Commands of Christ-12c
Notes
Transcript
August 18, 2021 The Commands of Christ – 12c
Adult Bible Study
The Beatitudes (Part 3)
Ice-Breaker:
Terrance Klein: [The Beatitudes] do not describe the world in which we live. They tell us how to live in this world so as to prepare for one yet to come. Belief in another world gives us the courage to resist and to renew this one. And always remember: Jesus preached the Beatitudes. He lived them and died for them. And in rising from the dead, Christ confirmed them.
Recap: Series Foundational Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20 esp. vs.20
As we study the Commands of Christ we are using Tom Blackaby’s approach in his 2012 book, The Commands of Christ. In his book, Blackaby divides the commands of Christ into 6 areas:
1: Coming to God| 2: Christ as Lord | 3: Character| 4: Concerning Others | 5: Calling | 6: Cautions
We have covered the commands that relate to coming to God:
Be born again | Repent | Come as a child | Love God with all your being | Receive the Holy Spirit | Enter through the narrow door | Worship in Spirit and in truth | Abide in Me
We continue to cover the commands that relate to Christ is Lord of our life as we:
Deny Yourself | Take Up My Yoke and Learn from Me | Follow Me | You Have Heard It Said . . . but I Say to You | Pray This Way | Do This in Remembrance of Me | Remember What I Said
John Stott reminds us: … the group exhibiting these marks is not an elitist set, a small spiritual aristocracy remote from common Christians. On the contrary, the beatitudes are Christ's own specification of what every Christian ought to be. All of these qualities are to characterize all his followers. They describe his ideal for us as citizens of God's Kingdom.
I think there is a connection with the Fruit of the Spirit, but I haven’t yet had a chance to explore that connection.
Dig:
Read: Matthew 5:1-12 (2 readings)
No, Jesus didn’t say, “I command you to… BUT, don’t these statements have the force of commands since they include blessing (favor with God), which implies NOT being/doing these things causes God to be against us?:
Be poor in spirit
To mourn
To be meek
To hunger and thirst for righteousness
To be merciful
To be pure in heart
To be a peacemaker
To GLADLY suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness. Even more, to REJOICE when we suffer for Jesus.
Week before last, when were last together, we studied: Blessed are the meek:
Yesterday as I was coming back to the church from a UC Ministers meeting, I heard a radio preacher on WUCG that said: “God will never let the meek get the “short-end of the stick.”
Your thoughts
Afghani Christians
3 Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.
Prayer for Persecuted Christians
Let’s move on to the next beatitude:
2. John Stott suggests that hungering & thirsting for Biblical righteousness involves three aspects: legal, moral and social. What does it mean to hunger and thirst for each of these?
Complete Biblical Library: The term dikaiosunē [deh keye o soon’ ee] is applied both to God and to people in the New Testament. In reference to people it is concerned with the imputed righteousness “in Christ” and the practical righteousness of everyday living and conduct. The righteous judgment of God as well as His saving grace are particularly described in dikaiosunē language.
Question 10. Legal (spiritual) righteousness is justification, a right relationship with God.
We need to hunger to be right and stay in right relationship with God through Jesus.
If we are NOT right, we repent of our sins and seek God’s forgiveness that leads to right-standing with Him.
If we are right, we we repent of our sins and seek God’s forgiveness that leads to right-standing with Him.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Moral righteousness is that righteousness of character and conduct which pleases God.
Psalm 18:20-24 “The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has repaid me. 21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, And have not acted wickedly against my God. 22 For all His judgments were before me, And I did not put away His statutes from me. 23 I was also blameless with Him, And I kept myself from my wrongdoing. 24 Therefore the Lord has repaid me according to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes.”
Social righteousness, as we learn from the Law and the Prophets, is concerned with seeking humanity's liberation from oppression, together with the promotion of civil rights, justice in the law courts, integrity in business dealings, and honor in home and family affairs.
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?
Fire Bible
Hunger and thirst for righteousness. This is one of the most important verses in the Sermon on the Mount. Without this intense desire for righteousness, a person will not pursue a deeper relationship with God or try to develop the rest of the character traits Jesus describes.
(1) The foundational requirement for all godly living is to “hunger and thirst for righteousness” (cf. 6:33).
Matthew 6:33 (NASB 2020)
33 But seek [imperative - yes, this IS a command] [and keep seeking] first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.
Such hunger is seen in Moses (Ex 33:13, 18), the psalm writer (see Ps 42:2, 6, notes; 63:1, note) and the great missionary, Paul (Php 3:10).
The spiritual condition of Christians all throughout their lives will depend on their hunger and thirst for
(a) the presence of God (Dt 4:29),
(b) the Word of God (Ps 119),
(c) the interaction and friendship of Christ (Php 3:8-10),
(d) the companionship, guidance and influence of the Holy Spirit (Jn 7:37-39; 2Co 13:14),
(e) righteousness (5:6),
(f) God’s power (6:33) and
(g) the return of the Christ (2Ti 4:8).
I would add that the spiritual condition will also be affected by whether they hunger for fellowship with the saints. Yes?/No? Why?
Did Jesus command us to go to church?
34 I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.”
The new church in Acts 2 sought continued fellowship with one another and discipleship from the Apostles.
12 For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one part, but many. 15 If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has arranged the parts, each one of them in the body, just as He desired. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 But now there are many parts, but one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again, the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, it is much truer that the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; 23 and those parts of the body which we consider less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor, and our less presentable parts become much more presentable, 24 whereas our more presentable parts have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that part which lacked, 25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same care for one another. 26 And if one part of the body suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if a part is honored, all the parts rejoice with it. 27 Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.
