Matthew 5:6

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

“…Meekness is seeing ourselves in light of God’s sovereignty and his power, realizing we have no entitlement, we don’t deserve anything.  Jesus didn’t exercise his divine prerogatives when he was here walking in human flesh.  He only did what the Father did, he only said what the Father said.  It is having ourselves in that perspective.  And if we are realizing our spiritual struggles, poverty, we are burdened and mourning about those things, there is a meekness that’s attached then to our lives.  “Blessed are those”, he says, “who hunger and thirst after righteousness, because they shall literally be satisfied.”  Imagine what this crowd thinks.  They had heard from the Jews, ‘You keep this law, keep that law, keep this law, keep this law, keep this law…” and now here’s the King demonstrating all of this authority and power, and he says, “Blessed are you, if you’re hungering, continually, and thirsting, continually after righteousness, because you will be satisfied.”  That’s the blessedness of that condition, because that’s honesty, and that’s genuineness.  Because the truth is, religious people, they go to bed with themselves, and when they go to bed with themselves they know that they’re still empty, and still miserable.  But blessed are those who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness.  There’s no self-esteem psycho-babble or any of that nonsense in here, it’s blessed are those who are spiritually impoverished, blessed are those who are mourning, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, because they’ll be satisfied.  Jesus said, there were two men who came to the Temple who worshipped, one was the Pharisee, and when he came, and he looked around and said ‘Lord, I’m glad I’m not like other men, I fast three times a week, I pray three times a day, and I’m glad I’m not like that guy over there.’  That’s easy for us to do, we can always pick out somebody on the horizontal that makes us feel good.  It says the publican [tax collector] came, didn’t even come all the way into the Temple, and said ‘Lord, I’m not worthy, I am not worthy, I’m a sinner.’  Jesus said, “Which one of those two went away justified, blessed?”  Blessed are those who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness.  Look, I’m telling you this, because if you’re here today, and particularly if you’re younger, I want you to understand, you can get the Calvary Chapel disease.  I came to Calvary Chapel, out of church stuff.  My Mom was Lutheran, my Dad was Catholic, and then I got involved in positive confessions, and everybody should be healed, and if you confess this, and then ended up sick and broke after I confessed everything, and nothing happened, and came to Calvary Chapel all beat up by this Church, and I was glad to get there.  I enjoyed the worship, I enjoyed the teaching of the Word.  But you guys that have grown up in it, you take it for granted.  And don’t ever let it be, ‘You need to do this, you need to do this, you need to do this, you need to do that.’  If you are genuine, today, and I don’t care what you’re struggling with, these people, it says were tormented with different things, struggling with some sin, ‘Lord I never get victory, this is difficult, Lord I try so hard, I’m spiritually impoverished, I can’t make one step forward without you, I’m struggling, Lord.’---you have yourself in the proper perspective, you’re hungering and thirsting after righteousness---he says, ‘You are blessed because, if that is genuine, you’re going to be satisfied.  If it’s phony it doesn’t mean anything.  But if it’s genuine, Jesus says there’s blessing.  They never heard anything like this before.  They must have been sitting there with their mouths hanging open as he’s saying this stuff.  Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.  If you understand yourself in the proper light, it’s easier to be tolerant with somebody else.  I wish it said, blessed are the impatient in traffic, it doesn’t say that here.  [laughter]…But if we realize our spiritual poverty, it’s something we mourn over in our hearts, we want to be more like Jesus, if it develops a meekness in us, not a bitterness that we’re entitled to lash out at other people, if we genuinely hunger and thirst after righteousness, then we understand our own condition…Look, never let it be religious, never let your attendance here be religious, don’t let it be routine.  Let it be real.  Get alone with him.  Listen, he still speaks.  And as you sit in front of him, and say “Lord, I’m struggling, I’m not what I should be.  I’m so easily angered, I tend to be so selfish, I wrestle with lust, or Lord, pornography, I can’t get free, Lord’ (or whatever it may be).  If you are honest with him---but if you’re phony, and you love your sin, and you’re just playing church, you’re in a downward spiral.  But if you can be genuine before him, the door of the Kingdom is not shut.  If you can come to him genuinely, and say, “Lord, this is who I am and this is what I struggle with, this is what I hunger after, Lord…”---he will talk to you, he will open the door to the Kingdom, as it were, growth, fellowship, blessing---not the Gospel, it’s not what we’re talking about, you’re saved by grace---but growth, depth, fellowship with him.  I hope you’re all card-carrying Kingdom Christians…[transcript of part of a connective expository sermon on Matthew 5:1-12 given by Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia.]   

Matthew 5:7

“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”

