Becoming Whole Sermon Week 12

Intro/Welcome

We’ve done it.

We have come to the final sermon in our Becoming Whole Series.

How do we know if we are progressing?

How do we know if we are becoming whole? more transformed into His Image?

What are the markers that we are on the right path?

Yes!

The beatitudes are that map.

Transformation is a process.

Name/Bible

We are going to be in Matt 5:1-9 today.

you can go there in your Bibles

My Name is Justin

Welcome you here today and those joining online.

We are glad you are here today wherever we find you.

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The Beatitudes

Prelude - The Call to Discipleship

Matthew 4:17 ESV

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Matthew 4:19 ESV

19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Matthew 4:20 ESV

20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

Matthew 4:23–25 ESV

23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Overview

Matt 5:1-2 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

Jesus’ audience is made up both of disciples, those whom have said yes to Jesus, and the crowds, those whom are just curious about what Jesus would have to say.

The goal of course is to get everyone to more from crowd member to committed disciple.

He started this talk with what we call the Beatitudes, referring to a series of blessings that Jesus declared were characteristics of those who were under his reign. Often people try to understand these statements separately, but they should be taken progressively instead. Rather than describing different aspects of Kingdom living, each blessing leads to the next, moving people towards a transformational goal. Not only does this approach make better sense of the Beatitudes, these then become our guidebook, identifying the markers of personal growth progress as we enter on the journey towards becoming whole. Each one shows us something about our personal progress.

Step 1: Humility

Matt 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Humility is the starting point for the journey of becoming whole. 

This is the moment that you come to the end of yourself.  The only path to wholeness is to realize that you are broken and that you cannot fix yourself.  This is in direct opposition to pride. 

“the moment when you recognize that what you think are your resources and strength for health are actually totally inadequate.”

This Beatitude marks the death of pride in your personal resources to fix yourself. You cannot even start your journey towards becoming whole until this marker is passed. Until that instant you still vainly believe you can find some other way.

Every time you come to this point, your grasp of God’s reign over you is renewed.

The struggle for all of us is that we will need to come to the end of ourselves every time we become aware of sin’s control over our lives.

God will not stop pursuing you until he has all of you.

This may take pain, suffering, the ‘desert’ experience

He will not let you find lasting satisfaction outside of Himself, becuase he is the only place you can find it.

Growth?

Stop and ask yourself, “How long does it take me to give in to God over heart issues?” As you heal, the speed of your surrender should increase as you learn to trust Him better.

To become part of the Kingdom, that is to have the Kingdom be yours, you have to submit everything to the King.

Step 2: Grieve

Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted”

When we come to the end of ourselves, we come face to face with wounds we have stuffed down, ignoring what we must do to really have a healthy soul, and doing that for as long as we have had the strength. 

If humans are deficient in one area, it is their willingness to grieve properly. This denial of grief points to where we begin to run from pain, seeking comfort in something other than God.

When we move towards knowing God, our pain becomes very alive and real. Here for perhaps the first time we mourn our loss, experiencing the intensity of our soul’s distress. 

Grief is a process through which our rational mind comes to understand our emotional loss. We are freed to care that we are wounded, to stop denying that our wound is really significant or that we are really too big to cry.

Grief is not forever. 

Jesus understands loss and pain and will walk with you.

The promise of this grief process is not finding acceptance of the pain, but being comforted in a healing way. Wounds will never be acceptable. The blessing gives hope that, although the wounding was unfair and wrong, not only will every tear be dried someday, but also strength to live healed will now be given.

Being comforted does not mean you will have no scar from the wound. But it does mean the hurt of the wound no longer directs your life choices.

We’ve talked about the need to grieve our sin, to grieve our story and the wounds we have

To grieve the sadness in the world

the brokenness all around us.

We cannot ultimately escape the pain, we must go through it and the promise of those whose Kingdom is theirs, is that they will be comforted.

This of course means that you have given up on all self salvation projects

And turned back from all escape routes

Solomon said “increased knowledge only increases sorrrow”

Step 3: Submission?

Matthew 5:5 “Blessed are the meek (gentle, tame, humble), for they shall inherit the earth.”

Grieving opens your way to submitting to God’s leadership in the healing process. The word “meek” literally means strength under control. To become meek is to agree that God is in charge of the program and you are willing to let Him set out the journey of your recovery.

Healing may take you down roads that no one else has gone. He may ask you to do outrageous things—forgive people who do not deserve forgiveness, confess to others things you want to keep hidden, give away what you want to keep.

The more—and more quickly—you submit to whatever He reveals is for you, the more you know you are progressing. And whatever He leads you to do, He will also give you the strength to do it.

This is where you abandon your self-help agenda and depend on God’s grace.

Inheriting the earth is to live life here as it was meant to be lived. You begin to come alive as a human. What was shriveled in your heart starts to bloom.

Sermon on the Mount (MLJ)

But `Blessed are the meek', not those who trust to their own organizing, not those who trust to their own powers and abilities and their own institutions. (MLJ)

There is first of all that fundamental postulate about being `poor in spirit'. That is the primary fundamental spirit that leads in turn to a condition of mourning as we become aware of our sin; and that in turn leads to this spirit of meekness. (MLJ)

That is not meekness. So it does not mean to be naturally nice or easy to get on with. Nor does it mean weakness in personality or character. Still less does it mean a spirit of compromise or `peace at any price'.

