Monday Morning Memo: Being at Peace Part 3

Two weeks ago, we began our look into the beatitude in Matthew 5:9 which tells us, “Blessed arethe peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”  We realized that first, peacemakers are at peace with God.  Last week, we investigated the fact that peacemakers are at peace with others.  Finally, we need to realize that:

3.  Peacemakers are at peace with themselves.  For some, this may be the hardest aspect of peace to comprehend.  Psalm 122:8 says, “For the sake of my family and friends, I will say,
“May you have peace.”  Proverbs 3:1-2 reads, “My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you peace and prosperity.”  We read in Colossians 3:15, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”

If you have peace with God and peace with others (so far as it depends on you), then you should have peace with yourself.  But we won’t have peace with ourselves if we either have unconfessed sin OR are still nursing a grudge against someone who has wronged us.  If we aren’t feeling peace in us, we may need to look at these two areas of our life.

But I also think a reason we may not have peace is because we haven’t forgiven ourselves for our past.  I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have things in their past that they regret.  Times where they have made the wrong choice…followed the wrong path…done things they know aren’t pleasing to God.  We all are guilty of this.  And while we may have made peace with God and others as a result of those transgressions…we haven’t forgiven ourselves and don’t have peace.

We are so fortunate that God is a God of forgiveness.  Once we have asked Him to forgive us of any sin…He immediately wipes it away.  Hebrews 8:12 tells us, “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”  Never.  Such a powerful word in this verse.  He will never again remember your sin…or mine.  But Satan loves to throw it back in our face to keep us from having peace.  He knows that the less peace we have…the less productive and effective followers of Jesus we will be.  We dare not let him win. 

A few basics things we need to remember about peace:

 

1. The source of peace is God…that’s why it’s a matter of faith.  We must trust and obey Him in order to receive and give peace.  Peace demands that we turn to God and to His ways.

2. The enemy of peace is Satan and sin.  Wherever there is discord or conflict, you can know that Satan is having his way.  It is always easier to create conflict than to strive for peace.

3. Christians should reflect peace in their lives both as a quality they have within themselves and as a blessing they share with others.

Blessed are the peacemakers…will you and I display God’s peace this week in everything we do?  I sure hope so, because that is what He expects from His children.

Monday Morning Memo: Being at Peace Part 2

I will begin with an apology because this post is longer than usual.  I’ve cut and cut…but I just couldn’t get peace about cutting anymore.  So, since we are studying peace…I thought I should just go with it 😊

Last week we began our look into the beatitude in Matthew 5:9 which tells us, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”  We realized that first…peacemakers are at peace with God.  Today we will investigate the fact that:

2.  Peacemakers are at peace with others.  2 Corinthians 13:11 says, “Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.”  Romans 12:18 tells us to “Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.”

But then Matthew 5:43-45, which many of us are familiar with, makes it a little harder.  It says, “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy.  But I say, love your enemies!  Pray for those who persecute you!  In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven.  For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.”

I think it is sometimes difficult to pray for our enemies without falling into the trap of just spending our time asking God to change them instead of us.  I don’t think that is what He desires for us to do.  Instead, I think we could follow Christ’s directions when He tells us to “Pray like this” (see Matthew 6:9-10).  We can pray that we and our enemy will revere God’s name.  We can pray that God’s kingdom and His return will be foremost in our mind and in theirs.  We should pray that we and our enemy would do His will the way the angels do in heaven.   If we remember that the basis of peace is purity, we should pray for our enemies and for ourselves that our hearts and lives will be pure…so there will be peace.

Then in Matthew 5:47 Jesus gives us a warning: "If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else?  Even pagans do that.”  In other words, if there is a rupture in one of our relationships, or if there is someone who opposes us, don't nurse that grudge. Don't feed the animosity by ignoring and avoiding that person. The natural thing to do is to just cross the street so we don't have to greet them. But that is not what the actions should be of a peacemaking, devoted follower of God.  Peacemaking tries to build bridges to people. It doesn’t want animosity to remain. It wants reconciliation. It wants harmony. 

OK.  Let’s put this into a scenario and bring it closer to home.  Let’s say someone has hurt you.   They have said things about you behind your back which aren’t true.  Why, they have even said things that aren’t true right to your face!   They have been malicious, hurtful, and downright nasty to you.  You may have even gone to them and tried to work it out, but they aren’t playing the game.  They want nothing to do with reconciliation.  And what really fries your fannie is they profess to be a Christian!  They go to church every Sunday morning…just like you do…but yet they act this way.

