I love these 2 chapters as it teaches me a lot about how to lead a good spiritual godly life., providing a yardstick in which I can measure myself against. And we also see here how high his standards are, and how it is important to do things just for God, and not to earn the praise and recognition of the people around us – not to give to people just because you want others to know, not to fast as though you are suffering to earn the sympathy of others, not to pray long prayers just to impress the people around you.

The Beatitudes – This offers encouragement and recognition of the things we do that may sometime seem small, unworthy and of no value to the world. But we know that God sees it, and God recognizes it, and God will eventually reward these deeds. I especially like verse 8: “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God”. It is a huge reminder for me to not follow the ways of the world – chasing after wealth and riches, and fame and recognition, but to remain pure and humble and to follow God’s ways dutifully and obediently.

In Luke, Jesus also speaks about the other side of the coin – of people who enjoy the riches of this world, who are well-fed now, who enjoy the fame and respect of people around them, that these are all the treasures that they will enjoy, that they have already received their comfort. I think it is important to distinguish that these are the people who have done things and obtained these riches not by following the way of God, but by their own deeds, perhaps even unethically and unlawfully. These are people who think that all that they have are by their own works, and does not given any thanks to God, from whom all is given. Yes, indeed it is true that ungodly people do become rich, famous and seem to live a good life, but we must remember that all these are temporal and what is more important is our relationship with God. What is the good of earning big bucks off people (Madoff?) and spending the rest of your life behind bars. Similarly, what is the use of living a good life here on earth and spending an eternity in hell. To me, the choice is clear.

Salt and Light – we are not alone in this world, that much is certain. What we do affects not just ourselves, but the people around us. I am determined to lead a good and godly life so that my friends will see what a great God I serve. so that through the small little things I do, they will see that my God is good and wonderful. That He is GOD! The one that created everything – that everything I have and ever will have comes from Him. I want to make a positive difference in their lives. To be the salt and the light.  For God to nourish and guide them through me.

Law – Jesus explains very clearly here that he is not here to abolish the law, but instead he is setting a much much higher standard for the world to follow. That it is not sufficient for us to simply follow the ‘form’ of the law, but to look deeper into the ’substance’ of the law – the reasons why the laws are created in the first place.

It is not sufficient that we do not murder - we should not even be angry with the people around us, to not be hot-tempered and to show rage and violence.

It is not sufficient that we do not commit adultery – we should not even look at another woman lustfully.

It is not sufficient that we give our divorced wife a certificate of divorce such that she will be able to remarry – we should never entertain the thought of divorce bar marital unfaithfulness.

It is not sufficient that we keep our oaths – we should not even be swearing by the name of the Lord or any of his creations for that matter for we are demeaning Him and his works.

Instead of ‘an eye for an eye‘, we should even offer the other cheek if a person hits us i.e. to forgive the person and love him still with all our heart. If someone were to request from something for us, go beyond our means – if someones forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

It is not sufficient that we love our neighbors for even the evil people are as such – doing good to people who does good to them – but instead we should love our enemies as ourselves (i.e. A LOT).

And finally these are the phrases that I love. Matthew 6: 19-21 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. This teaches us that we should not be chasing after the treasures and riches of this world for it is all temporal but instead dedicate our life, heart and soul to the God.

How will we know whether we are storing up treasures in heaven?

Where our treasure is, there our heart is also. And what we do will clearly reflect where our heart is. All our words, all our deeds, all our actions are a reflection of what are our heart desires. Whether it is for God, or for the world. For no-one can serve both God and money/fame at the same time.

So why worry?! God has plans for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us. If God can feed the birds, and clothe the lilies of the field, how much more can he do for us! So I really shouldn’t worry about whether I can get into HSBC, or whether PwC or GS is more suitable. Whether I will be able to provide for myself and my family in the future. Whether I will be able to do well in my job in the future. Whether or not I will be able to fit in well in social settings. Whether or not I look good in from of people. Banish all these worries!!! Because God knows that we need these things – a good career, good health, wealth, peace of mind, a close family, great friends, a good life. And He promises to provide them.

But seek first his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Thank you God!!!

If you haven’t read part 1, you probably should do that first. It’s here, and in addition to meditating on the first several beatitudes, it explains what I’m doing, which is essentially trying to hear from God as to what He’d like to say to me about this passage.

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God.

Pureness is a state of being pared down to the essentials. Pure silver is argentum and nothing else. The pure heart has love and nothing besides. Hatred pollutes the heart. No one who pollutes his heart can see Me. The pollution prevents him. Sin blinds his eyes and cripples his spiritual senses. This is why man, in his fallen state, cannot experience Me.

I see all men in their eternal state. This is the true state–the lasting state. Some are destined for glory; others for shrinking away into that non-place of agony and the absence of all things good. For their rejection of light, darkness is left to them; for their displeasure with purity and goodness, only evil remains–and evil is nothing without goodness to besmirch.

The pure in heart has all things, and I AM all things. My heart is purity, goodness, strength, joy, and I place a new heart within you–a pure heart that is heart of My own heart–a pure heart that calls out to and has its being in Me. That is why the pure in heart see Me because I dwell within them and all around them. My purity is Love, and I AM Love. The pure in heart see and know Me in love.

Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God.”

I am the One with whom peace must be made. You make your peace with Me when you answer My call–when you die to the old kingdom–the kingdom of this world. You make peace in only one way, and that is by submitting to death–death to sin, death to self, death to your own ways, your own paths, your own life.

If you will surrender, then you will have peace–and only then. My Son, My only begotten Son, the first among many brethren, is your trailblazer, the pathmaker who cut through the wilderness to open your path to peace. Through His death, you also died, and through His life, you also live. My daughters and sons; you who have made peace with Me have made peace with life, goodness, love, purity–you have come out of all that is not and into all that is. You have become My offspring if you live by the life of My Son.

Matthew 5:10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.”

My Kingdom, My Prince, My Way, is anathema to the prince of this world. He is the one from whom all persecution comes. My Word, alive in you, will always draw his hatred, anger, fear. He will hate you with a pure and deadly hatred, and he will persecute you body and soul. It is by his hand, however, that you learn My pure strength as I keep and deliver you. He would destroy you if he could, but he can only burn out that which can be consumed–wood, hay, stubble. Nothing of Me, nothing of true life, no good thing in you can be destroyed if you cling to Me. Temporal things only can he take.

Your trust must be in Me, your heart set upon Me, all your treasure invested in Me. These things he cannot take from you. Everything else is dross–fodder for the fire. Taking these things out of your life leaves more space for the genuine treasure. My love will sustain you and My kingdom will be your delight forever more. He can only torment you a little while, to your profit, but I will delight you forever as we feast on one another’s love.

This runs along the lines of “perfect love casts out all fear,” something else God’s been talking to me about. Trusting Him is easy as long as life hums along nicely (as it sometimes does–for a little while), but we truly learn obedience by the things we suffer–that is, we learn obedience in situations where obedience is hard, not easy. And we learn trust in situations where things seem to be going badly, not well. Without these unpleasant circumstances, how could we become mature sons and daughters worthy of God? He knows what we need. May we always trust Him.

Love, Cindy

If you spend your life helping others, chances are you will be poor. If you spend your life helping yourself, chances are you will be rich. That is why Jesus Christ said BLESSED ARE THE POOR!

We have also had quite a few requests for the Devil’s Beatitudes so here they are(they can also be found on the church website. Click the sermons button and you can download the manuscripts from most every sermon – except the ones from the Fall Rally):

1. Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, too distracted to spend even an hour once a week with their fellow Christians – they are my best workers.

2. Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked and expect to be thanked — I can use them.

3. Blessed are the touchy who stop going to church –for they are my missionaries.

4. Blessed are the trouble makers – for they shall be called my children.

5. Blessed are the complainers –for their complaints are music to my ears.

6. Blessed are those who keep a list of the preacher’s mistakes — for they get nothing out of his sermons.

7. Blessed is the church member who expects to be invited to his own church – for he is a part of the problem instead of the solution.

8. Blessed are those who gossip — for they shall cause strife and divisions that please me.

9. Blessed are those who are easily offended — for they will soon get angry and quit.

10. Blessed are those who do not give an offering to carry on God’s work – for in stealing from God you steal for me.

11. Blessed is he who professes to love God but hates his brother and sister — for he shall be with me forever.

12. Blessed are you who, when you hear this, think the preacher is talking about someone other than you– for I’ve got you right where I want you.

Those are things you ought to know about the devil.

 

Gaurahari Dāsānudās Bābājī

En un retiro privado en lo alto de las montañas de México, un maestro autorealizado habla acerca del significado esotérico del famoso sermón de Jesús. Este video pone la escena e introduce las Beatitudes (“Benditos los…”). Los temas incluyen las bendiciones de Dios, una relación directa con Dios, el significado de la depresión, alivio del sufrimiento, conciencia espiritual, liberación del apego y el deseo, y mucho más.

 

Este video continúa nuestro análisis de las Beatitudes (“Benditos lo que…”). Los temas incluyen la relación entre la lujuria y el enojo, aceptando la responsabilidad por nuestra condición, libertad de culpa, mala identificación del cuerpo con el yo, desapegándose de objetos y designaciones materiales, las tres dimensiones del mundo espiritual, prevenir parálisis producido por emociones negativas, como salir del mundo material, y curar la enfermedad de la existencia material, obtener la felicidad aun en este mundo, y mucho más.

Este video continua nuestro análisis de las Beatitudes (“Benditos los que…”). Los temas incluyen conciencia dual espiritual y material, compasión por ateístas, educación en valores espirituales, actividades eternas espirituales, convertir lamentación y tristeza en alegría y celebración, prevenir las caídas, el beneficio eterno de las actividades espirituales, deseando completar el camino de la iluminación, Dios el completo, aliviar nuestras heridas emocionales con el amor perfecto de Dios, el karma de la crueldad como matar animales, los beneficios de ser amable, y mucho más.

Este video continua nuestro análisis de las Beatitudes (“Benditos los que…”). Los temas incluyen el fin inevitable de la civilización material, armonía con la ley eterna de Dios, justicia y rectitud, Verdad Absoluta incondicional e inmutable, entendiendo a los vedas como la enseñanza raíz de las religiones en este planeta, la diferencia entre verdad material relativa y Verdad Absoluta espiritual, porque el conocimiento espiritual es secreto, y mucho más.

Este video continua nuestro análisis de las Beatitudes (“Benditos los que…”). Los temas incluyen la campaña de desacreditación Británica contra los Vedas, evidencia que soporta la validez de los Vedas, incluyendo descubrimientos arqueológicos e imágenes de satélite, información científica avanzada en los Vedas como la velocidad de la luz, la tierra esférica, la realidad de un Dios personal, estudio de las escrituras a comparación de la autorrealización, pureza del corazón, la Autorevelación de Dios, liberta del deseo material a través del deseo espiritual, el pacifismo de Ghandi, el ejército de Jagadish Chandra Bose, y mucho más.

Este video continua nuestro análisis de las Beatitudes (“Benditos los que…”). Los temas incluyen la necesidad de castigar lo maligno, deberes de un Rey, tolerancia y el regaño, reyes Santos aceptan instrucciones de los sabios y siguen las instrucciones de Dios, la fuente de la maldad en el mundo actual, ser perseguido por la ley de Dios es el precio para entrar al mundo espiritual, deseando el placer de Dios, quien es Jesús realmente, su perfección, la imagen completa de Jesús en los Vedas, Jesús y sus discípulos están conectados con los Vedas y profecías tempranas, beneficio espirituales y eternos, y mucho más.

For: The Essentials Course Online Worship Course with Dan Wilt

Essentials Red Final Project: My Matthew 5 Prayer Labyrinth video can be viewed on YouTube ( <— please click on the link)

For Essentials Red, our first week’s discussion on sacred spaces brought to mind a beautiful stained glass window, in an old 1827 Lutheran church, in downtown Lancaster, PA, USA. I admired their windows as we set up for leading worship at at Power and Love conference last summer. During the beginning of worship, everything on the platform turn golden as the sun blazed through the stained glass window immediately to the side of us. I looked up to see where the light was coming from and it was so bright you couldn’t look into it. While the sun was still in it, I was able to take a couple pictures of the window, which contains a verdant vine, abundant grape clusters and a gold chalice.

The sacred space idea was coupled with finding and experiencing a prayer labyrinth in Camp Hill, PA. USA. The labyrinth was designed and built by a seminary student as a required project and was noted in our local newspaper. The labyrinth’s design is a copy from a prayer labyrinth in an old French cathedral.

Out of the influence of Essentials Blue and Green, came an idea for developing a prayer liturgy asking God for the character of the Kingdom of God, described in Jesus’ Beatitudes, from Matthew 5.

My Essentials Red project combines the beauty and symbolism of the sacred art from the stained glass windows, with the prayer labyrinth, my prayer liturgy and the Scripture verses from the Beatitudes, to create the virtual prayer labyrinth experience contained in video. To the video, I added my own music composition containing a cedar flute based on the design of flutes used by Native Americans.

I thought a lot about the symbolism contained in the window and the blaze of light that originally drew my attention to it. For me, there is a symbolic linkage of the gold cup, reminding me of Communion and connectedness to Jesus, with the profuse abundance of fruit (grapes) and the vivid green of the leaves, expressing richness and fullness life in Jesus. From sacred space, time, prayer, Scripture, sacraments, music and art comes spiritual growth, leading to a fruitful, abundant life.

I would use the video as a stand-alone piece to help people reflect on the character of the Kingdom of God, and to help them consider praying for the Kingdom of God to come more in themselves. Please refer to http://mightyrivermusic.wordpress.com for the full Matthew 5 Project liturgy and prayer.

On the technical side, I brought up my original photograph of the church window on my computer, and with the room lights off, shot the video clips of the stained glass window with my iPhone. The prayer labyrinth clips were taken with my Canon PowerShot SD880 IS. I used iMovie to combine the clips and Logic Express 8 to record the music track.

Today we visited the sites of Upper Galilee.

There is a church built over the stone where the Lord set five loaves and two fish–before He multiplied them and fed 5,000 men and their families. The place is known as Tagbha, and the German Benedictine fathers have built an absolutely beautiful church, where we prayed.

On the Mount of the Sermon

At the top is a Barluzzi church dedicated to the Beatitudes. We celebrated Holy Mass in the crypt and then strolled through the beautiful gardens.

A short distance away, we visited the Church of the Primacy of Peter. This church encloses the Mensa Christi, Christ’s Table, where the Lord cooked fish for some of the Apostles after He rose from the dead.

We were at the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Some of the pilgrims waded in and collected water, stones, and shells to bring to back home.

Then we went to eat some fish caught in the Sea of Galilee. The fish were served with their heads. We played with the heads, using them as ventriloquist dummies.

After lunch, we took a breezy boatride, looking at the the entire Sea of Galilee—the scene our Lord Himself gazed upon two millennia ago.

Synagogue in Capernaum

We sat and meditated in the reconstructed ancient synagogue, built on the foundations of the synagogue where the Lord Jesus taught.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Christians are those who recognize their spiritual bankruptcy before God, their utter lack of goodness, not simply their inability to do good, but that they are completely sinful before him. In recognizing and declaring their lack of true life, their complete lack of good, God gives them the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Christians don’t simply recognize their spiritual bankruptcy before God, it overwhelms them. Their sinfulness and the knowledge of God goodness yet their persistent rebellion against him agonizes them, their inability to submit to God, the complete failure of their lives causes them to deeply mourn for their condition, mourn because of God’s own sorrow, and mourn because of the horrid condition of mankind. But God himself comforts them. Despite the fact that created this mess for themselves, a perfect God intervenes and involves himself in the mess. He comforts them by letting them know he cares, he loves them, and offers Christ to comfort them.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

God’s compassion in Christ and in his willing involvement into man’s mess, floors the Christian. That God would die for man reveals to the Christian that he was far more sinful than he’d ever dared believe, yet at the same time magnifies the great mercy and love of the Father. Both mercy and grace humbles the Christian to the ground. This humility and awe of God’s prepares him to inherit the earth. What Adam and Eve lacked God gives to the Christian, and puts the earth once again under their care.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

The humbled and meek recognize their lack before God but find that they need something positive before him, that in their brokenness, they need to be made right before God. They hunger and thirst to be right before God, to be righteous or holy as God is holy. They cannot rest until they find their righteousness, and God gives them his rest in Christ. Their lack is completely fulfilled in the righteousness of Christ. They are here justified. Even when they recognize further sin in their own lives, that they yet lack righteousness, they know to return back to Christ, who overflows with righteousness, thus being sanctified.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

