Devotion #5 – Matthew 5:7

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” Up until this week we have studied Beatitudes that focus on the inner self of man—character attributes that reveal how the transforming power of Christ changes a man from the inside out. It is vital though that we know where we have come from in order to understand Christ’s proclamation that the merciful are indeed blessed. We need context for clarity’s sake to better grasp the depth and breadth that our Lord and Savior sets before us as we grow in our understanding of this prophetic sermon. Therefore, let us summarize the relationship between the first four Beatitudes and the fifth installment as follows: “I am poor in spirit; I realize that I have no righteousness; I realize that face to face with God and His righteousness I am utterly helpless; I can do nothing. Not only that. I mourn because of the sin that is within me; I have come to see, as the result of the operation of the Holy Spirit, the blackness of my own heart. I know what it is to cry out, ‘O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me?’ and desire to be rid of this vileness that is within me. Not only that. I am meek, which means that now I have experienced this true view of myself, nobody else can hurt me, nobody else can insult me, nobody can ever say anything too bad about me. I have seen myself, and my greatest enemy does not know the worst about me, I have seen myself as something truly hateful, and it is because of this that I have hungered and thirsted after righteousness. I have longed for it. I have seen that I cannot create or produce it, and that nobody else can. I have seen my desperate position in the sight of God. I have hungered and thirsted for that righteousness which will put me right with God, that will reconcile me to God, and give me a new nature and life. And I have seen it in Christ. I have been filled; I have received it all as a free gift.” “Does it not follow inevitably that, if I have seen and experienced all that, my attitude towards everybody else must be completely and entirely changed? If all that is true of me, I no longer see men as I used to see them. I see them now with a Christian eye. I see them as the dupes and the victims and the slaves of sin and Satan and the way of the world. I have come to see them not simply as men whom I dislike but as men to be pitied. I have come to see them as being governed by the god of this world, as being still where once I was, and would yet be but for the grace of God. So I am sorry for them. I do not merely see them and what they do. I see them as slaves of hell and of Satan, and my whole attitude toward them is changed. And because of that, of course, I can be and must be merciful with respect to them. I differentiate between the sinner and his sin. I see everybody who is in a state of sin as one who is to be pitied.” (D. Martyn Lloyd Jones) The ability to show mercy to others is an incredible gift that cannot be taken lightly. It was the power of mercy that enabled Stephen the martyr to proclaim, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them,” (Acts 7:60) as he was being stoned for proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ. It was the power of mercy in the parable of the Good Samaritan that drove the Samaritan, not a priest or Levite, to have pity on a man left for dead and care for his neighbor when no one else would (Luke 10:30-36). And it was the power of mercy that left our Creator God in such a state of pity and compassion to send His one and only Son to save a world of sinners in the midst of their ongoing law breaking by suffering execution for their sake. Let us not confuse grace with mercy though. While grace is especially associated with men in their sins, mercy focuses on men in their state of misery. Moreover, grace focuses upon sin as a whole while mercy targets the consequences of sin. And it is relatively easy to test how merciful you are based on the next time you suddenly find yourself in the position of having in your power someone who has transgressed against you. “Now the way to know whether you are merciful or not is to consider how you feel towards that person. Are you willing to say, ‘Well now, I am going to exert my rights at this point; I am going to be legal. This person has transgressed against me; very well, here comes my opportunity?’ That is the very antithesis of being merciful. This person is in your power; is there a vindictive spirit, or is there a spirit of pity and sorrow, a spirit, if you like, of kindness to your enemies in distress.” (Lloyd Jones) The litmus test of mercy is simple, and in truth, it reveals whether a man has developed the ability to apply the first four Beatitudes in his life. Mercy is not something that can be faked because it flows from an outpouring of mercy shown unto you via your repentance unto God. Hence, we are subject to showing mercy to our fellow man because our own necessity for mercy unto God demands it, and thus we gladly welcome the opportunity to give mercy unto others as we undeservingly have been granted the same from our Father in Heaven.

Devotion #4 – Matthew 5:6

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” The pursuit of happiness is a concept that virtually every man can relate to. The choices we make and actions we take all seem to revolve around a purpose that life is meant to drive a man to seek happiness as his ultimate goal. Yet we find in our culture for example that personal debt is rampant, roughly half of all marriages (Christian and non-Christian) end in divorce, and post-modernistic thinking is monopolizing our culture and the church. Where have we lost our compass? Perhaps Matthew 5:6 gives us a glimpse into our dilemma. D. Martyn Lloyd Jones states, “The world is seeking for happiness. That is the meaning of its pleasure mania, that is the meaning of everything men and women do, not only in their work but still more in their pleasures. They are trying to find happiness, they are making it their goal, their one objective. But they do not find it because, whenever you put happiness before righteousness, you will be doomed to misery.” It is vital that we understand this distinction because while there is nothing inherently wrong with happiness, it must be a by-product that comes from a pursuit of righteousness first and foremost. Righteousness itself is simply a desire to be one with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, through a pursuit and application of God’s absolute truth, for “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Therefore if we desire to know God, we must begin by immersing our hearts and minds in truth, allowing change to break forth from the inside out. Within that crucible of truth, sin is magnified and we begin to understand how our thoughts and actions directly affect our relationship with God. Conversely, we also witness the power of grace and mercy found in the ultimate sacrifice of Christ that propels a Christian to pursue righteousness out of obedience in thanksgiving for the saving power of Christ in his life. Yet do we truly understand what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness? A simple question to ask ourselves is, “What affect would it have on me to fast for a day without food or drink?” Consider a few days and then perhaps a week. Would you be able to perform your daily duties as a husband, father, employee or friend like you do currently? Could you even fathom going a day without anything to eat or drink? So what makes any of us think that we can live righteously without proper nutrition from the Word of God on a daily basis? It simply does not make any sense, yet we predominately live in this state oblivious to the fact that we are literally starving for intimacy with God which is our only source of life. Jesus admonishes, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35), therefore “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:2-3). Charles Spurgeon summarizes it this way: “There is nothing in the world that is more real than hunger and thirst, and the truly blessed man has such a real passion, desire, and craving after righteousness that it can only be, likened to hunger and thirst. He must have his sins pardoned, he must be clothed in the righteousness of Christ, he must be sanctified; and he feels that it will break his heart if he cannot get rid of sin. He pines, he longs, he prays to be made holy; he cannot be, satisfied without this righteousness, and his hungering and thirsting for it is a very real thing.” Intimacy with God is consistent, purposeful and genuine, and you cannot attain happiness without seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness—only then will it be added unto you (Matthew 6:33). Therefore to reach a point of satisfaction in your life, which is promised to the man who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, you must cast aside happiness as your goal in life and pursue true, intimate communion with Jesus Christ. The world (and even the church) is full of unhappy people with a tainted perspective on God’s economy, to which you must respond accordingly by embracing a desire to be free from the power of sin and self-idolatry in all its manifestations and forms, from which only the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse. Our need is desperate, like a man wandering aimlessly in the desert without food or water, yet Jesus promises that if we pursue Him, He will meet our needs. And in the end, that is nothing but a longing and desire to be like the Lord Jesus Christ Himself which is our ultimate satisfaction this side of Heaven.

