Embracing the Beatitudes: A Journey Through Anxiety, Anger, and Spiritual Transformation

Do the tumultuous emotions of anxiety and anger seem all too familiar in your life? Our latest episode is a beacon of hope, offering insight into the transformative teachings of Jesus through the Beatitudes. We discuss how these ancient precepts provide not just a singular path, but a continuing journey that reshapes the very character of those who follow them. Unpack the beauty and challenge of an inner transformation that's meant to shine outwardly, much like the fruit of the spirit emerges in the life of a believer. Our conversation is a heartfelt invitation to reflect on the deep values that should anchor our existence and guide us toward a more visible expression of our faith.

As we navigate this spiritual expedition, we reflect on the profound growth that stems from recognizing our poverty of spirit and the humility of coming before the cross with nothing but our hearts laid bare. We draw inspiration from figures like Moses and Jesus, who exemplify meekness—a potent mixture of strength and gentleness. The episode pulses with the desire for righteousness and justice, encouraging listeners to immerse themselves in a pursuit that aligns with God's heart, with promises of comfort and the kingdom of heaven as our compass. Join us as we dissect the implications of these beatitudes in our lives, finding solace in the transformative journey they chart.

Embracing the beatitudes means reflecting the character of Christ, even when the path leads us through the fires of persecution. We explore the virtues of mercy and peacemaking, and the strength that comes from purity of heart. For believers across the spectrum—from the self-assured to the overwhelmed by sin—we offer insights into how these principles can ground us in God's unwavering love. Together, we pray for and extend an invitation to those who stand at the crossroads, yearning for the peace and redemption that is found at the foot of the cross. Embark with us on this episode, where we seek to embody the fullness of Christ's character and embrace the profound rewards of a righteous life.

ABOUT JAMES AND LESSONS FOR LIFE

Are you longing to find answers to the deeper issues of life? Join Dr. James Long, Jr., a pastor, counselor, and university professor with over 30 years of experience. Hear James as he tackles some of life’s biggest questions and helps us find God’s solutions to life’s struggles. Learn the power of living by God’s grace and for His glory. Experience the joy of forgiveness and freedom found in Jesus Christ alone. If you are in search of freedom, you will love being part of this conversation. Subscribe, and enjoy the show!

Links
Website – https://jameslongjr.org/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/drjameslongjr
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/drjameslongjr/
Apple Podcast – https://jameslongjr.org/applepodcast
Google Podcast – https://jameslongjr.org/googlepodcast

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:26

You probably know a lot of people that struggle with anxiety and anger. Those twin things seem to be epidemic in our culture Anxiety, the fears, the insecurities, the doubts, the worries that can dominate people's lives. They can dominate people's lives in such a way that they find themselves not being able to sleep. It affects their relationships, it affects them physically and they are dominated. And it almost feels at times for that type of person that they're divided within themselves, their thoughts attack them and they find themselves struggling with trying to get on top of those anxieties. Maybe that's you. There's also a lot of anger in our society the vitriol, the conflict, the chaos, the struggles that happen Struggles between marriage partners, struggles in families, struggles at work, struggles on the road, struggles in the politics. It's just a lot of struggles today, and there may be other areas that people struggle depression or guilt or other things as well, but it just seems like the anxieties seem to be ramping up and the anger seems to be ramping up. And Jesus, I believe that some of the things that he will share with you today through the end of these beatitudes will give you some answers to some of those anxieties and anger that you have Now, as we've talked last week, the beatitudes are a character of a true disciple.

Speaker 1: 2:05

It's almost like a pathway, but it's a continual pathway. You don't just go from poor in spirit and mourning over your sin and makeness, and hungering and thirsting, and then you just hit that stage in your past and then you hit the next stage in your past and you hit the next stage. It is something that you will be doing throughout your Christian life and we're going to build on those four that we gave you last week and we're going to build on four more this week. Last week, if you remember, we talked about the need and your desperate need and my desperate need is to be poor in spirit, as we saw here. It says blessed are those who are poor in spirit.

