The Beatitudes - Pt 1

 

Seeing the crowds, he [Jesus] went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:1–12 ESV).

 

I have looked back in the archives of Morning Devotionals and have not found any that I have used containing all of the verses of today’s reading in at least five years. They are known commonly as “the Beatitudes,” and are a part of the larger teaching of Jesus that is known as “the Sermon on the Mount” (cf. Matthew 5-7). I must confess that these devotionals will read a bit more pedantic rather than inspirational. However, when we understand that discipleship is about learning as much as being encouraged, we are able to receive the full blessing of God’s intent to sanctify us making us fit for our heavenly home. So, today, we will begin our journey through these verses with a bit of background and end with a bit of wisdom.

 

The Beatitudes are a set of teachings delivered by Jesus Christ within the context of His teaching the multitudes that gathered on the hillside in northern Israel on the northwestern shores of the Sea of Galilee. This site overlooks the fertile Plain of Gennesaret and sits near the ancient fishing village of Capernaum. They consist of eight powerful declarations of blessing, each outlining a specific virtue or circumstance that leads to this divine favor and a spiritual reward.

 

The word “beatitudes” is derived from the Latin beatus ("blessed" or "happy"). The Beatitudes are a revolutionary framework for Christian living that challenges traditional values of power and wealth. These teachings outline the values of God's Kingdom on Earth, often focusing on inner virtue over external status. Since we are nearly overwhelmed with the concept of “more” in our culture, especially wealth, power, and prominence it will serve us well to understand and practice each of these in our lives.

 

Two of the questions we may start with in beginning this series are “Am I happy? Am I Blessed?” Using those as a prompt for meditation we may arrive at the conclusion that we are chasing the wrong things for happiness and blessing. Then it becomes easier to make the course corrections Jesus indicates in these declarations.

God is Faithful in His Protection

 

Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:12–13 ESV).

 

Our reading today is well known to most of us. We have read or heard it spoken many times. Yet, if you are like me, you have wondered at those times when we feel our weakest that it cannot be true. However, that feeling does not diminish the truth of it. There is so much comfort in this verse. First, it says that there is no unprecedented temptation. Countless others before us have walked through the same temptations, and none of those trials are a surprise to God. And “God is faithful” not to let us have more than we can handle. He will always make a path of faithfulness for us. God will always make the pathway out clear. There will be a way of escape.

 

God is faithful to look out for our spiritual growth and salvation!  He desires to make us righteous!  He never tempts us.  However, He does test us, providing opportunities to prove us faithful.  When we demonstrate ourself to be faithful, He credits us with righteousness!  Yes, God is sweet!  He tests us to bless us! Heaven is going to be awesome!!

 

If you are experiencing trial or temptation, please understand that Jesus knows exactly what you are going through.  God manifested Himself in the flesh to be our example!  No temptation is stronger than our spiritual assets.  Through Scripture, we are instructed in the way to escape temptation.  We have help with faithfulness and self-control from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  Christ knows our strengths and weaknesses and has angels on guard for our well-being. Don’t be tempted to turn your back on God.  Be faithful to trust Him wholeheartedly.  He will help bear your load and escape temptation as He sees you through to a much brighter and greener pasture.

 

God is Faithful in His Eternal Love

 

Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. (Psalm 36:5–9 ESV).

 

The playground taunt of “you’re an Indian giver” has existed for literally over 200 years. But the concept of "Indian giving" has been misunderstood and misinterpreted for nearly all those years. The concept of an "Indian gift" or an "Indian giver" traces its roots back to at least the 1700s. In his 1765 History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Thomas Hutchinson defined an Indian gift as a present "for which an equivalent return is expected." During their legendary journey West in 1804, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark often encountered Native Americans over the course of their travels. The picture the pair paints of Indians and their culture was not pretty. Lewis and Clark frequently suspected Indians of either stealing their belongings or plotting to do so. This concept stuck. Author David Wilton argues in his 2004 book Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends that the concept of an "Indian gift" arose when white settlers misinterpreted the Native American concept of bartering:

 

"To an Indian, the giving of gifts was an extension of this system of trade, and a gift was expected to be reciprocated with something of equal value. Europeans, upon encountering this practice, misunderstood it, considering it uncouth and impolite. To them, trade was conducted with money, and gifts were freely given with nothing expected in return. So, this native practice got a bad reputation among the white colonists of North America and the term eventually became a playground insult."

