Pr Josephine Lu
17-01-2021
Matthew
5:7-12
New
International Version
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown
mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in
heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called
children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are
persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people
insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you
because of me. 12 Rejoice and be
glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Jesus wanted His disciples to know about the
Scriptures and to live them out as life principles.
Matthew
7:24-27
New
International Version
The Wise and Foolish Builders
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them
into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat
against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the
rock. 26 But everyone who hears these
words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who
built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the
streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with
a great crash.”
These life principles have to be put into practice. It
is the very foundation that is built in us that causes us to be strong in times
of shakings shakings,
through the storms of life, challenges and difficulties that we are facing and
will face in the future. This foundation that we’ve built by practising and
living these principles will cause us to remain steadfast in our faith so that
ultimately we can inherit the blessings that He has prepared for us.
Jesus was trying to emphasise how important these teachings. He drew
away from the multitude to go up to the mountainside where He sat down and the
disciples came to Him. It showed the seriousness of what He was about to share.
Jesus was communicating who He was through the Sermon on
the Mount. He was letting them know who He was through His teaching. He was
imparting His very life which was shown in the way He lived and He expected His
disciples to emulate. When we disciple
someone, we are actually imparting life to them, not just mere words. Our lives
speak louder than words.
Elder Saw also shared that the Sermon on the Mount was a
clear direction on how we should live as His children; not legalistic
observation of the law but the spirit of the law, that is what is in the heart
of God. These kingdom principles are lived out as we choose to repent from the
religious systems or worldly systems that have influenced our lives.
Matthew
5:7
New
International Version
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they
will be shown mercy.
Whenever Jesus showed His attributes, there was always the
opposite attributes shown by the Pharisees that was totally opposite of who He
was. For example, He demonstrated mercy in the way He acted with the woman
caught in adultery. (John 7:53-8:11) The Pharisees said those caught in
adultery must be stoned according to the law of Moses. But Jesus told her to
leave her life of sin for He does not condemn her. He showed that He truly had
come to save the sinners, the tax collectors, the prostitutes—people deserving
of condemnation but He came to seek them out. His love and mercy draws people
into His kingdom. People would disregard them and look down on them but the
heart of Jesus was to reach out to these people.
Matthew
9:12-13
New
International Version
12 On hearing this, Jesus
said, “It
is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
How do we react towards those who are under privileged,
the prisoners and the prostitutes? Do we despise them in our hearts and say
they are beyond redemption? Have we spent
time praying for them? They are in the midst of this darkness and how much time
have we actually spent praying for them? Jesus came for them. He showed how
much he loved them.
Matthew
20:30-34
New
International Version
30 Two blind men were
sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they
shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
31 The crowd rebuked them
and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of
David, have mercy on us!”
32 Jesus stopped and called
them. “What
do you want me to do for you?” he
asked.
33 “Lord,” they answered,
“we want our sight.”
34 Jesus had compassion on
them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed
him.
Don’t underestimate the power of one encounter with the
living God. People are in need of God’s love and mercy. When they
experience His mercy through us, just one encounter can cause them to follow
Him. Miracles and healings are often linked to a heart of mercy and compassion.
Are we too busy to hear the cries of the needy, the destitute and the outcast
of society?
In the midst of the crowds, He heard the blind men, He called
them and He healed them. This is the heart of Jesus.
In what circumstance can we be merciful to others that
will ultimately portray Christlikeness in us.
When we have been wronged, are we able to forgive easily or do we feel
we have the right to hold that offense, and bear grudges and unforgiveness in
our hearts?
Mercy matters because we all need forgiveness. We are not
perfect. We sin against others and others sin against us and there is always a
need to forgive.
Christ’s mercy is His total favour given gladly to the
undeserving heart.
He will never keep a record of our sins or failings.
Lamentations
3:22-23
New
International Version
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we
are not consumed,
for
his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great
is your faithfulness.
We can really depend on God’s mercy and His forgiveness. Through
all our shortcomings, God is still doing a refining work in us. This attribute
of mercy that we give to others depicts His heart that we are willing to humble
ourselves and say that we forgive in spite of what’s been done against us and
this will actually touch the hearts of the people and this will liberate them
to know that they are forgiven.
His mercy can never be properly explained. It is
experienced. The only way we can explain mercy is by being merciful ourselves.
Remember the story of the unmerciful servant? (Matthew
18:21-35) He had his own debt wiped away but refuses to forgive another servant
who owed him a few cents.
Whenever we find it hard to forgive, remember how much we
have been forgiven and release our hearts to forgive those who have wronged us.
We need to show forth God’s mercy.
Matthew
5:8
New
International Version
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they
will see God.
Jeremiah
17:9-10
New
International Version
9 The heart is
deceitful above all things
and
beyond cure.
Who
can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart
and
examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
according
to what their deeds deserve.”
Sin separates us from a close and intimate relationship
with God. David’s cry in Psalm 51 was:
Psalm
51:10
New
International Version
10 Create in me a pure
heart, O God,
and
renew a steadfast spirit within me.
David was one who knew the presence of God. He always
longed to be in His presence. But when he sinned against God when he committed
adultery with Bathsheba, he wanted to come back to that place of abiding again.
Psalm
51:11
New
International Version
11 Do not cast me from
your presence
or
take your Holy Spirit from me.