Now, let’s imagine you are shopping in a store, and you come around a corner, look down the aisle and you guessed it, there’s the person who has done these things to you.  Would you duck back into another aisle to make sure you don’t run into this person?  Our humanness would say yes, but we need to remember what we just read in Matthew.  We are no better than pagans if we are only kind to our friends and not our enemies. 

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I really don’t think this is telling us that when we see a person such as this in a store, we should run up to them and give them hugs and kisses.  Why? Because if nothing else, I think it would make the person very uncomfortable to say the least.  But it is telling us that the least we can do is look them in the eye, greet them and do it not with a phony display of caring, but with a longing for peace and reconciliation. 

There is something I think we need to realize.  We should not equate peacemaking with peace-achieving.  If we are truly living as a peacemaker, we are to long for peace, work for peace (which may include a simple greeting in a store) and at times even make sacrifices for peace….but the attainment of peace may never come.  

It is also important to make sure we aren’t the one who is spreading lies and being malicious and nasty to someone else.  Peace will never be found if we spend our time making someone else’s life miserable because of our actions.

It comes down to the fact that our goal should be to make peace: “If possible, so far as it depends on you….”  In other words, don’t let the rupture in the relationship be your fault.  We are to do whatever we can to reconcile the relationship, but we cannot make the other person have peace with us.  Again, it may never happen. 

Just as last week, it might be a good idea for us to do some self-inventory this week.  Are there those whom we are shunning or spreading malicious lies about?  Is there someone with whom we aren’t at peace…but we have been waiting for them to take the first step in reconciliation?  Let’s pray God would reveal to us if there is anything we need to do this week to make sure, as far as we are concerned, that we are at peace with those with whom we come in contact.

Until next time… 

Monday Morning Memo: Being at Peace Part 1

This week we find our beatitude in Matthew 5:9 which tells us, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”  The Message says, “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight.  That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.”

As I began studying this beatitude, it didn’t take long to realize that maybe what I was finding wasn’t going to be as easy to swallow as I thought it would be. If I’m honest, I think this has probably been one of the beatitudes that I sort of skimmed over.  Why?  Because I thought I had this one down.  I know I need some growth with the previous beatitudes, but not this one.  I’ve always thought of myself as a peaceful person.  I don’t like fights or upheaval.  So, I figured I could pass over this one.

But of course, I had to dig a little deeper to be able to write about it today, because maybe YOU needed to learn about being a peacemaker.  I should know by now that whenever I think that way…it won’t be long until my own toes are feeling rather bruised.  So, we will spend at least two weeks, and possibly three, on this convicting beatitude.

So, what is a peacemaker?  Peacemakers are those whose life demonstrates peace.  This is just common sense, but I think we need to look at whom we are supposed to be at peace with.  First, I think we need to realize that:

1. Peacemakers are at peace with God.  We read in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord had done for us.”  Then, James 4:1-4 tells us, “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you?  Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?  You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it.  You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them.  Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.  And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong – you want only what will give you pleasure.

You adulterers!  Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God?  I say it again:  If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.”

Well now…James didn’t mince any words here, did he?  I’m guessing he didn’t receive the most popular award from those listening; but he knew he had to preach the truth, even if it made him unpopular.  It saddens me that some Christians today, even some in our pulpits, want to sugarcoat the gospel so everyone feels good and doesn’t get their feelings hurt.  As followers of Christ, we are called to speak His Word in truth, even if it doesn’t make us well-liked.

It is obvious from James’ words that if we have anything in our life that isn’t pleasing to God, that sin makes us His enemy.  As a result, for us to have peace with our God, we need to make sure we don’t have unconfessed sin in our life.  Thank goodness, since Jesus died on the cross for our transgressions, we can have our sins forgiven and as a result we can have peace with our God.  A peacemaker is someone who has ended all conflict with God and has accepted His Word as absolute truth.  You can’t make peace unless you are at peace with God.

I think before we continue with this beatitude, it might be a good idea for us to do some self-inventory this week.  Is there anything in your life and in mine that isn’t pleasing to God?  Are we more concerned about what everyone else thinks of us, instead of making sure we are at peace with Him?  Are we willing to stand up for God’s Word, speaking the truth, even when some may turn against us?

