30 January 11 What Jesus Did Say” Matthew 5:1-12
My question from last week lingers. What is a church to do? With the radical changes to our church these past few years still fresh on our minds, with the fear and uncertainty settling in from the newest changes on our campus, we have pause. Yet, realizing God’s amazing grace as seen in our renewed church leadership, the complete reversal of our financial picture and many other loving blessings, we have joy and elation. In the mix, what is Genesis Church to do?
What we dare not do, is try and figure it out by ourselves. As Christians, we know we walk this walk with God. So, we turn to prayer, to reflection in scripture, and to vital and healthy discussion and discernment.
If this morning’s scripture will help us know God’s will for our church we may have some work to do. These Beatitudes - at first we may be struck by what seems to be their sheer impracticality for the world we live in. We live in a time when the blessings given are to those who succeed, often at the expense of others. To be poor in spirit, peaceful, merciful and meek will get us nowhere in a culture grounded in competition and fear. Who can possibly survive in attempting to live into the spirit of the Beatitudes? More importantly, when Jesus turns the values of the world upside down, like he’s done in these Beatitudes, what does that mean for us as church?
What exactly are we as church to do when faced with an upside down world? Well, we are good Presbyterians, so we have a meeting! We held our Annual Session retreat yesterday. Knowing full well how upside down our world has been and may still seem to be we took the time to read and remind ourselves of our Mission and Vision statements. That’s a good place to start when trying to make sense of what seems to make no sense. Turn to God. Invite God into the conversation. That’s what our session did yesterday.
Listen again to our Mission Statement: In the name of Christ, we welcome and serve all of God’s people with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love.
And our Vision Statement: Rooted in Worship – we are here to participate in worship that affects the way we live every day. Growing in Christ – We are here to learn how following Christ can change our lives. Reaching to Neighbors – we are here to love our neighbors. Everyone is our neighbor. We embrace diversity.
Our session has begun what should be a long journey. To prayerfully consider the world of our church and to try to live into the will of God is no easy task. None the less, if we be faith full followers of Jesus Christ, it is a task we must all prayerfully join. Our session needs each and every one of you, we need your collective wisdom. Our future depends on it.
The Beatitudes are the opening phrases to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, his first major sermon and teaching in Matthew’s gospel. From the first, lets be clear about what Jesus did and did not say. The author James Howell reminds us, Jesus did not say, Blessed are those who invest shrewdly; they will own a second home. Or, Blessed are those who shop, for they will own neat things. Or, Blessed are the good-looking, for they will find plenty of friends. Jesus certainly did not lift up to blessed status those who succeed in life at the expense of others, or those rooted in the life of competition and fear.
But neither is Jesus a stick in the mud. Jesus does want us to know pleasure, to find enjoyment and happiness. While we may struggle to not go to far in these areas, we may, ironically, fall short of God’s expectations.
C. S. Lewis, in his sermon “The Weight of Glory” challenges us to know God’s expectations for our lives as Christians and as church.
He offers that, “indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with life and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
No one would argue that Genesis church is far too easily pleased. We have lived in a real world of fear and concern for our very existence. And for some, that fear persists. Might infinite joy be on our horizon?
Archbishop Oscar Romero understood our struggles as Christians and as a struggling church in a difficult world when he challenged his congregation with these words: “The world does not say: blessed are the poor. The world says: blessed are the rich. You are worth as much as you have. But Christ says: wrong. Blessed are the poor…because they do not put their trust in what is so transitory. Blessed are the poor, for they know their riches are in the One who being rich made himself poor in order to enrich us with his poverty, teaching us the Christian’s true wisdom.”
Blessed is Genesis Presbyterian Church because you did not put your trust in what is so transitory. We know our riches are in Jesus, the one who though rich, made himself poor in order to enrich us through his poverty, teaching us true Christian wisdom. Jesus Christ has made the way for Genesis Church to follow. Come and follow me, he has told us. Our life mission is to discover that way as people and as church.
Discernment and discovery of the presence of God and the will of God and our future path with God takes tremendous energy, faith and staying power.
