The Heart of the Matter…The Beatitudes

In February I am preaching on the Beatitudes.  I am so thoroughly convicted by studying these Beatitudes it’s a JOKE!  But I feel that if we understand the essence of the Beatitudes, we will understand the secret for obeying and keeping the rest of the Sermon on the Mount.

Oswald Chambers writes, “The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of principles to be obeyed apart from identification with Jesus Christ.  The Sermon on the Mount is a statement of the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is getting his way with us.”  A life which has been possessed by the Holy Spirit is seen in the Beatitudes.  It’s the starting point…and “BLESSINGS” abound!

Yet it doesn’t change the fact that I am so thorougly convicted by my study and preparation…I imagine this is because I have not arrived yet.  (big surprise there)

I remember a favorite Asbury professor of mine, Dr. David Bauer, talking about how he preached himself under conviction.  He was preaching about our obligation to care for the helpless and needy of the world and realized he wasn’t doing all that he could.  He therefore researched ways to adopt a mentally-challenged child from China and did it!  Talk about putting your money (time, future, sleepless nights, etc.) where your mouth is!

Obviously, Dr. Bauer “GETS IT”.  Now it’s my turn, I guess.  Oh brother!

One of the areas in which I clearly fall short is in “turning the other cheek”.  I truly believe that the life possessed by the Holy Spirit is one that has lost all claims of self and lives for the glory, the name, the life of another…Jesus.  A person can thus turn the other cheek because offenses don’t stick! 

Yet in raising three boys, guiding them into appropriate ways of responding to punches and kicks and blind-sided attacks is the norm.  They are going to fight and wrestle and crash into each other.  That’s just the way little boys are, more often than not, especially when you have three of them.  So when Jesus admonishes us to turn the other cheek, I cringe a little.  Imagine this…a bully in the neighborhood hits a little brother, and it is your job to instruct the big brother on how should he should respond.

(Cringe)

By your grace alone, Jesus, may we embody the life you exhort us to.  Amen.