Matthew 5:9 - 2010.08.28

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” — Matthew 5:9

The current issue of the quarterly periodical of a certain “Christian college” is focused on the subject of “peacemaking” in the world. The institution has but recently developed “two new projects: the Initiative for the Study and Practice of Peace, and a new academic minor in peace and conflict transformation.” In the course of a number of articles on this subject, at least one reference is made to this beatitude as providing some biblical justification for their endeavor. Another line of justification is offered: When we “try to achieve peace in this broken world of ours…we find there are millions of others from other faith traditions—and even from no faith tradition—with whom we share common cause.”

In this beatitude the Savior certainly commends “the peacemakers.” (The word incidentally, in this form, occurs only this once in the entire New Testament.) But is this academic, interfaith collaboration the method He has in mind and the objective He would have us pursue?

Consider His remarks elsewhere: “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law [Luke 12:51-53].” Again, in His significant dissertation on the “sign of [His] coming, and of the end of the world,” He instructed His disciples, “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows [Mt. 24:3-8].” International and interracial strife and natural disasters are endemic until the end of the age. In The Revelation the rider on the red horse has “power given to him…to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.” It is a fantasy to assume that our best efforts will bring order to this present chaos apart from the return of Christ.

Given our confidence that the Savior was sane and His teaching coherent, these passages alone make it obvious that a negotiated “peace on earth” was not in His mind when He pronounced His blessing on the “peacemakers.” It is in a different realm and in a different way, and with different weapons that the enlightened Christian is to pursue peace.

First there must be peace between the individual and God. Long ago the Holy Spirit laid out the principle, “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked [Isa. 57:21].” Peace, real, deep and lasting can come to the human heart only through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ [Rom. 5:1].” We must be reconciled to God before we can be effectively reconciled to one another.

Second, there must be recognition of the Person and work of the Holy Spirit as the prerequisite to practical peace in “this present evil world.” “The fruit of the Spirit is…peace…” (Gal. 5:22) The want of peace in the world is due to to the condition of the human heart. Unless there is a fundamental inward change, there will be no significant change in the condition of the family, the neighborhood or the state, to say nothing of the nations.

Third, the communal peace intended is to be demonstrated in the family of God as a glorious illustration of the power of Christ to accomplish it. If the church has failed in the task of “peacemaking” at that level, it is an exercise in futility to suppose it can be a accomplished in “a broken world” by academia and socio-political conferences and negotiations. It is in the kingdom of God that there is to found “righteousness and peace and joy in he Holy Ghost.”

The peacemakers must begin at home. Let us discover how to experience peace between husbands and wives, parents and children. Having accomplished that, let us learn how to establish peace in the church. “Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another [Rom. 14:19]. “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful [Col. 3:15].” And there is much more in the New Testament on this profound subject, but this must suffice for this short article. When we have accomplished this within the family of God, then we may be in a position to say something to a lost and dying world about the way of peace.

In your home; in your church—are you a peacemaker, or a troublemaker? It is the peacemakers, at “street level” that are called the children of God!

For His glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier

Matthew 5:8 - 2010.08.21

“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” —Matthew 5:8

In uttering this beatitude the Savior echoes the Psalmist when he says, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation [Ps. 24:3-5].”

Of all the virtues that confront us in the Beatitudes, none is more immediately challenging than this one. It seems undermined at the outset by the sweeping denunciation of the prophet Jeremiah, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it [Jer. 17:9]?” This alone, reinforced by many other scriptures which inform us of the present condition of the human heart, rules out all hope of receiving God’s approval by works. In fact, taken at face value and overlooking the grace of God, this would destroy all hope of our ever “see(ing) God.” For, “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin [Prov. 20:9]?”

The first work of this text, then, is to inform us of our bankruptcy. The great spiritual killer is heart trouble and, recognizing this, one should be driven to seek help from the Great Physician of the soul. We need a heart transplant, or all is lost. Happily, that is just what the gospel offers us through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. What God through the prophet Ezekiel promised broken Israel has become through Christ the legacy of every sinner who turns to the Savior: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. [Ezek. 36:26, 27].”

The first requirement, then, for everyone who aspires to “see God” in a favorable context, is to receive Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord, “And be found in him, not having (one’s) own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith [Phil. 3:9].” Happily, all who put their trust in Him can know that He “loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood [Rev. 1:5].”

That is where a pure heart begins, but it does not stop there. Having our hearts purified by the imputed righteousness of Christ, we are then to proceed in developing practical purity in the here and now world through cooperation with the Holy Spirit Who becomes our heavenly Resident when we receive Christ by faith. The purified heart is to eventuate in the “clean hands” enjoined by the psalmist. And, I think, this is what the Savior has in mind when He utters this word. It is an affirmation of divine favor toward those who cultivate personal holiness in “this present evil world.”

But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever [I Pet. 1:15-23, emphasis mine].”

Salvation is not a ticket we hold for admission to heaven. It is a new life we receive from God through faith in Christ to be lived out for His glory here and now. And, as we make progress in the journey we can not only anticipate seeing God ‘someday,’ but we will enjoy an ever clearer vision of His glory along the way.

*********

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. —Phil. 4:8

For His glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier

Matthew 5:7 - 2010.08.14

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. —Matthew 5:7

We have noted previously that it is the objective of God, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, to bring believers into conformity to Christ. Salvation accomplished, that is the supreme goal of our Lord, theologically classified as sanctification. Inasmuch as it is His aim, it should also be ours.

