Here we go again, Christ is telling us something that doesn't seem natural, in fact seems weird and distorted. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. If we look at this the same way we did those who are poor in spirit we know Christ is actually telling us how to be happy. Happy are those who mourn. I feel like happiness and mourning together make an oxymoron. I feel like this truly perplexed the crowds he was speaking to; if nothing else they stayed around to hear what the loon had to say. Is it really loony? Is Christ contradicting himself here? How is it possible for anyone to be happy because of their mourning?
Blessed are those who mourn
The sermon on the mount builds ideas on top of each other. To those who do not understand what Christ meant by becoming poor in spirit, this mourning and happiness statement do make Christ look like a loon. When discussing the beatitudes it is important to realize that you cannot comprehend one beatitude without first comprehending the preceding beatitude. Those who do not embrace being poor in spirit cannot comprehend happiness for mourning. This is not saying you have to be perfect when it comes to the preceding beatitude, but this process does require sanctification, a work that can only be completed by Jesus Christ.
So what does it mean to be mourning? When we look into the face of sin and see how it has absolutely ravished our lives we mourning because of the sorrow we have in our hearts in light of the gospel. We mourn over injustice. We should have sorrow to sin, with our eyes on Christ. Mourning is also about repentance.
This mourning is also present in physical sins. At the fall of man, evil was let into the world. Things like terrorism, death, cancer, and hurricanes that kill hundreds of people are a direct result of sin. These injustices are to be mourned over. When you get a call from a policeman saying your wife was just in a head on collision and her and your 3 little baby girls are now dead because of a drunk driver the proper response to mourning. Its injustice. Its wrong, this is not how the world was meant to be.
Examining sins in our own lives bring us to this state of mourning. We see in Psalm 51 (link to ESV) where David has committed adultery with Bathsheba. The entire Psalm is a cry, a mourning out to God for him to create a clean heart in him. David is so distraught by his sin that he is crying and yelling out for forgiveness in light of who God is. David know he has sinned, he knows God is holy and he knows that without God he cannot stand before him dirty.
for they shall be comforted
In response to this spiritual mourning over sins in our lives and physical sins we are promised that we shall be comforted. I think John Calvin sums this section up very well. In his commentary on Matthew 5 he says this:
"[Christ] shows that their very mourning contributes to a happy life by preparing them to receive eternal joy and by furnishing them with excitements to seek true comfort in God alone."
As Christians, we will be comforted, justice will be served and we will spend eternity in peace with Christ, he is our eternal hope, joy and peace. Whom have I in heaven but you? and there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
"Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Blessings or makarios in the original Greek means supremely blest; by extension, fortunate, happy. Christ begins his sermon by telling us how to be happy. Modern prosperity and liberation theology tells us to be happy we must have more of, or be liberated of; but what is interesting here is what Christ tells us next. Makarios are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy are those who are poor in spirit. When I think of happy, my perverted mind certainly doesn't revert to being poor; I think of having goods, being popular, having vast degrees and a successful marriage. These thoughts show me how much I truly need Christ in everything.
Now of course, because Christ said it to us we should take heed of it, but more interesting is that these are the first words of his first sermon. When the Lord of all existence speaks, what comes out of his mouth first should be taken with great humility. This is exactly what Christ is talking about; becoming humble. Christ is speaking directly to the "religious", "proud" beatniks for his time and completely telling them opposite of what they have always learned. We see later in the sermon on the mount that these same religious beatniks are the ones standing on the street corners to pray and are the ones who paint their faces to look gloomy when the fast; all for the acknowledgment of man.
If I was to tell you that I was a poor man, assumingly you would all think I had little or no money, no way of providing for myself or my family and therefor was a man with little to his name. Christ isn't talking about being physically poor in this statement (although, as we will see later in the sermon, he does address being rich - 5:19-24). Being poor in spirit is different from that of being poor within material possessions. Being poor in spirit implies you have no way of purchasing or trading something for spirit. If you are poor in money and someone gives you a meal because you are hungry, after you eat that meal you will still be poor in the sense that you cannot afford to buy your next meal. Unlike the pharisee's who thought they could purchase acceptance before God or like the modern day Buddhist and Muslims who believe their actions will help bring them close to God, the Christian acknowledges their poverty before God, they acknowledge that they can bring nothing to the table before God in order to atone for their sins and that only the work of Jesus on the cross has set us free from our bondage to sin.
When I read this passage I see Christ showing mercy on the crowds that gathered. I see Christ telling them to "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28, Training in Christianity by Soren Kierkegaard.) When I look at this passage and meditate on it I see the most beautiful words coming out of Christ's mouth, I see my poverty in relation to what I can offer to God and it is a beautiful, humbling experience.
Matthew Henry says "To be poor in spirit is to be contently poor, willing to be empty of worldly wealth if God orders that to be our lot and to be humble and lowly in our own eyes. To be poor in spirit is to think meanly of ourselves, of what we are, what we have and what we do. It is to be as little children in our opinion of ourselves...it is to acknowledge that God is great and we are mean; that he is Holy and we are sinful; that he is all and we are nothing. We must call ourselves poor because we should always be in want of Gods grace, always hanging at Gods door, always hanging on in his house."
Likewise, John Calvin says this about being poor in spirit: "...Christ pronounces those to be happy who, chastened and subdued by afflictions, submit themselves wholly to God and with inward humility betake themselves for protection. Others explain the poor in spirit to be those who claim nothing for themselves and are so completely emptied in confidence in the flash that they acknowledge their poverty.
May Christ empty us our ourselves so that we may cling to him for all eternity in the grace and light that he has given us; mainly Jesus Christ. That he may be all so that he receives all the glory and that we be nothing and to have none of it.
