People of our generation seem to have no reluctance about challenging God’s authority over their lives. Almost every group in our nation would dare suggest doing away with certain of the principles that are taught in the Book of Books. Most of the rest of  us have felt free to challenge any (or all) of them that get in the way of our own self-willed lifestyles.

Murder, rape, theft, and perjury are in the news so often that we are not even shocked by them anymore. Corrupt politicians, dishonest businessmen, and philandering neighbors hardly raise an eyebrow. Pornography is sold at the comer market, drugs are dispensed in school hallways, and TV brings the coarsest of language right into our family rooms.

America is turning away from God, closing its ears, refusing to hear. We have created a world that has no significant place for God in its educational programs, scientific pursuits, movies, music, homes, or hearts. What fools we are to separate ourselves from the only hope we have for making life meaningful!

Everyone is talking about the problems facing our generation. Educators, sociologists, and politicians are acknowledging that we have lost all sense of moral direction as a society. Only one source of dependable direction is available. And we must turn back to that divine source quickly. We must remember God, seek God, hear God, obey God. We must begin living by the rules heaven has given in Scripture.

Frightening statistics point to the breakdown of law, moral responsibility, and even conscience in our world. Figures released by the federal government indicate that there is one serious crime committed every two seconds in the United States of America.

There is a murder every twenty-three minutes and a rape every six minutes. There is a robbery every fifty-eight seconds, an aggravated assault every forty-eight seconds, and a theft every four seconds.

We are a nation under siege. We are a people living in fear. Worse still, perhaps, is the involvement of so many young people in crime and immoral behavior. Teen-aged Americans account for almost a third of all violent crime arrests in the country.

What Has Gone Wrong? What has happened in this “enlightened” world of ours? Our society has rejected the notion of fixed norms for conduct, and we lack the internal control that comes to people who have a strong sense of right and wrong.

We’ve not only broken the old rules, we’ve gone beyond that to say that nobody has the right to make rules for our generation. Without rules, norms, or standards, we are moving toward chaos. We really do need a fixed standard for our lives. We need both goals and limits. We need a strong sense of what is desirable and what is forbidden. We need the security which comes or having some dependable rules for right living.

A U. S. Army official has said: “The army would like to see every American parent, teacher, and clergyman work to give our children . . . a firm regard for right and an abiding distaste for wrong.”

A sociologist, discussing the crime problem among teenagers, observed: “They grow up lacking the internal controls needed to stay on course.”

Right for me is what I want!” “Right is what makes me happy!” “Right for me is what gets me something of personal benefit; I’m sorry if somebody else gets hurt in the process, but it’s right for me if I want it and am able to get it!”

An impossible situation is created when this creed of self-interest governs our notions of what is right and wrong.

We must get back to the Word of God. We need to know the rules for right living. We simply must have a fixed standard by which to measure our deeds. The Bible provides exactly what we need for the moral direction of a human life.

Our self-chosen ways usually lead to our destruction. “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Prov. 14:12).

God has not left it to us to decide what is right but only whether we will choose to walk the path of holiness he has marked for us. God alone is in position to know what is right and wrong. God is the only one who is holy enough, wise enough, and good enough to be able to tell us what is right and wrong.

My moral obligations to you do not arise from some sort of social contract we have established with one another. Those obligations grow out of the fact that you are in the image of God, and I owe you respect for that reason alone.

Since God is infinitely holy, wise, and just, we can put full confidence in the things he commands. His holiness is at the root of our obligation to moral purity. He asks nothing of us that is not already in evidence in his own character and nature.

I don’t resent the rules that I find God giving me in the Bible, because I know something about God and his workings. If I were to stumble across the Bible and read some of its rules for the living of a human life, I might not be too impressed. But because I know of the holiness, wisdom, and love of the one who wrote the book and gave the rules, I am going to take the moral commandments of Scripture seriously. I am going to commit myself to them in the confidence that doing so will help make life what it ought to be.

A World in Need of Rules. The Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Chicago has said: “Our society and this ‘openness’ have created adjustment problems for the individual. There are fewer of these problems when a society has widely accepted standards for morals and manners. Today, we don’t have such a situation.”

People are happier, more secure, and their lives more manageable when they have some fixed norms and standards to appeal to for direction. The person who lacks a fixed point of integration for his or her behavior is going to be frustrated constantly.

I’m reminded of something Terry and I learned as young parents. When our back yard was enclosed by a fence, our children went to the areas of the yard away from our house…when we lived where there was not a fence, they were not as secure and stayed closer to the house. Rules…norms…restrictions serve the same purpose for us.

Many people refrain from stealing, adultery, murder, or other similar acts not because they fear punishment but because they believe such things are wrong. Internal restraints on behavior are far more powerful than external ones.

Reading through this text makes us recognize some important facts to understanding what the Ten Commandments are really all about …

God spoke all of this. They are words that God spoke. They are a vision of the kind of people God wants us to be They are God’s hope for us. These ten words describe how a people relate to God and how they relate to one another.

In this Decalogue, something is revealed about God and something is revealed about ourselves … God is a saving God. He rescues. He is the God who brought his people out of Egypt. He is the God who saves us from sin. He is the God that creates and sustains. He is the righteous judge who responds to sinfulness.

We see how holy God is and we see how we fall short. If we are self-righteous, these Ten Words show us that we are not nearly as righteous as we think. People often look over these Ten Words and ask, “Which of the commandments have I broken?” But that’s the question we ask if we view these ten words as a set of rules carved in stone, when we understand that “God spoke all of this” then we realize that WE ARE broken.

But the gospel of these Ten Words is that God is not going to leave us broken. God spoke all of this in order to draw a broken humanity closer to Him. God really intends for us to live differently. He knows that we can do better and mature. It seems impossible, but with God all things are possible.

 A man and his ne’er-do-well son went deep-sea fishing. When they started back toward the shore after dark, the older man was exhausted from the day. So he turned the boat over to his son and lay down to catch a nap on the boat. Before going to sleep, he showed the boy the North Star and told him how to keep the boat on course by navigating with it. No sooner had the father gone to sleep than the son decided to catch forty winks himself. When he woke up, however, he was frightened to discover that the boat had turned out to sea. They were lost, and the boy had no idea of how to reorient himself and get back to land safely.

He rushed over to where his father was sleeping, shook him by the shoulders, and said, “Dad, wake up! You’ve got to show me another star. We’ve run clean past that first one you showed me!”

You don’t run past the North Star in this hemisphere, although you can lose sight of it and get lost. In the same way, you don’t run past the Ten Commandments in charting a course for your moral and spiritual life. You may take your eyes off them and get terribly lost on an uncharted ocean of sin!

In this series of studies, no “new star” for our guidance is going to be identified. There will be an effort made to redirect our attention to the place where it should have been all along. We have been asleep! We have gotten our eyes off the North Star for right living! It is high time that we refocus our attention on the words of the Almighty and chart a life course by them.

I want us to begin by thinking of the word “chaos”?
· Theory that explained what went wrong in “Jurassic Park”?
· Your teenager’s bedroom?
 
I want to draw a working definition of chaos from Genesis 1:2:
(Gen 1:2) “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
 
Chaos: “a vacuum, a void, an emptiness … not filled and transformed by the voice or Word of God.”.
 
We often spend time talking about the culture in which we live and admitting that our culture is in a MESS.
 
But this is only symptomatic of a much deeper problem: void/vacuum/ emptiness that exists at center of American soul:
· A void marked by an absence or a poverty– of self-restraint, moral absolutes, compassion, civility.
· Void that cannot be filled, only exacerbated by drugs and alcohol, violence and immoral sex (real or vicarious), money, power or material goods.
 
Jim McGuiggan, in his book Caution: Men at Work…if the sign says “GOD at Work,” there is hope: for that’s what undid the chaos in beginning.
 
Talking about what we “DON’T” won’t do; to merely adopt a “prophetic” tone by cursing the darkness encourages among us the spirit of self-righteousness or superiority.
 
Our goal is to allow Peter to issue a call to Christian excellence and holy accountability.
 
The first action of God when it was time to create the universe? Deal with the chaos. That’s what God does!
· Where there is void, he wishes to fill it by His creative power
· Where there is emptiness and loneliness and chaos, He goes to work to bring into being something orderly and meaningful and beautiful.
 
(Isa 45:18-19)  “For this is what the LORD says– he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited– he says: “I am the LORD, and there is no other. {19} I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right.”

Our God is a God of revelation…not of chaos but truth … did not cloaked His being in nature, but has spoken to us, once through his prophets, now  “by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the universe.” (Heb 1:1-2)

Jesus told a chilling parable about that:

(Mat 12:43-45) “”When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. {44} Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. {45} Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”” (some have called this the Parable of the Haunted House.).
 
What makes this especially chilling: He was talking about not about houses but people …empty people: empty of joy, empty of authority; empty of Lordship, empty of God.
 
If ‘nature abhors vacuum’… then Satan loves one…he loves to “repossess” empty hearts.

The problem with chaos?: something WILL fill an emptiness, rush in to fill the void: that’s why people watch 40 hrs TV/wk … take drugs … hire prostitutes … shop till they drop … join cults — to fill the emptiness! (by no way am I listing items here in the order of harm done).
 
But any fullness but God’s…only deepens the hunger, only intensifies the emptiness, until the “final condition worse than first.”
 
What has PETER to say to us about the CHAOS? 1 Peter is written to a church in the midst of culture at best indifferent, at worst hostile, to it.
 
Roman culture was willing to tolerate Christians so long as they kept their religious notions to themselves … so long as they exhibited a broadminded spirit.
 
But this, Church of Jesus Christ could not do that… so they were persecuted.. (1 Pet 2:9-10): “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. {10} Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
 
Peter’s wonderful strategy is to address this head on, immediately, from the first sentence in his letter: “Dear scattered strangers … spiritual exiles.”
 
Conventional wisdom today: always go “inclusive” … but Peter knows he must appeal to their set-apartness (holiness) if he is to keep Church from conforming to the Chaos of the secular world.
 
‘Yes, as “strangers in this world” they were made to feel strange … as “resident aliens” they experienced alienation … “peculiar people” will be looked upon as peculiar.
Peter’s words are sympathetic and supportive, but blunt and foreboding:  ‘I know these are tough times for believers … and they could get tougher.”
 