Speaker 1: 2:42

We talked also about the fact that blessedness is a favor. It's not just happiness. Blessness can be temporary, it can be superficial and this blessedness is something that we do not deserve. It's granted to us by God and it is given to those that do not deserve. It, cannot merit it. You're blessed and, if you remember, we talked from the Old Testament. There were curses and blessings, oracles of woe, cursing, and oracles of will, blessing. And these different cursings and blessings. Of course nobody wants to be cursed, nobody wants to receive the blessing of God, and he begins the Sermon on the Mount with these blessings and he's just pouring blessing upon blessing and he's saying that this is the characteristic of those that are in the kingdom.

Speaker 1: 3:31

As with other things that we will see in scripture, this is a package deal. You know, the fruit of the spirit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, which we see in Galatians 5. I will often ask people which of those do you have? It's a trick question, because if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, you have all of them. Now, some of them are seeing, showing themselves a lot more above the surface and others are not, but they're there. And for a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, this package deal you have if you are truly in Christ. It's the idea of conduct, but more than that, he's talking about character and it's the values that are the characteristics of the kingdom. It's the heart that happens in a believer's life and Jesus is calling you to focus on the inner transformation that should be happening and then he produces that into external things that should be evident in your life.

Speaker 1: 4:31

Now we talked about poor and spirit and, if you remember, last week we talked about that as spiritually bankrupt. I've got nothing, as my boss says at work. I've got nothing and you and I come to the cross and we should say we have nothing except to bring you all my sin, all my guilt, all my condemnation, all the ways I've rejected you in my thoughts, words, attitudes and actions. That's what I bring to you, christ. I bring nothing of any merit or any benefit and that should open the door for humility in my life. That I am coming to you not as a proud person saying that I am self-righteous or I can make it on my own. I should be coming in such a way that I've got really nothing. God, I really don't understand why you would even want to entertain a relationship with me.

Speaker 1: 5:17

But it's not just poor and spirit. If you remember, now you're moving along the process to those who mourn I was just talking to my class this morning and the greater vision that you get of God, you'll have a greater vision of yourself the more you see God for who he is. He shines this bright light upon you, not just the external things that you do, but he shines a light onto the inner motives of your heart. In fact, it says in Hebrews that Scripture even cuts down to motives and it cuts down to the very heart of who you are the why behind what we do that's exactly what happens is that God shines his light your poor and spirit. I've got nothing in my hands, god. I've got nothing to bring you, but now I am mourning over my sin. I see my sin and I see your blessed Savior and I see the fact that he bled and died for me. He took my hell when you would have given me an eternity in hell. He took that upon himself. I owe nothing. I have nothing that should lead us to brokenness over my sin.

Speaker 1: 6:18

We talked about 2 Corinthians 7, where you have worldly sorrow versus godly sorrow. Last week we talked about the fact that real sorrow is the fact that you recognize that you sinned against the holy God and you've affected other people. But it was mourning not just over my own sin, but it was mourning over the sins that are happening in the world. If you remember that Jesus Christ was called a man of what Sorrow and acquainted with grief. He had no sin of his own, but he saw the brokenness of this world and he mourned. We should see the brokenness as we hear of. Brokenness instead of I guess we'll talk about this morning, lord willing.

Speaker 1: 6:57

The things that we laugh at sometimes is sometimes the brokenness of humanity and it's like why do we laugh at that? Why are the shows that are entertaining us seeing the brokenness of humanity? That should grieve us. That's what he's getting at. The poor in spirit leads to those who are more in it. The sorrow reflects a heart, sensitivity to God, god's holiness and our sinfulness. That led to the third characteristic, or beatitude that we talked about last week, is blessed or the meek. So it flows because I've got nothing. Poor in spirit. It should cause me to mourn over my sin and then it should lead to a meekness of life.

Speaker 1: 7:37

And you remember there were two people that scripture said are meek. You remember the two, moses and Jesus. And meekness we talked about was not weakness, but it was actually strength under control, that these two men Moses leading these people out of Egypt through the desert to the promised land. Millions of people perhaps are following him and he's leading these people and he could have led them ruthlessly, but he didn't. He could have led them for his own benefit? He didn't. He could have attacked them, he didn't. He got attacked over and over again by his brother and sister, by people around him, by the nation and, in meekness, humility and gentleness, a willingness to submit to God's will. Now, moses had a struggle with anger, and it's part of the reason why he did not get into the promised land. But over and over again he modeled meekness.

