Passion The Key To Fulfillment

Matthew 5:1-6

I’ve heard it said that there are two kinds of people in the world: the bored and the boring. I don’t think that’s quite accurate. There’s a third category: the passionate. Unfortunately, they’re such a minority that most of us never encounter them.

Passion is important. Husbands, imagine how you would have felt back in your courting days if you’d popped the question and offered a ring to your little honey and she shrugged her shoulders and said, “Well, it’s fine with me, I guess.” Think about people in any field – business, athletics, music, research, writing -- who accomplish great feats. They are all driven to success by an overwhelming passion. Then there are the revolutionaries, people who change the world for better or worst. Leaders of revolutions and their followers must be consumed by a passion for change or their movement will fizzle at the first sign of opposition. Passion is important.

This is especially true for God’s people. As followers of Jesus Christ our lives should be defined by a passion for our Lord. Sadly, I find that it’s just not the case with the majority of those who call themselves Christians. When people find out I’m the pastor of a contemporary church, often their eyes light up and they barrage me with enthusiastic questions. Some brave souls venture to ask me if there’s anything I’m disappointed with about the church. Typically I’ll just tell them about the things we’ve tried that have totally bombed. But if I’m honest I do have one major disappointment: the lack of passion for Jesus Christ that characterizes many of our people.

These first two years of our existence we saw large numbers of people raise their hands in response to asking Christ into their lives. I was initially excited, until it dawned on me that those same people weren’t really changing. They said they believed, but their lives remained unchanged. I think I’m beginning to understand why. We haven’t followed Jesus’ plan for developing passionate disciples. We haven’t developed followers of Christ in the way Jesus himself prescribed. Failure to follow procedure produces a lack of passion. We’re not excited about our own faith. We’re not reaching unchurched people with the life-changing good news of Jesus Christ. We’re not making so much as a ripple on the state of a lost and dying world. Why? We’re passionless.

Let’s look, then, at what it takes to become people who are passionately in love with God. Jesus had shown the way, if we care to follow.

Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying: Matthew 5:1-2 (NIV)

Here we find Jesus at the height of his popularity. Multitudes followed him. He completely ignored the crowd with all their praises as well as their needs, and took his followers aside to speak with them. He wanted his disciples to be passionate because they were a vital part of his revolution. Up on that mountainside Jesus opened his mouth and revealed how to have the fan an internal fire for God. Jesus actually cited 8 characteristics. The first four deal with our relationship to God. The second set of four concern interpersonal relationships. We going to look exclusively at the first four today because they show us …

THE PATH OF THE PASSIONATE

Jesus began:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3 (NIV)

What does this mean? Some folks have wrongly concluded that it’s about material possessions but, it has very little to do with money. It’s about the attitude of the heart. Notice what God says about the kind of person he dwells with:

The high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in that high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I refresh the humble and give new courage to those with repentant hearts. Isaiah 57:15 (NLT)

The New Testament puts it like this:

"God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6

This means first step on the path of the passionate reveals that to be a part of God’s kingdom, on earth and in eternity. You must see and admit your own sin. You must be able honestly to say before God and other people:

• “I was wrong!”

Without a doubt, the most popular hymn in America is “Amazing Grace.”
You know the first stanza:
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound! That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.
John Newton knew what he’d been when he used that word [wretch]. At sea by the age of eleven, he fell into a life that was so wretched, even his crewmates regarded him as little more than an animal. He was a deserter, suffered public floggings, trafficked in human slaves (raping the women and beating the men), and felt no sin was too vile to avoid.
Though and illnesses would sometimes cause him to consider his spiritual condition, Newton’s “awakenings” were short-lived and gave way to more wicked exertions. Of this time, Newton said, “I was fast bound in chains. I had little desire and no power at all to recover myself.”
Finally, suffering from fever and depression, Newton crept away to a secluded spot and began to pray, “I made no more resolves, but cast myself before the Lord to do with me as he should please.”
Two years later, John Newton married his teenage sweetheart and began studying for the ministry. In 1779, he published a hymnal in which 281 of his own works appeared. “Amazing Grace” was one of them. When he chose the word “wretch” to describe himself (and all who sing this song), he did so deliberately. By his own experience (and his theology), Newton knew that only spiritual beggars make good disciples. Only because of wretchedness can grace be so amazing. It does for us what no other power can do.

