I'm not sure how you spent your Memorial Day yesterday, but I was able to spend it by this gorgeous little lake in Ellington, Connecticut where I spent the first 18 years or so of my life. We soaked up the 90 degree weather, my kids played for about 8 hours in the lake just like I used to when I was their age, we played cornhole and Wiffle Ball, and in general enjoyed being with our entire family. Even though I spent most of the day sweating profusely, I still felt totally relaxed and found myself wishing that the day didn't have to end. Even the ride home, normally an opportunity for little squabbles to break out between the kids in the car, went peacefully - mostly because playing the in the sun and the water all day totally saps your energy, but still, it was the perfect end to a perfect day.
Sunday was also a perfect end to what has been a really challenging, enlightening, and encouraging series of messages for me. When we started talking about the Beatitudes from Matthew 5 on Easter Sunday, I really had no idea how deeply this was going to touch our hearts and lives as we went through the 8 statements Jesus makes there about life in his Kingdom. I said a couple of weeks ago that the messages seemed to get progressively more difficult as we went, and I thought this weekend's was no exception.
I know that I spent the first seven weeks nodding my head when I thought about the blessed life that Jesus intended for me. I loved hearing about the things that would happen for those who lived according to God's design. The poor in spirit inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who mourn find comfort in the Kingdom. The meek inherit the earth. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness find themselves being filled to overflowing with their heart's desire. The merciful receive mercy in turn. The pure in heart have their eyes opened to see God, and the peacemakers are known by their character to be children of God.
That's an amazing, compelling picture of the life Jesus invites his followers into. But the eighth statement of Jesus really brings us to reality. While this is a powerful, beautiful way to live, it's a way of life that cuts across our cultural grain, and puts us, at times, in direct opposition to the "everyone else" pressures of our culture to conform to what's expected. When we live this way, and challenge that cultural grain, we may find that people oppose us - sometimes actively and other times passively - for our choices.
How we respond to that opposition is incredibly important, and has the potential to change the public perception of followers of Jesus. Too often we have made a stand for righteousness in ways that were themselves unrighteous, unholy, and downright hurtful to others. Too often in the face of our opposition we have ignored the first seven statements of Jesus, and responded by elevating the tension, adding fuel to the fire, and in general failing to live up to the standard Jesus calls us to. Instead of taking that path, Jesus calls us to the less traveled road: the road which allows us to rejoice and call ourselves blessed when we are mistreated and misrepresented. It's a difficult road, which is probably why it's the road less traveled. But I'm convinced that it's the road filled with Jesus' blessing and approval, which should be our greatest satisfaction.
Next week we are going to start a four week series of messages on sticky topics - the kinds of questions that followers of Jesus don't really want to talk about, and yet which we desperately need to talk about. If you struggle with how to answer these questions, this will be a great series for you. And if you have a friend who asks you these questions, this would be a great series to extend the invitation for them to join you on a Sunday morning. I don't usually do this, but I'm just going to give you the preview of what we'll be talking about to prime the pump a bit:
Week 1: How credible is the Bible?
Week 2: How necessary is Jesus to salvation?
Week 3: What is God's design for human sexuality?
Week 4: How can we praise God for the good things in our lives and not blame him for the bad things?
Recent Comments