“As you may have heard Mike with the announcements at the beginning, for the holidays, we want to make sure folks, often we find around Thanksgiving there’s some in the congregation that because of various reasons maybe they’re going to be alone on the Thanksgiving holiday, we also know there are plenty of folks that like to have people over.  So, we thought we would just try to help facilitate that this year.  If you would like to host somebody or a few over your home for Thanksgiving, and like to be just a blessing, there’s a sign-up sheet as you head out in the fellowship hall.  Also, if you happen to be one of those folks, in a season of your life where you’re thinking ‘I might just be alone on this Thanksgiving, and I’m not too overly thrilled about that idea’, then there’s a sign-up sheet for you too.  Of course, by signing that, you’re not committing to anything, you’re submitting that you’re in one of those seasons of your life, and we’d like to maybe connect you with a family.  If you’re maybe embarrassed about putting your name down, you also can speak to Mike or Pete or myself and we can hook you up there.  [To read an excellent history of the early Pilgrim settlers in Plymouth plantation log onto: http://www.unityinchrist.com/history/saga.htm.]  So, furthermore, for Christmas, Christmas Eve, I learned not being here too long in this community in the culture here in New England, just a tradition for there to be a Christmas Eve service.  And so each year we try to be a little bit more planned about what can do, use the opportunity to do an outreach.  And it seems that on Christmas Eve a lot of family members and friends come that wouldn’t normally come.  So we’re planning for Christmas Eve having a little something kind of deal, a little outreach thing, and if you’d like to be part of that,  you’re welcome to sign up as you head out.  Also if you’ve got some ideas, we’re open to ideas too.  So anyhow, that’s something just to keep in mind, keep in prayer. 

A very interesting letter from rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Matthew chapter 5.  Very interesting this week, watching the election.  Listening also to some things being said by the newscasters, things I’d never guessed they’d be saying.  But to hear even some astounded, surprised that the number one issue in the election, evidently, influencing voters in making their decision, was that of morality.  So the newscasters, surprised by that.  Also it was intriguing to me to hear them continue to then refer to these evangelicals, these born-again Christians that seemed to have a very strong influence in this election.  So I guess you guys took to heart last week’s message, apparently, and that’s encouraging.  Of course you guys are men and women that hunger and thirst for righteousness.  I know most of you pretty well, and so therefore you are a filled group, as we read in Matthew chapter 5 in one degree or another, filled and being more filled more and more in your Christian walk.  Another little news thing that was sent out to me this week, I know some of you guys also read this as it was being passed around, we read a letter that was posted on the WorldNetDaily.com [see http://www.wnd.com], it’s a Christian news site that I get a little bit of news from once in a while.  And it was a letter written by a rabbi, rabbi Shmuley Boteach [see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmuley_Boteach], and it was titled “My Love Affair With Evangelicals”, he wrote this.  Really a surprising letter, and I’m going to quote from it, as it really helps tie into where we’re going right on in the Beatitudes, where we left off last week, and picking up this week.  I don’t know much about this rabbi, so maybe you do, and you’ve heard me butcher his name, it’s possible.  Also as I don’t know much about him, I don’t know a lot about his character or anything like that.  I don’t even know for sure if he wrote the letter, except that it was on this website which is fairly reliable, so for that reason and that basis I’ll quote from it.  But here’s the letter, “I am a Jew who is deeply in love with evangelical Christians, although I am at odds with them on various issues.  They today constitute the most potent force for good in all America, and the most influential constituency who consistently demands that America be a nation of justice, standing up for the persecuted, and living up to its founding ideals of serving as a global beacon of freedom.  Whenever I’m in the company of evangelical Christians I feel completely at home among true brothers and sisters of faith.  More so I feel inspired like I’m in the company of an authentic Godly host.  Evangelical Christians are at the forefront of asserting that religious conviction demands moral action [i.e. like William Wilberforce in the 1800s.  Order Amazing Grace on www.amazon.com to see an outstanding example of moral action.]  You cannot call yourself religious unless you act with justice, period.  Evangelical Christians, like orthodox Jews, have a deep seated hatred of evil.  Many religious people have a problem with hatred, believing it is inherently ungodly.  Evangelicals reject such wishy-washy on the fence moralizing, understanding that the hatred of evil is the single best gage of authentic spiritual commitment.”  So this is a rabbi, writing about evangelicals that he knows, about the Church [body of Christ].  Of course, evidently he wouldn’t be surprised by then what we were hearing in the media, Christians in large numbers going out and casting their lot according to righteousness, longing for a higher standard of morality once again in America.  But the rabbi goes on further in his letter.  And I’m just taking bits and pieces of it.  It’s a longer letter.  “…When evangelical Christians talk to me about God, they speak with an immediacy and sense of intimacy which is both inspiring and impressive.  To the evangelicals, God is a loving father rather than a distant relative.  And unlike secularists who love making up their own morality, evangelical Christians humbly submit to the Divine will.  The potency of evangelical faith is manifest in their being at the forefront of feeding the hungry, curing the sick, and giving clothes to the poor, deeds which are practiced by an army of missionaries around the world.  [If you want read about one of those organizations, log onto http://www.unityinchrist.com/evangelism/samaritan_purse.htm.]  Unlike so many Americans, evangelical Christians utterly reject materialism, they raise godly children who are open-hearted and uncorrupted.  Evangelical Christian parents protect their children from a corrosive culture that is so harming America’s youth.  The evangelicals have remarkably created their own music, TV, and film industries which promote value-based entertainment as opposed to crude sexual exploitation.   [see http://store.afa.net and http://store.afa.net/p-10000375-explore-the-wild-kingdom-6-dvd-library.aspx for listings of  quality evangelical Christian TV and DVD selections now available.]   Their women are taught to value themselves, and would never contemplate surrendering their bodies to a man who has not committed to them in marriage.  And their men are taught to value women, and to work to be worthy of them.”  That’s some great stuff from this rabbi who in his letter notes that he’s not a born-again Christian himself.  In fact, his letter goes on, I mean he shares how he has varying beliefs on different theologies, and is apt to debate and disagree with evangelicals in certain places.  And evidently, even somebody in the first service told me that they knew of one of his debates, but he has been televised in large debates with evangelicals, but he goes on to say that even with all that, he has never felt anything but love from evangelicals.  In fact, in part of his letter here with this statement he makes, “Just try and find kinder, more compassionate people, who are willing to assist their fellow man in a time a crisis than the evangelicals.”  That’s a tremendous compliment by what would be considered, and who considers himself to be a devout Jew.  [Comment:  early Christianity was no different, showing that the basic true Christian is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, reflecting the very nature of the true Alpha and Omega.  For proof, log onto http://www.unityinchrist.com/LegacyOfLove.htm.  So the evangelical, in a sense, is a continuation of true Christianity down through the ages.]  And it would seem that God is stirring in his [this rabbi’s] heart, no doubt about it.  But this letter, I note it, because as we begin here in the Beatitudes, he wonderfully depicts what Jesus is also saying here in these verses, and that is, what is written here isn’t just, you know, a great ideal, it isn’t just something that’s abstract, but what he’s writing about is clearly a real life, a powerful life that’s been transformed, a life that’s been affected.  And it’s a life that you also can look upon and witness and see that there’s something very unique here, there’s something very powerful going on in this person’s heart and life.  So this isn’t just philosophy or something abstract or some ideal, this is a real way of life lived by real people.  And therefore this rabbi Shmuley is saying ‘Wow!  These evangelical Christians, pretty wild, but man, have you ever met a kinder group of people, more compassionate?  Man, they’re right there on the cutting edge when it comes to reaching out to the sick and lost, and the hurting and the suffering.’  And I say that, as now we pick up Jesus saying essentially the same things here in these verses here in the Beatitudes.  Let’s say a word of prayer.  ‘Lord, thank you once more, Sunday morning here we can gather, thank you that we can gather in a country that we’re not in fear of gathering in worshipping you and looking at your Word.  We do see things happening in our country that we continue to pray about, but yet thank you today for the freedom of public worship, Lord.  But also Lord we don’t want to be religious people, just merely religious, going through an exercise.  So many of us we gather, and we tune in and listen and listen in because we, we do want to be more like you Lord, we do want to know you more.  And we realize knowing you more we need to also learn more about our own selves.  And so, as we look at your Word here Lord, we don’t want to be guilty too of just skimming the surface.  We want to know what it means, we want to see the light.  And so Holy Spirit, be upon each and every one of us, be upon myself even now as we go through your Word, in Jesus name, amen.’