 

In the spirit of the correct understanding of an “Indian giver,” that is to say someone who gives or receives with an expectation of reciprocation, let me say, God is not such a giver. He gives His love with no requirements of a return gift. That is the very definition of grace. The apostle Paul explains this in his letter to the Romans:

 

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6–8 ESV).

 

This is the central essence of God’s love for His children. He gives without expectation of anything in return. Of course, that does not mean we should not express our gratitude. However, our act of gratitude is not the motivation for God’s love. He loves us because that is who He is! Now, that sustains and encourages me, because I have nothing worthy to give in return. Yet, He loves me! He loves me because I am His child, not because of what I do or don’t do! Hallelujah!

 

God is Fathful in His Consistency

 

With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; with the purified you deal purely,        and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. You save a humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down. For you are my lamp, O LORD, and my God lightens my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. (2 Samuel 22:26–31 ESV).

 

Just in case we needed a reminder concerning the constant love and provision of God toward those He has called to be His children our reading today is repeated in Psalm 25. In that psalm David expresses in prayer his desire to take refuge in the Lord and walk in God’s ways. It is very similar to the first two psalms (cf. Psalm 1, 2). He petitions the Lord for guidance and protection from his enemies. But like us, David struggles to pray with confidence because he is very aware of his sinfulness. He begs God for forgiveness throughout the Psalm. But David also asserts his unwavering trust in the Lord—a trust that is not shaken by circumstances outside him or by the guilt within him. Although the Bible doesn’t give us the historical background for this Psalm, we can assume that it was written during a time of serious trouble in David’s life.  Throughout David’s life, he had many periods of trial or struggle in his life, from his time being hunted by Saul to the loss of his son. Based on his reference to the sins of his youth, we can also assume that it was written later in his life.

 

Since I have lived for over seven decades it is a bit easier to identify with David in this principle. I can look back over the years and recall so many times when God’s consistency has proven true in my life. That is even more vivid in my own inconsistency.

 

As I have worked with others in their realization of how inconsistent we can be as humans, I have used a stark reality in the process of the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification. “Sanctification” is merely the work of making each of us fit for the kingdom of God. We have entrance into heaven as a result of Jesus’ atoning work on the cross; however, being ready for heaven is a process God initiates and completes through our journey. One of the greatest things about this process is realizing the truth that God has done it all! When I start to think of “my effort” I can realize it is nothing compared to His consistent work of grace for my good. Trust in that consistency in your life!

God is Faithful in His Mercy

 

So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.” (Exodus 34:4–9 ESV).

 

Our reading today comes after Moses receives God’s commandments on a second set of stone tablets, the Lord gives Moses a testimony of His faithfulness. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the first set, he found the people worshipping a golden calf they had made to represent God. It angered him so much he threw the tablets down breaking them to pieces. He retreats to the mountaintop, and God instructs Him with mercy.

 

It is here that God descends in a cloud and stands with Moses on Mount Sinai to proclaim His own name and character. This passage is considered one of the most significant self-revelations of God in the Bible, often referred to as the "Thirteen Attributes of Mercy" in Jewish tradition. God reveals His character to Moses. He describes Himself as compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love and faithfulness. He promises to forgive sins but also states that He will not leave the guilty unpunished, noting the consequences of sin passed down to future generations.

 

It is this faithfulness in mercy that should give all of us hope. We have all created our “golden calf’s.” Whatever you may have done or not done, God’s mercy is forever extended to His children and the atoning work of Jesus is applied to grant forgiveness and restoration.

God is Faithful in His Goodness

 

I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. (Psalm 34:4–10 ESV).

 

Many Christians experience doubt about God's character at some point in their faith walk and ask, “Is God truly good?” All of us have those moments. In the book of Genesis, God commands Abram (whom he would later rename Abraham) to go to another land, which God promised to give to Abram’s offspring. All along this journey, Abram repeatedly doubts God’s goodness toward him. He especially doubts God’s promise concerning his “offspring”. Abram and his wife were already old, and they had never been able to conceive. That doubt leads Abram to conceive a child with his wife’s servant. The resulting jealousy and resentment cause strife and heartache for all involved. Despite all that, Abraham and his wife finally have a son, Isaac, when they are very old. Later, God tells Abraham: “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you” (Genesis 22:2). Now fully trusting in God’s goodness, Abraham prepares to sacrifice Isaac, the heir for whom he had waited so long. In the end, God stops Abraham: “‘Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ he said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son’” (Genesis 22:12). This “test” was more for Abraham than God.

