Daily Devotional

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

“Conclusion.”

Now that we have reached the end of this daily look at the beatitudes, I think we can all agree that the central theme is a renewal of our hearts.

First our hearts must recognize their emptiness, that we are nothing without God, that we have grieved Him, and that we give ourselves over to Him completely, thus creating a hunger for his righteousness.

Then our hearts will be filled, recognizing the mercy granted to us, we will pour out mercy on others, our hearts will be refined, and we will concern ourselves not only with our actions, but our desires, and we will become peacemakers, seeking to honor God in all of our relationships. Because of this we will be filled with His righteousness, our hearts will be new creations, and the world will not be able to help but notice, and either they will be attracted to our Savior, or offended by Him, and will either join us in seeking to honor God, or will persecute us.

Let us continue to seek God, and to honor him.

Prayer:

Lord, I pray that you would destroy me. Take away all of my confidence in myself so that only You remain, and then break my heart, let me feel the weight of all that I have done against you, and humble me before you, Lord. Fill my heart with mercy, purity, and peace, so that I may be pleasing to you, Lord. Let your grace be so abundant in my life that it becomes offensive to all those who choose to live by the ways of the world. Thank you, Lord, for your gift of salvation. Your love is strong. 

Daily Devotional

Monday, August 30, 2010

“Conclusion.”

The beatitudes tell us that the blessings of eternity will be given only to those who have become new creations. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.

If we don't obtain mercy, we receive judgment. If we don't see God, we are not in heaven. If we aren't called the sons of God, we are outside the family. These are all descriptions of final salvation. And it is promised only to the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers.

Therefore the beatitudes counter the false teaching that if you just believe in Jesus, you will go to heaven whether or not you are merciful or pure in heart or a peacemaker. In fact, from beginning to end the Sermon on the Mount cries out, "Get yourself a new heart! Become a new person! The river of judgment is at the door!" Remember: "Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20).

And at the very end of the sermon in 7:26 the Lord calls out over the crowds, "Every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it."

Prayer:

Lord, with you all things are possible. I give you my life, and pray that you would renew my heart so that I may see you. Use me however you see fit, Lord. 

Daily Devotional

Sunday, August 29, 2010

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake,

  for theirs is the kingdom of God.

In order to rejoice and be glad in the suffering of persecution, must you not believe that the suffering itself enlarges your reward in heaven? If the same reward in heaven could be obtained without suffering, would we not cry out against the uselessness of suffering rather than being glad to embrace it?

If nothing more comes of suffering than of not suffering, why embrace it with joy? What gave Rowland Taylor and Bishop Ridley and John Bradford the impulse to kiss the stakes at which they were burned? What moved Obadiah Holmes, after ninety lashes turned his back to jelly for Jesus, to say to the magistrates, "You have struck me with roses"? Why did Thomas Hardcastle say that persecution is "a precious season of grace"?

I think the answer is that the more your faith is tested through suffering, the greater will be your reward. I think this is taught in Matthew 19:29 ("And every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life"), but especially in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.

He says that affliction "prepares" or "brings about" an eternal weight of glory. As Charles Hodge says, Afflictions are the cause of eternal glory. Not the meritorious cause, but still the procuring cause. God has seen fit to reveal his purpose not only to reward with exceeding joy the afflictions of his people, but to make those afflictions the means of working out that joy.

In other words, rejoice and be glad in the midst of suffering for righteousness and for Jesus, because that very suffering will receive a very great compensation and a very great reward. And the greater the suffering your faith endures, the greater the reward you will receive in heaven. So rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven!

Prayer:

 Lord, I confess that my desire is not to rejoice in persecution, but to avoid it if at all possible. I pray, Lord, that you would change my spirit that I may face persecution with boldness, thankfulness, and joy.

Daily Devotional

Saturday, August 28, 2010

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake,

  for theirs is the kingdom of God.

When you follow God and live by His instruction, seeking to be filled with His spirit, and live in his righteousness, there are two possible responses people can have who stay around you.