Now of course, because Christ said it to us we should take heed of it, but more interesting is that these are the first words of his first sermon. When the Lord of all existence speaks, what comes out of his mouth first should be taken with great humility. This is exactly what Christ is talking about; becoming humble. Christ is speaking directly to the "religious", "proud" beatniks for his time and completely telling them opposite of what they have always learned. We see later in the sermon on the mount that these same religious beatniks are the ones standing on the street corners to pray and are the ones who paint their faces to look gloomy when the fast; all for the acknowledgment of man.
If I was to tell you that I was a poor man, assumingly you would all think I had little or no money, no way of providing for myself or my family and therefor was a man with little to his name. Christ isn't talking about being physically poor in this statement (although, as we will see later in the sermon, he does address being rich - 5:19-24). Being poor in spirit is different from that of being poor within material possessions. Being poor in spirit implies you have no way of purchasing or trading something for spirit. If you are poor in money and someone gives you a meal because you are hungry, after you eat that meal you will still be poor in the sense that you cannot afford to buy your next meal. Unlike the pharisee's who thought they could purchase acceptance before God or like the modern day Buddhist and Muslims who believe their actions will help bring them close to God, the Christian acknowledges their poverty before God, they acknowledge that they can bring nothing to the table before God in order to atone for their sins and that only the work of Jesus on the cross has set us free from our bondage to sin.
When I read this passage I see Christ showing mercy on the crowds that gathered. I see Christ telling them to "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28, Training in Christianity by Soren Kierkegaard.) When I look at this passage and meditate on it I see the most beautiful words coming out of Christ's mouth, I see my poverty in relation to what I can offer to God and it is a beautiful, humbling experience.
Matthew Henry says "To be poor in spirit is to be contently poor, willing to be empty of worldly wealth if God orders that to be our lot and to be humble and lowly in our own eyes. To be poor in spirit is to think meanly of ourselves, of what we are, what we have and what we do. It is to be as little children in our opinion of ourselves...it is to acknowledge that God is great and we are mean; that he is Holy and we are sinful; that he is all and we are nothing. We must call ourselves poor because we should always be in want of Gods grace, always hanging at Gods door, always hanging on in his house."
Likewise, John Calvin says this about being poor in spirit: "...Christ pronounces those to be happy who, chastened and subdued by afflictions, submit themselves wholly to God and with inward humility betake themselves for protection. Others explain the poor in spirit to be those who claim nothing for themselves and are so completely emptied in confidence in the flash that they acknowledge their poverty.
May Christ empty us our ourselves so that we may cling to him for all eternity in the grace and light that he has given us; mainly Jesus Christ. That he may be all so that he receives all the glory and that we be nothing and to have none of it.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The Gospel, Theology & Social Justice
Thirty thousand children die every day of starvation or a preventable disease. Thirteen million people will die every year from infectious and parasitic disease we know how to prevent. 1.2 Billion people live everyday on less than $1 and an additional 1.6 billion are very poor living on less than $2 a day. In a world with 6.7 Billion people, 2.8 of them live on less than $2 a day.
How do we deal with this? As Christians living in post-modern America gliding our lives on our fat pay checks and pricey cars, how do we look into the face of 2.8 billion people who make less than $700 dollars a year? Even in a recession where the unemployment rate is up higher than any of us had hoped for, a government funded unemployment check still provides more than 2.8 billion people in the world live on today.
The purpose of these blogs is for me to try to figure this out and work out how to live my life with the view of Christ, my family and my poor brothers and sisters in mind. Not to find out who I can donate 10% of my paycheck to, or to learn how to take Tom's shoes to Africa, but to sincerely look into the face of poverty and social injustice and learn how to apply the Gospel, the good news of Christ's redemption to these tough situations. I do not pretend to be perfect now, nor when I finish this blog series. I need sanctification, I need Jesus. I also understand that social justice without Jesus is nothing more than a charity toy drive and therefore will be putting Jesus and his news of the Gospel front an center. I ask any of my brothers who might read this to rebuke me if I ever draw away from making Jesus the agenda.
I pray that as I never take passages of scripture lightly that concern my salvation with Christ. I have been a Christian for 4 years now and have yet to take seriously passages of scripture like Matthew 25:31-46; this is my conviction.
"Lord, help me live from day to day,
in such a self forgetful way,
that even as I kneel to pray,
my prayers shall be for others."
How do we deal with this? As Christians living in post-modern America gliding our lives on our fat pay checks and pricey cars, how do we look into the face of 2.8 billion people who make less than $700 dollars a year? Even in a recession where the unemployment rate is up higher than any of us had hoped for, a government funded unemployment check still provides more than 2.8 billion people in the world live on today.
The purpose of these blogs is for me to try to figure this out and work out how to live my life with the view of Christ, my family and my poor brothers and sisters in mind. Not to find out who I can donate 10% of my paycheck to, or to learn how to take Tom's shoes to Africa, but to sincerely look into the face of poverty and social injustice and learn how to apply the Gospel, the good news of Christ's redemption to these tough situations. I do not pretend to be perfect now, nor when I finish this blog series. I need sanctification, I need Jesus. I also understand that social justice without Jesus is nothing more than a charity toy drive and therefore will be putting Jesus and his news of the Gospel front an center. I ask any of my brothers who might read this to rebuke me if I ever draw away from making Jesus the agenda.
I pray that as I never take passages of scripture lightly that concern my salvation with Christ. I have been a Christian for 4 years now and have yet to take seriously passages of scripture like Matthew 25:31-46; this is my conviction.
"Lord, help me live from day to day,
in such a self forgetful way,
that even as I kneel to pray,
my prayers shall be for others."
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