The Beatitudes of Jesus

Today’s reading from the Tecarta Bible’s Lenten reading plan is from Matthew 5:1-16. Though. I simply feel I’m going to write about the Beatitudes here instead. I may doubt that I could write one entry per day. However, I’ll try to write them. As I tried reading the book The Jesus You Can’t Ignore–I couldn’t help but reread the chapter of that book where the sermon on the mount was discussed. The sermon on the mount is a very long topic. When one thinks of a sermon, it’s a long discussion. Back then, I remember the threat of being sermoned. Most people preferred the spanking over the sermon. The sermon can hit more than just the surface. It can cut through the joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 describes the power of God’s Word to hurt even the very bone of the listener.

I was reading the NIV MacArthur Study Bible and I found this introduction in Matthew 5. The sermon is from Matthew 5:1-7:29. Dr. John Fullerton MacArthur discusses the sermon in this way:

The Sermon on the Mount introduces a series of 5 important discourses record in Matthew. This sermon is a masterful exposition of the law and a potent assault on Pharisaic legalism, closing with a call to true faith and salvation (7:13-29). Christ expounded the full meaning of the law, showing that is demands were humanly impossible (cf. 5:48). This is the proper use of the law with respect to salvation: it closes every possible avenue of human merit and leaves sinners dependent on nothing but divine grace for salvation (cf. Ro. 3:19-20, Gal. 3:23-24). Christ pumbled the depth of the law, showing tha tis true demands went far beyond the surface meaning of the words (5:28, 39, 44) and set a standard that is higher than the most diligent students of the law had heretofore realized (5:20).

The Greek word used throughout the Beatitudes is makarios, which is defined as blessed or happy. As I was going through the KJV with Strong’s Concordance (where I get the Greek and Hebrew from), I found that I had placed some old marginal notes back when I was at Cebu Bible Baptist Church. That was back when I was a KJV Only and non-Calvinist. Cebu BBC pastors were careful enough not to quarrel with Christians who weren’t KJV Only or Calvinists. Now, I found some notes that I made from some years ago. They pointed out the opposite of each beatitude as presented by Pastor Robert Kent P. Jesalva, the current senior pastor. The sermon was called “Eight Qualities of the Christian Character”.

1. Matthew 5:3 says how blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. The opposite is pride. The true religion is from God and a pure heart.
2. Matthew 5:4 says how blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. The opposite is taking pleasure in sin and/or self-righteousness. A heart that never feels sorrow doesn’t know what real joy is (Ecc. 7:3).
3. Matthew 5:5 says how blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth. The opposite is aggression.
4. Matthew 5:6 says how blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. This is all about authentic righteousness and not artificial standards of righteousness.
5. Matthew 5:7 says how blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. The very opposite is mercilessness. Some tips given are as follows:
   • Keep away from the bitterness of unforgiveness, hatred, and jealousy.
   • What you give is given back to you or the law of action and reaction.
   • What you can’t tolerate you can’t change.
   • Overseeing little grudges and forgiving big offenses.
6. Matthew 5:8 says blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. The opposite is the impure heart.
7. Matthew 5:9 says blessed are the peacemakers. Once again, you can’t change what you can’t tolerate.
8. Matthew 5:10-11 talks about being blessed for being persecuted for the sake of the Gospel. This is to say that if you’re truly saved, expect to be persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Slander and the like are to be expected.

As I was reading The Jesus You Can’t Ignore, I was looking at the insights given by MacArthur. Okay, I was reading the book while I wasn’t a Calvinist and I was still a KJV Only. I wanted to maintain Pastor David W. Cloud’s stance of embracing Calvinists if they show signs of being truly born again. Yes, I believe there are some unsaved Calvinists too, such as those who actually departed from the faith (1 John 2:19). MacArthur also shared some of his former seminary mates apostatized. Now, for the insights that I find worth sharing:

The order is significant. The more faithfully lives out the first seven beautitudes, the more he or she will experience the persecution spoken in the eighth.