Tim Woodroof, Walk This Way: An Interactive Guide to Following Jesus, (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1999), 44-45

Have you recognized and admitted your wretchedness before a holy God? If you’ve ever really encountered God you can tell because you’re immediately conscious of personal sin. In the Old Testament a prophet named Isaiah experienced the tangible presence of God. He saw God Almighty, the perfectly sinless Creator of the universe. Isaiah didn’t say, “Wow! Cool!” He didn’t experience holy laughter or bark like a dog or roar like a lion or any of the other nonsense that passes for an experience of God these days. Isaiah was scared out of his mind. He was acutely aware of his own sinfulness. Here’s how he responded:

“Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips …” Isaiah 6:5

The ancient Hebrew here literally means, “Oh crap! I’m a dead man.” Isaiah, a righteous mean, recognized some sin with regard to his speech.

That’s what happens when we truly encounter God. We don’t just suddenly believe and march merrily on our way. We fully comprehend our filthiness before God.

I’m not talking about sin in the abstract, but wretchedness in the specific. The poor in spirit doesn’t merely say, “Lord, I’ve struggled with lust.” They name the sin: “O God, I’ve daydreamed about sex with another woman’s husband” or “I’ve acted out with a Hustler magazine again.” The poor in spirit won’t be content to confess, “I’ve got a problem with materialism.” They’ll confess, “I’ve loved my big house, my new boat, and my shiny foreign car more than you God, or my kids. I’ve sacrificed all on the altar of stuff.” The poor in spirit will admit, “Lord, I’m a coward and I lie to make other people thing well of me.” They won’t leave it at, “Sometimes I fudge the truth.”

There are no little sins for the poor in spirit. They see all as an affront to God and his purity. This is the first essential step into the kingdom and onto the path of the passionate. Let me ask you, did you accept Christ thinking you were good enough or did you come to him because you realized you unworthiness? Kick all that self-esteem nonsense out the door. We are sinners in the hands of an angry God. He hates sin and we’re contaminated with it. We don’t deserve life. God could just sweep us all out of his presence into an eternal hell. Recognition of this fact open the door, however, to his grace and forgiveness.

This leads to the second step in the blessed life:

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4 (NIV)

This one is often misunderstood and misquoted. The grief being talked about here is grief over sin. This kind of person not only admits to being wrong, but they feel sorrow over it. They mourn over it, like you’d mourn over a lost loved one. Their personal sin rips their guts out. Not only do they admit their spiritual poverty before God, but those on the path of the passionate sincerely feel …

• “I’m so sorry!”

Notice how James put it:

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. James 4:8-10

The comfort this person gets is forgiveness for their sin. Ultimately they’ll be among the citizens of heaven and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

The story of George C. Wallace sounds like something from Paul Harvey’s “the Rest of the Story.” It comes in two parts: the sad, earlier life and the hard but hopeful remainder. Even more dramatic is a tragic event in the middle that brought life-changing consequences for the man from Alabama.
In 1962, Wallace ran for governor on a platform that was blatantly racist. He promised to fight integration to the point of defying federal orders and personally blockading schoolhouse doors. He ended his inaugural address with the infamous statement, “I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” That summer, he refused to allow black students to register at the University of Alabama until forced to do so by the threat of military intervention. Through his tenure as governor and a run for the presidency in 1968, Wallace spouted racial hatred while blacks were beaten and jailed, black churches were burned, and black children were murdered.
Elected governor a second time in 1970, Wallace began to signal a shift in his racial stance. Perhaps he had grown weary of building his political aspirations on other people’s fears and prejudices. Or perhaps (as a good politician) he was merely sensing change in the cultural wind. But, by 1972, his message had become more populist and less bigoted.
Then came May 15, 1972 – and the rest of the story. While campaigning in Laurel, Maryland, Wallace was shot five times, leaving him paralyzed and in constant pain. Two years later – confined to a wheel chair, divorced from his second wife, without the use of his legs, and lacking control of bodily functions – Wallace was a broken, pathetic figure. He was a man who finally understood the meaning of suffering. He was a man who had come to realize what suffering he had caused others.
While being drive home one evening, he passed the open doors of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, a black congregation where years earlier Martin Luther King, Jr., had stood in the pulpit and denounced Wallace for his treatment of African Americans. Overcome with remorse, Wallace stopped the car, was helped into his wheelchair, and wheeled up the aisle to the stunned surprise of the assembly. There, Wallace tearfully confessed he had been wrong, apologized for the suffering he had caused, and asked the blacks of Alabama to forgive him.
It was an expression of remorse he was to repeat on numerous occasions in the following years – publicly, before black audiences on campuses and conventions, and privately, to black leaders like Coretta Scott King and Jesse Jackson. During two more terms as governor (1974 and 1982), he built bridges to the black community, developed relationships with prominent black leaders, and worked to undo some of the damage his own racist rhetoric had caused.
Until the very end, while bedridden and deaf, he still received visits from friends, both black and white, and met with groups of both races for prayer.
Not all blacks forgave Wallace. The damage he did and the pain he caused was great. But the story of George Wallace is not about forgiveness, but about penance. Here is a man who was tragically flawed and terribly wrong. It took five bullets and horrific suffering to bring him to his knees. But once broken, he had the courage to face his hatred and prejudice, repent, confess, and then spend the remainder of his life attempting to atone and make restitution.

