SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/2/2020
10:58 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Intro to “Happy
are the Harassed”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
5:10-12
Message of the verses: “10 Blessed are
they that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of
Heaven. 11 Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be
exceeding glad, for great is your reward in Heaven; for so persecuted they the
prophets who were before you” (KJ21).
We
begin looking at the last of the Beatitudes and this one takes up three verses
in order to complete this last beatitude.
As
we read through these three verses we will see that even though the others
seemed contrary to human thinking and experience, this last one seems the most
contrary to human thinking and experience.
MacArthur comments in a review faction:
“The world does not associate happiness with humility, mourning over
sin, gentleness, righteousness, mercy, purity of heart, or peacemaking holiness. Even less does it associate happiness with
persecution.” Humaningly speaking I totally
agree with what he is saying, but because Jesus stated all of these beatitudes
in making one happy I have to believe that when a person is living through the
power of the Holy Spirit that this will be true in their lives. We have to remember that happiness as
described in these beatitudes does not mean the same as we may think about
it.
The following comes from MacArthur’s commentary as he
writes about what a popular magazine found when they asked people the things
that made them happy. “According to the
responses they received, happy people enjoy other people, but are not
self-sacrificing; they refuse to participate in any negative feelings or
emotions; and t hey have a sense of accomplishment based on their own
self-sufficiency.” Now keep in mind that
when the sermons by MacArthur to help him write his commentary on Matthew
happened in 1978, but perhaps things are not much different today.
Now as we look at the results of the magazines survey we
can see that they are almost completely contrary to the kind of people that the
Lord says will be authentically happy.
Not really suppressing at all.
Jesus is saying in these beatitudes that a “blessed” person is not one
who is self-sufficient but he is one who recognizes his own emptiness and also
his need as he comes to God as a beggar, realizing that he has no resources in
himself. This person is not confident in
his own ability as he is very much aware of his on inability. In these beatitudes our Lord says such a
person is not at all positive about himself but he actually mourns over his own
sinfulness and also his isolation from a holy God. In order to be content, and I have talked
about my need for contentment, a person must not be self-serving but he must be
self-sacrificing. That person must be
gentle, merciful, pure in heart, he must yearn for righteousness, and he must
seek to make peace on God’s terms-even if those attitudes cause him to suffer,
and now we come to the point of this last beatitude.
MacArthur writes “The Lord’s opening thrust in the Sermon
on the Mount climaxes with this great and sobering truth: those who faithfully live according to the
first seven beatitudes are guaranteed at some point to experience the eight. Those who live righteously will inevitably be
persecuted for it. Godliness generates
hostility and antagonism from the world.
The crowning feature of the happy person is persecution! Kingdom people are rejected people. Holy people are singularly blessed, but they
pay a price for it.” As mentioned this
comes from sermons in 1978 and as we live in 2020 we can certainly see that the
world does indeed hate believers much more than in 1978.
Now as we look at the last beatitude we will see that it
is really two in one, a single beatitude repeated and expanded. As we look at these three verses we will see
that “blessed” is mentioned two times in verses 10 and 11, but only one
characteristic, and that is persecuted which is given. It is mentioned three times, and only one
result is given “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” which is promised. MacArthur adds “Blessed’ apparently is
repeated to emphasize the generous blessing given by God to those who are
persecuted. ‘Double-blessed are those
who are persecuted,’ Jesus seems to be saying.
“Three distinct aspects of kingdom faithfulness are
spoken of in this beatitude: the
persecution, the promise, and the posture.”
These are what we will be looking at as we move on through this rather
long section that contains these three verses.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I have read that
in our world today that as many as 1000 Christians are killed for their faith
in Jesus Christ. If you are interested
in looking at this further go to www.persecution.com
and you will get a great deal of information on it.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to continue to give me
contentment in the ways that I have learned about today from what John
MacArthur wrote about it.
6/2/2020 11:41 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment