Beatitude qualities - poor, meek and pure
Qualities of kingdom people:
- Jesus sees us and calls us to repent
- Then he teaches us his wisdom for our lives in the kingdom of heaven
- Blessed not happy – the difference between short term, shallow happiness and a state of being blessed – out of which comes a transformed life that exhibits these qualities
- Not natural
- Takes participation
- All belong to all Christians – we don’t pick and choose – he expects all these qualities to emerge in all of us
Matthew 5:1-10
The Beatitudes are descriptions of an upside world. In the world out there we are told we need to be rich, confident, assertive, claiming our rights. But Jesus’ world, heaven on earth, is very different. These are qualities of living as a Christian – they are what emerge as you are rescued & restored by the saviour, as you are filled with his Spirit, as you are permeated by the kingdom. These qualities for living, beautiful attitudes, are what start to happen in the kingdom.
5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
Do you think of yourself as poor?
- Poor materially - you don’t have much money?
- Poor relationally – you don’t have many friends?
- Poor emotionally – you can’t seem to find much joy?
- Poor morally – you can’t seem to stop misbehaving?
- Poor spiritually – you are mourning the way your sin comes between you and God?
Well you are promised the kingdom of heaven. Jesus says this is the natural posture of the Christian.
There are two words for “poor” in the bible.
penixros - needy, labours for bread
ptoxos - reduced to begging, lowly
The word Matthew uses here is ptoxos – the poor who can’t even get work. The really desperate.
Although Jesus does intend there to be an element of economic poverty in “poor in spirit”, he is really referring to people who have realised that they are really poor – emotionally, relationally, morally and spiritually as well as materially. We know we are guilty and feel the shame. We don’t need to fake it.
Jesus calls us to repent which brings us into the kingdom of heaven and where our attitude of “I have nothing to pay with” means that we are welcome. Blessed are those who come with empty pockets and open hands. Blessed are those who know they are morally destitute and spiritually bankrupt.
Administration v liquidation
When a firm gets into trouble it can sometimes be placed into administration. This means that it is considered to be viable, a going concern, and with some help can probably carry on. Someone is put in charge to run it and see if they can rescue it. Hopefully, in due course the business gets up and running again, saving jobs and creditors.
However, if a firm can’t survive at all it is put into liquidation. Anything of any value is sold off to pay off creditors and the firm closes.
Sometimes I find that people put themselves into administration, they realise that they are in trouble and they ask for help. Having received it they then have another go at running the business of their life. That’s fine God, thanks but off you go, I can manage again.
That’s not repentance, that’s a leg-up.
Repentance is going into liquidation. I can’t make it on my own. I have completely messed this up. I will never be able to get right with you God of my own accord. No cheque book I have ever seen is big enough to pay off my debt. I know that the only solution is Jesus’ forgiveness by his death on the cross.
Poor in spirit. That’s the posture we need to adopt in the kingdom of heaven. It is a kingdom quality.
5:5 –
blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth
Would you say that you are meek?
Are you more like a Siamese cat
or a battle trained horse?
- Are you a quiet, soft person who lets other people have their way in preference to what you want. Are you someone who needs other people to like you and approve of you? You find yourself going against what you really think because you don’t want to cause upset.
- Or are you strong, dominant. Do you fight a corner because your honour depends on it? You need to be right, to win.
The word “meek” has negative connotations for us – of weakness and passivity. Not the sort of adjective you would use for the ideal candidate for the Apprentice. But that is not the intended meaning here. In classical Greek the word meek (praos) is used of domesticated animals like an ox or a horse. Animals that are strong and active but have been broken and mastered.
The only people described as meek in the bible are Moses and Jesus. You couldn’t describe them as men without boundaries, wishy washy, doormat types. Hardly.
Perhaps the best way to describe someone who is meek is to say that they have strength which is totally mastered. They don’t need to get their own way or be continually affirmed. They can be gentle and kind without having to win the argument or have their name honoured. They are secure in their relationship with their maker, they have experienced his grace and forgiveness and know what their life purpose is – they don’t need to feel good by getting their own way or dominating others.
5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God
Winnie the Pooh and the search for the Heffalump. Do you remember the story when Pooh sets out to trap the Heffalump and plans to use a jar of honey to entice it into a trap? But before he leaves the scene he decides to check the jar – just to see if it really is honey. By the time he has finished checking there is no honey left – he has checked it all the way to the bottom of the jar.
Are we honey at the top of the jar but maybe not all the way down to the bottom? Jesus sees us … deep into our lives. Does he taste honey past the surface?
The problem with the Pharisees in Jesus’ day and with us today is that we present well on the outside and we think that means that we are being saved. We forget to pursue purity of heart too. Getting right to the bottom of the jar.
Are we behaving better, getting it right on the outside but still harbouring sin, selfishness, fear and pride deep within? The Holy Spirit wants to fill every part of us, entering into all our history and personality. Opening the doors on dark rooms and cleaning them out. He wants all of us to be mastered and ready for good purpose.
