Scripture: Matthew 5:10, Matthew 7:7-14, 2 Timothy
2:14-16, 19
Read Matthew 5:10
In this, our 8th
Beatitude, we see that it actually represents a number of passages in scripture
that refer to persecution, and each is in reference to the faithful who are, or
will be, oppressed by people of the world.
This isn’t a simple hatred that is being meted out upon random folks who
are different – it is a tyranny that is directed intentionally and solely
toward followers of Jesus Christ.
At the beginning of this
series, we considered the promise contained in the first Beatitude, that “the
poor in spirit” would be blessed through being welcomed into “the
kingdom of heaven”. And here, Jesus
is offering an expanded example of what being His follower is all about. Not only are we to be humble in this life,
but we are also to be prepared to be opposed at every turn and in every
difference that the world can conger up.
And in doing so, they will be missing out on the most significant
blessing that Life can bring.
Being a follower of Jesus
Christ requires that we take on an entirely new approach to living this life –
that whatever was in our life before can never be what we claim for the rest of
this existence. And the Church has an
obligation to point out that difference to not only believers, but to all who
are living in diverse ways, encouraging then to leave the “broad” ways
of earth, and to begin following the “narrow: way of Jesus. (Matthew7:13-14)
Read Matthew 7:7-8
I think we all have known
someone who, when we either invited them to join us in worship, or even spoke
about our faith in Christ, their response was probably something like “Oh, I’m
so far gone that it wouldn’t do me any good!”
However, this passage would tell us, as well as those other people, an
entirely different story.
Jesus offers everyone a new
hope in Him, through three actions on our part.
The first is to “ask” the Lord for forgiveness and to be welcomed
to His way through prayer. The second is
to “seek” an understanding of all that He has taught and all of the
instructions that God has given to us through the many years since
creation. And the third is to “knock”,
which is different from the “asking”.
This last point is vividly demonstrated in that famous painting entitled
“The Light of the World” by William Holman Hunt. Most versions of this event show the Lord
standing at a door that is overgrown and obviously had never been opened for a
long time. The door has no doorknob on
the outside, and can only be opened from the inside. (Revelation 3:19-20)
Interestingly though, the
words of Jesus that we just read say that it is us who are to do the “knocking”! For just a moment, think about the purpose of
knocking on a door. It’s to let those
who are inside the house know that someone has come to see them, and would like
to be welcomed into their presence. In
the context of asking and seeking, our knocking, the desire to come into God’s
presence, is symbolic of our faith and commitment to live in Him. And when Jesus is depicted as the One
who is doing the knocking, He is saying that He, too, wishes to live in
us. The relationship is being defined as
two-way – that we must be living in Christ, and must welcome Him and His Life
into us. (John 14:16-18)
Read Matthew 7:9-12
These words imply that there
is goodness within us all, and yet, the “evil” that is so prevalent in our
lives tends to overshadow everything good that we may be doing for others. When we “ask” and welcome Jesus to intimacy
within our life, we also begin to understand the evil that is destroying us,
and Christ brings us an opportunity to reverse that trend. And in verse 12, He gives us a “new rule” to
live by, that we should be seeing our life through the tentative example of how
we should desire to have others see us, and treat us.
This “Golden Rule”, as we
have come to know it, is calling us to live in the “goodness” that comes by
faith in Jesus, and not just in the human goodness that may already
exist within our life. The problem with
the way that many people interpret these words is that the way we want to be
treated is seldom, if ever, the same way that God wants us to
live.
One of the Old Testament
passages that I think we all should work to not only memorize, but to live, is
in Isaiah 55:8-11 where we read these words from God – “8 ‘For
my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’
declares the Lord. 9 “As
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and
my thoughts than your thoughts.” So
the point that I’m trying to make is that our perception of how
“goodness” may be defined, is nowhere even close to the way that the Lord’s
goodness can change and prepare us for eternity.
So Christ’s call on us to do
as we desire others to do to us, is not a call that is on all people, but is
one that is for those who already live in Christ Jesus, and who call Him
Lord. It must always be in His way that
we should desire others to treat us.
Read Mathew 7:13-14
This discussion of “gates” is
further defined in the “I AM” statement in which Jesus tells us that He is the
Good Shepherd of our lives. In that
passage from John 10:1-18, He also says that not only is He the “keeper”
of the gate, but that He IS the gate that protects His “flock”. It is “narrow” by the standard that the world
would create, for they believe that the way to God can be by many means, and through
many ways, and that a “gate” that is narrow is just too limiting for the people
of this world, and would exclude the beliefs of those who follow other
ways.
But just how narrow is the
Gate of Christ? It is certainly wide
enough to allow and welcome ALL who desire to live a life of righteousness
through Him! However, the smallness that
is referred to, I suppose, is because the world’s approach to faith includes
such diverse and wide-ranging ideologies that they all exclude the way and name
of Jesus, in favor of every other approach that has ever been conceived by them!
The name and way of Jesus is
the only one that leads us into the path of righteousness, and therefore is the
only way that can lead us to the kingdom of heaven. God has created all that is, seen and unseen,
and it is, by all wisdom and reason, His place to define what the Truth is, and
that through His Truth, who and how we are to find our way into His
grace.
Read 2 Timothy 2:14-16, 19
Two quick points before we conclude today’s
message. First, the Church should never
simply remember what the Bible reveals about Jesus, we should also be reminding
each other what the truth of God has prepared for all who come to Jesus in
faith. And second, the “wide gate” that
the world believes to be so important, is nothing more than the “godless
chatter” that deceives and divides us, and leads the world into greater and
greater godless waywardness.
God is firm - never changing from one day to the
next. And just as Jesus knows every one
of His sheep by name (John 10:3),
God, in His eternal and divine Fullness, knows all who confess the name of
Jesus as their Lord and their Savior.
Jesus is the Way, and He is the Gate to God’s kingdom – for no one who is
not on His way or seeking entry through His Gate, will ever know the glory of
God for their lives.
And that will be the shame of all shames.
