The Beatitudes

Warning... this post is going to be long.. its the beatitudes... I warn you ahead of time.. i'm sunk.

NOTE!! I just posted 4 posts at the same time. Don't forget the one entitled 'Facing the Giants & A Faith Showing Angel'.

Day 5

Matthew 5:1-12

- Oh no…. the beatitudes… this could be a long entry… I’m sunk.

- Blessed are the poor in spirit. OK I admit I have no idea what that means. I will have to look that one up and come back to it.

- Blessed are those who mourne…. So when bad things happen I should mourn.

· Hmm… so mourn makes me think of a funeral. Crying. Real deep sadness. Am I really sad when things happen? Empathy? How badly did I hurt when there was flooding in the east? How much did my actions show that I was devastated by the 100,000 people who died in the Christmas tsunami of 2004? Now, ‘my heart went out to them’. But a lot of good that did. It didn’t feed or shelter a single person. It seems that if I really mourned for my friend in need, i’d take off my shirt and give it to them because they lost theirs. Besides, I have 20 more in the closet.

- Blessed are the meek… man. This is totally countercultural. Might is right. The strong will survive. Survival of the fittest. This idea that the meek will inherit the earth goes against everything one would assume to be true. Instead, God says that those who are not the strongest and the best are the ones who will get into heaven. So why do I strive to be the strongest and the best and get the most stuff?

· I need to be meek. I think the biblical (as opposed to the current) definition of meek is to be gentle. Instead of trying to show that I am the best, just be happy with who I am.

- Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Hmm. Maybe I should skip this one. I know that I fail at this one. When I’m really hungry, I skip other stuff to get food. I can’t think of the last time that I was so hungry for the word of God that I forgot to eat a meal. I can’t think of the last time that I was so thirsty to worship my savior that I just sat for hours in his presence and soaked in his love. Maybe the reason that I am not satisfied is because I am not feasting on his word. I am not drinking in his love. Instead I spend 10 minutes reading a few words of scripture and walk away hungry wondering why.

· I need to let my hunger drive me to action. I need to spend significant parts of my day just falling more in love with my savior. I need to show by my actions that I am more hungry for God than I am for sleep and computer time.

- Blessed are the merciful, for they are the ones who will be shown mercy.

· Hmm… I don’t know that I well or badly at this one. I don’t have a lot of people wrong me. I’m not around a lot of people who are mean to me or are jerks. I think I do a good job when people are mean. Maybe I should revisit this one later.

- Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. Well I’m sunk on this one. There is no way I am pure in heart. Man my heart is full of bad stuff. I think bad thoughts all the time. I talk behind people’s back, I don’t love people like I should, I allow all sorts of things to be my idols and keep me from God. I’m sunk. My heart is not pure. So what am I supposed to do?

· I should be pure. Well yah.. .but what does that look like and how do I get there? I need to be in the scriptures daily to see WHAT a pure life look like. How can I live out what I don’t know? I need to find things in my life that reflect scripture and DO them.

· But more than that I need to beg God to change my heart. I need to be spending time before him learning his heat so that I can have mine molded to be like his.

- Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God. Hmmm… am I a peacemaker? Well I don’t go around fighting people. But I think I do a pretty good job of trying to keep the peace between people. But there are times when I am definitely not peaceful. Red lights are my bane. Little mechanical things that don’t work correctly are my bane.

· I need to play the part of peacemaker to myself. When the red lights are attacking me, just be peaceful. Relax. Breathe…..

- Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. I don’t think I’ve been persecuted much for my righteousness. I think that instead, I usually try to fly under the radar and not make waves. Instead of standing up for what I know to be true and right, I just don’t speak up so that I don’t offend people. Jesus ASSUMED that we would be persecuted because we were so darn righteous! we are supposed to be living such great lives among the rest of the world that they see us as wrong.
You know… that wouldn’t actually be that hard to do these days. If Christians stood up and said that homosexuality was wrong, we’d be persecuted by the world. If Christians stood up and said that gossip was wrong and didn’t stand for it in the workplace, we’d be thought weird. If we stood up in the churches and said that divorce was wrong and not acceptable, the church would persecute us! If we would stand up and boldly hold to scripture and let people know that you can not be a benchwarmer on Sunday and make it into heaven and that you must have good works to show that you are saved, there would be a revolt in the nation and in the church!
But we don’t. We stand quietly at the water cooler as people gossip about Amy and Brandon. We wouldn’t want to tell people they were doing something wrong. Instead, we should stand up for what Scripture tells us and hold each other accountable.

