WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:27.199 Baby Dietrich was born in 1906 to Carl and Paula Bonhoffer. 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:39.039 So it was a very privileged family, very wealthy. 00:00:40.479 --> 00:00:46.399 Carl was not a Christian, but his mother Paula was deeply a Christian. 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:51.600 And Dietrich was the one of seven children. 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:54.320 This is the way they looked. 00:00:54.799 --> 00:01:00.240 And it was a very steeped in German culture. 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:11.840 So very proper, very formal, huge emphasis on intellectual accomplishments. 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:20.799 And so when Dietrich began school, the way you can kind of track it, it's difficult because their school system was different than ours now. 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:25.599 But basically, as you look at it, Dietrich finished high school at age 14. 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:29.680 He finished his undergrad at age 17. 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:34.480 He finished his first PhD at 21. 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:51.040 Then he went to Union Theological Seminary in New York at age 24, studied there, then came back to the Kaiser Wilhelm University and finished a second doctoral thesis by age 25. 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:55.120 So he's intellectually gifted. 00:01:56.640 --> 00:01:59.439 He returned after he had gone to New York. 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:08.800 He returned back to Germany in 1931, finished that second doctoral statement, and he was deeply inspired by the African-American churches in New York and Harlem. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:15.280 And came back and tried to form a new kind of church in Germany. 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:41.840 On January 3rd, 1933, Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany, and one month later, on February 1st, this 26-year-old brand new pastor gave a radio address in Berlin that basically tried to expose what was going on behind the scenes of Adolf Hitler's leadership. 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:43.360 That's 1933. 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:47.919 He sees it way before almost anyone. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:03.360 They had already recognized that what he was saying they didn't want to allow to be said, and so they shut the thing off. 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:09.680 And right after that, they began to limit what Bonhoeffer could do in Berlin. 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:28.319 In 1935 through 37, he was frustrated with and angered by Germany's growing insistence on building what he considered a meaningless church, one that was turning its eyes away from some of the things and catastrophes that were already happening because of the Third Reich. 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:30.159 And this is 1935. 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:40.479 We don't enter into World War II as a nation until 1941, but Europe is already aflame with some of the things that are going on together there. 00:03:41.759 --> 00:03:44.000 This is a book that he wrote. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:51.280 He begins to teach, he opens up his own seminary because he thinks that the German church is failing. 00:03:51.439 --> 00:04:02.319 And he opens up his own seminary, and this is a picture here of some of the students that he had, and he began to write several books at that time. 00:04:02.479 --> 00:04:06.400 His probably best known book is called The Cost of Discipleship. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:18.959 And it's in this book that he introduces a concept he calls cheap grace, where you embrace Jesus kind of for fire insurance and then turn your back on him and do whatever you want. 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:24.480 He saw that happening in Germany and allowing the Third Reich to flourish. 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:32.639 It was also in this time when he was in this community that he wrote the book Life Together, which is a small little thin book. 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:44.800 My favorite kind that he wrote about the community that he was experiencing there in that seminary. 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:50.319 And it's in this book that he said, Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize. 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:57.519 It is rather a reality created by God in Christ, in which we may participate. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:07.759 The basis of the community of the Spirit is truth, he went on to say, and the basis of human community of spirit is desire. 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:25.439 He felt like all that was lacking was a desire to be able to live the kind of life that Christ was calling us to, and he tried to call the church out in Germany in the hypocrisy that they were allowing things to begin to happen with the elimination eventually of six million Jews and the killing of lots of other people at the same time. 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:31.120 He began to make a stand against that as early as 33 and certainly through the 30s. 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:37.199 In 1939, he's invited to come back to New York and to teach at a seminary there in New York. 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:41.199 And so he goes back, he does that. 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:45.199 All of his friends said, get out while you can, get away. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:48.319 And so he does, and he goes there. 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:50.879 He's 33 years old at that time. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:58.639 And then he decides he does not want to, he feels like he's running away from what God is asking him to face. 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:02.639 And so he goes back to Germany in 1939. 00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:22.720 The war in Europe is now ablaze, and he travels back into Germany to speak against Hitler and his leadership, as well as actually beginning to plot on how he might try to, as part of a coup, either remove Hitler or kill him. 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:28.560 It is in 1939 that he said this. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:43.120 And then he said this also, which I think is a great quote for us today. 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:47.040 Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:50.240 God will not hold us guiltless. 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:53.680 Not to speak is to speak. 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:57.199 Not to act is an act. 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:06.639 And so it's at this time that he began to try to eliminate Adolf Hitler's leadership in Germany. 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:10.079 It's also a time when there were some things that were good that were going on. 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:14.959 He falls in love for the very first time in his life to a gal named Maria. 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:27.040 And this is Maria, and he falls deeply in love with her, and he begins to write poetry about her, and he talks to her parents about being married to her. 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:32.959 And before they can have a wedding, he gets arrested. 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:43.839 He's arrested and imprisoned in 1942-43 because of some careless letters that a friend allowed to be exposed. 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:44.800 So they are plotting. 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:48.160 I told you, they're plotting to try to get Hitler out of leadership. 00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:49.839 They are exchanging letters. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:53.759 Some of those letters were found, and Bonhoeffer's name is on them. 00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:56.560 And you can imagine how Hitler responded. 00:07:56.720 --> 00:08:01.680 He put everybody in jail that he could, and some that weren't even a part of it. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:06.879 And then he begins to be imprisoned. 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:10.800 He's imprisoned at this area that you're looking at now. 00:08:10.959 --> 00:08:12.959 The very next slide shows the extent of it. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:14.160 It was very large. 00:08:14.319 --> 00:08:19.360 And then in 1945, right at the end of the war is about to end. 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:22.000 It is weeks from ending, literally. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:31.360 And Hitler puts into place an elimination of all of his people in prison that he particularly wants to have suffer. 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:40.320 And so, right up until the very end, you're looking at an um where they would do, they would burn the people that they'd executed here. 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:41.840 This this particular slide. 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:42.960 That is not snow. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:44.559 That is ashes of people. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:48.799 Thousands and thousands and thousands of people were killed. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:09:00.639 And at 39 years old, uh Dietrich Bonhoeffer is killed on Sunday, uh, April 8th, 1945. 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:07.039 Two weeks after his death, Allied forces liberated that prison. 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:09.039 Two weeks. 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:15.519 Here's a plaque that's at that place now. 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:29.519 On his last day on Sunday morning, he led a church service, and he had the service was based around Isaiah 53, but he was pierced for our transgressions and he was crushed for our iniquities. 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:36.399 And he also read 1 Peter 1 verse 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:42.960 In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:47.120 And right up to the end, he is preaching hope in Christ. 00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:57.120 Immediately after finishing that service, Bonhoeffer went up to a friend and said, This is the end, but for me, it is the beginning of life. 00:09:57.679 --> 00:09:59.759 And he knew he was about to be taken off. 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:02.799 He was taken off, and he was hung. 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:23.519 And you've seen pictures of the crematorium where they were burning the ashes, and they kept the th the Third Reich kept these ovens burning red hot 24 hours a day, right up until the last minute, when they were, even though they knew that defeat was just days away. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:31.279 All worldly indicators would say that Bonhoeffer was the victim of a stronger thing. 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:34.240 That the in the end Bonhoeffer lost. 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:36.159 But who really won? 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:39.440 Who really won in this? 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:51.200 Jesus is perhaps the most famous example that the suffering that can come our way can actually turn into something absolutely good. 00:10:52.080 --> 00:11:01.200 And he redefines for us in Matthew where you've been spending time just who is blessed and who will really win. 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:04.960 The structure of Matthew is quite interesting. 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:10.000 It's one of the four biographies that we have in the New Testament around Jesus. 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:15.600 And Matthew puts his book together very intentionally. 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:17.759 It begins with the birth story. 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:21.919 You might not know this, but we only get our Christmas story in Matthew and in Luke. 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:32.240 And in Matthew, it's kind of the Stephen Spielberg version of what goes on, how Jesus' birth has happened. 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:34.879 And in Luke, it's kind of the hallmark version. 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:37.919 So between those two, you have your Christmas story. 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:46.480 And you actually probably believe some about the Christmas story that's not even in there because we end up have added things because it looks good on a postcard. 00:11:47.039 --> 00:11:55.279 But Matthew begins to define for us exactly how Jesus is born and that he is absolutely, completely unique. 00:11:55.519 --> 00:12:00.080 Matthew wants to show that Jesus is the fulfillment of the whole story of God. 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:08.960 And so he shows that beginning in chapter 1, the father of a faith is Abraham, and Jesus is greater than Abraham. 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:15.360 The great leader of our faith is Moses, and Jesus is greater than Moses. 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:18.799 I mean, Moses comes out of Egypt, and so does Jesus. 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:23.759 Moses crosses the Red Sea, Jesus gets baptized in the Jordan River. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:26.480 Moses sends 40 years in the wilderness. 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:29.919 Jesus is going to spend 40 days in the wilderness. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:37.919 And he over and over again, Matthew is making these parallels between Moses and Jesus and saying every time, Jesus is greater. 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:39.600 He's greater. 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:53.039 And then he begins to break down the chapters in such a way that it's unique in Matthew that he has some things about that is going on, some dialogue and some teach, some different things, some miracles and some things that are recorded. 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:59.440 And then there's a large teaching section in several sections of the book, the chapters of Matthew. 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:08.720 You're in that first section, chapters in that four through seven section, there's his most famous sermon, and it is called the Sermon on the Mount. 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:15.440 And he begins the Sermon on the Mount with these wonderful beatitudes that are blowing categories up. 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:18.159 We read the Beatitudes and we're like, yeah, whatever. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:20.000 Blessed are the poor in spirit. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:20.480 Okay. 00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:28.399 These were blowing categories up in the first century because the poor in spirit were never blessed. 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:34.159 Those that hunger and thirst, those people aren't blessed. 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:36.639 Obviously, the hand of God has been removed from their life. 00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:43.120 And so the teachers of Jesus' day were saying, your circumstances can tell you whether you are blessed or not. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:45.440 Just look at your circumstances. 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:47.039 Does it suck to be you? 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:49.200 Then you ain't blessed. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:54.480 And if it's going really good, then you must have done something really well and you've earned God's favor. 00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:56.480 Jesus blows all of that up. 00:13:56.879 --> 00:14:07.360 And he says that blessing is because of the graciousness of God on your life and cannot be evaluated simply by the events that happen. 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:15.679 So you see a large teaching section in chapter 10, in chapter 13, in chapter 18, and in chapter 24. 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:23.759 In each of these sections, you'll have a big teaching section, but none as large as Matthew 5 through 7, where you have the Sermon on the Mount. 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:45.919 And of course, the biography of Jesus concludes with his mock trial that's completely illegal, his crucifixion at the hands of the Roman guards, his resurrection from the dead in the empty tomb, and then his commissioning of his disciples saying, Go to every place you can get and tell them about me. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:59.759 Tim Keller says this what Jesus is doing is not talking about different blessings, he's talking about all the blessings, all the different beautiful aspects of what it means to enter the kingdom of God. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:02.960 All these blessings are essentially the same thing. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:08.879 There are aspects of the great riches that belong to anyone who has entered the kingdom. 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:19.919 So these are not eight different kinds of people, these are eight characteristics of one kind of people, the people who enter the kingdom of God when they are born again. 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:30.159 Dallas Willard in his book, Divine Conspiracy, said, Jesus came among us to show and teach the life for which we were made to live. 