It has been said that repetition is the key to real learning. We need to be reminded of spiritual truths, even those that we know well (see 2 Pet. 1:12-13). Allow me, then, to remind you what true blessedness is. Blessedness is not having all your wishes fulfilled, expectations met, or dreams come true. True blessedness is found in resting in God, being at peace with him and experiencing his favour.
 
One of the wonderous ways in which we experience the Lord’s favour, is through his mercy. The Bible uses several related words to describe mercy. The first could be translated as compassion. It is used in passages like 2 Cor. 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort”. Here God’s mercy is displayed in his compassion for the suffering (as in the NIV). God is moved by the plight of the world and cares for those who are suffering, whether it is because of their own sin, the sins of others, or the fallenness of the world.

A different but related word is used in Matt. 9:36: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Here, Christ’s mercy is a deep feeling of affection, pity, or love. Jesus was deeply moved by the spiritual plight of the crowds who followed him.

In our next beatitude, however, Jesus uses yet another, even stronger word to describe mercy. Here mercy not only describes feeling, but action. Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

What Jesus taught would have been considered “countercultural”, maybe even revolutionary. One Roman philosopher called mercy “the disease of the soul”. They valued justice, courage, discipline, and power. Mercy was seen as a sign of weakness. Many among the Jews held to similar views. They couldn’t wait for the reign of the Messiah to start so that they could avenge themselves on their enemies. But Jesus called for something quite different.

What does it mean to show mercy? The merciful not only feel compassion, they act accordingly. For example, in 1 John 3:18 we are told not only to love “in word or talk, but in deed and in truth”. In the preceding verse, we are warned that those who don’t show mercy have probably not received God’s mercy. We see similar admonitions in 1 John 4:20 and James 2:14-17. Mercy is a mark of true faith.

We don’t deny that unbelievers can be merciful. Of course they can, but their mercy focuses on the physical plight of man. What about the soul? Christian mercy seeks to meet the physical and spiritual needs of others wherever possible. That is what Christ did. He healed and preached. He fed their bodies as well as their souls.
Those who follow the merciful Christ, will show mercy to others as well.
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Because of Christ,
Pieter

The Beatitudes give us a picture of true blessedness, and it differs a lot from what we see in movies or read in romance novels. True blessedness is not measured the size of your house or the top speed of your car. Instead, it is that happy state in which the believer experiences God’s favour. Blessedness is about our character, not our circumstances.

In the fourth beatitude, Jesus explains that the blessed “hunger and thirst”. We’ve all felt hungry and thirsty, but chances are we are only vaguely familiar with the kind of hunger and thirst Jesus describes in this beatitude. In the ancient Near East, the average working man would only eat meat once a week. Many people lived on the border of starvation. Water was even more precious than food, with most settlements built around or near a reliable water supply. It is said that a person can survive for 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food.

Have you ever experienced that kind of hunger or thirst? Jesus is talking about a strong, passionate spiritual desire – a need that must be satisfied. Psalm 42:1-2 famously captures this kind of spiritual longing in its opening verses: “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” David had a similar longing for God: “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” (Psalm 63:1). They longed for God’s presence as a dying man would long for food or water.

John Blanchard highlights a particular danger in modern Christianity. Many professing believers are like cars that are running on empty. From the outside there seems to be nothing wrong with the car, but the fuel light is on, and the driver isn’t paying attention. Suddenly the car starts to sputter and then it stops. Outwardly, many professing believers live respectable lives, attending church and using religious words, but they are empty. They have no sense of urgency or need. They do not hunger or thirst for God. Most dangerous of all, they may not even be aware of it (like the church of Laodicea; see Rev. 3:17).

Martyn Lloyd-Jones gives us a timely reminder: “I do not know of a better test that anyone can apply to himself or herself in this while matter of the Christian profession than a verse like this. If this verse is to you one of the most blessed statements of the whole of Scripture you can be quite certain that you are a Christian; if it is not, then you had better examine the foundations again.” Hunger and thirst are signs of life and indicators of health (see 1 Pet. 2:2). A loss of appetite is usually not a good sign.

What does a loss of spiritual hunger look like? Thomas Watson gives several examples.
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• First, those who do not hunger for righteousness do not feel their emptiness. In other words, he lacks the awareness of the first beatitude. He writes: “None so empty of grace as he that thinks himself full. He has most need of righteousness that least wants it.”
• Second, those who do not hunger for righteousness do not feel a need for it. Related to the first, but here the professing believer thinks he or she can go without it for a season.
• Third, those who do not hunger for righteousness “desire rather sleep than food. They are more drowsy than hungry.” They are in a spiritual stupor and don’t want to wake up from it.
• Fourth, those who do not hunger for righteousness “refuse their food… Such are your fanatics and enthusiasts who put away the blessed ordinances and pretend to revelations… They live on airy notions”.
• Fifth, those who do not hunger for righteousness “delight more in the garnishing of the dish than the food.” They are more interested in the eloquence of the preaching than its content.
• Sixth, those who do not hunger for righteousness “prefer other things before it, namely, their profits and recreations.” 
• Seventh, those who do not hunger for righteousness “are more for disputes in religion than practice.”

Thomas Guthrie, a Scottish preacher, wrote: “If you find yourself loving any pleasure better than your prayers, any book better than the Bible, any house better than the house of God, any table better than the Lord’s table, any person better than Christ, any indulgence better than the hope of heaven – take alarm!”
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Because of Christ,
Pieter

Our relationship with God has a profound impact on our relationship with others. Those who are meek toward God, will also be meek in their relationships with others. We know what meekness toward God looks like. It means submitting to God’s providence and obeying his Word. What does meekness toward others look like?

This is an important question, and one that we must answer if we are to live spiritually fruitful lives. Consider Moses, who led the people of Israel out of Egypt. He put up with their constant complaining, frequent rebellion, and even their rejection. Numbers 12:3 gives us a remarkable description of his character: “Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.” There is no doubt that much of his impact can be traced back to this trait.