Speaker 1: 8:34

Of course, the greatest meek person, the most, the pinnacle of meekness, was Christ, because Christ spoke this world into existence. Colossians says he holds this world and the universe in his hands. He sustains all things. The God that sustains all things is the God who humbled himself to take on a human body. He was the one that put himself under the law that he wrote. He was chastised by people. He was attacked by people. He put himself on a bloody cross for you and for me. He humbled himself, even to the point of death. The meekness that he showed he could have called down legions of angels to take them out. You remember when Peter cut off Malchus' ear? He says I could call down legions of angels. Put your sword away, peter. The meekness, the humility, the gentleness, the willingness to submit to God's will not my will, god, let yours be done. He said that the promise for the poor in spirit is what bears as the kingdom of heaven, the promise for those who mourn. Guess what? You'll be comforted. It took you to the Isaiah passage in Isaiah 40, comfort, comfort my people. I love that, says the Lord.

Speaker 1: 9:50

The fourth that we dealt with last week and I said maybe it's the central one, I'm not sure. The blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, a deep desire for personal holiness. I had said that when we put our resolutions together, our yearly goals, I write yearly goals and then I look at them and translate them into monthly goals and then weekly goals. I don't know if you do that, but how many of us have as a goal of our lives righteousness? That should be the deep desire of that. I just want to be personally holy Lord. I want to see justice in this world, but it won't ultimately happen. But I desire justice, so I'm going to try to encourage justice between people. But I want a holiness in my life that is reflective of you. That is the hunger and the thirsting See that should that hungering that humanity has, that humanity struggles with, hungering for so many different things and most of those things will only temporarily satisfy them. It won't last. But this type of hunger and this type of thirst, guess what it will do it will fill you and it will satisfy you, because Christ is the great satisfiier.

Speaker 1: 11:06

One pastor has a ministry called Desiring God and he says that God is most glorified in us when we are what most satisfied in him. I love that line. He's built a 50-year ministry off of that line. You can build a whole lifetime off that line. That the more I find myself satisfied, content, happy in God, that will cause me to be reflective of his will in my relationships. I would guarantee you that when you struggle, and when I struggle in relationships, it's because I'm not satisfied in God and I'm looking for earthly satisfaction. We go to Romans chapter one, and Romans chapter one says, instead of glorifying the Creator and being grateful to the Creator, we look for satisfaction with creation. That's us. I want my car to satisfy me, I want my home to satisfy me, I want my wife or my kids to satisfy me. I look for creation to satisfy me when only the Creator will.

Speaker 1: 12:19

The bad attitudes call for a radical reorientation of your life. I told you it was counter cultural. This doesn't make sense to those people outside of here. It's a challenge. Now I don't want you to see this as a ladder to climb up to receiving God's forgiveness and grace. You don't do this in order to be saved. You are this because you are saved. Okay, it's radically different. So you're not doing this and Jesus says you didn't hit that ladder yet. You're not close enough to the kingdom. What he's saying is this I am going to put this package in your life and then, over and over in time, I am going to create these attitudes in you by the work of the Holy Spirit, so that you start to look more and more like me and then ultimately, in eternity, you're going to get all the blessings. But you're getting these blessings time after time. Now. Now he has talked about your need, your great need, poor in spirit, that you need to mourn over your sin and that you need to deal with life in meek ways and you can inherit the earth, you can get comfort and you can be part of the kingdom. And then he hungers and thirsts, that hungering and thirsting, that passion. And now he goes into how you live and he says this in verse seven blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.

Speaker 1: 13:42

Mercy, as you think about mercy, is interesting. Lensky, and his commentary, said this mercy is compassion for people in need. He distinguishes it from grace, the noun mercy always deals with what we see of pain, misery, distress, these results of sin. But carous grace always deals with sin and guilt itself. The one extends relief, the other one extends pardon. The one extends a cure and healing and help, the other one cleansing and reinstates. See, mercy is both a feeling and it's an action. If you remember the Good Samaritan, the story of the Good Samaritan, what do we see? This person who's in need, and one person after another, has no heart compassion and then does nothing to respond to the need. In action, mercy, on the other hand, feels a heart compassion and then works towards trying to meet that need. It's actually a reflection of God himself. So when you are merciful, you are reflecting God because he has a compassion for you and then Jesus left heaven for you. It's the core of God's life or his characteristics.