Jesus found help with such staying power in the Jewish daily prayer. It is called the Shema; Hear O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
Jesus was also disciplined to find his energy, faith, and staying power in the command that follows. “Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.
For us to be faithful to Jesus’ teaching these disciplines should become our habits too. We might treat these Beatitudes the same way we treat the Lord’s Prayer. Memorize them, sing them, find a magnet at the Cokesbury Bookstore and put them on the refrigerator. It takes time for teaching and discipline to translate into living.
Oh yes, living, who are we as Genesis Church to become?
“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” The “poor in spirit” are those who recognize their need for God in all things. Like the poor and destitute who depend on others, the poor in spirit know that only God can save and protect them. Every time we take our primary self out of the life equation and make room for God in our hearts and in our lives, the poor will be blessed and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn. “Those who mourn” refers to people wishing God would send his Messiah, hoping God will restore his kingdom and set the world right. In Isaiah we learn of the Messiah who will “comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion”. These are people who understand the mess the world is in and wish for God’s redemption. Every time we place our fear and the future of this church with Jesus, those who mourn will be blessed and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek. This beatitude alludes to Psalm 37, “But the meek will inherit the land…” The Psalm is comparing the “evil” and “wicked” with the meek. “Trust in the Lord and do good… Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him…” Every time we remember to trust that God knows what God is doing, the meek will be blessed and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Just as poverty leads to hunger, the recognition of one’s spiritual poverty leads to a hunger for right living. Jesus is talking to people who desire God’s rule. It is a rule that brings justice for all. It is a reign in which God will satisfy the hungry and thirsty for righteousness. Every time we insist on living in God’s right way, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be blessed, and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the merciful. Mercy is part of God’s own nature. “The Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, is slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness…” God expects mercy from his people: “he has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Every time we risk our own comfort for the good of another, the merciful will be blessed, and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the pure in heart. Seeing God is one of our greatest hopes as believers. But only the pure in heart may receive this blessing. Purity of heart, the heart that desires only what God wants, is not the result of personal effort, God works in and through us. Every time we faithfully seek God’s way, pray and act on what God wants, the pure in heart will be blessed, and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the peacemakers. This Beatitude brings together two important Old Testament concepts: peace and the son of God. Peace is a central characteristic of the kingdom of heaven. “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child will lead them.” Those who would normally be at war with each other will be in harmony. All things are made right and peace prevails. The Old Testament applies the title of “son of God” to the Messiah. However, in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul explains that when we are in Christ, we “receive the full rights of sons;” in other words, we are made adopted children of God. Every time we invite the others into our lives, the peacemakers will be blessed, and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Just as the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit, it also belongs to the ones persecuted because of righteousness. Every time we take up the cause for doing the right thing, those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake will be blessed, and our church will come closer to the kingdom of heaven.
Through these Beatitudes, and our own Mission and Vision statements we hear from God, our calling as church is to help God bring about the kingdom of heaven here on earth. We will realize God’s kingdom when we recognize these blessings. Every time we are church, the Kingdom of heaven is near. Every time we are church, this blessedness will be the result of the coming of this kingdom.
It is important to remember, the Beatitudes are not calls to action. They are not commands. They are descriptions of the way things are to be. They do not call us personally to be poor in spirit, to mourn, or to be meek. No, these Beatitudes are promises of how the kingdom of heaven will be.
As such, these promises define our faith and assure us, “Christianity is not a scheme to reduce stress, lose weight, advance in one’s career, or preserve one from illness. Christian faith, instead, is a way of living based on the firm and sure hope that meekness is the way of God, that righteousness and peace will finally prevail, and that God’s future will be a time of mercy and not cruelty. So, blessed are those who live this life now, even when such a life seems foolish, for we will, in the end…” [1], have our fear taken away by God.
Is this the church we are to be? I believe so. It’s where our mission and vision statements will lead us. It’s where God will lead us, if we but dare to follow.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen
Additional resource:
“Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary”, Year A, volume 1, David L. Bartlett and Barbara B. Taylor, Editors, pgs. 308-313.
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