From our perspective one of the most precious qualities in the divine nature is that of mercy. Formulating a definition of mercy is not easy, and understanding it is no less difficult. Perhaps the best approach is to let scripture speak, as for example, “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. [Ps. 86:5].” Mercy is God’s bestowing of kindness on those who deserve anything but.

An illustration may help: The story is told of a man in Napoleon’s army who had committed some indiscretion for which he had been sentenced to death. The young man’s mother succeeded in obtaining an audience with the emperor in which she pleaded with him to be merciful and spare the life of her son. Napoleon is said to have responded, “Madam, he does not deserve mercy.” To which she replied, “Sire, if he deserved it, it would not be mercy!” Mercy is the granting of kindness where justice would demand punishment. James says, “…mercy triumphs over judgment [Jas. 2:13b (NIV)].” The Psalmist captures this when he observes, “For great is Thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell [Ps. 86:13].” Every born again believer must recognize that truth in a personal way.

Grace is the quality in the divine nature which makes provision for salvation without compromising justice; mercy is its application. This, in turn, is illustrated in a great passage in Ephesians:

“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” - Eph. 2:1-7

What the sinner deserves is wrath; what he obtains through God’s grace is mercy. It is far more than mere forgiveness! It is this quality, reproduced in us by the Holy Spirit, that enjoys the favor of God. “Blessed are the merciful.”

What the Savior is teaching here is that those who sincerely desire mercy must themselves learn to be merciful, an important fact that is too often overlooked. The principle is rooted in the Old Testament. For example, “With the merciful Thou wilt show Thyself merciful… [II Sam. 22:6; Psalm 18:25].” It is reinforced in the New Testament not only in the Beatitudes, but in the epistles. Paul exhorts, “He that showeth mercy, [let him do it] with cheerfulness [Rom. 12:8].” And James warns, “He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shown no mercy [Jas. 2:13].” Again, he contrasts earthly wisdom and heavenly wisdom and remarks, “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy [Jas. 3:17].”

Challenged by “a certain lawyer” on how to inherit eternal life, Jesus asked him what the law required. He summed it up well when he said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.” When the Savior commended him he retaliated, “And who is my neighbor?” whereupon Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, concluding with the question, “Which…was neighbor unto him that fell among thieves?” “And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then Jesus said, Go, and do thou likewise.”(See Luke 10:25-37)

If you obtained mercy just in measure as you are inclined to show mercy, how much mercy would you enjoy?

"The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh." - Prov. 1:17

For His glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier

Matthew 5:6 - 2010.08.07

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. “ —Mat. 5:6

From our perspective there are two kinds of righteousness. For the purpose of this discussion I will call the one “imputed righteousness,” and the other “imparted righteousness.” The first is righteousness “credited to our account’ when we trust Christ for salvation. It has nothing to do with conduct, but is a gift from God. The latter is behavioral or “practical” righteousness, and is the outgrowth of our faith relationship with God. While it seems to me that it is the latter the Savior is referring to in the Beatitudes, the fact is that an appetite for God is foundational to both.

“Hunger and thirst” suggests a passion for righteousness. It is something more than a passing desire. When one is truly hungry and thirsty, he can never put it out of his mind. It dominates his mind continually and drives him to seek satisfaction. Such a passion is initiated by a conviction of sin that makes the sinner aware of his want of righteousness, his spiritual emptiness of what it takes to enjoy the favor of God. Prior to that conviction, if there is any concern for righteousness it is manifested in the pursuit of self righteousness—until the Holy Spirit makes it evident that “…we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away [Isa. 64:6].” It is that consciousness that alone will drive the soul in quest of a righteousness that qualifies for heaven. It is found in Christ alone Who, when we repent of sin and sins and trust Him for salvation, becomes our righteousness before a holy God and makes us by His grace fit to stand secure before His throne. This is imputed righteousness; it is not inherently ours, but is credited to us by faith. “Dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before [His] throne,” the poet expressed it.

However, the blessedness described in our text for today has to do with a passion for practical righteousness flowing out of our conversion experience. This “hunger and thirst” ought to characterize every believer who receives Christ as Savior. That yearning is illustrated in the Old Testament, e.g. in Psalm 63:1-3. “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.” After all, a proper hunger and thirst for righteousness is a hunger and thirst for God Himself. The grace cannot be separated from the Giver and, as Spurgeon put it, “The heart that is fitted for communion is a hungering and thirsting heart.”

When we come to Christ for salvation the Holy Spirit comes to reside within us, and He has one supreme objective: to create in us likeness to Christ. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren [Rom. 8:29].” And the apostle John observes, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure [I John 3:1-3].”

Scripture seems to assume that every true believer will have a passionate appetite to become righteous in the practical sense; real world righteousness, likeness to Christ. Sadly, that is not always the case. The tempter lures us with the “junk food” of this present evil world and we fill our lives with “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life,” resulting in leanness of the soul. Before the watching world the sad consequence is an anemic Christianity that lacks both power and purity, and upon which God bestows no blessing.

May reflection on this declaration by the Lord Jesus stir within us a renewed appetite for holiness of heart and life until we can echo sincerely the apostle Paul who said “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith… [Phil. 3:7-9. See the whole passage, v. 7-15] It is that kind of appetite that will be “filled”—with “all the fulness of God.”

A superficial faith may take your soul to heaven, but only this

“hunger and thirst after righteousness” will bring heaven to your soul.

For His glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier