The Heart of the Disciple

You Are God's Influencers

Introduction:

Influencer = Social media professional who has built a sizable following around a relevant topic, and can therefore influence their followers to take an action, thanks to their credibility and authority.

As Salt and Light, I Am God's Influencer (Matthew 5:13-16)

  1. My Influence is Expected.
  2. My Influence Comes from Me Being Different.
  3. My Influence Is for God's Glory.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

  • Open up your Bibles with me, please, to the book of Matthew in chapter 5.

    Today we are going to talk about influencers.

    Now the young people here already know something about this, but those of us who

    are older, this is, I'm in that category too, this might be a new

    concept to some of this. But what is an influencer? We have a definition here, can

    we get the definition up on the screen? This is what an influencer is, okay?

    It's a social media professional who has built a sizable following around a

    relevant topic and can therefore influence their followers to take an

    action thanks to their credibility and authority. That's what a social media

    influencer or an influencer, that's what that is. And those relevant topics,

    that's a lot of different things, right? It's food, health, fashion, pop culture,

    travel, gaming, beauty, you name it, there's somebody out there that is an

    influencer. They are internet celebrities. And by that, some of them were already

    celebrities and they got online. And some of them are people who became

    celebrities because of their online presence. There's lists of the top ones.

    I was looking up all these lists and you can do this sometime, not now, but I was

    looking up lists of who were the biggest influencers of our day. And for

    sake of time today, I'm just going to share top five. Here's the top five,

    according to this one list for whatever that's worth. The number one biggest

    influencer, Cristiano Ronaldo. I don't even know who she is. Is anybody a soccer

    player? Not football. That is a different sport. We call it soccer like good

    Americans. Okay, so apparently Cristiano Ronaldo is a soccer player and on this

    list, the biggest influencer in the world currently. Number two, I think I heard of

    her. It's Selena Gomez. Isn't she like an, is she an actor or something? Okay,

    actor, singer. Okay, all right. Number three is Mr. Beast. Probably not his real

    name. Number four is Lionel Messi. Messi, another soccer player.

    What? I played soccer in high school and college and it was not popular back then.

    Now two of the top five so far. Oh, number five. I know number five. Number five is

    the Biebs as his followers like to call him. Justin Bieber. That's number five.

    Did you know God has a face for his brand? God has a spokesman. God has someone

    to endorse his relevant topic. Do you know who that is? It's you. It's you.

    Think it by your heads with me and I want you to pray for me. Once we turn to God's

    word that I'll be faithful to communicate it and I will pray for you to

    have a heart open to receive what God has for us today. Let's pray.

    Father, your word tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing through the

    Word of Christ. The only transformation that can happen is supernatural

    transformation. It has to come from you. And I pray, Father, that as we encounter

    your word, as we encounter you, we are profoundly changed. We pray these things

    in Jesus' name. And all of God's people said, "Amen." We just finished what was

    like an eight-week series on the Beatitudes. And the Beatitudes describe

    what a follower of Jesus is like. Verses 13 through 16 describe the function of

    the believer in the world. You are God's influencer. You are. When you live as

    described in the Beatitudes, you influence the world. Like, well, how does that

    happen? Well, let's see what our Lord says. Matthew 5 verse 13. He says, "You are the

    salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be

    restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and

    trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world." A city said on a

    hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. But

    on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house, in the same way, let your

    light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory

    to your Father who is in heaven. Jesus here is saying, okay, here's the short

    version. The world is decaying and it's dark. Have you noticed? What it needs is

    salt and light. Let's talk about salt and light for a second, shall we? When it

    comes to salt, look, in our day, we kind of take salt for granted. It's everywhere.

    It's on every table, it's in your cabinet. It's everywhere, and it's cheap. But the

    people that lived in Jesus' day would have had a different view of salt. To the

    Greeks, they considered salt divine. The Romans said that there is nothing more

    valuable than two things, sun and salt. In fact, Roman soldiers were actually paid

    in salt. Do you ever hear that expression? He's not worth a salt? Ask where that comes

    from. True story. It was so important in so many ways. People would use salt in

    making covenants. Salt was used in Old Testament sacrifices. Salt was used for

    flavor, obviously. Salt is an antiseptic. Like, well, how did Jesus mean it?

    I believe the main primary focus of Jesus' teaching here is salt as a

    preservative. Salt prevents corruption. You see, in Jesus' day, they didn't have

    refrigerators. They didn't have a deep-freeze chest in the garage like we do.

    So in order to preserve meat, you would literally have to rub salt into the meat

    to keep it from spoiling. And in the same way, Jesus' followers are the salt in the

    meat of the world. We are what's preventing the world from totally rotting right now.

    But the Bible says, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, the book of Revelation, when

    the church is removed from the world in the rapture, the world is going to go to

    hell. It's going to get horrific because the salt's been removed. It's gonna rot.

    So the implication here of salt is that the world is polluted and corrupt and it

    has this tendency to rot like meat. And what it needs is your influence. It needs salt.

    Let's talk about light for a second. Also, much more valuable in Jesus' day

    because, again, we kind of take it for granted, don't we? We're so used to having

    electricity and flicking the lights on. But don't we just lose our minds when a

    storm takes the power out and there's no light? I know our house does, but they

    didn't have that electricity. So light would have been a much more valuable

    thing to them. But you know, Jesus said, "I am the light of the world," back in John

    chapter 8 and verse 12, "and here Jesus says you are the light of the world." So

    which is it? And the answer is both. It's both. It's His light through us. Just as

    the moon doesn't produce its own light but reflects the light of the sun, that's

    how it is for followers of Christ. We are to reflect the light of Jesus Christ in

    our lives. Now when the Bible talks about light, it's talking about revealing

    God's truth. This is what the Bible refers to when it's talking about light,

    right? Psalm 119, 105, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." So

    light has to do with the revelation of God's Word. It is the light that tells us

    the cause of the darkness. It is the light that shows us that our problem is

    we're separated from God. But it's also the light that shows us the way out of

    darkness. It's the light of God's Word that says there is a way to get back to

    God, and that is through Jesus Christ, who died for your sins, who rose from the

    dead to give you eternal life. It's through faith in Him. That's how you get back to

    God, and that is only revealed in the light of God's Word. So the implication

    when Jesus talks about light is this, the world is dark. Sin has made this world a

    very dark place. What it needs is light. It needs your influence. So on your

    outline, I encourage you to take some notes here. Here's the sermon, "As Salt and

    Light, I am God's Influencer. I am. And if you claim to be a follower of Jesus

    Christ, you are an influencer for God. You are." Let's unpack this a little bit.

    Shall we, number one, write this down, "My influence is expected." My influence is

    expected. Interestingly, in the Greek, we talked about this in the Beatitudes. It's

    here too. You know, you as emphatic in the Greek. So literally, you could

    translate this. Jesus is saying, "You are the only light in the world. You are the

    only salt in the world." You know, I was thinking about salt this week. You know,

    something really interesting about salt, as valuable as it is, it's really no good

    on its own, is it? It's not good by itself. I mean, when was the last time you

    went to Pantera bread, and you said, "Yeah, you know what? I'm not really that hungry.

    I'm just gonna have a bowl of salt." Like, who does that? It's no good on its own.

    Salt is always used for something else. And you know, thinking about that further,

    light is the same, isn't it? Light is always used for something else. Meaning

    this, when you turn on the lights, you don't do it because you're like, "You know

    what, man? I just really like light." Like, nobody just really likes light. Why do you

    turn it on? Because it's light that illuminates what's in the room. Light has

    no other purpose. So salt and light always used for something else. Always used

    for something else. You know what? You are so valuable. You are. But like salt,

    you're not valuable for yourself. Here's what I mean. If all God wanted was for you

    to be saved, then the moment you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, God

    would just take you to heaven. Like, we're done. Good job. I wanted you to be saved.

    But He doesn't do that. God, when you're saved, God keeps you on this earth for one

    reason. It's influence. He keeps you here to be salt and light. You see, that's what

    Jesus is saying here. There is no salt and light except from a Christ follower

    who is going to show and tell the people around you about Jesus. Like, well, you're

    the pastor, isn't that your job? No. Look, it can't be. You're going to encounter

    people just through the course of your every day that I'm never going to meet.

    You're going to work with people and there's people in your family. The

    pastor Taylor is never going to meet. So whose job is it to let them know about

    Jesus Christ? That's yours. That's why God has you there. There's no alternative.

    There's just not another option. But you know, side note, it's an interesting

    paradox. Last week we were talking about persecution, right? And people hating you

    because of Jesus. Isn't it an interesting paradox that the world hates us so much,

    but the world needs us so desperately? Look, you're expected. You are expected to

    be salt and light. That is so clear from Jesus' words. It is just an

    expectation. That's why Jesus gives warnings of being useless. Did you see

    that? He says, verse 13, "If the salt has lost its taste." And then over in verse 15,

    he says, "Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket." What's the point?

    Well, the point is this. If salt isn't salty, it's useless, right? And if light

    doesn't shine, useless. What Jesus is saying here is when salt isn't salty,

    when light isn't bright, what that means is you've lost your influence. You've

    lost your influence. It's a terrible place to be when you lose your ability to be

    salt and light for Jesus Christ. You're like, well, how does that happen? How do

    you lose your influence? How does salt lose its taste? How do you hide your

    light? Well, it happens through sin. That's how it happens. Constantly

    complaining, you're losing your saltiness. Gossiping, you're losing your

    saltiness. Do you have a hair trigger temper? You're losing your

    saltiness when that erupts. I'm inappropriate with the opposite sex in

    any way. Flirtation, direct messages to full-on affairs. You're losing your

    saltiness when you're involved in sin. Jesus gives a hard wording about that

    here. He says you're not good for anything when that happens. I can just

    speak personally, you know, over the years there have been several pastors who

    have been a big influence influence. Several pastors have been a big influence

    on me. Some local guys, some national names. People who have disqualified

    themselves from ministry because of flagrant sin. And in a lot of the cases

    it was affairs. Whether it was emotion or physical, that seems to be the

    predominant disqualifier. And look, right wrong or indifferent, you can reach your

    conviction on this. But I gotta tell you, I've thrown away a lot of books and a

    lot of sermons and a lot of materials for ministries. Because those pastors lost

    their influence, how can you preach this? And for years secretly live a

    completely different way. How can you do that? You don't have audience with me

    anymore. You're like, yeah, that's terrible. Well, what about you? What about

    your influence with your unsafe family, with your friends, with your co-workers?

    When they know that you're a Christian, and by the way they absolutely should,

    look, when they know you name the name of Christ, they're watching you. They are

    watching everything you do. They're watching your attitudes. They're listening

    to every word that you say and how you say it and what you talk about. They're

    listening. They're watching. I have to ask you, do they

    see sin? Or maybe you just try to tone down the salt a little bit when

    you're around them. Maybe when you're around them, you don't want to be the

    weird religious wackadoo. So you're just, let's just dim the lights a little bit.

    Can we just dim the lights a little bit? Jesus says, if that's the case, He says,

    you're not good for anything. Like, Jesus is saying, why do I have you here? Why do I

    have you here if you're not going to be salt and light? You're no good. It's a

    hard warning. But notice, Jesus didn't say after the beatitudes, okay, now would

    you pretty please be salt and light? He said, you are. You are. So really the

    question is, how salty are you? How bright are you? Because you're going to

    influence people one way or the other. And Jesus is expecting His influence on

    this world to happen through you. So your influence is expected, number one.