Meekness is compatible with great strength. Meekness is compatible with great authority and power. These people we have looked at have been great defenders of the truth. The meek man is one who may so believe in standing for the truth that he will die for it if necessary.

Meekness is essentially a true view of oneself, expressing itself in attitude and conduct with respect to others. It is therefore two things. It is my attitude towards myself, and it is an expression of that in my relationship to others.

Meekness is essentially a true view of oneself, expressing itself in attitude and conduct with respect to others. It is therefore two things. It is my attitude towards myself, and it is an expression of that in my relationship to others.

likewise does not demand anything for himself. He does not take all his rights as claims. He does not make demands for his position, his privileges, his possessions, his status in life.

Then let me go further; the man who is meek is not even sensitive about himself. He is not always watching himself and his own interests. He is not always on the defensive.

We spend the whole of our lives watching ourselves. But when a man becomes meek he has finished with all that; he no longer worries about himself and what other people say. To be truly meek means we no longer protect ourselves, because we see there is

To be meek, in other words, means that you have finished with yourself altogether, and you come to see you have no rights or deserts at all.

one who is amazed that God and man can think of him as well as they do and treat him as well as they do. That, it seems to me, is its essential quality.

But it also means that we are ready to listen and to learn; that we have such a poor idea of ourselves and our own capabilities that we are ready to listen to others. Above all we must be ready to be taught by the Spirit, and led by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Meekness always implies a teachable spirit.

Finally, I would put it like this. We are to leave everything-ourselves, our rights, our cause, our whole future-in the hands of God, and especially so if we feel we are suffering unjustly.

The meek already inherit the earth in this life, in this way. A man who is truly meek is a man who is always satisfied, he is a man who is already content.

Are you teachable?

Will you submit and learn from Jesus (Matt 11:29) who is gentle.

This is a willingness to wait on God

meekness is putting others first, it is not having to win, it is serving others.

it is being content in God

Step 4: Focus / Action?

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied”

What changes in you who choose this way is that you finally want to be what God made you to be in the beginning. You begin to want your life to reflect His life, perhaps for the first time, perhaps deeper than you ever thought possible.

This blessing indicates that those who come this way have passed the point of passivity.

How God might go about shaping your religious life is not what this blessing is about. It is about the reality of the new covenant God promised in Jeremiah 31: 31ff—that He will put His law in our minds and write His law on our hearts.

Then He will be our God and we will be His people. In other words, this blessing indicates our switch from selective obedience to passion for being righteous in the way God is righteous.

Look into yourself and ask what drives your desires.

The healthier you are becoming, the greater you will find that you want what God wants. One of the sure signs you are making progress is that you look back at your former behavior and realize you never want to go back to what you were.

Step 5: Compassion

Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy”

Nothing will open your heart to other wounded people more than realizing how you acted when you were comforting yourself by sin in me choices. You finally see their pain too. Whereas before you were selfish, you are now seeing other’s wounds as being as important as your own.

Lots of people go into the field of counseling damaged people because they themselves need counseling.

There is more to this blessing than compassion. Instead, this blessing is rooted in the previously shared meaning of mercy.

Merciful people are those who are not exacting retribution from those who have earned it. What you must see in what Jesus was saying about those who are being transformed is that, as they become like him, they begin to experience the same compassion for the people who wounded them that he demonstrated towards those who crucified him.

You begin to understand the wounded souls of the ones who made your life hellish. You realize they did to you what was done previously to them, maybe not in exactly the same way or intensity, but certainly resulting in the same kind of damage.

Finding that your grandparents were also depraved may be a surprise to you! Or that your parents were traumatized by life may enlighten you towards the blessing of this Beatitude. This is about being able to give to others what you so truly need yourself from God.

Mercy = forgiveness

Those who make a practice of forgiving others

This is akin to forgive so that you be forgiven.

Step 6: Clarity

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”

You start understanding that the sin in me choices have not only damaged your soul, they have made it impossible for you to know God as He is. Shame or defiance has marked your relationship with Him up to this point.

Instead of being blinded to God as the consequence of your unfinished business, the haze now is lifting. What has kept you away from God are the lies you have believed about Him. These lies have distorted God’s beauty and approachability for you. You have not only failed to see Him as He is—Abba, Father—but you have questioned His trustworthiness and often assumed the worst about Him when you deigned to think of Him at all.

Accept this truth—much of what you have projected on God comes from this part of your past, and it keeps you from a relationship with God that is naked and unafraid.

As you have healed, all this has changed in you. As your soul is made well, you begin to see God as He is for the first time.

His being will become clearer to you. Whatever forms the enemy’s lies took for you now fail to deceive you as they did.

His purpose for you shifts from being a burden to a joyful occupation that you enter into with passion.

The more unfinished business you allow God to deal with in you, the more your eyes are opened to the true God who loves you no matter what.

This is how you know you are making progress, when you find that you have changed how you think and speak about God to others and how you speak to Him personally.