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:37.039 You know, if I were going to rewrite the Beatitudes in our culture today, I would say it's something like this. 00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:42.000 Blessed are the wealthy, for they will have lots of stuff. 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:46.320 Blessed are the comforted, for they'll be comfortable. 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:49.120 Blessed are the strong, because they will win. 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:53.360 Blessed are those who thirst for position and power because they'll be the boss. 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:56.559 Blessed are the manipulators, because they'll get their way. 00:15:56.799 --> 00:15:59.759 Blessed are the pure in purpose, for they will achieve. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:05.919 Blessed are the mouthpieces for the culture wars, for they'll have the most followers and the most likes. 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:13.200 Blessed are those who are promoted and famous, for theirs will be the kingdom of this world. 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:19.440 This is not a list that we would normally think about of how to get blessed. 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:26.639 It's a list of the reality of the kingdom of God that all are blessed in that kingdom. 00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:31.840 One more quote from Dallas Willard in Divine Conspiracy. 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:48.879 He said, The key to understanding the Beatitudes is that they serve to clarify Jesus' fundamental message, the free availability of God's rule and righteousness to all humanity through reliance upon Jesus Himself. 00:16:49.279 --> 00:17:05.920 They do this simply by taking those who, from the human point of view, are regarded as most hopeless, most beyond all possibility of God's blessing or even interest, and exhibiting them as enjoying God's touch and abundant provision from the heavens. 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:21.920 This fact of God's care and provision proves that all to all that no human condition excludes blessedness, that God may come to any person with care and deliverance. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:31.279 No matter what you walked in this room with today, you are not beyond the blessing of God, the extension of Him. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:37.519 You have not somehow gone into a special category that shows that you are a most wretched of all. 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:44.079 That the love of God projects through all of that to you. 00:17:44.559 --> 00:17:49.359 So Ryan has asked me to talk to you about this last one, the last of the Beatitudes. 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:55.759 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness. 00:17:56.240 --> 00:17:58.960 For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:05.920 The word blessed or blessed is from the word makarios. 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:09.759 And the word makar would have been a term of favor. 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:15.920 If I were to say to you, you are Makar, you are the blessed one, the favored one. 00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:25.200 So makarios is to live in a state of blessedness, possessing the favor of God, marked by the fullness of God. 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:31.839 Not like happiness, which is determined by circumstances and luck, frankly. 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:39.440 Blessing is what's placed over your heart as you have embraced into the kingdom. 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:46.880 It refers to the highest type of well-being possible for human beings, and it is placed on you. 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:58.319 Now, a distinction here, and I'm old, so I don't totally get this, but I understand that there was once a movement on the social media called blessed, hashtag blessed. 00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:09.920 And it went on for some time until people began to realize that actually this hashtag blessed thing that's going on is a pretty exclusive kind of way of looking. 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:15.359 If you begin to think about Robbie, for example, he's having twins, right? 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:16.720 Right? 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:19.839 Pray for him, pray for his wife. 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:30.240 Okay, so he was telling me about it this morning, and um he actually quite honestly had a mixed reaction to the idea of having two at the same time, but he's having two. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:34.240 But if you were to take the attitude, I'm hashtag blessed because I'm having twins. 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:39.599 Well, what does that mean to all of us who gave birth to children one at a time? 00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:42.640 We're not blessed? 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:46.400 Hashtag blessed, I got my dream job. 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:48.880 Well, what does that mean for us who don't? 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:50.960 That we're not blessed? 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:52.960 So you have to be careful. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:59.440 When you say I'm blessed, it's really an expression of gratitude, not an expression of privilege. 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:06.960 And certainly in the kingdom of God, the blessing that is extended to you, you cannot earn. 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:09.119 It is given freely. 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:12.880 A great way to think about this word is this way in Romans chapter 4. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:17.839 Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven and whose sins are covered. 00:20:18.079 --> 00:20:22.559 Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them. 