John 3:20-21 says, “for every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. [That is one possible response: hating the light and not accepting it.] But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God. [That is the other possible response: doing the truth and coming to it and freely admitting that all good in us is accomplished by God.]”

It seems the two options are persecution or conversion, but, we ask, what about all the unbelievers in my life who are neither converted nor persecuting. There are a couple of possibilities we must explore.

One is that your light is under a bushel. You are not living boldly for Christ. (Galatians 5:11;6:12-13). Perhaps others cannot even recognize that your life has been redeemed.

Another possibility is that you are letting your light shine, and that people in your life are moving in what direction or the other; neither response must be immediate. We see often in the gospels when the Pharisees were angered but were kept by politics from expressing their anger in outright persecution. Neither persecution nor conversion will always happen immediately. In fact, many people are torn inside themselves, partly hating the claims of Christianity in your life, partly attracted by them.

So we should all examine ourselves to see if we are playing a kind of cowardly Christian, and if so, we should repent and resolve to be more sincere in the expression of who we really are. But we must not assume that, because there is no persecution right now and no conversion right now, the fault must lie with us. Someone in your life may be very near conversion, or the storm may be ready to break against you.

Prayer:

Lord, reveal to me whether or not I am shining brightly for you. I pray that I would be a light, and that your glory would be evident in my life; that it would shine with distinction. Let others see me and have no choice but to see you, whether that is attractive or offensive to them.

Daily Devotional

Friday, August 27, 2010

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake,

  for theirs is the kingdom of God.

So, if we are living our lives differently than those in the world, we will become offensive to those who worship things other than God.

·       If you cherish chastity, your life will be an attack on people's love for free sex.

·       If you embrace temperance, your life will be a statement against the love of alcohol.

·       If you pursue self-control, your life will indict excess eating.

·       If you live simply and happily, you will show the folly of luxury.

·       If you walk humbly with your God, you will expose the evil of pride.

·       If you are punctual and thorough in your dealings, you will lay open the inferiority of laziness and negligence.

·       If you speak with compassion, you will throw callousness into sharp relief.

·       If you are earnest, you will make the flippant look flippant instead of clever.

·       And if you are spiritually minded, you will expose the worldly-mindedness of those around you.

Prayer:

Lord, I pray that you would open my eyes to how I can live more boldly for you. Reveal to me in what areas of my life I look too much like those of the world. Assist me in living boldly and differently for you, God. 

Daily Devotional

Thursday, August 26, 2010

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake,

  for theirs is the kingdom of God.

If righteousness means being merciful and pure and peaceable by relying on Jesus and living for his glory, then why would anyone persecute that? It doesn’t seem like something anyone could really count as worth of persecution.

In Luke 16:14-15 Jesus said, "No servant can serve two masters; for 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 God and money. Verse 14 says, "The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they scoffed at him." The Pharisees were servants to money, and therefore when Jesus said you cannot serve God and money, it offended them and their lifestyles, and so they persecuted him.

Persecution happens for two reasons, one being that someone loves something evil, and secondly because they must defend their love of it at the cost of whomever is calling them out or living in a way that makes it clear that their lifestyle choices are not right.

Jesus comes on the scene with a way of life and a message that implies that the love of money is treason against God. "You can't serve two sovereigns!" This is not an antagonistic insult. It is part of his purity. It is true. It is essential to know if you are going to be saved. But it goes against the Pharisee's love of money. So to justify themselves they put Jesus down. This is standard operating procedure for self-justification, and is the root of all persecution.

Prayer:

Lord, I pray that you would give me strength during persecution, that I would still love those who persecute me. I pray that you would open my eyes as well, Lord, and help me to see that if I am not being persecuted, it may mean I am not living boldly enough for you, that my life is not offensively different than those who worship money. Give me that boldness, Lord.

Daily Devotional

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake,

  for theirs is the kingdom of God.

