We’ve all been there. The waiting room.

After rushing and sweating and tripping over ourselves to get to an appointment on time, we find ourselves staring at the walls, counting the chairs, flipping aimlessly through magazines as we wait. Gazing at the door ahead of us wondering when it will next open, hoping our name will be called. Pondering what might be happening on the other side… what is occurring in the lives of others just out of sight that is causing us to wait. And wait. And wait.

My husband and I have felt for months, years, like we have been stuck in a waiting room. Knowing that God has called us to do and be certain things, taking fearful leaps of faith… and finding ourselves waiting.

From our very human perspective, we tend to think that life is going to happen once that door opens and we can move on to the next stage – but I think God often leaves us to live large chunks of life in the waiting room. It is in the waiting room that our hearts can be adjusted.

The Sermon on the Mount fascinates me. I have been reading through Matthew and once again find myself drawn to these chapters, pondering them, savoring them, longing to understand the heart of the Master. Matthew 7:28 ends this amazing section of Scripture with the observation that “the crowds were astonished at his teaching.” It is astonishing. Jesus’ view of life is so very different from our “natural” human view.

Jesus enlarges our understanding of God’s ways and shines a light on how far our ways are from His. We point to the fact that we have never murdered, He points out the anger simmering in our hearts and tells us that it is by meekness that we will inherit the earth.

We look around ourselves self-righteously as we mentally label “those” people as the immoral, the adulterers. He makes us squirm as He shows us that our very hearts are immoral, points out how prone we are to sin, advises us to painfully cut away and discard anything which might cause us to stumble even in ways unseen by those around us. To examine the plank in our eye before we take the scalpel to our brother’s speck.

We take delight in showing our “righteousness” to the world around us – trumpeting our giving as “setting an example,” praying long and showy prayers that others might notice our piety, making it public knowledge when we choose to fast or make some small sacrifice. Jesus tells us to have a vibrant life of walking with God in obedience and hiddenness – giving in secret, having a prayer life that is fervent and private before we pray to Him in public, sacrificing quietly and offering our lives as a gift to Him alone. He shocks us by saying that many who have prophesied and cast out demons and performed “mighty works” in His name will be cast from His presence, for He never knew them.

We tend to think that life is all about the big appointment – the active, obvious times when it is about us serving, us doing. Life is often about the waiting room. The times of quiet reflection, introspection, searching for the heart of the Father.

Because it’s not about us. It’s about Him.

Life in the waiting room is full of lessons – lessons that are often lost in the midst of hurry, angst, and worry. Is it any wonder that smack in the middle of this message we find this gentle reminder:

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?… For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:25, 32-34)

“Lord, we need this… we’re waiting… why aren’t you opening this door?…”

So often, His answer is wait. Wait longer, my child. You’re still seeking your kingdom, your righteousness, your provision.

Seek mine instead.

This is a continuation of our series on the Sermon on the Mount – if you missed them, you might want to go back and catch up here.

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

This verse is one that has been used and abused and ripped out of its context. What kind of peace are we talking about here?

Are we talking about “tolerating” one another and refusing to assert that one religion is more true than another? This is certainly a popular opinion today.

We are told that those of us who are closed-minded, those who assert that our beliefs are true and that others are not, those who cling to our “religious ideals” are to blame for the conflict in the world. Yesterday on twitter one of the trending topics was “No God” – in other words, that was the most popular topic happening worldwide on twitter. One individual posted a tweet which read “no God, know peace. Know God, no peace.”

Does this verse really mean that we should all just drop our differences and stop offending one another with our truth claims? A cursory reading of the context of this verse clears up this debate instantly – the next two verses read:

“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.” (Matt. 5:10-11)

You don’t get persecuted for getting along with everyone. So, what kind of peace are we talking about? I think this verse is often misunderstood because we misunderstand the true conflict that we are to seek peace for. The ultimate conflict that needs to be addressed is that humanity is in rebellion against God. There will never be true peace on earth until Jesus sits on the throne of this world and every knee bows before Him.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

As believers, as the blessed ones, we have been reconciled to God through the work of Christ. In our hearts, the battle is over – we have bowed the knee to Him and now know a type of peace that passes understanding. Now we have been given a ministry of reconciliation – a charge to bring others into peace with God. To be peacemakers.

