The Source of All Good Things People are looking for happiness. They are searching for love. They are desperate for peace. But so often, we look in the wrong places. St Augustine prayed, ‘Lord ... you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.’ God is the source of all good things. Psalm 4:1-8 1. The source of joy and peace So often we seek joy and peace in the wrong places. ‘How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?’ (v.2). We think that money, possessions or success will be the answer. But these are delusions and false gods. David tells us where true joy and peace is to be found – God has made us for a relationship with him (v.3). We are not promised a problem-free life – the psalm starts with a cry, ‘Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer’ (v.1b). David is confident that God will hear, ‘He listens the split second I call to him’ (v.3b, MSG). God alone is the true source of joy and peace. ‘Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord. You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety’ (vv.6b–8). There is greater joy in the presence of God than there is in material prosperity and luxury. Prosperity, and the apparent security it brings, does not necessarily lead to peaceful sleep. Only in God’s will can we truly ‘dwell in safety’ (v.8). Lord, thank you for listening when I call to you. Help me not to love delusions and to seek false gods, but to seek you and ‘trust in the Lord’ (v.5). ‘Let the light of your face shine on us’ (v.6b). Fill my heart with the joy of your presence and grant me peaceful sleep. Matthew 4:23-5:20 2. The source of blessing and true happiness The American rock singer turned pastor, John Wimber, said, ‘Jesus is insatiable. Everything we do pleases him but nothing satisfies him. I have been satisfied with Jesus. He has not been satisfied with me. He keeps raising the standards. He walks in high places.’ In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus ‘raised the bar’ to the sky, not to bring us down but to lift us up: ‘Ive put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand – shine!’ (5:16, MSG). According to Jesus, true happiness does not come from all the things that society suggests. It does not come from celebrity, beauty, wealth and possessions. It is not about how you feel. It is not about what you have or even about what you do. The Greek word used in 5:3–11, ‘makarios’, means ‘blessed’, ‘fortunate’, ‘happy’ – the privileged recipient of God’s favour. Or, as the Amplified version puts it, ‘happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous, that is, with life-joy and satisfaction … regardless of their outward conditions.’ In the Beatitudes (‘beautiful attitudes’!) Jesus highlights eight unexpected situations in which we receive God’s favour and blessings. According to Jesus, true happiness comes from: Being spiritually desperate for God ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’ (v.3a). The word for ‘poor’ means ‘begging … dependent on others for support’. Here, it means being brought low or weakened to come to the place of realising the need to depend on Jesus. ‘You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope’ (v.3a, MSG). The poor in spirit are blessed because, through what Jesus has come to make possible, ‘theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ (v.3b). Weeping over our condition ‘Blessed are those who mourn’ (v.4a). We mourn our own sin and the mess in the world around us. We weep with those who weep. Jesus’ promise is that those who mourn ‘will be comforted’ (v.4b). God’s comfort goes way beyond any kind of ordinary comfort. As Joyce Meyer writes, ‘It’s almost worth having a problem in order to be able to experience it.’ Being content with who you are ‘Blessed are the meek’ (v.5a). The Greek word for ‘meek’ means ‘gentle’, ‘considerate’, ‘unassuming’. It is showing kindness and love for others. It is the opposite of arrogance and self-seeking. It means ‘broken’, not in the sense of a broken glass that is shattered, but in the way that a horse is broken – tamed, strength under control. Through Jesus the meek are blessed – ‘they will inherit the earth’ (v.5b). ‘You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are – no more, no less’ (v.5a, MSG). Being hungry for God ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness’ (v.6a). We need to pursue a relationship with God as our number one priority in life. Pursuing anything else for its own sake ultimately leaves us empty. But the blessing of a hunger for God and his righteousness is that we ‘will be filled’ (v.6b). ‘You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God’ (v.6a, MSG). Receiving forgiveness and being merciful ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy’ (v.7a). We are not to give people what they ‘deserve’, but to give them what they don’t deserve. The merciful are blessed because ‘they will be shown mercy’ (v.7b). Being completely sincere ‘Blessed are the pure in heart’ (v.8a). This is not just outward purity but integrity, openness, sincerity and authenticity. It is a purity that truly allows us to ‘see God’ (v.8b). A pure heart starts with our thoughts because our thoughts become our words, our actions and our character. ‘You’re blessed when you get your inside world – your mind and heart – put right’ (v.8a, MSG). Striving to bring peace ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ (v.9a). We are not to stir up conflict, but to make peace. Jesus, the Son of God, came to make peace for us on the cross (Colossians 1:20). Blessed are the peacemakers ‘for they will be called children of God’ (Matthew 5:9b). ‘You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight’ (v.9a, MSG). Expecting nothing in return except persecution ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness’ (v.10a). We are not to expect anything from the world in return except criticism. But God is with the persecuted church: ‘theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ (v.10b). ‘You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution’ (v.10, MSG). We see here the third way in which Jesus fulfils the Old Testament. We have already seen that Jesus fulfils the Old Testament history (Matthew 1:1–17) and how he fulfils the promises of the Old Testament prophecies (Matthew 1:18–4:16). Now, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus fulfils the Old Testament Law by revealing its full depth and meaning: ‘Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures – either God’s Law or the Prophets. I’m not here to demolish but to complete’ (Matthew 5:17, MSG). Lord, I long to live by the values of the Sermon on the Mount and be characterised by the Beatitudes. Forgive me for falling short last year. Help me to live like this in the year ahead. Help us as a community to live like this and to change the world around us. Genesis 9:18-11:9 3. The source of love and unity Love refuses to expose other people’s weaknesses and faults. It does not delight in other’s misfortunes. Love covers and protects. Today’s passage begins with the rather strange account of Noah getting drunk. The fact that he was a righteous man did not mean that he was perfect. Shem and Japheth are commended for ‘cover[ing] their father’s nakedness’ (9:23). Love and unity go hand in hand. The Tower of Babel is the symbol of disunity (11:1–9). The people said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves’ (v.4). This act of pride and power-seeking led to disunity, symbolised in the confusion of different languages in the world. ‘The Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth’ (v.9). The day of Pentecost was the reversal of Babel. The Holy Spirit enables people to say: ‘each of us hears them [speaking] in our native language’ (Acts 2:8). The gift of tongues symbolises the fact that the Holy Spirit reverses the disunity of Babel and unites all peoples and languages. This is the common experience today as we see the Holy Spirit bringing love and unity across churches, languages and nations. Lord, may we never seek to make a name for ourselves or our own church, denomination or movement. Rather, may we seek to glorify your name. Pour out your Spirit, O Lord, on the church as on the day of Pentecost. May there be a reversal of Babel. May there be an end to disunity. May your Spirit and the values of the kingdom of God bring love, joy, peace, true happiness and unity. Pippa Adds Matthew 4:24 ‘People brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering … and he healed them.’ I am going to pray for anyone I know who is sick or suffering today. Notes: Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790. Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (Lockman.org) Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 16:17:22 +0000
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