I know this hasn’t been a “feel-good” post, but I know there may be those, including myself, who need some toe-stepping.  I’m willing to take the chance…will you join me?

Until next week…

Monday Morning Memo: Heart Cleaning Part 2

Last week we began looking at the beatitude in Matthew 5:8, which reads, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”  The Message states it this way, “You’re blessed when you get your inside world – your mind and heart – put right.  Then you can see God in the outside world.”  We ended by asking ourselves if we really want God to see and know our heart.  He does, whether we like it or not, but what are we doing to make sure our heart is clean and fully devoted to Him?  Are we ready and willing to pray David’s prayer, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”?

So how can we maintain a pure heart as we go through our days?  By ourselves, it is impossible, but what is impossible for us is possible for God!  With Him living in us and His Spirit controlling us, we can have a heart that is pleasing to Him.

One of the most primary ways we can develop a pure heart is by spending time in the Word of God.  As the psalmist said, “How can a young man keep his way pure?  By living according to your word” (Psalm 119:9) and then in Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”   If we are struggling with having a pure heart, we need to check how much time we are spending reading the Bible.

 

Another way to maintain a pure heart is through fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, because it helps to be accountable to one another.  Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10,”Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:  If one falls down, his friend can help him up.  But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!”  The author of Hebrews tells us in 10:24, “Let us consider how we can spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”  If you aren’t spending time with other believers, I highly encourage you to make it a priority.

 

Third, we can train our heart for pure living by serving our Jesus.  The more we serve Him, the more devoted we become and the more we will want to make sure our heart is pleasing to Him.

 

The end of this beatitude, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”, gives me chills!  When our time on this earth is over, those who have faithfully served Him as their Lord and Savior will see Him face to face for all of eternity.  I John 3:2 reads, “We know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is”.

 

What an amazing promise!  Spending eternity with our Jesus is what we should look forward to…beyond college degrees, beyond climbing the corporate ladder or even beyond a secured retirement.  Seeing Him face to face will make our focus of having a pure heart all worthwhile!  

Monday Morning Memo: Heart Cleaning Part I

Today’s beatitude is the most central and significant of all the Beatitudes mentioned in this fifth chapter of Matthew. Because of this, we will look at it in two parts, one today and then we will conclude it next week.

 

Matthew 5:8 says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”  The Message states it this way:  "You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.”

 

This beatitude is so central to our behavior because you can’t be poor in spirit without having a pure heart. You can’t mourn for the things that displease God without having a pure heart. You can’t be meek, you can’t hunger and thirst for righteousness, you can’t be merciful, you can’t be a peacemaker or be prepared to withstand persecution for the name of Christ without having a pure heart. Actually, this is one of the most central principles of the Christian life that we see in the whole Bible. The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.

 

Unfortunately, we are usually more careful to keep everything clean that is seen by others and forget about the things that only God can see. If my hands are muddy, nobody wants to shake hands with me, so I better keep them clean. If I am wearing a dirty shirt, there is a good chance you would give more attention to my shirt and not hear what I am saying. We want to keep up appearances before others, but we forget about keeping pure before God.

 

This is why Jesus gave such a harsh rebuke to the scribes and Pharisees, who thought of themselves as the purest of all people. They were extremely careful to keep their outward appearance clean before men, but they didn’t worry about their relationship with God. Jesus told them: “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too (Matthew 23:25-26). 

 

Explaining this to the disciples, He said in Matthew 15:19-20: “For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.”  

 

This is the impure heart.

 

1 Chronicles 28:9 says, “And Solomon, my son, learn to know the God of your ancestors intimately. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.”

 

That is why David’s prayer in Psalm 139:23-24 was, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” 

 

There are moral laws that man can break but God cannot. Do you know there are certain things I can do that God can’t? I can lie. I can commit adultery. I can cheat. I can steal. But God can’t break these moral laws, nor can He ignore them when we break them. We are usually careful to observe the local laws set by our government because we have immediate consequences, but many times, we ignore the moral laws that have far more serious consequences. Having a pure heart means keeping God’s moral laws.

 

The interesting thing is that when we think of adultery, we think of it in the physical sense, having a sexual relation outside of marriage. The Bible does talk about this kind of adultery and certainly prohibits it. However, the Bible talks about spiritual adultery far more than physical adultery. There is a whole book written to deal with the issue of the spiritual adultery of the people of God, the book of Hosea. There are also many other chapters in the Old Testament that deal with the same subject.