So he speaks to them of “TRIALS”:

(1 Pet 1:6-7) “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. {7} These have come so that your faith–of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

(1 Pet 4:12-13) “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. {13} But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”

What is the purpose of trials? To force or encourage us to get at the TRUTH.
 
Interesting: the kinds of “trials” Peter speaks of, which would serve to reveal truth and the genuineness of their faith, were largely VERBAL: several different words are used in the verses: insults, slander, malicious talk: verbal violence. (2; 12, 3:9, 3:16, 4:14)
 
“Persecution” in 1 Peter: initially it was not in the form of Polycarp in the arena … but verbal rejection: slings and arrows of outrageous co-workers, or neighbors, who (4:4) “think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation”
 
Today it would be the person who is ridiculed because he won’t laugh at their sexist joke, who won’t stand quietly by and tolerate racist language, who won’t keep the gossip alive, who won’t trade insult for insult.
 
Along the way, Peter indirectly speaks of different “trials” — internal ones: evil desires (1:14), malice, deceit, slander, hypocrisy” (2: 1), even feelings of resentment, that they were undergoing trials (4:12)!
 
Peter’s challenge: Silence your critics, persecutors, peer-pressurers … with your LIVES.

(1 Pet 2:11-12) “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. {12} Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
 
Show them how Christians love … care … serve … speak … “do good” (Peter’s signature phrase in this epistle) … and if need be, die.
 
Story of a minister who found out he was going to die in next year of cancer…wondered what he would do with his time” “Thought of resigning my duties at church, so I could travel, or rest; then I thought, no, for years now I’ve been telling my church how to live … I figure now I have a chance to show them how to die. (I preached at a congregation in Mansfield, Ohio, that had a youth minister who had cancer and knew he would die in a few months…he stayed on the job and even made a video that was played at his funeral).
 
Four Items Which Bring About Chaos
A. Absence of Biblical authority.
(1 Pet 1:13) “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
 
(1 Pet 3:15-16) “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, {16} keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”
 
Chaos will always result when there is no authoritative source of truth. What fills that void? The WORD OF GOD, the revelation of God who has always spoken the truth, who always declared what is right.
 
Truth is not merely some abstract body of orthodox religious laws – truth is that which makes life work…grow…to be rich and full … in contrast, lies are what make our lives small, shrink and die.
 
Every society needs voices that keep asking the right questions of its values: Are they true? Not, fashionable, sophisticated, profitable, my right … but is it RIGHT?

(1) Is materialism true?

(2) Is individualism true?

(3) Sex okay between consenting adults?. Not if your body was created by God, and purchased with a price.  

But — I fear we are becoming more and more ill-equipped to answer the Chaos. While we were known as “People of the Book” in years past —for some, that has become more an honorary designation than an earned one.

1:13: “Prepare your minds for action.”

Gird up loins, roll up sleeves. We’re going to have to THINK!
 
3;15: “Be prepared to give an answer”

Apologian/defense/a reasoned response. Some Bible paraphrases offer to define that answer (Phillips: “quiet and reverent answer”) That is, not mean-spirited, not argumentative, not condescending.
 
A Biblically illiterate church will surely fall victim to “AIDS”: Acquired Immune-Deficient Spirituality.
 
When our faith is on trial, we will be found immune and deficient: no answer/ reason to offer for our hope … and hope without a reason is ultimately hopeless. People who know their theology … will not be such easy prey to modern secularism, or theological liberalism, or New Age pantheism. 

Absence of moral identity. 

1. (1 Pet 1:15-16) “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; {16} for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.””
   
   Peter makes sure his church knows who they are:
   · God’s elect/chosen (1:1-2) obedient children (1:14)
   · blood-bought redeemed (1:18-19) living stones in spiritual house (2:5)
   · holy priesthood (2:5) holy nation (2:9)
   · people of God (2: 10) free servants of God (2: 16)
   · brothers … saints … CHRISTIANS (4:16; only 2 other times, Acts).
    
   Morality grows out of, radiates from, identity.
    
   In Peter’s day, Christians could take a trip to Pompeii and gaze at erotica that decorated walls of public/private buildings; today, log onto internet and type in “SEX”: far and away the most popular search word on internet (did a search for this lesson and came back with “about 1,84 trillion results (0.35 seconds).
    
   Such confusion: tv/movies/professional sports has sought to give a legitimacy to the new paganism … not by argumentation and thoughtful reason … but by presenting images of attractive people doing shameful things.
    
   C. Absence of the experience of transcendence.
   (1 Pet 1:8-9) “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, {9} for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

When Timothy Leary died a few years ago, he reminded us of the amazing decade of 60’s … psychedelic excursions into transcendental meditation and drug-induced mystical experiences (Leary, a hippie to end, was still exploring the wonders of reefer madness).
 
What drove that misguided quest, still drives much drug use today: HUNGER … for experience of transcendence (cheap substitute): something thrilling, be it faster roller coaster, stunningly-violent movie (“Pulp Fiction”), or a hit of crack cocaine.
What we have to offer is not some religious adrenalin experience (“getting high on Jesus”) .….but the possibility of a living relationship with transcendent God, creator of the deepest joys the human heart can know.
 
I am not talking about some contrived emotionalism or cheap sentimentalism (where we turn down the lights and sing “Kum Ba Ya”) … but centering our worship upon Almighty God, singing hearty praises to our risen Lord.
 
(1 Pet 1:3-6) “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, {4} and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–kept in heaven for you, {5} who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. {6} In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” 

Does that capture the spirit of your worship service? It should. 

 
D. Absence of a Sure Foundation.
(1 Pet 2:4-6) “As you come to him, the living Stone–rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him– {5} you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. {6} For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.””
 
Terry and I were in the Northeast for a weekend seminar/meeting when we realized we were a few hours from Washington, D.C. We went to see Mr. Lincoln, arriving around 10 pm on a very cold February evening. We saw what has been called “a craggy face captured in Georgia marble” by Daniel Chester French:

• All worldly standards: Lincoln was an ugly man.
• A Charleston paper: “horrid looking wretch”
• Houston paper: “leanest, lankest most ungainly mass of legs and arms and hatchet face ever strung on a single frame.”
• Another paper simply referred to Lincoln as “the gorilla.”
• But our affection for Lincoln transcends physical features. We see beyond the ‘obvious’ and look at the heart and character of the man’s life.

Peter: They looked at the Master, rejected him (as Isa. 53 said) … perhaps because He was so ordinary, perhaps because He asked for so much.  

But we look at the alternatives … there is no other foundation. Nothing else fills the Void. For as his Father did at that first dawn, He has dealt with the Chaos (of our sin), and thus we are re-created in Him.
 
Conclusions
Our Age looks into the Chaos and says: “Let me indulge your every desire … Let me substitute illusion for Truth … Let me distract you, thrill you, entertain you … Surely this will fill your emptiness.
 
Our God looked into the Chaos and said: “Be strong, be faithful, be true.
 
1 Pet 1:18-21: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, {19} but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. {20} He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. {21} Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.”

Matthew 26:1-16 (ESV)
¹  When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples,
²  “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”
³  Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,
⁴  and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.
⁵  But they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.”

Matthew does not claim to give us a chronological account of the events of the last week. At this point he inserted a flashback to describe the feast in Bethany and the beautiful act that Mary performed.

The religious leaders were meeting to plot against Jesus, but His friends were meeting to show their love and devotion to Him. Also, by joining these two accounts, Matthew showed the connection between Mary’s worship and Judas’ betrayal.

It was after the feast in Bethany that Judas went to the priests and offered his help Mark 14:10-11 (ESV)
¹⁰  Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.
¹¹  And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.

The feast at Bethany took place “six days before the Passover” (John 12:1) in the house of Simon the leper. Apparently he had been healed by the Lord Jesus. There were at least seventeen people at this dinner: Simon, Mary, Martha, Lazarus, Jesus, and the 12 Apostles. True to her character as the “doer” in the family, Martha did the serving

Luke 10:38-42 (ESV)
³⁸  Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.
³⁹  And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.
⁴⁰  But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”
⁴¹  But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,
⁴²  but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Mary (v. 7).

⁶  Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,
⁷  a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table.

The three key persons in this event are Mary, Judas, and Jesus. Only John identifies this woman as Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus. She is found only three times in the Gospels, and in each instance she is at the feet of Jesus.

She sat at His feet and listened to the Word: Luke 10:38-42 (ESV)
³⁸  Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.
³⁹  And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.
⁴⁰  But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”
⁴¹  But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,
⁴²  but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

She came to His feet in sorrow after the death of Lazarus John 11:28-32 (ESV)
²⁸  When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹  And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him.
³⁰  Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.
³¹  When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
³²  Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

She worshiped at His feet when she anointed Him with the ointment (our study today). Mary was a deeply spiritual woman. She found at His feet her blessing, she brought to His feet her burdens, and she gave at His feet her best.

When we combine the Gospel records, we learn that she anointed both His head and His feet, and wiped His feet with her hair. A woman’s hair is her glory (1 Cor. 11:15). She surrendered her glory to the Lord and worshiped Him with the precious gift that she brought. It was an act of love and devotion that brought fragrance to the whole house.

Because she had listened to His word, Mary knew that soon Jesus would die and be buried. She also knew that His body would not need the traditional care given to the dead because His body would not see corruption. Instead of anointing His body after His death, she did so before His death. It was an act of faith and love.

Judas (vv. 8-9). ⁸  And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? ⁹  For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.”

The disciples did not know the true character of Judas. His criticism of Mary sounded so “spiritual” that they joined him in attacking her. We know the real reason Judas wanted the ointment sold: The money would go into the treasury and he would be able to use it: John 12:6 (ESV) ⁶  He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.).

Notice that every time Mary sought to do something for Jesus, she was misunderstood:

• Her sister Martha misunderstood her when Mary sat at Jesus’ feet to hear Him teach the Word.
• Judas and the other disciples misunderstood her when she anointed Jesus.
• Her friends and neighbors misunderstood her when she came out of the house to meet Jesus after Lazarus had been buried John 11:28-31 (ESV) ²⁸ When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
  ²⁹  And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him.
  ³⁰  Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.
  ³¹  When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

When we give Jesus Christ first place in our lives, we can expect to be misunderstood and criticized by those who claim to follow Him.

