Scripture: Matthew 5:9, Matthew 5:43-48, John 11:32-40
Read Matthew 5:9
In today’s Beatitude, the 7th in our
series, we consider what depth of love will be required in our lives, if we are
to be an example of Godly peace - not only within our families and friends, but
to our nation and throughout the world.
Love should never be limited by our predisposed attitudes about others,
but if it is, the Lord’s peace will never be sufficiently complete in our lives
to inspire others to seek His way for themselves.
In previous examinations of other Beatitudes, we
have discovered that shallow considerations and applications of our faith will
never be adequate to meet the expectations that Jesus has for our life of
obedience (Matthew 28:18-20). And I will say it once again – that a
singular and outward appearance of faithful living will never reach into the
hearts and spirits of the world, for they can see through the half-hearted
efforts that we offer, and then, just as they always have, will resort to calling
us out as “hypocrites”! And rightly
so! The word itself comes from a Greek
reference to the ancient Greek theater, where the actors were all men, and to
give the appearance of defining themselves as others, especially as women or
animals, they wore masks to reveal the character they were representing. And the word “hypocrite”, or at least the ancient
Greek word that our word comes from, means “the one behind the mask”.
Jesus would have us know that those who claim to be
His people must never be caught hiding behind a mask that defines them as one of
the world’s.
Read Matthew 5:43-48
When Jesus tells us that we are to love our enemies,
He isn’t simply referring to those who may have attached us, but to all who
aren’t like us, or who think differently than we do, or deny the truths that we
hold dear! As an example, for Israel in
His day, He may have been referring to the Romans, or the Samaritans, or to every
non-believer who may have entered into their lives!
For us in our day, it may be a bit more complicated,
as each of us may have a different list of who we just might have to change our
attitudes toward. It could be those who
insult us or cause us problems at work; it could be those who hold to a
different political or religious ideology than we do; and it would definitely
include the people of any other nation that may have aspirations of negatively
impacting our way of life. You’ll notice
that it isn’t just those whom we know, or even those whose names we
know. It includes everyone whom
we may have a differing of opinion with!
And His call for us to “pray for those who
persecute” us is going to be just as difficult, if not more so! For the prayer that we are to offer on their
behalf is not for them to suffer in return, or even that their persecution
would end, but for a blessing that will lead them to the way of Jesus Christ! And the difficulty will be made even greater,
for there is no other faith or law that would require the same of others. For as we are to love and pray for a faithful
desire in their heart, their hatred for us will never cease until God’s time is
right for either their conversion or their judgment.
The Lord never gives us any rationale or hope within
these commands, other than it is His will for our lives. If we are to be His, we must be prepared to
live in the way that He defines. And at
the very end of His call, Jesus challenges us to “be perfect” as the
Father is perfect. I expect that neither
Jesus nor the Father ever expect that we will even come close to living
that kind of perfection, but I do believe that they want us to set it as a goal
within our faith walk, and to come closer to their perfection every day of our
life. For if we don’t love others as
Jesus does, how could we possibly have the peace of God in our lives, and
beyond that, to be able to offer to others that same peace?
The
point is that we won’t, and we can’t!
Read John 11:32-40
The question that many have
asked through the years, including a number of Biblical scholars, is this -
what is happening here that has caused Jesus to be so “moved … and troubled”? The commentaries have a lot of possible
explanations, with little agreement on what the reason may actually be. So I may as well enter the mix, and offer my
thoughts on what has caused Jesus to have such a troubled spirit!
First of all, it seems that for
everyone, including Mary, and her sister Martha in an earlier verse in this
chapter (11:21), as well as the bystanders at the tomb – none of them
even tried to understand why Jesus didn’t just get there before Lazarus died, to
save him from the agony of death! Throughout
Jesus’ 3 years of ministry, He had repeated revealed that He was bringing an
entirely new way for the people of earth.
But this newness would not only be opposed, but it would be
misunderstood over and over again.
So what was the purpose that
eluded everyone, including His own disciples?
That this delay was to let all believers observe “the glory of God”
that was coming through Him. So the
vitally important question for us today, is this – “have you experienced the
glory of God in Christ for yourself?” If
you have only heard about it, if you have only read about it, if you have only
known others who have seen it, what have you been waiting for? Why are you causing Jesus to experience even
more ”trouble” in His Being?
Consider all that He has done
for your and others benefit – it all began when He left His glory behind, to
come to this place in a human form that we should have been comfortable with, but
to be denied the honor, glory and love that He so richly deserves - simply to be
betrayed, and denied, and ridiculed, and humiliated, and falsely accused, and
executed as a criminal – all so that He might have the opportunity to share the
truth of God’s love with us, and to be the way of peace and forgiveness and
salvation for all who will believe!
And everything that Jesus did
and taught was to prepare us to carry on in the ministry that He was beginning. How many fully believed all that He stood for
at the moment of His death? How about on
the day of His resurrection? How about
by the time of His ascension to return to His heavenly home? Before the outpouring of God’s Spirit at
Pentecost, we read in Acts 1:15 that there were only “about 120”
believers still gathering together in the name of Jesus! Only 120!
And how many had seen His
healings, and heard His preaching and teaching and promises? Countless tens of thousands! How many have heard or read of the truths
that He offered over the past 2,000 years or so? I think it would be conservative to say
countless billions! And how many
will escape the coming wrath of God’s Judgment?
In Romans 5:9 we read “ 9 Since we have now been justified by his
blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s
enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how
much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”
The only ones who will see glory on that
Day, will be those who have claimed the salvation which only comes through
faith in the Divine Blood that Jesus shed at Calvary. By faith in Christ, we may be persecuted, we
may be hated and denied, we may be assaulted for our faith, we may even loose
our life, but the world only has authority over our humanity, and is powerless
to affect, to any degree, our salvation and eternal life. (Matthew 10:38-40)
Have you loved in the purer way of
Jesus? If not, maybe the time has come –
before it is too late!