The Beatitudes

Chapter 5, verses 1-12, “And seeing the multitudes, he went up on a mountain, and when he was seated his disciples came to him.  Then he opened his mouth and taught them saying, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.  Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my name’s sake.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  Now, last couple weeks, third Sunday, we’re slowing down a bit here as we get to what could be considered the greatest sermon by the greatest Preacher.  But here we note, and we noted it last week, Jesus is using a word, a word that was more used than anything for referring to the experience of the Greek gods, it’s this word in Greek, we talked about it last week, Makarios [Strongs #3107…makarious…Blessed, happy.]  He says makarios, makarios, makarios, blessed, blessed, blessed, joyous, divinely happy are you, are you if certain things are true about you, if certain things are part of your life, part of your character.  Happy and blessed are you if you are poor in spirit.  Happy and blessed are you if you then with this understanding, then mourn, shed a tear, two or three, over your desperate condition.  And blessed are you, if you are then meek, no longer stiffnecked, no longer arrogant, no longer prideful about your life, but instead rather you are broken and contrite in spirit.  And blessed are you then, as a result of that, you now hunger and thirst for righteousness, even agonizing to be delivered, to be changed, to be brought to a different level, to become something else, to become like the holy God that you’re looking at.  And so, blessed are you as we saw last week in verse 6, as Jesus has then said, because heaven is then moved, Jesus responds, because you shall be filled, that is filled with the very righteousness of God, which is to be clothed in and robed with the righteousness, the very life of Christ.  Of course, as we looked last week, this is all due to the mercy and greatness of God.  This is not something that somebody earns, this is not something that I then do, and then I’ve earned the favor of God, in the sense that I’ve done certain things, and I’m deserving, and he responds accordingly because I’m deserving.  But as we looked last week, when he says ‘fill us completely, completely underserved grace, favor of God.’  But he responds when he sees certain things in the heart, that’s just who he is.  When he sees a broken and contrite heart, when he sees a sinner, a repentant sinner who so much wants to change and to be saved from their sin.  Now we’re on verse 7, and we pick up where we left off.  Jesus continues to share, of course for the next beatitude.  Now it’s not what he says here, and what he says in verse 6, it isn’t just when he says ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled’, that’s not just a spiritual transaction that happens in the heavenlies.  Meaning that when he says ‘They are filled’ meaning ‘they are clothed in Christ’ so now you stand on a right standing with God in heaven, which is true.  When I am born-again, when I come to God, before then I was a sinner separated from God, deserving of judgment, but when I come to Christ, and I hunger and thirst and say ‘God save me’, he saves me and now I have the righteousness of Christ, so when he looks at me I’m on a different standing.  But when he says “they are filled” here it’s more than just that spiritual transaction that takes place up in heaven in that sense.  But there’s a transformation that he’s referring to here [in verses 6 and 7] in the life of the person.  There’s something very powerful, there’s this abundance of spiritual life that they are then filled with.  And as a result, then people are looking and saying, ‘I see, I see in these born-again evangelicals, I see certain things.  There’s something going on, like rabbi Shmuley notes there with folks that he’s come in contact with.  So the next beatitude, the next statement I believe is a result of what he has just said in verse 6, he says “Blessed are the merciful, blessed are the merciful.”  This springs forth from the previous verses, the first four beatitudes, especially it’s the result of the fourth one.  In fact, when he follows with ‘Blessed are the pure in heart’, and ‘blessed are the peacemakers’, I believe verses 7 to 9 actually are the result of verse 6 becoming a reality in your life.  If verse 6, what we studied last week, ‘Hunger and thirst for righteousness’, is real in your life, and you are filled with the righteousness of God, if that is true, then from your life will come mercy, from in your life will come being pure in heart, and then you’ll also become a peacemaker, these things that aren’t natural to me as a man, they’re not part of my personality, they’re not even part of my makeup.  But when the previous verses, especially verse 6 has then taken place, this stuff starts to happen.  And when I’m filled with the righteousness of God, the point is that I can’t help but help be merciful.  When I’m filled with the righteousness of God I can’t help but have the pureness in heart thing going on, and also I can’t help but be a peacemaker, it’s just something that happens.  You know, another way to sum this up is, “A Christians is, before he does anything, a Christian is, before she does anything, is, you are, a Christian.”  There’s something very real going on in your life, in your heart, transforming, born-again life, and as a result, now you do something, you have a certain attitude and you have a certain expression in your life.  So the more righteous a person is, the more righteous people are, the more merciful they become.  The more righteous they are, the more they are pure in heart, the more righteous they are, the more they are peacemakers.  And that righteousness comes from one place, it comes from heaven itself.  I can’t even put it in me, it’s just something that God instills in me as I hunger and thirst for him, and for his righteousness. 