 

Many doubters follow Abraham. Moses doubts God’s goodness in the choice of sending him to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Even after God shows him several signs that he will be with him and grant him power, Moses remains afraid and offers several well-reasoned excuses for why God should send someone else (Exodus 3-4). But God had called Moses, and he kept all his promises to Moses and the Israelites. The prophet Elijah also doubted God’s goodness. Having just defeated the prophets of Baal by calling down fire from heaven, Elijah immediately doubts God’s power to protect him from Queen Jezebel’s vengeance. He was so despondent that he wanted to die. Yet, like Moses, God had more work for Elijah to do, reassuring him with a gentle whisper (1 Kings 18-19). 

 

Clearly, we are not alone in questioning God’s goodness. And these examples all come from the Old Testament, from which many questions about God’s goodness arise. The Old Testament characterizes God as holy, just, and merciful, but also shows him as jealous, wrathful, and vengeful. In Genesis, God almost completely destroys his creation with a global flood. In Deuteronomy, God commands the Israelites:

 

In the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God (Deuteronomy 20:16-18).

 

These judgments can really make us uneasy. In our modern mindset, we may find it hard to understand or accept that God the Creator is wholly sovereign over all his creation and reserves for himself the authority to pronounce verdict and sentence against those who sin against him. And that this God is the same loving, merciful, and approachable God depicted in the New Testament. He is, in fact, the same God whose character Jesus Christ perfectly embodies.

 

Jesus shows us who God is and perfectly represents all God’s goodness. We live in a time when God’s kingdom is breaking through, but has not yet come in its fullness. In our faith journeys with Christ, the circumstances of our lives may lead us to wonder what God is doing and to doubt his ultimate goodness. But we can’t allow ourselves to stay there. In prayer, we can go before our Father in heaven and confess our struggle, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24). And he promises to never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) and to be an ever-present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).

 

We can trust in the faithfulness of the goodness of God!

 

 

The Faithfulness of God

 

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:4–9 ESV).

 

The simple declaration of the Apostle Paul at the end of our reading today is that “God is faithful” (v. 9). I cannot count the number of times I have been asked how this can be true. The context is usually in the midst of severe trial or feelings of loss. Often it is the thought people have as they have prayed and prayed for the intervention of God on behalf of a loved one and it seems as if God has abandoned them in a capricious choice of inaction.  

 

This month’s devotionals will focus on God’s faithfulness to his people—all who believe in the Lord and trust in his promises. The story of God’s love and care for us is presented in the Bible, where we read of God’s plan to bring redemption to the world and to bless all nations through his people, from whom the Savior of the world has come. That Savior is Jesus Christ, whose birth was foretold in one of the Bible’s earliest chapters. I pray that we will reflect together on how God worked faithfully for generations to bring about his salvation, and how the Lord welcomes, leads, and guides us into full life in his kingdom today.

 

Let me share one illustration at the beginning of our study that comes from Fr. Gregory Pine, who is an American Dominican friar and theologian. Pine is an assistant professor of Dogmatic and Moral theology at the Dominican House of Studies and an Assistant director of the Thomistic Institute. Recently, while listening to a podcast he was featured in, he said that Jesus often uses illustrations from the agriculture. We shouldn’t be surprised by this as we are plainly told that Adam and Eve were created in part to care for the Garden of Eden where they were placed.

 

Pine said that we often find our the task of caring for a garden uninspiring; however, when we think of the entire process it is an incredible look at how we can order our lives. If I were to desire to plant some summer vegetables, my first task would be to prepare the ground. That might involve breaking up and tilling the ground. It certainly would be essential for me to remove all the weeds in the spot I had chosen. It might take days to finish the task, but at the end of it I could look at the plot and admire the clear ground I’d created. However, it would be very unsatisfying to stop at that point. All I’d have would be a bare plot of dirt. The next step would be to plant those vegetables I want to harvest. I would certainly want tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. I might want to plant some onions or even lettuce. Once the seed begins to sprout and the plants mature they would flower and produce their respective fruit. It would be a much more beautiful plot.

 

Often we are only able to see the tilled soil and bare ground of the beginning of the work of God that we call sanctification. It may be hard and painful to see ourselves at that point. There are those times when the bare plot of our lives will seem empty and worthless. However, that is but the beginning of the work of the Holy Spirit. Unlike us, He is never tempted to quit before the harvest is full and plentiful. That is the faithfulness of God. He has a plan and is in the process of making it a reality in us. We will see this in each of the examples I’ve chosen to look at in the coming month.

 

For now, trust His faithfulness!