The "Be" Attitudes and also the "Be" Actions - Matthew 5:1-12

 


This is the meadow above the Cascade Falls on the North Inlet.  You are looking at Snow Drift Mountain in the center.  I am hanging right at the 10,000 mark but next week I will have an opportunity to go up another 1,000.  I am thankful to be hiking with others who have been to these places before.  Thank you Anna and Phil for the trekking poles for Christmas last year.  

We ventured into the Sermon on the Mount last Sunday.  What does a disciple of Jesus look like and act like?  The Beatitudes give us a good picture.  

  • One who knows he needs God.  (poor in spirit)
  • One who is physically impacted by his sin.  (mourn)
  • One who is under control because he is following divine instructions.  (meek)
  • One who can't get enough of Jesus.  (hunger & thirst for righteousness)
  • One who thinks and acts on behalf of others more than himself.  (merciful)
  • One who keeps devotion to God by keeping short accounts through confession.  (pure in heart)
  • One who points others to God.  (peacemaker)
  • One who endures the consequences for being a Jesus' follower.  (persecuted)
  • One who can rejoice because he looks ahead to heaven and back to those who have done the same.  (rejoice and be glad)

Anytime we have a list given to us in the Scriptures, we have the temptation to think, "If I can just do better."  We might also evaluate which ones we have "in the bag" and which ones "need a little help."  The point made at the end of the sermon is that something from the outside needs to happen for us to fulfill these Beatitudes.  We are not capable on our own.  God needs to change our hearts (from a heart of stone) so that we think and see with our head (renewing our minds) as He thinks and sees and then use our hands to touch others with the gospel with our words and deeds (evangelism & discipleship).

Two of the Beatitudes are in the present tense, (for theirs is) salvation and persecution, which happen now in the kingdom of heaven.  The rest of the Beatitudes are in the future tense (they shall be) for we will realize these more fully when we are with Jesus face to face.  

I can't help but think of Gaylord Family Fellowship when I went through the book of Matthew chapter by chapter and verse by verse the first time with a congregation.  That would have been about 20 years ago.  God is going to use His words to keep transforming our lives to be more like Him to the world around us.

Below is a picture of me at the top of the raging and roaring Cascade Falls.  I am thankful to be in this place at this time to not only hike some of this glorious creation of God but also to hike with this part of God's family.  Pray with me that others join us here on this hike to glory!

Adam






A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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