- Hits: 1394
"Beatitudes 316: Blessed Are the Shalom Promoters"
Matthew 5: 9
Ephesians 2: 13-22
Psalm 122
Now on the other side of Easter, we return this week and next to our study of the beatitudes of
Jesus as recorded in the 5th chapter of Matthew. We come this morning to the 7th beatitude in
which Jesus claims this: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
The first issue to be considered is: what does Jesus mean by “the peacemakers”? Who exactly are
these “peacemakers.” What do “peacemakers” look like? What is the profile of a maker – not
merely a lover or a keeper -- of peace?
- Hits: 1116
“REMEMBERING THE ONE WE KNOW”
Text: Acts 10:34-43
Luke 24:1-11
I can’t say that I knew my paternal grandfather, whose first and middle name I bear – Lorenzo
Giacomo; in English: Lawrence James. My almost three year-old grandson – who we call “LJ” – bears
that name as well; now into a sixth generation in which grandson is named after grandfather. In so
much as my grandfather Lawrence passed away when I was very young, I didn’t really know him in
the conventional sense. He left me too early. Even so, I can and do say that I remember him. And
through that remembrance, fashioned from a hundred stories which have been carefully handed
down to me from my dad and mom, my Aunt Eleanor, and others – all of whom have gone home to
be with the Lord – I suppose I could say that in the deepest sense, I do know my grandfather.
- Hits: 1079
"Inside Out and Outside In"
Matthew 21:1-17
Once upon a time, there was a church which was studying how it could do a better job reaching
out to its surrounding community. The mission board met several times to discuss how to best
accomplish this. Since there were many homeless in the downtown area around the church, a
men’s overnight shelter was considered. After all, the board thought, the massive church building
with its shrinking congregation had more than enough available space; even showers adjacent to a
now dilapidated gymnasium. Along with the homeless hungry were the hungry with homes. Were a
free lunch program or food pantry feasible options? With the spiraling costs of basic health, dental
and eye care, could a free or low cost medical clinic of some type be a possibility? Or how about a
weekday worship service designed especially for those who might not be comfortable with the
traditional Sunday morning worship experience? As the church was endowed to the tune of over
sixteen million dollars, funding for any or all of these mission efforts was a non-issue.
- Hits: 1164
"Beatitudes 304: Makarios Are the Katharos in Heart"
Matthew 5:8
1 Peter 1: 18-25
Isaiah 1: 16-20
This morning, we focus our collective attention on what is possibly the most demanding, if
not impossible to live out, of Jesus’ beatitudes: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see
God.” How many of us in all good conscience can say we’re pure in heart?
What comes to mind when we hear that word “pure?” For some reason, I always think of Ivory
soap. In TV commercials, it was called 99.4% “pure;” so pure that it floats. Now what a bar of soap
that floats has to do with purity, I don’t know. If we call the Culligan man, we’re assured of buying
a water purification system which will leave water pure of even the tiniest traces of mercury, lead,
copper and benzene. A skilled gemologist or jeweler looks for gemstones which are pure of imperfections,
and gold which is pure of alloys. A metallurgist in a high-end steel producing facility aims to generate a ladle
of molten steel which is pure of dirty elements such as phosphorus and sulfur. These physical examples of purity
in our day have their parallels in the age and culture in which Jesus taught.
- Hits: 1284
"Beatitudes 202: Mercy, Mercy Me"
Matthew 5:7
Matthew 18: 23-34
Psalm 69: 13-18
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”
The 5th beatitude under our consideration this morning is the only beatitude which could be cast
into what’s called in literary terms chiasm; that is to say, an A-B B-A structure. Here’s what that means
in plain English: “Blessed” (A) “are the merciful (B), “for they (the merciful) (B) “will receive mercy
(A).” Maybe a simpler way to understand chiasm is this: what goes around comes around. So the flip
side of this chiastic beatitude is that if one does not give mercy, one will not receive mercy. Buddhism
and Hinduism might call that “karma.” At any rate, since mercy is both the demand and the promise of
this particular beatitude – both its requirement and its reward – we need to understand what Jesus
means when He speaks of “merciful” and “mercy.” Let’s spend some time there.
The word “mercy” is translated from the Greek word eleos (eleos). Eleos actually derives its
meaning from a Hebrew word – chesedh – which occurs more than 150 times in the Old Testament.
Almost every time chesedh shows up, it refers to God’s mercy toward people.
- Hits: 1174
“BEATITUDES 201: BE HUNGRY, BE FILLED”
Matthew 5:6 Ephesians 3:14-21 Psalm 107:1-9
The 4th beatitude of Jesus states that “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteous-
ness, for they will be filled,” or in some ancient manuscripts, “satisfied.” So we start:
makarios, happy, favored by God are those who, first, “hunger and thirst…..”
How are we impacted by the force of “hunger and thirst?”
- Hits: 1036
"Beatitudes 102: Blessings in Mournings and Meekness"
Matthew 5: 4-5
2 Corinthians 7: 9-10
Isaiah 61: 1-4
This morning, we are confronted with, and challenged by, the 2nd and 3rd of Jesus’ nine beatitudes
which open His Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” As with the first beatitude we talked about last
week, we are again hit in the chops with statements which, on the face of some of them, seem
oxymoronic; self-contradictory. In fact, all of the beatitudes hold within them the potential to shake
us at the level of our foundational beliefs about life, and how things are supposed to work.
- Hits: 1294
“BEATITUDES 101: MAKARIOS ARE THE PTOCHOS”
Matthew 5:3-12
Psalm 86:1-7
On this first Sunday in Lent, we begin a series of messages on what are commonly called “The
Beatitudes;” the “blessed are they” statements. The beatitudes actually serve as a prelude to the
Sermon on the Mount, preserved in chapters 5 through 7 in Matthew’s Gospel. Some of the same
Beatitudes – with slight variations – are also found in the 6th chapter of Luke. But for our purposes
over the course of the next several weeks, we’ll depend heavily on Matthew’s account.
Matthew places this most renowned of sermons early in the chronology of Jesus’ ministry. Je-
sus had been baptized by John in the Jordan River. He’d endured forty days of temptation in the
wilderness. He’d begun His teaching in Galilee to rave reviews. And He’d begun the process of
choosing and calling those who would become His inner-circle. Before long, Jesus’ fame had
spread far and wide. People came in huge numbers to hear His teaching and to be healed of their
afflictions. On one particular occasion, the crowd was becoming so overwhelmingly enormous
that Jesus retreated to a high place where He sat down. In typical rabbinical fashion, surrounded
by His student followers, He began to teach.
(Read Matthew 5:3-12)
- Hits: 1175
"Game Changer"
Mark 9: 1-8
Luke 22: 14-20
Have you ever had a mountaintop experience? By mountaintop experience, I mean an intensely
personal experience or life event which, on some level, was profoundly life-changing; transformative.
Oftentimes, such mountaintop experiences separate all which came before from all which comes after.
I guess a good way to understand a mountaintop experience is as a game changer. So let me reframe
my question. Have you had a game changer in your life?