All those qualities are radically at odds with the world’s values. The world esteems pride more than humility; loves merriment rather than mourning; thinks strong-willed assertiveness is superior to true meekness; and prefers the satiety of carnal pleasure over a thirst for real righteousness. The world looks with utter contempt on holiness and purity of heart, scorns every plea to make peace with God, and constantly persecutes the truly righteous. Jesus could hardly have devised a list of virtues more at odds with His culture.

And that was especially true of the style of religion that dominated the culture. Consider this: the Pharisees as a gorup stood on the wrong side of every one of those lines in the sand. Spiritual self-sufficiency defined their whole system. They refused to acknowledge their sin, much less mourn over it. Far from being meek, they were the embodiment of stubborn, overbearng, self-assertiveness. They didn’t hunger and thirst for righteousness; they actualy thought they had perfected it. They were not merciful but speciaulized in ” bind[ing] heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay[ing] them on men’s shoudlers but they themselves [would] not move them with one of their fingers” (Matthew 23:4). Their hearts were impure, not pure, and Jesus confronted them about that regularly (Matthew 23:27). They were spiritual troublemakers, not peacemakers. And above all, they were quintessential persecutors of the righteous. Their dealings with Jesus were already beginning to make that clear.

So the Beatitudes were a rebuke to the Pharisees’ whole system. Any Pharisee who might have been in the crowd listening to the sermon would certainlly have felt personally attacked and publicly humiliated. And if there were any doubt of His itnentions, proof that Jesus meant to chide them is seen throughout the rest of the Sermon. In fact, the central message of the Sermon on the Mount is summed up in verse 20: “I say unto you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of Heaven.” The sermon is sustained critique of their whole religious system. The Beautitudes are merely an intorduction constrating the spirit of authentic faith with the hypocrisy of pharisaical self-righteousness.

Just re-reading that statement reminds of of what’s wrong with manmade religion. The common denomination of manmade religion is salvation by works. It’s no wonder some why people say, “No religion teaches you to be bad except Satanism.” Unfortunately, there’s such a thing as inauthentic righteousness. I’ve met some cultists who have their high and mighty attitude, ready to strike anybody who disagrees. I’ve heard of incidents of members of the Iglesia ni Cristo and the Mormons beating people up. Reading about the Pharisees also reminds me of the arrogant attitude of Roman Catholic priests and maybe, I’ll also include the religious leaders of Judaism and Islam. Both Judaism and Islam also bind heavy burdens on men’s shoulders. Fortunately, Catholics aren’t hit by the same legalistic demands during Islam’s Ramadan, which is fasting for an entire lunar month. Catholics fortunately are only required abstinence and fasting during Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent. However, it doesn’t change the fact that manmade religion is really binding burdens on men’s shoulders.

This also reminds me of what I’ve read what Martin Luther did while he was a priest. I read The Holiness of God by the late Robert Charles Sproul Sr. and The Gospel According to Jesus by MacArthur. At those times, I could think what if I took the heed, “Why don’t you become a priest now?” I could imagine that after my first communion, I did secretly consider the Catholic priesthood as a child. I could imagine what if I went into the Jesuit order, only to bore the Jesuit Superior because I’d spend hours in confession, irritating the other confessors in line. Maybe, I might’ve been told, “Come back if you did something really wrong like a mortal sin!” Just reading about what Luther did, he never had any peace in his soul until he started to study the Book of Romans. I even felt if I did become a priest, maybe I would end up consulting the writings of Augustine while preparing for a homily. I might’ve nailed my own version of the 95 Theses.

We should be careful not to mix and confuse the root for the fruit. Authentic faith results in good works. Real salvation changes a person from a life of sin to a life of good works. The order in the Bible is different. Get saved and good works follow. It doesn’t mean good works can’t be done by the unbeliever. Their major problem is that they can’t keep the whole Law (James 2:10-11). Romans 3:10-19 says we’re all guilty. As said, we’re talking about the be-attitudes, not the do-attitudes. The Beatitudes describe true, real life. Christians may not be perfect but they do are expected and will end up living the Beatitudes, one way or another.