The Beatitudes (Mt 5:2-11) are one of the most beautiful passages in the Scriptures. But the key question is how do we live in response to them? Are they the standard we must live by in order to be blessed? Is our goal to “be like that”? Although many Christians think so, they are absolutely wrong. And in their wrongness all they find is discouragement, shame and pain.

I like how Dallas Willard describes what Jesus was doing as He taught this passage – he was having a “show and tell” time. In the crowd Jesus was teaching were those who had just experienced the beatitudes. They had been the diseased, forgotten, and taken advantage of. They were mourning the loss of their health, families, and careers. Any hope they might have clung to had long disappeared. If these teachings were a new set of standards that they had to live up to in order to be blessed, then the message of the Kingdom that Jesus was preaching was cruel. It meant the kingdom of God and the blessing of God was an impossibility.

YET – they had all just experienced it! Just as they were. Poor in spirit. Mourning. Taken advantage of. Victims of injustice. Filled with unfulfilled expectations. And so the beatitudes are not teachings on how to be blessed. They are not commands we must obey. They are not instructions on how to please God. They are statements that shout the grace of God! Jesus is teaching that in the Kingdom of God His love is not earned. The blessings of the Kingdom of God are available to me right now, just as I am, because of my relationship with Jesus.

When we change the beatitudes from statements of grace into the New Testament Ten Commandments we have poisoned our walk with God. He has become a master we can never please. We will never be good enough to be blessed. Why try?

Let me ask you a question. What are the beatitudes to you? Are they a list of ways to buck up in order to please God? If they are you are pretty exhausted or you have already given up. Or are they the greatest good news you have ever heard…and experienced! Let me suggest you take some time to ponder how God has blessed you when you have least deserved it…and then give Him some genuine thanks for how He loves you just as you are.

Ah – the beatitude I have been waiting to get to…because it discouraged me for years.  “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8). If Jesus is giving a command, we need to quit right now. The good news is that it is not a command, not a standard to live up to. It is a statement of the reality of grace.

By grace alone and by faith alone, you have passed through the creative hand of God a second time. You have a new heart – one that is holy and pure! What Ezekiel prophesied, “I will give you a new heart and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stoney heart of sin, and give you a new, obedient heart” (Ezekiel 36:26,27 NLT) has come true in us.

I recently realized that there is no place in the New Testament where we are given instructions on how we are to work at making ourselves holy. Why? Because we can’t. And it is not our job. It is God’s. If we could crank up our purity of heart so we are acceptable to stand in the presence of God and see Him, then the life and death of Christ was a waste of time.

Ephesians 4:24 describes this new heart we have. God says it is “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” This changed everything I understood about living my Christian life. I always thought it was my job to become holy by discipline, hard work and lots of accountability. This is WRONG. Not only is it wrong, it is anti-gospel. God has already changed me…now it is my role to mature out of what He has done in me. I cannot change my DNA, but God has. Now I put my effort not into becoming someone different, but into living out of what He has already done in me…so it comes to the surface and people see it like a new set of clothes.

This Beatitude connects with another verse that always guaranteed my failure – Psalm 11:7, “the upright shall behold his face.” I always immediately thought this leaves me out…go to the back of the line Bill. Wrong again! Now I have written in the margin of my Bible next to this verse, “I am that!” The gospel not only declares me righteous but also implants it in me.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” is not a standard for you to aim at by trying harder. It is a statement about what is true about you right now. WOW! What incredible good news. It is mountain top shouting news.

P.S.  Follow on Twitter this week for follow-up thoughts about this unbelievable good news. Just go to @billtell.

 

In my last post, we looked at the Beatitudes (Mt 5:2-11) in their historical and gospel context. This changed everything. No longer are they standards to hurdle to be blessed, rather they are statements of grace in our brokenness. The words of Jesus stop being burdens and are actually blessings. Today. Just as I am.

Remember Jesus’ audience (Mt 4:23-25). They were “the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics.” They were the broken, those without a future and a hope. As we saw last week, they were those who were already “poor in spirit” and “those who mourn.” They did not need to become “poor in spirit” or “mourn” more. Jesus healed them. He blessed them as they were. They experienced grace.

Now the next two statements of grace. First, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth“ (Mt 5:5). Remember Jesus is describing those He just blessed. Because of their situation in life, they were continually the intimidated. They were those unable to assert themselves and present their legitimate claims. They were the taken advantage of. Any property or rights that they had were taken. There was no way they could become more meek. They were as unassertive as they could be. And what did Jesus do? He blessed them just as they were and then promised that they would “inherit the earth.” Those who had nothing would by the grace of God have all they need.

Next, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Mt 5:6). Is Jesus telling us that we need to hunger and thirst more before He will bless us? NO! He was describing those he had just blessed who had been hungering and thirsting for things to be made right for years. They had been severely wronged and suffered injustice…some for decades. Like the Israelites in exile, “God heard their groaning…God saw the people…and God knew” (Exodus 2:24,25).

And so for us. “Let us then with confidence, draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.” Just as we are. This line in the song, Come Ye Sinners, says it so well – “if you tarry till you’re better, you will never come at all.”

QUESTION: Am I allowing myself to receive the grace of God just as I am? Am I passing it on to others just as they are?

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PS: You can also follow on Twitter @billtell.