Matthew 5: The Sermon on the Mount: The Beatitudes (4)

Pray Psalm 15.1.
LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle?
Who may dwell in Your holy hill?

Sing contemplatively Psalm 15.1.
(Arlington: This Is the Day the Lord Has Made)
Lord, who may dwell within Your tent, or on Your holy hill?
All those who keep Your covenant and walk within Your will.

Read Matthew 5.1-8; meditate on verses 7, 8.

Prepare.
1. Who are they who know the Lord’s blessings in His Kingdom?

2. Of what do those blessings consist, as we see them in these verses?

Meditate.
The first two beatitudes show us that entry is possible to the Kingdom Jesus proclaims, but only for those who recognize their impoverishment, mourn over their sinfulness, repent, and believe the Good News that the Kingdom is at hand.

The next set of beatitudes shows us the broad sweep of the Kingdom, and the purpose of Christ’s bringing it near, and us into it. He intends to fill the earth with His righteousness!

The remaining verses in the beatitudes outline some goals and expectations for life within the Kingdom. Once we have entered it, and have set our hearts to achieve its broad objectives, we can get busy about the daily work of seeking and advancing the Kingdom.

We can summarize verse 7 as follows: Show mercy, get mercy (cf. Ps. 18.25). Mercy includes a variety of affections and disciplines, including compassion, kindness, forgiveness, generosity, perseverance, and so forth. In the Kingdom, God intends to channel His mercy through us, to one another and to the world. But we must show mercy to others to make room in our soul for God to give us more mercy to bestow. In the Kingdom, this is what we do: We flood our Personal Mission Fields with mercy – just like Jesus did His – and we experience the Lord showing us more mercy, and giving us more mercy, that we might have more mercy to share.

What a great idea!

The second attribute characterizing those who live in the Kingdom (v. 8) can be summarized with equal conciseness: Be pure, see Purity (cf. again Ps. 18.25, where for blameless read pure; cf. v. 26). We need to see God daily if we’re going to sustain the demands of Kingdom living. We need to see Him, seeing us, watching over us, speaking to us from His Word, filling and overflowing in us by His Spirit, granting us an ever-clearer vision of Himself in glory (Col. 3.1-3). But we will only be able to see Him Who is altogether pure and lovely by being pure ourselves (cf. Ps. 66.18). Thus, life in the Kingdom involves not only receiving mercy from God and showing mercy to others, but keeping our eye on Jesus, and our souls cleansed of everything that keeps us from growing in Him. The more we see of His purity, by keeping ourselves pure and looking on Him, the more we will grow to be like Him, and thus the more we will show mercy to the world.

Again, what a great plan!

Now that we’re in the Kingdom, what should we do? What should we expect? To begin with: Show mercy, and keep yourself pure; if you do, you’ll have more mercy to share, and you will see God!

Reflect.
1. What is it like to experience God showing you mercy? How does He do that?

2. Why is mercy so greatly needed in your Personal Mission Field?

3. What must we do to see God? What does that mean?

The pure of heart are those who have gotten rid of sin’s filth, have cleansed themselves of all the pollution of the flesh and have pleased God through works of faith and justice. As David testifies in a psalm, “Who will climb up the Lord’s mountain, or who will stand in his holy place? The one with innocent hands and a pure heart, who has not received his soul in vain.” And David, rightly knowing that God can be seen only with a pure heart, prays as follows in the psalm, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” So the Lord shows that it is pure-hearted people like this who are blessed. Chromatius (fl. ca. 400), Tractate on Matthew 17.6.3-4

Lord, help me to show mercy today as I…

Pray Psalm 15.2-5.
This psalm deals with the kind of character they have who dwell in the Kingdom of the Lord. Use it to let the Lord search your soul, and to help you set some practical goals for growing in His mercy and grace.

Sing Psalm 15.2-5.
Psalm 15.2-5 (Arlington: This Is the Day the Lord Has Made)
All they who with integrity work peace and righteousness,
forever in God’s house shall be forgiven, kept, and blessed.

Let truth from every heart proceed, and slander disappear:
Thus shall we know God’s grace indeed and feel His presence near.

No evil to your neighbor speak, nor turn against your friend:
Thus shall you know the end you seek – God’s presence without end.

Let every sinner be despised; but those who fear the Lord
shall honor have before our eyes, according to God’s Word.

All they who keep their word in faith, though suffering may ensue,
shall know the favor of God’s grace, His presence ever true.

No greed and no injustice shall they do who seek the Lord;
but on His mercy ever call and stand upon His Word.

T. M. Moore

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).