BLESSED DISCIPLES: The ◼

PART ONE

hat does require of us? This is a vital question for W discipleship. To examine my own spiritual life, I conduct a reality check with a measure of regularity by asking myself that same question. Am I truly taking at His word? Am I genuinely surrendering myself totally to the so that Jesus’ way is truly and authentically the desire of my heart? As I continue to age, many very well-meaning people try to make me feel better about it and say things like, “Steven, you have to appreciate the fact that you’ve had so many opportunities to gain wisdom and experience which you can share with other people, particularly younger people, perhaps even with your younger colleagues.” I do not know that I have more wisdom or more experience than my younger colleagues, but I can certainly say that I have had more opportunity than they to repent. That is a good thing because living a life of is a part of growth; it is like the refiner’s fire. In fact, it is the first step in becoming a of Jesus.

A few weeks ago, I offered a message based on the beginning of the of Mark. This was exactly what Jesus came preaching. He said, “Repent and believe in ” (:15). Then He went to Peter and said, “Follow me…” (Mark 1:17). These are the three steps of discipleship: (1) We repent, which is not a one-time thing, but something we do regularly; (2) We believe in the gospel of grace; and (3) We follow our Master wherever He leads, not just physically, but spiritually and mentally as well. This is one of the things the Apostle Paul was after in that won- derful passage in Romans 8:28-29. I fear that sometimes people only read verse 28 without going on to 29, thus not getting Paul’s point. This is what he wrote:

And we know that for those who all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

I love that Paul begins with “And we know.” He does not say, “Wouldn’t it be great” or “don’t you wish” or “we hope that.” No, he said we know this as a matter of fact. Then he said that “for those who love God all things,” not just a few anointed good or spectacu- lar things, but all things—the good, the bad, and the ugly, all the ex- periences of our life, everything that we encounter, all things—work together for good. That begs the question, what is the good? That is why we must read verse 29.

What is the good for those who are called according to His pur- pose as opposed to our own? If we are called to what He foreknew, what He was working out for our lives before we were born, we know that God intended for us to be born. He already knew us. We are not accidents; He intended to give us life. He also predestined the plan for our lives and that plan all along was for us to be con- formed to the image of His Son. God can use all the experiences of our lives—the good and the bad and the ugly—to help us become more like , which is the goal of discipleship. The goal of all Christians is that our lives genuinely reflect the Master whom we claim to serve and to follow. Repentance is a big part of that.

What does the Lord require of us? I suggest that everyone ultimately trusts in something. Even the most dedicated atheist ultimately trusts in something, whether they trust in themselves, the government, the economy, medicine, or their bank account. All peo- ple ultimately have something in which they put their trust and

 2 those are the things that shape who they are. In this fallen world, there are forces all around vying for our attention, vying to impact our lives and to shape who we are. Why is it that big companies spend $20-$30 million for a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl? Because they know they have the biggest audience, and they know that if they expose us to a 30-second commercial, we might change our minds and our behavior.

Imagine the impact of watching TV for six hours a day. All kinds of things—like the opinions of our friends, the media, magazines, celebrities, politicians—are constantly trying to impact us to change our thinking and ultimately to change our actions. What we must recognize is that if our relationship with God is our number one pri- ority, He will impact every part of our life.

Let us stop and think for a moment how Jesus begins the Ser- mon on the Mount. The answers the question, “What does a disciple of Jesus look like?” He describes in this ser- mon what it is to be a disciple of His, the way a disciple thinks, the way a disciple acts and how a disciple responds to the world in which he or she lives. He starts with what are known as the Beati- tudes, a series of blessings.

What is meant by blessing here is not that He is blessing you with something in terms of a single blessing, but rather if you are in a blessed state; that is, if what He is saying describes you, then you are in a blessed state. These Beatitudes set up the whole sermon; they are the foundation for everything else He is going to say in the sermon. I am absolutely amazed at how faithfully Matthew is able to capture the logic that runs through the entire Sermon on the Mount. I encourage everyone here to read the whole Sermon on the Mount (, 6 and 7). Read it this time with an ear for the logic that runs through the whole sermon. He starts with one statement, and then the next thing He says is built upon what He previously stated, and on through the whole sermon. I fear that sometimes people quote the Sermon on the Mount by taking verses out of chapter 6, for example, and try to interpret them forgetting everything said up to

3  that point. You miss the richness of God’s truth and the sermon as a whole if you do not follow the logic that runs all the way through the Beatitudes.

What the Sermon on the Mount does, beginning with the Beati- tudes, is shift our worldview from a “worldly way” of seeing reality to “Jesus’ way” of seeing reality—the way we view God, the way we view the world, relationships, how we make sense out of suffering, beauty and ugliness, . It only makes sense if we follow Jesus’ logic through His sermon. The principle is that who we are determines how we think, which impacts what we do.

Do not think of the Sermon on the Mount as a series of “do’s and don’ts”; rather, it compels us to look inward and ask, “Who are we in Him?” He gets us even deeper into the law than does . What is amazing is that there are so many things that seem counter- intuitive because they are not consistent with the thinking and the worldview of fallen humanity. It is, however, the thinking and worldview of the disciples of Jesus Christ.

Look at the very first Beatitude. Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of ” (Matthew 5:3). Since when is it ever a blessing to be poor in anything? Right from the start He jars us! “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” This phrase, “poor in spirit,” is perhaps more literally translated as, “Blessed are those who know their need of God.” Now friends, if we do not get this principle, the rest of the Sermon on the Mount will make no sense whatsoever. It is all based on this first statement. We are in a blessed state when we recognize our need for Almighty God.

If we do not see that something is missing in our lives that only God can fill; if we live life as if we were self-sufficient and self-reliant; if we were to consider ourselves sovereign over our lives, then Jesus’ way would likely not characterize the way in which we live.

There was nothing wrong with our parents having taught us to be responsible and to fend for ourselves when we were young. But

 4 ultimately, we must recognize that we were never in control of our lives! None of the blessings we received were originally generated from us! In fact, we are totally dependent on Almighty God. If we do not recognize our need of Him, we will go down other roads. When we recognize that our relationship with God impacts everything else in our lives, we are better able to establish life’s priorities. There are four major priorities in life, not the only priorities, but the major ones. In prioritizing, I am not saying that others are not important, but let us follow what the describes. The four priorities to which I am referring are God, marriage, children, and work/causes/ other interests.

We start with our relationship with Almighty God as being the most important relationship and the most important aspect of our life. If we are called to the vocation of marriage, that is the second most important relationship in our life. If our relationship with God is first, it will determine how we approach our marriage. Many times, my wife Nanette and I have said, as have some others in our congregation who have testified to this, that we look to our spouse and say, “Praise God that in my spouse’s heart, God is first and I am second.” If God is first, we know what kind of spouse we will have. Often, we think that our spouse is most important, and while our spouse is certainly very, very, very important, even more important is Almighty God because that will determine the kind of marriage we will have. If our marriage is solid, and if we have been given the gift of children, it will impact the way in which we parent. Our family life will be blessed because if God is our highest priority our family unit will then be intact and solid. Thus, we are free to go to work and become involved in other causes and interests with exuberance be- cause everything is in its proper order.

Jesus once said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteous- ness, and all these things will be added to you” (:33). If you put God first, everything else falls into place. What often happens is we go through life making work most important, sometimes at the expense of our families. Sometimes we put our children before our

5  own marriage, which undermines our family life. Sometimes, God does not even make the list. Jesus once said, “I am the vine; you are the branches … apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Blessed are those who know their need of God.

He goes on to the next Beatitude, “Blessed are those who mourn…” Since when is it ever a blessing to mourn? That is some- thing we always try to avoid. “Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). What does He mean? Let us start with what He said prior to this. If we know our need of God, then we know where to turn in our time of mourning. In fact, in any chal- lenge that we face in life we know where to turn. We know from where our hope will come because we know our need of Him.

How many times are folks trying to cope with a bad situation? They may try to spin it to make themselves feel better, but that only prolongs the mourning and it might even become very destructive in their lives. But we are blessed when we mourn because we know our need of God and we know where to go to receive what it is that we need now.

A hymn we sang every Sunday when I was growing up, usually after we took up the offering, is called “The Doxology.” Why is “The Doxology” so important? It starts, “Praise God from whom all bless- ings flow.” It reiterates the fact that all our blessings come from Him. We sometimes like to think that our blessings somehow are generated or originate from within us. This morning we all had the great privilege of waking up and coming to church. Where is it written that we are entitled to another day of life? Nowhere! Only by the grace of God were all of us given the gift of another day of life. This church is here, Pastor Brad is here, the singers are here, we all can come together here by His grace. “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” Do you remember that when you heard this song’s introduction in church everyone automatically stood? Stand now if you are comfortable and let us sing together!

 6 Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise him, all creatures here below; Praise him above, ye heavenly host: Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.

That is the principle: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” If we know our need for Almighty God, anytime we face a challenge in our lives, especially in a time of mourning, we can return to Him for whatever blessing we need. Unfortunately, often people have the attitude that when all else fails, then turn to God. No! We should start with Him!

In one of his sermons, Dr. Pratt clarified the word “comfort.” “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” We of- ten think of the word comforted as meaning comfortable, as if God will somehow make us feel better. Well, sorry, there are some things in life that just do not feel good. It does not feel good to be mourning, but that is not what that word means. It comes from the Latin word confortare which means “to strengthen much.” When we turn to God, He will strengthen us to face any challenge before us. Sometimes it does not feel good, but the cross did not feel good for Jesus, and whatever crosses we must bear do not feel good either. But He will strengthen us. All our blessings come from Him.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). How different from the world’s thinking is this? The world thinks that if we want to inherit the earth, if we want to be in control of things, we need to be strong and powerful and influential. We need to have authority. But Jesus said that is not true in God’s king- dom; it is not how things get done. Again, follow the logic. If we rec- ognize our need for God and that our blessings come from Him, if we recognize that in any need we have or trouble we are facing we can turn to Him and receive His strength, we have no need to be control- ling, aggressive, manipulative, or pugnacious. Instead, because we know from whom all blessings flow, we can afford to be kind, gentle, cooperative, and conciliatory. We know from whom all blessings

7  flow, we know who is sovereign, and we know who is in control… and it is not us! He is worthy of our trust. So once again, surrender- ing to the Holy Spirit empowers us to produce the fruit of the spirit.

Look how the Apostle Paul describes this in Galatians 5:22-23. He says, “But the fruit of the Spirit…”—God working in us and our being more like our Savior; His life through us—“is love is joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” This is the natural flowering of the Holy Spirit. It is the natural result of Jesus living in us. So, “Blessed are the meek….” We do not need to be in control—not that we were ever in control anyway. Almighty God is in control.

Recognizing this requires of us a willingness to surrender. We must recognize our need of God and be willing to surrender to Him. It is what Jesus meant when He said in :24 that we should take up our cross and follow Him. He means that we need to die to self, we need to give up the idea that we are the sovereign of our own lives and that our lives belong to us. Our lives belong to Him. He paid for them at a great price and it is through that surrender that we acquire the peace that we are looking for, and we can afford to be meek and to be more like our Savior. We know our need of God. We know to whom we should turn in times of trouble. We can afford to be meek.

Now we come to the last of the Beatitudes for today. And friends, this is the one that as I continue to grow in the Spirit, regularly hits me between the eyes. He says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). This speaks to the ultimate longing of our hearts and souls. I am con- fident that virtually no one here has ever genuinely experienced hun- ger and thirst to the extent to which He is now speaking. We have all certainly been hungry and thirsty, but very few if any of us have gone for days and perhaps weeks without anything to eat to the point at which we are so consumed by hunger that we cannot think straight and our body is faint and ceases to function. Nor have we gone days

 8 without a drink of water to the point that we start hallucinating and we grab anything liquid, no matter what. That is what Jesus is talking about. That is why I chose Psalm 42:1-2 for our Call to Worship this morning. The psalmist says, “As a deer pants for flowing streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”

Do you remember way back when you were dating your loved one and you could hardly wait until the next time you would see that person? Or maybe you have kids and grandkids and can hardly wait to see them again. Now multiply that by millions, and that is the hunger and thirst to be with the Lord about which Jesus is speak- ing. We recognize our need, we recognize what He does for us, and we recognize the kind of person He makes of us. We can hardly wait to be with Him the next time.

On one of my solo trips to Israel, my friend Tzachi Kolumbus and his wife took me down to the southern part of the coun- try into what is called the to visit some of their family and friends. Before we headed back north, Tzachi said that he wanted to show me something. He drove me to who knows where and stopped the car. Then we walked for quite a distance and came to a gorgeous desert overlook. We sat and looked at the beautiful view for a while, and then Tzachi told me to stay and enjoy the scenery while he went to get Rachel. At first it was wonderful, and the scenery was amaz- ing, but you know what? Deserts do things to people. The longer I sat there, the more I began to experience an overwhelming sense of panic. Now I had the assurance that Tzachi was coming back, but still, as I sat there, I realized that I was in a place where there were absolutely no resources. Nothing! There was no water, I could not communicate with anyone, there was not even a tree for shade. After a while, I realized what it means to be alone and it was a very un- settling feeling. I could hear my heartbeat, I could hear my breath- ing, and I had an incredible sense of myself. I know of no other way to describe it because that was all there was. There was nothing to distract me. There was nothing to help me. There was nothing there!

9  In that moment I realized that in the end, that really is all there is— me and Him.

I realize now why so many people go out to the desert for spiritual experiences. There is the sense of being totally alone without resources and all you have, or I should say what you have, is Almighty God. I began to realize that was in a very similar place in Psalm 63:1. “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” He is not saying it would take a lot of work to find water but that there is none to find. As I sat in that Judean wilderness alone, I had an over- whelming sense of my dependence on Almighty God. That, my friends, is ultimate reality. We are so distracted by all the things of the world that we forget our utter dependence on Him.

Tzachi did come back. It took less than 10 minutes to get Ra- chel, but they stopped and let me stay in the desert for a while, just so that I could have the experience. It was an incredibly pro- found experience and I am glad that I did it, but I do not really need to do it again! He said most people cannot deal with it the first time for longer than 30 to 45 minutes. Israeli soldiers are tak- en out there to experience it, as are Boy Scouts and some others, but most people cannot deal with it because we are not used to being utterly alone.

In that experience I recognized my need for Almighty God in a way that I never had before. When Jesus says if we seek Him ear- nestly, if we hunger and thirst for Him, then we will find Him, and we will be satisfied. That peace that passes all understanding, will be ours. When we surrender to the Holy Spirit, there is a new creation inside us, and a life of faith we never imagined could be possible.

Consider these three examples. These are three of the hardest nuts that God had to crack. We start with the Apostle Paul. Re- member his story? He was persecuting the church and having Chris-

 8 tians arrested. He finally had an encounter with the Risen Christ and ended up planting churches and writing half of the . He was the first, and perhaps the greatest, systematic theologian of the church.

More into our generation was the Watergate scandal and the “hatchet man” Charles Colson. He was ruthless! It was as if he had no moral basis whatsoever; everything and everybody was fair game. When he faced jail, through the ministry of several of his friends he came to Christ. When he came out of prison, he established one of the most powerful and dynamic ministries to prisoners around the world. Now because of that ministry a multitude of people in the same situa- tion have come to Christ and their eternities are secure forever.

Have you read the book, The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel? Lee used to work for the Chicago Tribune, where he was a hard-nosed, hard-drinking, foul-mouthed tough guy investigative reporter. Be- cause of his wife’s coming to faith, and through her beautiful minis- try to him, he began going to the Willow Creek Church. He ended up not only being a teaching pastor at the church but writing a series of books that many of you have read.

If these men who hungered and thirsted for righteousness were satisfied, imagine what the Holy Spirit could do with us—those of us who are already on our way, those of us who already have a rela- tionship, all of us who are growing.

Picture yourself out in that Judean desert and ask yourself this question, “Do I hunger and thirst for Him? Is Jesus my greatest love or is He just one amongst many? Do I have many priorities and Jesus is in the crowd somewhere, or is He my greatest love? Is He the One for whom I hunger and long?”

My friends, if you surrender to the Holy Spirit, every part of your life will be transformed in ways you never thought possible. You will love your spouse more than you ever imagined you could, you will be more energized to do those acts of service than you ever thought you would, all because you put Jesus first.

9  My for each one of us is that through the rest of our days, may we take Jesus’ words to heart and embrace His vision for what He requires and what He enables His disciples to do. In surrender- ing to the Holy Spirit, we will find a deeper and much greater Chris- tian life. May God be praised for the way in which Jesus lives through you! 

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