Jesus (vv. 10-16). ¹⁰  But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me.
¹¹  For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.
¹²  In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial.
¹³  Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

He immediately came to the defense of Mary, for He always protects His own. He rebuked Judas and the other disciples and praised Mary for her loving act of devotion. Nothing given to Jesus in love is ever wasted.

Her act of worship not only brought joy to the heart of Jesus and fragrance to the house, but also blessing to the whole world. Her devotion encourages us to love and serve Christ with our very best. Such service brings blessings to others that perhaps we will know nothing about until we see Him.

Jesus did not criticize the disciples because they were concerned about the poor. He was concerned about the poor, and we should be too. He was cautioning them against missing their opportunity to worship Him. They would always have opportunities to help the poor. But they would not always have the opportunity to worship at His feet and prepare Him for burial.

Whatever the answer to the question of identification, the story is indeed what Jesus called it—the story of a lovely thing; and in it are enshrined certain very precious truths.

It shows us love’s extravagance. The woman took the most precious thing she had and poured it out on Jesus. Jewish women were very fond of perfume; and often they carried a little alabaster phial of it round their necks. Such perfume was very valuable.

Both Mark and John make the disciples say that this perfume could have been sold for three hundred denarii (Mk 14:5; Jn 12:5); which means that this phial of perfume represented very nearly a whole year’s wages for a working man. Or we may think of it this way. When Jesus and his disciples were discussing how the multitude were to be fed, Philip’s answer was that two hundred denarii would scarcely be enough to feed them. This phial of perfume, therefore, cost as much as it would take to feed a crowd of five thousand people.

It was something as precious as that which this woman gave to Jesus, and she gave it because it was the most precious thing she had. Love never calculates; love never thinks how little it can decently give; love’s one desire is to give to the uttermost limits; and, when it has given all it has to give, it still thinks the gift too little.

It shows us that there are times when the commonsense view of things fails. On this occasion the voice of common sense said, “What waste!” and no doubt it was right. But there is a world of difference between the economics of common sense and the economics of love.

Common sense obeys the dictates of prudence; but love obeys the dictates of the heart. There is in life a large place for common sense; but there are times when only love’s extravagance can meet love’s demands. A gift is never really a gift when we can easily afford it; a gift truly becomes a gift only when there is sacrifice behind it, and when we give far more than we can afford.

It shows us that certain things must be done when the opportunity arises, or they can never be done at all. The disciples were anxious to help the poor; but the Rabbis themselves said, “God allows the poor to be with us always, that the opportunities for doing good may never fail.”

There are some things which we can do at any time; there are some things which can be done only once; and to miss the opportunity to do them then is to miss the opportunity for ever. Often we are moved by some generous impulse, and do not act upon it; and all the chances are that the circumstances, the person, the time, and the impulse, will never return. For so many of us the tragedy is that life is the history of the lost opportunities to do the lovely thing.

It tells us that the fragrance of a lovely deed lasts forever. There are so few lovely things that one shines like a light in a dark world. At the end of Jesus’ life there was so much bitterness, so much treachery, so much intrigue, so much tragedy that this story shines like an oasis of light in a darkening world. In this world there are few greater things that a man may do than leave the memory of a lovely deed.

Matthew 26:14-16 (ESV)
¹⁴  Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests
¹⁵  and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.
¹⁶  And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him

Matthew 20:17-34 (ESV)
¹⁷  And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them,
¹⁸  “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death
¹⁹  and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

This is the third time Jesus announced His arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection. In the previous announcements, He had not specified how He would die. But now He clearly mentioned the cross. He also clearly mentioned His resurrection, but the message did not penetrate the disciples’ hearts.

²⁰  Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something.
²¹  And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”

In contrast to this announcement of suffering and death, we have the request of James and John and their mother, Salome. There may have been a very natural reason for this request. It is probable that James and John were closely related to Jesus. Matthew, Mark and John all give lists of the women who were at the Cross when Jesus was crucified.

• Matthew’s list is: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee (Matt 27:56)
• Mark’s list is: Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Younger and of Joses, and Salome (Mk 15:40)
• John’s list is: Jesus’ mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

Mary Magdalene is named in all the lists; Mary the mother of James and Joses must be the same person as Mary the wife of Clopas; therefore the third woman is described in three different ways.

Matthew calls her the mother of the sons of Zebedee; Mark calls her Salome; and John calls her Jesus’ mother’s sister. So we learn that the mother of James and John was named Salome, and that she was the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus. That means that James and John were full cousins of Jesus; and it may well have been that they felt that this close relationship prompted this request for a special place in his Kingdom.

Before we criticize what they did, let’s notice some commendable features in this event. For one thing, they did believe in prayer, and they dared to believe the promise Jesus had given about sitting on thrones (Matt. 19:28).

Their mother also wanted her sons to be involved “on the front lines” in service to our Lord! What better things could a mother want for her sons?

It must have taken faith on their part to believe He would establish these thrones, because He had just told them that He was going to die, even if they had a misconception as to the kind of kingdom He was going to establish.

This is one of the most revealing passages in the New Testament. It sheds light in three directions. First, it sheds a light on the disciples. It tells us three things about them. It tells us of their ambition. They were still thinking in terms of personal reward and personal distinction; and they were thinking of personal success without personal sacrifice. They wanted Jesus with a royal command to ensure for them a princely life.

Every man has to learn that true greatness lies, not in dominance, but in service; and that in every sphere the price of greatness must be paid. That is on the debit side of the account of the disciples; but there is much on the credit side.

There is no incident which so demonstrates their invincible faith in Jesus. Think of when this request was made. It was made after a series of announcements by Jesus that ahead of him lay an inescapable Cross; it was made at a moment when the air was heavy with the atmosphere of tragedy and the sense of foreboding. And yet in spite of that the disciples are thinking of a Kingdom.

It is of immense significance to see that, even in a world in which the dark was coming down, the disciples would not abandon the conviction that the victory belonged to Jesus. In Christianity there must always be this invincible optimism in the moment when things are conspiring to drive a man to despair.

Still further, here is demonstrated the unshakable loyalty of the disciples. Even when they were bluntly told that there lay ahead a bitter cup, it never struck them to turn back; they were determined to drink it. If to conquer with Christ meant to suffer with Christ, they were perfectly willing to face that suffering.

It is easy to condemn the disciples, but the faith and the loyalty which lay behind the ambition must never be forgotten.

But there were several things wrong with their request. To begin with, it was born in ignorance. “Ye know not what ye ask,” Jesus replied. Little did Salome realize that the path to the throne is a difficult one. James was the first of the disciples to be martyred, and John had to endure hard days on the Isle of Patmos. These three believers wanted their will, not God’s will, and they wanted it their way.

Another factor was their lack of heavenly direction. They were thinking like the world: James and John wanted to “lord it over” the other disciples the way the unsaved Gentile rulers lorded it over their subjects. Their request was fleshly (sensual), because they were selfishly asking for glory for themselves, not for the Lord. No doubt they felt relieved that they had gotten to Jesus with this request before Peter did!

Finally, the request was not only of the world and the flesh, but it was of the devil. It was motivated by pride. Satan had sought a throne (Isa. 14:12-15) and had been cast down. Satan had offered Jesus a throne and had been refused (Matt. 4:8-11). Satan magnifies the end (a throne) but not the means to that end. Jesus warned Salome and her sons that the special thrones were available to those who were worthy of them. There are no shortcuts in the kingdom of God.

²²  Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.”
²³  He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

Jesus said that those who would share his triumph must drink his cup. What was that cup? It was to James and John that Jesus spoke. Now life treated James and John very differently. James was the first of the apostolic band to die a martyr (Ac 12:2). For him the cup was martyrdom. On the other hand, by far the greater weight of tradition goes to show that John lived to a great old age in Ephesus and died a natural death when he must have been close on a hundred years old. For him the cup was the constant discipline and struggle of the Christian life throughout the years.

It is quite wrong to think that for the Christian the cup must always mean the short, sharp, bitter, agonizing struggle of martyrdom; the cup may well be the long routine of the Christian life, with all its daily sacrifice, its daily struggle, and its heart-breaks and its disappointments and its tears.

A Roman coin was once found with the picture of an ox on it; the ox was facing two things—an altar and a plough; and the inscription read: “Ready for either.” The ox had to be ready either for the supreme moment of sacrifice on the altar or the long labour of the plough on the farm.

There is no one cup for the Christian to drink. His cup may be drunk in one great moment; his cup may be drunk throughout a lifetime of Christian living. To drink the cup simply means to follow Christ wherever he may lead, and to be like him in any situation life may bring.

This passage sheds a light on Jesus. It shows us his kindness. The amazing thing about Jesus is that he never lost patience and became irritated. In spite of all he had said, here were these men and their mother still chattering about posts in an earthly government and kingdom. But Christ does not explode at their obtuseness, or blaze at their blindness, or despair at their unteachableness. In gentleness, in sympathy, and in love, with never an impatient word, he seeks to lead them to the truth.

It shows us his honesty. He was quite clear that there was a bitter cup to be drunk and did not hesitate to say so. No man can ever claim that he began to follow Jesus under false pretences. He never failed to tell men that, even if life ends in crown-wearing, it continues in cross-bearing.

It shows us his trust in men. He never doubted that James and John would maintain their loyalty. They had their mistaken ambitions; they had their blindness; they had their wrong ideas; but he never dreamed of writing them off as bad debts. He believed that they could and would drink the cup, and that in the end they would still be found at his side. One of the great fundamental facts to which we must hold on, even when we hate and loathe and despise ourselves, is that Jesus believes in us.

²⁴  And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers.
²⁵  But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
²⁶  It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
²⁷  and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,
²⁸  even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The result of this request was “indignation” on the part of the other disciples—probably because they had not thought of it first! Selfishness will only result in dissension and division.

This disagreement gave Jesus the opportunity to teach a practical lesson on leadership. In His kingdom, we must not follow the examples of the world. Our example is Jesus, not some corporation president or wealthy celebrity. Jesus came as a servant; therefore, we should serve one another. He came to give His life; therefore, we should give our lives in service to Him and others.