 

In the New Testament, Jesus said you can’t worship God and money. So, when we devote our hearts to anything other than the cause of God, we commit spiritual adultery. As James said in James 4:4 & 8: 4) “You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.”  8) “Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”

 

Both the Old and New Testaments say, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’. This is the first and the greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38; also Deuteronomy 6:5).

 

This is a pure heart in the spiritual sense.

 

The question is, do we really want God to see and know our heart?  He does, whether we like it or not, but what are we doing to make sure our heart is clean and fully devoted to Him?  Are we ready and willing to pray David’s prayer, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”?  If we aren’t, then maybe we should spend this next week asking God to give us the courage to pray this prayer, expecting God to do a heart-cleaning within us for His glory!

 

Until next week…  

Monday Morning Memo: Do We Really Care?

I think today’s Beatitude may be one that many of us think we are living out, but if we were truly honest, we would realize we have a ways to go to fulfill it.  In Matthew 5:7 we read, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”  The version The Message states it this way: “You’re blessed when you care.  At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.”

 

I think most of us believe we care about others, but maybe we need to analyze whether or not we really care like Jesus demonstrated for us.  We read in Ephesians 5:1-2 (The Message), “Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents.  Mostly what God does is love you.  Keep company with him and learn a life of love.  Observe how Christ loved us.  His love was not cautious but extravagant.  He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us.  Love like that.” 

 

These verses tell us that just like children imitate their parents, we should imitate Christ.  His great love for us led Him to sacrifice himself so we might live.  Our love for others should be the same kind – a love which goes beyond affection to self-sacrificing service.  In other words, we need to show true mercy. 

 

To have mercy for someone is to go the extra mile for him or her.  It’s not caring for them because you know you will get something in return.  And it’s not just having pity for someone.  I believe we can have pity for someone but not really care about them.  Pity doesn’t require any action…mercy does.

 

One definition of mercy is “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.”  In other words, if you have someone in your life who you really do have reason to punish for what they have done to you, but you show them compassion or forgiveness, that is being merciful.  Jesus could have denied mercy to those who crucified Him, but He forgave them and asked God to forgive them.  That mercy filtered down to us, as we were the reason He hung on that cross.

 

This is where showing mercy can become really difficult.  Since we are to imitate Christ, we are to also show mercy and concern for those who we could just as easily hurt…maybe because they hurt us first.  It isn’t easy though to show mercy to someone who has seriously wronged us, is it?  Our first thought is usually revenge, but God tells us to be merciful.  If we are going to look like our Jesus, we need to be willing to show mercy by forgiving the person who has wronged us…even though that tends to go against the grain.  Now it may be necessary for there to be some sort of punishment or restitution from the person who wronged us, but we can still forgive them.

 

Preventing suffering is another means of showing mercy.  When we donate to the Red Cross, our church or other charitable organizations, we are showing mercy.  When we hand a bottle of cold water to someone who needs it, we are showing mercy.  Any way we can help…fits the description.  The best way to show mercy is to act.  Even the words “I forgive you” requires action on our part…we really must forgive and not store it up for later use.

 

There are other mental things we need to watch out for if we truly want to show mercy.  The first is not to feel like we’re somehow the better person.  Any “holier than thou” reaction negates the good done by our actions.

 

Secondly, we need to avoid announcing our good deeds.  Jesus called out the Pharisees for this, and the same holds true for us.  Telling about how we’ve been feeding, clothing or otherwise helping those in need makes us look good in the eyes of others.  If that is our goal, it may be the only reward we receive.

 

Unfortunately, mercy is only easy if the other person is doing it.  When it comes down to you and me, it gets a lot harder.  But it can be done, as it was done for us.

 

We need to remind ourselves from time to time that the Beatitudes represent signs of those who are truly Christ’s disciples.  So, if we genuinely want to be a devoted follower of His, we need to be willing to show mercy.  Only then will we be care-full.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!  Peter Marshall once said, “May we think of freedom, not as the right to do as we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.”  Many have sacrificed so that we can experience our independence…but we need to be willing to continue standing up for what is right and true…according to God’s Word…if we are going to be able to keep this freedom.  

Please join me in living out Philippians 4:8:  “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”