· I don’t do very well at this. I am a guy who doesn’t like to make waves with people around me. I do well at church when I am preaching to the students, but the rest of the time, I just keep my opinions to myself.

· So I think there are 2 things I need to do about this. First, I need to speak up about what is right. If they don’t hear it from me, who will they hear it from? Be bold.

· Second, I need to know the scripture. If I am going to say that the bible says something, I better be able to show them where. Its like when I was talking to daddy and donna, I was making assertions but didn’t have the passages memorized to back it up.

- Blessed are you when people insult you and say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

· This kinda goes with the last one. I should live such a good life among people that evil people will invent ways to bring me down. Again, this goes against the current Christian thought of living a happy life so people will be attracted to Jesus. Instead, scripture says that if I am living like Christ wants me to, that some people will just hate me no matter what. That’s ok.

- Rejoice and be glad because your reward is in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

You know what.. Its ok if I lose friends over speaking my mind. People have always hated those who spoke the truth in a way that they didn’t like. In the end, God says that its my job to speak the truth as best as possible, and let him take care of the rest. No, that doesn’t mean that I go around looking for ways to offend people. That doesn’t mean that I am intentionally rude. Everything I do should be soaked in and seeping love. But even when I do that, some people will not be receptive because they are enemies of God. I’m ok with them hating me because I am more interested in pleasing my savior.

Nourishment

Day 4

Matthew 4

- So this is right after Jesus is baptized.

- Man doesn’t live on bread alone, but on EVERY WORD that comes from the mouth of God.

· I need to be nourished by the word of God. I am not right now. I need to gain actual spiritual sustenance from God’s word. I don’t think I do a good job of that now. I read scripture sometimes because I need to. I don’t do it because I am desperate for it. I enjoy it when I do. But I don’t do a good job of chewing my spiritual cud. Instead I come by for a quick snack instead of sitting down and really relishing what I read. Even when I try to go deeper…I don’t think I do a great job of it.

· I think that this will help, it will help me to slow down and absorb it. I also think that it will help that I am starting to memorize scripture.

- Jesus called the men and said that he would make them fishers of men. He contextualized their message to the people he was talking to.

· How can I do that better? I can learn about teenage culture? First, who am I preaching to? Teenagers. So I need to learn their culture. But how do I learn it without being infected by it? Is it ok to quote Simpsons to show I know their culture? Is it ok to watch bad movies? It seems the answer is no. So how do I do it? Probably by just hanging out with them more.

- Prayer

· God help me to know more about the culture I am preaching to. Help me to be in it but not of it. Help me to understand and to relate without being infected by it. Help me to stay pure. Teach me to be a light in a dark place. Teach me to share you and bring light to dark places.

fruit

Day 3

Matthew 3

- John preached in the desert and people came to him – if we have the words of God, he will provide the people… we don’t need to make it trendy.

- There is wheat and chaff… the chaff will be burned in the fire, only the wheat will make it through.
It seems that there is a separation of those who are true and those who are fake. We are supposed to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. So if we don’t have fruit, it seems that scripture says that we will get cut down and thrown into the fire.

· I need to produce fruit. What fruit do I produce? I work with the students at church… but what fruit do I really see out of that? Not much. I need to love on my guys more.

· So what fruit do I have? I have a strong marriage… and that’s kinda fruit, but not really the fruit of repentance. I have the fact that I am seeking holiness and how to live out my faith… and I have the fact that I am living a good life… but it feels like for me, fruit is a good quiet time. Fruit is drawing closer to God. I feel close mostly, but I don’t feel like I’m really getting closer much. I feel like I’m moving, but just sideways. It’s like I’m circling and trying to figure out the best approach. I have all these things brewing in me, but they just aren’t getting out yet… but that still doesn’t mean that I’m really getting more fruit.

· So what is my fruit? If I can do this study faithfully, I think that would be fruit. I think that if I can start memorizing scripture, that is fruit. If I am more faithful about praying than that is fruit.

· I need fruit. I want to be saved. I don’t want to assume that because I am in seminary and go to church that I am saved. God can raise up children for Abe from rocks, so my religiosity doesn’t earn me passage into heaven.

- Prayer

· God help me to produce fruit. I want to show my salvation by my good works. I want to show evidence of what is already within me by doing what you ask of me. Show me the areas of my life that are lethargic and how to revitalize them. Show me the areas of my life that are productive and how to bring you more honor and glory through those. God, please cause me to produce fruit. (Matthew 3)

Facing the Giants & A Faith Showing Angel

OK... so if you have seen the movie... and if you liked it.. you should probably skip reading this.