Consider Christ, who dealt so gently with the broken and endured so much hostility from his enemies. He described himself as “gentle and lowly in heart” (Matt. 11:29). Paul would later appeal to the Corinthian believers “by the meekness and gentleness of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:1). Jesus exemplified what he commended in the third beatitude.
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When we consider their example, we learn that meekness toward man means bearing injuries. A meek spirit is not easily provoked. Thomas Watson likened it to wet tinder which does not easily catch fire. In Psalm 38:12-13 David writes about the traps that were set for him and the treachery of his enemies. He, however, was “like a deaf man; I do not hear, like a mute man who does not open his mouth.” A meek man knows how to take a proverbial punch and not punch back.

Meekness means not being hasty or short-tempered. Eccl. 7:9 warns us not to be “quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.” A fool is like gunpower which lights at the slightest spark and explodes to the hurt and harm of all around. The meek are not prone to anger or resentment. This does not mean that they cannot experience anger, or that they don’t experience holy anger. The meek know that even our righteous anger quickly turns into sinful rage when we let it run riot.

Meekness toward man means we aren’t malicious. Malice is mental murder (1 John 3:15: “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”). Jesus taught his disciples to pray: “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Matt. 6:12).

Meekness toward man means letting go of revenge. If malice is the scum of anger, revenge is what happens when malice boils over. When this happens, malice seeks to harm and ruin another. We want to hurt them. We want them to suffer. This is so foreign to the character of Christ that those who pursue revenge have reason to doubt their faith. The meek trust in a righteous God; they know God will deal righteously with those who harm his people (see Rom. 12:19). 

Meekness is also opposed to gossip. This is one of the most destructive forms of character assassination and one that has only gotten worse with the advent of social media. Eph. 4:31 is clear: “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” Notice how slander is linked to malice. Our words reveal what is in our heart (Matt. 12:34). James 3:6 warned that the tongue (and we should add the keyboard) can be a terribly destructive force. 

We need to grow in meekness, but how? If we would grow in meekness, we must meditate on the gospel daily. We ought to look to Jesus. He is the perfect example of meekness. One of the ways in which Christ exemplified meekness, was in his readiness to forgive. He taught his disciples the importance of forgiveness: “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Matt. 11:25). Being forgiven means that we ought to forgive as well (Eph. 4:32).

Another way in which Jesus exemplified meekness, was in returning good for evil (see Matt. 5:43-48). When we feed our enemies or give them something to drink (Rom. 12:20), we are following the example of Christ. I’ve been reading 1 & 2 Samuel in my quiet-time and I’ve been amazed at the meekness of David even as Saul pursued him. He constantly gave Saul what he did not deserve, and ultimately his meekness won the day, not Saul’s anger.

Which brings us to the blessing associated with meekness: “they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5). The victory is not achieved through power, oppression, or might. Christ conquered through the cross. In a similar way, our inheritance is secured by the strength of meekness – the same meekness we see in our Saviour.

Because of Christ,
Pieter

Jesus commends meekness in his third beatitude: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5). Meekness is often mistaken for weakness, but nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus was meek, yet we do not find him afflicted by the same moral weakness or cowardice that seems to affect so much of our modern society. Jesus stood firm against hypocrites, yet he also dealt gently with the broken.

How, then, should we define meekness? Much like love, we recognize meekness by what it does. Thomas Watson helpfully points to two essential features of meekness, especially as it relates to God. First, it implies submission to God’s will and second, conformity to God’s Word.

How do we submit to God’s will? We see this particularly in how the Christian submits to God’s providence in his or her life. Providence, according to the Westminster shorter catechism, is God’s “most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions.” Providence means that God is active in his world and in our lives. He preserves, guides, and provides. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains, God’s providence “is a description of His continuing activity, of what He does in the world, and what He has continued to do since He made the world at the very beginning.”

Submitting to providence is not always easy. Job understood this better than most. He faced soul-crushing calamity, but his response was surprisingly meek. He said: “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21). And again, after receiving more bad news, he said: “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10). On both occasions we are told that “Job did not sin with his lips.”

Jesus Christ is the supreme example of meek submission to providence. Before Jesus was arrested, we are told that he prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matt. 26:39). Christ submitted to his Father’s providence, even as he wrestled with its frightening implications.
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This wasn’t fatalistic resignation but trusting submission. Meekness says “not as I will, but as you will” because it trusts that God is in control and that he is good. We might not be able to make sense of God’s providence, or see God’s good purposes, but we trust him. Why can we trust him? Because he “did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all” (Rom. 8:32). Such a God has earned my trust.

In the same way, meekness does not just submit to God’s providence but also seeks to conform to God’s revealed will. This means that we don’t oppose, argue with, or resist the Word, but conform our thinking to God’s. James 1:21 captures this beautifully: “Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

There may be passages of Scripture that we find difficult to understand or hard to apply. We wrestle, ask questions, and search, but the goal should never be to “get around” the text. Our aim is to understand and obey. Meekness not only trusts God’s providence but also his commands. He is good in what he does and in what he requires.

Such is meekness toward God. That meekness then overflows in our relationships with others, which we’ll explore next.

Because of Christ,
Pieter

In the Beatitudes, Jesus explains the way to true blessedness. True blessedness refers to that happy state in which the believer is at rest in his God. It implies a peace with God and an experience of God’s gracious favour. By now you have probably noticed that the path of true blessedness is surprising, different, and varied.
 
As the Holy Spirit guides us on the path of true blessedness, he helps us understand our lack and our desperate need (Matt. 5:3). Realizing just how poor in spirit we truly are, we mourn (v. 4). This might not sound all that pleasant, but the same Spirit assures us of the Father’s precious promises: a heavenly kingdom and divine comfort.

The third work of grace in the life of a true child of God is meekness. The third beatitude reads: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (v. 5). What is meekness? The term that Jesus used is translated in several ways. The NASB translates it as “gentle”. The Good News Bible translates it as “humble”. The Amplified explains meek as “mild, patient, long-suffering”.

Translators struggle with the word, because like so many other concepts, it is something that we recognize but we find difficult to describe. In 1964 someone asked United States supreme court justice Potter Stewart to describe his test for obscenity. He simply answered: “I know it when I see it.” In much the same way, we know meekness when we see it. 