The Christian’s righteousness was given to them freely. It was an act of mercy that gave them their righteousness, it was not earned. Not merely was the Christian saved from utter spiritual poverty, he’s given the abundant wealth of Christ’s righteousness. Mercy and grace to its fullest. He knows that the mercy he’s received is far greater than any offense against him, and by response forgives any wrong against him. In reciprocating to others the mercy he’s received, God in turn blesses him with even more mercy, which causes the Christian to be all the more merciful.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

The Christian when merciful is single-minded, is pure in heart. God’s mercy, the gospel of Christ overwhelms all of his actions and his thoughts. His standard of love is no longer based off of his own sense of justice, but by the radical justice of God that is overflowing with grace towards even his enemies. The undivided heart is the same as God’s undivided heart, which is a passion for his own glory. The pure in heart see God eye to eye, face to face, because the pure in heart are those who have God’s heart. He reveals to them his plans, his purposes, his joy, because the Christian is in one heart with God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

When the Christian sees God, he sees and knows that God is most glorified by the gospel, by Christ’s work on the cross. The gospel is the good news of God making peace with man, creating a harmonious, bountiful, amazing relationship with him. Christ was the ultimate peacemaker because his life’s work was to reconcile man to God. The Christian who knows God’s heart, and sees him face to face, is also a peacemaker, actively looking to reconcile man to God by proclaiming the God’s reconciling work on the cross. In so doing the Christian exemplifies the life of Christ, and follows in his obedience, and in so doing is living in this world as Christ did, and called a child of God, a co-heir with Christ.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

As the Christian proclaims the reconciling work of Christ, it condemns the world, causing people to persecute them. They are no longer citizens of this world, their value system is completely different, they have become anomalies in the world. The world is no longer worthy of them. To the Christian persecution is joy. 1) It reveals that they are living out their Christian life is God had intended for them to. 2) They get to live in the footsteps of Christ, and share in his sufferings. 3) Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

After another olive oil soaked breakfast, we made our way to the Mount of the Beatitudes to a spot near where Jesus is believed to have delivered the Sermon on the Mount. There is of course a church built there to commemorate this. It is the shape of an octagon, one side for each of the beatitudes. The grounds around it are beautifully kept. But what bothered me, like many of the commemorative churches, was the overpriced gift shop and refreshment areas, turning what would otherwise be a beautiful monument to Jesus’ great sermon into a place of business.

At any rate, the entire large group gathered in a little amphitheater built for groups like us to gather. Lindsay McCaul led worship. James assembled each of the pastors in our group from around the country and their wives, and each read a part of the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7. James then preached on the last few verses in chapter 7 where Jesus talks about the difference between building your house on the sand vs the rock.

I just love James. He walked through the text in his customary expository style, his delivery brimming with the expectation that we would actually apply the Word to our lives, not just listen to a message. And not only that, he managed to take a very familiar passage and introduce me to a new thought in teaching it. His point was that the man who builds his house on the sand looks pretty smart for a while. In fact, if troubles never come, then you’d rather be the sand guy. How much quicker and easier would it be to build on sand!? You’d be grilling burgers on the deck with your friends while the man building on the rock was still digging foundation.

Building your house on the rock only makes sense if troubles are going to come. But that’s the whole point: troubles always come. And even if you live a life of luxury and privilege in this world, the ultimate “trouble” awaits you: How will you answer a holy God who rightly demands that you give an account for your life? In this day of trouble, the sand will not provide adequate foundation to withstand the wind and the rain.

So James asked us (always moving toward application), “What would it look like for you to build your house on the rock?” At first blush, I didn’t know. Lately, I’ve been far too focused on answering questions like this in terms of career or geography or possessions. But man’s life simply doesn’t consist of the abundance of these things.

After James had finished his message, I walked down to the edge of the water — well, as close as I could with a banana plantation in the way that wasn’t there in the 1st century — and asked God to reveal to me the answer to James’ question. What I felt is that the answer isn’t about “what”, it’s about “how”. It’s not about what I do or what my address is or what I own, it’s about how I work and how I live and how I love others. Of course, this stuff requires time and margin and focus and discipline and intentional investment, but millions of people with every job, house, mortgage, car and salary imaginable both do these things well and do them poorly. It’s a matter of the heart, of belief, of a willingness to learn and rely on God’s promises, and on minimizing distraction.

So, I was grateful to God for that word. I’m pretty dense, so I’m still working through all of it. But I get absolutely stoked that God loves me so much, and I’m grateful for the freedom He gives and the way He takes care of me all the time.

Fantastic morning on the seashore.

[As stated in my About, I want to tell the world about the Orthodox faith. Up to this point, my blogs have somewhat unorganized to do that. Now God has given me a more coorinated way to do that. I will be sharing articles from the Orthodox Faith.

This will be a long series, but I trust it will be profitable to you in learning about the Orthodox faith. From time to time, I will also provide addition blogs of interest.  - Herman Art]

Hours, Compline and Nocturne

Just over two thousand years ago a man gave one of the most powerful, life-transforming speeches ever given. Jesus spoke to thousands who were sitting on the hillside soaking up the life-giving words He was sharing. We now refer to the speech as “The Sermon on the Mount” and nestled right in the middle of this amazing oration were some truly cross-cultural adages. We now refer to these wisdom-packed phrases as “The Beatitudes”. Here are those most-amazing words of Jesus, allow the depth and wisdom to penetrate past our cultures influence…

Matthew 5:3-12 (New International Version)

3″Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11″Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
——
If you have been reading my posts recently you may have read “Happy Town”. In it, I challenged the current cultural trend that seems to be promoting the pursuit of happiness as the chief end of mankind. In a tongue planted firmly in cheek twist I offer the Phil Thompson Sarca-phrase (sarcastic paraphrase) of these same verses which is an echo of the current culture along with some not so subtle commentary:

Matthew 5:3-12 (Phil’s Paraphrase)

3“Blessed are the Proud,
who live their lives fast furious and Loud.
For now {down here} it seems like they have it made.
but someday soon their temporal treasures will fade.

4Blessed are those who attempt to avoid pain,
those who blame, shame or even frame in order to make gain.
For now it may appear that they are happy and glad,
but soon His X-Ray vision will reveal that they were very very sad.

5Blessed are the pushy,
for they will bud into the line.
They look now like it has all turned out so well.
but won’t they be stunned to learn the line they cut led straight to Hell!

6Blessed are those who are full of lust, jealousy and striving,
for they will reap the just reward for all of their conniving.
You will reap just what you sow – the good man once said,
so why was she surprised when her flesh-driven living left her soul-dead.

7Blessed are the narcissistic because they can’t be bothered by the other,
they really have no compassion – not even for their own brother.
Unfortunate is the end of the one who focused so much on self,
that all of life’s relational riches were left just sitting on the shelf.

8Blessed are the those with divided hearts, for they get to serve more than one master.
naively they blaze blindly ahead, unaware that their trajectory leads to disaster.
God call us to complete devotion, to let go of the false notion
that somehow Satan can give us life if we just drink his magic potion.

9Blessed are the blunt speakers, who say whatever is on their mind.
Not concerned with the impact of their words so unkind.
They find relief in getting it off their chest,
caring not that their words lead others to unrest.

10Blessed are those who suffer because of their own stubborn refusal to listen or learn
for they have the opportunity to keep learning the same lessons over and over until in the end they burn.

11Blessed are you when people compliment you and falsely say all kinds of nice things about you for large will grow your head as you start believing your own press. Better to get dressed down in love than be falsely flattered.

12Take comfort that your self-focused, lust-filled, others-ignoring lifestyle has been the bane of millions of other (also lost) souls. Although your eternal destiny is apart from your creator, it will be no party – no celebration, only damnation. Apart from Him there is no joy, no hope, no love, no kindness, no celebrating, nothing positive uplifting, encouraging, life-giving what-so-ever… So in the end this flesh-filled way of living isn’t so “Blessed” – is it?

After lunch, we back around to the northern end of the Sea of Galilee to visit Capernaum. One of the things I have definitely been finding disturbing is that every place Jesus did anything significant in Israel now has a church, gift shop, and parking lot built on top of or next to it. Their version of being respectful and keeping the site holy is to require everyone to cover their shoulders and knees when we visit the site, but I’d much rather they forewent building something on top of the site and selling Coke for $3 a can. But when it really turns my crank is when they offer little urns of dirt or bottles of water that’s supposedly blessed because it came from that site. Ugh. I don’t see Jesus being happy about all that.

