Study is Encouraged

You Owe it to Yourself and Your Family - Study as if Your Life Depended on it

I love mathematics and statistics.  I've reviewed the work of Peter Stoner numerous times over the last 10 years and still find it amazing to fathom the simple impossibility of any other person in all of history to be declared the Messiah, Anointed One, Χριστός (Greek), מָשִׁיחַ (Hebrew), Son of God, God's Only Son, Savior.

Consider there are over 300 Messianic Prophecies written in the Old Testament; over the course of 900+ years, by no less than 20 authors.  There have been an estimated 88 Billion people since these writings.  The chances of 1 person from this group of 88 Billion fulfilling only 8 of these 300 prophecies is greater than 1 x 10 to the 17th power (17 zero's behind the one).

As an analogy; cover the state of Texas, two feet deep with silver dollars.  Put a single red dot on one of those dollars.  Blindfold a person, and place them at a random place within the State of Texas. Ask them to walk as long, and far as they would like and then pick up one silver dollar.  The odds of that one dollar have a red dot are equal to the odds of one person fulfilling 8 Messianic prophecies.

What the chart below shows though is that Jesus of Nazareth, is that 1 person.  Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Read the scriptures and judge for yourself.  If you are making a judgment on His deity or existence without actually doing research into the topic, then I can assure you the outcome of your assessment is questionable.  Because this is, without question, the most important issue in one's existence, I implore you to spend the next 2 weeks leading up to Christmas to truly evaluate the evidence that is laid out in the Scriptures.  

The Beatitudes: Pure in Heart

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. " - Matthew 5:8

I used to think of this verse and imagine what it would be like to see God.

Just imagine waking up on Sunday morning and beginning your process of getting ready for church. You know, making the breakfast, getting the kids dressed, brushing their teeth and hair, trying not to spill anything on their recently laundered outfits. Amidst all of the chaos, you are trying to keep yourself calm as you see the big hand on the clock moving progressively closer to the time you must leave. Once all of the kids are ready, you have a whopping 10 minutes to get yourself dressed and ready. If your house is anything like mine, this weekly ritual makes it very difficult to ready one's heart and mind for the Lord.

Now imagine, waking up as the sun is rising, the house is quiet, the kid's are still asleep. You make your way through the dark hallway to the kitchen to get that first cup of coffee and spend some quality "me" time before the chaos. You see a figure seated at the kitchen table with 2 cups of coffee, the aroma filling your senses. Your first inclination is to scream and run for the phone, then you see him smile, and his eyes fill you like a warm embrace. You suddenly recognize Him as your loving Savior, and you hurry to His side, falling to your knees before Him. A soft voice says, "Rise, my child. Come, let's walk." and He hands you your cup, blended perfectly with the cream and sugar. Emotion overwhelms you and you reach out to embrace the Son of God. Together, you walk with Him out the back door and along a path leading from the back yard into the woods and down by the river. For the next hour, you and Jesus Christ walk, talk, laugh and cry together in an emotional reunion. Upon the return you have one last question for Him. "Lord, why did You come to me today and not before?" With a smile upon His lips, His eyes soften and He says, "The only difference my child, is that today you recognized My presence, rid of the world's worries and concerns." With a smile, an embrace and kiss on the cheek, He is gone. The only evidence of His visit was the warmth upon your cheek.

Reflection on Scripture:

Jesus stood on the hill in Capernaum on that day sharing this wisdom with His disciples and the crowds. Do you think they understood? Keep in mind that many of them were of Jewish culture and heritage. They had seen God have personal relationships with their ancestors, Kings, Priests, Prophets and His chosen messengers. I suppose their understanding of Christ's words were that they must do something in order to purify their hearts and then they could also see the God of Abraham, Jacob and David.

We need to realize that it is impossible to make your own heart pure. This goes back to man's exhaustive propensity to sin. As long as sin is part of your existence you cannot discover purity in the Lord. The grace of God enables you to come to the table pure of heart. You see, by accepting His gift of grace and the redemptive qualities of His mercy on your sins, you have become worthy, through Christ, to be in God's presence. There is no other way. As much as people want to "see" the Lord to satisfy their quest for His existence, it is not until they have accepted His existence and grace that they are able to see Him. How surprised those on that hill would one day be to realize that they were actually sitting there with the very God they longed to see, but were unable to comprehend it.

So, how about you? Would you recognize God if He walked up to you?  Do you really want to see God?  If so, how would you act differently than how you are acting today?  What are you going to do to change this?  The advantage you have over those on the hill that day is enormous, but you have to act on it. Accept His saving grace and redemptive spirit and join into a oneness with the Lord. 