The word minister in Matthew 20:26 means “a servant.” Our English word “deacon” comes from it. The word servant in Matthew 20:27 means “a slave.” Not every servant was a slave, but every slave was a servant. There are many who want to “exercise authority” (Matt. 20:25), but few who want to take the towel and basin and wash feet.

The key to greatness is not found in position or power, but in character. We get a throne by paying with our lives, not by praying with our lips. We must identify with Jesus Christ in His service and suffering, for even He could not reach the throne except by way of the cross.

To improve our praying we must improve our serving. If we are serving Him and others, then we will not be praying selfishly. If our prayers do not make us better servants, then there is something wrong with them.

Do our prayers make us easier to live with? The two disciples prayed selfishly and threw the fellowship into an uproar! Do our prayers make us more like Jesus Christ? Do our prayers cost us anything? Prayer in the will of God does not mean escape; it means involvement. If our prayers do not bring us nearer to the cross, they are out of God’s will.

Salome learned her lesson. When Jesus was crucified, she was standing near the cross (John 19:25, “his mother’s sister”) and sharing in His sorrow and pain. She did not see two thrones on either side of her Lord—she saw two thieves on two crosses. And she heard Jesus give her son, John, to His mother Mary. Salome’s selfishness was rebuked, and she meekly accepted it.

As we begin this study, we see the acceptance of Jesus by the sinners and the rejection by the religious leaders. The anointing of Jesus by the sinful woman. The pharisaical self-righteousness of Simon.

The parable is followed by a record of women with questionable background who followed Jesus. (A woman who had been demon possessed. A woman who was the wife of Herod’s finance minister and a woman named Susanna. I don’t know who she was.) These women are contributing to Jesus’ ministry out of their own personal financial means.

Cultural setting: Jesus and Simon were eating in the center of the courtyard. There were benches around the outside of the courtyard where others could sit and watch and perhaps talk to those eating, but not participate in the meal. This allows for the woman to be a part of audience and come into the center of the courtyard. This was not done.

This woman of the street, is pouring strong smelling perfume on Jesus’ feet and making the place smell like her private chambers where illegitimate things go on. This woman lets her hair down in public. Women did not do that. She was touching a man in public. Women did not do that. She is crying in public. Women did not do that. They hired professional criers to cry for them in public. She is kissing his feet and wiping his feet with her hair.

The Problem

Simon is about to have a fit. He makes an assumption. The problem with the assumption is that the premise is wrong. He thinks that Jesus is either not a prophet or He is a bad prophet.

Why is Jesus risking ceremonial defilement in allowing the sinner woman to touch Him?

Jesus tells a parable to answer the unasked question:

In the parable one man owes the equivalent of $50,000 to a man who makes about $30,000 per year and the other owes $5,000. Both are unable to repay. Both are graciously forgiven. Which will love Him more?

Simon judged correctly.

Simon did not provide for the customary foot washing that culture demanded. He didn’t do it. He didn’t have a servant do it. He didn’t even provide water for Jesus to do it. Simon didn’t greet Jesus with the customary cheek to cheek kiss. Simon did not put oil on Jesus’ head. (equivalent of taking someone to the guest bathroom to get cleaned up). The woman on the other hand did all this and more.

Verse 47 should be translated “Because she was forgiven, as a result, she loved much.” We know this because the next phrase says, “he who is forgiven little loves little.”

Who is this that forgives sin? This goes unanswered, but it is obvious.

How do you get forgiveness? Verse 50 says “your faith has saved you.” Because she was forgiven, she could go in peace. She didn’t have the awful debt hanging over her head.

The Central Truth

Love is the evidence of forgiveness which can only be received by faith in Christ. Those who recognize that they have been forgiven much, respond with worship to God and love to others. Those who don’t recognize their need for forgiveness are self-righteous.

Simon had a faulty concept of who Jesus was and what he shooed do. This reveals the basic problem of the religious leaders.

Simon would have recognized that he was the one who owed 50 denarii. The woman would have recognized that she was the one who owed 500 denarii. Who would Jesus have said owed 500 denarii? He would have agreed with Simon. The woman was the bigger sinner. But Simon was a sinner too. He had a debt he could not repay. He showed no love which raised the question of whether or not there was forgiveness of even the smaller debt.

Our tendency is to jump to the question – “How much love should be shown?” But that is not a proper question to ask. If we ask the question, we have missed the point of the parable.

We must be careful not to reverse the process and say that our love results in forgiveness.

Illustration: Some of you were raised in a Christian home. You never got into any serious trouble, never got arrested, never did drugs, never got drunk. Some of you, on the other hand, might have been more rebellious and been in trouble with the law, done drugs.

Analogy: The worst thing some of you ever did might have been to shoot a BB gun and break a window. Others of you threw bricks through the window. The question is this? How much do the windows cost? They cost the same. They both needed to be replaced.

Simon’s problem was that he thought she was a worse sinner than he was and that his sin was not as serious. But his sin was just as serious.

The more I understand how much I’ve been forgiven, the more I will appreciate my forgiveness and the more I will love God and others.

Jesus loves to take the rowdy and the religious to destroy two satanically designed thoughts. One is that there is a level of sinfulness that God cannot accept. It is the attitude that I’m too bad to be saved or loved by God. The other extreme is the idea that there is a level of merit in man for which there is no need for salvation. Or there is a way to merit God’s love.

If you have the idea that the flat tire you had was because you skipped your quiet time two days in a row, then you fall into this second category.

If you remember, Jesus healed the Centurion’s slave in 7:1-10 and raised the widow’s son in 7:11-17. Those were two people who recognized their need. Here we have a Pharisee who does not recognize his need and so Jesus can’t “heal” him.

It was customary in that day for outsiders to hover around during banquets so they could watch the “important people” and hear the conversation. Since everything was open, they could even enter the banquet hall and speak to a guest. This explains how this woman had access to Jesus. He was not behind locked doors. In that day women were not invited to banquets.

Jewish rabbis did not speak to women in public, nor did they eat with them in public. A woman of this type would not be welcomed in the house of Simon the Pharisee. Her sins are not named, but we get the impression she was a woman of the streets with a bad reputation.

The present passage contrasts the attitudes of the sinful (repentant) and the self-righteous. It needs to be studied carefully, for self-righteousness is a serious sin. It is both common and damning.

LUKE 7:36-38 — 36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

This is a passionate scene. She comes to Jesus with the obvious intent of anointing him with the ointment. She winds up paying respect in four different ways:
1. Her tears wash his feet. The verb “wet” is translated in other places, “rain.” Tears streamed down her face and fell profusely upon his feet. Enough tears, in fact, to wash them.
2. Wiped his feet with her hair. All vanity is gone (cf. 1 Cor 11:15). With the most humble act she ministers to the Lord.
3. Kissed his feet. This is a strengthened form of the verb “kiss.” In other words, she kissed his feet profusely.
4. Anointed his feet with ointment. Ointment was more expensive than oil. It has a heavy, rich smell like perfume. The word used here for “anoint” is not the normal religious act (“to pour”) but what we might translate as “rub” or “massage.”

Simon’s thoughts can be summarized in the following logical syllogism:

a. If Jesus were a prophet he would know what kind of woman she is.
b. If Jesus knew what kind of woman she was he would not let her touch him.
c. Jesus is letting her touch him.
d. THEREFORE: Jesus must not be a prophet.

If you wanted someone to instruct you in golf or tennis, wouldn’t you choose someone who is good at golf and tennis? The same goes for prayer. If you want a better prayer life, why not go to someone who excelled in the ministry of prayer? Why not go to Jesus?

No nation ever had a higher ideal of prayer than the Jews had; and no religion ever ranked prayer higher in the scale of priorities than the Jews did. “Great is prayer,” said the Rabbis, “greater than all good works.” One of the loveliest things that was ever said about family worship is the Rabbinic saying, “He who prays within his house surrounds it with a wall that is stronger than iron.” The only regret of the Rabbis was that it was not possible to pray all day long.

Some suggest these principles for our praying: Do not pray for easy lives, Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, Pray for powers equal to your task. Don’t ask God for what you think is good; ask him for what He thinks is good for you. Don’t bother to give God instructions; just report for duty. Each time you pray, fervently plea, “Lord, make me worthy to associate with thee.”

Simple instructions: Be yourself. Be natural before God. Do not pretend to emotions you do not feel. Tell him whatever is on your heart and mind with whatever words are most natural to you. You do not have to speak to him in “religious” language about “spiritual” matters only . . . Speak as naturally and as easily as you would to a friend, since God is just that. . . . This natural expression of yourself at the outset is the guarantee that you can go on to a creative, free, and mature relationship with God.

Certain faults had crept into the Jewish habits of prayer. It is to be noted that these faults are by no means peculiar to Jewish ideas of prayer; they can and do occur anywhere. And it is to be noted that they could only occur in a community where prayer was taken with the greatest seriousness. They are not the faults of neglect; they are the faults of misguided devotion.

Prayer tended to become formalized. There were two things the daily use of which was prescribed for every Jew.

The first was the Shema, which consists of three short passages of scripture—Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:13-21; Numbers 15:37-41. Shema is the imperative of the Hebrew word to hear, and the Shema takes its name from the verse which was the essence and center of the whole matter: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.”

The full Shema had to be recited by every Jew every morning and every evening. It had to be said as early as possible. It had to be said as soon as the light was strong enough to enable a man to distinguish between blue and white, or, as Rabbi Eliezer said, between blue and green. In any event it had to be said before the third hour, that is, 9 a.m., and in the evening it had to be said before 9 p.m. If the last possible moment for the saying of the Shema had come, no matter where a man found himself, at home, in the street, at work, in the synagogue, He must stop and say it.

There were many who loved the Shema, and who repeated it with reverence and adoration and love; but the Shema had every chance of becoming a vain repetition, which men mumbled through like some spell or incantation.

The second thing which every Jew must daily repeat was called the Shemoneh ‘esreh, which means The Eighteen. It consisted of eighteen prayers, and was, and still is, an essential part of the synagogue service. In time the prayers became nineteen, but the old name remains. Most of these prayers are quite short, and nearly all of them are very lovely.