    Number two, right this time, my influence comes from me being different. My

    influence comes from me being different. That's something else about salt and

    light. It has to actually be touching what it's going to affect. Did you know

    that? If the salt's going to be of any use, it has to be on the food. I know that's

    profound, right? What did you learn in church today? He said something about the

    salt's no good unless it's on the food. Right. Right. The light must be mingled

    with the darkness, right? But at the same time that it's touching, it's also

    distinct. What I mean is salt and light are unlike the medium on which they're

    placed. So the point is we are to be different from the world. We're to be

    as different as the salt is from the meat. We're to be as different as the

    light is from the darkness. And that means my friends, we're not we're not

    self-serving. We're not materialistic. We're not worldly. The influence happens

    when we're different from the world. And somehow we have a hard time as

    Christians remembering that. We think that we are going to attract the

    world by imitating them. We have this game in our minds where we say, "Well, I'm

    going to show them that I'm no different than them. And they're going to see that

    I'm cool and I'm relevant and then I'm going to be able to give them the gospel."

    We think being like them is going to attract them.

    Just imagine you have this co-worker and you have an exchange like this.

    Your co-worker says, "Hey, you want to hear a dirty joke?" And your reply is, "Yes." And

    then I will tell you one because I'm cool. Your co-worker says, "Hey, did you check

    out that new lady that they hired? She is fine." And your reply to that is, "Yes, I

    also think she is smoking as you do because you and me are the same." Your

    co-worker says, "Hey, do you want to have too much beer later?" And your reply is, "I

    sure would because that would be relevant to my relationship with you

    because I'm just like you." And then maybe after our beers I will tell you how

    Jesus changed me. Changed you? From what? Even in the church. Even in the church.

    There's this tendency, we want to attract unsaved people so we think we've

    got to be just like them. Let's put on a show. Let's make it like a secular

    concert. Let's get the laser lights and the smoke machine and put on a big

    theatrical production here. Let's be like the world. That'll win the world, won't it?

    Because don't we want people to be comfortable? We hate that, don't we? When

    churches are like, "We want you to come and be comfortable." Church is the last

    place you should be comfortable. Standing in the face of the Word of God is

    the last place you should feel comfortable. The church is, "Let's be like the

    world and what that means is we're going to have to not take such a

    hard stand on the truth of God's Word because we want to win the world, right?

    And in order to do that, we got to be like the world." I was shown a church

    recently online was advertising, "You can get baptized there." But the interesting

    kicker was, they said, "You can get baptized any way you want."

    Any way you want. You want to get dunked? Well, don't you? You want to get

    sprinkled? We'll splash you? You want us to dip our hands in water and touch your

    forehead? We'll do that. You name the way you want to get the water on you. We'll get

    the water on you. As our Lord would say, "What is going on?" I heard this quote one

    time that always stuck with me. Somebody said, regarding the church, they said,

    "Just when the world needs us the most, we become just like them." And look, if we're

    just the same, we got nothing to offer them, right? And if we learn anything from

    the Beatitudes, it's this, kingdom of heaven people live different than kingdom

    of earth people. We are not the same. We are not made out of the same stuff that

    the world is made out of. We are salt and light. My influence comes from being

    different, right? And finally, number three, my influence is for God's glory. My

    influence is for God's glory. Look at verse 16 again. Jesus says in the same way,

    "Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give

    glory to your Father who is in heaven." Good works. Good works. You do good works?

    Well, you have to check your motives for that, right? Because it's not about what

    people think about me as much as what they think about God. But Jesus said,

    "They'll see our good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

    Meaning this, "I do what I do because I love Jesus." And people are going to see

    that, and that is going to give me the opportunity to share the gospel with

    them, to invite them to church where they're going to hear the gospel. And

    our hope is that they receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, because

    that is the ultimate way that God has glorified.

    But if we're going to be influencers, we have to be salt and light both.

    Because you can read this passage and be like, isn't Jesus kind of saying the

    same thing with the salt and the light? Like, why did He use two pictures? Why

    didn't He just keep it short and use one? Because there's some key

    differences between salt and light. The one I want to focus on is this. We could

    spend so much time on this, we don't have it. But I want to say this. Jesus is

    saying you have to have godly conduct, that's salt. And you have to have the

    gospel message that's light. You have to have both.

    Meaning this. You can't just walk away from this message and focus on one of

    these aspects, but not the other. Meaning, let's just say you're only

    going to focus on being salt. Okay, you're like, you know what, he's right

    about the salt, you know what, I got to work on that. I'm just only going to focus

    on being salt. I'm just going to focus on my walk with Christ, but you never

    actually share the gospel with anyone. Well, the question is how is anybody

    going to glorify the Father if you never tell them the gospel? Do you think

    people are going to see your good works and just automatically, somehow,

    miraculously understand the content of the gospel just because you're doing

    good works? There was a saying that was thrown around years ago. You know those

    sayings that sometimes creeps into the church that Christians use that sound,

    they sound so like magnanimously spiritual, but they're really, when you

    think about it, really kind of empty. This is one that kind of drove me nuts.

    Years ago, people would say, preach the gospel and use words if necessary. Remember

    that one? Preach the gospel and use words if necessary. Look, words are

    necessary. Words are necessary. No one hears the truth just by watching

    somebody's character, but on the other hand, if you're like, you know what,

    you're right, I'm not going to worry so much about the salt. I'm not going to

    monitor my salt content so much. I'm going to focus on being light.

    But look, if you're just running around telling everyone John 3.16, but you're

    not personally walking with Christ, there's no good works backing up this

    message that you're preaching, you're going to leave people asking, why should I

    listen to his message? Because he doesn't seem any different than me. You got to

    have salt and light both. See, salt refers to your general conduct. Light is the

    specific word. Salt talks about who you are. Light speaks to what you do. Salt is

    being the example. Light is carrying out the work of evangelism. Salt is living it.

    Light is telling it. See, that salt can't save anyone. Salt holds back the

    corruption. You need the light of God's truth to lead the salvation, but the

    light has to be backed up by the salt of God the character and good works. That's

    Jesus' point here. And the end game? The end game is the same end game for

    literally everything in the universe. The glory of God.

    We get that definition of the influencer back up here. I looked at a few

    definitions here, but I thought, wow, doesn't this definition really speak

    to the same kind of stuff Jesus was talking about here? Look, here's what I

    mean. Has our Lord built a sizable following?

    A little bit. You may have heard of him. He built a sizable following. Does he have

    a relevant topic? I would argue the most relevant topic ever, eternal life. Is our

    Lord interesting in influencing His followers to take action? That's why

    we're here. Like, well, how does that happen? There's last two words jumped out

    to me then. Credibility and authority. What's credibility? That's salt. And what's

    authority? That's light. Look, God has given us a new mission field to reach at

    Harvest Bible Chapel. God has given us a community without a church where we can

    be salt and light. So there's an exciting new chapter ahead for Harvest Bible

    Chapel. And just now we're going to have our town hall meeting, getting an update

    on how God is moving. And my friends, you were in the presence of a miracle

    today because I got done early. We'll do the directors cut in the next service.

    So why don't you just want to take a couple minutes? We're gonna start at 10

    promptly, Pastor Rich. So once you take a couple minutes, if you need to check on

    little Joey or use the restroom and then at 10 o'clock sharply, Pastor Rich is

    gonna come up here and we have an amazing update for you on what the Lord's

    doing. So let me pray real quick and then we'll reconvene here at 10. Father in

    heaven, I just want to close this time in your word by asking you to empower us to

    be what you've already pronounced us to be. You've said we're salt and light, God,

    we need the wisdom of your word and the power of your spirit so that we can carry

    out that function in a way that glorifies your name. Thank you Father for all that you've done.

    We're excited at what you're going to do. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:13-16

  1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?

  2. In what ways are disciples of Jesus like salt? Like light?

  3. How does salt lose flavor (the believer lose their influence)? In what ways do we put our lamps under a basket? Why does Jesus say someone in that state is “no longer good for anything”?

  4. Why is it important to both salt AND light? Why not just focus on one or the other?

  5. How do you really know if you are doing good works for other people’s attention or God’s glory?

Breakout
Pray for one another to be salty and bright.

Congratulations to the Hated

Introduction:

The Heart of the Disciple: Congratulations to the Hated! (Matthew 5:10-12)

Who Are “Those Who Are Persecuted”?

1 Peter 4:3-4For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you...

Luke 9:23And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

2 Timothy 3:12Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…

Why Are We Congratulating Those Who Are Persecuted?

Acts 5:40-41And when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.

How Do I Respond to Being Persecuted?

Three Reasons to Rejoice in Persecution:

  1. Persecution Proves I Belong to Jesus!

    1 Peter 1:6-7In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

  2. I Have a Reward in Heaven!

    2 Corinthians 5:10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

  3. I'm in Good Company!

    John 15:20Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

  • Open up your Bibles with me, please, to Matthew chapter 5.

    Matthew chapter 5, as we are coming at the end of an eight-week-long congratulations

    party as we look at the Beatitudes.

    This is the introduction to the greatest sermon ever preached.

    And every Beatitude begins with the word "blessed."

    And the word "blessed" means congratulations.

    If I asked you, "What is a Christian?"

    We could probably go around the room and get dozens and dozens and dozens of different

    responses to that.

    What is a Christian?

    What does a Christian do?

    What does a Christian look like?

    How does a Christian act?

    As we go through the Beatitudes, understand from the mouth of our Lord, this is what

    a Christian is.

    So it really doesn't matter what I think a Christian is or what you think a follower

    of Jesus is.

    This is what Jesus said a follower of Him looks like.

    This is what Christians are meant to be.

    And as we've said through this whole series, there's a spiritually logical flow in the

    Beatitudes.

    Jesus wasn't just pulling out these random sayings.

    There's a flow here.

    It's like a staircase.

    It's like steps on a ladder.

    Let's look at them again.

    Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

    Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

    Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

    Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

    Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

    Blessed are the pure in hearts, for they shall see God.

    Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

    Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom

    of heaven."

    Look at this flow here.

    What I want you to see here, the first three Beatitudes address our need.

    We're poor in spirit, and we should mourn over that.

    And we need to stop thinking of ourselves first and live a life of complete unselfishness.

    That's meekness.

    That's the need that we have.

    And then the need is satisfied as we hunger and thirst for righteousness.

    And then the next three Beatitudes show the result.

    We become merciful.

    We become pure in heart.

    We become peacemakers.

    Today, this last one, this is the outcome.

    If you are sincerely following Jesus Christ, if Christ is alive in you and He is changing

    you, I've got to tell you, this is kind of a shocking statement that Jesus says, "You

    know you made it."

    When people hate you.

    Wow.

    Before we dive into this, let's just pause for a moment.

    I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's

    Word, and at the same time I will pray for you to receive what it is the Lord wants to

    tell us in His Word today.

    All right?

    Let's just take a moment.

    Please pray for me.

    Father in heaven, as we come to Your Word, this is a hard one.

    But we're not cherry picking.

    Just trying to cover the parts of Your Word that might be easier on our ears, Father.

    We want to hear everything that You had to say.

    This is a hard one.

    I pray, Father, for all of us, You would open our hearts for a time of self-examination

    and also a time of maybe a change of perspective.

    To Your glory and honor, Father, let Your Word take root in our hearts.

    To make us the people that You've called us to be, to make us the people that Jesus described,

    as followers would be.

    I pray these things in Jesus' name.

    All of God's people said, Amen.

    All right, we're in week 8 of the party.

    Anybody else have like party fatigue?

    You're like, "All right, you know what?

    In any other party I would have gone home long before this."

    But look, we've got one more week of party, all right?

    So are you ready?

    Today, we want to wish a hearty congratulations to the hated.

    You ready?

    Let's do it!

    I get to tell you, it feels strange.

    You're hated.

    Congratulations!

    I'm so happy for you.

    You're hated?

    Wow, that's awesome!

    Like, man, you're going to have to explain that one.

    Well, let's look at what our Lord says.

    "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness's sake, for theirs is the kingdom

    of heaven."

    So the first question we have to ask is, "Who are we congratulating here?

    Who are the persecuted?"

    Well the Greek word persecuted means pursue.

    The word we would use in our day is harass.

    This verb tense talks about somebody who continually allows themselves to be put in this position,

    the persecuted.

    You're like, "Well, persecuted like how?"

    Well, Jesus tells us.

    Look at verse 11.

    "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil

    against you falsely on my accounts."

    So you see this persecution, there's two sides of the coin here.

    There's reviling.

    That's face to face.

    That's, I'm assaulting you with words in your face, or we would just call that insulting

    you.

    Right?

    But then He says, "Uter evil falsely."

    That's not in your face.

    That's behind your back.

    That's slandering you.

    That's, I want to ruin your reputation.

    I want people to think lesser of you.

    So I'm going to say things about you behind your back.

    And what I don't know, I'm just going to make up because I want people to think of you in

    a negative light.

    But you have to notice here, Jesus says persecuted.

    Look, you've got to get this because if you miss this, there's somebody going to be walking

    out of here strutting like a rooster because you missed it.

    Jesus says it's for righteousness sake.

    Verse 11, He says it's on account of Him.

    And that's so important when we talk about persecution.

    It's not persecution because you're obnoxious.

    Okay?

    It's not persecution because you're a jerk to everyone.

    And you wear your religion like some kind of an honor badge that you think it's your

    job to slap everybody in place.

    People treat you negatively because you're a jerk.

    That's called consequences.

    That's called you're reaping what you're sowing there.

    So He's not talking about that.

    He's also not talking about putting on a show.

    Right?

    It's not trying to be as over the top, self-righteous as you can be so that you get people's attention

    so that they say something about you so you can be like, "Oh, I'm so persecuted."

    He's not talking about that either.

    Look at Daniel.

    Daniel quietly softed the Lord and He was persecuted.

    Right?

    Jesus isn't talking about getting a rise out of people on social media by trolling them.

    You know exactly what to post, exactly what to comment, and you know it's going to get

    a rise out of people and people are going to say things and you're going to be like,

    "Oh, I'm so persecuted."

    No, you're not.

    You're being a jerk.

    Okay?

    That's not what Jesus is talking about at all.

    He clarifies that twice here.

    It's being hated, being persecuted because of Jesus.

    It's because of His righteousness.

    It's because you strive to be like Jesus.

    Or in the context of this sermon, you're just striving to live out these Beatitudes that

    He laid out.

    You're just striving to be that kind of person.

    And you're hated.

    Isn't it sort of ironic?

    What did Pastor Taylor preach about last week?

    The previous Beatitude.

    What was that one?

    Okay, two of you were here.

    There were more of you here than that.

    What was the previous Beatitude?

    Peacemakers.

    Isn't that interesting?

    Blessed are the peacemakers and then...

    Blessed are the persecuted.

    What's going on there?

    Well, it is very simply this.

    Christians strive for peace with all men, but all men don't return the favor.

    And you're like, "Wait, hang on a second, man.

    Why all the hatred, man?

    Why the hatred?

    Why can't we just live and let live, man?

    You know what I'm saying?

    Why do they hate?

    Well, Peter tells us that.

    Peter answers that very question.

    Why do people hate you for trying to follow Jesus?

    Look at 1 Peter chapter 4 verses 3 through 4.

    He says, "For the time that has passed to feces for doing what the Gentiles want to do."

    And in this context, Gentiles is sort of a figure of speech for unbelievers.

    He says, "Living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and

    lawless idolatry."

    Do you see that Peter says, "Listen, Christians, we're done living life like it's one long

    beer commercial."

    All right?

    He says, "With respect to this, they are surprised..."

    The unbelievers are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery

    and they malign you.

    Do you see that?

    He's saying that people are going to slander you, malign you, because you're different.

    You live as a citizen of heaven.

    You don't live a sinful lifestyle and lost people view that somehow as you condemning

    their sin.

    Lost people feel like when you try to follow Jesus.

    And even if you don't say a word, they feel like you're calling them out.

    "Oh, oh, oh, you think you're better than me?"

    "Oh, you don't do that stuff, oh, oh, Mr. Holier than thou, huh?

    Whatever happens to thou shall not judge, huh?"

    And you're like, "Well, I'm not judging.

    I just don't live that way because of my faith in Jesus Christ.

    They're going to hate you for that."

    And maybe you're like, "Well, you know what, though, Pastor Jeff, I wouldn't say anything

    to anyone because I believe.

    I believe in keep your religion to yourself."

    And I would say, "I ain't good either."

    According to Jesus.

    In Luke 9.23, Jesus said, "For whoever is ashamed of me, oh, oh, look at the end of my words.

    Of him will the Son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory, in the glory of the

    Father and of the holy angels."

    Do you see that?

    End of my words.

    It's not just ashamed of Jesus.

    It's also being ashamed of what He said.

    It's being ashamed of what He taught.

    So what do we do?

    We try to avoid persecution by making the gospel tolerable.

    And we say things like, "Well, there's not just one way to heaven.

    You know, we're all kind of on our path.

    And as long as you're sincere, I think God sees that.

    And there's not just one way to heaven.

    I don't really think there's a hell.

    You know, I know there's some Christians that believe that.

    But I don't really think that's - I don't really think a loving God would send somebody to

    hell.

    And you know what, man?

    Love is love, right?

    And we're ashamed of what Jesus said when we talk like that.

    When you're with your family, your unsafe family members specifically, when you're with your

    unsafe friends, when you're at the workplace, the sort of just kind of hides your faith.

    We're ashamed of Jesus' words.

    It's a problem.

    Try this.

    Try saying things like, "I believe that marriage is for a man and a woman because that's what

    God said."

    Say things like, "I believe that the unborn are people who deserve to live."

    Try that one.

    Try, "I believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven because He's the only one who died

    for my sin and rose from the dead to promise eternal life."

    He's the only one who did that.

    So I believe He's the only way to heaven.

    Say that.

    People will hate you.

    And you're going to be persecuted for righteousness' sake.

    And you're like, "You know what, Pastor Jeff, the world is rough, man.

    The world's rough.

    It's rough out there.

    It's not just the world.

    Some of the worst persecution of Christians happens in the church.

    Think about this.

    Jesus' ministry.

    Who gave Jesus the most problems?

    Was it the unsaved pagans?

    It was the hardcore religious people, wasn't it?

    And what about the book of Acts?

    The book of Acts, the first four chapters, it's attacks from the outside, still from religious

    people, but it was attacks outside the church.

    And the church was standing strong.

    And then what happened in Acts chapter 5 and chapter 6?

    All the problems came from within the church.

    And things really got hard then.

    And church, I've got to tell you, the worst insults that I've ever received, the worst

    slander about me that's ever been spoken, the worst accusations that I've ever experienced

    have come from church people.

    It shouldn't be that way.

    That's how it is.

    And maybe there are some people sitting here.

    And if we're being honest, some of the ways that you're talking about people and the leadership

    of the church, you're being divisive.

    And maybe you're not the persecuted.

    Maybe you're the persecutors.

    You're like, well, why would church people do that?

    Same reason.

    You take a stand on what the Bible says.

    You stand for righteousness.

    Blushly, worldly-minded people in the church are going to attack you.

    By the way, look at verse 11 again.

    Jesus says, "Blessed are you when others revile you."

    Notice He didn't say "if."

    Like this is going to apply to some of my followers.

    No, He didn't say that.

    Listen, if you're a true follower of Jesus, it's when it's going to happen to you.

    You are going to be persecuted in some way, shape, or form to some degree for your faith.

    This is for all true disciples.

    And if you're not getting any kind of backlash because of your faith in Jesus Christ, that's

    actually a bigger problem than if you're facing persecution.

    This is for all true followers.

    Paul says this in 2 Timothy 3.12, in case it's unclear.

    "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."

    So you think you're going to stand for Jesus and Satan's kids aren't going to hate you?

    Let's not be so naive.

    That's who the persecuted are.

    You're like, "Wow, so why are we congratulating them?"

    Well, let's look at the text.

    First time, why would we congratulate people that are hated, persecuted for righteousness'

    sake?

    Well, look what Jesus says, "For theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

    The kingdom of heaven.

    We talked about this, didn't we?

    It's the place where Jesus is ruling.

    Like, where is the kingdom of heaven?

    Right now, it's in the heart of every believer.

    Hers is the kingdom of heaven.

    The first and last Beatitudes are bookended by this statement.

    That was the very first thing Jesus said.

    "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

    What Jesus is saying is the first thing, and the last thing you need to know is when you

    receive Him, you get His kingdom.

    Oh, and by the way, with all these Beatitudes, all of these results, all of these things

    we've been congratulating people for, you realize every single promise, every congratulation

    of every Beatitude are all facets of a diamond called salvation.

    These are all just figures of speech describing salvation.

    Receiving the kingdom of heaven, that's salvation.

    Being comforted by God, that's from salvation.

    Inheriting the earth, salvation.

    Being satisfied, only in salvation.

    Receiving mercy, that's salvation.

    Being able to see God, that's salvation.

    Being called a Son of God, that's adoption, which is, tell me, salvation, right?

    Receiving the kingdom of God is salvation.

    So why are we congratulating those hated because of Jesus?

    Because it proves that Christ is in you.

    Wait, wait, you mean people who would hate Jesus if He were here, hate you instead because

    you remind them of Jesus?

    That.

    That is a high honor.

    That is a really high honor.

    And somebody right now is like, "Oh, you know what, Pastor Jeff, I don't think we should

    think that way."

    And I would say, why not?

    The early disciples did.

    Acts chapter 5 says, "When the counsel had called in the apostles, they beat them and

    charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go."

    Now I would think the next statement would be, and the apostles left cursing them under

    their breath, the apostles left crying, "Why God, why did this happen to me?"

    That's what I would think the next line would be.

    But you see what the next line is?

    It says, "Then they left a presence of the counsel rejoicing that they were counted worthy

    to suffer dishonor for the name."

    See that the early apostles, they weren't waiting for Harvest Bible Chapel to have our

    little congratulations party before they started celebrating.

    They were congratulating themselves.

    What an honor to so act like Jesus that sinners treat you like Jesus.

    That's an honor.

    And that is why we're congratulating those who are persecuted.

    So there's one more question that we have to answer today.

    The third question on your outline.

    How do I respond to being persecuted?

    How do I respond to being persecuted?

    You know, this beatitude is obviously very different than the rest.

    The other beatitudes are about what happens in me.

    But this beatitude is about what happens to me.

    But you know another difference is this is the only beatitude that Jesus elaborates on

    right here.

    And you're like, "Wait a minute.

    Is this the part of the sermon where you tell me how to be persecuted?"

    No.

    I don't need to tell you how to be persecuted.

    You follow Jesus Christ, you will be.

    That's the point.

    You strive to live this kind of a life.

    You will be.

    The question that we need to answer is how do I respond to that?

    That's the question.

    And the answer is not retaliate.

    "I'll get you for this."

    It's not that.

    It's not resenting people like, "I hate you for this."

    It's not that.

    And it's not even becoming depressed or sorrowful.

    Like, "I hate this."

    It's not that either.

    Look at verse 12.

    Because Jesus actually tells us how to react.

    Look at this.

    "Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven.

    For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

    Jesus says, "Here's how you react.

    People hate you because you follow Him?"

    Jesus says, "Rejoice."

    And you're like, "Really?

    Yeah.

    Jesus actually doubles down on that, doesn't He?

    He says, "Rejoice and be glad."

    Why should I rejoice and be glad when people are against me because of Jesus?

    Why would I do that?

    How in the world is that an occasion for happiness?

    Well Jesus tells us that too.

    We don't have to guess.

    But He tells us right here.

    So the three reasons to rejoice in persecution, jot these down.

    I'm going to go through these quickly.

    These are the three reasons Jesus gives right here.

    Number one, persecution proves, "I belong to Jesus."

    We already touched on this briefly already.

    But like the rest of the Beatitudes, there's a congratulations on what results.

    He says, "Yours is the kingdom of heaven," meaning you belong to Jesus.

    Do you want to know if your faith is real?

    Or would you just rather stumble through life wondering, "Do I really believe?"

    I mean, do I really believe in Jesus Christ?

    Is my faith a real thing or is it just kind of in my head or have I deceived myself?

    Is my faith real?

    Well, your faith needs tested and there's only one way that happens.

    See what Peter says again.

    First Peter 1, he says, "In this year rejoice."

    Oh, there's rejoice again.

    For what Peter?

    "Now for a little while, if necessary, you've been grieved by various trials, persecution

    being a big one, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, that

    perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and

    honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

    Well, here's the point.

    Anyone can say that they believe in Jesus Christ at a prayer meeting.

    Or go to a small group and say, "I just want you to know I believe in Jesus Christ.

    Do you think there's going to be any pushback there?"

    No, there's not.

    It's easy to say it there.

    But do you still believe when it's not so popular?

    Do you still believe when you're insulted for it?

    When you're rejected for it?

    When you're falsely accused because of it?

    Do you still believe when your faith costs you something?

    You see, when following Jesus is painful, but you refuse to walk away because His promises

    are so glorious and His ways are so right?

    When Jesus Himself is so worthy, you don't really prove to Jesus what your faith is made

    out of.

    As much as you've proven to yourself what your faith is made out of, because I've got

    a feeling Jesus already knows.

    That's reason to rejoice.

    Resurrection proves I belong to Jesus.

    Number two, I rejoice.

    I have a reward in heaven.

    Look at verse 12 again.

    "Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven."

    Be like, "Well, what's your reward?

    What's your reward?"

    Well, there's all kinds of rewards in heaven.

    Actually, you could kind of look at heaven as one big reward, right?

    And I mean, you've got this, "There's no sickness, and there's no war, there's no unhappiness."

    Oh, how about the best thing in heaven?

    Jesus Himself.

    All of that's true.

    And at the same time, the Bible says that each individual gets special individual rewards.

    And how much of these you get is based on how you live now, including facing persecution

    because of Jesus.

    Saint Corinthians 5:10, Paul says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of

    Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether

    good or evil, there's different levels of rewards based on your faithfulness now, based

    on your faithfulness in the face of persecution."

    Like, "All right, well, what are those rewards then?"

    I don't know.

    But here's something I do know.

    Jesus says they're great.

    And if Jesus says something is great, that's what I was thinking.

    If Jesus says it's great, then it must be pretty great.

    If God Himself refers to something as being great, then it must be spectacular.

    So church, can we just believe Jesus and wait 15 minutes and find out what it is?

    I'm going to tell you all the stupid insults and slander are going to look pretty petty

    in light of whatever Jesus has for you.

    And that's a reason to rejoice.

    I have a reward in heaven.

    Number three, third reason to rejoice.

    And the face of persecution is, "I'm in good company.

    I'm in good company."

    Look again, verse 12.

    Jesus says, "Your reward is great in heaven."

    But then he taxed on this statement too.

    He says, "For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

    Are you being persecuted for your faith to some degree in some way?

    And if you follow Christ, you should be.

    Well Jesus reminds us here, "You're in good company."

    I mean, man, think of the people in the Old Testament.

    Abel, Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel.

    You're in some pretty good company.

    Oh, how about Jesus himself?

    You know, Jesus spoke of this in John 15 when he said, "Remember the word that I said to

    you, a servant is not greater than his master.

    If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

    If they kept my word, they will also keep yours."

    Okay, hang on.

    How is this a motivation to rejoice?

    How?

    Okay, so you're saying I should be motivated by the fact that other people were persecuted

    too?

    Like, how is that a motivation?

    You know, we love the name drop, don't we?

    Oh, you say you don't.

    You say you don't.

    You run into somebody famous at the airport and keep your mouth shut.

    You won't.

    I ran into Jerome Bettis at the airport one time, literally ran into him.

    Like physically, ran into him.

    I knocked him back about five yards.

    Okay, I made that part up.

    I did make that part up.

    We love the name drop.

    I felt good telling that story.

    Why do we do that?

    Why do we name drop?

    Because there's something in us that we're kind of proud of our associations.

    You know what I mean?

    There's something in us that we like that.

    Four years ago, Aaron and I were at a church conference in Orlando.

    And we were having breakfast.

    It was this big dining room.

    Aaron and I were having breakfast.

    And this stranger comes and sits at our table.

    He just sits there literally right beside me.

    And dude was so weird.

    Now listen, I am not criticizing.

    I'm weird.

    My wife married weird.

    All right?

    I'm not criticizing.

    The dude was just strange.

    He just sat down with us.

    He had these giant like plastic rimmed glasses like really big.

    And he had this enormous mustache.

    He looked like a cartoon character.

    And if you know me, I was like so fascinated by him.

    I think people were so fascinating.

    But when like this cartoon character sits down, he was so strange.

    And he was going on and on and on about some exercise bike that he bought.

    I'm like, they're still making exercise bikes?

    Like people are still doing that?

    You can buy a bike with two wheels and take it on the road.

    Like he was so strange.

    But he sat there and talked to Aaron and I the whole breakfast about his exercise bike.

    And then he gets up and leaves.

    And Aaron and I are like, who was that?

    Well then we go into the auditorium for the conference.

    And Aaron and I take our seats.

    And there's a time of worship.

    And then somebody gets up and announces.

    They're like, we'd like to introduce our main speaker for the event.

    Paul Tripp.

    He came out on the stage and Aaron and I are like, that's him.

    That's the guy we had breakfast with.

    I walked around the rest of the conference like, I don't want to brag or anything.

    But I had breakfast with Paul Tripp.

    You know, it was just kind of a thing we do once.

    Yeah.

    Oh, it was great.

    We were talking mustaches and exercise bikes.

    Are you being persecuted because of your faith?

    Do you realize that's the occasion for the ultimate name draw?

    You're like, I get to be hated because of Jesus.

    Do you realize what that means?

    I'm in company with the Lord of the universe.

    They can't get him so they come after me.

    Isn't that awesome?

    I'm with Jesus.

    Way cooler than Paul Tripp, by the way.

    When you feel like your faith has made you an outcast, hey, hey, that's just for now.

    Someday you're going to be walking around heaven with the prophets who came before us

    who were persecuted for their faith and you're going to look around these people in heaven

    and say, you know what?

    It was rough at times being insulted, being slandered, but now I see that I'm in good company.

    That is a reason to rejoice.

    So as our worship team makes their way back up to the platform here, I have to ask you,

    has being a Christian resulted in people reviling you?

    Has being a Christian resulted in people insulting you and lying about you?

    Do people hate you just because you follow Jesus?

    Well then, on behalf of the elders, the ministry team, and all of the nursery workers at Harvest

    Bible Chapel, we would like to wish you a truly heartfelt congratulations.

    Yours, yours is the kingdom of heaven.

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:10-12

  1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?

  2. What are different ways persecution is carried out? Have you ever personally been persecuted because of your faith, on some level? If not, why not?

  3. Read 1 Peter 4:3-4. What exactly motivates nonbelievers to slander Christians who refuse to live a sinful lifestyle?

  4. Why do you think Christians aren’t persecuted in America the way Christians are persecuted in other countries?

  5. In your opinion, which of Jesus’ reasons for rejoicing in persecution is the most compelling / motivating? Proof of salvation, reward in heaven, or being in good company?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Congratulations to the Peacemakers

Introduction:

Congratulations to the Peacemakers! (Matthew 5:9)

Who are the Peacemakers?

Those who Love unity and actively seek to Promote and Defend it in all circumstances.

Why are We Congratulating the Peacemakers?

For they shall be called Sons of God.

Galatians 2:11-14 - But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

How Can I Become a Peacemaker?

  1. By Resting in the peace that Christ purchased for me.

    Ephesians 2:13-14 - But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.

    Colossians 1:20-22 - And through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.

  2. By valuing the good of others above my Feelings and Preferences .
  3. By having a healthy view of Conflict .
    1. I shouldn't Desire it.
    2. I shouldn't Avoid it.

      Romans 12:18 - If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

  • Maybe you have a hard time being happy for anyone else besides yourself.

    Maybe you're envious of the person you're supposed to be congratulating.

    You know, at times we all struggle with truly congratulating other people.

    But do you know whose congratulations are always 100% genuine, heartfelt, and passionate?

    Jesus Christ.

    Over the past two months, we have been digging into the beatitudes.

    These are Jesus' blessed statements from the Sermon on the Mount, where he congratulates

    those who we would never think to congratulate on our own.

    We've already seen him congratulate the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those

    who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, and the pure in heart.

    Jesus doesn't congratulate these people to make them feel good about themselves.

    He truly congratulates these individuals because he means it.

    He gives his most sincere congratulations to his followers who choose to go against the

    grain and be different than the rest of this world because he knows that they will experience

    eternal rewards that defy expectation and imagination.

    So this morning, we will zero in on Jesus' next round of heartfelt congratulations to

    the peacemakers.

    So let's join our Lord and Savior in congratulating the peacemakers, okay?

    Great job, everybody.

    I'm very proud of you.

    In all seriousness, this is such a chaotic world, isn't it?

    Hatred, slander, betrayal, shattered relationships, broken families, murder, and war all around

    us and in our faces 24/7.

    Do you ever get tired of it?

    I know that I do.

    There is so much trouble in so little peace.

    There are so many trouble makers and so few peacemakers.

    I hope and pray the Lord will use His word this morning to recruit more peacemakers in

    this room and watching online for the work of His kingdom.

    So let's go to the Lord in prayer.

