The Beatitudes, Part 2

After laying down the essential to the Christian life in the first three beatitudes, Jesus gets more specific. A real quick recap on the first three beatitudes: Jesus wants us to realize we are poor of spirit, that is, we are totally lost away from Christ. Along with this realization comes a godly mourning of our sins and our inability to reconcile with God, this mourning, however, drives us to repentance and acceptance of Christ. Finally, we must be meek. A very misunderstood word, being meek is not being a weakling, but it is a total acceptance of God’s sovereignty. Trusting that He is in control and accepting that all His dealings are good. Jesus now gets into more specifics for a Christian to practice; being hungry and thirsty for righteousness, being merciful, having a pure heart, and being a peacemaker.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be comforted”
Matthew 5:6
This an amazing metaphor Jesus uses. We all know what it feels like to be hungry, so hungry that all we desire is food. You’ve been on a road trip where all you want to do is eat at the next McDonald’s; we complain and grumble and the hunger infects our entire attitude. Same goes for a time where you were just thirsty, you can’t think of anything but a cool glass of water. Your dry mouth affects your speech, your mindset, and even your money, if bottled water is near. Now imagine having both of those extreme feelings at once. Your stomach is roaring for food, your mouth is as dry as a desert, and your head can only think of water and food; a mighty meal. This would affect your entire life. You would put off anything you were doing, you would forget about the cost, you would go any distance. You would get a meal. What if we had this feeling for righteousness?
To hunger and thirst for righteousness is a longing to conform to the will of God. A sincere desire to do what is right in God’s eyes. One Psalmist explains it like this: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.” (Psalm 42:1) Do not rest until you are righteous. Just like you are desperate for food when you’re hungry or water when you’re thirsty, be desperate for God. Put off all that you are doing that opposes this supreme desire and really long to conform to the will of God. A funny thing about this is that only God can allow us to do it. John Piper says it like this: “Only God can make the depraved heart desire God.” (“When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy” page 14). If you want to desire God and righteousness like you desire food, honestly ask God for it. Only by the help of the Holy Spirit can we achieve this deep desire.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy”
Matthew 5:7
When I think of mercy I think of the middle ages. I imagine a king who caught a thief stealing from the market and mercifully does not chop off his arm. That is not the type of mercy Jesus is talking about here. This mercy is not just pity. When used as an adjective in greek, the word mercy is “not simply possessed of pity but actively compassionate” (Vine 404). An active compassion. A pity that strives towards an action towards a person. Being compassionate is hard. We are wronged every day by people, even if it is a small thing. You see, Jesus made it perfectly clear that our love and mercy should not just extend to those who are good to us (Matt. 5:43-48). We are to extend this mercy to all; even those we bitterly hated. I say hated because, as a Christian, we no longer hate, but love. God has already given us the greatest mercy the universe will ever know. Why do we find it so hard to extend such small mercies such as forgiveness or acceptance?

Jesus tells a story later in his ministry to deliver this point in greater detail (Matt 18:21-35). It is a story of a servant who owed a king a fortune. He owed back more than he possibly could pay back; the language Jesus uses implies that the servant could never, ever pay back such a debt. He was hopeless. Yet the king had mercy on him and, instead of sending him to prison until he could pay it back, cancelled his debt. How great a mercy!That same forgiven servant then goes out to another servant who owes him money. This is small amount of money, about what a man would make in a day. However, the man who owed this small amount couldn’t pay back the forgiven servant. Furious, the forgiven servant has the poor servant thrown in prison. When the king finds out of this he summons the servant he forgave and rebuked him. So mad is the king that he throws the forgiven servant in prison until he could pay back his debt. His fate is prison until he can pay back a debt he can never pay back. Prison forever all because he did not show mercy. The king says an eerily similar thing to this condemned servant that Jesus said in the beatitudes, “And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” (Matt 18:33) God has given us the ultimate grace, it is a small thing for us to extend mercy to others. Pray to God you may be merciful as He is merciful.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Matthew 5:8
Being pure in heart is impossible by man. We are all lost and our hears are black with sin. Having a pure hear is to be cleansed by God from your sinful nature. This is impossible for a man to do. Peter realized this once and asked Jesus “Who then can be saved?”, Jesus answered by saying “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:25-26). Pray to God to create in you a pure heart. A heart that is cleansed from its old ways, and only desires God. This heart is imperative for all of the other beatitudes to be possible. David says, after he sins with Bathsheba “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10). As a side note, Psalm 51 is a great example of the beatitudes being manifested in David’s life. He realizes his own poor spirit, mourns for his sin, and asks for a pure heart. The Psalm illustrates that we must rely on God to create a pure heart in ourselves, we cannot create it on our own. No matter how much we volunteer at church, read our bible, or pray, only God can create a pure heart. I pray daily that God would give me a pure heart, as I hope you do.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God”
Matthew 5:9
Again, this peacemaking must be spread to our enemies, as well as our friends. Jesus says to not only love our enemies, but “do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27). This means keeping peace with not only friends but enemies. Remember that this will not be easy. The word peacemaker suggests that there was not peace before, until you make it. First examine your life and make sure you are at peace with everyone; if you are not peace make. After you set yourself in order, then you can help others do the same. Many times we think peacekeeping is only for others, not in their own life. Set yourselves in order first.

An interesting point in this verse is “they shall be called sons of God”. For a long time this stumped me. I didn’t know what that meant. After a long time of meditation a light bulb went off. It says “be called”. Called means that someone has given you that title. Like an avalanche of thought a realization came to me: our peacemaking should be so amazing and outstanding that the only explanation to those around you is that it is by God! Francis Chan once said “Live you life in such a way that it demands an explanation”. Does your life demand an explanation? Do you live in such a way that the things you do can only be explained by a faith in God? If not, then ask yourself why. Are you living just like everyone else, and just saying your a Christian? Where is the faith in that? Be a peacemaker to the point where it demands an explanation. Live like a Christian to the point where it demands an explanation.

So I encourage you to pursue these four areas in your life. Ask God for a desire for righteousness like your desire for food or water. Be merciful to those who don’t deserve mercy because God gave you mercy when you didn’t deserve mercy. Ask God for a pure heart, that you may follow God completely. Be a peacemaker to the point where it demands an explanation.