Personal Abuse and Self-sacrifice – Matthew 5:38-42

The Jews had heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” (Ex.21, Lev. 24, Deut. 19). This commandment was prescriptive, but it also was restrictive, with the purpose of eliminating blood feuds and inter-tribal warfare. The law was given to the nation of Israel, meaning that the prescriptions of the law were to be dispensed by the judiciary (judges) and not by individuals in their own right for personal vendettas. However, by Jesus’ times, these fundamentals were disregarded, and the question of the day became, “How far may personal revenge extend without breaking the Law?” This wrong application had fostered vengeance, bitterness, malice, and hatred.

Jesus responded with sweeping authority: “But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person.” How this statement is to be taken?  Should, like Tolstoy suggested, there be no soldiers, policemen, or judges, because they resist evil persons? Not many Christians would answer affirmatively to this question, BUT, there are some that would argue on the basis of Jesus’ affirmation that no Christian should ever resist evil directed at him, and in principle no Christian should ever join the police force or the army. Even though they would acknowledge that God has given the power of the sword to the state (Rom. 13), they would conclude that no Christians should ever join any position of civil authority which would require them to resist evil people. Anything else, they feel, would dilute Jesus’ saying form the Sermon on the Mount.

The answer is not an easy one and should be understood circumstantial. For instance, in 5:42 Jesus also stated, “Give to the one who asks you.” It seems that professional beggars know Jesus’ words and they prey on gullible and merciful Christians and seminary students with constant and belligerent demands for money. The money that were supposedly for food and clothes are being used for alcohol and other self-destructive habits, so the money, though given with the best intentions are helping neither the beggar, nor the giver, and are not honoring Jesus or His teaching. Accordingly, Tolstoy’s and his followers’ position is unrealistic and unbiblical, and the apostles were in tune with Jesus’ teaching when they taught that the government is a divine institution, even though it can be perverted by evil. It is for the individual believer to not oppose an evil person, as Paul stated in Romans 12:17-21, “Repay no one evil for evil… Overcome evil with good.”

Jesus illustrates how a Christian is to answer to personal abuse through personal self-sacrifice.

1. The first is a sharp backhand slap to the check – a gross insult. The follower of Jesus is to be prepared to take another one rather than retaliate. This attitude is especially important when the violence is because of our stand for righteousness (5:10-12).  Jesus exemplified in His own life – Isaiah 50:6. In his The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer observed that for the Christian, the turning of the cheek is “a visible participation in His cross.”

2. The second example concerns a lawsuit in which a man is likely to lose his tunic –a long garment. The follower of Jesus will throw in the coat as well. It is obvious that it is not about clothes as it is the underlying principle: even those things that are ours by law, we must be prepared to abandon. When it comes to a litigation with a fellow believer, the follower of Christ will prefer to be wronged (1 Cor. 6:7).

3. The third example refers to a Roman practice of commandeering the civilian population of the countries conquered by Rome. This law gave the Roman soldier the right to impose on a civilian to carry his luggage for a certain distance. Jesus’ follower should not become irritable or insulted, but are to double the distance cheerfully.

4. Jesus’ last example demands giving and lending that is cheerful and willing. The idea is that Jesus will not tolerate a tight-fisted, penny-pinching attitude when it comes to Christian giving. Stop asking yourself, “What’s in it for myself?”

What Jesus is telling us more than anything else in this passage is that His followers have no rights: they have no right to retaliate; they have no right over their own possessions; they have no right over their time and resources, time, and money, and even their legal rights could easily be trampled in a world that is not theirs!

Hatred and Love – Matthew 5:43-47

After Jesus taught on how His followers ought to respond to personal abuse through an attitude of self-sacrifice, He turns to the broader question of hatred and love. Even though people have heard being said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy,” they were hearing falsely. There are quite a few “spiritual sayings” that are not actually found in the Scripture, but some Christians are totally convinced that they are. For instance, “God helps those who help themselves,” is nowhere to be found in the Bible! So in Jesus’ times, this was an often-heard saying that had no divine validity. Leviticus 19:18 states, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” The saying, “Hate your enemies” is not found anywhere. Still, a similar saying was embraced by the Essenes who lived monastically by the Dead Sea, “Love the brother, hate the outsider.”  The problem of identifying one’s neighbor was a serious issue in Jesus’ time; that’s why He was prompted to tell the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10), where Jesus pointed out that one’s neighbor is anyone he is in position to help!

