Seeing the Beatitudes as Steps in Restructuring Your Heart
For the past few weeks, we have been thinking about what it means to be followers of Jesus. At the beginning of this series, we were challenged to step out in faith without looking back, just as Peter and the other first disciples did. When called, they set aside lesser concerns to follow Jesus, subsequently becoming fishers of men.
We were also challenged to not feel that we need to have extraordinary skills. It does not require special skills to follow Jesus—only the ability to say “yes” to ministering with loving kindness to those around us, especially those needing the healing touch of our love, forgiveness, and concern. No special skills are required to show kindness to others. However, closing one’s heart to the call to follow Jesus is an impediment, and I’ll talk more about that in just a few minutes.
But first, I’d like each of us to examine our hearts and minds just a bit and then ask ourselves if we are displaying in our thoughts and actions the traits of persons who are actually following in the footsteps of Jesus. And if we find ourselves wanting, and if we are able to admit that our personal growth in discipleship has been limited by selfishness, sinful pride, inadequacy and weakness, let us confess our sin and turn to God for healing so that like the Apostle Peter we too, each of us, can respond to his call to us to follow him with faith that even though we are sinful persons, the Lord can change us and make us whole. You are being called, each of you, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. A scary thought, maybe, but remember that Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”, lighter than it at first might appear to be.
As we are called forward, we are going to discover certain things about ourself along that journey. Part of what we discover is the very thing that caused Peter’s initial reluctance to follow Jesus. When he was called to follow, Peter responded, “depart from me Lord for I am a sinful person”. When the Lord calls us to follow him, we may well become more aware of our personal sins and our sinful nature (something that is painful to look at and see), but if we will but step out and keep walking toward the light, we will also become more and more aware of God’s grace. Amazingly, each time we take a step forward in response to the call of our Lord we will be taking a step toward the restructuring of our heart. And when our heart has undergone restructuring, discipleship becomes easier and easier until the burden of discipleship has been transformed into a supreme joy. That restructuring of the heart is accomplished by the work of the Holy Spirit.
It is necessary for us to say “yes” to the Holy Spirit in order for the work of restructuring our heart to be begun, and it is necessary for us to continuing saying yes for that work to be fully accomplished. There is only one unforgiveable sin, the Bible teaches, and that is to say “no” over and over to the Holy Spirit until our heart has become so hardened that it sinks deeper and deeper into spiritual death. That particular sin, saying no to the Holy Spirit, is unforgiveable not because the Holy Spirit or God is angry with us for not saying yes, on the contrary God and the Holy Spirit are grieved. It is unforgiveable because when we turn away from the path that is set before us, when we say “no” to the call of discipleship, we are actually saying “no” and shutting the door to the healing and restorative work of the Holy Spirit. Restructuring the heart, our sanctification, is the ultimate goal of following Jesus, and it involves a process of learning to say yes to the Holy Spirit each and every day.
The Scripture from Luke that we read this morning is a portion of a sermon given by Jesus known as the “Sermon on the Mount”. This particular portion is known as the Beatitudes. The term “beatitude” is derived from a Latin word which means “a state of blessedness”, or to put in another way, “a state of supreme happiness”. I think the term “supreme happiness” is the best way of thinking about the meaning of the word “beatific”, from which the term beatitude is derived. How happy you will be after you recognize that you are poor in spirit, for in recognizing your poverty you will then open yourself to being filled by God’s spirit! How happy are you when you are hungry for something more than physical food, for it is then that you will welcome the spiritual food that God has provided, food and drink that satisfies your deepest longings! How happy are you when you weep over the fallen nature of this world, for are you then on the path to finding a better world! How happy are you when people hate and exclude you, for this is confirmation that you are not one those persons who are so very much at home in a fallen world, but rather one whose heart seeks a different world, an eternal world made not by human hands, but by God! Rejoice ye pure in heart! Your cross, the earthly sorrows you bear, confirm that you shall someday see the homeland of your heart.
As we look at the beatitudes, at first glance it appears that Jesus is referring to different persons—one who is poor in material goods, another who is hungry because of having insufficient physical food, still another who is mourning because of some sad loss, and another who is being made fun of and being excluded because not “fitting in” with the secular culture that surrounds that person. That is the way we usually interpret this passage, four different sets of persons, four different sets of problems. Four different words of comfort directed to the four different situations. But I would suggest another interpretation for your consideration this morning. The Beatitudes are not offering comfort to four different sorts of persons who are suffering in four different situations, but rather are a description of the one path with multiple cross-bearing steps that is set before each of us who are responding to the call to Christian discipleship.
The hardships that are being described are in fact both the result of, and at the same time signs of, an ongoing process of restructuring that is taking play within the human heart when you follow Jesus. You are so very fortunate to be experiencing these hardships that appear so frightening but in fact are the signs, the evidence, that you are following Jesus, and that the process of restructuring your heart is moving forward.
I challenge each of you today to think of the situations that the beatitudes describe as being situations that you, as a follower of Jesus, have already or are going to find yourself in—situations that both result from and are necessary for the accomplishment of the restructuring of your heart. In following Jesus, every person will begin to be transformed, your heart will begin to turn toward the things of God, and gradually become more and more inclined toward those things, and less and less inclined toward worldly things, the things that plague the vast number of persons who have not yet heard the gospel and responded by following Jesus.
When we decide to follow Jesus, we will, as His disciples, walk through several developmental stages. Passage through these stages of discipleship requires us to resist our own reluctance to go forward despite our fears.
Sometimes these developmental steps come rapidly one after another, at least that appears to be the case for some persons. I myself have found that the process may take years, decades, or even an entire lifetime. For many of us, myself included, the steps must be repeated over and over – we must experience the situations described in the Beatitudes again and again until we come to more fully recognize just what it is that we have been experiencing and why.
Pope John Paul II spoke to a group of teens in March 2000 about the difference between Christianity and popular culture. As you listen while I share with you his comments, think of “blessed” as meaning “how supremely happy”. Here are the words of John Paul II. ‘Modern culture says, 'Blessed are the proud.' Jesus said, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit.' Culture says, 'Blessed are the pitiless.' Jesus said, 'Blessed are the merciful.' Culture says, 'Blessed are the devious.' Jesus said, 'Blessed are the pure in heart.' Culture says, 'Blessed are those who fight.' Jesus said, 'Blessed are the peacemakers.' Culture says, 'Blessed are the prosecutors.' Jesus said, 'Blessed are the persecuted.'
This Christian pastor was, in my opinion, right on target. How blessed are those who walk in the footsteps of Jesus, whether they realize it at first or not! How happy are those who follow the path of cross-bearing discipleship, for in so doing they are becoming persons of supreme happiness, human beings as God intended them to be!
Look again at the characters described in the Beatitudes. They provide a metaphorical picture of the process through which God leads every believer as we grow into new life in Christ. The first character, the person described as “poor in spirit” refers to the first step in the process of becoming followers of Jesus. The first step is to recognize that we are woefully poor in ability to remedy our sinful condition. Our recognition of our inability to remedy our sinful condition results, if it is a true recognition, in a condition of remorse referred to by Jesus as “poverty of spirit”—in other words, despair. The person who experiences this despair than has the opportunity to opened the door of his or her heart to receiving the God’s true happiness, happiness that only God can provide.
The second character, the one who mourns, illustrates the second door to be opened if we are to receive sacred delight. Upon gaining a proper understanding of your sinful condition, the Holy Spirit then urges us to repent, that is, to “mourn” because of your sin. How supremely happy are those who mourn because of their sins, for they are opening their heart to the work of the Holy Spirit who is seeking to restructure your heart.
The version of the Beatitudes as recorded in Matthew includes additional related characters or situations, including “the merciful”, and “the peace makers”. Fallen humanity by its fallen nature pursues self-aggrandizement without concern or mercy for others. Fallen humanity by its fallen nature tends to harbor an angry and vengeful heart when wronged. But, in the process of following Jesus, these tendencies are gradually replaced with mercy, forgiveness, and, by the desire and ability to make peace.
If you will join with me on the road of discipleship, you will begin to notice changes in how you respond to the world around us. The change in your perception is due entirely to the working of the Holy Spirit in your heart, and is made possible by daily inviting the Holy Spirit into your heart, by daily saying “yes” to the call to follow Jesus. The quest to know God is never fully completed this side of heaven. The Apostle Paul wrote about seeing through a foggy glass and longing to experience fullness of glory and knowledge. Toward the end of His earthly journey, he said, "not that I have already obtained it, but I press on toward the goal to win the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). But regardless of how far you are able to travel along this path in life time, though I think most of us start, whether we are aware of it or not, at birth Jesus makes a promise that those who approach God with a hunger for righteousness will be filled.
The transformation into Christ-likeness continues as you learn to extend forgiveness to those who have wronged you. Some identify the greatest attribute of Christ as being not his love and compassion, his forgiveness, and I think that that is probably correct. The most poignant words uttered by Jesus on the cross were, "Father, forgive them." If we are to become true followers of Jesus, we will have to learn to forgive, and if we do so we will find peace and joy that passes all understanding.
To forgive does not mean to condone or ignore negative behavior, but it does mean releasing the burden of smoldering resentment and the desire to get revenge or to punish others for our own gratification. Hatred, bitterness, unresolved conflict – these attitudes are like a rabid dog that turns against its master. Max Lucado wrote in his book, The Applause of Heaven: “Unfaithfulness is wrong. Revenge is worse. But the worst part of all is that, without forgiveness, bitterness is all that is left.”
Let us end this morning with a brief consideration of why it is that Jesus referred to peacemakers as the children of God. I believe that it is because peacemakers share the same mission as Christ. By “peacemaker” I do not mean persons who fly off to some warring count to negotiate the end of conflict, nor do I mean those who negotiate contracts and settle other divisive issues. Those things are commendable but I don’t think that is exactly what Jesus means by the term “peacemaker”.
The peacemakers that Jesus is referring to are those who so let their light shine, that others are drawn by that light to God. Fallen humanity is hostile to God and at war with its own essential nature. We were created in God’s image. That image has been marred by sin. God seeks to help us become restored that marred image, our lost essential nature, through reconciliation. Reconciliation is the making of peace between man and God from whom man has been alienated by sin. Reconciliation is also the end of alienation between man and man’s essential nature which has been marred by sin. This reconciliation is accomplished through restructuring of the heart, and this is what it means “to make peace” with God.
All Christians are called to become agents of reconciliation. As peacemakers we are called upon to demonstrate to others through our words and actions the love of God and the truth of the Gospel, especially to those who are warring against God and because alienation from their own essential nature. Peacemakers share this mission with Christ. Peacemakers are ambassadors of God who engage in the ministry of reconciliation.
I hope that the perspective on the Beatitudes that I have shared with you this morning will nudge you, even if only just a bit, toward recognizing that following Jesus is a journey, a process, that involves carrying a cross, and that in so doing you will find that the cross is, after all, not really as heavy as we sometimes think it is, but rather a series of gateways to ultimate happiness and reconciliation with God. How blessed are those who embark upon discipleship by saying yes to following Jesus, and, who continue to say “yes” to the work of the Holy Spirit which is seeking to restructure the heart. Cooperate with that work by saying yes each day to the call to follow Jesus, and you too will be blessed beyond measure. Amen.