But anyway… We visited the site of Capernaum. There’s nothing there now, but in Jesus’ day it was a thriving fishing village on the north end of the Sea of Galilee. Peter lived there before he was called to be an apostle, and it is probable that Jesus stayed in Peter’s home often, using it as a home base for his ministry in the Galilean region.

There is of course a church there, along with the ruins of ancient Canaanite temple, covered over by Jewish synagogues and pagan temples (read 1 and 2 Kings), covered over by a church (the Constantine era), covered by a masque (the Byzantine era), etc. So lots of layers and ruins and fun for archeologists. By the way, evidently Jesus did quite a few miracles in the synagogue that existed on this site in His day. Remember how Jesus condemned Capernaum in Matthew 11:23-24? “And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

One thing I found interesting was that the new church built over the site of what was thought to be Peter’s home looked like the flying saucer from the movie Chicken Little. It has legs which suspend an octagonal spaceship-looking building over the archeological dig site. Weird. We later learned that the eight sides are significant because they represent the eight beatitudes with which Jesus opens the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5.

I think Mary Karr may be my favorite poet writing about matters of Christian faith today. In fact, reading this poem gives me that breathless “Oh, I wish I wrote that” feeling. Such a stunning and truthful piece. This poem does not preach or moralize but sears my mind with an image that spurs me toward spiritual understanding and growth. This is what I want to do in my work!

Who The Meek Are Not

by Mary Karr

…..

Not the bristle-bearded Igors bent
under burlap sacks, not peasants knee-deep
in the rice-paddy muck,
nor the serfs whose quarter-moon sickles
make the wheat fall in waves
they don’t get to eat. My friend the Franciscan
nun says we misread
that word meek in the Bible verse that blesses them.
To understand the meek
(she says) picture a great stallion at full gallop
in a meadow, who—
at his master’s voice—seizes up to a stunned
but instant halt.
So with the strain of holding that great power
in check, the muscles
along the arched neck keep eddying,
and only the velvet ears
prick forward, awaiting the next order.

Today’s scripture used to be moving, contending with the implications of sacrifice and the selfishness present in it. How do we know if we have given all we have? If we haven’t tried, if we have, and to who do we give it, on what account–to those whose needs are apparent or to those who ask for it because they are courageous/desperate enough? Blessed are they who are poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God; blessed are they who are meek and humble, for they shall inherit the Earth.

These are a few of the beatitudes and, at times strength in spirit one day can translate into weakened spirit the next and call for a greater need to be able to give of oneself than is in the spirit’s capacity. The questions stem from the dichotomy of living of the world vs. in the world. How do we serve the poor in such frustration? Certainty is often explained as an opposite to faith; doubt works when/if comes from the same longing to connect to Truth and Love. …

Even though Jesus announces the coming Kingdom in terms of prophecy, he adds an astonishing twist –

(Mat 5:10-12)  “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Prophecy, to Jesus, was not merely God’s way of proving that he knows the future. Rather, prophecy is one way in which God reveals his will for and makes promises to his people. Jesus wasn’t saying: be assured that God really is omniscient! The First Century Jews considered that entirely obvious.

No, Jesus’ point was that: God is finally keeping his promises. You see, the prophecies were covenantal, not apologetic. That is, they were promises to be kept, not proof of God’s foreknowledge. (Of course, they do prove God’s foreknowledge. That’s just not the main purpose they serve.)

And if God was about to keep his promises, the people would naturally expect life to suddenly get very easy.

(Isa 66:11-12)  For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance.” 12 For this is what the LORD says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees.”

Many prophecies of the return from exile speak of great wealth, peace, and prosperity.

(Isa 60:5-7)  Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. 6 Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD. 7 All Kedar’s flocks will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you; they will be accepted as offerings on my altar, and I will adorn my glorious temple.

And so, imagine the shock of this crowd hearing: The kingdom is dawning! Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven! It hard to imagine anything more jarring. How can the kingdom be dawning along with an age of persecution? How comforting is that??

Jesus was revealing something new. Check your cross-referencing Bibles. The earlier Beatitudes have lots of cross-references to the prophets. Not this one.

The new thing is that there will be a transitional period between the dawn of the kingdom and the coming of the kingdom in its fullness. And during this time, there will be persecution. Why?

(Mat 5:13-16)  “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

This is a missionary passage. It’s also a passage about doing good to show that God is good. Indeed, this section is joined to the previous section by –

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness … .”

“Righteousness” is a word that shows up over and over again in the prophets, and it usually describes God — his honoring of his covenant with Israel and his concern for the oppressed. But when applied to his people, it speaks of dealing justly with the oppressed.

(Isa 1:21)  See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her– but now murderers!

(Isa 1:26-28)  I will restore your judges as in days of old, your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.” 27 Zion will be redeemed with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness. 28 But rebels and sinners will both be broken, and those who forsake the LORD will perish.

(Isa 5:22-23)  Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks, 23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice [righteousness] to the innocent.

(Isa 26:5-9)  He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust. 6 Feet trample it down– the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor. 7 The path of the righteous is level; O upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth. 8 Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. 9 My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.

To be persecuted “for righteousness” is not being persecuted for being in the church. Being persecuted for righteousness is being persecuted because you insist that the poor and oppressed be treated justly — and do so yourself.

Thus, we see some of the flavor of “they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” These are deeds of righteousness.

These words then naturally lead to –

(Mat 5:17)  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Jesus had already been talking of the Law and the Prophets. He was already promising that they’d be fulfilled. He’s saying: it’s really going to happen just as God promised — but there will first be this in-between time of persecution and missionary work.

[As stated in my About, I want to tell the world about the Orthodox faith. Up to this point, my blogs have somewhat unorganized to do that. Now God has given me a more coorinated way to do that. I will be sharing articles from the Orthodox Faith.

This will be a long series, but I trust it will be profitable to you in learning about the Orthodox faith. From time to time, I will also provide addition blogs of interest.  - Herman Art]

Funeral

The funeral service in the Orthodox Church, although not considered as specifically sacramental, belongs among the special liturgical rites of the People of God.

We have already seen that the Church has a particular sacramental service for the consecration of human suffering, and special prayers for the departure of the soul from the body in death. When a person dies, the Church serves a special vigil over the lifeless body, called traditionally the parastasis or panikhida, both of which mean a “watch” or an “all-night vigil.”

The funeral vigil has the basic form of matins. It begins with the normal Trisagion Prayers and the chanting of Psalm 91, followed by the special Great Litany for the dead. Alleluia replaces God is the Lord, as in Great Lent, and leads into the singing of the funeral troparion.

The troparion and the kontakion of the dead, as all hymns of the funeral vigil, meditate on the tragedy of death and the mercy of God, and petition eternal life for the person who is “fallen asleep.”

Thou only Creator Who with wisdom profound mercifully orderest all things, and givest unto all that which is useful, give rest, 0 Lord, to the soul of Thy servant who has fallen asleep, for he has placed his trust in Thee, our Maker and Fashioner and our God (Troparion).

With the saints give rest, 0 Christ, to the soul of Thy servant where sickness and sorrow are no more, neither sighing, but life everlasting (Kontakion).

Psalm 119, the verbal icon of the righteous man who has total trust in God and total devotion and love for his Divine Law — the verbal icon of Jesus Christ –is chanted over the departed, with its praises and supplications for life in God. It is this same psalm which is chanted over the tomb of Christ on Great Friday.

It is the psalm which sings of the victory of righteousness and life over wickedness and death.

My soul cleaves to the dust, give me life according to Thy word. (119:25)

Turn my eyes from looking at vanities; and give me life in Thy ways. (119:37)

Behold, I long for Thy precepts; in Thy righteousness give me life. (119:40)

Thy testimonies are righteousness forever; give me understanding that I may live. (119:144)

Plead my cause, and redeem me; give me life according to Thy promise. (119:154)

This entire psalm together with the verses and prayers that go with it, the canon hymns of the service, and the special funeral songs of St John of Damascus all are a meditation on life and death. They are, in the context of the new life of the Risen Christ who reigns in the Church, a lesson of serious instruction for those who are immune to the full tragedy of sin and its “wages” which are death.

Sometimes men criticize the funeral vigil for its supposed morbidity and gloom; they say that there should be more words of resurrection and life. Yet the vigil itself is not the Church’s “final word” about death. It is simply the solemn contemplation upon death’s tragic character, its horrid reality and its power as that of sin and alienation from God. The realization of these facts, which particularly in the modern age is so strikingly absent, is the absolute condition for the full appreciation and celebration of the victorious resurrection of Christ and his gracious gift of eternal life to mankind. Without such a preparatory meditation on death, it is doubtful whether the Christian Gospel of Life can be understandable at all.

Thus it is not at all ironic that the same Saint john of Damascus who wrote the joyful canon sung by the Church on Easter Night is also the author of the Church’s songs of death, which are indeed unyielding in their gravity and uncompromising in their bluntness and realism about the inevitable fact of the final fate of fallen human existence.

What earthly sweetness remains unmixed with grief? What glory stands immutable on the earth? All things are but feeble shadows, all things are most deluding dreams, yet one moment only, and death shall supplant them all. But in the light of Thy countenance, 0 Christ, and in the sweetness of Thy beauty, give rest to him whom Thou hast chosen, for as much as Thou lovest mankind.

I weep and lament when I think upon death, and behold our beauty created in the likeness of God lying in the tomb disfigured, bereft of glory and form. 0 the marvel of it! What is this mystery concerning us? Why have we been delivered to corruption? Why have we been wedded unto death? Truly, as it is written, by the command of God Who giveth the departed rest (Funeral Hymns).

As the funeral service is now nornally served, the Beatitudes are chanted after the canon and the hymns of Saint John, with prayer verses inserted between them on behalf of the dead. The epistle reading is from First Thessalonians (4:13-17). The gospel reading is from Saint John (5:24-30). A sermon is preached and the people are dismissed after giving their “final kiss” with the singing of the final funeral song: Eternal Memory.

It has to be noted here that this song, contrary to the common understanding of it, is the supplication that God would remember the dead, for in the Bible it is God’s “eternal memory” which keeps man alive. Sheol or Hades or the Pit, the biblical realm of the dead also called Abaddon, is the condition of forsakenness and forgottenness by God. It is the situation of non-life since in such a condition no one can praise the Lord; and the praise of the Lord is the only content and purpose of man’s life; it is the very reason for his existence. Thus, this most famous and final of the Orthodox funeral hymns is the prayer that the departed be eternally alive in the “eternal rest” of the “eternal memory” of God — all of which is made possible and actual by the resurrection of Jesus Christ which is the destruction of the Pit of Death by the splendor of Divine Righteousness and Life (see Ps 88; Hos 13:14; 1 Cori 15; Eph 4:9; Phil 2:5-11; 1 Pet 3).

The vigil of the dead should normally be fulfilled in the eucharistic liturgy in which the faithful meet the Risen Lord, and all those who are alive in him, in the glory of his Kingdom of Life. The fact that the funeral vigil, in recent years, has lost its preparatory character and has simply been transformed into the funeral service itself, separated from the eucharistic liturgy, is a sad fact which allows neither for the proper appreciation of the vigil itself nor for the full Christian vision of the meaning of Iife, death and resurrection in Christ, the Church and the Kingdom of God.

The fact that the divine liturgy, when it is preserved with the funeral vigil, is served before it and is made into something mournful, converted into a “requiem mass” offered “on behalf of the dead,” is also an innovation of recent centuries under old Roman Catholic influence which further distorts the Christian understanding and experience of death in Christ.

http://www.oca.org/OCchapter.asp?SID=2&ID=58

He changed His Son into living flesh to die, so that you could change from dying flesh into a living spirit, and at no time in the process - before or since it took place - were you worthy.

[This sermon is one of a series entitled "Sermon on the Mount, Concentrating on the Beatitudes," which is being preached on Sunday mornings by Pastor Tim Senter.]

Last week again was a builder for this week. Knowing the imperfection of man’s love can give us a greater appreciation for the perfection of God’s love for us. Last week we considered a variety of man’s attempts at perfection, all of which resulted in destruction, death, and disappointment.

In our opening discussion, we looked at man’s attempt to bring these great scriptural principles down to a level where he resides. In his attempt to develop the perfect form of love, man sees it as a return on an investment. If you invest love, you will receive it. Paying back, so to speak, what it is that you have received. This says nothing of the love of God that gave regardless of return. In fact, God gives His love despite the hateful denials and rebellion that are levied against Him by man, woman, and child.

We talked about man’s greetings and the superficiality that man cannot only engender in others, but accept in function. No longer is an individual held to account for true honesty, but only for the image which they portray, whether factual or farce. However, man accepts the imperfection of others in this fashion – not demanding truth. Truth becomes relative to each individual and an individual’s hate or attitude is acceptable depending upon that relative truth. We found that all of this fails in the face of the perfection of God and His truth. In today’s society, it is frowned upon when people demand excellence. Tolerance is the cry: tolerance for school shootings that kill our children; tolerance for murderers in jail to luxuriate and never pay the penalty for their crimes; tolerance for the woman unable to control her own body, who destroys a life created within her. Tolerance for all that is ungodly in a society that claims God.

Then we find the ultimate end for that relative feeling that is unique to each individual in society and we do not like it, but we will not face it. Death, murder, mayhem, chaos, human domination, and coercion are just a few results of man’s perfect tolerance and relativism. Man teaches this relative truth, and then when it actually strikes him in the face he is surprised that it appears so hateful and violent instead of lovely. The problem is in the core belief that man is inherently good. Mankind has no concept of the true human spirit, which is wicked at its core. Man thinks that relatively speaking, we will evolve to be better. Nevertheless, man has proven himself repeatedly to evolve into something more violent and hateful as his power grows, or as his affluence increases. Only with the indwelling Holy Spirit does man have any chance of defeating the evil that lurks in every single human being. To further exemplify this, we just read in the paper that a woman who has three children already, bore her fourth in her home alone, then promptly stepped outside and strangled the newborn in the yard. Mankind is surprised at this viciousness, but condones abortion. Ironically, if she had gone to an abortion clinic and permitted a medical professional (I use the term here pejoratively) to murder the child, she would be a free woman. The human society makes no sense because it cannot operate outside itself, only on individual wants and desires. All of these wants and desires stem from a fallen heart that seeks wickedness in all things, whether intentionally or not. Man wants death and destruction for all except his own person. Each individual wants strict control of as much as they can envision. No, mankind fails in every attempt to develop a perfect society because it fails to recognize there is only one perfection; God the creator of all.

Today we consider God and Christ’s perfect love in Matthew 5:46-48. This last exposition in this section, which began in verse 17, brings a fine point to the entire instruction. The last verse especially encourages the believer to step into the realm of God and change to become more like Him in all that is endeavored. We should never confuse this with becoming God. This change is perfectly described in the Beatitudes and the Beatitudes should perfectly describe the changed Christian. Christians are special.

Christians are very special people. In this reality, we should adopt a more specific terminology for man as opposed to Christian. Christians, after all, can be just as base as any other man, woman, or child in the world. We should refer to the unsaved as “natural man” to distinguish their natural tendency to sin and propensity to gravitate toward selfishness, hate, chaos, self-destruction, and sin in general. This is in direct opposition to the Christian who focuses upon the things of Christ, daily displaying in a greater way the things in the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5, and the Beatitudes in our current study. This is the distinction we must make between the natural man and the Christian. One is bent upon fulfilling self-will; the other is bent upon fulfilling God’s will.

Where last week we looked at a few egregious examples, today we should briefly, as part of an introduction, give some more typical, if not general examples. We talked about the paradox presented here and the understanding that Christ says we cannot achieve perfection, but we must. We talked of man’s attempts at this. Man can be morally reserved in his activity, his actions, his life, and his relationships – yet not be Christian. Man can live a life of morality, live his life, and exhibit what many might call biblical morality. Man can make decisions about his life and live it in a fashion such that even when death comes, he handles it with dignity and with great reservation. However, natural man only faces these things in a negative sense. The thoughts are: ”I may not maintain my positive image.” “No one will believe me because I will loose credibility.” “I will lose my status in the community.” “I might lose the success in business that I currently enjoy.” “I would never think of breaking the law.” To be accused of lying or of cheating is an affront to the natural man who is moral. Their morality and life exhibit their pride in self-imposed control, intellectuality, honor, and rectitude. Can people be moral and be of the world? Yes, absolutely. Therefore, the Christian is something different. Again, we could use the term “weird” as we did a few Sundays ago.