As you become pure in your heart, you discover prayer brings you peace and freedom in being with God. You open your heart to Him and experience His restorative presence without measure. That is the blessing of this Beatitude.

You will start to see God at work in your life

and in the lives of others

You will also see God in the end.

Step 7: Transformation

Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers (hebrew shalom maker), for they shall be called sons of God”

For this blessing is about how much your life has been conformed to the image of Jesus. To be a peacemaker is to be a bringer of shalom to others. Shalom is a word from the Hebrew that denotes wholeness in the presence of God. It is a gift from God and can only be received from God. To be a peacemaker is to be doing the work of Jesus, leading people back into a life-giving relationship with God.

It is here that you know that you have been substantially healed. You can now fully see that what you have surrendered to God’s hand had been holding you back from the real you.

Your destination is not determined by your present state. It is predetermined by God. Since He has planned this for you, it will come to pass as you surrender yourself to His process.

How can you tell you are progressing in this direction? Let me point to the one characteristic of God that appears in those whose lives are conforming to Jesus’. They become lovers. Emotionally, mentally, and spiritually they act out of love towards others, as they now know love in ways forgotten by the human race in its mad pursuit of doing what it prefers. In fact, the mark of growing health in someone’s soul is that one’s love for God and others increases as time goes by.

Frankly, when you get to this place, you not only love differently, you also begin to grieve for people who have not allowed themselves to know God’s love because of their choices.

Love costs. It cost you pride. You discover that as a peacemaker you gain a greater awareness of the pain you passed on to others. You cannot let it pass anymore. You will more readily pursue reconciliation with those you hurt. The time between wounding and repenting will become shorter and shorter as you grow in love. Wholeness is worth it, because you are now becoming part of those who rescue, rather than those who inflict. This is when you know you have reached this marker.

This is awesome: a bringer of wholeness to others

a peace maker, a reconciler

son of God, as Jesus was the son of God, the ultimate shaloam giver

Step 8: Persecution

Matthew 5:10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”

This is where we started: “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”

Kingdom living is rooted in reality, not idealism. Putting this another way, when Jesus got to the end of his journey, there was a cross waiting for him.

Change in one’s life with God offers loads of opportunities for Satan to create misunderstandings and plant accusations of spiritual one-upmanship in the minds of others who should know better.

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). You’ll have to practice this numerous times before you are home with the Father. Be ready.

Do not assume that you will finish this journey, as in someday you will be done and can move on to other things. These blessings mark a lifelong journey.

The longer you are in the process, the more you see your need to be transformed. Happily, God does not reveal all our brokenness in one setting. If He did, we would be so devastated that we would never ask God for the courage to go on.

Paul those who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted.

Why? b/c the world, the flesh and the devil.

The Result

When we live like this, when we let ourselves be made whole

What is the response?

Jesus tells us in the very next part:

Salt & Light

Matthew 5:13–16 ESV

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

This is exactly what we are called to be as the church

In other words, the path to being (not doing) salt and light

The difference “doing” in this sense is on your own effort, your own motivation

Being is action that emanates out of who you are.

biblically: ministry comes from who you are, not what you do, what you do follows who you are.

In other words, the path to true discipleship (salt & Light) is through the beatitudes

The path of the beatitudes is the path of transformation

The path of transformation is making us whole, making us to be more like Jesus, his life and his heart.

Application:

Do you want to live?

Do you want to become whole?

To be taken places you never dreamed?

Follow Jesus, become like Him, be made whole.

Recap:

You were made for wholeness, for the open road

Will you commit to the process?

Will you surrender your story to Jesus?

You cannot become whole until you realize what is broken

What pain are you trying to escape?

What wounds from your past have you refused to deal with?

Are you stuck in the cycle of sin?

What sinful solutions do you go to?

Will you let Jesus transform you?

Jesus needed to be broken so that we could be made whole.

Will you commit to the process?

to be transformed is to experience true healing and true repentance and to know the difference between the two.

Will you forgive others?

Today we will see that we cannot be become whole unless we both give and receive forgiveness

When we don’t forgive we keep the door open to the enemy of our souls

Is there unforgiveness in your heart?

Do you have open doors to the enemy of your soul?

Will you forgive?

Are you willing to give your hurt and anger to the one who suffered with and for you, to redeem you from sin and provide the path to wholeness?

Will you overcome evil with good?

Will you experience true freedom from the pain you have endured?

Will you render the enemy ineffective?

Will you open the door to God’s power and presence and shut the door to the enemy of your soul

and become whole, become healed, become His.

Will you walk the healing path?

You cannot become whole without healing

Will you walk the repentant path?

You cannot become whole with out coming home.

Where have you been running from God?

Where do you need to turn back?

What do you need to repent of?

Do you want to get well?

without risk there can be no restoration

without trust than can be no transformation

Do you want to get well?

Is this what you want at your deepest level?

Are you ready to forsake all identities, all addictions, all anger that you have held on to?

Are you ready to risk your whole self with Jesus?

Wilt though become whole?

Will you rest, reflect and receive?

In Christ we have everything we need to live a transformed life.

Are you growing?