The Beatitudes: The Merciful

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. " - Matthew 5:7

Showing mercy takes love, courage and compassion. Being able to completely forgive someone for what they have done and remove the guilt and anguish that is so often associated with unrighteousness requires mercy. I think you will agree that it is difficult. I have seen mercy, in legal terms, described as receiving an acquittal even though you yourself confessed and testified of your own guilt and the jury have found you guilty without a doubt. Can you picture in your mind a time when mercy has been shown to you? Likewise can you picture a time in which you were able to demonstrate a heart of mercy to someone else? Many people find it hard to demonstrate mercy in a world where an eye for an eye is the norm.

As Jesus portrays the image of righteousness for those present on that hill in Capernaum, He paints a picture of God's love and forgiveness. Through God's mercy our sins are forgiven and likewise we should strive to forgive others. We see additional references of this in the book of Luke, the 6th chapter and 36th verse, "Therefore be merciful, even as your Father is also merciful." This representation of God's love for His children is manifested throughout the scriptures, both in the Old Testament and the New. We are endowed with His blessing when we are able and willing to be merciful to others. This blessing though is caught up in the realization of God's mercy in our own life.

You see, we all need God's mercy in our life. For the redemption of our sins is required for eternal glory with Him in heaven. But it doesn't stop there. For you see, even though God's mercy washes away the guilt and shame of the sin, the very nature of our humanity is to sin again, and we will. It is God's grace that provides us with salvation. We don't deserve it, it is provided without warrant and there is nothing we can do to earn it. It is truly a gift without merit because God so desires for your presence in heaven with Him rather than seeing you condemned to the lake of fire for all of eternity. Grace and mercy go hand in hand. Grace, through Jesus Christ, is God's plan of salvation while mercy is His forgiving compassion for our transgressions.

I had a mother share with me this example of the difference. If Charlie threw a ball through the window, and his Dad forgave him with no punishment. That is mercy. If his Dad went one step farther and took Charlie out for ice cream afterwards, that is grace. Live as one with a heart of mercy and watch how God uses that love and compassion to mold you more into the likeness of His Son.

The Beatitudes - Seeking Righteousness

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” – Matthew 5:6

I am on a diet again. It seems like I am always on a diet. A terrible thing to do during the holidays, when there is so much wonderful food and deserts available everywhere you go. The older I get the harder it is to control my waistline. I have discovered that the general cause though is over indulgence. Going from one extreme of strictly reducing calorie intake to the other extreme of eating every sweet I can get my hands on. What a viscous treadmill we are on as we try to control the very essential needs of our body. Food and water are requirements for sustaining a healthy lifestyle. This basic necessity has always been there and we all know the anguish of going too long without one or the other.

It is no different with our spiritual walk. There is a basic necessity, inherent in each of us, to be fulfilled and to find our purpose. Face it, you have asked the most common question at one point or another in your life, “Why am I here, and what am I supposed to do with my life?” It is the most commonly asked question in the world today and I propose that it has been for all time. In the days of Peter, Matthew, John and the other disciples the same question was asked. Imagine Matthew being raised in a strong Jewish home with vision of becoming a Pharisee, Priest or Scribe. Yet, he ends up becoming a tax collector and persecuting his own people for taxes and exorbitant fees. What happened in his life to push him away from the culture in which he was raised? With his knowledge of the scriptures, from his youth, he knew of God and the Jewish laws. He worked for Rome and likely did very well for himself. Physically I’m sure he never hungered or thirst for anything. So as a wealthy man of those days, he must have been longing for something more and asking himself “Is this it? Make money and then die.” I imagine that he hungered for a real purpose and a sense of justice and righteousness in life. For, when Christ looked at him and said “Follow Me”, he did.

A hunger in your life for purpose and fulfillment is fostered by a belief that there must be more than your current state.  I find myself frequently feeling, that each morning I wake up to the same high level itinerary: breakfast, commute, work, commute, dinner, some family time and off to bed; only to wake up 6 or 7 hours later and do it all again.  Whether you, like me, are seeking a more meaningful contribution to society and a more spiritually connected existence with your Creator – I propose the root desire is to make a more substantive contribution to the justice and righteousness of the world. The Lord is able to fill your desire when it is for the goodness and righteousness of His Kingdom. Some will seek more in life for selfish and self-centered pleasure and when it has been accumulated, will continue to find themselves hungry and thirsting for purpose. You see the world cannot satiate the emptiness inside. This can only come from the One who created you for righteousness and glory. Seek Him and your quest will come to an end and your real life will begin. Be ever thankful for what you have been given in life, and continue seeking His blessings on what you will do from here forward.