“Love your enemies,” Jesus says, “and pray for those who persecute you” (5:44). Based on His previous teaching, the particular enemies that Jesus focuses attention are the persecutors, those who persecute His followers because of righteousness and because of Jesus Himself (5:10-12). To love them and to pray for them is an important part of being/becoming a son of the heavenly Father. God displayed His love toward rebellious sinners by sending His only begotten Son (John 3:16), and if we are His sons and daughters, we will also display His character. What Jesus is saying is, to be persecuted because of righteousness is to align ourselves with the prophets (Matt.5:12), but to bless and pray for those who persecute us is to align ourselves with God and His Son, who while on the cross in the agony of death, prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk. 23:34).

The IRS agents might have a bad reputation today, but it doesn’t come even close to the reputation of the tax collectors of those times! The taxes imposed by the Roman government on their conquered lands where extremely high and they usually employed locals to collect them. The tax system was highly corrupt and there were several layers of bureaucrats that mercilessly added their own part to those already high taxes. The Jewish tax collectors where doubly despised for their constant contact with the Romans, which deemed them ceremonially unclean, so they were loathed even more than the conquerors were! Jesus asked, “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?” Indeed, as despised the tax collector were by those victimized by them, they still enjoyed some friends – at least other tax collectors – so the disciples of Christ cannot be any better than tax collectors if they only love their friends!

“And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” Greetings can say a lot as they bring wishes of welfare and wellbeing, but if certain people are ignored – intentionally so! – how are we any different than those who have no fear nor knowledge of God? Our society is driven by the standards of “an eye for an eye,” and stoops to levels that no Christian should ever be. The disciple of Christ will stand out in this world that’s filled with hatred, revenge, and evil because of the divine quality of love. In fact, Jesus elevated love to the main and highest characteristic that indicates that Christians belong to Him (John 13:34).

Conclusion: The Demand for Perfection – Matthew 5:48

To love one’s enemies is characteristic of God (5:45), and Jesus is projecting here God’s perfection as the standard of morality: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” We, the followers of Christ, are to be holy, for the Lord our God is holy (Lev. 19:2); loving, because God is love (1 John 4:7-8); perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matt.5:48).

Jesus’ authority is the most dominant feature of this section (Matthew 5) of the Sermon of the Mount. The Law and the Prophets point toward Him, but He Himself determines their meaning, fulfillment, and continuity, with a divine authority.  The Scriptures derive their authority from God, and here, we see Jesus talking with the highest authority of the Incarnated God, interpreting and explaining their true meaning.

Religious Hypocrisy

Matthew 6:1-18

As we have studied, the Lord Jesus began His Sermon on the Mountain by describing the essential elements of the Christian character by proclaiming the Beatitudes, and went onto indicate through the use of the metaphors of salt and light the influence for good which Christians will exert in the world if they would emulate and display the Christian character. Having demanded of His followers nothing less than perfection (5:48), Jesus is fully aware of the human heart’s inclination for self-deception, and issues a strong warning: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”(6:1).

In other words, Jesus calls us to “Be perfect,”  BUT “Be careful!” and continues in putting His finger on nine ways in which Christians are in danger to become inwardly divided:

1. Doing beautiful religious acts with divided motives – giving to God, but also “to be honored by others” (6:1-4).

2. Praying in two directions – to be heard by God and to be overheard by others (6:5-15).

3. Fasting with divided purpose – doing it before God and hoping that people will give you credit for being self-disciplined (6:16-18).

4. Trying to lay up treasure in two places – upon earth and in heaven (6:19-21).

5. Seeing in two directions – your outlook is divided (6:22-23).

6. Trying to be loyal in two directions – serving God and Mammon (6:24).

7. Being anxious in two directions – toward what you shall eat, drink and be clothed with and also toward the Kingdom of God (6:25-34).

8. Criticizing in two directions – judging your brother without mercy, but giving yourself an easy ride (7:1-5).

9. Giving yourself in two directions – to God and giving the pearl of your personality to the dogs of appetite and the pigs of desires (7:6).

Jesus warns His disciples that these are the nine divisions of a Christian’s heart and character that are pitted against the nine Beatitudes. If a Christian has failed to make progress in becoming like Jesus, these nine causes cover the entire field of failure.

It is important to grasp that even though Jesus uses in 6:1 the same word for “righteousness” (dikaiosune) as He used in 5:6 and 5:20, the emphasis of the word has shifted from the inward righteousness of kindness purity, honesty, and love, to the outward righteousness, displayed through the religious practices of almsgiving, praying, and fasting. In 6:1, Jesus announces the general principle: All acts of outward righteousness must be preserved from the display of showmanship and from the degradation of the chase for human approval. The “actors” receive their reward in full from people witnessing their acts, without any divine reward.



Fidelity in Marriage and Honesty in Speech

Matthew 5:31-37

The discussion of adultery and purity naturally leads to the question of divorce. This subject is highly controversial and touches people’s deepest emotions. Perhaps the deepest hurt a heart can experience is the one experienced in an unhappy marriage. Jesus is absolutely clear that God’s design for marriage never included divorce. These two verses in 5:31-32 must be taken together with 19:3-9, where Jesus further develops this idea, when the Pharisees asked Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

In those times there where two major Rabbinical Schools in Jerusalem competing: the School of Rabbi Hillel and Rabbi Shammai. Shammai took a very conservative position against divorce, and Hillel embraced a very liberal position, interpreting Deut. 24:1 as being “any offense,” including a burnt meal, or not being as beautiful as other woman. The Pharisees (all men!) were obviously attracted to Rabbi Hillel’s position, but wanted to hear Jesus’ position. However, Jesus displayed an interest with the divine institution of marriage, rather than how and when to dissolve it: He didn’t answer their question, but through a counter-question, Jesus referred them back to the original design back in Genesis 1:24 “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” This biblical definition implies that marriage is both exclusive (“a man … his wife”) and permanent (“cleave” or “joined to his wife).  Jesus commented on these two aspects: First, “So they are not longer two but one flesh;” Second, “Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Thus marriage, according to the One who invented this institution, is a divine institution by which God makes permanently one two people who publicly decided to leave their parents in order to form a new unit of society and then “become one flesh.”

The Pharisees countered with the question, “Why then, did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” This is similar with Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount, as He pointed that the Scribes and the Teachers of the Law laid their emphasis on the giving of the certificate of divorce, and called it a concession of Moses, but the original purpose of God: “But from the beginning it was not so.” The Pharisees took divorce and remarriage lightly, but Jesus took it very serious and, with only exception, He called all remarriage after divorce adultery.

Jesus continues to address the issue of truthfulness when He stated, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all…” Some people think this prohibits them from taking oaths in a courtroom, or from taking an oath of allegiance, but they are misinterpreting Jesus. It must be observed that the Old Testament allows people to take oaths, even in God’s name (Deut. 10:20). Even in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul calls upon God to be his witness. God Himself swore not to send another flood (Gen.9:9-11), swore to send a redeemer (Lk. 1:68), and to raise His Son from the dead (Ps. 16:10, Acts 2:27-31).

All of these swearing and oaths were designed to encourage truthfulness or to bring solemnity to an announced truth, but by the time of Jesus walking this Earth the Jews have built a sophisticated legalistic system of oaths. For instance, a Rabbi declared (in Mishnah) that you are not bound if you swear by Jerusalem, only if you swear toward Jerusalem (read Matt. 23:16-22). These oaths no longer foster truthfulness, but weaken the cause of truth and promote deceit, so Jesus simply abolished all the oaths.

The real question here is truthfulness, and for the follower of Christ to say “Yes” must mean “Yes” and saying “No” must mean “No.” Christians claim to have the truth and to follow Him who is the Truth (John 14:6).  In our conversations truth must be our compass. Many of us stoop to telling stories with a certain slant to make our point more emphatically or to present ourselves in a more positive light that the facts would allow.

Jesus’ Examples of Fulfilling the Law – Matthew 5:21-47

With an unmatched authority, Jesus has made Himself the pivotal point of the history of humankind. The Old Testament pointed toward Him, and now, in His Person, the Kingdom of God has arrived and shows how the Old Testament teaching is validated and has continuity in Himself and His teaching.

Jesus illustrates the concept of the righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees through six examples that are presented in form of a contrast between what “was said” and Jesus’ own more demanding ethics. The formula with which Jesus’ demand is made is a constant, “But I tell you.” It is important to observe that Jesus did not contrast what He said with what the Old Testament “has said”; Jesus contrasted His sayings with what “it was said,” perhaps by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, as understood by them through their human tradition.

Murder, Anger, and Reconciliation – Matthew 5:21-26

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment’.” The explicit Old Testament command was the sixth of the Ten Commandments. Those who took a person’s life were to appear before a court and judged.  However, in verse 22, Jesus reveals an important principle: the actual committing of murder is only the outward manifestation of an inward attitude which is itself culpable, whether or not it actually issues in the act of murder. “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ [an Aramaic term of contempt =’stupid’] is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”

This is an unusually strong statement, claiming that those guilty of despising anger are guilty enough to go to Hell! In other words, Jesus Hehhhrelates anger with murder, and we need to let His words sink in and impact our conscience. Some commentators discern an ascending scale of severity in the description of different levels of anger, from a non-specific “judgment,” to the more specific trial by the Sanhedrin, to the final extreme of “hellfire” (R.T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, 200). But the clear understanding from Jesus’ words is that ordinary insults betray an attitude of contempt which God takes extremely serious. The effect of the saying is to be found not in one’s individual offenses and the assigned punishment to them, but in the cumulative rhetorical force of a series of daily scenes, attitudes, and expressions that affect the inner person.

Some may say that Jesus Himself got very angry in certain occasions, and He called the Pharisees, “You blind fools” (Matt.23:17). He also was “angry” with those contesting His right to heal on the Sabbath day (Mark 3:5), but He was driven by a “righteous anger” that can be only possessed by a righteous God! Only a perfect and sinless being like Jesus was in the position to experience this form of “sinless” anger against sin, injustice, and hypocritical religiosity. But He never reacted in self-defense, when He was mocked, insulted, and injured: “When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).

In this passage Jesus teaches against unrighteous anger: we are quick to get angry when we are personally affronted and offended, and slow to be angry when sin and injustice takes place around us. This unrighteous anger affects our relationships “with our brother” and many times has its source in a sense of personal superiority towards others. Jesus teaches us to purge ourselves of any thought of superiority that leads one to devaluate others. In God’s eyes all humans are precious, as precious as the blood of His beloved Son, Jesus.

In verse 23 Jesus brings in discussion the person who comes before God to perform his religious duty but who has offended his brother. Jesus insists it is more important to be reconciled with his brother than that he discharges his religious duty: forget the worship service and pursue reconciliation, and only then worship God! Men have a tendency to substitute ceremony for integrity, purity, and love, but Jesus cannot accept that. Ceremony, regular attendance, and giving will never produce a clear conscience! We need to strive to make things right.

Further, Jesus talks about one who defaults on his debts, which back in those days could be thrown in a debtors’ prison until the debt was paid in full. And, of course, while in prison they could not work, and their debt would remain unpaid! Jesus’ point is that judgment is looming and justice will be done. Personal conflicts can often be resolved if dealt with quickly. But if we just put off dealing with them, the older they get, the bitterer we become!

If we have Christ’s righteousness, we will not only refrain from the shedding of blood but will develop hearts that are liberated from the things that are the cause of murder, namely, contemptuous anger. We will be sensitive about our attitude toward others. And when we are guilty of offending another, let’s decide now that we will confess our sin to those whom we offended. Reconciliation is the key that opens the heavens and grants us access to God!

Adultery and Purity – Matthew 5:27-30

The basic treatment of the Seventh commandment in verses 27-28, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” is in principle the same as that of the sixth (vv. 21-22): the visible and punishable act of adultery forbidden by the commandment is only the outward expression of an inward desire which is, in this case, adultery “in the heart” – and therefore liable to the same punishment (which was also death).

Our society came a long way from the explicit prohibition on adultery. As of 2005, approximately 5 million couples / 10 million individuals were cohabitating in the USA. Many modern thinkers affirm then legitimacy of adultery, if there is consensual love. However, as our society, often mockingly, moves away from the seventh commandment, Jesus moves in the opposite direction: He is not content with merely a formal adherence to it. Rather, on His own authority He is underscoring the purity of the heart toward which this law points. By labeling lust adultery, Jesus has deepened the seventh commandment in terms of the tenth, the commandment against covetousness.