“Blessed are the merciful”---what does that mean?

Now, when he says “Blessed are the merciful”, what exactly does he mean there?  With merciful we should note this, because the Greek word here is eleemon [Strongs #1655: eleemon (pronounced el-eh-ay’-mone); from 1653; compassionate (actively):-merciful.]  It refers to being merciful in the sense of showing pity, showing compassion.  And for that reason there are different translations of the New Testament that are brought into English where for instance Weymouth’s translates it this way “Blessed are the compassionate”.  Another translation, Young’s Literal Translation “Happy are the kind”.  So when he says “Merciful” here, he means in the sense of desiring to show pity, it’s desiring, you see somebody who is in misery, you see somebody who is suffering, you want to come and show them mercy, it’s that sort of mercy.  It’s what Jesus spoke about in the parable of the Good Samaritan [and I might add, pity often has the wrong connotation here, a lot of people hate pity.  What is meant here is an active mercy being shown here, not an unattached emotional feeling, like pity.  It denotes an active action to help someone in need.]  You remember in the parable of the Good Samaritan, a couple religious leaders, they’re all looking fancy on the outside, they walk down the street there, and there’s this man in this parable that’s been beaten up, has been robbed, he’s in a miserable condition.  He’s suffering.  The religious leaders, of course in their religious piety, they don’t even want to cross on the same side of the road, they move away from the man.  But there’s this good Samaritan, somebody who would be seen as a down-and-outer really in the Jewish culture at the time, but he has such a pure heart for God and love for God, he comes and he can’t help but he sees this man in his need, he goes over and begins to bandage the wounds, and begins to help him and bless him, puts him into a hotel and provides for all of his needs.  Jesus then asks the question to those who are listening as he shares the parable, he says, “So who was the neighbor to the man in misery?”  The answer came, “He who showed mercy on him.”  That word “mercy”, the root Greek word there in that parable is the same word used here, the word here is derived from that word.  So it’s that sense of showing mercy [active mercy, not so much verbal], like the Good Samaritan, you know, wanting to, you just can’t help but to reach out to somebody that’s suffering, you want to make a difference, and to show them just love and compassion and kindness.  Now with that in mind, and this is not a natural temperament, when he says “merciful” he’s not referring to somebody whose easygoing, somebody whose a whimp, somebody whose a pushover, just ignores the issues, he’s not referring to that at all.  In fact, go back to the previous verse, it’s the same individual who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, who longs for that.  I was blessed to read a paper this morning, the front page of the Worcester Telegram, I don’t know if it was today’s paper or a day or two ago, but I’m glad to see this during the election, Bush is elected, then one of these Senators whose in a place where he’s going to be put on potentially certain places on the Senate, but he comes out and makes a public statement, he says to Bush, he says “If Bush seeks to nominate (or have nominated) a Supreme Court Justice who is pro-life, pro-family, is that in any way, I’m going to work to the utmost with the Democrats to stop that.”  And he’ll be in a position of influence, as he might be appointed to this one Judiciary Committee.  Well I was really blessed to read on the front page of the Telegram, since he’s said that and done that, there has just been an influx, a voice, through the telephone especially and letters, people saying, ‘Hey Jose, you think you’re going to stop this, well hold on here, that’s not right, you say you’re not going to allow somebody whose pro-life?  But they have to be pro-choice, that’s the only option as far as getting on the Supreme Court bench?  Hold on here!  That’s not good.  We hunger and thirst for righteousness, so we’re not just going to sit about and just say ‘Okay, no problem.’  We’re going to call you and say ‘Wait a minute here, that’s not right.’”  Of course, so I’m thankful that there’s this thirst for what is right, and I’m not trying to endorse that maybe people are doing it the wrong way and saying it the wrong way, but I respect the heart, in the sense of hungering and thirsting for righteousness.  So when he gets to “merciful”, that’s the same individual.  You know, God is merciful, yet God also, he doesn’t turn his back to wrongdoing.  He sticks to truth the whole time.  So when he says “merciful”, it’s not the pushover, the whimp, it’s somebody whose been infused with the very characteristic and heart of God, that they’ve opened their heart to God, and God, his mercifulness is now in their heart.  And so therefore, you know, like rabbi Shmuley when he notes these evangelicals, he says in his letter, he says “They’re at the forefront of feeding the hungry, forefront of caring for the sick, of giving clothes to the poor.  These guys, just showing mercy…”  That’s what Jesus is saying here when he says “Blessed are the merciful.”  You know, of course Shmuley when he says “Just try and find a kinder and more compassionate group of people than the evangelicals”, that’s what’s actually being said here, that type of merciful, kind and compassionate.  But I think rabbi Shmuley, as I noted in his letter there, I think that he should ponder a little bit more as to why?  In fact, if you ever get a copy of his letter and read it, he says “I mean, there’s no religious group like them.” 