The twelfth runs: “Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be showed upon the upright, the humble, the elders of they people Israel, and the rest of its teachers; be favorable to the pious strangers amongst us, and to us all. Give thou a good reward to those who sincerely trust in thy name, that our lot may be case among them in the world to come, that our hope be not deceived. Praised by thou, O Lord, who art the hope and confidence of the faithful.”

The fifth runs: “Bring us back to thy law, O our Father; bring us back, O king, to thy service; bring us back to thee by true repentance. Praised by thou, O Lord, who dost accept our repentance.

Further, the Jewish liturgy supplied stated prayers for all occasions. There was hardly an event or a sight in life which had not its stated formula of prayer. There was prayer before and after each meal; there were prayers in connection with the light, the fire, the lightning, on seeing the new moon, comets, rain, tempest, at the sight of the sea, lakes, rivers, on receiving good news, on using new furniture, on entering or leaving a city. Everything had its prayer. Clearly there is something infinitely lovely here. It was the intention that every happening if life should be brought into the presence of God.

But just because the prayers were so meticulously prescribed and stated, the whole system lent itself to formalism, and the danger was for the prayers to slip off the tongue with very little meaning. The great Rabbis knew that and tried to guard against it. “If a man,” they said, “says his prayers, as if to get through a set task, that is no prayer.” “Do not look on prayer as a formal duty, but as an act of humility by which to obtain the mercy of God.”

Still further, the devout Jew had set times for prayer. The hours were the third, the sixth and the ninth hours, that is, 9 a.m., 12 midday and 3 p.m. In whatever place a man found himself he was bound to pray. Clearly he might be genuinely remembering God, or he might be carrying out an habitual formality.

The final fault which Jesus found with certain Jews was that they prayed to be seen of men. The Jewish system of prayer made ostentation very easy. The Jew prayed standing, with hands stretched out, palms upwards, and with head bowed. Prayer had to be said at 9 a.m., 12 midday, and 3 p.m. It had to be said wherever a man might be, and it was easy for a man to make sure that at these hours he was at a busy street corner, or in a crowded city square, so that all the world might see with what devotion he prayed. It was easy for a man to halt on the top step of the entrance to the synagogue, and there pray lengthily and demonstratively, so that all men might admire his exceptional piety. It was easy to put on an act of prayer which all the world might see.

Jesus develops two basic kinds of prayer. The first is “showcase prayer” by which the person praying actually draws attention to himself. He wants to be known as spiritual and holy. His religion gives him status, and by public prayer, he maintains and feeds it.

The second kind of prayer is “relational prayer.” This is prayer that seeks time with the Father. Jesus, for teaching purposes, draws a distinct line between the two, but we must acknowledge that most people will fall somewhere between the two extremes. It is also important to understand that no one can read the mind and intentions of another heart. What might seem to be the height of arrogance may only reflect upbringing. Or gentle, quiet prayers may come from one who has no private prayer life at all. Jesus’ instructions are for us to know and personally apply His words and to let the Holy Spirit guide and train our hearts in these matters.

There are, however, some warning signs to which we might want to pay attention.

• Do I have an “I am speaking to God” voice? This may be a matter of upbringing. Nevertheless, none is needed, and such a change in voice can draw attention to the one praying—unless one is in an environment that expects it, in which case not changing the voice can draw attention.
• Elegant words and lots of them. This may be a matter of gifting and natural oratory, but again none are needed.
• Personal agenda. It’s hard to excuse this one. You pray according to what you want done and what others need to do to help it along.
• “Please God. Help Jane resist the temptation to keep seeing that guy.” Such public prayers are only fruitful if Jane is there and has asked for intercession on that subject. 
• Public prayer of any kind without a private prayer life. It is a given that if you are not speaking to the Father when you are alone, there is no good speaking to Him publicly.

The rewards of relational prayer is that it can:

• Direct the heart
• Receive answers and close or open doors
• Strengthen the character and spirit
• Increase faith and spiritual gifting
• Bring a deeper sense of the Father’s presence and care

He insists that all true prayer must be offered to God. Matthew 6:1-6 (ESV)
¹  “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
²  “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
³  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
⁴  so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
⁵  “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
⁶  But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Prayer time is not a time to try to impress people, but to communicate with God. If we talk to be heard by men, they will hear, but God will not.

He insists that we must always remember that the God to whom we pray is a God of love who is more ready to answer than we are to pray. His gifts and his grace have not to be unwillingly extracted from him. We do not come to a God who has to be coaxed, or pestered, or battered into answering our prayers. We come to one whose one wish is to give. When we remember that, it is surely sufficient to go to God with the sigh of desire in our hearts, and on our lips the words, “Thy will be done.”

Prayer is measured by sincerity not multiplication of words Matthew 6:7-8 (ESV)
⁷  “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
⁸  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

There was a way in which Jewish prayer used repetition. There was an attempt to pile up every possible title and adjective in the address of the prayer to God. One famous prayer begins: “Blessed, praised, and glorified, exalted, extolled and honored, magnified and lauded by the name of the Holy One.”

This is not a condemnation of persistence. Later in the sermon, Jesus will recommend persistence. It is condemning empty repetition. It is condemning the notion that the best prayers are the longest prayers.

Prayer should follow Jesus’ pattern, not our preferences Matthew 6:9-13 (ESV)
⁹  Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
¹⁰  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹  Give us this day our daily bread,
¹²  and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Person…Praise should always come first.

Priority…Provision…Pardon…Protection

Respect for God’s names. Commitment to God’s kingdom. Submission to God’s will.

We must note the order of the petitions in the Lord’s Prayer. The first three petitions have to do with God and with the glory of God; the second three petitions have to do with our needs and our necessities.

That is to say, God is first given his supreme place, and then, and only then, we turn to ourselves and our needs and desires. It is only when God is given his proper place that all other things fall into their proper places. Prayer must never be an attempt to bend the will of God to our desires; prayer ought always to be an attempt to submit our wills to the will of God.

The second part of the prayer, the part which deals with our needs and our necessities, is a marvelously wrought unity. It deals with the three essential needs of man, and the three spheres of time within which man moves.

• First, it asks for bread, for that which is necessary for the maintenance of life, and thereby brings the needs of the present to the throne of God.
• Second, it asks for forgiveness and thereby brings the past into the presence of God.
• Third, it asks for help in temptation and thereby commits all the future into the hands of God.
• In these three brief petitions, we are taught to lay the present, the past, and the future before the footstool of the grace of God.

It is also a prayer which brings the whole of God to our lives.

• When we ask for bread to sustain our earthly lives, that request immediately directs our thoughts to God the Father, the Creator and the Sustainer of all life.
• When we ask for forgiveness, that request immediately directs our thoughts to God the Son, Jesus Christ our Savior and Redeemer.
• When we ask for help for future temptation, that request immediately directs our thoughts to God the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Strengthener, the Illuminator, the Guide and the Guardian of our way.

Prayer should affect our behavior, not just our mood Matthew 6:14 (ESV)
¹⁴  For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,

Prayer may make us feel better. While that is welcome, it is not all there is to our prayer life.

Prayer will affect the way we relate to other people. If we have received forgiveness from God, it will be difficult not to extend it to others. Something is seriously wrong if we cannot do this.

He prayed for strength that he might achieve; He was made weak that he might obey.

He prayed for health that he might do greater things; He was given infirmity that he might do better things.

He prayed for riches that he might be happy; He was given poverty that he might be wise.

He prayed for power that he might have the praise of men; He was given weakness that he might feel the need of God.

He prayed for all things that he might enjoy life; He was given life that he might enjoy all thingsHe received nothing that he asked for—but all that he hoped for.

He who fails to pray does not cheat God. He cheats himself.

I cannot say our if religion has no room for others and their needs.

I cannot say Father if I do not demonstrate this relationship in my daily living.

I cannot say who art in heaven if all my interests and pursuits are on earthly things.

I cannot say hallowed be thy name if I, who am called by his name, am not holy.

I cannot say thy kingdom come if I am unwilling to give up my own sovereignty and accept the righteous reign of God.

I cannot say thy will be done if I am unwilling or resentful of having it in my life.

I cannot say in earth as it is in heaven unless I am truly ready to give myself to his service here and now.

I cannot say give us this day our daily bread without expending honest effort for it or by ignoring the genuine needs of my fellowmen.

I cannot say forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us if I continue to harbor a grudge against anyone.

I cannot say lead us not into temptation if I deliberately choose to remain in a situation where I am likely to be tempted.

I cannot say deliver us from evil if I am not prepared to fight in the spiritual realm with the weapon of prayer.

I cannot say thine is the kingdom if I do not give the King the disciplined obedience of a loyal subject.

I cannot say thine is the power if I fear what my neighbors may say or do.

I cannot say thine is the glory if I am seeking my own glory first.

I cannot say forever if I am too anxious about each day’s affairs.

I cannot say amen unless I honestly say, “Cost what it may, this is my prayer.”

I need to stop talking about prayer—and pray.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.” 

There are people who are always storm-centers of trouble and bitterness and strife. Wherever they are they are either involved in quarrels themselves or the cause of quarrels between others. They are trouble-makers. There are people like that in almost every society and every Church, and such people are doing the devil’s own work.

On the other hand—thank God—there are people in whose presence bitterness cannot live, people who bridge the gulfs, and heal the breaches, and sweeten the bitternesses. Such people are doing a godlike work, for it is the great purpose of God to bring peace between men and himself, and between man and man. The man who divides men is doing the devil’s work; the man who unites men is doing God’s work.

The “P” stands for Pursue—pursue resolutions.

That’s the first step in peacemaking. If you have a problem with somebody, you actively pursue resolutions. Look at these two passages from Matthew, you’ve seen them before, Matthew 5:23, the same Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said, “‘Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.'” Now notice, he says, you’re about to worship like we are today, but you think I may have done something, or maybe they misunderstood something. Anyway they may be mad at me. I don’t know, but if they are, I’m going to stop right now and going to go fix that and come back.

 Now look at Matthew 18:15, later in the same book, Jesus said, “‘If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens, you have won your brother over.'” Now I want you to look at those two verses together because here’s the key. Here’s what Jesus said. He said, it doesn’t matter if you’re the offender or the offended. You take the initiative. Do you see that? Matthew 5 says, “If you think you offended somebody, GO! Matthew 18:15 says, “If you’ve been offended, GO! Jesus won’t just put it on one side. He tells both parties, it’s your job to work toward each other. He won’t lay it on just one person, he said, you go do it, you take the initiative. And people, peacemaking always take the initiative. You’ve got to take the first move.