The difference between the natural man and the Christian is the overall response due to internal change. Where the moral man can make a decision to abide by the 10 commandments and obey them as carefully as possible, the natural man in him simultaneously resents their restriction and looks at the edge of obedience. Natural man purposefully takes himself to the edge and teeters there. Because of this bent to always ’push the limits’ of lawlessness, he often falls off this razor’s edge. The Christian takes joy in obeying them and rejoices that they are there to provide structure in life, for worship, and in society. The Christian looks to actively implement these commandments in their lives in such a fashion that they endeavor to go above and beyond the letter of the law to the heart of the law. The Christian knows that there is more to life than “love thy neighbor” and rejoices to fulfill this love in anyway possible, not just where required.

Death – the separation of the living from the dead – probably provides the most stark example. Death to the natural man is a normal function of life and may be faced with a rather stoic and generic attitude that presents a wonderful composure. However, there is always a level of lament that says, “Did I do everything I could with my life?” They may even voice that they hold no regrets, yet inside they debate the finiteness of the event and wonder if there is not something more. On the contrary, the Christian looks at this event as a point of freedom. Freedom from this world of sin, hate, strife, and being on guard continually for those who are “offended” at the mention of the Savior. The Christian rejoices in the scripture that says, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” and realizes what Paul felt when he said, “having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.”

Even those Christians around the deceased display wholly different attitudes than the natural man’s relatives at his funeral. At the funeral of the unbeliever, there is great grief, great pain, great loss, and great lamenting for their departure from this life. This is in part due to the tragedy of the deceased, but it is more evident as time continues that this lament is selfish. They have lost a loved one. They have lost the opportunity to be with them. They have lost the life’s spark that was evident in the presence of the deceased. Funerals wakes, and other gatherings are for those present, not actually for the deceased. It is a very selfish and self-centered thing designed to make all of them feel better about the incident. The Christian on the other hand, although lamenting the loss, rejoices at their brother’s or sister’s release from this world to the presence of the Savior. They may quietly lament their personal loss, for a Christian a special blessing to have as a friend. However, the Christian’s entire focus is on the deceased and their great pleasure they are now enjoying in Abraham’s bosom. The Christian also takes this opportunity not to share sadness and regret, but joy and hope in salvation with everyone at the event. This displays the true heart of man and the contrast to the natural man’s struggles in life and death. The Christian still has the sin nature of man, therefore he laments the loss of fellowship. Conversely, the Christian rejoices at the comfort and great grace given to the deceased. These stark contrasts are the mark of the Christian over the natural man. These are also the differences in love to the Christian as opposed to the natural man.

As natural man defines love, it is an emotion or a feeling. Love is something that develops because of an overall sense welling up inside his or her soul. To the natural man, this is normally a simple lust or desire toward the object. Many have actually described these “feelings” as the guttural desire to procreate, when felt between man and woman. This flies in the face of modern pop psychology that condones homosexuality as some sort of natural aberration of the human sexuality. Is lust a desire to procreate, or is it a desire for physical satisfaction? Either way – it is not love, never was love, and never will be love. Love to the Christian is intellectual, volitional, emotional, and spiritual just as it is with our Father.

In this passage, we learn that “the Christian is easily distinguishable from moral natural man.” Many people think they are on their way to Heaven because they are “moral” and “good” and “honest.” Essentially, “Man says, “I’m essentially good, so I’m in.” God says, “You are perfected in Me (Deut 18:13; 1 Kng 8:61; Matt 5:48).”

The first verse in our exposition concentrates on this love. We learn there are possible rewards in giving love unconditionally.

I. Unconditional Love (Verse 46)

We discussed reciprocity in depth last week. The point being, what worth is it to love someone just because they love you? Love is really a one-way event, not a two-way event. We are to love as our Savior loved (John 15:9). This means, we are to love and not expect love in return. God commended (caused to be known by personal physical action) His love to us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). How many would say they were worth another man’s life? I certainly am not. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever shall believe in Him shall have everlasting life (Jn 3:16). That is the love of the Father. A Father of Fathers. One who loves us so much that He gave His own Son – God Himself – came down to atone for our sins so we could “be called sons of God.”

Tax collectors in the time of Christ were the most reprehensible of all the people. For a Jew, they saw them as not only people who took your money, but they were Jews and supposed to be on your side. These were turncoats. Further, they had a reputation of being ruthless, confiscatory, and dishonest. They were known to take more than needed and keep back some for themselves. Here, in this verse, Jesus selects the most detestable as an example of those whom we are to love. You should know, tax collectors loved one another. I am confident their love and appreciation for one another took on a very different form – reciprocal perhaps – than that being espoused by Jesus. The problem here is not with tax collectors. The problem is with those whom they are afflicting. Jesus is not preaching to tax collectors, He is preaching to those who are afflicted by them. Those afflicted are the ones Jesus is encouraging. The tax collectors are dealt with in the example of Zacchaeus in Luke 19.

Consider if God determined to operate as man says life should operate, on a reciprocal basis. Not one single individual, even Adam or Eve, would be in glory with Him. God loved us before we loved Him. When Christianity really begins to hit home for the believer is when they come to a heart wrenching understanding of Romans 5:8 where we see we were unlovable, we were sinners, we were unworthy of Heaven, we were reprobates attached to this world, yet He died for us. If it does not bring you to your knees to contemplate this scripture, you have not faced your true heart and have not truly changed for the Father. He changed His Son into living flesh to die, so that you could change from dying flesh into a living spirit and at no time in the process before or since it took place were you worthy.

God is the perfect example of loving the unlovable. You too must stretch out your heart to those who may seem unlovable. It is not easy. These unlovable people do not always take the shape of the unkempt homeless on the street. These unlovable people are not always like the drunkard, devoid of inhibitions. These unlovable people may in fact be your mother, your father, your sister, or your brother. The best thing you can do for them is the same thing Christ did for you – die to yourself and submit to God’s will. Jesus said, “nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.” Jesus died well before the cross at Calvary for each one of us. He gave His life for you and me when He submitted in the Garden of Gethsemane to the Father’s will: for His life to be given, for Him to be tortured, for Him to undergo separation from the Father for the sins of mankind.

I hear people scoff at this all the time, “How can one man atone for all the sins of the world?” It’s relatively easy; not easy to do, but intellectually simple if you think about it. Yet, those who most scoff at it are the intellectuals. They display their lack of understanding and familiarity with scripture in the question. First, the motive is love. God loves us. Just as a loving mother and father love their children regardless of their rebellion and hate, so God even more perfectly loves us. Second, the ability is in His deity. He is God. Only God can forgive sins, and Jesus’ life atonement did so. Third, the reason is a sin. He only had to atone for one sin. Scripture says if we are guilty in one part of the law, we are guilty in the whole. God operates above the world of natural man and only has to atone for one sin. It is the one thing that man fails at continually; the one sin that all other sins can be boiled down to; the one thing that resulted in Satan and his demons being ejected from Heaven -  that one sin is pride. If you think that is too simplistic, one could easily argue that the sins of man are all found in the 10 commandments. Either way, it is not difficult for God who knows all, sees all, is capable of anything outside of sin, to atone for all the sins of the world. The natural man who attempts to over-complicate the atonement does so because he is natural man, not because he is intellectually inclined. Simply put, sin is transgression of the law; therefore all Jesus had to die for was the transgression of the law for all of mankind. We need not name each individual sin; we only need to name one – breaking the law – any law, of God.

Now the natural man cannot place himself in a comparative battle with these truths. In fact, he refuses to. Therefore, he attempts to make his own rules. “I’ll love you if you love me” becomes his motto. That is fair, that is just, that is right – by the standards of natural man; however, God says we are to love the unlovable. Natural man’s reciprocal process fails God’s requirement miserably and pales in any comparison to our great, glorious and loving God.

You should consider the most detestable person in your life – the one person whom you would least prefer to speak to, let alone associate yourself with. That person you must love and love actively as Christ loves, and as God loves. Do not look at anything in this world and consider it to be related to God’s love. Nothing adequately shows the selfless love of God in this cursed land. We live out the curse after the fall of man every day in death, disease, and pain. What God pronounced as good, we began destroying with the first sin in the garden. We continue to destroy even the fallen world with our pride, hate, and calls for fairness. A call for “fairness” means we were not treated “fairly” according to our own perception. It is pride (which is sin) for which God in His infinite love died. His love rescues us from this whole world. His love is perfect, even toward the unlovable. Since you are called to be perfect as He is perfect, since you are called a child of God, since He is your Father, you are to be like your Father and become perfect. You are to be like Him.