As we discussed previously, the first three beatitudes lead to a hunger for righteousness, and describe a holy emptiness. Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn over their needy condition, and the meek who hand their cause over to God. It makes sense that these three descriptions of emptiness would be followed by a description of hunger, if you don't have something, you hunger for it.

The following three beatitudes then describe a state of fullness. That holy hunger is beginning to be filled by an overflowing mercy, a pure heart, and a power to make peace. So the righteousness longed for in verse 6 is given in the form of mercy, purity, and peacemaking. The result is persecution for this very righteousness.

Another way to define the righteousness of verse 10 is to look at its parallel in verse 11. In verse 10 the persecution is "on account of righteousness," but in verse 11 it is "on account of Jesus." "Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account." "On my account" and "on account of righteousness" probably mean the same thing.

So, we can take away from this that righteousness, true righteousness-- involves a relationship with Jesus. True righteousness is not done for its own sake. It is done for Jesus' sake. The mercy and the purity and the peacemaking of a disciple of Jesus comes from Jesus ("without me you can do nothing," John 15:5) and is done for the honor of Jesus. It is this relationship that gives righteousness its distinct character.

Prayer:

Lord, give me the strength to go boldly and confidently with your righteousness despite the fact that I will be persecuted for it.

Daily Devotional

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

“Blessed are the peacemakers,

  for they shall be called sons God.

The promise of sonship in the second half of the Matthew 5:9 points us to Matthew 5:43-45,“You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Here, we must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us if we would be sons of God. So probably Jesus thinks of peacemaking as all the acts of love by which we try to overcome the enmity between us and other people. And if we ask for specifics, he gives two examples.

In Matthew 5:47 Jesus gives the other specific example of peacemaking-love in this text: "If you salute (or greet) only your brethren, what more are you doing than others?" If there is a problem in one of your relationships, or if there is someone who opposes you, don't feed that grudge. Don't feed the animosity by ignoring and avoiding that person. That is the natural thing to do—just cross the street so that you don't have to greet them. But that is not the impulse of the Spirit of a peacemaking God, who sacrificed his Son to reconcile us to himself and to each other.

Peacemaking tries to build bridges to people. It does not want the animosity to remain. It wants forgiveness. It wants harmony. And so it tries to show what may be the only courtesy the enemy will tolerate, namely, a greeting. The peacemaker looks the enemy right in the eye and says, "Good morning, John." And he says it with a longing for peace in his heart, not with a phony gloss of politeness to cover his anger.

Prayer:

Lord, I pray that you would give me the strength to forgive others. I pray that you would give me the heart of a peacemaker, that I would not only forgive, but I actually pursue to rekindle those broken relationships.  Give me the strength to not just walk away from problems, but to face them, and do so in a way that is honoring to you. Lord, don’t ever let me be okay with broken relationships, may they always burden my heart. 

Daily Devotional

Monday, August 23, 2010

“Blessed are the peacemakers,

  for they shall be called sons God.

Jesus is telling us that if we call ourselves sons of God, then we should have the characteristics of our heavenly Father. We know from Scripture that our heavenly Father is a "God of peace" (Romans 16:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 13:20). We know that heaven is a world of peace (Luke 19:38). And most important of all, we know that God is a peacemaker!

"God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them" (2 Corinthians 5:19). He made peace by the blood of the cross (Colossians 1:20). Even though by nature we are rebels against God and have sinned against Him and deserve death, God has sacrificed his own Son and now declares mercy to any who will lay down their pride and selfishness and come home to faith.

By the sovereign work of God's grace rebel human beings are born again, and brought from rebellion to faith, and made into children of God. We were given a new nature, after the image of our heavenly Father (1 John 3:9). If he is a peacemaker, then his children, who have his nature, will be peacemakers too.

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for giving me a new nature. Please continue to mold me into someone more like you, Lord. I pray that I would become a peacemaker, and that my life would be honoring to you. 

Daily Devotional

Sunday, August 22, 2010

“Blessed are the peacemakers,

  for they shall be called sons God.