Devotion #3 – Matthew 5:5

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Installment three of Jesus’ famous Beatitudes shifts the attention from an inner focus on man’s complete depravity and a proper attitude of how a true follower of Christ mourns over sin in response, to a quality that frankly is one of the most misunderstood of all the Beatitudes—meekness. It is simply not a quality we commonly reference in culture, yet its fingerprint can be found among the Mount Rushmore of character attributes. For instance, we can wrap our minds around what it means to be humble, gentle, patient, forgiving and content, yet do we understand what meekness truly entails? Rest assured that meekness carries more weight than all of these, because when combined they give us a glimpse into the mystery of meekness. In a simplistic sense, meekness is a quiet strength, under control and without self-motivations. A man of meekness is mild-mannered, not easily irritated or provoked, and submissive to God’s divine will and purposes. He does not elevate himself over another, but yields by choice for he is content with his lot, whatever that may be. More importantly, he is not proud or intent on pursuing his own ambitions but humble and willing to accept the lowest position. He views himself honestly and without bias which expresses itself in his attitude and conduct with respect to others. In other words, meekness cannot be fabricated. It is measured by one’s thoughts and actions and sifted through a colander of self-idolatry. Yet in the purest sense, meekness cannot be compartmentalized from pride. Like oil and water, they do not mix. Therefore a man must concede that if he desires to attain the blessing Jesus promises to those who are meek, he must slay the dragon of pride within his heart. Scripture declares, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble,” therefore “humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you” (James 4:6,10). Be ever vigilant to heed the warning that “the Lord tears down the house of the proud” (Proverbs 15:25), but that “the reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life” (Proverbs 22:4). Allow the truth of God’s Word to wash over your heart and cleanse you from all self-righteousness. Only then will you be able to discern God’s will for your life as a man of meekness. What we fail to recognize is that there is infinite power in meekness. Jesus Christ was the epitome of meekness which should come as an encouragement to those who assume that meekness = weakness. Jesus was all-powerful, fully man and fully God but subservient to the will of the Father. He is our ultimate example of meekness. The apostle Paul summarizes the meekness of Christ this way: “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:1-11). Just as Jesus did not count equality with God as something you or I can grasp, neither still can meekness be completely understood. It is almost too big a concept to understand, let alone apply. But for those who claim the name of Jesus Christ as their only salvation, meekness is where the rubber meets the road. It is the outpouring of a changed heart within a depraved world. It is 100% counter-culture, just like the man who epitomized its definition, but in reality is our true test of Biblical application in our lives. You cannot fake meekness—its construct simply doesn’t allow it. But the more you die to your own selfish ambitions and embrace the role of a servant, immersed in an attitude of contentment in Christ and His provision, the more you will see the fruit of meekness break forth in your life. You don’t have to abandon your masculinity to be meek. Quite the opposite! Embrace God’s design for true masculinity and examine the behaviors of Christ, then begin applying your new-found meekness within your marriage and how you parent your children, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide your path in humility as you die to self.

Devotion #2 – Matthew 5:4

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” The second installment of Beatitudes Jesus proclaimed in His Sermon on the Mount focuses on the process of mourning, and this is an easy verse to take out of context when we are faced with the issue of death. Logically, when we read this verse, immediately our minds filter to the comfort God promises when we lose a loved one. As difficult as the circumstance may be, Christians tend to cling to this verse for healing when faced with the reality of living life apart from someone whose impact on their life is immense. Make no mistake, there is nothing wrong with leaning upon Christ in times of mourning for strength and comfort, but what Jesus is addressing in Matthew 5:4 is a passionate mourning over the issue of sin and how that impacts a man’s heart. Remember that the Beatitudes build upon one another, creating a staircase of character attributes that gauge the spiritual temperature of man. Each blessing is a building block that depends on that which precedes it. So in consequential form, it is safe to conclude that the process of mourning sin is integral to becoming poor in spirit. D. Martyn Lloyd Jones describes it this way: “As I confront God and His holiness, and contemplate the life I am meant to live, I see myself, my utter helplessness and hopelessness. I discover my quality of spirit and immediately that makes me mourn. I must mourn about the fact that I am like that. But obviously it does not stop there. A man who truly faces himself, and examines himself and his life, is a man who must of necessity mourn for his sins also, for the things he does…It is a good thing for every man to pause at the end of the day and meditate upon himself, to run quickly over his life, and ask, ‘What have I done, what have I said, what have I thought, how have I behaved with respect to others?’ Now if you do that any night of your life, you will find that you have done things which you should not have done, you will be conscious of having harbored thoughts and ideas and feelings which are quite unworthy. And as he realizes these things, any man who is at all Christian is smitten with a sense of grief and sorrow that he was ever capable of such things in action or in thought, and that makes him mourn. But he does not stop merely at the things he has done, he meditates upon and contemplates his actions and his state and condition of sinfulness, and as he thus examines himself he must go through that experience of Romans 7. He must become aware of these evil principles that are within him. He must ask himself, ‘What is it in me that makes me behave like that? Why should I be irritable? Why should I be bad tempered? Why am I not able to control myself? Why do I harbor that unkind, jealous, and envious thought? What is it in me? And he discovers this war in his members, and he hates it and mourns because of it.” Great sorrow leads to great joy, and without sorrow there is no joy. This is true in how we see ourselves in the light of the truth of God’s Word and it holds true in how we must mourn the sins of others. Look around you—there is no shortage of sinful thoughts and actions surrounding you every day. Yet do you take time to mourn sin or have you become desensitized from it? Are your morals and values convoluted within the melting pot of political correctness and inclusivity? Do you mourn over and pray for God’s deliverance of salvation when you encounter people who blatantly live in contradiction to Biblical truth? Sadly, it is common-place even in the church to cast judgment upon those living in sin, but do you sincerely pray for them? Do you share the Gospel of Christ’s healing by pointing out their faults or by evangelizing through the depravity of your own soul and life experiences? True evangelism comes from a humble heart that is poor in spirit through mourning of sin. If you desire to address the issue of sin in this world, begin with your own heart and mind and allow the transforming power of the Holy Spirit change you from the inside out. If we desire to be sanctified in the image of Christ, we must mourn over sin as He did. Scripture tells us He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief who wept over the city of Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44) and shed tears of blood in the garden of Gethsemane as he willingly accepted his fate as sin-bearer of mankind (Luke 22:39-46). Therefore, this is the image of mourning we must adopt within our own lives as we live within a sinful world. Again, as Lloyds Jones describes, “The true Christian is never a man who has to put on an appearance of either sadness or joviality. No, no; he is a man who looks at life seriously; he contemplates it spiritually, and he sees in it sin and its effects. He is a serious, sober-minded man. His outlook is always serious, but because of these views which he has, and his understanding of truth, he also has ‘a joy unspeakable and full of glory.’” Therefore, let us not diminish the destructive nature of sin but mourn over it—both in the world we live in and within our own hearts and minds. Only then will we understand the joy God promises to those who are simultaneously willing to speak truth in love to others while taking their own medicine on a daily basis.

