Monthly Archives: March 2023

BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT

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BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT

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

There is a Hebrew poetic structure in the Beatitudes, called reverse concentric symmetry. Verse 5 and verse 3 are saying the same thing. They are like bookends which enclose a central thought that summarises the whole thing.

1.  “Poor in spirit” and “meekness“ are basically the same idea.

2.  “Kingdom of heaven” and “inherit the earth” are the same idea.

3.  “Mourning” is in the centre. What does it mean to mourn?

Jesus is not talking about “baruch” but “asher” here (as explained in the previous article), the happiness that comes as a reward for good deeds, good decisions and Torah observance, a list of things that would be good for us and benefit us, helping to bring our lives together in completion and wholeness. It is good to receive the supernatural, undeserved blessings of God but, most of the time we are living the consequences of good or bad decisions.  Jesus is pleading with us to listen to His wisdom so that we can be happy. Do we really believe that, regardless of heaven or hell, Jesus’ way is the best way for us to live now, in this life?

Since Jesus probably spoke Hebrew to His fellow Jews, He would have thought and taught in Hebrew.

ANI HA RUACH is translated “poor in spirit”.  Spirit, meaning “breath” or “wind”, refers to what gives us life. It can either refer to the breath God gives us or the “windiness” or being puffed up with pride that comes from the fallen spirit. In this verse it has the connotation of windiness or pride.

Jesus is saying, “Happy is the person who chooses to live a life that is poor in pride,” – not trying to promote oneself. A life of self promotion is a life of disappointment. Isaiah 66:2. “This is the one I esteem; he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

ANI = poor, ANA = meek, come from the same root and are saying the same thing. Meekness comes from the idea of a horse’s strength submitted to his rider.

“The kingdom of God” and “inheriting the land” are also saying the same thing. They refer to living in the realm where God’s best way to live is put into practice (Psalm 37:11 – the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace).

Who is the person who is poor in pride and meek?

1. Someone who does not promote himself or dress or act to draw attention to himself.

2. Someone who is not secretly angry when he is not noticed.

3. Someone who does not demand a reward for his good deeds.

4. Someone who can draw non-violent boundaries around himself.

So, in the first beatitude, Jesus is saying that a humble and meek spirit that does not promote itself produces happiness and allows one to enjoy living in the kingdom of God.   

THE BEATITUDES

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THE BEATITUDES

“Blessed…blessed…blessed…blessed…blessed…blessed…blessed…blessed…blessed…”   Matthew 5:3-11.

What is this blessing of which Jesus speaks nine times in the opening verses of His “Sermon on the Mount”?

Before He launches into a description of the ways of the Kingdom of God, He answers the question many people are asking: “How can I be happy?” Does God really care about our happiness? Yes. Isn’t He more concerned about our holiness? According to Jesus, no. God cares about whether we are happy or not and He tells us how we can be truly happy. The problem is that most people look for happiness instead of realising that happiness is a by-product of something else. If we focus on happiness, we will find that it is elusive but, if we follow Jesus’ prescription, happiness will be the automatic outcome.

There are two words for “blessed” in the Hebrew language.

“Baruch” is the word used for the supernatural blessing God gives to us just because He can. We cannot merit God blessing. It is the evidence of His divine favour.

“Baruch” is also the word used when we bless God in worship. “Bless the Lord, O my soul…”

“Asher”, also translated “blessed”, refers to the happiness that is the outcome of obeying God’s word, of living the way He prescribes. Happiness (being blessed) is the natural outcome of living within the boundaries of what God intended for us. In the Old Covenant system, living God’s way ensured that His people would live in the land God assigned to them, under God’s protection and enjoying the blessings of His provision and prosperity. This was what His people understood about His kingdom, and the outcome of living this way would be a truly happy life.

Happiness is the by-product of the way we relate to and treat other people. To seek happiness for ourselves is to miss the way in which we can be truly happy. When we live for ourselves at the expense of other people, we cut off the source of happiness which is being unselfish and generous towards those less fortunate than ourselves.

The thrust of the Beatitudes is not inward- but outward-looking. What can we do to make life better for other people so that we can experience the happiness that flows from that lifestyle?

Interesting that these are called “be” attitudes and not “do” attitudes, since our doing can only flow from being! So Jesus focuses on heart attitudes which only come from the transformation that must happen before our behaviour can change.

The “Sermon on the Mount” is Jesus’ explanation of what living in the Kingdom of God is all about, and the Beatitudes His introduction to that way of life. Without understanding the Beatitudes, the rest of the Sermon on the mount is more difficult to grasp. In the next nine postings, I intent to explain the Beatitudes in the context of Hebrew literature and interpretation so that we can attempt to understand them as Jesus taught, from a Jewish rabbi’s perspective.

ADD TO YOUR FAITH

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ADD TO YOUR FAITH

“…He has given to us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world cause by evil desires. For this very reason make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge…”    2 Peter 1:4, 5

There is a difference between believing and knowing. Hebrews 11:1 says that “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”. Hope is not wishful thinking. It’s the picture of the cake in the recipe book that you plan to bake, and faith is the process of following the recipe to reproduce what the picture represents.