This is not a prohibition of the normal attraction which exists between young, unmarried men and women; it is the deep-seated lust which consumes and devours from within, the imagination that attacks and rapes, which mentally contemplates and commits adultery. Mental infidelity leaves one completely guilty. For the Christian man, it is not the first, casual look at a woman; it is the second look that swells with lust and feeds his imagination. Jesus knows well the human heart and He puts His finger on the problem: sexual sin is always preceded by sensual fantasies! Just think of King David and Bath-Sheba… We, men, could all ask, not without shame, “Which one of us is not an adulterer?” It is indeed a constant battle with our eyes, with our hearts, and with our thoughts!

What we all need is the attitude described by Jesus in 5:29-30, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Some have taken this language literally, like Origen (195-254), who castrated himself so that he would not be tempted. But that misses Jesus’ point, because if I gouge my right eye, I would still be looking and lusting using my left eye. Even blind, a twisted mind can still mentally sin!

What Jesus taught is what is called “spiritual mortification.” John Stott explains, “If your eye causes you to sin, because temptation comes to you through your eyes, then pluck out your eyes. That is, don’t look! Behave as if you actually plucked out your eyes and flung them away… If your hand or foot causes you to sin, because temptation comes to you through your hands (things you do) or your feet (places you visit), then cut them off. That is: don’t do it! Don’t go! Behave as you … were now crippled and so you could not do the things or visit the places which previously caused you to sin.” (Sermon on the Mount, 89)

Jesus is telling us that anything that stands between us and Him must be torn out or cut off and thrown away. These are drastic measures but absolutely needed to protect our spiritual health. Half-baked measures will not do the job. A wise man or woman will appropriate Job’s approach as he explained in Job 31:1, 7, 9. But above everything else, we must recognize the absolute necessity of the Holy Spirit, without whom we cannot mortify our flesh (Cols 3:5). Willpower alone will not do the job: Romans 8:13 reminds us that God gave us the ultimate power in this universe to help us pursue His holiness.

Matthew 5:17-47

As we are taking on the section of Matthew 5:17-47, we must observe two things: First, we are entering the body of the great Sermon; Second, Jesus is making a clear effort in showing how His teaching relates to the Old Testament. It is obvious from His last beatitude that those who practice the norms of the Kingdom would enjoy great rewards in heavens and will align themselves, even in suffering, with the prophets (5:12).

Jesus Is the Fulfillment of the Old Testament – Matthew 5:17-20

This short passage is one of the most difficult texts in the whole Bible. From the reading of this section becomes clear that Jesus had a high view and esteem for the Old Testament Scriptures and He states that He did not come to abolish them; actually He emphasized their immutability down to the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet. In other words, Jesus doesn’t say that the Old Testament writings contain some partial truth; in John 10:35 He declared that, “the Scripture cannot be broken.”

These observations though, may create difficulties regarding the application of the Old Testament Scriptures to the life of the New Testament believer. For instance, it seems pretty clear that Jesus abolished the food laws (Mark 7:19), even though He declared that, “I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them”! Further, after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the New Testament writers clearly announced that the sacrificial system of the Old Testament was no longer necessary (Heb. 8:13; 10:1-18). Also, why Christians are not following the details of the Old Testament Laws?

Some Bible commentators (going back to Thomas Aquinas – 1225 – 1274) have attempted to divide the law in three categories: moral, civil, and ceremonial, saying that the civil law has passed because the people of Israel was not formed as a nation for many centuries; the ceremonial law has disappeared because it pointed toward Jesus, who “fulfilled” it by dying on the cross, thus annulling all the Old Testament ceremonies. They continue to argue that the only law that that Jesus was referring in this passage is the eternal, never-changing moral law.

But this division of the Law is highly artificial as the laws are intermixed and difficult to categorize. For instance, the Ten Commandments, the clearest examples of so-called moral laws, present problems for the moral, civil, and ceremonial distinctions. For example is the Sabbath law moral or ceremonial? If content is the criterion, then the Sabbath law, which was clearly part of Israel’s worship system, is a ceremonial law and not a moral one. Furthermore, although many Christians claim that the Sabbath law is a moral law, practically none of them obey it. Going to church on Sunday, the first day of the week, can hardly be called obedience to the Sabbath law. Moses would not have accepted the first day of the week as a substitute for the seventh day. So there must be a different explanation to the Jesus’ words in this passage.