However, sometimes it is helpful to state what it isn’t, which might help us more clearly understand what it is. For starters, meekness is not being too submissive. Someone told the story of a domineering wife who shouted at her hen-pecked husband: “Are you a man or a mouse? Come on, squeak up!” Jesus is not commending that kind of attitude. Even as Jesus was being led to the cross, he was meek but not defeated.
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Meekness is also not being spineless. There seems to be a serious spine shortage in modern society, but don’t mistake spinelessness for meekness. Jesus was meek, yet we find him standing up to the Pharisees, clearing out the temple, and meeting his would-be captors with great bravery. It shouldn’t surprise us, because meekness is not weakness. Being so timid that a light breeze can blow you over, is not a sign of Christian virtue.
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Finally, meekness is not niceness. Modern society seems to have added an eleventh commandment: “Thou shalt be nice.” While we would not encourage meanness, we should be careful not to confuse niceness with meekness. Some people are more agreeable, pleasant, or easy-going than others. That does not mean that they are meek.

Meekness is more than a personality trait. I trust that you are familiar with the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Gal. 5:22-23: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”. The word for gentleness is very similar to the one that Jesus used in Matt. 5:5. The KJV even translates it as “meekness”.

In other words, this is not a natural timidity or niceness, but a Spirit-wrought part of godly character in the life of the believer. This also means that it isn’t an optional trait. This is something that should be present and growing in every believer’s life.

Now that we know what meekness isn’t, we are better positioned to explore what meekness truly is. But more on that next week.

Because of Christ,
Pieter

In the second beatitude Jesus again subverts our expectations. He said: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matt. 5:4). Jesus reminds us that even his disciples mourn. Following Jesus does not spare us the pain of living in a fallen world. Yet Jesus assures us that there is comfort.

This promise of comfort, it should be noted, is not given indiscriminately to anyone who mourns. Not all grief is godly. Consider Cain, who lamented the severity of God’s punishment for his sin (Gen. 4:13-14). He was more concerned about the pain that his sin caused him than the pain it caused his parents, not to mention his brother!

King Ahab is another example of ungodly grief. In 1 Kings 21:1-4 Ahab sulked because he could not get Naboth’s vineyard. He was angry and sullen because he could not have his way. He mourned, but it was motivated by greed and selfishness.

The most striking example of ungodly grief has to be Judas, Christ’s betrayer. According to Matt. 27:3-5 he acknowledged his sin and even tried to give back the money he was paid. Yet he never confessed his sin to God or sought his forgiveness. Overwhelmed by his guilt, he sought to rid himself of his accusing conscience by taking his own life. JC Ryle explains that it “is possible for a man to feel his sins, and be sorry for them, pricked in conscience, and exhibit much distress of mind, and yet, for all this, not repent with his heart. Present danger, or the fear of death, may account for his feelings, and the Holy Ghost may have done no work whatever in his soul.”

If we want to be comforted, we must grieve in a godly way. 2 Corinthians 7:10-11 describes godly grief. It produces “a repentance that leads to salvation without regret”. It leads to earnest change, a hatred of sin, the fear of the Lord, and a longing and zeal for godliness.

Ungodly sorrow produces death. Godly sorrow, by contrast, is life-giving. John Blanchard put it well: “Nobody ever regrets godly, spiritual sorrow; instead, he rejoices at God’s gracious dealings with him and at the blessings he receives by his hand.” In the words of Psalm 34:18, “The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

In the previous beatitude we were told that the “poor in spirit” are blessed. We saw that their poverty is not material or intellectual, but spiritual – they know their spiritual need. This leads naturally into the next beatitude: “those who mourn”. We cannot separate the two, or any of the beatitudes, because they aren’t electives that we can opt out of, but describe the whole tapestry of Christian character. These are the characteristics of those who belong to the kingdom of Jesus Christ
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Christians will experience godly grief, not just once but often. John Stott rejected the giddy faux-spirituality that fills so many of our churches today. He warned: “Some Christians seem to imagine that, especially if they are filled with the Spirit, they must wear a perpetual grin on their face and be continually boisterous and bubbly. How unbiblical can one become?”

A Christian knows how to mourn over sin, brokenness, and how far we fall short of the perfection of Christ. “For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me… I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.” (Psalm 38:4, 18). Yet it is for such people that the Lord reserves his comfort.
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When the believer runs to the Father, instead of from him, he finds Him to be “the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3). He finds Jesus Christ the righteous, standing beside him as his advocate (1 John 2:1-2). And he will find that the Spirit truly is a help and comfort to God’s children.

No wonder Jesus calls them blessed.

Because of Christ,
Pieter

The Beatitudes are among the most well-known passages of Scripture. The name, the Beatitudes, is borrowed from Latin. It means “blessedness” or “happiness”. Who doesn’t want to be happy? Yet Jesus turns our usual picture of happiness on its head with the second beatitude: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matt. 5:4).

It sounds like a contradiction. The Good News translation was translated for English speakers who have had little to no exposure to Christianity. The contradiction sounds even more stark in their rendering: “Happy are those who mourn; God will comfort them.” How do we make sense of this?

Much of the Western world pursue happiness as the greatest good. The United States Declaration of Independence claims that all men have been endowed with unalienable rights: “among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Some African countries have followed suit and enshrined the right to happiness as a core value in their constitutions (like Liberia, Namibia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Egypt). Our own country, South Africa, did not.
 
Do we have a right to be happy? Some would argue that we can’t be happy while there is so much suffering in the world. Thousands die in wars across the globe. Millions are suffering because of malnutrition. Dictators rule with an iron fist. Yet even if we acknowledge that, we aren’t keen on walking around in sackcloth and ashes.

We mostly try to avoid mourning or people who mourn. It makes us uncomfortable. We want to be surrounded by people who are upbeat, happy, and enthusiastic. As DA Carson points out, “The world does not like mourners; mourners are wet blankets.” Yet Jesus says that those who mourn are truly blessed. He even warns those who are happy: “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.” (Luke 6:25).

What does it mean to mourn? Jesus used a weighty word to describe mourning. It was used for the desolation we experience when we lose a loved one. It was used in Greek translation of Genesis 37:32-34 to describe Jacob’s mourning when he thought he had lost Joseph. It is also the word that Mark used to describe the disciples mourning after the death and burial of Jesus in Mark 16:10. The mourning that Jesus referred to was deep, heartbreaking grief.

This beatitude is wonderfully comforting when we suffer, and its message is consistent with the rest of the New Testament. We find comfort knowing that God can sanctify us through our suffering, “knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Rom. 5:3-4). We are comforted when we remember that we are God’s children and therefore fellow heirs with Christ, who will not only share in his suffering but in his glory too (Rom. 8:17-18).

There is also the promise of the resurrection (John 11:25-26) and the hope that God himself will comfort us in glory: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev. 21:4). These heavenly truths comfort us in our earthly suffering. “A moment is long if we look at the things round us; but once we have raised our minds to heaven, a thousand years begin to be like a moment.” (John Calvin).

These comforts do not spare us the mourning, but they help us endure. There is much to hope in and to look forward to, provided we mourn for the right things and in the right way. More on that next week.
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Because of Christ,
Pieter

Jesus opened his Sermon on the Mount with a lesson on true blessedness. He gave us eight declarations of what true blessedness is, each starting with the words: “Blessed are…” The first of these, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3) is rather surprising. As we noted last week, we do not usually see poverty and blessing mentioned in the same breath. Yet this was the first characteristic Jesus highlighted when he spoke on true blessedness.

Clearly, the kind of poverty that Jesus describes here is not material in nature. He was speaking of a poverty that is felt deeply in the inner man. That is what “spirit” refers to in this context. This is what the Lord referred to when he said to Samuel: “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7).

What does a truly blessed inner man or spirit look like? We are told the truly blessed heart is a poor one. When the New Testament uses the word “poor” it often refers to those who are in abject poverty. In Luke 14:21 the poor are listed with the crippled, the blind, and the lame. These were people who had no means of caring for themselves – they were beggars. The poor in spirit understand themselves to be spiritual beggars.

Listen to how John Brown describes the poor in spirit: “He knows himself to be an entirely dependent being; he knows himself to be an inexcusable sinner; he knows himself to be a righteously condemned criminal; he knows that ‘in him, that is, in his flesh, dwells no good thing’; he knows that he has, that he can have, no hope, but in the sovereign mercy of God”.

In Luke 18:9-14 Jesus told a parable in which a Pharisee and a tax collector were in the temple praying. The Pharisee looked down on the tax collector. His prayer was filled with condescension and boasting. But the tax collector, we are told “would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'” (v. 13). He was justified, not the Pharisee. He was truly blessed.

Psalm 34:18 says: “The Lord is good to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit”. The Lord loves the poor in spirit. We are told that he will look to “he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” (Isa. 66:2). The Lord does not shun our poverty of spirit, but draws near to it. 

​Augustus Toplady’s famous him, Rock of Ages, expressed it well: 

Nothing in my hands I bring, 
Simply to thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to thee for dress;
Helpless, look to thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.

Why are the poor in spirit considered blessed? The final phrase in Matt. 5:3 explain that “theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. The grace that God promised to those who humble themselves under his mighty hand (Jam. 4:6), is that they will posses the kingdom of heaven. You may not have noticed this, but the phrase is in the present tense, not future tense. Future tense would have made sense, if Jesus was just referring to his future kingdom. The new heavens and the new earth, the heavenly Jerusalem descending... this kingdom is considered their present possession. They are already citizens of it. Deserving nothing, in Christ the poor in spirit have everything.

Because of Christ,
Pieter

Have you ever wondered how the Beatitudes got their name? They are so called because of the Latin translation of the opening words, “beati sunt”, meaning “blessed are” (Matt. 5:3). In this passage Jesus explains what true blessedness is and to whom such blessedness belongs.

Reading through the Beatitudes, you may have noticed that true blessedness is not defined the way the world would. The prevailing culture tells us that the ambitions, wealthy, popular, confident or gifted are the truly blessed ones. Parents and children are being bombarded with these messages through social media and the entertainment they consume. Their idols are a far cry from what Jesus describes in this passage.

Jesus says: “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” (Matt. 5:3). Some interpret this to mean that material poverty is the key to true spirituality. Some professing believers take a “vow of poverty” to grow closer to Christ and sympathize with the poor. However, poverty does not necessarily bring one closer to God. The poor can harden their hearts against the gospel as well as any rich person can. As the Scottish preacher, John Brown, once said: “Extreme poverty is not favourable to religion any more than extreme affluence.”

Some Christians, in their zeal to help the poor, misinterpret or misapply the Bible. They’ll point to passages like James 2:5, which says: “has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” This, they believe, proves that the poor are the true people of God. The next verse, however, explains James’ statement: “But you have dishonoured the poor man.” (v. 6). They were showing favouritism based on people’s social status or wealth. The poor are not prevented from entering the kingdom because of their poverty, but they are not guaranteed entrance because of it.

True, there is one occasion where Jesus asked a rich you man to: “sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."” (Matt. 19:21). The next verse explains why Jesus asked this of the young man: “When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” (Matt. 19:22). It was not the wealth of his possessions that kept him from Christ, but his love of those possessions that did so.
The Bible warns us against the “love of money” (1 Tim. 6:10). It leads to all kinds of temptation and has ruined the lives of many. Riches aren’t the problem, but setting our hearts and hope on it is. Money has a way of becoming a destructive idol. We so easily convince ourselves that money will solve all our problems. Ecclesiastes 5:11-12 warns that when “goods increase, they increase who eat them” and that “the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.” 

Abraham was a godly man and is even called a “friend of God” (Isa. 41:8), and the Lord blessed him with wealth (see Gen. 13:2). Our Lord Jesus Christ never enjoyed such riches during his earthly life. Though he was rich in glory, for our sake he became poor (2 Cor. 8:9). 

Blessedness is not measured by the wealth of our possessions. Scripture is clear on that (see Heb. 11:37-38). True blessedness comes to those who are “poor in spirit”, which we will explore next week.

Because of Christ,
Pieter

The Gospel of Matthew is a true gem. From the opening sentence it has deliberate and direct ties to the Old Testament, bridging the gap between the two. It also presents the teaching of Jesus' teaching in a clear and orderly way, making it the most used Gospel in the early church.