Tim Woodroof, Walk This Way: An Interactive Guide to Following Jesus, (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1999), 62-63

The next step in the path of the passionate will need some immediate explanation.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5 (NIV)

Do not make the mistake of associating meek with wimp. Jesus is not advocating a limp wrested, cowardly way of life. If that’s the meaning of meek, then how do you account for Moses who was called the meekest man living by God? Moses didn’t navigate life like a cringing, 98 pound weakling. He could be downright pushy. He went toe to toe Pharaoh, the most powerful ruler in the world at that time. On one occasion Moses actually ground up a golden calf idol into powder, mixed it with water and made the Israelites drink it.

Jesus called himself meek, but there was nothing cringing or cowardly about him. He flew in the face of the religious establishment. He made a whip and cleared the temple of extortionists. We’d better redefine meek.

Meek has a particular meaning:

The word translated meek was used by the Greeks to describe horses that were broken to the rein and halter. There are few animals more proud, more powerful and fleet than horses. In their wild state, horses are beautiful and independent – but useless to humans. They can’t be ridden. They won’t haul a cart or plow.
Oh, they have strength. But they lack the will. Horses have an agenda of their own that doesn’t include wearing a saddle or hauling a wagon. That’s man’s business. Horses would rather munch grass and roam free.
But take a horse and tame it, ride it until it submits, train it to the bridle and bit – and that horse becomes meek. It goes wherever you tell it to go. It does what you want it to do. Your agenda becomes its agenda. It lends its strength to helping you accomplish your work.
It’s unfortunate that this process is called breaking a horse. Better to say the horse is tamed. The horse doesn’t lose its strength by being domesticated. It doesn’t suddenly become weak and timid and mild. A good horse has spirit even though it wears a saddle. All that has changed is that the horse and its strength is brought under control. It no longer demands to do what it wants.
The Greeks would say that such a horse is meek. The Christian might remark, “That horse has learned to say, ‘Not my will but yours be done.’”

Tim Woodroof, Walk This Way: An Interactive Guide to Following Jesus, (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1999), 78-79

The meek are blessed because they are content to do whatever God wants them to do. They willingly submit their lives to his control. God’s agenda becomes their agenda. Why? They know their sinfulness and God’s gracious goodness toward them. They understand where following their will and not God’s leads. The meek person says,

• “I will submit to God.”

The meek gain the attitude of Paul who totally submitted his talents and abilities to God’s purposes:

… as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. 2 Cor. 6:10;

The meek are assured of the future reality of the blessing as well.

Everything belongs to you … the whole world and life and death; the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. 1 Cor. 3:21-23 (NLT)

The next characteristic is the passion we’re after. Jesus said:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6 (NIV)

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness have a mindset that says,

• “I want to do what’s truly right with my life.”

The passionate person has followed this sequence: They recognized and admitted their sinfulness before a holy and righteous God. Their perception of personal sin led to a deep grief and remorse over it all. They threw their worthless hides on God’s mercy and submitted to his rule over their lives, realizing that self-will leads to brokenness and death. Now they have every reason for passion. A hunger and thirst to follow God consumes their soul.

Let me ask you: Is Jesus Christ the consuming passion of your life? Or is it something or someone else?

There’s a brand of faith that makes us subject to the commands of God, but permits little joy and zeal and fervor in obeying them. There’s a kind of discipleship that breeds enough commitment to get us to church on Sunday, but fails to light a consuming fire within us through the week. There’s a form of religion that sparks in us a semblance of holiness – but, too often, it’s a semblance devoid of life-changing power. It’s faith by numbers, discipleship by the book …
That faith will generate only enough heat to make us do our duty. We’ll provide for it, take care of it, even defend it. But we don’t love it. It’s not the passion of our lives.

Tim Woodroof, Walk This Way: An Interactive Guide to Following Jesus, (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1999), 95-96

If you have little or no appetite for the things of God, let me suggest that either you’ve missed one of the steps on the path of the passionate or you’re filling up on something else.

We live in a culture that feels great passion about tiny things. Our appetites have grown debased. Our tastes are common and vulgar. We hunger for junk food of the body, mind and soul.
Americans understand how to be passionate about sports. Athletes will give up years of their lives, subsist at poverty level, rise early to train in rain or snow, restrict their diets, push their bodies to painful limits, consult sports psychologists, endure injuries and fatigue, and sacrifice relationships, careers, and any other vestige of a normal life – all to satisfy their craving for Olympic gold or world records. The rest of us will run cable to our homes, buy a big screen TV, install surround sound, sign up for pay-per-view, and spend countless hours in front of the tube – so great is our appetite to watch those athletes perform. We’ll drive for many miles to a multimillion dollar stadium, pay exorbitant parking and ticket prices, and (to add insult to injury) pay five dollars for a hot dog that should cost fifty cents – just for the pleasure of seeing some overdeveloped millionaire hit a ball or make a tackle. Such a vast appetite for such a trivial thing.
And we understand what it means to be hungry for sex. We spend billions annually on creams, ointments, perfumes, make-up, and lotions to make ourselves more attractive and alluring. We diet and exercise and endure plastic surgery to keep our bodies trim and sexy. A starlet – whose sole asset involves a set of genes resulting in pleasing arrangements of features and body parts – will be paid millions of dollars to undress before the greedy camera because Hollywood knows we’ll pay even more millions for the privilege of watching her do so. Men will give up wives, children, savings, reputation, career, and self-respect to quench their thirst for another woman. Women will destroy their families and futures to feed their craving to be desired. We’re obsessed with skin and careless about character.
We’re even passionate about hobbies. Fishing, model airplane building, painting, woodworking, golfing, collecting – the list could go on for pages. Americans are a people desperate to fill up their spare time with mindless and expensive diversions. We squander vast quantities of time, money, and attention on the most trivial of pursuits. The average American male gives more time and attention to the hobby of his choice than to his children.
Yes, we know what it means to be passionate. It’s just that our passions revolve around tiny and unworthy things. We give the best of ourselves to matters that, ultimately, don’t matter.

Tim Woodroof, Walk This Way: An Interactive Guide to Following Jesus, (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1999), 102-103

Jesus promises that if we make him and his cause the passion of our lives we’ll find satisfaction for our souls. That’s because those who hunger and thirst after righteousness find God himself. The Psalmist advised:

Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

God gives this promise to those who hunger and thirst for him.

“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

If you’ve made some kind of commitment to Christ, but find that you lack passion, retrace your steps. Maybe you missed a step somewhere along the way. Perhaps you never even entered the door of God’s kingdom. Or it could just be that your life has been crowded out by too many other things to be fully yielded to God.

I must admit, I dream of being considered a passionate person. I dream of leading a church full of zealous Christ-followers. I’m sure that inside, deep though it may be, there’s an urge within you to be set ablaze for God. That’s great, but even more importantly Jesus Christ longs for a people who are passionately in love with him. A people who will live and die for him. A people who would storm the gates of hell at his command. A people whose greatest desire is to see the kingdom of heaven break out on earth. It could happen, but it’s going to take passion.