15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
So we hunger for fellowship with the saints.
(2) The Christian’s hunger for God and his purposes is hindered—and even destroyed—by
the worries of life, Matthew 6:34
If we are worrying, we’re not seeking God and His righteousness.
They are mutually exclusive?
deceitfulness of wealth (13:22),
desire for temporal things (Mk 4:19),
lust for life’s pleasures (Lk 8:14)
and failure to trust Christ and remain in a right relationship with him (see Jn 15:4, note).
When a Christian loses his or her hunger for God and his standards, he or she will begin to die spiritually. For this reason, it is essential that we be sensitive and responsive to the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives and consciences, keeping us away from evil and drawing us closer to God (see Jn 16:8-13; Ro 8:5-16).
3. What has Jesus said so far (in the previous beatitudes) that might lead us to hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6)?
Because we realize we are destitute of the things of the Kingdom UNLESS we hunger and thirst for them.
Because comfort in the place of mourning comes from God alone.
Because we realize that God’s righteousness is the only thing that allows us to inherit anything.
Righteousness, for the child of god - means right standing with God — and don’t we want that above anything of this earth?
4. Jesus promises that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled (satisfied) (Matthew 5:6). What can you do cultivate a healthy, hearty spiritual appetite?
The Greek word for “filled/satisfied is used 12 times in the Gospel (14 in the NT). It is used literally 13 times in a literal sense — only once (in our 5:6) is it used figuratively.
One figurative use in Septuagint: Lamentations 3:15-16 (NASB) He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood. 16 He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust.
So, how do we cultivate an appetite for this figurative (but real!) state? (Whiteboard)
Make it a priority. Seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33)
Through the Word.
Through prayer.
Through worship.
By seeking from the ONLY One who can satisfy.
An Exegetical Summary of The Sermon on the Mount (5:6)
QUESTION—How, when, and by whom will they be satisfied? God will satisfy them [ICC, Mor; TEV]. Some satisfaction takes place now [MLJ], but ultimate satisfaction will happen in eternity [ICC, MLJ, WBC]. They will be satisfied by a relationship with God unclouded by disobedience [TNTC2]. They will be satisfied by a world where righteousness dwells [ICC].
5. How would you define mercy (Matthew 5:7)?
Question 2. Richard Lenski in The Interpretation of St. Matthew's Gospel (Augsburg, 1964) helpfully distinguishes mercy from grace: "The noun eleos (mercy) . . . always deals with what we see of pain, misery and distress, these results of sin; and charis (grace) always deals with the sin and guilt itself. The one extends relief, the other pardon; the one cures, heals, helps, the other cleanses and reinstates" (p. 191).
6. Jesus says the merciful will be shown mercy (Matthew 5:7). Why do you think our treatment of others will affect God's treatment of us?
7. What opportunities has God given you to show mercy to those in need?
8. The "pure in heart" (Matthew 5:8) are not just inwardly pure, they are "utterly sincere" (J. B. Phillips). Their whole life, public and private, is transparent before God and others. Why is it difficult to live this way?
Question 5. The idea that "pure in heart" refers to inward purity is certainly consistent with the whole Sermon on the Mount, which requires heart-righteousness rather than mere rule-righteousness. Nevertheless, in the context of the other beatitudes, "pure in heart" seems to refer in some sense to our relationships. Thus the pure in heart, in their relations with both God and others, are free from falsehood. Their very heart—including their thoughts and motives—is pure, unmixed with anything devious, ulterior or base. Hypocrisy and deceit are abhorrent to them; they are without guile.
9. Why would the promise of seeing God (Matthew 5:8) be reserved for those who are pure in heart?
Question 6. Only the pure in heart will see God, see him now with the eye of faith and see his glory in the hereafter, for only the utterly sincere can bear the dazzling vision in whose light the darkness of deceit must vanish and by whose fire all shams are burned up.
10. Why is it fitting that "the peacemakers" will be called sons of God (Matthew 5:9)?
Question 9. A person who avoids conflict is not necessarily a peacemaker. Facing issues and helping people work through them is part of peacemaking.
11. How can we be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9) in our homes, in our churches and in society?
12. How is being a peacemaker different from settling for "peace at any price"?
Questions 10-11. It may seem strange that Jesus should pass from peacemaking to persecution, from the work of reconciliation to the experience of hostility. Yet however hard we may try to make peace with some people, they refuse to live at peace with us. Not all attempts at reconciliation succeed. Indeed, some take the initiative to oppose us, and in particular to "revile" or slander us. This is not because of our foibles or idiosyncrasies, but "because of righteousness" (Matthew 5:10) and "because of me" (Matthew 5:11), that is, because they find distasteful the righteousness for which we hunger and thirst (Matthew 5:6), and because they have rejected the Christ we seek to follow. Persecution is simply the clash between two irreconcilable value systems.
13. In spite of our efforts at peacemaking, what does Jesus say we will experience (Matthew 5:10-12)?
Why should this cause us to rejoice?
14. Why would the world hate the kind of people described in the beatitudes?
15. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was killed by the Nazis because of his faith, wrote: "With every beatitude the gulf is widened between the disciples and the people." How have the beatitudes challenged you to be different?
Adapted from: LifeGuide Topical Bible Studies - Sermon on the Mount.
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