Jesus, the true Prince of Preachers, preached with such clarity and authority that the people were amazed at his teaching (see Matt. 7:28). The Sermon on the Mount is arguably the most famous of his sermons. His preaching routinely drew huge crowds, and this time was no different (Matt. 5:1). On this occasion a hillside served as his pulpit.

Jesus opened his sermon with these words: “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matt. 5:3). The Greek word that is used here often appears in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the LXX or the Septuagint). This is the first time the word is used in the New Testament. 

What is blessedness? It is an important theme in both the Old and New Testament. Thomas Watson calls it “the whetstone of a Christian’s industry, the height of his ambition, the flower of his joy.” Aquinas called it the “ultimate end”.  To help us understand blessedness, we need to understand what it is not. 

First, it is not the accumulation or increase of worldly things. That much is clear from the passage, but that isn’t how many of us live. Much of our time and effort is expended in gathering worldly goods, yet we may miss true blessedness altogether. Solomon understood this very well: “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?” (Eccl. 5:10-11). Again, Thomas Watson writes: “earthly things accumulated cannot rock the troubled heart quiet”.

Second, blessedness is not the absence of trouble. Our passage makes that clear as well. There is a whole lot of trouble in the Christian life. David understood this, as he explained in Psalm 23:5: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”

True blessedness, then, includes the idea of being well and happy. Sadly, we’ve so overused and diluted the idea of happiness that we need clarify what we mean. When the Bible tells us that someone is ‘blessed’ it is not telling us how they feel but what they are. John Stott explains that the “beatitudes are not an indication of their feelings but of God’s assessment of them.”

God alone can make a man or woman truly blessed. In doing so, they are made spiritually well or whole. They experience true joy, even when their circumstances are not all that enjoyable. As Don Carson explains: “Those who are blessed will generally be profoundly happy; but blessedness cannot be reduced to happiness.” Their happiness and wholeness are not rooted in their circumstances, but in their God.
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It is only by abiding in Christ that such blessedness is attained. That is why, as we will see, it is found even in the most surprising places.

​Because of Christ,
Pastor Pieter

Tangled in Roots

​In the 1970s the ‘messianic movement’ sought to reach ethnic Jews with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The hope was to show them that Jesus truly is the Messiah prophesied in the Scriptures and that by believing in Him they can receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. Practically speaking, it meant sharing the gospel with ethnic Jews.

Turn the clock ahead 30 odd years and the landscape has changed considerably. Jews who believe in Jesus are not the only ones claiming to be ‘messianic’. One movement which has laid claim to the title is the so-called Hebrew Roots movement. 
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What is the Hebrew Roots movement?
It is a difficult movement to pin down, as Menachem Kaiser explains: “It’s a loose identity. There isn’t a church, there isn’t a leader. It gets very fragmented.”  Kaiser wrote an in-depth article on the Hebrew Roots movement for Tablet magazine. In it Kaiser describes what seems to be the common denominator in the various branches of the movement: “The movement’s central belief is that the Torah is still binding—that God, or Yahweh, or Hashem, did not intend for Yeshua’s appearance to render irrelevant the lessons of the Old Testament, whose rules and instructions remain valid. The Brit Chadasha, or New Testament, which most Christians believe superseded the Torah, is understood as a sort of extension of the Torah.”  Stephen Katz, North American Director of Jews for Jesus, gives this succinct definition: “The Hebraic Roots or Jewish Roots movement refers to various organizations with a common emphasis on recovering the original Jewishness of Christianity.”

Most of those who associate with the movement are not ethnic Jews. They are Gentiles who have no intention of converting to Judaism yet follow Jewish laws, customs, and practices. This has caused no small amount of confusion and trouble for those ethnic Jews who do believe in Jesus. Rich Robinson, who serves as Senior Researcher at the Jews for Jesus headquarters in San Francisco, wrote a series of articles on the challenges that the Jewish messianic movement faces. He writes: “Some ministries and groups exhort all followers of Y'shua—Jewish or not—to observe Jewish holidays. Many teach the importance of recovering the first-century faith of believers in Jesus and rejecting the pagan notions they feel have corrupted faith in the Messiah.”  Exactly what pagan notions they reject is not always clear; it ranges from the rejection of worship on Sunday to the rejection of the doctrine of the Trinity. However, the movement is united in its rejection of modern Christianity as a perversion of the pure, first century version of their religion.

History
The history of the Hebrew Roots movement is as opaque as its teachings. Because it has no structure and should be considered a “grass-roots” movement, determining its origin is very difficult. Earlier movements, like the Sacred Name Movement and the World Wide Church of God from the 1930’s have definitely influenced the perspectives of the Hebrew Roots Movements. For example, Herbert Armstrong – leader of the World Wide Church of God – taught that Christians had to observe parts of the Jewish law, including keeping the Sabbath, adhering to Jewish food laws, and celebrating the Jewish festivals. He also believed in British Israelism, which teaches that British, American, and many European peoples were descended from the so-called Ten Lost Tribes of the Northen Kingdom of Israel. Most alarming, however, is Armstrong’s rejection of the Trinity, which many proponents of Hebrew Roots also do.

Even though Hebrew Roots takes many of its cues from Armstrong, the movement really took off after his death in 1986. In the mid-90s Dean Cozzens of Open Church Ministries published a supposed prophecy titled “The Hebrew Movement”. In it he claimed that God had foreordained four movements in the 20th century. Pentecostalism would be the first, then faith healing, leading to the Charismatic movement and finally, the Hebrew roots movement. Others joined the movement and in 1998 Dean and Susan Wheelock began publishing Hebrew Roots Magazine. They also started a website, Hebrewroots.net, which still operates today. With the help of the internet the movement started to grow and spread.

Not all Hebrew Roots proponents will agree with this characterization of their origins. Richard Fisher explains that the movement has many other influences and has branched into numerous streams. He writes: “It’s hard to define the HRM because it is so diverse and made up of so many disparate groups and individuals. It’s a moving target. It’s a vast smorgasbord of everything from scholarship, as in the Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research, to so-called Third Questers, to individuals practicing subjective pop (make-it-up-as-you-go) Judaism. It can even include the medieval mystical Kabbalah, with its esoteric numerology. More often than not there are no distinctions made between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant or between the Bible and the Talmud. This movement can impose legalism with a vengeance or in some instances may simply suggest Jewish practices that they say will give us deeper insight and understanding as well as make us more “authentic” believers.” 

​Even though the movement is varied, there are common traits that has the potential to do great harm to the church and its witness to the lost.

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Part 3: A few things to remember
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Sharing our Christian testimony is one of the simplest ways to share the gospel. We are essentially telling the story of how Jesus Christ saved us. This is exciting stuff, because each conversion story is a THTHTHT to the grace of God and the power of the gospel. It is an account of how light triumphed over darkness, grace over sin, and Christ over Satan. If our testimony is boring, it is not because God didn’t do something amazing, but because we don’t realize what an amazing thing God has done.

How should I tell my story? We have three accounts of Paul’s conversion in the book of Acts. The first is found in Acts 9. Here Luke, the human author writing under the inspiration of the Spirit, narrates the events of Paul’s conversion as it happens. The second is found in Acts 22, where the apostle Paul shares his own testimony of conversion when the Jews level false accusations against him. The third is found in Acts 26. Again, the apostle Paul shares his testimony, only this time he shares it with a much smaller group and in a very different setting.

If you read all three accounts, you will find that there are subtle differences between them. For example, in Acts 22:8 Jesus identifies himself as “Jesus the Nazarene” (which does not happen in the first account). In Acts 9 we read about how the Lord prepared Ananias to minister to Paul, but Paul’s account in Acts 22 doesn’t mention it. In Acts 26 some details are left out, while more details of his call and his message are given. How do we make sense of these differences?

Some believe that these discrepancies prove that Paul made it all up and that his testimony was a fabrication. The opposite is true. In law, if a story remains totally unchanged when told at different times or to different people, it is more likely to be considered false. All of the details in Paul’s different testimonies are true, but weren’t included in each account. Why not?

Each of these testimonies emphasized different aspects of Paul’s conversion depending on his hearers. For example, when Paul was speaking to his fellow Jews, he emphasized his Jewishness and faithfulness to the Law. He also referred to God as “the God of our fathers”. He was trying to reach his fellow Jews with the message of the Messiah. He naturally changed his emphasis when he shared his testimony with Gentiles (see Acts 26).

This means that you, too, can shift the emphasis when you share your conversion story with different people. You don’t invent a new story, but you highlight different things. For example, the way that I share my testimony with teens or young adults differs slightly from how I would share it with someone older. I use different words (a different vocabulary), or I’ll highlight things that my listeners can relate to.

An effective testimony does not embellish or exaggerate. It recognizes that the salvation of a soul is a miracle of God’s grace. You don’t have to repeat the same rehearsed story every time; you can tailor the story to the situation while staying true to the facts. We want others to see how the gospel has changed our lives and how it can change theirs as well.
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Because of Christ,
Pastor Pieter

​The apostle Paul has a pretty unique conversion story. It is first recorded in Acts 9, where the author gives us a spectator’s perspective of what happened. Later, in Acts 22, Paul shares his own testimony with the Jews as they were trying to arrest him. After his arrest, Paul had an opportunity to plead his case before King Agrippa (Acts 26). While the circumstances of each testimony is different, the essential elements of the story stay the same. We’ll look at Paul’s testimony before Agrippa as an example of how you can tell your conversion story. 

What does a Christian testimony look like?

1. Introduce yourself (v. 4-8):
Paul’s introduction fits the occasion: he is standing before a ruler after being accused by his own countrymen. That is why he details his connection with the Jews, his strict adherence to their Law, and constantly shows deference or respect to the king. 

In his introduction he sets the stage. He links his own story with the bigger story of Israel, one that the king would have been familiar with. He also introduces the theme around which he builds his story. It is in verse 8: “Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?” The resurrection becomes a central theme in how he shares his conversion story.

There are other gospel themes, like forgiveness, eternal life, or reconciliation around which you can tell your story. A theme helps you to decide what to include and what to leave out. It also gives your story focus. What grabbed your attention when you first heard the gospel? Was it the love of God revealed in Jesus? Was it the offer of forgiveness? Were you looking for life in all the wrong places, only to find eternal life in Christ? 

2. Describe your life before Christ (v. 9-11): 
In verse 9-11 Paul describes the consequences of his self-righteousness and how it motivated him to persecute the church. He describes his fallenness; he tells the king what his sin looked like. Note, however, that Paul does not glorify his sin. This is not the most exciting part of his story. He does not go into the gory detail, but he shares enough to help his listeners understand that he needed salvation.

When we talk about our lives before faith in Christ, we must be careful that we don’t glamourize sin. Don’t share details that may entice or tempt others to sin, rather than pointing them to Christ. This is a confession, not a boast, and should be done with the appropriate humility (see 1 Tim. 1:15).

3. Describe your conversion (v. 12-18):
Paul’s account of his first encounter with Christ differs slightly from the first account in Acts 9. For example, he includes the words: “It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” (v. 14). It was a common proverbial statement that meant that we cannot ultimately prevail against God’s will. Agrippa would have known what Paul meant: the Lord is in control, not Paul and not the king. In this version of his testimony he shares a lot of detail on his commission (v. 16-18). This links his story with the king’s story; the king is one of the Gentiles to whom the Lord has sent Paul!

What is most important, however, is that Christ takes centre stage. We must understand that our testimony isn’t ultimately our story, but God’s. It is about how he saved us, how he intervened in our lives. This should be the most exciting part of your testimony. This is the part where someone who was dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1) and lost in darkness (Col. 1:13), is brought to life and delivered into light by Jesus Christ.

How did you hear the gospel? Who shared it with you? What was your first response? When did you cry out to Jesus? What did you experience when you repented of your sin and trusted in the Saviour?

4. Describe your life after coming to Christ (v. 19-22):
Paul’s description of his life after coming to Christ is brief, but he wants to show that the gospel has made a difference. He wants to show how Christ has changed him: before he persecuted the church, but now he planted churches all over the Roman empire!