So, we are familiar with the kingdom of heaven being a place where the repentant sinner can hold his head up high and know God’s blessing. A place where upside-down qualities begin to emerge in the follower of Jesus. We have learnt that it is a place where the spiritually poor, the desperately poor, can know blessing. We have learnt that it is a place where a posture of mastered strength becomes possible. And it is a place where the Holy Spirit can safely make us completely pure.
Come as you are
We don’t arrive in the completed, sorted out, pure state.
2 Corinthians 3:18
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Although we are beginning to soak up the kingdom of heaven, we are not perfect yet. We still fall short, we still get it wrong and we still struggle with all sorts of difficult and life-challenging issues.
We have a tendency, most of us, to scrub behind our ears and brush up a bit before we present ourselves in public to our Christians friends. Perhaps behind the smiling face there is a desperate struggle going on in your life, something causing you great pain. We are good at keeping things secret from each other – in case, what would people think. In fact we think we can keep it secret from God, because what would he think?
But though we have repented and turned to him, we are all, still, works in progress. And so whatever stage you are at; whatever you are thinking, come as you are.
You may have doubts and questions; you may feel very guilty about something. Come as you are.
You may be fearful of being judged or rejected. I hope we won’t do that. Come as you are.
Whilst I am challenging you to give your whole life to God and to live a life that trusts him to know what is best for you, I am not saying that:
- if you are unhappy you can’t be in the kingdom of heaven.
- if you are making poor life choices you have to get out of here.
- if you are struggling with sin you are not welcome here.
- if you have doubts or disagreements you are not allowed to voice them or to hang around.
I introduced this series by saying that Jesus sees us, he looks at the crowds and he looks at the individuals. He stands here in front of you looking at you. He is not looking at you for data gathering purposes – Oh there is a woman in her thirties who has 2 kids, highlights in her hair and various sins in her life.
No, Jesus stands in front of you as a friend, as someone who loves you enough to die for you. He sees you in order to know you. He is entirely for you.
If I can trust God to be for me, I can come to him as I am. I can repent and turn to him. In my poverty of spirit I can experience the kingdom of heaven and become meek and pure of heart. I can see God. I can love God.
If you can trust me to be for you and if I can trust you to be for me then, knowing the presence of the Spirit of God, we can forge a community together where we can be real with each other, vulnerable and open to being loved and accepted and supported in our struggle. We can love people.
Experiencing God being for us through each other gives us a taste of heaven on earth. Love in action.
You are a Masterpiece
Here’s a masterpiece by Atkinson Grimshaw – Roundhay Park.
Walking around Roundhay Park one wet winter day you come across a painting in the dirt, covered with mud. You take it home and realise that it is a genuine masterpiece. Hugely special and valuable. Do you put it under the tap and start scrubbing off the mud to clean it up? No of course not, you take it to a master restorer who will painstakingly and carefully restore the painting.
When we are found, covered in mud and dirt, coming to church doesn’t mean an immediate scrub down and wash under a power hose. Neither does it mean being hidden away in a brown paper bag. It means coming to the master restorer for a gentle, skilful restoration.
You are a masterpiece, incredibly valuable but you have mud and dirt on you. The master who painted you also wants to restore you. He is for you and knows just how to get you back to a wonderful masterpiece.
We are all in different stages of restoration – we are making mistakes, misbehaving, repenting, receiving forgiveness and learning to trust God and each other. The beatitude qualities are emerging at different speeds and at different times in each of us. And as we learn to trust the master restorer we find healing for our pain, forgiveness for our sins and power to change.
As Jesus sat on the hillside teaching his disciples about the kingdom of heaven he wasn’t looking at 12 paragons of virtue. They were ordinary people, desperate to follow Jesus, acutely aware of their own shortcomings, trying hard but messing up on a regular basis.
I say to you, “Come as you are”. You are welcome. The waters of God’s grace and forgiveness are deep. The power of his Holy Spirit is here for all. Come, repent, turn to follow him and get to know him. Learn how much he is for you and you will find mercy for your mistakes and power to change.
Summary
- Jesus sees us and calls us to repent
- Then he teaches us his wisdom for our lives in the kingdom of heaven
- Blessed not happy – the difference between short term, shallow happiness and a state of being blessed – out of which comes a transformed life that exhibits these qualities
- Not natural
- Takes participation
- All belong to all Christians – we don’t pick and choose – he expects all these qualities to emerge in all of us
We are centred around Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Sometimes our direction of travel is wobbly, sometimes we take a step back before we make progress again. We forget how poor we are, we try and control our circumstances again, we are not as pure as we would wish.
As we fall we help each other to get up again, look into his face and journey on. We change and make progress. Come as you are but don’t stay as you are. Seek his love and direction and grace for your life. Give the creator permission to restore the masterpiece that is you. And you will begin to see heaven on earth.
David Flowers, 24/01/2011