 You say, “Gary, why should I? He offended me. She hurt me. Why should I take the initiative?” Simple answer, Jesus did. He left heaven’s throne room and came down and put on the body of a peasant, and he lived 33 years and hung on a cross in the midst of all that ridicule. Why? So that he could make peace with us. I don’t care what somebody has done to you, Jesus lays upon your shoulders, as you and I seek to model his life, take the initiative, pursue resolution.

The “E” then stands for Empathize with others.

Empathize with their feelings, their needs, their perspective. Philippians 2:4 says, “Each one of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Now I’ve got a question for you. When you’re upset, who are you thinking about? That’s really pretty easy. When I’m upset, all I’m thinking about is me. When I’m upset, I’m thinking about my hurts, my needs, my feelings, I don’t care about you. Jesus said, “You reverse that.” When you’re in the middle of a conflict, look for the root, why is that other person hurting? Why is the other person upset? The answer is usually obvious, and frankly, the answer is usually understandable. And if I can ever get myself to empathize with others, resolution usually comes that quickly.

The “A” in peace stands for Attack the problem, not the person.

Attack the problem, not the person. You can’t focus on fixing the problem and fixing the blame at the same time, it just can’t be done. That’s why Solomon said in Proverbs 15:1, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but harsh words stirs up anger.” Solomon says if you’re going to settle this thing, don’t attack the person, you engage your mind before you engage your mouth. You don’t get your point across by being cross. You attack the problem, not the person.

 A similar verse in the New Testament in Ephesians 4:29, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” That’s the earmark of a peacemaker. They’ll deal with the problem, but not at the expense of the other person. They look to build that other person up while they’re solving whatever it is that’s causing a problem with the peace.

The “C” in peace stands for Cooperate.

Cooperate, as much as possible, cooperate. Romans 12:18 says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Paul says the hallmark of a Christian is the ability to get along with other people.

And then finally “E”, the last “e” in peace stands for Emphasize reconciliation.

Most of the time, we pursue, or we emphasize resolution over reconciliation. Now I realize just a moment ago, I told you pursue resolution, you just can’t leave a problem hanging out there. Well the point I’m making now is, sometimes you won’t come to an agreement on that issue. That’s just the nature of human beings. And unless it’s just a matter of life or death or the core of the central truth, you’ve got to understand that sometimes reconciliation is more important than resolution.

And I think for every one case where it’s life or death, there are 10,000 cases of conflict where the issue is superficial, it’s really minor in the grand scheme of things. And my point is, with those things, you can disagree, agreeably. You can even walk arm in arm without seeing eye to eye. The point is, you can have reconciliation without resolution to every problem.

Peacemakers and persecuted are God’s children—persecutors are the devil’s children Matthew 23:29-33

²⁹  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰  saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
³¹  Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³²  Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. ³³  You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?

 It was traditional for the Pharisees to build, improve, and embellish the tombs of the martyrs. But it was “their fathers” who killed the martyrs! Not their biological fathers, of course, but their “spiritual fathers”—the hypocrites of the past ages.

“Happiness Through Harassment”

“‘Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'” Wow! Jesus makes a statement there that is so shocking that he repeats it. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.'”

One of the outstanding qualities of Jesus was his sheer honesty. He never left men in any doubt what would happen to them if they chose to follow him. he was clear that he had come “not to make life easy, but to make men great.”

It is hard for us to realize what the first Christians had to suffer. Every department of their life was disrupted.

 Christianity often came to send, not peace, but a sword which divided families in two. It was literally true that a man might have to love Christ more than he loved father or mother, wife, or brother or sister. Christianity often involved in those days a choice between a man’s nearest and dearest and Jesus Christ.

 Still further, the penalties which a Christian had to suffer were terrible beyond description. All the world knows of the Christians who were flung to the lions or burned at the stake; but these were kindly deaths. Nero wrapped the Christians in pitch and set them alight, and used them as living torches to light his gardens. He sewed them in the skins of wild animals and set his hunting dogs upon them to tear them to death. They were tortured on the rack; they were scraped with pincers; molten lead was poured hissing upon them; red hot brass plates were affixed to the tenderest parts of their bodies; eyes were torn out; parts of their bodies were cut off and roasted before their eyes; their hands and feet were burned while cold water was poured over them to lengthen the agony. These things are not pleasant to think about, but these are the things a man had to be prepared for, if he took his stand with Christ.

 We may well ask why the Romans persecuted the Christians. It seems an extraordinary thing that anyone living a Christian life should seem a fit victim for persecution and death. There were two reasons.

 When a man has to suffer something for his faith, that is the way to the closest possible companionship with Christ.

 There remains only one question to ask—why is this persecution so inevitable? It is inevitable because the Church, when it really is the Church, is bound to be the conscience of the nation and the conscience of society. Where there is good the Church must praise; where there is evil the Church must condemn—and inevitably men will try to silence the troublesome voice of conscience. It is not the duty of the individual Christian habitually to find fault, to criticize, to condemn, but it may well be that his every action is a silent condemnation of the unchristian lives of others, and he will not escape their hatred.

 It is not likely that death awaits us because of our loyalty to the Christian faith. But insult awaits the man who insists on Christian honor. Mockery awaits the man who practices Christian love and Christian forgiveness. Actual persecution may well await the Christian in industry who insists on doing an honest days’ work. Christ still needs his witnesses; he needs those who are prepared, not so much to die for him, as to live for him. The Christian struggle and the Christian glory still exist.

Look at verse 10 in Matthew 5. “‘Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'” Wow! Jesus makes a statement there that is so shocking that he repeats it. Look at verse 11, “‘Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.'”

I find this last beatitude tremendously interesting for a number of reasons. Number one, Jesus gives more space to it than any other. Number two, this is the only one that he personalizes. He doesn’t make this generic, “‘Blessed are they,'” “‘Blessed is he.'” Look what he says, “‘Blessed are you when men persecute you,'” “‘Blessed are you when men insult you.'” And this one is fascinating because in the other seven, Jesus addresses the character of the Christian, but in this one he addresses the character of the world and how it will treat the Christian life that is characterized by the seven beatitudes we’ve studied up until this point.

What Jesus basically says is, happy and healthy are those who can handle rejection. Happy and healthy are those who can withstand any attacks on their faith. Now in a few moments, we’re going to look at how you respond to persecution, how you respond to harassment in our world. But first let’s consider the reality of persecution.

Notice Jesus said, “Blessed are you when men insult you and when they persecute you. He doesn’t say, if, he says, when. It’s a given. It’s a reality. Folks, as this world gets more and more secular, it is becoming more and more hostile to Christianity. Would you agree with that? Yes, I see it, we all see it. But you say, “Gary, we’re not being persecuted, I mean not like Paul and Peter and James, not like those folks in Hebrews 11.” When you get to the end of Hebrews 11, it said some of them were beaten, some were stoned, some were even sawed into. That’s not happening to us. You’re right, even in the secular nature of our current culture, we are not, in this country, suffering overt persecution. What you may not know is that hundreds of people worldwide are dying for the cause of Christ, especially in radical Muslim countries. But worldwide, people are dying for the name of Christ.

But this beatitude is not just about physical martyrdom. Look at verse 11 again, read it carefully, “‘Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.'” Do you see there, Jesus specifies three things that the world loves to do to Christians in any generation.

The first one is they just love to insult us. People try to dishonor, to discredit you, you know say derogatory things about you. Second, they like to persecute us. Now that means mistreatment. And that mistreatment may be physical, it may be psychological, it may be emotional, it may be social isolation. And then the third thing, if the insulting doesn’t work, and the mistreatment doesn’t work, then the last option is, they’ll tell lies. They’ll just make up stuff about us. You know the world loves to find fault with Christians. Let me ask you a question, if a preacher in this town were to run off with some woman in parts unknown, or an elder were to embezzle $10,000 out of the church treasury; do you think that would make the paper if reporters find out about it? You could bet your life it would make the papers. If a bartender down the street did either of those two things, would it be in the paper? No.

The world loves to find fault with Christians. And if you walk with integrity, and if you walk blamelessly, they’ll just make stuff up. That’s what they did with Jesus. Do you realize they called Jesus a glutton and a drunk? Remember? They called him an illegitimate son. The rumor on the street was he was an illegitimate son of a Roman soldier. LIES! But they made those things up to persecute Him.

There are some people in this world who set themselves up for emotional martyrdom by being irritating, stubborn, loud, nosy, no wonder they’re put down. They’re just obnoxious. Jesus did not say, “Happy are those who are persecuted for being a jerk.” That’s not the beatitudes. Neither did he make the promise to those who are harassed for self-righteousness. Now let’s face it. I think over life, all of us have run into the guy or to the gal who come off as some kind of Holy Joe, and very smug, and when they talk to you, they give you that condescending look and they’re offensive in sharing their faith. I mean they’re first words are turn or burn, you know. And they look at it like, I’ve got all the answers about the Bible, and you’re an idiot. You don’t know anything. God DOES NOT commend that kind of faith. People like that will go out into the world and they’ll come back spurned and they’ll say something like, “Oh, I’m being persecuted for my faith.” No, you’re being persecuted for being a Pharisee. And even Jesus persecuted Pharisees. Self-righteousness is not commended here. No, that’s not what Jesus is talking about.

In this last beatitude, our Lord is talking about the right reason for being harassed….it’s for being like Him. He said, “Blessed are you if you’re persecuted because of following me.” Look at John 15:20, our Lord said, “‘No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.'” There is a right reason for being harassed, and the bottom line is for being like Jesus.

I’m sure you’ve noticed as I have that our world tends to be merciless on Christians, particularly the media. Constantly putting down, attacking, making fun of, when is the last time you’ve seen a Christian portrayed positively in a television drama, or a television sitcom? Frankly, if they had their way, it’s almost like Christianity does not exist. Everybody spends all their time in a bar or some other place. But remember, the world crucified Jesus, and it would still do it to Him today.