David came back to the presence of God by confessing His
sins. Whenever we have sins that are not confessed before God, it becomes a
place that blocks us from the fullness of His presence. The joy and gladness
seems to be stolen away from us, we suffer guilt, shame and heaviness. We thank
God, that through Jesus Christ, we are able to confess our sins and come back
to a close relationship with God the Father.
The prime target of the enemy is to defile our hearts
with bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, resentment, lust and the love for the
world. Instead of being pure, our hearts are defiled. This area of defilement
hinders us from coming to and enjoying the very presence of God.
This “seeing God” is not only in the future when we enter
the eternal kingdom but it is also present.
When we have these things that defile us inside of us, we
can’t see God in the Scriptures. The Word of God does not speak to us anymore
and we have doubt and unbelief. It hinders us from seeing God in our everyday
life where God is showing us His protection and His provisions because we are
blinded because of the conditions of our hearts.
Sin separates us from God. That’s why we need to purify
our hearts.
Through the cross of Calvary, we have direct access to the
very presence of our Lord. The more we have of Him in us, the more of His
presence is over us. The more of the Word of God that we read, the more it
cleanses us from within and purifies us. God puts us through tests to see what
is really inside of us. And when these things surface, it is time for us to
tell the Lord honestly and repent before Him and confess that we still have
anger, impatience and lack of self-control and ask God to purify that things
that defile our hearts
Having a pure heart is a divine work of the Holy Spirit.
We need the outpouring of His presence and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in
us to bring restoration to our hearts and to bring wholeness and healing and to
make it pure once again.
Discipling others is really imparting the life of Christ
to others. Out of the purity of our hearts, we will rightly portray who Christ
is to the fallen world.
Psalm
51:17
New
International Version
17 My sacrifice, O
God, is a broken spirit;
a
broken and contrite heart
you,
God, will not despise.
God will not despise us when we come before Him with a
contrite heart to tell Him of our sins, brokenness and mistakes. God really
wants to restore us. He really wants to do that work of building us up, that we
are able to be strengthened to face challenges and to be able to impart life to
others.
There is so much fear in the hearts of the people and we
need to come back to that place of abiding in God and let our hearts to be
filled with peace and allow our hearts to be strengthened to face a new day
again.
Matthew
5:10-12
New
International Version
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people
insult you, persecute you and
falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven,
for in the same way they persecuted the
prophets who were before you.
2
Timothy 3:10-13
New
International Version
A Final Charge
to Timothy
10 You, however, know all
about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love,
endurance, 11 persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of
things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the
persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a
godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
13 while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving
and being deceived.
Paul was imparting to Timothy “my way of life” which
included persecutions and sufferings, and how he had to endure it. He warned
Timothy that all who live a godly life in Christ will be persecuted.
Whenever you make a stand for God, whenever you do not
compromise in a situation, whenever the world says to do this and you say no,
you will be persecuted.
God promises us that there will be eternal blessings or
rewards when we stand firm upon His Word and let our light shine in the midst
of being tempted to compromise
Actually we should ask ourselves why we are not
experiencing persecution. Maybe we are
so much a part of the world system and not standing for righteousness? Maybe we
are afraid to make a stand for the Lord? Maybe some of us do not even share the
gospel?
We need to check ourselves. Is there a fear of being
rejected by the people? Is there a fear of being alone? This silence speaks a
lot in God’s eyes.
When we disciple someone, we need to share with them that
in walking with Christ, we need to forgive our persecutors and to humble
ourselves to go through persecution and say what Jesus said: “Father, forgive
them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
We have not come to the point of being persecuted to the
point of suffering. But let’s prepare ourselves to be strong enough in our
hearts that we will not let go of our faith and that we will continue to remain
faithful to the Lord. It is something that we need to really pray for ourselves
and for our church to remain faithful to the end.
We are fighting a battle in the heavenlies as well. Satan
tempted Jesus to give him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor,
if He would bow down to worship Him. (Matthew 4:8-9). Each kingdom has their
own principles, code of ethics and standards. Which kingdom do we belong to?
That’s why when Jesus came, he first preached on
repentance. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 4:17) Repentance is a turning away
from the kingdom of the world and entering into His kingdom by being born
again.
We thank God that we are translated from a kingdom of
darkness to a kingdom of light but do not forget that Satan is there to tempt
us to compromise and to follow his principles through compromises in our lives
by the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. In the
process, we lose the effectiveness of shining for the Lord and our testimony is
marred because we choose to compromise, our strength is weakened because we
give in to sin. So we need to strengthen what is within us through the Word of
God through practising what the Lord has told us to do. It is not head
knowledge but rather, a life that lives out God’s kingdom principles.
Jesus has promised us an eternal kingdom that will never
fade away. While on earth, let us be trained in godliness and live out the
kingdom principles that will influence the people to come to Him. Let us build
a strong foundation by living out these principles that we will be able to be
his disciples that remain strong in trying times and one day, we will rule and
reign with Christ.
Let us be thankful for the heart of Jesus for drawing us
away from the crowd and wanting us to come to that place of quietness where He
will begin to search our hearts and speak to us. Let us humble ourselves before
God and live out the principles by His grace and by the help of the Holy
Spirit.
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