Loving perfectly is only an outpouring of the Holy Spirit within us that changes us into something we are naturally not – a child focused on doing God’s will with pleasure. What of the discussion concerning saluting or greeting one another?

II. Unconditional Greetings (Verse 47)

Now Jesus turns His attention to our every day life. When Jews greet one another, it is customary that they do so with a single word, “shalom.” Shalom means peace. But, did you know that to the Jew this was a prayer – that you have peace. Jesus is not referencing some ubiquitous “Hey, how ya doin?” or the even more esoteric, “hello.” He is telling those in attendance that this was a prayer, a greeting, a point of worship with them and God. To the Jew, and to any believer, a greeting cannot be compulsory, or even just some simplistic response to seeing someone. This is a point of worship in how we present ourselves as Christians to other people, whether they be Christian or not.

Do you greet everyone as though you could talk to them forever? Some people do. My wife accuses me of it all the time. I love people. I did not used to, but I have been given a heart for people. But this scripture says we are to do more. This too is an aspect of life that does not flow naturally from man. Natural man deals with others in the fashion which conforms to their particular society. We showed last week that, depending upon the society, that is quite divergent in operation. In our society, we are encouraged to greet as part of a welcoming. We naturally greet others with whom we either want to engender friendship or a level of trust, or with whom we simply need to do business. The form of greeting is irrelevant, but in our society it is typical for men to offer a handshake. For women it can often be a hug. This scripture says everyone does that, but the Christian does more. The question is, “What more do I do?”

Verses 38-42 tell us what it is we are to do. If we are compelled to go one mile, go two. If we are to give our cloak, give our coat also. If we are asked to lend to people, do so. The Christian does not just look at the speed limit and say, “I’ll obey it;” they are joyous that it is there because it is a protective measure for society as a whole. The Christian does not do things out of compulsion, but out of joy, out of a heart bent upon pleasing God, filled with His Spirit. The Christian is not just an individual that has a compulsory reaction toward others, and especially brothers in Christ; but also one who enjoys these interactions, looking for opportunities to fellowship around our great God and Savior. The Christian looks at all opportunities that present themselves and operates not on the literal plain alone, but on the spiritual plain as well. The implementation of these spiritual conditions in the life of the believer is what distinguishes them from the natural man. Natural man completes tasks out of a robotic compulsion to maintain either their façade or personal honor. The Christian does not greet others with happiness from some sense of duty to witness, but in joy and happiness and excitement to be free from the bonds of sin and a desire to share this freedom (Acts 20:24). Furthermore, the Christian does all they do for the glory and honor of God (1 Cor 10:31). Often we hear the natural man say, “You are in our thoughts.” This, as with most socially generous gestures, is an ineffectual reference to indicate that they care or are concerned. The Christian does not just “think” but they “pray for those who persecute them.” Christians are always rejoicing in the hope of salvation; they are instantly in prayer for those whom they meet, and always offering every prayer with joy in persecution and tribulation (Phil 1:4; Rom 12:12).

Christians greet others as no man can greet them. They see others and hope to talk about the Savior to them. They are given to this attitude because they hunger and thirst after righteousness, and when they find another soul that is poor in spirit and pure in heart, the Christian wants fellowship with them.

The question for you Christian is, do you? Are you? Have you? Does your greeting take on the simple worldly ethical and socially acceptable greeting, or do others see you as special or different? Do people see you as one they know they could talk to if they needed to? Are you actively attempting to connect with individuals in a joyous fashion, looking for an opportunity to discuss the Savior with them? Have you sought God in prayer on ways in which to do this, meditated concerning these opportunities, and looked for them in your daily life? What more can glorify God than to always look for opportunities to worship Him and fellowship around Him? This is the difference in the natural man’s robotic and many times stoic, responsive greeting and that of a believer greeting anyone, but especially another believer.

I try hard to greet people in businesses by calling them by their name. Many think it strange that when I walk up to check out, I address them by their name. I then introduce myself to them. Some even stop to look down at their nametag, or if they do not, they give me this strange look like, “How did you know?” Alternatively, some give even a more perplexing look, “Do I know you?” Think about this though: the perfect God of this world knows each and every person’s name.

III. Unconditional Perfection (Verse 48)

By way of exposition, we should note that the phrase “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” is not a command in the normal sense, it is not an imperative. It is a future indicative, but still carries the weight of a command – an expectation more exactly. This is a statement of a future occurrence through the development in the present. This is a statement of sanctification in the believer who is developing perfection, as God is perfect. This eases the second piece of the paradox then to an expectation that is aided by God (Deut 18:13). This is encouraging. God does expect perfection out of us, but only with His direct intervention and assistance. God is perfect; therefore, we shall be perfect in Him. He is our perfection. He is our God. Because now we are the children of God and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He (God the Father) appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. We are unable to see Him as He is in this body, because it would kill us. However, we will see Him, therefore we will be in another body when we do (1 Jn 3:2 - sermon on this text here). While here on earth, we are to seek perfection in His teaching, and through His Spirit.

This perfection is developed in the Beatitudes where the perfect are perfectly poor in spirit. They mourn for a more perfect spirit with which to worship God. They are meek in their perfection and never haughty. We hunger and thirst after the righteousness of God in order to grow perfect as He is perfect. When we see others fall or fail, we exercise mercy upon them knowing our natural heart and our imperfection. We develop a pure heart that is compatible with God’s perfection.  As we grow in Him and He abides in us, we grow in our ability to keep His commandments (1 Jn 3:24 – sermon on this text here). We are the perfect peacemakers, never deceiving to compromise, but providing the love of God to promote peace and harmony to all those around us. Yet, for all this perfect goodness, love, care, and concern, we are persecuted because natural man fights against that which he does not understand. Natural man wars against that which is godly (Rev 19:19). Natural man is at enmity with God (Rom 8:7; Jas 4:4).

The Christian stands in clear and stark contrast then to the natural man. The Christian wants nothing to do with “societal norms” only and unless they conform to God’s standards and norms. Where the Christian stands for biblical norms as called for by God, they equally speak out against the ungodly for their light shines upon the darkness of the world and exposes the evil that is there (Matt 5:14-16;)sermon on this text here).

Do you appear as a child of your heavenly Father, or as one of your earthly father? To be called the children of God is a privilege not to be taken lightly. Are you aware of this calling, and are you, Christian, taking steps to honor your heavenly Father by becoming more like Him? Are you seeking Him for this strength, guidance, and overall change in your life? Are you more than just moral, just, honest, fair, and good? God, not man, is the perfection you are called to become. Do you stand as a stark contrast to the moral man? Do you stand as a brilliant light against the darkness that is the world? Contrarily, are you just seen as a good person, or a nice person? We have included many of Lloyd-Jones quotes in these expositions, and what a wonderful exposition he was gifted to give to us. In closing, we should sum these teachings with a lengthy quote from Lloyd-Jones that I believe best describes the teachings of our Savior:

“I end, then, with this searching question. It is the most profound question a man can ever face in this life and the world. Is there anything special about you? I am not asking whether you are living a good, moral, upright life. I am not asking whether you say your prayers, or whether you go to church regularly. I am asking none of these things. There are people who do all that and still are not Christians. If that is all, what do ye more than others, what is there special about you? Is there anything of this special quality about you? Is there something of your father about you? … Is there just that much of God about you? That is the test. If God is your father, somewhere or another, in some form or another, the family likeness will be there, the traces of your Parentage will inevitably appear. What is there special about you?”[1]

Are you determining in your spirit that you will never, with the grace of God and indwelling Holy Spirit through Christ, do anything to hurt another person; that you will never angrily lash out; that you will never slink up to one in lust; that you will never slip away from someone stealthily; that you will never verbally oil someone up in dishonesty; and that you would never protectively strike back, or lie? Where do you stand, Christian? Is it clear and apparent that God is perfecting you?

In our Tuesday Night Bible Study the guys and i have been going through the Beatitudes.  Well, tonight was the last night of the B’s and it was a sobering thought.  The scripture we looked at and discussed was Matthew 5:10-12.  "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.”