In Matthew 11:12-13, Jesus declares, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.” In other words, the whole Old Testament had a prophetic function pointing toward the coming Messiah, and Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament. The New Testament interprets the Old as pointing forward to Christ and all the blessings He was to bring. The sacrificial system pointed toward Jesus’ sacrifice (Heb. 9:8) and, as he explained to Cleopas and his friend, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” (Luke 24:44).  “The Scriptures testify about Me,” Jesus said (John 5:39).

Moving the discussion back to the Kingdom matters (v.19), Jesus brings back the Norms of the Kingdom in sight. To enter the Kingdom is required a righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees, that was based on self-effort; this new righteousness is based to one’s obedience to the King. Even ranking within the Kingdom will be based on obedience to the Jesus’ commands (5:19). The righteousness Jesus was speaking about was of a prophetic nuance: “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify” (Romans 3:21).

The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

http://www.amazon.com/Studies-Sermon-Mount-Martyn-Lloyd-Jones/dp/080280036X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284124840&sr=1-2

The motif that is implied in the beatitudes now becomes an explicit theme: the believer is a witness of the Kingdom of God. It is impossible to follow the norms of the Kingdom in a private way: the righteousness of the life you live will definitively attract attention, most of the time in form of opposition. The above norms of the Kingdom, practiced in a sinful world, are a major aspect of Christian witness, a witness that usually prompts persecution. Jesus introduces two metaphors to illustrate how His disciples must live their lives in such a manner that they would put a mark on the world that stands against the Kingdom of God. The action of salt is silent, pervasive, hidden, unseen; the action of light is open, seeable, and perceivable. The influence of the Christian character is to be two-fold: a silent hidden and pervasive thing reaching into the very fiber of our inner thought-life and attitudes, and it is to be open, lighting our outer life and affairs.

Salt: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”  Matthew 5:13

In the ancient times salt was used primarily as a preservative for all the perishable foods, including meats. Salt also helps preserve the flavor and taste of such foods. Jesus likens His disciples to salt, implying that without their presence is His

in this world, it would turn even more rotten. In other words, Christians are a good influence having the effect of delaying moral disintegration and slowing down spiritual putrefaction of this world.

What happens when “the salt loses its saltiness”? “Saltiness” is the existential essence of salt. Some have interpreted this saying that salt cannot really lose its saltiness and implicitly, being Christian means possessing an inner and compelling necessity to witness. In other words, “A true Christian must be a Christianizing force.”  However, to balance this first interpretation, it must be observed that even though salt cannot lose its saltiness, it can be adulterated, for example by being mixed let’s say with sand. When salt is being corrupted, then it cannot be used as a preservative and loses its ability to fend off corruption.

Light: “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.” Matthew 5:14-15

The second metaphor used by Jesus to describe the witness of His followers is light: the Christians are the light of the world, a world that is surrounded by thick darkness. Jesus brings in the picture two sources of light: the light from a city set on a hill and a light generated from a lamp set on a lamp-stand. Many of us have spent time camping outside and far away from the busy-ness of a city. Being far away from such a city, and being a cloudy night, you experienced perhaps the thick darkness of nature, to the point that you cannot see your own hand! However, when camping close by a city, the darkness is relived as the light from the city is reflected off the clouds, and the night is no longer quite so dark. Christians who let their light shine before men cannot be hidden, and the positive light they shed around attenuates the blackness which would otherwise be total darkness.

The second source of light is the one generated by the flickering flame of an oil lamp. When the flickering light is covered by a bowl, that light is smothered and extinguishes away.  When a Christian is in a constant effort to cover-up his Christianity, the light that was lit-up in his life will eventually die away. Other translations render “bowl” as “basket” (ESV) or “bushel” (KJV). “Bushel” is the symbol of trade, of business, and the suggestion is that our affairs can easily destroy and snuff-out the light of our Christian witness when they are conducted in the spirit of this world!

