Equipped and Accepted: Matthew 5:5-9

Continue to delve into Matthew 5:5-9 with Rev. Dr. Aimee Copley Mulder!  Today we dig into what it means to be called blessed.  Let us follow hard after God!

Transcript

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All glory to God. It's time to get into God's word with Amy Copley Mulder. Join me.

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So let's give all the glory to God.

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Thank you for joining me today on Tuesdays, where we talk about Scripture and we delve into what God is saying to us through Scripture. We are continuing on our discussion of the Sermon on the Mount. So before we read our Scripture, I just want to talk about being accepted and equipped. I don't know where you are in your life. I don't know where you are as you're listening to this. I don't know where God has brought you, what God has delivered you from. But I do know this that the God of your soul, the God that created you, wants to accept you and He wants to equip you for what you are being called to do. From Matthew chapter 5, starting at verse 5, we're just going to go from verse 5 to verse 9. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. This is the word of the Lord. Now we talked last week about blessing and blessed when God says this is good. And when Jesus gives us this Sermon on the Mount, or in Luke, it's called Sermon on the Plain, He is calling things blessed that are not like in the culture known as the Blessed. And the what the first one is this blessed are the meek. Now, meek is such a weird translation of the actual original Greek. And really, the best translation for this word in the original language is called about like gentleness, gentleness of spirit. Now, somebody that's gentle is not timid and afraid to speak up. They just have a grace with which they present the way they are. And in the message, Eugene Peterson gives the meek, blessed are you when you're content with just who you are, no more or no less. So think about this. If I'm a gentle person, if I'm someone who gives grace when I'm talking to people and I'm interacting in the world around me, if that's who I am, then I'm not always trying to prove something. I'm not needing everyone to pay attention. And so when Jesus says, if you're meek, if you're gentle, you will inherit the earth, it kind of really lends it to this thing that you will see what's around you and you will not want for more. So I don't have a prayer of being called meek ever. I don't think in my quietest moment that I'm known or renowned as a meek person. But I will tell you that meekness and gentleness and knowing who I am, no more, no less, it has a beautiful place in my life. Even as loud as I am, and look at me, look at me, give me attention as I am. Meekness has a place within all of us because there has to be a moment in your life where you just rest in who you want to be without regarding with how it's being looked at by other people, without being concerned about your care for other people, without being overwhelmingly obsessed with what other people have going on. Meekness is saying, I am who I am gently in this moment, and I don't need to put on a show for any of you. And even us performer-y people like me need a moment where we're not on ready, where we're not performing, where we are just existing, where we feel the call of God say to us, you are beloved or blessed just because you are. It never leaves us empty when we come to Him and say, Fill my cup, Lord. Lord, I lift it to you. I need you to quench this thirsting of my soul. That's one of my favorite songs from my Nana. Fill my cup, Lord.

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I lift it up already. Come and quench this thirsting of my soul. Bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more. Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole.

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We can come to him and ask him to fill our cups. And he is never leaves us empty. The next blessing as we go throughout these Beatitudes are verse 7: Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. We care about people. Being people of mercy is just acknowledging that we care about people. There could be people out there in your world that say, I don't care about anybody. I just think people are horrible. But all of us, we care about people. And the moment that you go the extra mile for someone or you try to look at what they need and you provide it, is the moment that you are opening yourself up. You're opening yourself up to being hurt because you're being care, you're caring for people. And God is saying, I've got you. When you show mercy to people, when you forgive freely, when you make an extra meal for another family just because you, and maybe they didn't say thank you, and you're just like, oh, don't worry, God's got you. God's got your mercy. We are supposed to care for other people. We're supposed to be full of care for others. Mercy is a beautiful gift from God, a gift that we are called upon to use for others. So we do not need when God gives us mercy, we become people of mercy and we don't need to have reciprocity. God will just continue to show up for us, and we will continue to care for others because that is where the blessing comes, not where I'm caring for you, so you do this for me. But God showed me mercy, and here I am, a mercy giver today. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Being pure in heart is a fun thing to think about. When you look at the original language that Jesus uses, it's really talking about being singular of purpose, being just set on what is in your mind and heart around one singular focus. Do you believe that could happen? That your heart and mind would be married at their mission for God, that I want to seek God. I want to encounter God, I want to open myself to God's message and God's purpose and God's mission in my life. The only way that we can see God working outside of us is if we have this one singular purpose. And the world, it does not want us to have one singular purpose. The world wants us to be in absolute chaos. But just like God put order in creation and did not let chaos get the last word, God is calling to all of us and saying, if you just center your life around me and be of my things, here I am. I will show myself to you. We will be able to see the living God at work because we are focused on the one thing that matters, our creator. And the last piece, this last blessing we're going to talk about today is blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. All everybody has their own role in their family of origin. And I would say that in my family of three boys, my my husband and I and our three boys, my middle child, Cooper, is very much a peacemaker. He wants to keep everybody happy. He's in the middle. He's the second oldest and second youngest. He's in the middle. And he sometimes has to do this peacemaking thing. He goes, Well, this is what this is what this one means. This is what this means. We've been trying to get him out of this role, but maybe that's just where God placed him. And I just want him to know this morning that he is blessed when you're that person that shows people how to cooperate instead of compete. And when you that's when you discover that God wanted you to be a peacemaker all along. And just so you know, we are to be about the the peace between each other. I encourage you today, if you are somebody that's that finds yourself competing with other people, if you're somebody that always seems to be ready for a fight, would you ask God to give you a spirit of peace? It's time to get one. It's time to get a spirit of peace. We have to make sure that we are about the business of peace. And that's not false peace. When Jesus is talking about blessed are the peacemakers, he's talking about people that have done the work to figure out how to cooperate or how to go through a conflict. You're not a peacemaker if you just avoid every conflict known to man. Conflicts happen. We're people, we have opinions, we have issues, we have a whole bunch of things. But peacemaking is the active leaning to God to help us know how we don't have to compete or fight, that we can have peace. So you are blessed today. You are blessed. And just remember, if you are gentle, then you will know that the world has things for you, but God has more. And God will give you exactly what you could beyond all you could ask or imagine. God will give you beyond what you could ask or imagine. And if you to this morning, you could you could hunger or thirst for righteousness after the things of God, and He will fill your cup. We are to be people of mercy with one singular heart that are about the business of peace. It feels like a tall order. Oh my goodness, there's so much on this list. How could we possibly? Well, you can't. You need God to fill you, you need God to help you. But if you're one of those that gets people to cooperate quietly and no one notices, let me tell you, God sees what you're doing today. If you're somebody that's showing mercy when the world tells you you need to be keeping score, God sees you today. And this is the day that you have a choice, whether your mind and heart and your actions are going to be all about all the other things, or if maybe they will just be about the things of the Lord. Grace and peace to you today. I will pray for us and just remember say it with me after the prayer, all glory to God. Lord, I thank you for the way that you come in beautiful ways and show us that you have called us blessed when we are not like the world around us. Show us that gentleness is a beautiful thing. Show us how to show mercy. Fix our hearts on you. Help us be peacemakers, and may we never forget that you are constantly there with a ready pitcher waiting for your of your grace, a pitcher full of grace, ready to fill our cup. Lord, we lift our cups up to you and we call onto your name to never leave us empty. May the God's blessings and peace go with you and say it with me, all glory to God.

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Doesn't matter if you're young or white. All that matters if you answer the door when Jesus comes to change your life. And I'll do it