Blessed Are Those…

Matthew 5:1-12 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 
 Blessed are those who mourn,
      for they will be comforted. 
 Blessed are the meek,
      for they will inherit the earth. 
 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
      for they will be filled. 
 Blessed are the merciful,
      for they will be shown mercy. 
 Blessed are the pure in heart,
      for they will see God. 
 Blessed are the peacemakers,
      for they will be called sons of God. 
 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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

This is another very well known passage of Scripture: The Beatitudes. Even though we may have heard it so many times before please just stop and think it through again and let it encourage you. The passage speaks for itself so it won’t need much explanation .

Just one thing though:

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

We don’t face much persecution in our day to day lives. You might think you do, but at least you’re not put to death or tortured. However we do face insults and so on for our faith. But look at what Christ says! When people insult us for our faith they are actually giving us a blessing! They are giving us treasure in heaven! So we need not get angry or upset when people insult us. They can insult as much as they want. In fact Christ says rejoice and be glad when people persecute us! For great is our reward in heaven! Now that obviously doesn’t mean we should go around looking to be persecuted, but I’m sure you all already knew that .

Idols

I’ve been thinking a lot about this topic lately, especially over Christmas. On Christmas morning (when I should have been sleeping ) while opening my presents I thought about what I would do if all of a sudden someone destroyed my presents. I found that my first reaction would be to start shouting in anger. But then I thought, “Wait a minute…I don’t deserve any of this stuff. I’ve only just received it and already it’s becoming an idol.”

I don’t want to generalize, but isn’t that what happens to most of us? We immediately become attached so strongly with a new possession. It becomes our new god that we worship.

In the meantime though we should be extremely grateful for any gifts that we receive. (Whether we like them or not ) It’s only by God’s loving kindness and grace that He grants us these possessions.

 It is foolishness to worship an inanimate object or anything else, but the true Triune God.

Isaiah 44:9-20 – “All who make idols are nothing,and the things they treasure are worthless.Those who would speak up for them are blind;they are ignorant, to their own shame.Who shapes a god and casts an idol,which can profit him nothing?He and his kind will be put to shame;craftsmen are nothing but men.Let them all come together and take their stand;
they will be brought down to terror and infamy.Theblacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals; he shapes an idol with hammers,he forges it with the might of his arm. He gets hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint.The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker;he roughs it out with chisels
and marks it with compasses. He shapes it in the form of man,
of man in all his glory,that it may dwell in a shrine,
He cut down cedars,or perhaps took a cypress or oak.
He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.It is man’s fuel for burning;
some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread.But he also fashions a god and worships it;
he makes an idol and bows down to it.Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal,
he roasts his meat and eats his fill.He also warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.” From the rest he makes a god, his idol;he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says. “Save me; you are my god.” They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand.
No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, “Half of it I used for fuel;
I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left?
Shall I bow down to a block of wood?” He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say,
“Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?””

That passage speaks about how utterly foolish worshipping idols is. After all…can an idol save us from our sin? Can it redeem us like Christ? Of course not! Christ is the only way!

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 is Christ himself speaking and warning us about idolotry. He tells us that our hearts will be where our treasures are. And how true! When something becomes an idol we have no time for anything or anyone else, but our idol. We do not want to be interupted while using whatever our idols are. We become rude to other people, angry and upset when our idol is taken away,etc. Our heart is there with the idol because that is what we treasure. While we are worshipping this “thing” we don’t even have time to worship the true God. We cannot serve both God and our idol as Christ says a couple verses later:

Mathew 6:24 – “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

So I would exhort you all to examine yourselves and consider whether there are any idols in your lives. I’m not claiming to be perfect in this area (I’m far from perfect), but it’s just something that has been burdening me lately. If you do find that there is an idol then just pray and ask God to help you overcome the idol and keep you from any other idols.

Remember to be thankful for your possessions and give God the glory for them. Don’t fall into the trap of actually worshipping the thing itself.

The 5 Peas have just recently made a good post on thankfulness so check it out: http://5-peas.blogspot.com/2007/01/be-thankful.html

When Death Strikes

Death as we all know is the penalty of sin. Rom.6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death;but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

When we think of death we are fearful. When we experience the death of a loved one we grieve. Death is not at all a nice thing. I’m not sure how many of you have experienced losing a friend or family member, but for those of you that have I hope to be of encouragement to you because I know how it feels.

One day as was at a chess tournament all day. I was having a really great time there and I was extremely happy. When my mother came to pick me up I could tell something was wrong. She looked extremely sadened by something, but I didn’t ask why. When I got home my dad gathered the family together to tell us something. When we all sat down I immediately knew that someone had died by the look on my parents faces. Then my dad started crying and told us what happened. A friend of my brother and I had passed out and drowned while taking a bath the night before. That was two years ago now and I’ll never forget it…

After the news had been broken to us my dad told us that we must mourn for our friend otherwise we would be depressed for the rest of our lives if we just resisted our emotion. And that is the first step to dealing with a loved one’s death. We must mourn and accept what has happened. It might take a long while to sink in (it took me a month), but we must grieve. Even Christ mourned the death of his friend Lazarus (John 11).

John 11:33-36 - “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her, also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit, and was troubled, and said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said, ‘Lord, Come and see.’ Jesus wept. And so the Jews were saying, ‘Behold, how He loved Him!”

Christ knew that he would raise Lazarus from the dead, but he still wept in order to show his love for Lazarus and to comfort the family.

There are some who say that weeping is a sign of weakness (especially for men). But that is obviously not the case as we see in this event of Christ’s life. Being a man does not mean never expressing any emotion. Expressing emotion is a huge part of being a true godly man.

This passage also shows that mourning is not a bad thing, but a blessed thing: Matt. 5:4 - “Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.”

Is that not what we need? We need to be comforted and mourning is the way to do it. And to avoid putting even more stress on yourself do not worry about the future and how you will continue to cope. Just take it one day at a time and things will all work out.

Thankfully this friend of mine who died was a Christian and expressed that fact in his baptism a few months before. It should bring us tremendous comfort to know that a loved one has gone to be with the Lord. Even though we mourn because they depart from us, we should also be full of joy that they have gone to heaven which is a much better place than earth. So let that bring comfort to you if a loved one departs. Thank God for their time they spent on the earth and for your friendship and love of them.

One day we will all eventually die in one way or another. As Christians though we need not fear death. Christ has conquered sin and death on the cross! Death has no power over us as Christians. Our bodies may die, but we gain “eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

1 Cor. 15:54-58 -  “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true:

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.” (Isaiah 25:28)

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where O death is your sting?” (Hosea 13:14)

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
 

More Than Conquerors

Romans 8: 28-39 – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.  What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 
  

 ’”For your sake we face death all day long;
      we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”‘

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What an encouraging thought to know that we are “more than conquerors” in Christ! Being a conqueror is a great thing, but being even more than that is an even greater thing.

What does it mean to be more than a conqueror? Well a conqueror has victory over his enemy, but it is still possible for him to later fall in defeat to that same enemy. As more than conquerors we can never fall in defeat. As Paul says there is absolutely nothing that can tear us away from the love of Christ and thus make us fall. Sin has been conquered by Christ once and for all and will never be able to achieve any victory.

 So be encouraged by this passage when in doubt, despair or difficult circumstances and know “that  neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”