To simplify our understanding of the difference between faith and knowledge, let’s use our recipe illustration again. The first time we bake the cake, we have to trust our ingredients and our equipment, e.g., our measuring cups, spoons, scale, beater and our oven. If they are reliable, we believe that the end product will look like what the picture predicts. When we bake the cake the second time, we know that it will be a success because experience tells us that it worked the first time. We have moved from faith to knowing through our personal experience.

There is another step that comes between believing and knowing that Peter urges us to take, called “goodness”. We know that God is good, but what does that mean? Moses begged God to show him His glory (Exodus 33:18) and God responded by saying, “I will cause my goodness to pass in front of you and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” (Exodus 33:19). When God passed by Moses He proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, the gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.” (Exodus 34:6, 7a).

Moses stood in God’s presence, shielded from the visible glory of God but hearing from Him a description of His character. He heard God’s Word and could say, “I know that God is good because I have heard Him proclaim His goodness in my presence.” On the strength of that revelation, Moses could ask God for mercy for His sinning people, and know that God would be merciful because that’s who He is. Moses never doubted God’s mercy again because it was forever written on his heart.

What about us? Since only God is good (Luke 18:19), we cannot add “goodness” to our character. At best, our goodness is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). We can know the goodness of God when we listen to God through His Word and His works. If we look at Jesus, we will see God’s goodness. When we know that God is good, faith will become knowledge and knowledge will fulfil our hope.

LOVE AND OBEDIENCE

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LOVE AND OBEDIENCE

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15, NIV).

These are the hallmarks of the believer – according to Jesus. In the last precious hours with His disciples, He appealed to their love for Him as the reason for their obedience. What did He mean?  Was He simply setting up a new set of rules in place of the old ones, the ones His people failed to obey anyway? I don’t think so.

Firstly, let’s scrutinize the life of Jesus since He is the pattern God set for us to follow. It was the love relationship between Himself and His Father that controlled His life. Every temptation He went through was a test of His willingness to trust His Father’s love. How did this work out in practice?  Jesus valued the Father’s love for Him so much that He refused to say or do anything that would betray that love. He trusted what God said and He honoured and valued what was important to God. He managed His life in such a way that He brought delight, not heartache to His Father.

Wow! If you think about it, it makes a whole lot of sense. What would happen if we took His example and His plea seriously? What if you and I valued our relationship with Jesus so much that we would treasure what is important to Him and manage our lives, our decisions and choices in such a way that we do not break His heart? This would mean that we would value relationships on every level more than our own selfish wants. We would treasure and care for people and not things. We would use words to heal, not to hurt and kill. 

What if we taught our children this kind of “obedience”. It is easy to punish them when they break the rules. But what if we taught them to value our relationship with each other so much that they would not want to break our hearts? So much of our relationship with our children deteriorates into a power struggle. We cannot control our children’s behaviour. We demand; they rebel. We punish, they rebel even more. What if, instead, they learn that, whatever they might do, we will love them?  What if love becomes the standard in our homes and whatever they or we may do, we protect that love?

Why should we obey Him? Since He has our best interests at heart, He knows that disobedience is detrimental to us as well as offensive to Him.  The standard is before us, Jesus is in us. The only thing that stands between us and making it happen is the choice we make. God’s grace is in plentiful supply to help us do what we choose to do. This is God’s heart. Will you choose to value Him so much that you will do what He desires, to be a delight to Him and not a heartache? This is really loving.

WHAT IS FREEDOM?

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WHAT IS FREEDOM?

“To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are truly my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.’” (John 8:31, 32, NIV).

Freedom is an overworked and misunderstood word in our world.  For many people, “freedom” stands for “we can do anything we like, no matter what it does to us or anyone else.”

God is also passionate about our freedom because He gave it to us in the first place, but He views it from a different perspective. Firstly, He cherishes the freedom He gave us so much that He will never intrude on our freedom to choose, even though we destroy ourselves in the process.  People love to blame God for the consequences of their choices. They become embittered and turn away from Him.

Secondly, God wants us to choose to love Him. We are not robots, programmed to love Him with no choice in the matter.  We are His children, loving Him freely because we want to. 

Thirdly God wants us to love and obey Him because He knows the consequences of the wrong choices we make.  Why do we warn our child not to cross a busy street in peak hour traffic?  We know that he is likely to be injured or killed if he does.  Why does God give us commandments and prohibitions?  His laws are intended to create boundaries within which we can be safe and free. He knows that sin will destroy us if we indulge.  But He still allows us to choose.

When we choose against Him, it breaks His heart to see the suffering we endure because of our foolishness. Yet He does not interfere because we made the choice not to heed Him, and we must take the consequences.    

When we read through the Bible, we discover that God is about setting His people free.  He did miracles to set the children of Israel free from slavery in Egypt, from hostile tribes in Canaan and from captivity to invading enemy armies.  But he went much further than that. He sent His Son to free us from the guilt and penalty of sin and He gave us His Spirit to free us from sin’s power. 

Why, then, do we still insist on making the kind of choices that destroy our bodies, our souls, our families and our inner freedom? What holds us in slavery? Anger, bitterness, jealousy, unforgiveness, addictions, habits, idols?

 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”  Galatians 5:1

God treasures, values and longs for us to be free.  What about us?  If we really want to be free, Jesus offers us the solution. When we bow to Him in faith, submission and obedience and follow Him as our Master, we will enjoy the fruit of His love, joy, and peace.