What makes Christians and Messianic Jewish believers merciful?

But the question then is why?  Why are they this way?  What makes them different?  What makes them tick that way?  What makes them to be filled with that kind of compassion and that pity and that kindness, what makes them live so differently?  Well the reason why, 2,000 years ago Jesus, the Messiah steps on the scene and says right here “Blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed”, talks about a powerfully transforming life, and he gives this point, “Blessed are the merciful, blessed are the merciful.”  Now, when there’s someone who says they’re a born-again Christian, I mean to be a born-again Christian, it’s the very nature of what I am that causes me to be this way.  So to say that I’m born-again, and yet this is not part of my nature, then there’s a challenge.  If I am instead selfish and self-centered, then there’s an issue there.  I should be a modern-day Good Samaritan by just who I am, I’ve been infused with this righteousness of God, I have this mercy of God in me.  So, if it doesn’t exist, then the question comes, ‘Are you filled with the righteousness of God?’.  I mean, if your friends and your family, people around you, would say ‘You know George, the guy is contentious, he’s contentious a lot, he’s just got this way to him, and oh he’s so self-centered, he never thinks about anybody else, his deal is his deal, that’s all he’s ever worried about, not very loving with his wife, not very concerned about his kids.’  If that would be said of me, then there is an issue here.  He says “Blessed are the merciful.”  When we really understand the definition of what he’s saying, that’s what a Christian is by their very nature, as the Holy Spirit is working in and through them.  I think of a recent story that was noted in the Gospel for Asia letter that just came out, maybe you read this too.  Story of a pastor, his name was Vampoo.  Evidently six years ago he went into a village, and he went into one of these villages in India, and there are many of them that are totally un-reached, and he began to share the Gospel.  Of course he met very quickly with opposition and hardship.  People weren’t really interested in hearing about this new deal.  And there were two times where he was actually severely beaten.  Well, as he continued to share, there were some that did come to Christ over time, but then in response the leaders of the village and other people in the village came up with a scheme that was really pretty nasty, to kind of come against him.  And what they decided to do, there was a well in the village, and they decided to limit access to this pastor and these people who were their people that were now with him.  They said ‘No way, you can’t use this well anymore.’ Well the hardship came immediately then, so what they had to do, in this letter, is they had to travel three or four miles to another village, fill up their little buckets with water, three gallon pot or container, and then walk three or four miles with a three gallon container.  That’s a lot of weight to carry three or four miles.  It’s about sixteen laps around that track.  That’s hard, every single day.  Well this little band of Christians with this pastor continued to do that, amazingly too, the church grew up to about 40 people.  But then the water supply in the other village started to be depleted.  So now they’re going all this way and getting water, and it says in the letter that they weren’t even getting enough to meet their needs.  Well the pastor then started to pray, started to ask God earnestly ‘Lord, provide us with a well.  Lord, please, we need a well.  And also provide us with a church building, as this church is growing.’  Well, God heard this man’s prayer, godly man.  One day at the Gospel for Asia office in the US [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/evangelism/worldmission.htm and http://www.gfa.org.], a person calls up and says ‘Hey, you know, I have it on my heart, God put it on my heart, I’d like to give you money so that you can go to the mission field and dig some of these bore-wells, put in some of these bore-wells, just on my heart.’  Well GFA then goes, and don’t they go to pastor Vampoo’s little village and they dig a bore-well, and now there’s water flowing.  But here’s the point, there are people completely against him, bringing lots of hardship into his life, not allowing him to have water.  What does he do, now that he’s got this fancy well that’s just bubbling out the water?  What is he going to do?  Well he’s got this deal on his heart, he’s got this love, he’s got this mercy.  So he announces to the entire village, ‘Water’s open to everybody, everybody can come and use this well.’  Well, the response of the astounded villagers, here’s a direct quote, “How come you allow us to use your well, after we refused you to let you use ours?  How come?  That’s just not normal.  What’s going on here?  I mean, the way this works, is we stopped you, you got an opportunity to rub our noses in the dirt here, I mean, you’re just going to let us use it?  What’s up with that?  Something different about you, man.” Now that’s what Jesus is saying here, he’s saying ‘Blessed are the merciful, blessed are the merciful’, it’s just this work that God has done in these people’s hearts and he’s done this in our heart.  And you can’t help, can’t help but, ‘I’m not going to do the same to you, man you need this water, you know, and come on, I love you man, I’m burdened for you, but I even love my enemies.’  And we’ll get to that as we go further into the Sermon on the Mount.  You know, thinking about wells and water, I think of my trip last year to India.  When we went to one particular village, and as I was with Bob Caldwell in that little group, when we went to one village, and there were the people lined up, mostly ladies, they had their saris on, all those colorful colors, and they were there in line waiting, and they had their jugs, and they’re waiting for water.  This one particular village had run out of water, their well had gone dry.  So we got there, and there was a reason why we were going there.  As we stood there with them, of course they were lined up by their caste, you know the higher caste up front, the Brahman’s and then at the end the Lots, if they were lucky, the attitude is, ‘If there’s any left you can have some’, you know.  So we’re there waiting, and here comes this truck with a big trailer with a container on the back, and there’s water, delivered to them.  And everyone just filled their containers and off they went back to their homes.  So, did they have to pay for this water, which would have been fairly expensive to get it that way?  No, they didn’t have to pay, and the reason why they didn’t have to pay is, “Chapel Missions India, Bob Caldwell”, all those supporters, that ministry, just wanting to love these people, learning that they didn’t have any water.  ‘So hey, let’s get them a truck and bring them water, every day, and we’ll pay for it.’  