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:26.960 And that is all who are in faith in Christ. 00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:31.920 You are blessed, though, because you are persecuted because of righteousness. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:37.359 So that's not just persecution, but a persecution because of a particular way of life. 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:40.079 Dioco is the word for persecuted. 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:47.279 It means to be pursued, to be hunted down, to persecute in ways. 00:20:47.440 --> 00:20:58.880 It shows up a lot of times in the New Testament because it was a it was a common description of the life that was lived in the first century Christian church. 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:00.319 The honesty. 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:05.440 There are some, but not tons. 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:07.200 And I'm thankful. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:16.000 But this does not include the kind of persecution that happens in your life because you've been dumb. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:17.759 Okay? 00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:20.559 Now let's just be careful to distinguish. 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:26.640 There is stuff that happens in your life that is a cause and effect relationship because you are frankly stupid. 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:31.039 And when you act stupid, you reap stupid. 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:35.440 That and you and it's usually bad. 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:51.920 I don't know what you had for breakfast, but if it was like three bur three large burritos and five Cokes, and if you're sitting there right now saying, I think I need to get up and go to the restroom. 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:55.039 Now, if anybody gets up, it's gonna be weird, right? 00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:59.680 But I mean, you that's just that's just a cause and effect. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.519 Relationship with what's going on. 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:10.079 This is not the right, this is not a blessing that comes because you've been, you've been reaping some of the consequences of your actions. 00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:12.720 It's because you're standing for righteousness. 00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:14.880 That's why I used Bonhoeffer. 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:25.200 He was one in one of very, very few in a whole country that recognized the evil that had taken over the church in Germany. 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:40.480 I had pictures that I didn't show of leaders of the church in Germany in 1933 and again in 39 and 41, where they're all standing next to Hitler on a platform, blessing him and his leadership. 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:45.359 And Bonhoeffer stood alone in that. 00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:49.759 No, this is something that you suffer because of righteousness. 00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:52.240 1 Peter 2 says this. 00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:58.240 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. 00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:00.559 You make a stand for God and you suffer for it. 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:01.599 That's commendable. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:07.839 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:13.440 But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. 00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:23.599 And the New Testament, unlike all of the teachings that were going on in Jesus' day, begins to say that there is actually a blessed part of suffering. 00:23:25.119 --> 00:23:26.319 Now why? 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:31.039 Well, in the Beatitudes it says, for theirs is the kingdom of God. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:36.000 It's the only blessing that's listed that's repeated. 00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:40.799 It started, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. 00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:49.359 And then now, several verses later, we get down to it's blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of God. 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:53.920 He goes on to say in verse 11 and 12, blessed are you when people insult you. 00:23:54.000 --> 00:24:01.759 And that word there for insult is mock or defame or speak lies against you, rail on you. 00:24:02.079 --> 00:24:06.240 They persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:11.119 Jesus says, Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven. 00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:15.279 For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:23.200 Jesus is teaching and it's teaching consistently throughout the New Testament that there is a suffering that will actually serve your joy. 00:24:23.680 --> 00:24:31.119 That there's a there's a joyous way of living that actually is enhanced by your suffering. 00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:35.680 Now, I can tell by the way you're looking at me, you're like, wow, what? 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:36.720 Let me help you with this. 00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:38.319 See if this helps. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:44.240 How many people have had a nightmare so real that when they woke up they swore it was real? 00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:45.359 And right? 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:46.079 Me too. 00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:49.839 I've jumped out of bed, I've run into walls, it's weird. 00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:50.400 Okay? 00:24:51.839 --> 00:24:53.200 That's happened to me. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:55.519 But there's something that else that happens. 00:24:55.680 --> 00:25:08.960 Then when I realize I was only dreaming, there is a joy to waking up that you don't get when you just wake up when the alarm clock goes off. 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:10.720 You with me? 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:15.119 In other words, there's like, oh my gosh, I wasn't falling off a building. 00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:18.480 Oh my gosh, I wasn't being crushed by an elephant. 00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:21.920 One time I woke up and my wife said, What did you, what, what were you dreaming? 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:24.319 She said, I said, a horse sat on me. 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:33.200 So I can and I wake up and I'm like, oh my gosh, thank you that a horse's butt is nuts sitting on me right now. 00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:39.039 It's the the nightmare serves my gladness when I awake. 00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:55.039 There are times when your life will be hard, and in that harshness, if you will bear up under it, character will actually be developed sometimes without your knowledge. 00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:58.960 And then that character will serve your joy. 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:16.960 And Jesus defines understanding life this way: that there's actually hope in the midst of things going bad, not an indictment that I'm not loved by God and kicked out of the of his favorite. 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:20.480 There's another example would be this. 00:26:21.279 --> 00:26:27.680 Um years ago, my wife and I suffered the loss of our youngest son, Clay. 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:32.079 Kevin knows him, and uh he died. 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:42.720 And it was a horrible, it was a horrible death, and just by the grace of God and the community of Christ around us, am I able to still talk about it even? 00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:52.079 Um But I will tell you what happened on that day, the day that I got the news is that a little dog started following me everywhere I went. 00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:56.319 Now, not a literal dog, but it's a dog named Grief. 00:26:57.039 --> 00:27:00.319 And that grief most days is a little dog. 00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:01.680 It's a little yappy dog. 00:27:02.160 --> 00:27:11.200 I don't know how many of you who have dogs that are like little tiny yappy dogs, those are really rats that have been misclassified, but that's okay. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:13.920 And it's okay if you want those kind of dogs. 00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:14.799 Okay, it's all right. 00:27:14.880 --> 00:27:16.160 Just don't bring them to church. 00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:21.680 And so I think most days my grief is like that little yappy dog. 00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:29.200 And most of the time I can walk around and it's well behaved and it stays where it's supposed to be and all of that. 00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:36.799 But sometimes my grief changes and it morphs into a large dog, a large dog with big teeth. 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:39.599 And it decides to act up. 00:27:39.680 --> 00:27:45.519 And when a large dog bites you, you must stop what you're doing and pay attention to the dog. 00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:46.480 Agreed? 00:27:46.960 --> 00:27:54.400 So there are some days in my life when the thoughts of Clay and his loss are like a big dog. 00:27:58.319 --> 00:28:06.319 But I have learned that two other dogs follow me around every day of my life. 00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:14.960 In Psalm 23, towards the end of it, it says that surely goodness and your loving kindness will what? 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:18.400 Follow me all the days of my life. 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:22.319 Goodness is the Hebrew word Tov, Tov. 00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:26.880 And loving kindness is the Hebrew word Hesed. 00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:32.000 I've named my two other dogs, Tov and Hesed. 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:37.759 So there's every day when I walk, there's a little yappy dog named Grief. 00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:42.400 And there are two wonderful dogs named Tov and Hesed. 00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:46.000 They serve my joy. 00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:55.440 Heaven will somehow be richer because of the reuniting of my son and I. 00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:02.240 That is how the kingdom of heaven works. 00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:07.359 Jesus does not promise to take all of your troubles away. 00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:13.119 He promises to walk with you through the troubles. 00:29:17.200 --> 00:29:18.640 Who really won? 00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:20.880 Hitler? 00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:33.119 Diedrich Bonhoeffer is credited, according to my Amazon search, to 30, just over 30 books have been written. 00:29:34.400 --> 00:29:37.920 Over 20 of them are written after he died. 00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:45.440 Where they gathered his thoughts and writings and put them in print, bound together in books. 00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:59.440 The New York Times said this: it would be impossible to overrate Dietrich Bonhoeffer's importance as a disciple, a great Christian, and a moral leader. 00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:01.599 That's the New York Times. 00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:09.519 Bonhoeffer, I've told you, wrote a great deal while he was in prison. 