The Norms of the Kingdom, worked out in the lives of those belonging to the Kingdom of God, would constitute, without exception, the witness of the Kingdom. Such Christians refuse to rob their employers by being lazy on the job or, driven by greed, to exploit their employees; they are first to offer help to their colleagues, and last in returning a mean reply; they honestly desire the advancements of the other’s interests and don’t succumb to the pressures of their environment, because they borrow their light from the true Light of the world, Jesus Christ (John 8;12).

“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (5:16) – The witness- both in word and deeds – of the Christian furthers and expands the borders of the Kingdom of God, attracting non-believers to the “Father in heaven.”

The Norms of the Kingdom – Matthew 5:3-12

We must make some general observation about Beatitudes before examining them individually. The word “beatitude” is a transliteration from the Latin beatus. The Romanian is fericiri, original Greek is makarios , and all of these words mean “blessed.” To translate as “happiness” is a poor choice, as blessedness cannot be reduced to happiness. To be “blessed” by God fundamentally means to be “approved” by God, and there is no higher blessing in this Universe than to be approved by God!

We also ought to note that two of the beatitudes – 5:3 (the first) and 5:10 (the last) – promise the same reward, “… for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” To begin and to end with the same expression is a literal stylistic method called “inclusion,” meaning that everything that is bracketed between the two can really be included together.

First Beatitude: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (5:3)

What is poverty of spirit? It is absolutely NOT material poverty, and it is not poverty of spiritual awareness. It also doesn’t denote poverty of the Holy Spirit nor poor-spirited. Proverbs 16:19 sheds light on our understanding of the meaning of the first beatitude and states, “Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.” Also, Isaiah 57:15, “For this is what the high and lofty One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite’,” and 66:2, “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My word.”

Poverty of spirit is the personal acknowledgement of spiritual bankruptcy; it is the conscious confession of unworthy before God. In other words, to be “poor in the spirit” represents the deepest form of repentance, it is one’s confession that he/she is sinful and rebellious and without any merit to deserve God’s approval. Poverty of spirit is the only framework that allows one to become the recipient of God’s grace because poverty of the spirit becomes a confession of man’s need for God. There is no greater and deadlier pride than that which finds its roots in great learning or external righteousness. Right from the get-go of the Sermon of the Mount we learn that we don’t have the resources to put any of the Sermon’s percepts into practice. We must come to Him and acknowledge our spiritual poverty, emptying ourselves of our self-righteousness and moral self-esteem. Emptied of all self-pretensions we are ready for the Lord to fill us!

Second Beatitude: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (5:4)

The second follows naturally the first, as mournfulness can be understood as the emotional counterpart to poverty of the spirit. However, this doesn’t mean that Christians are called to walk around perpetually morose and weepy, like that poking joke, “This horse must be a Christian: it’s got such a long face!”

At the individual level, this mourning is a personal grief over personal sin; is the recognition of the blackness of one’s sin as he/she is more exposed to the purity of God. The best Biblical illustration is in the reaction of Isaiah (6:1-6) when he faced the holiness of God. It is also the realization of a man that pursues holiness in his own strength and discovers that he cannot achieve it and cries, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:24).

The follower of Christ must be a realist: he reasons that death is a reality and must be faced; God is there and will be known by all either as Savior or as Judge. Hideous sin is there affecting all and interfering with God’s purity and holiness; eternity is there and every human is rushing toward it. God’s revelation in Christ is there and able to pardon all who accepts it and the reality of rejecting it is painful and everlasting! Christians mourn for the sin of their people… But they will be comforted! (Revel. 21:4).

Third Beatitude: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” (5:5)

Meekness is NOT a weakness, as some might infer. A meek person is not wishy-washy, nor indecisive or timid. Some people are just naturally nice and easy-going, but meekness goes much deeper. Meekness is an acute desire to see other’s interests advance ahead of one’s own. A great example is Abraham’s deference to Lot, his nephew. Also, Numbers 12:3 declares that Moses was the meekest man who ever lived, and his meekness was displayed by his refusal to defend himself. However, we find meekness supremely demonstrated in the life of Jesus. He was truly entitled to say, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matt.11:28).

Too often we are too concerned to justify ourselves rather than edifying our brother. To the extent that we would start practicing meekness, a materialistic world will oppose it. Materialism argues, “Grab it! Take what you can!” Individually, each person tends to assume that he is at the center of the universe. But the meek person sees himself and all others under God. Because he is poor in the spirit, he does not think more highly of himself than he ought to. That’s why he is able to relate well to others.