    Please pray for me to faithfully communicate God's word and I will pray that you faithfully

    receive and submit to it.

    Father, we thank you for this most important appointment of the week.

    We come together as your people to worship you together and come under the preaching

    of your word.

    But maybe take this seriously.

    Maybe take what your word has to say to heart and live it out, not just today, not just

    the rest of this week, but the rest of our lives.

    We thank you in advance for what you will do.

    We ask all this in Jesus' name.

    Amen.

    So as Pastor Jeff and Pastor Rich have said over the course of this series, the Beatitudes

    are not random and isolated statements to be read and understood on their own.

    The Beatitudes are like steps on a staircase and rungs on a ladder that work together to

    lead us towards a specific destination.

    This means that we cannot become peacemakers until we walk the previous steps and climb

    the rungs that Jesus has already laid out before us since the beginning of February.

    With that in mind, let's read the entire Beatitudes and really keep track of what Jesus is telling

    us here.

    Matthew chapter five verses one through 10.

    "Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples

    came to him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

    Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

    Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

    Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

    Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

    Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

    Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

    Blessed are those who are persecutor for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom

    of heaven."

    So let's follow the logical flow of what Jesus is preaching here.

    You cannot be a peacemaker if you do not recognize your spiritual bankruptcy before

    a holy God.

    You cannot be a peacemaker if you do not mourn over your sin and seek after repentance.

    You cannot be a peacemaker if you are not meek and do not put aside your self-interest

    for the ultimate interest of God's glory.

    You cannot be a peacemaker if you have no appetite for the things of God.

    You cannot be a peacemaker if you demand mercy for yourself but you refuse to show mercy

    to other people in your life.

    And finally, you cannot be a peacemaker if your heart is set on perversion rather than

    purity.

    At this point, you may be thinking, "Okay, Taylor, I get it.

    I need to exhibit all the rest of the Beatitudes to be a peacemaker."

    But what is a peacemaker?

    Who are the peacemakers?

    Well you must have read my mind or pay attention to the whole entire series and how it really

    rolled out before you.

    But that is the first question on our outline this morning.

    Who are the peacemakers?

    In the original Greek, the term "peacemakers" only used once in the entire New Testament

    and it's found right here in the Beatitudes.

    Is a compound word of peace and to make or to do?

    Let's unpack each individual word so we can better understand the whole term.

    In Scripture, peace is such a beautiful concept that goes so far beyond our limited American

    definition.

    To most people in this country, here is what peace looks like.

    Gas prices are down and there's no major wars right now.

    We can breathe easy for a minute.

    Or yay, no one's fighting in my family today.

    We have peace.

    The biblical definition of peace is so much greater than that.

    That is a worldly view of peace that is based on circumstances and what happens to you.

    It can easily be changed and stolen away.

    Biblical peace is way more than the absence of conflict in your life.

    Biblical peace is the presence of God in your life.

    The missing puzzle piece in your soul has been found and filled.

    You experience a sense of fullness and completeness that no one else can take away from you.

    It is an eternal reality that works its way outward into your life and other people around

    you.

    And there is no true peace apart from the one true God.

    There is no true peace apart from submission to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

    And the word make and peacemaker brings an important reality into focus.

    Peace isn't just something for you to experience on your own.

    It is meant to be shared with others.

    For this to happen, you must be active and not passive.

    Peace is what you need to be taken to bring this God-given peace to others.

    So here is the definition of peacemakers that I want you to write down and meditate upon

    for the rest of this week.

    Who are the peacemakers?

    Those who love unity and actively seek to promote and defend it in all circumstances.

    When you put the words peace and make together, you don't get a picture of someone just sitting

    back in their lazy boy recliner saying, "Man, I love peace.

    I love them.

    People get along.

    That's my jam.

    Can't really do much about it."

    That's a peacemaker, not a peacemaker.

    Peacefakers talk of big games.

    But do nothing to back up their empty words.

    While peacemakers do something about their desire for harmony with the people who God

    has placed in their lives.

    Peacefakers pretend like nothing is wrong.

    But they seed with anger on the inside.

    While peacemakers refuse to sweep issue after issue onto the rug, they just rip the rug

    up to deal with all those issues.

    Peacefakers put the ball other people's courts when it comes to resolving disagreements.

    While peacemakers grab the ball and run with it.

    Peacefakers do nothing to contribute to the solution.

    While peacemakers find God's answer, the problem.

    Now, some people take a sinful step beyond peacemakers.

    Some people take a sinful step beyond peacemaking and become peacetakers.

    Where they realize that or not, peacetakers prefer dysfunction.

    And they actively seek the dismantle unity everywhere they go.

    Peacefakers, actually peacetakers stir the pot on purpose.

    They toss grenades in the people's laps.

    And then they act like they did nothing wrong.

    They act like they're totally innocent in the situation.

    While peacemakers seek to diffuse tough situations with the Word of God in a calm attitude.

    Peace takers look at conflict as a contest to win.

    While peacemakers look at conflict as an opportunity for relationships to be restored.

    Peace takers badmouth those they have conflicts with to make themselves look like the good

    guys in the situation.

    While peacemakers refuse to speak poorly of anyone out of respect for people's public

    reputations.

    I want to challenge you this morning to figure out which label best describes you.

    Are you a peacemaker who puts on a performance?

    Are you a peacetaker who makes matters worse?

    Or are you a peacemaker who brings people together?

    It's so easy to spot peace faking and peace taking tendencies in others.

    But it's so difficult to see it within yourself.

    You can ask your loved ones for their perspective in counsel.

    Talk to your spouse, your kids, a close friend, a pastor, an elder at harvest after service.

    Others can point out the blind spots that you cannot see on your own.

    But I beg you, please do not assume that you're doing just fine in this area of life.

    Evaluate yourself and allow others to evaluate you as well.

    So we figured out who the peacemakers are and who they are not.

    Now we need to answer the second question of the morning.

    Why are we congratulating the peacemakers?

    Why are they worthy of these big balloons that Pastor Jeff pointed out earlier?

    Why are they worthy of this big party?

    Well Jesus clearly tells us why in Matthew chapter 5 verse 9.

    He says, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God."

    So why are we congratulating the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God?

    I don't want to bore you with my seminary homework, but in the original Greek, "shall

    be called" is a verb in the continual future, passive tense.

    And some of you who didn't do very well in English like, "What in the world does that

    mean?"

    Let me make it really simple for you.

    Jesus is describing something that will be repeatedly declared about peacemakers in eternity.

    On this earth, peacemakers are often misunderstood.

    In this life, Christians are hit with the wildest of lies and accusations.

    Has that ever happened to you personally?

    A family member cuts ties and walks away even though you did nothing wrong.

    Someone at work causes others to think poorly of you because of a slight that has no basis

    in reality.

    A friend turns his or her back on you for seemingly no reason.

    In our culture, biblical peacemakers are called a lot of rude and untrue things.

    But if you are a genuine peacemaker, take heart in this astounding truth.

    One day, all of heaven will openly and eagerly acknowledge what is already true of you right

    now.

    You are a child of God.

    More specifically, you are a son of God.

    Ladies, you may be scratching your heads and thinking, "I'm a son, but I'm a woman.

    I don't want to be called a son of God."

    Trust me, you really do.

    2,000 years ago, sons were the ones who received the inheritance.

    They were heirs of so many blessings and privileges.

    In God's family, His daughters are treated like sons and heirs of His infinite riches.

    Both men and women enjoy the reward of sonship.

    We aren't equal footing with one another.

    Whether you're a man or a woman, you do not earn your sonship by being a peacemaker.

    You simply demonstrate your sonship by being a peacemaker.

    Let me encourage you.

    Those who label you with hateful names right now are showing themselves to be children of

    the enemy.

    Children of Satan who follow in His footsteps of slander and accusation.

    While you prove yourself to belong to your heavenly Father when you follow in His peaceful

    footsteps and refuse to sink to the level of this world.

    Sometimes my kids don't act the way that I would like them to in public.

    They can really embarrass me at the store by yelling, "No!" or questioning me.

    To be honest, in those moments, I wish I could take a massive step away from them and just

    say, "Whose child is this?

    There's a lost kid here.

    Excuse me, I need help.

    Can any other parents relate to me?"

    Okay, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

    Thank you, Jillian.

    One person was honest enough.

    Several years ago, my son, Sam, had a Christmas concert at school, and he was the only kid

    in the entire school who cried the whole time and didn't sing any of the songs.

    Kate and I just wanted to slide down in our seats and just fall through a trap door in

    the floor.

    Unfortunately, there was no trap door underneath of us.

    But the next year, Sam had a complete turnaround.

    He did awesome.

    He sang every song.

    He did all the motions, and he even gave the crowd a big thumbs up after he was done.

    I'll never forget how I felt in that moment with tears in my eyes.

    I wanted to yell out, "That's my son.

    That's my boy."

    God feels the same exact way about you if you're a peacemaker who actively seeks to promote

    and defend peace everywhere that you go.

    He wants everyone to know that you are one of his precious children.

    An eternity, the courts of heaven will ring out with God saying, "That's my child.

    He belongs to me.

    She is mine."

    Angels and other believers will wholeheartedly accept and agree with that truth.

    No one will ever misunderstand you ever again.

    You will be fully known by God and other believers forever.

    Does that sound worthy of congratulations?

    At this point, you may be thinking, "Okay, I get it.

    I know who the peacemakers are.

    I get what the reward is.

    I'm sold.

    How can I become a peacemaker?"

    Paul provides the answer to that question in Galatians chapter 2 verses 11 through 14,

    where he provides a personal example of peacemaking from his own life.

    Please turn there with me.

    Galatians chapter 2 verses 11 through 14.

    Galatians chapter 2 verses 11 through 14, "But when Cephas," that's the apostle Peter,

    "came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.

    For certain men came from James.

    For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles.

    But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.

    And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him.

    So even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

    But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said

    to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a

    Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?"

    This passage may seem random to you.

    It may seem off-topic, maybe thinking the word peace isn't even mentioned in these

    verses.

    It seems like Paul is picking a fight and causing trouble.

    But that's not true at all.

    I chose this passage because it demonstrates three important lessons about becoming a peacemaker.

    So how can I become a peacemaker?

    Number one, you're outlined by resting in the peace that Christ purchased for me.

    By resting in the peace that Christ purchased for me.

    You throughout biblical history, there was a tension between Jews and Gentiles.

    Jews held to restrict diet and schedule of worship while Gentiles did not.

    Gentiles did things that seemed very unacceptable to the Jews.

    And the Jews did things that seemed very strange to the Gentiles.

    These two groups didn't hang out and spend time together.

    They stayed as segregated as humanly possible.

    Their relationship was one of hostility, not peace.

    But that all changes with Jesus Christ.

    Christ came to bridge the massive gap between a holy God and sinful humanity in the process

    he did the same for Jews in Gentiles.

    Listen to what Paul has to say about this in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 13 through 14.

    But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood

    of Christ.

    For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh

    the dividing wall of hostility.

    There are many differences.

    Cannot compare to their greatest similarity, salvation in Jesus Christ.

    Before the cross, there was a wall that divided Jews and Gentiles from one another, but it

    has been torn down by the death and resurrection of Christ.

    Both Jewish and Gentile believers belong to the same God, have been adopted into the same

    family and have experienced the same peace.