Our sin-conquered world is uncomfortable around goodness. And if you and I are really going to be the light of the world, you will, and I mean now without any self-righteousness, without any obnoxiousness, if you’re the light of the world, you will reveal darkness in other people’s lives. And when bright light pierces darkness, in that darkness there is a natural re-coil. That’s just the way it is.

I hope by now you have discovered this basic law of life, surely you have. The more positive you are, the more negative people will hate you. Have you learned that? The more positive you are, the more negative people will hate you.

2 Timothy 3:12, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” circle the word “will”. See it, if you’re a team and you want to be persecuted, just humbly say if there are a group of kids at school and all of a sudden one of them starts talking about sex and starts bragging about some things he or she may or may not have done, just humbly say, “I’m a Christian, and and I’ll tell you I’m just committed to being a virgin until I’m married.” You just say that and see what happens. Or in business, if there is a group around the coffee pot talking about what they are going to go out and do that night and they want you to come along. And you’re not smart-alecky about it, you say, “No, you guys know about my faith, and I just don’t think that would please the Lord.” What kind of snide remarks do you think are going to come as you walk away?

Number one is this, remember the source.

Remember the source of the persecution. Look at Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world…” Folks, the enemy is who? The enemy is the devil, right? Now when somebody comes up and persecutes me at school or at work or on the street or in daily life, when they persecute me, they’re not the enemy, they’re just a pawn. They’re just people like you and me, the difference is, they have been deceived by Satan. And they’re just tools in the hands of the devil, he’s the enemy.

Let me ask you a question here, those of you who are parents out there. If I wanted to hurt you, how could I most hurt you? That’s a terrible question, but just imagine that. I know I could do some things directly to you, but if I were as low and conniving and despicable as a human being could be, the way that I could hurt you the most is to hurt your kids, isn’t that right? I’ve had people try to persecute me and most of the time it’s no big deal. But if they get on the kids, and all of a sudden we turn into wolverines, don’t we? Listen, the devil cannot get at God, so he does what in his mind is the next best thing, he attacks His (God’s) children. Revelation 12:10 says, “Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He is the enemy.” Remember that when you are persecuted.

The second thing you do is refuse to retaliate.

Remember, the person doing the persecuting, they’re just a tool of Satan. I don’t need to retaliate, it would just intensify it. Look at Romans 12, two verses there, beginning at verse 19, Paul says, “Do not take revenge my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘it is mine to avenge; I will repay says the Lord.'” And then drop down two verses later to verse 21, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Jesus said in Matthew 5, you turn the other cheek when you are insulted. You don’t retaliate. Now the natural state is to do what? “Hey, I’m going to get even. I’m going to get that guy back.” God says, “Wrong!” God says you never get ahead by trying to get even. You never get ahead by trying to get even. And besides, if you try to retaliate, if you try to get revenge, all you do is end up playing into the persecutor’s hands.

Look at Matthew 5:44. Here’s what Jesus said, “‘But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.'” Have you got somebody giving you a hard time, harassing you, you don’t yell back at them, you don’t slap them, you don’t manipulate them, you just go home and pray for them. Now is that easy? No. Is that unusual? Yes. Is that what Jesus said do? Yes. Hear me, if you do it, you’ll find happiness. If you try to get even, you let them control you by their persecution, you will get more and more and more miserable. But if you can pray for them, you’ll start loving them. And there is not a thing that they can do to you to keep you in misery.

And now the third principle, and this is the one people really stumble over, they don’t understand—Rejoice over it. Rejoice over it.

Remember who the real enemy is, refuse to retaliate, and now rejoice over it. Say what? Rejoice over the persecution? You say, Gary, isn’t that being a masochist? You know saying, “Hurt me, hurt me, come on please, hurt me.” No, Jesus is not saying, rejoice in the pain, but he says, when people put you down for your faith, not for being obnoxious or haughty, but if people put you down for being like Jesus, don’t complain, celebrate.

Number one, I can rejoice over persecution because when I’m harassed for my faith, it means the Spirit of Christ can be seen in my life.

When I’m harassed for my faith, IT MEANS THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST CAN BE SEEN IN MY LIFE. If it couldn’t be, nobody would be hassling us. Look at I Peter 4:14, “If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”

Do you see what Peter said? He said when people put you down for being a Christian, it just means they see Jesus in you. It means that God’s Spirit is bearing its fruit in your life. It means the light of Christ is shining brightly enough in you that people are noticing. It means that you’re not a Lady Clairol Christian. Do you know what a Lady Clairol Christian is? You know, “Only God knows for sure.”

That’s funny, but I want to tell you the truth, we need more persecuted Christians. That’s a bold statement, but we need a lot more persecuted Christians. And we need fewer secret agent Christians and believers. We need audio/visual Christians that you can see and you can hear. We need show and tell Christians. They show it in the way they live and they tell it in their talk. And it takes both. If you don’t show it, you’re a hypocrite. If you don’t tell it, you’re not an ambassador.

One of the cop-outs I hear all the time is, “Well, my life is my witness to other people.” Have you ever thought about how arrogant a statement that is? I never say a word about Jesus, but my life is a testimony to people about Christ. You know that is saying that you’re so good that people just come in your presence and bow down and say, “I repent. I repent because here is somebody so Christ-like.” Has anybody ever done that in your life? Maybe your life is not quite the witness you think it is. Maybe we need to show and to tell. Even Jesus had to tell them, didn’t he? Even Jesus had to tell them! Speak a good word for Jesus. If I am persecuted and harassed, it shows that I’m walking the talk, and the Spirit of God is on me.

The second reason I can rejoice when I’m persecuted is I’m in good company.

Look at Matthew 5:12, our original beatitude paragraph. Jesus said, “‘Rejoice and be glad, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.'” Hebrews 11 is that great chapter of faith, the stories of the heroes and the heroines who went on before us. And you know one of the things that I read about Able, Noah, and Moses, and David, and Joshua, and all those listed, there was not a one of them who did not suffer for their faith. And the verse that follows that chapter, Hebrews 12:1, Paul says, “Since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders…and run the race with perseverance…”

I don’t know how you like to picture that, but everytime I see one of those big white cumulus clouds, I like to pretend that’s my cloud of witnesses. I like to pretend that Moses and Abraham and Joseph are sitting on top of that cloud, and they’re looking down at me, and they’re cheering me on. They’re saying, “Come on, Gary, come on buddy, you can make it through life. You can be faithful, we did.”

Listen to Acts 5:41, it says, “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” If I am persecuted, it’s a badge of honor. Again, not for self-righteousness, not for obnoxiousness, counted WORTHY to follow the footsteps of my Lord. He suffered for me.

And the third reason I have for rejoicing even in persecution is: It’s only temporary.

It’s only temporary. In II Corinthians 4:17, Paul said, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” Would you agree with me when I say that nobody I ever knew anything about was persecuted like Paul. The man was beaten and beaten, he was stoned two different times. He was imprisoned we know of four times, he was shipwrecked, he was maligned, he was finally beheaded. But he rejoiced through all that because he kept an eternal perspective. In fact, he was the one who wrote these words, he said, “Our light and momentary troubles…” Think about that. This guy has been beaten, stoned, imprisoned, and shipwrecked, he says, “…light and momentary…” If his were light and momentary, what are ours, ridiculous and ludicrous? I mean what would we call ours?

I love the story of the fellow who was asked what his favorite verse in the Bible was, and he looked back and he said, “And it came to pass…” Somebody says, “What do you mean? Why is that your favorite verse?” He said, “Because anytime I get harassed, anytime I have a difficult time, I know it didn’t come to stay, it came to pass.” And it does, it always passes. Rejoice, not over the hurt, not over the embarrassment, but because it confirms your moving toward your goal of being like Jesus.

Remember my reward. Our beatitude Matthew 5:12 says, “‘Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven.'” I circled the word, “great”, not little, not average, but great is your reward in heaven. Did you know that Scripture teaches that there are degrees of reward in heaven? It does, you really can’t deny it, all the way through. You say, “Gary, do you understand all that?” No, I really don’t. I’ll have to get there before I really understand it. But we’re told right here that there are special honors, special glory for those who experience persecution. Great is your reward if you are persecuted for my sake.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (5:8)

Americans are increasingly concerned about purity. We want to breathe pure air, we want to drink pure water, we want to eat pure food. I was amazed that last year in America, we spent over half-a-billion dollars on water purifiers alone. But there is one major area of life where we desperately need purity that most of us Americans have overlooked.

Here is one of those passages of Scripture whose depths are immeasurable and whose breadth is impossible to encompass. This incredible statement of Jesus is among the greatest utterances in all of the Bible. The subject of holiness, of purity of heart, can be traced from Genesis to Revelation. The theme is infinitely vast and touches on virtually every other biblical truth. It is impossible to exhaust its meaning or significance, and the discussion in this chapter is nothing more than introductory.

Pure in heart—defiled in heart (vv. 25-28).

(Matthew 23:25-28) “”Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. {26} Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. {27} “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. {28} In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

 Jesus used two illustrations: the cup and platter, and the sepulcher. They both stated the same truth: it is possible to be clean on the outside and at the same time defiled on the inside. Imagine using dishes that were defiled! Whatever you put into the dish or cup would also become defiled. The Pharisees were careful to keep the outside very clean, because that was the part that men would see; and they wanted the praise of men. But God sees the heart (1 Sam. 16:7). When God looked within, He saw “greed and self-indulgence” (Matt. 23:25, niv).

 Jewish people were careful not to touch dead bodies or anything relating to the dead, because this would make them ceremonially unclean (Num. 19:11ff). They would whitewash the tombs lest someone accidentally get defiled, and this was done especially at Passover season. What a graphic picture of the hypocrite: white on the outside, but filled with defilement and death on the inside!

 Throughout Scripture, as well as in many languages and cultures throughout the world, the heart is used metaphorically to represent the inner person, the seat of motives and attitudes, the center of personality. But in Scripture it represents much more than emotion, feelings. It also includes the thinking process and particularly the will.

In Proverbs we are told, “As [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7, KJV). Jesus asked a group of scribes, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?” (Matt. 9:4; cf. Mark 2:8; 7:21). The heart is the control center of mind and will as well as emotion.

