I said last week that in this post we’d consider Jesus’ words about salt and light. However, I wanted to take one more week to explain exactly what I mean by “counter-cultural” and why it’s an essential concept for you to understand if you’re a Christian. What does counter-cultural mean? If you live in the …
Continue reading “Being counter-cultural…what does that mean?”
(Unfortunately I can only do a short post today as I have two Bible classes to present at church this week….) The teachings Jesus gave in Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7 are traditionally known as the Sermon on the Mount or sometimes the Sermon on the Plain. I have also seen them described as …
Last week we saw how Jesus warned that those who chose to be his followers would be persecuted. Not only that, but this would happen to them specifically for trying to live their lives the way he taught. I suggested that this would happen because, despite the fact that Jesus’ teachings lead his followers to …
Continue reading “Blessed are those who are persecuted – now it’s personal.”
….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. We come now to the eighth (and some might argue …
What does it mean to be a peacemaker in your everyday life as a Christian? What characteristics might you need to develop as an individual? What actions should you take or avoid? Here’s how God made peace between himself and us, as described by Paul:For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in …
Continue reading “Blessed are the peacemakers – now it’s personal”
Now we come to the seventh of Jesus’ statements of good news. As always we begin with the two most obvious questions: who are the “peacemakers” and what does it mean that they will be called “children of God”? Peace in the New Testament Throughout the New Testament it’s clear that peace is something which …
Continue reading “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
Last time we saw that to be “pure in heart” does not mean to be morally perfect or sinless. If it did, would you qualify? I certainly wouldn’t. Rather, Jesus was speaking about people who were willing to humble themselves and come to God in order to be purified. Does that describe you? Maybe you’re …
Continue reading “Blessed are the pure in heart – now it’s personal.”
The sixth of Jesus’ “This is good news for…” statements is perhaps difficult to understand at first glance, for a couple of reasons. Two problems Firstly, “pure” is a challenging word. Can any of us really claim to be pure? Does that mean our hearts are to be free of any sin or anything else …
Continue reading “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
Last week we considered what Jesus meant by the word “merciful”: both a willingness to forgive wrongs done to us and to show kindness to those in need. We also concluded that Jesus was not referring to people who forgive or show kindness on a handful of one-off occasions, but rather to people whose attitude …
Continue reading “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy – now it’s personal.”
Let’s move on to the fifth pronouncement of good news which Jesus made to his early followers. We see a shift in focus from the first four of Jesus’ statements in this passage. Leon Morris in the Pillar NT Commentary explains it thus: The first four beatitudes express in one way or another our dependence …
Continue reading “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
Nihilist to Christian