This is the first chapter in Jesus' sermon on the mount...we could have a separate blog for every paragraph in chapter 5! But alas, I am just going to hit on a few points that jumped out at me and you can comment on the things that really jumped out to you.
5:2-11 - It blows my mind to look at the description of the people that Jesus calls blessed. The picture they create is exactly the opposite of everything we strive for in our culture. We do anything we can, including making ourselves slaves to jobs, to not be poor; we are completely paralyzed and fearful of death and do anything to stay away from being sad; we do anything we can to show that we are not weak; we work really hard to not stand out in any way...the self-reliant and perfection seeking culture we have created does little to promote our absolute need for God. Maybe I need to spend a little time removing layers of protection I have built up and connecting with my brokenness so I will always reach out to the grace of God.
5:13 - To accept the message of Christ and make no changes in your life or no difference in the lives of people around you is a sure sign of dead spirituality.
Starting to think you can save yourself because you are a good person? (I hope you don't, I'm just making a point) Well try this on for size...
- Do not murder...that's not really the point, the sinfulness starts at anger and harsh words (probably common things in most of our lives)
- Do not commit adultery...this is just about physical stuff, adultery starts in the mind and heart
- Eye for eye tooth for tooth...no retaliation and you need to take it to the next level and actually love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you
- Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect...that's a tough job
The kingdom of heaven that we are supposed to be living has some wildly different expectations of its people than the kingdom of the world has. We can be the salt and light in this world when we strive and fight against our sinful human nature to walk the path of Jesus. We will fail frequently and we must frequently rely on the incredible grace of God. Only perfection can be in the presence of God and we cannot attain that without the blood of Jesus Christ.
3 comments:
If funny how everything in this world now is centered around money. We think that if we had money and this or that we'd be happy but that's not true. We just need to be happy for what we have and even if we don't have anything.. we still have Jesus.
Something that was brought up over the weekend at the Youth Boys Retreat really gets me – counter culture. If you really want to be counter culture, read and do the things from this passage.
To me, Jesus takes a look around at the world and says – I know that this is how it is – but what I am telling you is how it should be – now go and live it.
How much of the Master’s teachings here am I following? I pray we all do better.
j
I love that throughout scripture, God has continuously set the standard for us in different things. I am going through a series on relationships right now and it is awesome to see the standard God has set for us through his desire of a relationship with us, and glimpses of relationships God has had with those who have allowed it. God has always had a higher standard that we can achieve as long as our priorities are right.
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