I was blessed just to see it, to witness it, and that’s just Jesus in action.  You know, “Blessed are the merciful”, you know, I think of the Hope Home, and I refer to them once in a while.  A couple years ago, reading the newsletters and seeing that there were 60 ladies, girls, teenagers and some younger girls, crammed into one little dinky three bedroom house, and there’s this thing in my heart, I know it’s in most of your hearts, but when I read that I immediately went, ‘OK, that’s on the other side of the globe and I’ve never seen these people before, and yeah I got a whole lot of need in my own life, and there are a lot of things we can do right here in this building,’  but I immediately said, ‘Lord, what can we do about this?’  60, I mean, imagine 60 in a little dinky place.  ‘What can we do about this, Lord?’  Well, one thing leads to another, we began to send money, now we get the letters with the architectural plans of the new building, we get pictures as they’re starting to lay the new foundations, and I’m just like “That’s just cool!”  But there’s something in me, see that’s not normal.  I mean it’s normal to say, ‘I live in this town in central New England, I need to take my kids to MacDonald’s 7 times a week, I’ve got to pay for my daughter’s gymnastics, my son’s baseball, I’ve got all these expenses, I can’t do this.  But there’s this deal in my heart, when I read that I go ‘I’m not going to stand around, I want to do something.’  It’s like Sudan, you know you hear about Sudan a lot now, but there were years, several years where the Church was just screaming real loud, people going before the government of our country and saying “There is a most horrendous thing happening right now on this globe, and the media doesn’t say anything about it, you’re not saying anything about it, you’ve got your spotlight in other places, but there is a HUGE, just abominable abuse of human life going on in this place called Sudan.  But who knew about it was the Church [the greater body of Christ], lots of Christians going over, all sorts of ministries, I saw a magazine this week and here are people going over, you know, and doing anything they can, there’s the photos of the people laying down, hardly alive, been abused, been hurt, horrible stories I won’t even share from the pulpit because there’s younger people here.  And yet, all these Christians, and then it doesn’t say what their vocation is, but I’m sure there’s the nurses, there’s the mom’s, and there’s the college students, the accountants, and they’re coming from all sorts of places in the country [our country] but they’re so moved in their hearts they go over there, and they’re like “What can we do, these people are in such misery and suffering.”  Jesus says “Blessed are the merciful, blessed are the merciful”, it’s just part of my being as I draw near to God, it’s something that happens in my life.  I wasn’t necessarily like that before.  Now I’m excited too, mentioning this fifteen passenger bus-van thing that we have.  And some time…[tape switchover, some text lost]…there, but we’re going to come [to a church somewhere in Mexico] with this nice cool deal, pastor xxxx, God bless you from heaven, this is what God wants to give to you”, and I just can’t wait to do it.  And I’ve got other things I could be doing in the middle of March, and I think back to when we went there last time, fifteen of us, we slept on concrete.  Of course we’re going to go down there with our own money, sweat like we did the last time, help them construct buildings.  Last time we helped him build a house for himself and his family, and next time we’ll help build a church [which they have just done].  But you know, I mean, it wasn’t easy living down there for a week.  Wasn’t too bad, but living on the cement, no showers.  You know, I look at the pictures, man, talking about bad hair…I was envious of those who had less hair, I wanted to be bald.  I look at the pictures, and thinking about going down there again, I mean, showing the church pictures, you know, you’re dirty, you haven’t necessarily bathed very well for a week, and you’re just down there.  And then the smells, I mean, the worst smells that I’ve smelt in my life, I’ve been in the middle of slums in India, but we were in places in this town in Mexico, that, you know, it was really bad.  I remember this one lady was making a Mexican meal I love, and I was trying to enjoy it, but the stench that was coming into my nose was so intense to me.  Now, there are people in my neighborhood that say “You’re going to use your money to do that?  Dude, let me talk to you about Carnival Cruise Lines, you can go on Carnival Cruise Lines [laughter], you can have your little Latte’ and you can listen to the greatest music, and you can just look at the beautiful blue water.  Why would you do that?”  It’s just this thing in my heart.  I wouldn’t want to go on the Carnival Cruise Line.  I mean, I would at other times with my wife, sure.  But I don’t really like the ship and boat thing very much.  But I would want to do this.  I couldn’t wait to see this pastor.  But this is the guy that we heard from this one lady, Katie, Katie lives in one of the US border towns in Texas, one day she’s down in the Mexican town across the border, this man, this pastor, wife, young children, and they’ve come up from another community, nice community, nicer community in Mexico, left their lives, feel called to this extremely poor Mexican community to the north, have no money, they built a little shelter, it has no walls, it just has a roof.  It’s now wintertime, it’s snowing, she comes across this man and this woman and the young kids sleeping on the ground underneath the shelter, and he’s a Christian, a godly man, wants to reach the city.  She’s like, “I gotta do something about this.”  And so now we’ve been part of it, and in a little while we get to deliver a wonderful bus, help construct a church.  Now, “Blessed are the merciful”, this stuff goes on in our heart.  You know, I’m thrilled about it, I know it’s wild, there are people that went last time, I think everybody that went last time are saying “I want to go, I want to go, I can’t wait to get down there, it would be so cool.”  “Blessed are the merciful”, that is “joyous, happy”, and we certainly can as Christians relate, you know.  [There are ways that the individual can give to the major five international evangelistic organizations, some of which specialize in the care-giving aspect of the Gospel which this pastor is talking about.  That is discussed in the mission statement of this site (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/missionstatement.htm).  But as a local congregation, you can also choose out sister-church projects like this, or find other ways you as a local congregation can give mercifully within your own community, all in the name of Jesus Christ.  Doing both forms of giving covers all the bases, demonstrating the merciful love of Jesus Christ around your community and around the world (see http://www.unityinchrist.com/evangelism/sisterchurch.htm).