00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:12.559 A lot of them were poems about Maria, his fiance. 00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:21.200 And those things were all gathered together many years after he was dead. 00:30:21.359 --> 00:30:27.759 And one of those poems he named Next Year, 1945. 00:30:28.240 --> 00:30:41.920 And it was filled with all of these things that he hoped to see happen between him and Maria, and the children that they would have, and the home that they would live in, and the church that they would lead together when the Nazis were gone. 00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:44.799 And sanity reigned again. 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:58.799 Well, years later in America, there was an author named Joseph Bailey, and he experienced some significant grief in his life, including the death of three of his children. 00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:05.440 And Joseph Bailey felt like he lost the ability to write again, and so he stopped writing. 00:31:06.319 --> 00:31:13.200 And then after a while, he was given Bonhoeffer's book of poems from prison. 00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:19.279 And especially the poem next year, 1945. 00:31:20.720 --> 00:31:30.720 Convicted him, Joseph Bailey, of his own self-centered grief that had turned him so inward that he ignored all of the people around him. 00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:32.960 And he began to write again. 00:31:33.200 --> 00:31:47.759 And in one of the writings that he had published, it became a book of encouragement for those that were experiencing depression and discouragement, in that he cited the poem 1945, next year. 00:31:48.720 --> 00:31:52.319 Well, 12 years after that book is, stay with me, it's worth it. 00:31:52.559 --> 00:32:00.480 12 years after Bailey received that and wrote that book, he received a letter from a pastor in Boston. 00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:10.000 And this Boston pastor said, I'm a chaplain for a hospital in town, and I've developed a special relationship with an older woman there that's dying of cancer. 00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:12.079 And I read your book, Mr. 00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:17.680 Bailey, and it so moved me that I thought it might help this woman who's about to die. 00:32:18.079 --> 00:32:24.160 And so I gave her your book that quotes Bonhoeffer. 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:36.720 He came in, he gave it after he gave it to her, he came back the next day to visit her, and she was still alive, and she said, I stayed up all night last night and I read Joseph Bailey's book. 00:32:37.039 --> 00:32:40.319 And I want you to know it has prepared me for eternity. 00:32:40.559 --> 00:32:42.640 I am ready to face death. 00:32:43.759 --> 00:32:46.960 Her name was Maria. 00:32:49.279 --> 00:32:50.960 Bonhoeffer's fiance. 00:32:52.960 --> 00:33:04.319 And the poems that Diedrich had written about her and their love comes back around and serves her joy as she prepares for death. 00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:05.759 Who won? 00:33:08.319 --> 00:33:09.920 Love always wins. 00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:13.279 Hate never wins. 00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:17.039 Cause is more important than comfort. 00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:19.759 Mission is more important than safety. 00:33:20.079 --> 00:33:21.839 Life is stronger than death. 00:33:22.079 --> 00:33:24.720 Resurrection stronger than the grave. 00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:35.440 And your identity, if you've placed your faith in Christ as a son or daughter of the King of Kings, is stronger than anything you can face. 00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:46.960 Dallas Willard rewrote in that book Divine Conspiracy, which I've now quoted three times. 00:33:49.039 --> 00:33:51.839 He rewrote the Beatitudes this way. 00:33:53.279 --> 00:33:55.920 Blessed are the physically repulsive. 00:33:56.480 --> 00:33:58.799 Blessed are those who smell bad. 00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:05.119 The twisted, the misshapen, the deformed, the too big, the too little, the too loud, the too quiet. 00:34:05.359 --> 00:34:07.440 The bald ones, thank God. 00:34:08.559 --> 00:34:11.920 The fat ones, the old ones, thank God again. 00:34:12.400 --> 00:34:18.559 The crushed ones, flunked out, dropped out, burnt out, the broke and the broken. 00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:27.199 Blessed are the addicted and the divorced, the barren and the pregnant, the overemployed, the underemployed and the unemployed. 00:34:27.519 --> 00:34:38.639 Weak, strong, gifted, and lazy, for they are all riotously celebrated in the party of Jesus in his kingdom. 00:34:40.239 --> 00:34:46.559 I want to leave you one more blessing, one more prayer for you that will sound strange at first. 00:34:50.079 --> 00:34:54.880 I've been pronouncing this blessing over the community I attend for years. 00:34:55.920 --> 00:34:58.079 And now I give it to you. 00:35:03.840 --> 00:35:14.800 May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and the exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace. 00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:19.119 May God bless you with tears to shed. 00:35:20.159 --> 00:35:30.719 For those who are suffering pain, rejection, hunger, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain to joy. 00:35:32.159 --> 00:35:52.079 And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world so that we can do what others claim cannot be done, to bring love and kindness to the children and the poor of this world. 00:35:53.760 --> 00:36:03.280 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you. 00:36:03.920 --> 00:36:05.599 In Jesus' name. 00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:06.559 Amen. 00:36:07.920 --> 00:36:10.159 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:14.800 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:36:14.960 --> 00:36:17.039 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:36:17.199 --> 00:36:23.119 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.