Devotion #1 – Matthew 5:1-3

“Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The Sermon on the Mount is perhaps the most famous teaching Jesus ever gave during His ministry. It comprises three full chapters of Matthew’s Gospel and contains some of the Bible’s most difficult truth for man to apply to his life. Yet prior to Jesus clarifying how God measures a man’s heart regarding areas such as anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation, etc., He first begins His famous sermon with a series of blessings known as the Beatitudes. I believe Charles Spurgeon said it best when he wrote, "The Beatitudes mark deepening humiliation and growing exaltation." They build upon one another, creating a staircase of character attributes that gauge the spiritual temperature of man. Each blessing is a building block that depends on that which precedes it. Therefore as a man lives his life in a spirit of humility and reverence before a righteous and holy God, the exaltation with which he is graced grows in the eyes of our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ. Whatever our understanding and application of humility may be, the truth remains that in order to receive the litany of blessings Jesus describes in Matthew 5, one must "put to death therefore what is earthly in you" (Colossians 3:5). Upon further examination though it is incredibly profound that while these seven blessings build upon one another, thus elevating their level of spiritual maturity in Christ, they also in the likeness of our Lord & Savior descend in their level of humility, coming to a triumphant climax with an admonition on suffering persecution for the sake of Christ. In other words, the Beatitudes transcend understanding and more importantly require application, thus proving character attainment or lack thereof. Scripture simplifies it this way, "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:22). Deception comes in many forms, with self-deception being the most common and unfortunately the most destructive to man's relationship with Christ. It is imperative though from a top-line perspective that we understand what each blessing addresses and how they are intertwined in their building structure. For instance, to be "poor in spirit" a man must come to the place where he recognizes his sins and spiritual depravity, turns away from those selfish desires/actions, humbly repents seeking God's forgiveness, and in thankful obedience submits his life to Him who bore the penalty for the sins he committed, Jesus Christ. One who is poor in spirit recognizes that, "For our sake he (God) made him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him (Jesus) we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21), and praise God that He graciously allows all those who are poor in spirit to inhabit His heavenly abode! God always pursues a man’s heart, and in this case, his poverty of spirit which ultimately reflects a man’s attitude towards himself. The world today places incredible emphasis upon self-confidence and self reliance, and man is prey to falling into that trap if he is not humbling himself before an Almighty and just God in reverence. Therefore, as men we must guard against self-exaltation essentially and prostrate ourselves accordingly. No where in Scripture is a man called to “be humble.” Rather, he is called to “humble himself.” In doing so, he experiences a purging of self through brokenness that validates his identity as a son of the living God and assures his final destination for eternity. The Lord Almighty plainly states, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). Therefore, what is holding you back from reaping the promises God sets before you? What in your life do you need to purge that is robbing you of a poor spirit which is pleasing to God? Examine your life and assess where you are self-confident and self-reliant to the point of squeezing God out. If you need help discerning areas of change, seek counsel from a Godly brother in Christ, but do not walk away without identifying areas of change and more importantly applying those changes. “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’” (1 Peter 5:5).