When Jesus says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God," he does not tell us how to become a son of God, but he does tell us that the sons of God are in fact peacemakers. People who are peacemakers will be recognized as the sons of God at the judgment and they will be called what they are and welcomed into the Father's house.

We can look to scripture to see how we can become sons of God, for example, John 1:12 and Galatians 3:26. John 1:12 says, "To all who received him (Jesus), who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God." And Galatians 3:26 says, "For in Christ we are all sons of God through faith." We become sons of God by trusting in Christ for our forgiveness and hope.

Prayer:

Lord, I love you so much and thank you for all that you have given me; I recognize that I deserve nothing but death, and yet you still have rained your blessings down onto me. I pray that you would give me an extra measure of your Spirit that I may have the heart of a peacemaker, so that I may be called your child. 

Daily Devotional

Saturday, August 21, 2010

“Blessed are the pure in heart,

  for they shall see God.

So, how Are the Two Bound Together? Jesus only gives us part of the answer here. It is a true part, but only part. He says that the pure will see God. That is, purity is a prerequisite for seeing God. The impure are neither granted admittance to his presence, nor are they awed by the glory of his holiness, nor are they comforted by his grace.

Jesus' point is the same as Hebrews 12:14, "Strive for . . . the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." In other words, blessed are the holy for they shall see God. There is a real purity and a real holiness which fits us to see the king of glory.

And of course that leads every sensitive soul to cry out with the words of Proverbs 20:9, "Who can say, 'I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin?'" And with the disciples: "Who then can be saved?"

Jesus' answer comes back just like it did to the disciples in Matthew 19:26—and this is the rest of the answer—"With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible." In other words, God creates a purity for us and in us so that we can pursue purity. And by his grace we must seek that gift by praying with David, "Create in me a clean heart, O God" (Psalm 51:10). And we must look to Christ "who gave himself for us . . . to purify for himself a people" (Titus 3:14).

And the response of our hearts to God's act of creation and Christ's act of sacrifice is single-minded faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. As the Scripture says in Acts 15:9, "God made no distinction between us and them, but purified their hearts by faith." God is the one who purifies the heart, and the instrument with which he cleans it is faith.

Therefore, trust in the Lord with ALL your heart (Proverbs 3:5). Will this one thing. And you will see God.

Prayer:

Lord, with you all things are possible. I give you my life, and pray that you would renew my heart so that I may see you. Use me however you see fit, Lord.  

Daily Devotional

Friday, August 20, 2010

“Blessed are the pure in heart,

  for they shall see God.

So, let’s explore what it is to have a pure heart. Psalm 24:3-4 says, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully.” A pure heart is a heart that has nothing to do with falsehood. It is painstakingly truthful and free from deceitfulness. Deceit is what you do when you will two things, not one thing.

James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind.”  James: 4:4 explains what it means to have a double mind, “Unfaithful creatures [literally: adulteresses]! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” So the double-minded man of verse 8 has his heart divided between the world and God, like a wife who has a husband and a boyfriend. Purity of heart on the other hand is to will one thing, namely, full and total allegiance to God.

Finally, Jesus, in Matthew 22:37 says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.”

Purity of heart is to will one thing, namely, God's truth and God's value in everything we do. The aim of the pure heart is to align itself with the truth of God and magnify the worth of God. If you want to be pure in heart, pursue God with utter single-mindedness. Purity of heart is to will that one thing.

Prayer:

Lord, create in me a pure heart. I desire to be of one mind, completely concern with your will for my life, Lord. Help me to better love you with all of my heart. 

Daily Devotional

Thursday, August 19, 2010

“Blessed are the pure in heart,

  for they shall see God.

So, what does it mean to “see God”? First, to see God means to be admitted into His holy presence.  Second, seeing God means being awestruck by his amazing glory; to experience His holiness. After God confronted Job in the whirlwind, Job said, "I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

Today, all of our spiritual sight comes through His word or through or through his earthly work. But there will come a day when God himself will dwell among us. His glory will no longer be inferred from lightning and mountains and roaring seas and constellations of stars. Instead our experience of him will be direct. His glory will be the very light in which we move (Revelation 21:23) and the beauty of his holiness will be tasted directly like honey on the tongue.