One of the elements we often neglect when we tell our conversion story, is how Christ has changed us. We are not who we used to be, and it will show (2 Cor. 5:17). Share how the gospel has made a difference in your live. What is different about you? How have your desires and plans changed? Where has God used you? What have you learned?

5. Conclusion (v. 23):
Paul concludes with an invitation: he restates the gospel clearly and simply: Christ suffered, died, and rose from the dead so that light can be proclaimed to both Jew and Gentile. He brings his story full circle by pointing Agrippa back to the resurrection. 

His story demanded a response, and our should as well. Not everyone will respond positively to your testimony (they didn’t always respond positively to Paul’s), but that is not our job. We cannot change hearts, only Christ by his Holy Spirit can. Our job is to testify to the grace of our Lord in our lives. If you know enough to be saved, you know enough to share.

Because of Christ,
Pastor Pieter

Part 1: What is a testimony and why should I share it?

​What is a testimony? Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with the dictionary definition. I would, however, like to give you a Christian definition. A Christian testimony is a story. It is a story in which you testify about God’s character. It is your eyewitness account of how God rescued you from sin and death through Christ, and changed your life as a result.

In Acts 4 the disciples were being persecuted for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. After their release, they prayed, and God filled them afresh with his Holy Spirit. What was the result? Acts 4:31 tells us: “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” Then, in verse 33, we read: “And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.” The disciples were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, or as the NASB translates it, they “were giving witness to the resurrection”. 

In a similar way, when a Christian shares his or her testimony they are giving an account of what the Lord has done in their lives. Sometimes this means sharing the story of how the Lord answered prayer or delivered from a particular danger. In most cases, however, testifying means that we share how the Lord has changed our lives through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now that we know what a Christian testimony is, we must consider why we should share our testimony with others. The apostle Peter instructed believers to: “Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,” speaking here of those who persecuted them because of their faith, “but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:14-16). 

If we love the Lord Jesus Christ and devote our lives to honoring him, it will elicit a response from those around us. Sometimes people respond with curiosity, not understanding why we are different or how we’ve changed. At other times they respond with animosity (enmity, opposition, or even persecution – which is what Peter highlighted in his letter). Even if people reject us, Christians are people with a profound hope. This hope changes how we endure suffering for the sake of Jesus. We should be ready to explain why we have such hope, even in suffering.

One of the best ways to do so, is to share your testimony. It is a way in which you can honor Jesus Christ, share the gospel, answer your opponents, and encourage other believers. Do you want to know the best part? Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ has a testimony. True, your testimony may not be as exciting as the apostle Paul’s, which will look at next week, but you can share your unique story of how the Lord changed your life by grace through faith in the Saviour. 

God can use your story to lead others into the glories of the gospel. If you know enough to be saved, you know enough to share the gospel with others.

Because of Christ,
Pastor Pieter

​This is an important question, because our salvation depends on it. Christ’s work of salvation requires his two-fold nature: God and man in one perfect, glorious Person. The incarnation makes salvation possible. But how? To answer this question we need to look at the offices of Christ. According to Scripture Jesus fulfils three offices: Prophet, Priest and King. Let’s look at each of these briefly.

Prophet
As our Prophet Jesus reveals God and his will to us. Long ago, according to Hebrews 1:1-4, God spoke to us by the prophets, but now God has spoken to us by his Son. Jesus is the supreme prophet that God promised in Deut. 18:15-18: “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers - it is to him you shall listen.” 

What makes Jesus the supreme prophet isn’t simply his message, but his person. Unlike the other prophets who spoke for God, Jesus is God. This means that in his preaching and in his person, he reveals God to us.

King
In Isaiah 9:6 God promised us a ruler. The promise makes it clear that he would establish a conquering, peaceful, eternal, messianic, righteous reign. In order to be that promised king, Jesus had to be born in the line of David. In 2 Samuel 7:16 God promised: “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.”

Jesus is that promised ruler. He has been given “as head over all things to the church” (Eph. 1:22). Unlike the kings who came before him, Jesus has the power and the character to establish this glorious kingdom, because he is God.

Priest
Hebrews 4:14-5:10 details how a priest was chosen from among the people so that he could be a sympathetic mediator. Jesus became a man so that he could bring the sacrifice and intercede for us before the Father’s throne. 

While it is true that Jesus wasn’t born in the tribe of Levi or to the house of Aaron, he was ordained as a priest after the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4). This means that his priesthood is superior to Aaron’s. Jesus is a sinless High Priest and offered one all-sufficient sacrifice, because he is both God and man.

Why did Jesus have to become a man? Because our salvation would not have been possible without it.

Because of Christ,
Pastor Pieter

Jesus said: “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matt. 7:14). Wasn’t faith supposed to be the easy way? Who would willingly choose the hard and lonely “narrow way”?

In the previous verse Jesus elaborated on the way to “destruction”. We would think that, given the destination, people would avoid this way. Life is better than destruction, right? Sadly we don’t always consider the destination. Sometimes we are blinded by the journey.

Jesus highlighted the ease and fellowship of the wide way (Matt. 7:13). The wide way looks more enjoyable. The wicked always seem at ease (Ps. 73:12). You won’t be lonely. Sin loves company after all (Rom. 1:32). Compared to the narrow way, the wide way is a walk in the park.

The narrow way promises tribulation (John 16:33). On the narrow way you will suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12). The narrow way demands that we deny ourselves (Mark 8:24) and the pleasures that the wide way offers (1 John 2:16). This makes those on the narrow way very unpopular (1 Pet. 4:4).

If the journey was all that there was, then the wide way would be very appealing. Who would choose “hard” over “easy”? Asaph wrestled with the same question: “For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” (Ps. 73:3). He was tempted to join the wide way, until “I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.” (Ps. 73:17).

The journey is not the only thing that matters. It matters a great deal, but only as it relates to the destination. The journey determines the destination. The destination makes all the difference and there is only one way that leads to God and eternal life: the narrow way.