Speaker 1: 15:12

One passage in Exodus, chapter 34, verse six You've heard this before in Exodus 34, verse six the Lord passed before him and proclaimed watch what he says. This is how he defines himself, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Do you hear that God is merciful, he's gracious, he's slow to anger, he's abounding in steadfast love? That was said, I believe, seven different times in scripture in the Old Testament. God wants you to hear this pronouncement of who he is. I'm merciful, I have compassion for you. I am in acting. I'm acting to deal with your pain and your misery. I'm slow to anger, I'm not quick to anger. He holds back his wrath against us. He's abounding in steadfast love, has said faithful love. His love is not fickle and goes up and down. His love is consistent and it's steadfast for you. He's faithful.

Speaker 1: 16:26

Paul said in 2 Timothy that when we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he can't deny himself In Ephesians. I love this passage in Ephesians, chapter two, verse four. It says this but God, those two words I love, those being rich in mercy, I wonder. Rich? He's super abundant in mercy. He's got more mercy than you could ever imagine.

Speaker 1: 16:54

Paul said in Romans that we're sin abounds what grace abounds all the more. This is not just a small amount of mercy. This is mercy upon mercy, upon mercy, upon mercy that God wants to pour into your life, or how about this? Surely goodness and what Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. That is the God that you serve. In Titus, chapter three, it says he saved us verse five not because the work's done in us by righteousness, no, but according to his own mercy, the washing of regeneration in the renewal of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 1: 17:34

I want you to see that God is a God of mercy compassion from the inside and then actions of mercy, and that's what we're called to be. You remember in Micah he said he has shown you, oh man or woman, what is good and what the Lord requires of you to do, what To do what is right, act justly and to love in a merciful way and to walk humbly with our God. It's this pattern of if you are a Christian and if you really got the gospel right and you recognize I'm poor in spirit, I've got nothing, that I've mourned over my sin, that God has rescued me and I could be meek. I am hungering, thirst for that righteousness in my life. I should be a receiver of mercy, because I already have in God, and I should be an extender of that mercy.

Speaker 1: 18:25

It's so sad that so many people today struggle with such anger and bitterness. The woundedness that people find they have truly been wounded. Perhaps or maybe they haven't truly been wounded, but whatever it is, the woundedness that is within them leads to bitterness in their hearts, leads to resentment over and over again and they attack people over and over again and they see themselves as right and they judge other people and they attack other people and God says you're called to be merciful. That's why Jesus, when he was in John chapter Matthew, chapter 15, he had talked about the fact that you owe this unpayable debt to this king and the king forgives you all of it. And then you walk out after having this unpayable debt that the king says I forgive you, it's wiped off your slate. You go out and find somebody that owes you $50,000. It's a big amount, but it's not unpayable. They could pay in a couple of years probably. And you wanna throw them in prison, you wanna attack them, you wanna judge them, and when you do that, he's saying you're not seeing the gospel, you're not seeing the kingdom.

Speaker 1: 19:47

We should be so merciful. And how do we show mercy? We should show mercy by, maybe, material needs. There's some people here that are struggling and there's something about this church I love about this church. We have our benevolence fund and that benevolence fund is usually got money in it and we have people that we can help Love it. There are people that don't even worry about the benevolence fund. I know that there are people in this congregation that give and help other people because you wanna serve them. So great Mealtrain, the meal train that goes, the meals that come out. My family has benefited from meal trains from this congregation. There are merciful people here. We could do that.

Speaker 1: 20:30

How about supporting somebody through their spiritual struggles and doubts? I just don't know where I am in my faith. People will sit here and pray with people and counsel people and help people and support people. That's the way you could show it. How about when somebody fails miserably? What do you do? You expose it? No, there's some of us that will say you know what? I'm going to be there to help you Deal with that. I'm gonna cover this. I'm gonna deal with you and help you. Do we allow slanderous gossip out of our mouths? No, I don't wanna do that. I wanna be merciful. I'm not gonna attack you. I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt.