Umm... facing the giants... a movie made by a church in Atlanta. For a church making a movie, they did a pretty good job. However....

in the end, it followed every other Christian movie I have ever seen. It stunk. The acting was bad. The visual quality wasn't great. The script was TERRIBLE (yes... even worse than the new Star Wars). And it was just full of CHEESE!! It was all corny lines about how we should trust in Jesus and he will help us.

So in the end, I have 2 lines of thought.

First, I am conflicted about this type of movie. I think the message was pretty good. Trust in God, seek Him first, and let him take care of the rest. And I don't think the movie presented any health and wealth of worship God and he will make you rich and win football games (although they did win the game against all odds). Its just that the way they present it is so corny. Its like.. I know that stuff is true in real life, but when I see it on a movie screen, it just sounds so packaged and fake. I cant figure this out. Where does it break down? The message is true. I have experienced similar things in my life. I just need to trust God more. Sometimes he allows us to go through hard times to test and grow us. Sometimes he allows bad things to happen to us to bring himself more glory. But when those true things get translated to the big screen, it just comes across as fake. It comes off as 'religion'. It comes off as... well as ridiculous. I laughed through most of the movie. It was just so... well ridiculous. So where does it break down? I really don't know. What do you think on this one?


Second, the quality of 'christian' movies has always been sub-par. I've never seen a Christian movie that wasn't cheesy. I've never seen a Christian movie that was like, 'wow.. that was really done with excellence'. Its always a cheaply done. The actors are so-so to lousy, the music is like the end of every Full House episode, and the story line is so predictable its disgusting. Shouldn't Christians be producing the best stuff in the industry? Shouldn't we be the best in our fields whatever that may be? Why?

You know who does an excellent job in this category? Dan Cathy. He is the guy that runs Chic-Fil-A. He does not run a christian business. He simply runs his business by biblical standards. The difference is that he is not using his food to shove Jesus down everyone throats. Instead, the way he runs his business makes people want to eat there. People know what he stands for. They are closed on Sunday - people know. He does his job with excellence. I have never been in a dirty Chic-fil-a. Thats the only fast food joint i can say that about. I have never been treated badly by an employee. I have never seen an employee who wasn't eager to serve me and help me. Every time you tell them thanks, they respond with 'my pleasure'. Its not a Christian business. Its a business that is attractive because it is done with excellence. And his words and actions follow his philosophy. He shares the gospel with the employees and guests the night before a store opens. He serves as a sunday school teacher - I know, I sat and talked with him. He told me how he struggles to take care of his guys. The man is living his life with excellence. And people are attracted to Christ.

Then you have christian movies. They are cheesy and make you laugh instead of inspiring you. I was more inspired by Remember the Titans, than I was by facing the giants. I read the 'Left Behind' series and I like the idea behind it, but the writing is elementary and not great. I revieve ads for a Christian bookstore and see a description of a tube of 'HeavenScent Shea Butter Hand Cream. "Not only will this gift leave her skin feeling smooth and silky, it is also a great way to share your hope and faith in Christ." Are you serious? That's the best you can do at sharing the gospel? Really? I'm thinking that when Jesus said to go out into the world and preach the good news... he wasn't talking about hand lotion. Seriously.

But that's not nearly as good as the description of a Willow Tree angel... "Not only will it add style to any home, it also says a lot about someone's faith and trust in God." ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? My faith is not shown by my loving the poor. My faith is not shown by telling people about Jesus with my words. My faith is not evidenced by my giving of my time in front of the idiot-box to study the very words of the Creator of the universe. My faith is shown by buying a wooden angel. THAT'S THE FAITH I WANT!!

And I know I'm being sarcastic here, but I just think that our culture is really into being religious. They are really into looking spiritual. But that's worthless. We need to be IN CHRIST. We need to be DOING the things Christ called us to do as a result of spending so much time with him and being so in love with him that we can do nothing BUT tell everyone we know about him and giving our money away because we value HIM and HEAVEN more than getting more worthless stuff...

I just dont see the christian community living up to what Christ called us to be. I don't see me living up to what Christ wants for me. That's what this summer is about for me. trying to figure out what my life should look like.... that's why I will be posting some of my daily thoughts. I hope you come along for the ride...


*and star wipe.... and cut*

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