When looking at this map we see just how many people around the world are being persecuted for their faith in Jesus.  The Red indicate the areas in which Christianity is hostile and the Yellow is where it is restricted.  Jesus says that those that are persecuted are Blessed.  We can look at all the beatitudes, but especially verses 10-11, as “Congratulations for going through persecutions for  righteousness’ sake because you did you will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.”  After that Jesus cuts to the heart of the issue and makes it personal when he says “Blessed are you when you are persecuted, but he’s not talking about “you” singularly.  Instead Jesus is saying “Blessed are you all…”  He’s saying this to His disciples that are sitting next to Him, but do I think it won’t apply?  Absolutely not.  I think Jesus was talking to the disciples as the starters of the Church and I still think it applies to the church.  If I’m not overstepping my boundaries I’d like to say that Jesus is saying, “Blessed is the church when it is persecuted.” 

I also would like to say that our view of persecution is much different than what Jesus thinks as persecution.  Dictionary.com says Persecute is

“to pursue with harassing or oppressive treatment, esp. because of religion, race, or beliefs; harass persistently.”

I won’t disagree with this, but I will say that it goes further than that.  In Luke’s gospel in chapter 6 we see his take on the Beatitudes.  Verse 11 reads like this in Luke 6:26 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!”  Yes, it is those in other countries putting their life on the line for the gospel, but it is also those that hate you, exclude you and gossip about you falsely because you are a Christian.  So, Jesus is not only saying that the persecution is pluralistic it is persecution against the church.  So two questions to ponder.  1) What are you doing for the persecuted church around the world?  Praying, learning, giving?  And 2) Are you pursuing persecution?  Not giving them a reason to hate you or beat you up, but sticky your neck our and telling people about the gospel.

Graft, a.k.a. the White Tree

Down on the Mall, they keep putting up sculptures that make you think of The Lord of the Rings.

They don’t mean to do it. In the spring, they unintentionally put up a sculpture of Shelob, the giant spider, in front of the Hirschhorn Museum.

Now they have accidentally installed a sculpture of the White Tree of Gondor.

“Graft” is what they call a Roxy Paine “Dendroid.” Very trendoid in the art world, apparently. Little do these modern sculptors know that they are setting the stage for the success of the quest…

…Painful loss for the Wizards this evening. (Maybe Shaq isn’t a liability, after all.)

But congratulations to Wizards V.P. Tommy Sheppard for winning the 2009 NBA Splaver/McHugh “Tribute to Excellence” Award!

…Here is a homily which some poor people had to endure on Sunday, All Saints Day:

Your reward will be great in heaven…You will be comforted…You will inherit the land…You will be satisfied…Mercy will be shown you…You will see God. (see Matthew 5:1-8)

These are Christ’s promises to us. Countless Christians have gone before us, and they have already seen these promises fulfilled. Today we salute the saints. They can attest that the Lord is faithful to His promises.

Up in heaven, the saints rejoice in the faithful goodness of God. Here are a few lines of their hymn:

Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever…Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb. (Revelation 7:10, 12)

The saints see the promises fulfilled, and they sing out praise to God. May our hymns harmonize with the hymn of the saints in heaven. We sing because we believe in the One who made the promises.

But before we get carried away, we have to pause. To whom did the Lord make His sweet promises?

Blessed are…

The poor in spirit. They who mourn. The meek. The hungry and thirsty. The merciful. The clean of heart. The peacemakers.

This is what the saints were like when they were on earth: poor, merciful, meek, mourning, hungry, thirsty, pure-hearted peacemakers–like Christ Himself. Christ is the Blessed One, the Man of Promise. To be blessed, to inherit the promises, we must be like Him. We must be united with Him.

Every man who has hope based on Christ makes himself pure as He is pure (I John 3:3).

The saints have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14).

To receive the promises, we must be purified. To be like Christ, united with Him, we must be washed clean of sin.

We may be humble and poor in spirit, but not humble enough. We may mourn the evils of the world, but we do not mourn them enough. We may be meek, but not meek enough. We may hunger and thirst for righteousness, but we are not hungry and thirsty enough. We may be merciful to our brothers and sisters in this world, but not merciful enough. Our hearts may clean, but they are not clean enough. We may make peace sometimes, but nowhere near often enough.

At the moment after we were baptized, we were pure. For many of us, that was some time ago. Then it was God’s good pleasure to leave us on earth for a while. Our mission on earth is to do good and avoid evil, to be like Christ.

By God’s grace, we have done some good. We praise God for it. On the other hand, because we are weak and selfish, we have not always avoided evil. We have no one to blame for this but ourselves. The good is God’s, the evil is ours. The praise is God’s; the impurity is ours.

If only we could go back to the baptismal font, and get washed clean by the Blood of the Lamb again! If only we could meekly, mournfully approach the Prince of Peace—if only we could kneel before the Throne of Mercy, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, and have our hearts cleaned and refreshed!

If only…if only? Would the all-merciful, all-loving Lord leave us high and dry, with no way back to His life-giving waters? Would He make promises that could never be fulfilled, because there was no way to purify ourselves so we could inherit them?

Of course He would not do that. What did He say to the first priests? He said: “Whoever’s sins you forgive are forgiven them…Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

All Saints Day. Let’s consider the one thing that all the saints have in common. When they trod the earth, they were very different people. They became holy in different ways.

But they all confessed their sins. They were all humble enough to confess. They were not too proud. They were holy, but they knew they were not holy enough.

And they were not too proud to confess their sins to a priest. They were not too Protestantized to admit that the way God’s mercy works is by confessing to a priest.

So, let’s keep All Saints Day holy by singing our hymns of praise to God. Let’s echo the hymns of the saints as best we can. Let’s give the Lord all the praise and glory that are His. Let us salute the saints with joy. And let’s remember that the saints are the people who spent their lives confessing their sins.

St. Dymphna

Blessed are the poor in spirit, the sad, the meek, the hungry and thirsty, the merciful, the pure of heart, the peacemakers and the persecuted.

All Saints Prayer

God of all,
on this day we recall those
who have gone before us,
leaving this world
and joining you forever

Help us to remember that we are never alone.

For even when we feel lost in our walk
with you, we have a cloud of believers
surrounding us, cheering us on.

May your saints guide us with their words,
inspire us with their example,
and bring us to holiness with their prayers.

Most of all,
give us the desire to be saints ourselves,
to know, love and serve you in this life,
and enjoy you forever in the next,
fulfilling the purpose
for which you created us.

Amen.

I went to Mars Hill for church this morning. I went on 4 hours of sleep and no time to stop and think or pray (though prayer is supposed to be continual-1 Thessalonians 5:17).

God was so there, and He met me in such a powerful way today. Throughout the semester Rob Bell and various other speakers have been teaching on the sermon on the mount, and today we had reached the end of the ‘beatitudes,’ Matthew 5:10-12.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” and the rest of the verses continue the statement of blessing with the extension of being persecuted on Jesus’ account, finally ending the announcement of blessing with a commandment- “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven…”

Up until this point I was questioning everything that came out of the mouth of Mr. Bell. Things I thought I knew I have apparently misinterpreted. There was a freedom in the rejoicing, and the command to ‘leap much.’ Tears were trickling down my face, and that was from the joy in freedom.

God has been preparing me for this freedom for a while. The sermon on the mount was a big deal at the beginning of the semester, and right now I have tasted the fruits of Jesus’ second commandment. Prior to the sermon he was preaching a baptism of repentance.

A la vue des foules, Jésus monta dans la montagne. Il s’assit, et ses disciples s’approchèrent de lui.

Et, prenant la parole, il les enseignait :

”Heureux les pauvres de cœur : le Royaume des cieux est à eux.

Heureux les doux : ils auront la terre en partage.

Heureux ceux qui pleurent : ils seront consolés.

Heureux ceux qui ont faim et soif de la justice : ils seront rassasiés.

Heureux les miséricordieux : il leur sera fait miséricorde.

Heureux les cœurs purs : ils verront Dieu.

Heureux ceux qui font œuvre de paix: ils seront appelés fils de Dieu.

Heureux ceux qui sont persécutés pour la justice : le Royaume des cieux est à eux.

Heureux êtes-vous lorsque l’on vous insulte, que l’on vous persécute et que l’on dit faussement contre vous toute sorte de mal à cause de moi.

Soyez dans la joie et l’allégresse, car votre récompense est grande dans les cieux; c’est ainsi en effet qu’on a persécuté les prophètes qui vous ont précédés.”

(Mt 5, 1-12)

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