Now obviously, this peace also will surface in our lives in our interpersonal relationships, as well. Remember that these descriptions of “the blessed” in Matthew 5 are not descriptions of different groups – this is all one group being described in the beatitudes. Those who walk with God are poor in spirit, mourn over their sin, hunger and thirst for righteousness, show mercy to others, etc. So, while I am saying that peacemakers means seeking to bring peace between God and man, I am also saying that those who belong in this group fulfill this ministry of reconciliation in a manner consistent with all those other characteristics.

Peacemaking is an overflow of true inner peace with God. I love the description of this in the Jamieson Fausset Brown commentary -

When this reconciliation actually takes place, and one has “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”–even “the peace of God which passeth all understanding”–the peace-receivers become transformed into peace-diffusers. God is thus seen reflected in them; and by the family likeness these peacemakers are recognized as the children of God.

It’s a family likeness.

Today as we live in an increasingly hostile world, pray for God to open your eyes to the true battle going on. There were lots of angry, hateful things said today on Twitter; a few weeks ago was International Blasphemy Day; an atheist ad campaign is scheduled to begin in New York. Recognize that while believers in Jesus Christ get caught in the crossfire, these people are not really at war with us – they are at war with God. May God grant us compassion to see these people as individuals who are in desperate need of the ministry of reconciliation, for they have declared war on God.

For blessed are the peacemakers.

Image by Fergal OP via Flickr

This is a continuation of our series on the Sermon on the Mount – if you missed them, you might want to go back and catch up here.

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

Have you ever thought about what it means to see God? We love to sing this in our often shallow praise and worship times- “open the eyes of my heart, Lord, I want to see you…” I’m not saying that it’s wrong or shallow to sing that; I’m saying we often don’t connect what we’re saying to what it really means.

So, what does it mean to see God? One thing is for sure – it’s not a fluffy, feel-good experience to see God for who He really is.

In Isaiah 6, the prophet sees God enthroned in glory. How does he respond? He mourns his sin.

“Woe is me, for I am ruined!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”

In Revelation 1, John sees His glorified Savior and writes,

“When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man.”

Seeing God, beholding Him for who He really is, instantly reminds us of how unholy and imperfect we are. Like Isaiah, beholding God’s glory will cause our hearts to cry out, “woe is me!” Beholding God and having a proper fear of Him humbles us and causes us to repent of our sin. Repenting of sin allows our hearts to be purified.

Have you ever considered the fact that the book of 1 John was written to believers? In fact, John’s recurring point in this books is that he wrote it “so that you may know” that you are in Christ. And yet, it is in this book that we find the well known 1 John 1:9 -

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

This verse deals primarily with the daily confession, the daily cleansing from unrighteousness, that believers need. Although our sin is paid for once and for all, we still continue to deal with our sinful human nature – and if the sin in our lives is not confessed and dealt with, it breaks our fellowship and communion with God.

Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.

Pondering this verse brought to my mind Psalm 25:4-14 -

Make me know Your ways, O LORD;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
For You I wait all the day.
Remember, O LORD, Your compassion and Your lovingkindnesses,
For they have been from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
According to Your lovingkindness remember me,
For Your goodness’ sake, O LORD.
Good and upright is the LORD;
Therefore He instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in justice,
And He teaches the humble His way.
All the paths of the LORD are lovingkindness and truth
To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.
For Your name’s sake, O LORD,
Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
Who is the man who fears the LORD?
He will instruct him in the way he should choose.
His soul will abide in prosperity,
And his descendants will inherit the land.
The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him,
And He will make them know His covenant.

I especially love verses 4 and 14 – to know the ways of God, to be led in the Truth and taught by Him, to know the “secret of the Lord”… to see God for who He really is.

I love verses 4 and 14, but you can’t have those things without the middle section – notice that the Psalmist recognizes his sin, he is humble before the Lord [aka: poor in spirit!], and he notes that he fears the Lord and keeps His covenant.

In other words, he is pure in heart. He recognizes his sin, confesses it, and then turns around and obeys the Lord as he hungers and thirsts for righteousness.

Being pure in heart is not a one-time event, it is a process. We were just talking about this in Bible study – we never “arrive” spiritually on this earth. God just peels off the next layer of our onion, and lo and behold, we have a whole layer of sinful thoughts, attitudes, choices, and perspectives that were hiding underneath. He deals with us on those, we start feeling like we’re getting it… and the next layer comes off.