Speaker 1: 21:14

How about forgiving. Jesus says you will know, the world will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. I also believe that you will know that people will know that you are his disciples if you have a willingness to forgive one another. I really do think that is the biggest thing, that if we were forgiving people because we have been forgiven. Jay Adams wrote a book Forgiven and Forgiving, which are two elements that if I get the forgiven piece, that should lead me to forgiving others. So mercy is about feeling pain. Mercy is about acting for the benefit of others. It's a characteristic so like Christ, so like God compassion and meeting other people's needs. And once you reward, you receive the mercy from God, which is pretty cool.

Speaker 1: 22:10

Verse eight pure in heart. It says blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. See God, which is pretty awe-inspiring. I've got a massive headache right now, so if you could just pray for me right now, I'd really appreciate it. Yeah, blessed are the poor in spirit, because what God does is he is just awe-inspiring, and when we get a vision of who he is, the purity of this world is not there, it is absolutely fallen. But when you get a vision of God and then you see the fallenness of this world it is. I wonder why God would even want a relationship with us. This is natural call in our hearts to do what is wrong. And what God does is. He transfers that in Ezekiel. It talks about the fact that he gives you a new heart, a new spirit that he's put within you.

Speaker 1: 23:15

What's seemingly impossible that I can have purity, what's seemingly impossible is that I could have enough purity that I could actually see God. God does something amazing and in Exodus, chapter 33, it says you cannot see my face, for no man will see my face, but Jesus Christ walked with us and walking with us, christ is redeemer, christ is purifier. Christ transforms our sin and he brings us out and he transforms us. One thing that impurity does is it keeps us from seeing the light of God. In 2 Corinthians, chapter four, verse six, it says for God, who said let light shine out of the darkness, has shown in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge, the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. So a purity is this.

Speaker 1: 24:07

Purity is, in essence, an undivided heart. That's what it is. It's the fact that I don't have these struggles that I want to submit myself to you, and the more undivided that I am, the more I will live at peace. And it's not that I am don't ever sin. You have thoughts, you have things that happen in your life. You sin, but it's the fact that share this with you. I expose this to you, god. I am not hiding anything from you.

Speaker 1: 24:37

Our natural tendency is to hide our sin and to hide ourselves from him, and what God says is this a pure and hard person is going to recognize that. They have nothing that is hidden from me. So, as you do that, what ends up happening is that you will find yourself, time after time, exposing these things. Stop hiding from God, stop having these secrets. He already knows what's happening in your life. It's perpetually practicing the opportunity to be able to stand in the presence of God. As you stand in the vision of God, what he sees, his eyes, living under his presence, living under his authority, living for his glory, and I'm exposing this.

Speaker 1: 25:22

One of the problems that we had with sin back to the Garden of Eden is the fact that when we sinned, what do we do? We covered up, we ran and hid and we blamed. Humanity's tendency is to do that. But this person, who's pure in spirit, is a person that is so transparent, so open, that they are sharing with God exactly what's happening. It's not perfection, but it's honesty really at the source of this. It's honesty with God. Our tendency in life is to not be honest. And so what does he say? That for those that are pure in heart, for those that want to show me, that are not undivided, not bound by anxieties, not bound by fears, not bound by these insecurities because God, you know it all already and you've forgiven me everything that person can live at peace. And when they do that, they will see God. Remember what he says. He says create in me.

Speaker 1: 26:22

David says a clean heart. Oh God, renew a right spirit within me. Or how about the psalmist? When the psalmist said, who shall ascend the holy hill of God? He who is in a holy place, he who has clean hands and a pure heart, he's saying that it's not just the external things that you do, it's about the internal things. That does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. It's an inner battle, but it's also an external thing that happens In the uniqueness of God. You stand before a pure and holy God, and when he sees you he sees unholiness in your life, but in Christ he sees Christ's righteousness, he sees Christ's purity. And that's why Isaiah, when he went into God's presence, he says holy, holy is the Lord, god of hosts. The whole world is full of his glory. He sees this, he hears this and he says woe is me, because he saw himself as impure. But the person that's pure in spirit, is honest, is open and recognizing that, god, you have cleansed me.