Faith and faithfulness is not a matter of convenience – it is a matter of life and death. Yes, it is hard, but it is worth it. The temptation to leave the narrow way loses all its power once we remember the destination. John put it like this: “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we will be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3).
Keep your eyes on the destination and you will not lose heart (2 Cor. 4:16-18). Jesus Christ is the destination.
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Because of Christ,
Pastor Pieter

We know that the gospel does not guarantee our comfort. In fact, faithfulness to the gospel might cause us great distress. Jesus said: “In the world you will have tribulation.” (John 16:33). This is exactly what the believers in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) experienced. They were suffering because of their faith (see 1 Peter 2:19-25; 4:1, 12).

Yet somehow they remained joyful. How is that possible? 1 Pet. 1:6 tells us that they rejoiced in something. That something is described in verse 3-5: the living hope to which they were born again, the inheritance that is being kept for them and the assurance that they are being guarded for the inheritance. These truths look ahead at the glory that believers will receive, but they have an impact now. They bring us joy in the midst of trials.

This does not mean that the trials are easy. Peter goes on to describe the grief that the trials caused (v. 6), but their trials were not pointless. He says that they were “necessary”. What possible purpose could their trials have?

The word for “trials” refers to a test. The trial reveals someone’s character by submitting him to thorough and extensive testing. That is why Peter mentions gold being tested by fire in verse 7. The melting point of gold is 1064 degrees Celsius: you cannot test it at low temperatures. In the same way the genuineness of our faith is tested by a “fiery trial” (4:12). When our faith in the Lord Jesus survives the trial it proves that our faith is genuine. Genuine faith results in “praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (v. 7).

This is one of the reasons we have to endure trials. Trials have a way of “proving” a genuine faith (v. 7) and of unmasking a false one (see Mark 4:16-17). Every trial brings an opportunity to be strengthened and reassured, or to repent and believe if our faith is found wanting.

What gives you hope? Avoiding the trial or enduring it? God has promised that we will not be tested beyond what we are able to bear (1 Cor. 10:13). Surviving the trial proves that God is faithful and that our faith in him is real.

 Because of Christ,
Pastor Pieter

Christianity is ludicrous without the hope of the resurrection. Think about it for a moment: what does God call us to in Christ? In 1 Corinthians 15 the apostle Paul reflects on some of the dangers he had to face for the sake of the gospel. In v. 30 he says that he was in danger every hour. Later, in 2 Corinthians 11:26 he records some the dangers he faced: “in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers”. No wonder Paul said: “I die every day!” (1 Corinthians 15:31).

That is what taking of the cross meant for Paul (Luke 9:23: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”). That is what it might mean for us. 

If this is all there is to life – if death is the end – then following Jesus, risking for Jesus and dying for Jesus makes no sense. If death is the end, then we should “eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (1 Corinthians 15:32). But that is not what Paul chose. 

Why did Paul choose the way of the cross instead of the ways of the world? 1 Cor. 15:20 & 58 gives us the answer: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep… Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” 

So ask yourself: what difference does the resurrection make now? How does the hope of the resurrection affect your life? At the very least it should give us hope, but more than that: it should give us courage – courage to do what God has called us to do, knowing it will be worth it in the end. 

Because of Christ,
Pastor Pieter

​This excellent and timely series was preached by Pastor Pieter Pienaar in response to the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa's decision in October 2015 to approve same-sex unions and the ordination of homosexual ministers without the requirement of celibacy. Accompanying each sermon is a short video introduction providing some context and intended to be watched first. Listen here.
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Dear Strand Baptist Church and friends

The City of Man stands today as a memorial to all the achievements of what human beings have done and can do. For everyone who is reading these words, whether on a computer or on A printed out office-copy, the reason why you can do that is clearly because someone has worked hard to produce these methods of communication. We are conveyed from point A to B by the collected wisdom of over 100 years of automobile expertise and industry. We are all borne along in all that we do by the hard earned achievements of previous generations. They have made us what we are today. And then comes Romans 9: 16 and says:

"So therefore it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs but on God who has mercy"

The perspective and work of God is deeper and broader than any of us can fathom. The famous Christian thinker and bishop, Augustine brilliantly said: "God is more truly imagined than expressed and He exists more truly than imagined" Here in Romans the inspired apostle plainly declares that the ultimate Person who is behind everything in this world of ours is God. Just as all the activity of human beings and all their accomplishments depend absolutely upon invisible nitrogen, oxygen and argon, so we are dependent upon the invisible God more than we are aware of. Here is the very important fact: 

Without God dealing with each person alive on this earth today through His mercy, the entire human race would cease to exist. If the pure and holy justice of God were to come directly to us without going via the Cross, every human being would be damned in Hell forever. We are not worthy to be on God's good creation in the light of how we treat Him. 'All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God'. If God had to recall His spirit dealing in each human being, there would be no accusation of injustice from the council of heaven.  This is a sobering truth that should cause us to walk humbly all our days. 

Since the above is true all that is allowed to exist exists only because of the merciful pleasure of God. Since our appeal to rightness and fairness would only land us all in a place of banishment, that we are not there is because He has tempered His justice by His mercy. 'He has not treated us as our sins deserve'. Paul said earlier in Romans that this mercy and forbearance of God toward the world is meant to lead us to repentance (2:4). Sadly, it does not but only makes human beings doubly guilty. But the benefits of the Cross of Jesus still remain with every human being for God chooses to temporarily suspend His justice - which cries out for immediate fulfillment - on the godless for every second of their existence. Praise God for the Cross of Jesus Christ! It is the divine origin of the active mercy of God toward us right now. It only the world was more aware that it is not lungs that are allowing them to draw their next breath, but a merciful God!

How much more is it an act of mercy and grace that we should be called sons of God! How come we, who are more adept at sin than righteousness and are the ones who still go on eating the forbidden fruit, how come we are in such a place of grace with God? How can it be that we are the elect of God, the apple of His eye? This cannot be! Oh, but in Jesus Christ it is so! By grace alone and through the kind intention of God in every aspect of our faith in Christ, God has been forming and planning good things for us - by grace ALONE.  As much as dead Lazarus was given new life through the word of the merciful Christ, so Christians have been given new life through the gift of another. 

It all depends upon the MERCY OF GOD.  How in debt are we to that Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ! Come, and receive light and life under its shadow!

See you Sunday, God willing. 
Pastor Paul