Like I said, being pure in heart is not a one-time event, it is a process. The beautiful thing about this process is that it is cyclical.

God purifies and refines me, and I begin to understand His ways and see Him more clearly.
Seeing Him more clearly causes me to recognize my sin and mourn over it.
When I confess my sin and obey the Lord, I see Him more clearly.
Seeing Him more clearly causes me to recognize my sin!

And so it goes, on and on through our lives.

I pray that this series has challenged the way you view the “beatitudes.” These are not static descriptions of separate groups of people – aka: the poor in spirit, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart – these are not different groups. These are dynamic descriptions of one group of people – the blessed ones. They are characteristics that should be present in the life of every true believer in Jesus Christ – and they should be present in ever increasing amounts as we progress through our lives and walk more closely with Him.

I also pray that the next time you find yourself singing “open the eyes of my heart, Lord, I want to see you – to see you high and lifted up, shining in the light of your glory”, that it will remind you that it is the pure in heart who will see God. It is the pure in heart who will know the secret of the Lord.

The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him,
And He will make them know His covenant.

This is a continuation of our series on the Sermon on the Mount – if you missed them, you might want to go back and catch up here.

Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy. Matthew 5:7

Before we get into this beatitude, let’s define mercy. I found the definition of this word in the back of my study Bible to be very helpful and interesting:

The outward demonstration of the Christian character is shown in ‘mercifulness’ (eleos). This is the missionary and altruistic attitude of the Christian in empathizing with the unbeliever and suffering with him the consequences of his sin, and doing everything possible to relieve the tragic results.

Mercy is an area that God has grown in my life. In the past, I have found myself many times sitting on the hill with my pal Jonah, rooting for God to destroy all those wicked people who deserve what’s coming to them. If you haven’t read Jonah recently, the story doesn’t end so well for our prophet friend. He’s sitting on a hill, throwing a fit and saying he wants to die because God took away the nice weed whose shade he was enjoying (he was sitting on the hill in the first place hoping hundreds or thousands of people would be destroyed.) God showed mercy to the people of Ninevah, and Jonah was infuriated – what’s worse, he was hot! Sounds like a fit my 3 year old would throw!

Unmerciful “religious” people are nasty. Think of the Pharisees who were angry because Jesus was touching sinners. They were so full of their own self-righteousness that they failed to understand that they themselves were sinners, desperately in need of the mercy of God. Because they thought they deserved God’s favor, they showed no mercy to those they felt did not.

In his whole Bible commentary, John MacArthur states,

“A person who shows no mercy and compassion for people in need demonstrates that he has never responded to the great mercy of God and, as an unredeemed person, will receive only strict, unrelieved judgment in eternal hell.”

You see, if we are truly poor in spirit, if we recognize the depth and weight of our sin and mourn over it, we begin to understand the undeserved favor, the mercy, that God has shown to us in Christ. When we see what He has done for us, we will begin to show mercy to others. [Jesus' parable of the unmerciful servant is a fantastic illustration of this, as well.]

Remember what mercy is: relieving the tragic results of sin. Empathy, a willingness to enter into their suffering and relieve whatever harmful consequences we can. Mercy is costly. You don’t necessarily get anything in return other than pain and suffering that was earned by someone else.

Unlike God, who balances justice and mercy perfectly since He is completely holy, we Christians struggle with this. It breaks my heart to hear believers speak callously of the homeless, of those on welfare, of those suffering due to deep and destructive addictions. While it is true that we need to be careful not to enable sinful living, are we being merciful? Are we attempting to alleviate the tragic consequences of sin?

When was the last time we (speaking to myself, too!) worked in a homeless shelter? When was the last time we saw someone hungry and gave them something to eat? When was the last time we gave time, help, and tender compassion to someone who as being ripped apart by their own bad decisions?

We live in a broken world. Entering into the lives of the broken means that we are going to get dirty, it’s going to hurt, it’s going to be messy. And they don’t deserve it.

But if you have received mercy, if you understand what God has done for you even though you didn’t deserve it, if you are one of the blessed ones, you will be growing in the area of showing mercy.

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Ephesians 2:3-5

*Picture from wikipedia.org