Don’t put the cart before the horse

Then he goes on, “Blessed are the merciful”, as to why he really makes the point here, is “because they shall obtain mercy.”  Again, so the various translations of the Bible, says “Blessed are the compassionate for the shall receive compassion”, or “Happy are the kind, for they shall receive kindness.”  Different translations will render it that way.  So that’s the sense, compassion, you receive compassion, kindness, you receive kindness, and the joy and the happiness, the perfect happiness that is there.  Now we have to be careful here, because you can get the cart before the horse.  There are people that this is their philosophy, I know people that are very close to me, this is their philosophy in life.  That is, that they’re good people, and they mean to be good people, and they like to be good people, and they work to be good to others.  I know of people, it’s their philosophy, that, you know, ‘I am a good person, and I strive to be good, and therefore God is going to be good to me.   Because I am this way, you know, I’m not worried about heaven.’  But then I look at their philosophy and I say they’re missing a real integral part here, and that is that we’re sinners, and the issue of sin has to be dealt with.  And I can’t do good to overcome the sin.  I need a Saviour, I need to come to God humbly and repent of my sin, and receive Jesus as my Saviour.  [In reality, what the pastor is showing, 1^st, you come to recognize your sinful state, 2^nd you confess that fact, then ask Jesus into your life, and 3^rd by the very Holy Spirit he now imbues you with, the righteousness of Christ, little by little is poured out into you and becomes part of you, then you start reflecting the qualities of these beatitudes.]  So, if you’re not careful here, you can miss the point, and get the cart before the horse.  The point again of this deal here is, not that we’re to leave this building and just go about to be good so that God will be good to us, that’s not the point at all, but rather, the point is here, is that when God has touched a life, when there has really been a spiritual transaction, when God has touched a life, when righteousness has been filled and poured into a life, then wonderfully, wonderfully, the mercy comes from my heart, and I show mercy---and then I receive mercy more, and then I give more mercy, and then a I receive.  It’s like I get into this whole new life of being blessed, as I just love, and I’m blessed, I love, and then I’m blessed.  Indeed, you know it’s better to give than to receive, and to be a Christian that is all the more just letting God work through your life, and to show mercy is just to have your socks being blessed off.  It’s just the truth.  So the point again, is a Christian is about being born again, before they do anything, and you can’t get to verse 7, you can’t just jump across the verses and go right to verse 7 and make that your philosophy, you’ve missed the whole deal.  You’ve not even fulfilled it.  It is being born-again and having the righteousness of God in you, and then you do these very things, and you show a ton of mercy, and then you receive it also. 

If you’re not one who shows mercy

Now, verse 7, it is true, if you do not show mercy, you know the negative is, if you do not show mercy, you will not obtain mercy.  Now this isn’t a legalistic thing.  Maybe you’re a born-again Christian (or Messianic Jewish believer in Jesus) and you had a bad week, you know.  Kind of hard on somebody, and you’re sitting there thinking, ‘Oh now my salvation’s at stake’, it’s not a legalistic thing.  But it is true, the principle that is here, the spirit of what is here, is if you are a person who in general, in your character does not show mercy, that is not in your heart, that there is not pity in your life, there’s not compassion for the lost and suffering, if that is not there, then it is true, you’re in a place potentially, where you will not receive the mercy that is spoken of here, which is especially to stand before God on that day and receive mercy which we so much need.  That is true.  If you are not somebody whose “poor in spirit”, “who mourns over that” and then “meek and broken, and contrite in heart”, and then “hungering and thirsting for righteousness”, and as a result is then “merciful”, if that is not true, then you will not obtain mercy.  But that’s the way it works.  We don’t want to get out of order either.  Matthew chapter 18, Jesus speaks about the unmerciful, he says in the parable, he says about the unmerciful servant “Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you.  So my heavenly Father also will do to each of you who from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses.”  So, the parable, if you’re not kind and merciful, then it’s clear then you’ve not really experienced and appreciated and internalized the mercy of God.  James makes this point, James chapter 2, why don’t we even flip there.  We’ll read this together, because this really, maybe you’ve not considered James in this light as much as with the beatitudes here, but there’s this same thought being made.  Of course James with his style, he really drives it home, he doesn’t, he just cuts to the chase.  James chapter 2.  But notice the thought process here, chapter 2, verse 13, “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy.  Mercy triumphs over judgment.”  So judgment without mercy, if you do not show mercy, you will not be shown mercy.  But watch what the very next thought is.  “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?  Can faith save him?  If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?  Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’  Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  You believe that there is one God.  You do well.  Even the demons believe---and tremble!  But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?  Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?  Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?  And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’  You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only.  Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?  For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (verses 13-26).   This is exactly what Jesus is saying in the parable, and in the beatitudes.  I mean, James says, ‘If you say you’re all spiritual and you have faith, but there’s somebody in great need and misery and suffering, a sister, and it’s about clothing and food, and you just kind of go your way, there’s something very wrong here.  You’ve not shown mercy.  So how can you?  I mean, that’s not real faith.  But if you’re born-again, filled with the Holy Spirit, I will show you, the rabbi Shmuley’s will go ‘There’s faith’.  Because I will demonstrate it to you, because it’s real and it’s in my heart, and it will just come forward.  I’ll go and have this pity and compassion, I’ll go love that person, and seek to make a difference in their life.  When we go through this passage and beatitude, what about you in your own life?  Is that a reality in your own heart?  Is it a reality, is it there?  You know, I believe we can have more and more, that personal revival, opening your heart to God and letting him just clean house, and just fill you with his righteousness just all the more, that compassion and pity is there.  You can’t help but be merciful.  Well, blessed, blessed, divinely happy, perfectly happy, joyous are those that have been so saved from their sin, experienced the wonderful work of God in their lives, because they’re merciful, and blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.   You know, I heard a story, and I heard it not first-hand or second-hand even, so I’m probably a little off on the details, so if I’m a little off on the details and you know it better, I guess I’ll hear after the service, and that’s ok too.  But I’ll use the story, because even if I’m a little off, it makes a point.  But my wife was talking to me this week or actually yesterday.  Evidently University of Massachusetts, you know the election, lot of talk about same-sex marriage, homosexuality, and a lot of talk about these born-again believers.  So a university professor somewhere in Massachusetts, some time very recently, stands before the class, because of these very issues we’re hearing about, says to the class, asks the question, “How many here in this class knows a homosexual?”  Everybody raises their hand.  Then the next question, the teacher says to the class, “How many in this class knows a born-again Christian---we’re hearing a lot about them---how many here knows a born-again Christian?”  Not a soul in the classroom raised their hands.  And you know, the point of the professor’s question is, ‘With all that we’re hearing, where are these guys?  Who are they?’  Now, considering that’s the way I’ve understood the story, and if that is indeed what happened, then boy that kind of explains the way, why Massachusetts voted the way it did, man in this recent election.  Because it seemed to vote a bit differently than a lot of other places, except for you guys.  [laughter]  You know, I’m thankful, I truly am thankful to be part of a group of people that where you hunger and thirst for righteousness.  Looking at the election, in my personal little opinion, and this is my personal opinion, I looked at the political landscape and I said ‘Man, it’d be a lot better off living in Montana.  [chuckles]  I’m not out here because of politics, I was called here.  And I looked at the result of the election going ‘Oh, this is where I’m called, I’d like it better in some of these other places.’  But yet, at the same time I got excited because there is a great need.  And is it true that there are people actually going, “Anybody know a born-again Christian?”  You send them my phone number if you know of anybody saying that, I’ll sit down there and talk with them.  Hopefully my life will back it up too.  You know, you’ve looked at this, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”  I pray, you and I, as we read these things together, this is a powerful life, and I thank God to be part of, I mean, you guys, I sometimes hear what you do, and it’s cool to be part of a congregation where you hear of a need, and as you hear the need, already people are taking care of the need.  I’m like, ‘Wow!---they did that?  Wild!  Oh man, this stuff has been going on for awhile, I never heard about it.  All these people, just loving and ministering to one another, reaching out in the community.’  But all the more when we leave today, oh God, pour your love, your righteousness into our hearts, that every single citizen of the surrounding towns in the North County, everybody in this region, would say “Born-again Christian---I know some, I know some.”  And may they be like rabbi Shmuley too, when they say “I know some, and those people, you couldn’t find a more kinder, compassionate bunch.  If you have a need, you’re hurting, go to that church, go to that church Horizon, or go to the Assemblies of God, those folks will take care of you man.  They just are a kind and loving people.”  May the Lord all the more, as we go, and may it be true of us, may we not be obnoxious about it, trying to be that way on our own, without God.  You can be a real turn-off too, ‘Leave me alone, enough with that compassion and mercy stuff, get away from me, man, you’re bugging me.’  May we just let the Lord live through us.  If I draw near to him I can’t help but be this way.  Let’s stand together…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Matthew 5:7, given somewhere in New England.]  

Related links:

http://www.samaritans_purse.org

http://www.MAF.org