The Beatitudes: An Eternal Inheritance

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" - Matthew 5:5 

Who are the meek? So often the word is associated with weakness and timidity. As Jesus stands on a hill, outside of Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee, He is addressing a mixed crowd of Jewish leaders, laborers and gentiles. Amidst this crowd are folks just like you and I. Some are angry with God, some are afraid of God, some are unbelieving and some are arrogant and self-righteous. As He lay out the guidelines for those seeking heaven, there is a pointedness to His statement about the meek. For in this situation I believe Jesus is referring to humility.

I was attending a conference on "investing for success" a few years ago. Speaker after speaker came on stage and laid out their ideas for breaking through the barriers which separate the extremely wealthy from the not so wealthy. Do this, do that, give us your money and trust that we will invest it and make you rich. Instant pleasure, the shortest path, easy money; people, by their general nature, are self-serving as were the people gathered on that hill listening to Jesus speak. It's not our fault you see, it goes back to original sin. Man has never been content with life. There is always more than what we have, and as far back as history goes man has been seeking it.

What Jesus is telling the Pharisees, tax collectors, Sadducees, Scribes and commoners on that hill though was contradictory to that inherent belief. For to find true wealth meant to humble oneself as the "meek" did. I imagine people left that hill confused on that day. Just like the conference I attended, they had come expecting to hear the key to breaking the bondage of oppression and finding their way to success. What they heard was the opposite.

So the lesson for us, 2000 years later, is no different. True success and wealth is found in serving, humility and meekness; and I don't mean weak or timidity. Love others, seek those who need help and do something about it. The wealth you seek should not be of this world, but of eternity. The money and possessions you gather here is worthless after you die, and face it, you are going to die - right? This doesn't mean that money and possessions are evil. Actually, they’re not. The love of money and possessions is. Seek wealth so that you may expand His Kingdom and bring more people to a relationship with Christ. You will be fulfilling Jesus' direction in Matthew 5:5. For you see, the true inheritance is in heaven not in this world.

The Beatitudes: Blessed are the Mourners

"Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted. " - Matthew 5:4

Losing someone is difficult for all of us. There is no easy way to transition from a moment when you are embracing a loved one to the moment of saying goodbye for the very last time. With the death of a loved one, there is an emptiness that consumes those left behind as they struggle with the emotions that have been nurtured, protected and strengthened over years and even lifetimes in many cases. Relationships are built on trust, love and forgiveness. I have known individuals who have lost a loved one and had unfinished issues with them. The inability to forgive or receive forgiveness has haunted them for years after the death. Likewise, there are those who did not have the last opportunity to share their feelings of love with the deceased, leaving them feeling guilty and no means of escape.

We learn from these experiences not to leave unfinished business or empty words with those we love. But, how do we resolve the past events? If you have ever been to a wake or a funeral you know how difficult it is to comfort those in mourning. There is a song by Casting Crowns titled, "Love them Like Jesus", which discusses the difficulties of bringing comfort to our fellow brothers and sisters in times of mourning; but it also reminds us that God is the ultimate provider of comfort in all circumstances. While being 100% God and full of the sovereignty and wisdom of God; Jesus was also 100% human with the complexities of emotions and feelings, the same as you and I.

If you recall, even Jesus wept. He wept at the tomb of his friend Lazarus, and over Jerusalem; as even He mourned their fate and their lost direction in life. His weeping was out of love for the children of Israel. Knowing that He would be with them only a few more days before the crucifixion and their faith and understanding were still lacking. We are asked to stay by their side and love them like Jesus would love them. Empathy, love and just a mere presence is often times the right anecdote. Many times the best thing for us to do is to hold someone's hand and cry with them.

We are reminded by this verse in the 5th book of Matthew that those who mourned will be comforted by God the Father in a way that man cannot. Even in those circumstances when we are angry at God because we wanted His intercession and miracle, His love doesn't change. Three words put together make an incredible impact when understood: God Loves You. It is not to be flippant or taken lightly. You see God's love is the only true constant. There are no requirements, conditions or circumstances that cause His love to increase or decrease. By first accepting this, we then need to understand that His love for you is exactly as the love He has for those who are mourning, and the same as the love He has for the deceased. Comfort is provided to those who are mourning by the loving embrace from the only true source of unconditional love - God the Father.