Speaker 1: 27:29

One of the most beautiful doctrines of scripture is the fact of justification. Justification is where God declares a believer in a legal sense righteous and aside. He looks at you as though you have come, lived the perfect life of Christ. And in Romans, chapter five, verse one, it says therefore, since we have been justified with faith, by faith we have what Peace with God? So God doesn't work in you so that he could do a work through you. He justifies you, he declares you're not guilty, he is purifying you day after day. In Titus we were reading this earlier. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our Savior, appeared, he saved us, not by our works, but what was done in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the spirit.

Speaker 1: 28:23

So how do I have an honest heart? How do I have a pure heart? I have to start with number one. I need to acknowledge the possibility of a clean heart in Christ, and I do that by I can only have that clean heart in Christ. I got nothing, god. The second thing I need to do is I need to embrace the scriptures that tell me that I get a clean heart by asking for it In 1 John, chapter one, verse nine, if we confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We do it by praying that God would give us a pure heart.

Speaker 1: 29:04

Number three, or number six, seven the peacemaker, verse nine. It says blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. I had talked about the fact that we have a lot of anger in this world and have a lot of anxieties in this world, and those two things hinder people's peace. And the significance of being a peacemaker is that you are once again reflecting Christ's character into the world and this connection between you being a peacemaker and you being a son of God and people look at you and say there's something different about this person and the radical violence that we have and the radical strike that we have is happening over and over again in our society.

Speaker 1: 29:49

But the biblical call for peace within, peace with God, peace with others, that, as you reflect God, that peace should be so reigning in your heart and your life. It talks about in 1 Corinthians, chapter seven. But the unbelieving partner separates. Let it be If in doing so they are not enslaved. God has called you to live at peace. He's talking about even in various contexts of our lives, deceit.

Speaker 1: 30:17

In Proverbs 12, 20,. Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but those who plan peace have joy. In Hebrews 12, 14, it says strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. There are different contexts that you're gonna live in this world, whether it's in marriage or whether people around you, but you should be striving for peace within. You're called to be a peacemaker, one who brings peace, because you possess it in Christ. And it's the fact that the internal conflicts are dealt with because God, I bring them to you. I bring these fears, these insecurities and doubts to you the internal conflicts that you have. If you deal with those, that will help you with the external conflicts as well.

Speaker 1: 31:08

James said in James chapter four he said what causes fights and quarrels among you? Is it not this that your passions are at war within? You desire and do not have, so you murder, you covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. He was saying that the external conflicts that you have are a byproduct of the internal conflicts of your own heart.

Speaker 1: 31:34

So as we grow in Christ's likeness, what do we see? We see that there's a battle that happens and there's a war. My sinful flesh wants to go to war against Christ living in me by his Holy Spirit. And as I go through that battle, I need to recognize that there's an internal battle. But as I deal with that internal battle it will help me to deal with the external battles. And when I see the gospel and put the gospel central in my heart and my life, that should cause me to be a person who seeks peace. By doing that you'll relinquish personal rights. By doing that you'll be proactive in seeking resolution. By doing that you'll see a distinction between conflict avoidance and actively pursuing peace. Paul said in Romans, chapter five, he says but God shows his love for us and while we were still sinners, christ died for us. So if you can keep that in your mind, that peace makers, actively working to create peace and to resolve conflicts, they're representing the character of God and when they do that, they become a peacemaker. The ultimate peacemaker shines through you. The minimal peacemaker Bless it Are those who were persecuted for righteous and sake.

Speaker 1: 32:55

The last three that we just dealt with the fact that you're merciful, the fact that you are pure in heart and the fact that you're peacemakers. That is taking you to these horizontal relationships. And now, as you keep in mind, I am counter-cultural, you're counter-cultural. You're pure in spirit, a pure in spirit. You're mourning over your sin. You are meek in this world. You are hungry and thirsting for righteousness, which inevitably is going to lead you to be counter-cultural. Because you're hungry and thirsting not to gain more, but to reflect more of God. And now you're merciful. You're forgiving people that the world would never forgive. You are pure in heart because you're trying to expose God. You're showing to see God shine out of your life. And you're a peacemaker, trying to bring people together. What do you get for your reward?

