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.