    But this doesn't mean that Jewish and Gentile believers always sing kumbaya around the camp

    fire and enjoy perfect peace during the days of the early church.

    Peace must be actively promoted and defended or both parties are going to fall back into

    bad habits.

    And that's what happens in this passage.

    The apostle Peter becomes a part of the problem.

    He used to eat with the Gentiles and now he decides not to.

    Unity is broken.

    Peace is disturbed.

    Paul and Barnabas and the rest of the people they led astray are acting like peace takers

    and not peacemakers.

    They are trying to rebuild the wall that Christ has already demolished.

    They are making the gospel look very bad.

    And Paul is very concerned that they are making Christ look bad.

    And they are ruining the reputation of the church.

    So Paul knows he can't stand by and do nothing.

    Paul can recognize this issue because his spiritual antenna is always up to catch anything

    that threatens the unity of the church.

    Paul can seek after the right solution because he cares about the gospel more than anything

    else.

    Paul can be a peacemaker because he has personally rested in the peace that Christ purchased

    for him on the cross.

    As I said earlier, only Christians can enjoy the peace that God offers.

    You cannot share the peace of Christ if you have not personally experienced the peace

    of Christ for yourself.

    So I have to ask the most important question of the entire message.

    If you're just totally tuned out, please tune back in.

    Are you at peace with God?

    Are you at peace with God?

    And I know that question may seem so dumb to some of you.

    And you may say, "Well, of course I'm at peace with God.

    I'm sitting here, aren't I?

    I'm a good person.

    I do the right thing.

    If I weren't on good terms with God, I wouldn't be sitting here."

    All of those answers are wrong and unbiblical.

    Your peace with God has nothing to do with you and your list of accomplishments.

    Your peace with God has everything to do with Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished.

    Apart from faith in Jesus Christ, you hate God.

    No matter how much you say that you love Him, you are an enemy of God.

    You were at war with Him, not at peace with Him.

    But the great news this morning is that doesn't have to be true of you any longer.

    Colossians chapter 1 verses 20 through 22 tells us this, "That Christ came to reconcile

    to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His

    cross.

    And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds, He is now reconciled

    in His body of flesh by His death in order to present you holy and blameless and above

    reproach before Him."

    Christ purchased never-ending peace on the cross with His precious blood.

    But that peace can only be given to you if you ask for it and you accept it.

    You can be at peace with God right now if you turn from your sin and turn towards Jesus

    Christ for forgiveness and eternal life.

    If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised

    from the dead, you will be saved.

    You will transform from an enemy of God into one of His beloved friends.

    So the first step to become a peacemaker, you must first bow the knee to the Prince of Peace

    who freely offers what the world can never give.

    How can I become a peacemaker?

    Second step, by valuing the good of others above my feelings and preferences.

    By valuing the good of others above my feelings and preferences.

    Since Paul is so concerned with the integrity of the gospel and the unity of the church,

    he deeply cares about the ultimate good of his Christian brothers and sisters, Jewish

    and Gentile alike.

    But before we can talk about what Paul says and does, let's talk about what he doesn't

    say and do.

    First of all, he doesn't take Peter's side and ignore the Gentiles.

    But also notice from this text that Paul doesn't sidebar the Gentiles and say, "Man, I can't

    believe what Peter and Barnabas are doing to you guys.

    They are such jerks.

    You should be so angry with them and ignore them right back."

    That wouldn't be good for the Jews or the Gentiles.

    That would be childish behavior that belongs in the school playground and not in the church.

    Kids are obsessed with their feelings and preferences.

    I don't want milk in the blue sippy cup.

    I want it in the orange sippy cup.

    Kids not naturally care about the good of others.

    Susie's so weird.

    I'm not going to sit with her at lunch.

    Billy was mean to me, so I'm never going to talk to him ever again.

    I'm not going to say sorry and you can't make me.

    You may smile at those examples, but you may not be much better.

    So many professing Christians are little kids wearing adult clothes.

    They look like grown-ups.

    They certainly do not act like grown-ups.

    I have to ask you this morning, is that you?

    Are you a little kid in the church wearing adult clothes?

    Do you keep a mental file with personal offenses?

    Do you give the silent treatment to those who offend you or offend a loved one?

    Do you ignore people who frustrate you?

    Do you completely write people off?

    Face those ungodly attitudes and behaviors with godly disciplines.

    If someone offends you in a small way, you don't have to dwell on it and hold on to it.

    You can let it go.

    Proverbs 1911 says, "It is your glory to overlook and offense."

    That should become the new life first for many of us in this room.

    If someone maybe in the aisle next to you constantly annoys you and frustrates you instead of writing

    them off, write them notes of encouragement.

    And I promise you, your attitude towards this person will begin to change.

    If someone sins against you and refuses to apologize, pray for that person every single

    day.

    I can tell you from personal experience, it is so hard to hold on to anger and bitterness

    towards someone that you constantly lift up before the throne of grace.

    Harvest, it's time to put childish ways behind us.

    It's time to grow up and become peacemakers.

    It's time to put yourself last so others can come first.

    It's time to care more about the good of others than your petty preferences and flaky feelings.

    It's time to stop caring about what you want and to start caring about what other people

    need.

    How do I become a peacemaker finally by having a healthy view of conflict?

    By having a healthy view of conflict?

    So we've covered what Paul does not say and do.

    Now let's talk about what he does say and do to promote and defend peace at Antioch.

    Galatians 2.11 says that Paul opposes Peter to his face.

    And according to verse 14, Paul did this in front of everyone.

    Peter sinned publicly so he must be rebuked publicly.

    In verse 14 also lays out exactly what Paul says.

    If you though a Jew live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles

    to live like Jews?

    In other words, you are acting so too faced right now.

    You used to eat with the Gentiles, but now you act like they're inferior and they have

    to keep the Old Testament laws to be at the table with you.

    Cut it out right now.

    Paul isn't rude, but he is firm.

    Paul proves that peacemaking sometimes involves direct and uncomfortable conversations.

    A bone must be reset before it can be repaired.

    A wound has to be cleansed and disinfected before it can be healed.

    For a plant to thrive, the parts that are dying need to be cut off and primed.

    Biblical peace cannot be enjoyed in Antioch apart from this conflict between Peter and

    Paul.

    We often think that conflict gets in the way of peace, but sometimes it is the way towards

    peace.

    Paul has a healthy view of conflict which makes him a productive peacemaker.

    Every single one of you in this room, and myself included, we need to imitate his example

    and view conflict the way that he did.

    So what is a healthy view of conflict?

    Well really quickly, letter A in your outline, I shouldn't desire it.

    I shouldn't desire it.

    Paul isn't a fake tough guy looking to get into fist fights and arguments.

    He isn't making big deal out of nothing.

    He isn't just blow up at people who rub him the wrong way.

    Paul doesn't desire conflict and neither should you.

    But maybe you do desire conflict.

    Maybe you like drama when it pops up and you add fuel to the fire with gossiping and complaining.

    But please, don't be hungry for the next controversy, debate, and dispute.

    Instead, work hard to be the calmest and most collected person in every single room.

    Endeavor to be the person that other people invite into conflict because you are known

    for your helpfulness, your humility, and your wisdom.

    For this to happen, you must be quick to listen.

    Slow to speak and slow to anger.

    Or what is a healthy view of conflict?

    Letter B, I shouldn't fear it.

    I shouldn't desire it, but I shouldn't fear it.

    Paul isn't afraid of conflict.

    He isn't pacing on Antioch wondering what's going to happen if he opposes Peter.

    Oh no, what's going to happen?

    Were people going to think about me?

    No, he is confident.

    He's confident not in himself, but in the word of God and the spirit of God who lives

    within him.

    If you want to become a peacemaker, you have to get over your obsession with being liked

    and appreciated by everyone.

    When you are convinced that God approves of you, the disapproval of mere human beings

    loses its hold.

    And sometimes you need to hurt someone's feelings to tell them the truth.

    You can't make a peace on without breaking a few eggs.

    You can't rise above a painful situation without stepping on a few toes.

    You will fear conflict if you care more about the opinion of man than the commands of God.

    This may be hard for you to believe because I'm a pastor and I talk in front of people

    all the time, but I was painfully shy growing up.

    And I used to dread ordering food at a restaurant.

    And so I made my family do it for me.

    And my family who's not here right now, but they'll be happy to tell you more about that

    later on.

    So I used to tell them, "Okay, I'll give them my order."

    They would tell the waiter or they'd go to the cashier and tell them what I wanted.

    But there was just one particular Sunday after church growing up, my family was done.

    They were done with my avoidance tactics and they forced me to go up and order my own chocolate

    frosty at Wendy's.

    I got to tell you, I was terrified.

    I'll never forget that moment, just shuffling up to the counter with my crumpled up $1 bill,

    getting to the cashier, putting my head down, putting my hand up and saying, "Smell frosty."

    Guess what?

    Everything worked out just fine.

    The cashier was nice and I was able to enjoy the blessing of eating a chocolate frosty

    they ordered myself.

    I'm so glad that my family forced the issue and I stopped avoiding this important task.

    Maybe you need to force the issue.

    Maybe you need to stop avoiding the important task of dealing with a specific conflict in

    your life.

    If you need to confront someone or have a painfully honest conversation, do not procrastinate.

    Do not push it off any longer, rip off the bandit and do it today, not tomorrow, not next

    week and not some magical may have time when things slow down because guess what?

    Things are never ever going to slow down.

    You may be wondering, "Didn't Pastor Jeff already tell me this two weeks ago during his sermon

    on mercy?

    Jeff, didn't you say this already?"

    Yeah, he did say that.

    But did you listen?

    Did you follow through?

    Or did you decide not to listen and not to follow through?

    Now is your chance.

    Stop avoiding conflict because by doing so, you are delaying the blessing of true peace.

    And I know what some of you are thinking right now.

    Taylor, that's all well and good, but you don't know my spouse.

    He or she is so stubborn.

    You don't know my family.

    They are never going to change.

    Or you don't know that situation in my friend group that history is so long, it's so messy.

    My attempts to make peace will fall on deaf ears and not accomplish anything.

    Well, it seems like you have a very low view of what God is capable of.

    It seems like you've already decided that God cannot and will not change that person

    in situation.

    Is that mindset honoring to God?

    It's insulting to him.

    It's destructive to those you care about.

    It's harmful for your own soul.

    You have to take your eyes off of the results that you do or do not expect and choose to

    focus on your God-given responsibilities.

    What is your God-given responsibilities?

    Well, Paul tells us in Romans 12, 18, "If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably

    with all."

    You are responsible for the action of your peacemaking, not the response to your peacemaking.

    You cannot control other people's actions and reactions, but guess what?

    You can control your actions and your reactions.

    Do your small part of peacemaking and trust God with His big part that He will take care

    of the results.

    As the worship team comes forward, I have some final questions for you.

    Are you sick and tired of giving into the temptation to be a peacemaker or a peacetaker?

    Are you ready to make some big changes?

    Have you truly rested in the peace that Christ purchased on the cross?

    Are you willing to place your feelings and preferences aside so you can focus on the

    good of others in the unity of this church?

    Are you willing to deal with conflict in the biblical and healthy way?

    If your answer to those questions is yes, then I want to offer you my heartfelt congratulations.

    Congratulations to the peacemakers.

    Congratulations to the peacemakers for you shall be called sons of God.

    Let's pray.

    Father, we come to you and we admit our faults.

    We admit our sins.

    Lord, there's not one person in this room who shouldn't be feeling the conviction of

    your word.

    All of us can be peacepakers or peacetakers in different ways and around different people.

    Lord, I pray that by your spirit we would stop.

    Lord, we would put off anger.

    We would put off bitterness.

    We would put off giving people the silent treatment.

    And we would put on unity and harmony and love.

    Lord, we thank you that you didn't turn your backs on us.

    We want nothing to do with you.

    But you pursued after us through your Son and you gave us your perfect peace.

    Lord, help us to pursue after others to share that peace that you have given to us.

    We ask all this in Jesus' name.

    Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:9 & Galatians 2:11-14

  1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?

  2. What is biblical peace and how do we share it with others?

  3. How do you see yourself being a peace-faker or a peace-taker right now? How is the Lord calling you to address these issues and move forward?

  4. Which do you struggle with more: desiring conflict or avoiding conflict? Why are both harmful?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Congratulations to the Pure in Heart

Introduction:

Congratulations to Pure in Heart! (Matthew 5:8)

Who Are the "Pure in Heart"?

Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Matthew 15:19 - For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 - And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Psalm 24:3-4 - Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.

Why Are We Congratulating the Pure in Heart?

John 1:18 - No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Hebrews 11:27 - (Moses) endured as seeing him who is invisible.

How Do I Become Pure in Heart So I Can See God?

James 4:8 - ...purify your hearts, you double-minded.

1 John 3:3 - ...everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

1 Peter 1:22 - Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth…

How to Purify Yourself (Philippians 4:8):

Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

  1. Think True thoughts.
  2. Think Honorable thoughts.
  3. Think Just thoughts.
  4. Think Pure thoughts.
  5. Think Lovely thoughts.
  6. Think Commendable thoughts.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

  • Amen. Open your Bibles with me please to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5 as we continue

    our congratulations party. You ready to party? Pastor Taylor is ready to party. The rest

    of you overly affected by that hour change. I think we'd be used to that by now, right?

    Matthew chapter 5, are you there? This is Jesus' first sermon and I still contend it's

    the greatest sermon ever preached. And this is the introduction to Jesus' sermon. He

    says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are

    those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit

    the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be

    satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure

    in hearts, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called

    sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the

    kingdom of heaven." And in these statements commonly called the beatitudes, we have a

    spiritually logical flow. You have to see the beatitudes like a ladder or a staircase.

    This is a progressive journey Jesus is talking about here. And over and over and over and

    over, He says, "Blessed, blessed, blessed." You grab a Bible commentary, most people

    say, "Well, that means happy." But it means a lot more than happy. What Jesus is saying

    is, "If this describes you," He's saying, "Congratulations because God has something

    awesome in store for you." This is what Christ followers are meant to be. So I'd like you

    to bow your heads for a second and I'm going to ask you would please pray for me. I am

    keenly aware that I am inadequate. It's just that sometimes I feel it a lot more than

    other times. And I'm going to tell you today's one of those days. With the verse that's before

    us today, I feel so grossly inadequate to capture the grandness of this verse. The Bible

    says our sufficiency is from Christ. It's not about me. It's about the truth of His

    Word. It's about the power of His Holy Spirit. So I'm going to ask that you would please

    pray for me to that end and I will pray for you as we get into God's Word together. Let's

    pray. Father in heaven, we're always completely dependent on You for everything. And I don't

    know if we'll ever feel that more than we will over these next few minutes. God, I pray

    that Your light shine in the dark places and we're not so concerned with what other people

    think we should be. Father, let us be concerned with what You say we should be. Father, we

    thank You for Your commitment into making us those people. Father, exalt Your name. Let

    Your Word be greatly exalted in our hearts. We pray in Jesus' name. And all of God's

    people said, Amen. So, the party continues today as we say congratulations to the pure

    and heart. Let's look at the verse again. I can't think of any verse in the Bible that's

    more majestic and awe-inspiring than this verse. When Jesus, in describing our spiritual

    journey, says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Where do you start

    with a verse like that? Well, let's talk about first of all, who are the pure in heart? Let's

    start there. Who are we congratulating? Who are the pure in heart? Well, let's do a little

    Bible study here, shall we? Let's talk about the heart. When we talk about the heart, we're

    not talking about the muscle that pumps the blood here, okay? Biblically, the heart is

    the center of your personality. Your heart is the part of you that you don't see in the

    mirror. It's who you really are. It has to do with your will and your emotions and your

    intellect. That's your heart. And biblically, there's a big problem. Your heart is bent

    to sin. We inherited that from Adam. Jeremiah 17:9 says the heart is deceitful above all

    things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? We are born with a heart that is not pure.

    And according to Jeremiah, your heart is a sick liar. What did Jesus say about the heart?

    Matthew 15, 19, "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality,

    theft, false witness, slander." Look, mankind is evil. And sociologists try to pin that

    on environment. And yes, yes, how you were raised and where you were raised does have

    a bearing on who you are. Absolutely true, but that's not the root problem. And some

    people want to put the problem on education. Like, you know what the problem is? People

    just need more education. I am not against education. That's not the root of the problem

    either. You know what the root of the problem is? According to God's Word, your heart is

    evil. My heart, by birth, inherited from Adam, is evil. That's the problem. So that's what

    the heart is, but Jesus says, "Blessed are the pure in hearts." Well, what do we mean

    by pure? Pure means to be cleansed from the filth of sin. Because we are, as we said in

    the first part of our party here, because we are poor in spirits, we are not naturally

    pure in hearts. We need God to cleanse us. We've been talking about that, right? Actually,

    you know, God does something better than cleanse your heart. Ezekiel 36, "I will give you a

    new heart and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone

    from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause

    you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." Jesus, God does something

    so much better than just take our old nasty sinful heart and clean it up. He takes that

    out and He gives us a new heart, a heart that loves Him and a heart that wants to obey Him.

    That's what it means to be pure in heart. You're like, "Okay, all right, all right,

    I got the concept." But what does the pure in heart look like? What does that... Okay,

    please, I get your... You're hitting us with these theological concepts here, but just

    brass tacks. What does it look like to be pure in heart? Well, we don't have to guess

    that either because God tells us that in Psalm 24. I love it. Look at this. It says, "Who

    shall ascend the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in His holy place?" It's like,

    who can stand before God? Look, He has clean hands and a pure heart. Like, well, what is

    that? He tells us who does not lift up His soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.

    Do you see that? The Psalmist says, "How am I going to be worthy to step into the presence

    of God?" He says, "You've got to be pure in heart." That means, first of all, you don't

    lift up your soul to what is false. That means you are 100% dedicated to the glory of God

    in every area of your life, not just an hour and Sunday morning. Every area of my life is

    holy ground for the Lord. It is all dedicated to God. And He says, "No deceit." There's

    nothing hidden. There's no hypocrisy. There's no... I put on a face for church, but they

    don't know who I really am. You're pure in heart, everywhere. To sum it up, the pure

    in heart is someone who has been transformed from the inside out. It's evidenced by a manner

    of life motivated solely by a desire to make every aspect of their lives an act of worship.

    That is the pure in heart. So, why are we congratulating them? You know, there's something in us right

    now. They are like, "This is so hokey and nerdy. We're celebrating somebody that's pure.

    There's something in us that rails against that." And that's an indicator that we have

    a problem. We should be celebrating the pure, not making fun of the pure, because Jesus

    celebrated the pure. Why? Why? Why are we celebrating the pure in heart? Well, at least

    as blessed are the pure in hearts for they shall see God. Again, the word "they" in

    all of these Beatitudes is emphasized in the Greek. Jesus is pointing out it's exclusive.

    Like, who sees God? Jesus says the pure in heart, "They shall see God." And the verb

    tense is continuous. Not, "You see God once or twice in your life." It's, "I'm constantly

    seeing God." And I got to tell you, it's just, it is so hard for me to capture this

    verse in the way that it needs. Because this statement, this should fill us with awe. People

    who are pure in hearts get to see God. What does that mean? What does it mean to see God?

    Wow, it's impossible in the physical sense to see God. John 1.18 says, "No one has ever

    seen God." God, the only Son who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known. You

    see, John says, "Nobody's seen God, but when we saw Jesus we saw God, but no one has ever

    seen God." Well, you're like, "Well, what about Moses?" Well, Moses in Exodus 33 asked

    to see God's glory. But do you remember what God said to Moses? He said, "No one can see

    me and live." But that takes us to a very peculiar verse in the book of Hebrews about

    Moses where it says, "Moses endured as seeing Him who is invisible." What? Moses endured

    as, you see this? As seeing Him who is invisible. You're like, "How do you see someone who's

    invisible?" The answer is faith. You see, every one of these Beatitudes, every single one

    of them, have both a now and a later fulfillment. Yes, when we see God later, yes, we will eventually

    yes in heaven. We are going to see God, right? Revelation 22.4 tells us that. Absolutely,

    someday we are going to see God. But now, like Moses, we do get to literally see God

    with eyes of faith. I'm like, "How in the world can I explain that?" And it occurred

    to me that to the people that get it, I don't really have to explain it. And to the people

    that don't get it, there's not a thing that I can say that will make it make sense. But

    the people who get it, get it. The pure in heart see God like no one else can. The pure

    in heart see God in a way that you just can't describe it. Like, "Well, what do you mean?"

    Well, the pure in heart, we see God in nature. We see God's hand in everything that He created.

    We're just like, "Wow, look at the design of this. Wow, look at the glory of God reflected

    in what He made." We see God in history. We see God at work in world events, especially

    through His people, Israel. We're like, "Look, that's obviously God." We see God in His word.

    His wisdom on every page, promises fulfilled. Oh, and not just like reading in the book,

    but we see God when we apply His word and watch His hand at work fulfilling the promises

    that He made to us. And that's, look, that's the objective stuff. And I could go on and

    on and on, but there's a subjective sense of this that we cannot deny, that we see God

    personally. We see God in His sovereignty and the events in my life that I look back.

    I can't deny God actively at work every step of this journey. I can't deny that because

    I couldn't explain this any other way. We see God personally through the peace that

    He gives. We were just singing about that, weren't we? Like, the whole world is crumbling

    around us and we're like, "God's got this." Yeah, it's a rough patch, but God's got this.

    Where does that peace come from? That's seeing God. You see, you'll never convince the pure

    in heart that God is absent because the pure in heart are constantly seeing God everywhere.

    So that really leaves us with one question. As we've been asking in all of these, let's

    ask it again. How do I become pure in heart so I can see God? You know, you might be sitting

    here saying, "You know, that sounds pretty magnificent to be able to see the Creator,

    the sovereign of the universe." We're like, "How can I become pure in hearts so I can

    see God?" You know, maybe there's a better question to ask.

    Do you really want to see God? Do you really want to? Because here's the truth. Not everybody

    really does. You're like, "What do you mean?" Well, do you want to see the police? You're

    like, "Yeah, why not?" What if you're speeding? You get it? It's the same with God. If you're

    living in sin, if your life is lived in such a way that you know you're dishonoring God,

    you sure don't want to run into Him? So do you really want to? Would you rather just explain

    this away, make this some silly, flowery, poetic concept, sort of dismiss the impact

    of the truth of the words of Jesus Christ and just go about your day and live however

    you want to live? Would you rather just do that? I think most of us would. Because you

    got to admit there's a real scary sense in which we say we will see God. If you want

    to see God, according to Jesus, you got to be pure in heart. Like, how does that happen?

    Well, we've already talked about that. Only God can change you. Only God can do that work.

    But you know, I do a lot of reading. I do a lot of reading. And I read so many times

    this week in studying this verse, so many people said, "You can't make yourself pure.

    You can't make yourself pure." Listen, you can't make yourself pure. You can't make

    yourself... I read that so many times. And I kind of had a little problem with that.

    Do you know why I had a problem with that? Do you realize how many times the Bible tells

    you to purify yourself? There is a real sense in which you carry some responsibility for

    your purity. Yes, God changes your heart 100 percent. But over and over and over, God says,

    "Purify yourself." What do we mean? Well, James 4/8. We studied this one a few weeks

    ago. James says, "Purify your hearts." You double-minded. That's a command. Well, you're

    like, "Well, James is kind of a hard guy." Well, what about John, right? First John 3/3.

    John, who thus hopes in him, like, "There it is again." Do you see that? Purifies himself

    as he is pure. Do you see the responsibility put it... It's on us, in a sense, isn't it?

    You're like, "Well, yeah, that was John." But, you know, Peter wouldn't say something

    like that, would he? Well, look at 1 Peter having purified your souls by your obedience

    to the truth. Oh, and there's more. Well, like 2 Corinthians 7/1, Paul says it. So there

    we have James, John, Peter, and Paul all giving a command. Look, you have a responsibility

    here because every New Testament writer tells us here that we have to purify ourselves.

    Well, like, well, how does that happen? The battle for purity is waged between your ears.

    It's in your mind. Listen, what goes in your car affects its performance, doesn't it? What

    goes in your body affects your health, doesn't it? What goes in your computer affects the

    kinds of programs that it runs, doesn't it? What goes in your mind affects your purity?

    Because what goes in your mind... We're not only talking about your thoughts, but we're

    also talking about from there comes your words. From there come your actions. What goes in

    your mind affects your purity. And I get to tell you, America, we have such a problem

    there because we fill our minds with so much sewage from the TV and the Internet. Everything

    is sexual images and crude jokes and violence and hatred and... We're pumping that stuff

    into our heads and then we wonder why we don't really feel or act in a pure way. It's because

    you're allowing too much impurity in here. What do we do about that? One verse. How to

    purify yourself. Let's just look at one verse. That if you're willing to commit yourself

    to this verse, you are going to see exponential growth in this area in your life. How to purify

    yourself. This is from Philippians 4:8. Oh, and it's a loaded verse. Let's look at it.

    Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is

    pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence, if there's anything

    worthy of praise, think about these things. So how to purify yourself. This is not complicated.

    Just look at the list. We're going to go through these very, very quickly. All right. How to

    purify yourself. First of all, number one, think true thoughts. Like what are true thoughts?

    Jesus said in John 17, "Thy Word is truth." God gave us, He gave us a book. Do you know

    why God gave us a book? He didn't give us a digital download or a Blu-ray. Why did God

    give us a book? Because a book engages our minds. Get into it. Do you have a Bible reading

    plan? Get one. And that doesn't have to be complicated either. You know what my Bible

    reading plan is? Open it. Read it. Repeat. But you need to be reading this. You need

    to be praying this back to God, as we talked about in the youth group last couple weeks.

    You need to be meditating on it. You need to be memorizing verses. You need to get this

    in your head and in your hearts. And you're going to find it so much easier to catch thoughts

    that don't line up with God's Word and you're going to be able to replace those thoughts

    accordingly. So think true thoughts. That's what you should be swirling around your head.

    Is this what God said? Does this line up with God's Word? And the second one flows straight

    from that. Think honorable thoughts. Think honorable thoughts. Like, well what does that

    mean? Well any scenario you face, something you should immediately be considering is this.

    How would Jesus think about this? Remember the WWJD bracelets? Remember that? Some of

    you do? What was that, 90's? We're bringing them back. How about WWJD arm band tattoos?

    Do you do cultish? I got to admit though, I like the concept. Constantly asking, how

    would Jesus think about this? You see an attractive opposite sex person. Where does your mind

    immediately go? Like, well what would Jesus think about this? What would Jesus think about

    her? You've been sinned against and you're tempted to retaliate or one up or what would

    Jesus think about this? Or you heard that juicy rumor. What would Jesus think about

    that if somebody went up and said that to him? You see, that's why the Bible says,

    think honorable thoughts. Alright, number three, think just thoughts. Think just thoughts.

    You're like, just what? Not just as an only, just as in what's right, what's fair, what's

    proper. And that's so important because you know where our minds, because of our bent

    to sin, because of our sinful flesh, our thoughts often times immediately go to what's

    best for me. What's going to be to my advantage? Instead of that, we need to be saying, what's

    the just thing? How can I do what is impartial? That's the kind of stuff that needs to be

    swirling around your head. Number four, think pure thoughts. Think pure thoughts. It's a

    little embarrassing that I have to say this to the church. Get your minds out the gutters,

    okay? Not everything has to turn into an anatomy joke. It's not funny. It is so not funny.

    But for some people, that's immediately where their mind goes. That tells you where their

    heart is. It's not funny. It's not appropriate. And it's certainly not pure. Look, are you

    interested in seeing God or not? You have to ask yourself, does this thought that I

    have line up with God's design for sex? And that's why pornography is the biggest purity

    killer, men. And, sad to say, even for many women, we put images in our minds that have

    no business being in there. Pure thinking is my affection, physical attraction, thoughts,

    all of the stuff in that area, those are all reserved for my spouse. Like, well, I'm not

    getting married, okay? Your future spouse. You're like, well, I'm not planning on getting

    married. Okay, well, then think about something else. But get your mind out of the gutter.

    So dishonoring. So impure. Number five is think lovely thoughts. Lovely. That word's right

    up there with chili. Here's what it literally means, though. I know it sounds very flowery,

    but literally the word means friendly towards. It's just talking about, you know what should

    be in your mind? Things that are pleasing and attractive and positive. There's so many

    ugly things that we think about, and we dwell on them. And that leads to impurity. Things

    like envy. Why does he have something I don't have? I deserve that. He doesn't deserve that.

    I deserve that. We get that stuff in our minds that leads to impurity. Another ugly thing

    that swirls around our heads being critical. Just critical. Some people just like, they're

    ready to slap down a Yelp review on everything. Everything. Like, wow. Look at her coat. Three

    stars. Wow. Look at Pastor Taylor's shoes. One star. Do not recommend. There's nothing

    wrong with his shoes. But you get my point. Some people are just in that constant, harshly

    critical mode. Constantly turning their nose up at everything. Think lovely thoughts. Whatever

    is lovely. Another ugly thing that goes into our head is hatred. Some people just have

    something against everybody. That's how you look, how you talk, where you're from, how

    you dress, the kind of car, whatever. It's just hatred. But you know, the Bible tells

    us we need to purify ourselves. That when those thoughts come into your head, you say,

    "No, no, no. That's going down a dark and negative place. I don't need to go there."

    My mind isn't going to go there. And then finally, number six, think commendable thoughts. Think

    commendable thoughts. Have you ever been around that guy? You know who I mean. You know that

    guy? The guy that... Not that guy. That guy. The guy that constantly has to rip on everything.

    Now look, I love a good yuck as much as the next person. But some people are just constantly

    thinking it everything through the lens of how can I make fun of this? It gets old. It

    gets old. So instead of thinking how can I make fun of this, thinking commendable thoughts

    means instead you're thinking how can I be an encouragement. Are you constantly looking

    to tear people down because you think you're so hilarious? Or instead are you looking to

    build people up as God commands us to do? Okay, that's a lot. Can you sum it up? Sure.

    He says if there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, that sums it up.

    Doesn't it? Your mind should be on what's excellent and praiseworthy. Here's a good

    sentence to... A good question to ask yourself to sum it up. When you have these thoughts

    going through your head, ask yourself is this something that people think about in heaven?

    If not, then I should be thinking about something different. Paul says think about these things.

    You know there's very little that you can control in your life. And that is a glaring

    truth that has become more and more obvious to me with every passing year. There is so

    little that I can control in my life, but there is one thing. There is one thing that

    I and only I can control. And same for you, one thing that only you can control. And that

    is what you choose to think about. So God's given you a new heart. You're commanded to

    keep it clean. So are you pure in heart? Are you pursuing and growing and being pure from

    the inside out? Is that your desire? Is that what you're after? Well then on behalf of

    our Lord, on the authority of His Word, and speaking on behalf of the leadership of the

    Harvest Bible Chapel, I would like to wish you a congratulations. I would like to congratulate

    you because if that is you, you are going to see God. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven,

    I don't even know what to say. Father, it just seems so hard to preach a concept that

    seems so foreign to our culture. But you have called us to be a different culture. You

    have called us out of the world and into your glorious kingdom. You have called us to live

    as citizens of heaven now while we're making our way through our short time on earth. Father,

    we thank you for the glorious promise of regeneration that comes through faith in Jesus Christ

    but Father, we sometimes are just too content to ignore the very clear commands of your

    Word that we are to purify ourselves. So Father, I pray for all of us here at Harvest Bible

    Chapel, those who are watching this and listening to this all over the world. Father, give us

    a desire to pursue you that includes eliminating everything in our lives that is fighting against

    purity. Father, we want nothing more than to glorify you. We want nothing more than to

    know you and we have this glorious promise from your Son that we will get to actually see you here and now.

    And I can't think of a better promise that you would give us. Thank you Father. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:8 & Philippians 4:8

  1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?

  2. What did Jesus mean when He said the pure in heart will “see God”? How would you explain “seeing God” to a brand new believer?

  3. What does controlling your thoughts have to do with purifying yourself? How are these connected?

  4. Which of the “things to think about” from Philippians 4:8 do you personally find the hardest to dwell on? Why?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Congratulations to the Merciful

Introduction:

Who Are The "Merciful"? (Matthew 5:7)

Ephesians 2:4 - But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us...

Titus 3:5 - he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy...

Acts 7:60 - And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them."

Why Are We Congratulating the Merciful?

Matthew 6:12 - and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Matthew 6:14 - For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you...

Luke 6:37 - ...forgive, and you will be forgiven...

Ephesians 4:32 - Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Colossians 3:13 - ...forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

How Can I Be Merciful?

Matthew 18:21

5 Excuses People Give for Not Forgiving:

  1. They have to Come To Me .
  2. I'll forgive but I won't Forget .
  3. They'll just do it Again .
  4. They don't want to Reconcile .
  5. I just Can't .

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:7 and Matthew 18:21-35

  1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?

  2. Is Jesus teaching that receiving mercy (from God) is contingent on giving mercy (to others)? Why or why not?

  3. What does it mean that the word “mercy” is associated with feelings? In other words - what role do feelings play in being merciful?

  4. Give a short summary of the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35). What’s the main point of the parable?

  5. How would you respond to someone in your small group who says “I will never forgive that person for what they did.”?

Breakout
Pray for one another. Who do you need to forgive? Hold each other accountable to pray for that person and reach out to them.