the unlovable, forgiving the unrepentant, serving the ungrateful.
  • Blessed are the pure in heart
    To be pure in heart means to have a heart that is undivided, wholly fixed and directed to one end.  Having a heart of integrity, directed toward God’s glory and goodness, is what God created (and re-created) us for.  Repeatedly we are called to direct our heart to the Lord, to serve him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.  Such wholehearted love of God leads us to true unity and maturity as we grow in the likeness of Christ.
  • Blessed are the peacemakers
    Peacemakers are not those who avoid problems or difficult situations, but those who deal with them head on and work through them.  To be peacemakers in God’s kingdom is to proclaim the gospel, to teach, correct, rebuke, and train one another in righteousness.  Peacemakers proclaim justice for the oppressed, healing to the sick, freedom to the enslaved.  Born of a peace that comes from salvation in Jesus Christ, they are the sons of God.
  • Blessed are those who are persecuted and reviled because of me
    If you have gone through this life never knowing the consequence of standing for your faith, perhaps your faith has been inconsequential in your life.  The persecution we face for believing in Christ, for contending for the faith, draws us closer to Christ.  Remembering Jesus’ words, “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).

Friends, judge for yourselves which teaching you will follow, where you will find the true blessedness.  One shows you where the world would have you look to find happiness, the other where Jesus says happiness is found.  One would have you follow the ladder to success and empowerment, the other would have you take up your cross and follow your savior.  As Joshua said, “if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve… but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

SDG

Meet the new Sin, same as the old.

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“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”
(Ecclesiastes 1:9 (ESV))

In reading George Marsden’s “Jonathon Edwards: A Life,” I came across something that surprised me.  Marsden wrote that when Edwards grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, passed away leaving him as the lead pastor of a church of 1300 members, Edwards faced three major obstacles.  The first was the issue of admittance to the Lord’s Table for Communion.   His grandfather had practiced a rather open table, allowing all who had been baptized to receive the meal regardless of whether their life showed evidence of true conversion.  There was great debate on this matter, one that plagued Edwards’ entire career, but Stoddard’s position was that there was edification and encouragement for conversion in the celebration of the Table.

Another pressing issue facing Edwards in his new church was a growing political divide.  This was the 1720’s, and already there was a growing divide between those who were loyal to the crown, and those who felt independence from the throne would lead to financial and religious prosperity.  It is fascinating the level of contention and divisiveness that political matters such as these had in the church.  Perhaps the reason was that in Edwards day, there was no Cable News to present the political ideas of the day, so the pulpit was the forum in which all ideas were disseminated. 

What struck me as most interesting, however, was what Marsden says occupied the majority of Edwards’ attention: the “indulgences of the young” (pages 130-131).  Marsden writes,

The most notorious result was amazing impurities tolerated among the young in recent years.  Not only was lasciviousness encouraged by nightwalking and similar frivolities, but New England parents allowed practices that are “looked upon as shameful and disgraceful at Canada, New York, and England.”  Everyone knew that he referred to the New England practice of “bundling” in which parents allowed young people to spend the night in bed together partly clothed.  “I believe there is not a country in the Christian world, however debauched and vicious, where parents indulge their children in such liberties… as they do in this country…”

Bundling, which was supposed to be a way of getting acquainted without sexual intercourse, did not always work as advertised.  Pregnancies before marriage were rising dramatically in New England.  Premarital sex was commonplace.  Even when it resulted in pregnancy, so long as the couple married, there was no longer much stigma involved.

Sound familiar?

Edwards noted that the indulgence on the part of the parents was most likely a reaction to their own very strict upbringing, but was increasingly discouraged by the behavior of the youth in his community.  The taverns were full of young men who were wasting their time and energy in worthless pursuits, delaying marriage and work, living with their parents rather than forging out and establishing themselves.  Sounds to me like Edwards could have been writing about 21st century youth as well.

“And there is nothing new under the sun.”  We hear today of the Culture Wars, and young men and women are portrayed in such negative light.  Parents decry “what’s wrong with the children today?”  We see the political divisions of our national leaders, the lack of concern for spiritual growth and maturity, and the erosion of any semblance of moral integrity and we think to ourselves, “Whatever happened to the good old days?”

The truth is, there were no good old days.  Edwards railed against the moral turpitude of the youth of his day; as did Augustine, Chrysostom, Luther, Calvin, and Baxter.  Sin has always and will always attack us where we are most easily tempted.  The youth are tempted with passion and lust; the elders are tempted by power and division, all are tempted to spiritual stupor and sloth.

What Edwards saw as the corrective to the moral decay of his time, the heart of true reformation, was a return to the Word of God.  Revival and reformation would only come through the renewal of the passionate preaching and teaching of the Word of God.  To awaken a people to a zeal for the Lord, to heal divisions within the community, to draw the youth from their immorality and sensuality, they must heed the call of Scripture.

And as we share the same problems as the people of Edwards’ day, we also share the same solution.  We must return to the Word of God.  We will only find revival and reformation in the renewing work of God’s Holy Spirit that comes from the passionate preaching and teaching of God’s Word.  That means that we need to be studying God’s Word for ourselves.  It means that we need to be leading our families in private worship and study of God’s Word. It means that we need to find ourselves in churches that faithfully teach and preach the Word of God.

There is nothing new under the sun.  The sins we face today are the sins that have been with us since the fall. 

There is nothing new under the sun.  Our savior from sin is Jesus Christ: always has been, always will be.