Speaker 1: 33:51

Verse 10,. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you, falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. He brings this great need to the passion, hungry and thirsting to how you live out, merciful, peacemaking, pure and hard to.

Speaker 1: 34:31

The world's gonna hate you. I think part of our anxieties that we struggle with is that we want the world to love us. We want the world to think well of us and, very honestly, a lot of them won't. If we speak the things that God says about sexuality in our culture today, you're gonna be viewed as hateful, arrogant, ignorant, foolish, divisive, destructive, and those are the words that are talked about today. With us as people, and as you are sharing these truths with the world will hate you.

Speaker 1: 35:18

Now they may just speak against you verbally, sometimes they will attack you, and so what he's saying is this I want you to be aware that you will be persecuted. You will be persecuted for tons of things, but you need to be persecuted here. For what kind of sake? Righteousness sake. Righteousness sake is the fact that you are being persecuted for doing what is right. Now, some of us will get persecuted because we're pains in the neck. Sometimes we will get persecuted because we are pretty flippant and arrogant. Sometimes we'll get persecuted because of our own sin. That is not what he's talking about here, and Peter talked about it as well. If you're suffering for righteousness sake I think he's got Peters grabbing this from first Peter he's grabbing this from Jesus' sermon on the Mount. Here he's saying that you could suffer for doing evil or you could suffer for doing right. Here he's talking about the fact that you will be blessed if you suffer for doing what is right.

Speaker 1: 36:16

Some biblical examples of those that suffer for doing what is right you remember Shadrach, meshach and Abednego? I'm not gonna bend down to this idol. You're gonna go into a flaming furnace? I guess I will. I believe my God can save me, but if not, I'm still not bending down to your idol. Daniel thrown into alliance. Then John Bunyan he wrote the book Pilgrim's Progress, loved the book. John Bunyan was thrown into prison for 12 years because of his faith.

Speaker 1: 36:57

There are people that are suffering all around this world today. At best, you and I probably suffer words against us. Maybe you'll suffer financially because maybe you'll lose a job or lose opportunities, but there are brothers and sisters around this world that are bleeding and dying and imprisoned for their faith. And God says you're blessed, blessed, happy. You gotta be kidding me. The apostles did in the book of Acts, remember? They were beaten and they said I'm so happy that I was worthy to be counted part of your kingdom and worthy to be punished in your name.

Speaker 1: 37:41

There is something about persecution. Persecution will come because you're shining a light in the darkness and people don't like light. At times they like hiding. And I wonder, when there's an absence of persecution in your life or my life, what is that saying? If the world is generally happy with me or generally happy with you and I can coincide with the world over and over again, what is that saying about what I'm really reflecting? Am I really reflecting the light of Christ, the light of the gospel, the glory of grace?

Speaker 1: 38:18

If you don't have some level of persecution in your life, I would ask you to do a self-evaluation and say God what's going on in my life that these non-Christian people around me can be so comfortable with me. Maybe I don't ever rock the boat. Young people in school, this is a challenge. I'm telling you as a principal of the school. I see it and I live. I'm at a Christian school, but I can't even imagine living in a secular world. But even at a Christian school, there are some that will do the right thing and they will be persecuted for it, slandered for it, definitely out in the world. And so if you're not enduring some level of persecution, I wonder whether we are living with the hunger and thirst for the righteousness. Now I shouldn't be pursuing persecution. I shouldn't be desiring it to go after it so that I am I don't know off base that I'm going to get that. What I should be doing is living in such a way that I'm living in such a life that is embracing Christ and reflecting Christ, and so that he will do something amazing in me.

Speaker 1: 39:26

The Beatitudes call the believer to a higher standard of living, a standard of living that reflects the glory of God. The challenge to be pure in spirit. The challenge to mourn over our sin. The challenge to be meek. The challenge to hunger and thirst. The challenge to be merciful and pure in spirit, the challenge to be a peacemaker when there's conflict around, the challenge to deal with persecution All of it is difficult, but it is not impossible, because Christ lives in you and through you and the rewards are pretty profound. The rewards for living this type of life are amazingly profound you get kingdom, you get comfort, you get the world, you inherit the world, you receive mercy, you will be satisfied, you will be a peacemaker and you will have eternity with him.