Pure is a form of the word from which we get catharsis. The basic meaning is to make pure by cleansing from dirt, filth, and contamination. Catharsis is a term used in psychology and counseling for a cleansing of the mind or emotions. The Greek word is related to the Latin from which we get chaste. The related word chasten refers to discipline given in order to cleanse from wrong behavior.

 This beatitude demands from us the most exacting self-examination. Is our work done from motives of service or from motives of pay? Is our service given from selfless motives or from motives of self-display? Is the work we do in Church done for Christ or for our own prestige? Is our Church-going an attempt to meet God or a fulfilling of an habitual and conventional respectability? Are even our prayer and our Bible reading engaged upon with the sincere desire to company with God or because it gives us a pleasant feeling of superiority to do these things?

Is our religion a thing in which we are conscious of nothing so much as the need of God within our hearts, or a thing in which we have comfortable thoughts of our own piety? To examine one’s own motives is a daunting and a shaming thing, for there are few things in this world that even the best of us do with completely unmixed motives.

 Jesus went on to say that only the pure in heart will see God. It is one of the simple facts of life that we see only what we are able to see; and that is true not only in the physical sense; it is also true in every other possible sense.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. (5:7) 

The first four beatitudes deal entirely with inner principles, principles of the heart and mind. They are concerned with the way we see ourselves before God. The last four are outward manifestations of those attitudes.

• Those who in poverty of spirit recognize their need of mercy are led to show mercy to others (v. 7).
• Those who mourn over their sin are led to purity of heart (v. 8).
• Those who are meek always seek to make peace (v. 9).
• And those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are never unwilling to pay the price of being persecuted for righteousness’ sake (v. 10). 

The concept of mercy is seen throughout Scripture, from the Garden of Eden to the consummation of history at the return of Christ. Mercy is a desperately needed gift of God’s providential and redemptive work on behalf of sinners—and the Lord requires His people to follow His example by extending mercy to others. To discover its essence we will look at three basic aspects of mercy: its meaning, its source, and its practice. 

(Matthew 9:13)  “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”” 

 (Matthew 12:7)  “If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.” 

 (Matthew 23:23-24)  “”Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices–mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law–justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. {24} You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” 

 The Pharisees majored on minors. They had rules for every minute area of life, while at the same time they forgot about the important things. It is usually the case that legalists are sticklers for details, but blind to great principles.  

 Justice, mercy, and faithfulness are the important qualities God is seeking. Obeying the rules is no substitute. While it is good to pay attention to details, we must never lose our sense of priorities in spiritual matters. Jesus did not condemn the practice of tithing. But He did condemn those who allowed their legalistic scruples to keep them from developing true Christian character. 

For the most part, the days in which Jesus lived and taught were not characterized by mercy. The Jewish religionists themselves were not inclined to show mercy, because mercy is not characteristic of those who are proud, self-righteous, and judgmental. To many of Jesus’ hearers, showing mercy was considered one of the least of virtues, if it was thought to be a virtue at all. It was in the same category as love—reserved for those who had shown the virtue to you. You loved those who loved you, and you showed mercy to those who showed mercy to you.  

Yet many people have interpreted this beatitude in another way that is just as selfish and humanistic: they maintain that our being merciful causes those around us, especially those to whom we show mercy, to be merciful to us. Mercy given will mean mercy received. For such people, mercy is shown to others purely in an effort toward self-seeking.  

The best illustration of that fact is the Lord Himself. Jesus Christ was the most merciful human being who ever lived. He reached out to heal the sick, restore the crippled, give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and even life to the dead. He found prostitutes, tax collectors, the debauched and the drunken, and drew them into His circle of love and forgiveness.

When the scribes and Pharisees brought the adulteress to Him to see if He would agree to her stoning, He confronted them with their merciless hypocrisy: “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” When no one stepped forward to condemn her, Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more” (John 8:7-11). Jesus wept with the sorrowing and gave companionship to the lonely. He took little children into His arms and blessed them. He was merciful to everyone. He was mercy incarnate, just as He was love incarnate.  

 Yet what was the response to Jesus’ mercy? He shamed the woman’s accusers into inaction, but they did not become merciful. By the time the accounts of John 8 ended, Jesus’ opponents “picked up stones to throw at Him” (v. 59). When the scribes and Pharisees saw Jesus “eating with the sinners and tax-gatherers,” they asked His disciples why their Master associated with such unworthy people (Mark 2:16).  

 The more Jesus showed mercy, the more He showed up the lack of mercy of the Jewish religious leaders. The more He showed mercy, the more they were determined to put Him out of the way. The ultimate outcome of His mercy was the cross. In Jesus’ crucifixion, two merciless systems—merciless government and merciless religion—united to kill Him. 

 Jesus says in effect, “The people in My kingdom are not takers but givers, not pretending helpers but practical helpers. They are not condemners but mercy givers.” The selfish, self-satisfied, and self-righteous do not bother to help anyone—unless they think something is in it for them. Sometimes they even justify their lack of love and mercy under the guise of religious duty.  

 Mercy is meeting people’s needs. It is not simply feeling compassion but showing compassion, not only sympathizing but giving a helping hand. Mercy is giving food to the hungry, comfort to the bereaved, love to the rejected, forgiveness to the offender, companionship to the lonely. It is therefore one of the loveliest and noblest of all virtues.  

Mercy is also to be shown in our attitudes. Mercy does not hold a grudge, harbor resentment, capitalize on another’s failure or weakness, or publicize another’s sin.  

To illustrate the working of God’s mercy Jesus told the parable of a slave who had been graciously forgiven a great debt by the king. The man then went to a fellow slave who owed him a pittance by comparison and demanded that every cent be repaid and had him thrown into prison. When the king heard of the incident, he called the first man to him and said, ‘“You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you entreated me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?’ And his lord, moved with  anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart” (Matt. 18:23-35).  

 In that parable Jesus gives a picture of God’s saving mercy in relation to forgiving others (vv. 21-22). The first man pleaded with God for mercy and received it. The fact that he, in turn, was unmerciful was so inconsistent with his own salvation that he was chastened until he repented. The Lord will chasten, if need be, to produce repentance in a stubborn child.

Mercy to others is a mark of salvation. When we do not show it, we may be disciplined until we do. When we hold back mercy, God restricts His flow of mercy to us, and we forfeit blessing. The presence of chastening and the absence of blessing attend an unmerciful believer.  

Matthew 5:6: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 

 Very few of us in modern conditions of life know what it is to be really hungry or really thirsty. In the ancient world it was very different. A working man’s wage was the equivalent of three pence a day, and, even making every allowance for the difference in the purchasing power of money, no man ever got fat on that wage. A working man in Palestine ate meat only once a week, and in Palestine the working man and the day laborer were never far from the border-line of real hunger and actual starvation.

It was still more so in the case of thirst. It was not possible for the vast majority of people to turn a tap and find the clear, cold water pouring into their house. A man might be on a journey, and in the midst of it the hot wind which brought the sand-storm might begin to blow. There was nothing for him to do but to wrap his head in his burnoose and turn his back to the wind, and wait, while the swirling sand filled his nostrils and his throat until he was likely to suffocate, and until he was parched with an imperious thirst. In the conditions of modern western life there is no parallel at all to that.

This beatitude is in reality a question and a challenge. In effect it demands, “How much do you want goodness? Do you want it as much as a starving man wants food, and as much as a man dying of thirst wants water? “How intense is our desire for goodness?

Most people have an instinctive desire for goodness, but that desire is wistful and nebulous rather than sharp and intense; and when the moment of decision comes they are not prepared to make the effort and the sacrifice which real goodness demands.

At the back of it there is the meaning that the man who is blessed is not necessarily the man who achieves this goodness, but the man who longs for it with his whole heart. If blessedness came only to him who achieved then none would be blessed. But blessedness comes to the man who, in spite of failures and failings, still clutches to him the passionate love of the highest.

This beatitude speaks of strong desire, of driving pursuit, of a passionate force inside the soul. It has to do with ambition—ambition of the right sort—whose object is to honor, obey, and glorify God by partaking of His righteousness. This holy ambition is in great contrast to the common ambitions of men to gratify their own lusts, accomplish their own goals, and satisfy their own egos.

A starving person has a single, all-consuming passion for food and water. Nothing else has the slightest attraction or appeal; nothing else can even get his attention.

The heart of every person in the world was created with a sense of inner emptiness and need. Yet apart from God’s revelation men do not recognize what the need is or know what will satisfy it.

Jesus declares that the deepest desire of every person ought to be to hunger and thirst for righteousness. That is the Spirit-prompted desire that will lead a person to salvation and keep him strong and faithful once he is in the kingdom. It is also the only ambition that, when fulfilled, brings enduring happiness.

 People are warned not to “love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

Jesus’ call to spiritual hunger and thirst also follows logically in the progression of the Beatitudes. The first three are essentially negative, commands to forsake evil things that are barriers to the kingdom. In poverty of spirit we turn away from self-seeking; in mourning we turn away from self-satisfaction; and in meekness we turn away from self-serving.

The first three beatitudes are also costly and painful. Becoming poor in spirit involves death to self. Mourning over sin involves facing up to our sinfulness. Becoming meek involves surrendering our power to God’s control.

The fourth beatitude is more positive and is a consequence of the other three. When we put aside self, sins, and power and turn to the Lord, we are given a great desire for righteousness. The more we put aside what we have, the more we long for what God has.

Young man walking with older man…younger man did not understand the meaning of the lesson. (Describe what he did to teach the lesson).

Hungering for holiness—greedy for gain Matthew 23:16-22 (ESV) ¹⁶  “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁷  You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? ¹⁸  And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁹  You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰  So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹  And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. ²²  And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

“Blind guides” is a perfect description…Jesus had used it before (Matt. 15:14). The Pharisees were blind to the true values of life. Their priorities were confused. They would take an oath and use some sacred object to substantiate that oath—the gold in the temple, for example, or the gift on the altar. But they would not swear by the temple itself or the altar. It was the temple that sanctified the gold and the altar that sanctified the gift. They were leaving God out of their priorities.

Jesus knew that the Pharisees wanted both the gold and the gifts on the altar. These men were not seeking for the righteousness of God; they were greedy for gain. They worked out a “religious system” that permitted them to rob God and others and still maintain their reputations.