Finally, seeing God means being comforted by his grace. The Pslams repeatedly cry out for God’s comfort, and that He would not hide His face.  Psalm 27 (verses 7-9) David says, “Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me! . . . Hide not thy face from me.”

"Be gracious to me!" This means that seeing the face of God is considered to be a sweet and comforting experience. If God shows his face, we are helped. If he turns his face away, we are dismayed.

So when Jesus promises the reward of "seeing God" there are at least these three things implied: we will be admitted to his presence, not just kept in the waiting room. We will be awestruck with a direct experience of his glory. And we will be helped and comforted by his grace.

Prayer:

Lord, be gracious to me! Thank you for providing a way for me to see you, Lord. 

Daily Devotional

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

“Blessed are the pure in heart,

  for they shall see God.

The first thing we must recognize is that God is concerned with our heart, and not just our outward actions. Matthew 23:25-26 says, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and rapacity. You blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and of the plate, that the outside also may be clean.”

Simply changing society doesn’t satisfy Jesus; he is concerned with changing the hearts of its inhabitants as illustrated in Matthew 5:27-28, “You have heard that it was said, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

The heart is who we really are on the inside, and although no one else can see it, God can. Who we are at the invisible level matters just as much to God as who we look like to everyone else on the outside. So, the heart is crucial to Christ, and who we are in the deepest recesses of our hearts is of utmost concern to Him. Christ came not to break us of some bad habits, but to radically alter the very fabric of who we are.

Prayer:

Lord, I confess the hidden evils of my heart. You are all too familiar with just how evil I am, and I ask that you would forgive me. I confess that even my good acts are done out of sinful motivations. Please create in me a new heart, Lord.

Daily Devotional

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

“Blessed are the merciful,

  for they shall receive mercy.

We must remember, however, that despite the fact that the beatitude states that the merciful will receive mercy; salvation is by grace through faith, and not works.

Matthew 5:7 says, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." In other words, on judgment day when we meet God face to face, the people who will receive mercy from him are people who have been merciful.

So, do we earn his mercy by our mercy? No, an "earned mercy" would be a contradiction. If mercy is earned, it is not mercy; it's a wage. If we get anything good at the judgment, it will be mercy.

When God asks for a record of your mercy at the judgment day, he will not be asking for a time card. You won't say, "Here it is. Eight hours of mercy. Now where's my wage?"

Instead, God will be asking for your medical charts. You will hand them to him in all lowliness and meekness, and there he will read the evidences of how you trusted him as your divine Physician, and how the medicine of his Word and the therapy of his Spirit took effect in your life because you relied on them to heal you of your unmerciful disposition. And when he sees the evidence of your faith and his healing, he will complete your healing and welcome you into the kingdom forever. Therefore, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for your mercy. I deserve nothing but death, but you have given me new life, and for that I will praise you for the rest of my days. 

Daily Devotional

Monday, August 16, 2010

“Blessed are the merciful,

  for they shall receive mercy.

A perfect example of mercy resides in Luke 10:30-37:

“Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho [and so he was probably a Jew and thus hated by the Samaritans], and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.' Which of the three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" [The lawyer] said, "The one who showed mercy on him." And Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’”

1. First, it sees distress (verse 33: "A Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and he saw him").
2. Second, it responds internally with a heart of compassion or pity toward a person in distress (verse 33: "When he saw him, he had compassion on him").
3. Third, it responds externally with a practical effort to relieve the distress (verse 33: "He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him").
4. And the fourth dimension of mercy is that it happens even when the person in distress is by religion and race an enemy (verse 33: "But a Samaritan . . . "). A half-breed Jew with a warped religious tradition stops to help the Jew who hates him.

Prayer:

Lord, help me to be like the Good Samaritan, and to have mercy upon those whom I would normally not consider.