Speaker 1: 40:28

So I wonder today are these characteristics that are reflective of you? Are these characteristics that are reflective of me? The reality is they're probably not oftentimes. And so what do we need to do? We need to turn to the one that constantly showed these out, as he constantly showed these out in his life, because Jesus Christ is the true beatitude revealer. He reflected these beatitudes in his life. He reflected man, I am having a bad day here. He reflected these beatitudes through his life, and what he wants to do in you and through you is amazing. So when you fail, I'll end with this.

Speaker 1: 41:15

There's three different types of people that are probably in this room today. There's one person that is like the Pharisees of Jesus's time self-righteous. You look at your life and you compare your life with everybody else and you say the world is a mess, I'm pretty righteous. And as you compare yourself with maybe somebody that's sitting next to you or the world that's outside, you're comparing yourself horizontally and you say I'm actually pretty good. By doing that, you're minimizing Christ.

Speaker 1: 41:48

And there's some people that are sitting in this room today that live their lives with an up and down relationship with God because it's based on their emotions. They feel good today, so they think that God is happy with them today, or they feel bad today and they think that God is not happy with them, and they're on this up and down roller coaster of emotions. There's a third person. The first person is the legalist, who sees their righteousness but doesn't see their sin. The second person sees only their emotions as the reflector of truth. And the third person that's sitting in this room today is the person that sees their sin, but their sin has so dominated their lives. They see their sin and they grieve over their sin. They feel overwhelmed by their sin and they can't imagine that God could ever want a relationship with me. If people really knew me, why would they want a relationship with me?

Speaker 1: 42:43

What God does is this God says for the self-righteous person he gives them the law. And he says the rich, young ruler, you can't even keep the first or the tenth commandment, you can't keep the law, as he will do with the rest of the sermon. In the mountain you think you're having committed adultery. But if you look at a person with lust you have you think you're not a murderer. But guess what? If you have done this, if you have anger in your heart, you've already been a murderer. You think you're righteous in your prayers Guess what You're praying? But you're trying to do it so everybody else can see. He is exposing in our hearts that we are not self-righteous. We have nothing that we can bring.

Speaker 1: 43:19

For those that are on this up and down emotional rollercoaster, he says I am consistent, I don't change, I am faithful. It doesn't matter about your fickle emotions, you're right in me. And for those that are so overwhelmed by your sin that you look at even these beatitudes and say I got none of it, just go back to the first one again. I'm poor in spirit, lord, I got nothing, I'm a mortal for your sin. God will give you comfort and then see the meekness that's there. God will change you, he'll give you the earth, and then hunger and thirst for righteousness. And as you do that, you'll see the mercy that he has given you. And now you're gonna extend that mercy and when you do that, guess what? You'll expose your heart so you'll be pure. And when you expose your heart, guess what? You will be a peacemaker. And when you do that, you'll suffer persecution. And when you fail, guess what? Go back up to the top again, poor in spirit, mourn over sin over and over again, and recognize that there is one who never failed and he loves you.

Speaker 1: 44:23

So, lord, I praise you For your kind grace. Father, these are characteristic qualities of our heart that are so unlike us, father. They're so unlike the world. I praise you for the fact that you've given us these by your Holy Spirit. When you regenerated us, when you brought us to faith, when you caused us to be born again, you planted within us a desire to be poor in spirit. You exposed sin and you give us a reflection of your glory, and so that we mourn over our sin, father, I thank you for the fact that you've given us an opportunity to be meek and gentle, in spite of the strength that you've given us.

Speaker 1: 45:15

We're kingdom kids, but we don't have to rule ruthlessly with that power. I pray that you would give us the hunger and thirsting for righteousness which your Holy Spirit did when he gave us a new heart. Lord, I pray that we'd be mercy givers, because we have been mercy receivers. Lord, I pray that you would remind us that we could be peacemakers. I pray that you would help us to be not people that hide and lie, but people that expose the truth to you and maybe to others in our lives. And, father, when we do suffer persecution, help us to know that ours is the kingdom of heaven. So do that work in us, lord, do that work through us. For those that don't know your son, I pray that they go to that first beatitude today, but they've got nothing in their hands. They've got nothing in their hands, and that they're running to your son's cross. In Jesus' name, amen.