And the meek shall inherit the earth! This blessing is true because only the genuinely meek person will be content: his ego is not inflated to the point that he thinks he must always have more. Moreover, in Christ he already sees himself “possessing everything” (2 Cor. 6:10). The meek Christian knows that one day he will come into the fullness of his inheritance, when the literal understanding of this blessing will be fulfilled.

Fourth Beatitude: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (5:6)

Erroneously, righteousness is mislabeled as Victorian prudishness or narrow-minded legalism. Even among professing Christians, righteousness is often time misunderstood and not pursued. The man marked by poverty of spirit, who grieves over his sin personal and social, and approaches God and man with meekness, must also be characterized as hungry and thirsty for righteousness. He doesn’t want just a little bit of it: he hungers and thirsts for it – it is as important to him as food and drink!

The “righteousness” Jesus speaks about is not the same with the Pauline term that refers to the righteousness of Christ that God reckons/imputes to the believer’s account; Jesus speaks of the life that is patterned in conformity to God’s will. The person who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, then, hungers and thirsts for conformity to God’s will. His delight is the Word of God, where he finds clearly spelled out God’s will, to which he hungers to be conformed. Most of us have never experienced hunger and thirst, but these absolute needs for our physical existence are the ones that Christ brings as an analogy for the desire of the one who seeks God’s kingdom. This person “will be filled” as the Lord gives this famished individual the desire of his heart. This desire is clearly illustrated in Paul’s life, to the point that he declares, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Phil.3:10). The more a person pursues conformity to God’s will, the more he wants more of it and the greater advances he makes.

Fifth Beatitude: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” (5:7)

How does mercy differ from grace? They are frequently interchanged, but there is a distinction between the two: while “grace” is a loving response when love is not deserved, mercy is a loving response to the misery and helplessness of others. In other words, grace answers to the undeserving; mercy answers to the miserable. Jesus calls us to be compassionate and gentle toward the miserable and helpless, otherwise we will not be shown mercy.

The one who is not merciful is inevitably so unaware of his own state that he thinks he needs no mercy. He is like the Pharisee in the Temple who was unmerciful toward the wretched tax-collector in the corner (Luke 18:10ff.).

By contrast, the person whose experience reflects these beatitudes is conscious of his spiritual bankruptcy (5:3), grieves over it (5:4) and hungers for righteousness (5:6). He is merciful toward the wretched because he recognized himself to be wretched, and in being merciful he is also shown mercy. The Christian is to forgive others because in the past Christ has already forgiven him (Ephes. 4:32).

This beatitude forces us to ask ourselves some hard questions: Am I merciful or condescending to the wretched? Am I gentle or hard-nosed toward the less fortunate? Am I helpful or callous toward the backslidden? Am I compassionate or impatient with the fallen?

We must realize that for the Spirit of God to bring a fresh period of spiritual renewal and revival the most important condition that must be met is our personal admission of spiritual bankruptcy that looks up to God for enrichment and goes on to be richly merciful toward others.

Sixth Beatitude: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (5:8). In biblical imagery, the heart is the center of the whole personality.  Jesus’ assessment of the human heart is not a positive one, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matt 15:19).  In spite of this spiritual diagnosis, in this beatitude Jesus insists that purity of heart is an absolute prerequisite to commune with God. Hebrews 12:14 declares, “Make every effort to … be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”

Our expectation is for the Day when Jesus Christ Himself will re-appear on this Earth. On that day, we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2). But until then, “Everyone who has hope in Him, purifies himself,  just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3). Christ’s disciples are concerned with purity of their hearts because they acknowledge that their King is pure, and the perfect Kingdom they are pursuing will admit only purity! What are our perceptions of God? Do we see Him as a pure and holy God? If Yes, then we will strive to cleanse our hearts and purify them daily so we are enabled to fellowship with Him.

Seventh Beatitude: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (5:9). This beatitude is not promised to the peaceful not to those who yearn for peace; it belongs to the peacemakers. Jesus is the greatest peacemaker, the One who made peace between the holy God and the wretched, sinful man, and bringing them back in communing with each other. Jesus’ greeting to His disciple after the resurrection was, “Peace be with you” (Luke 24:36), as He wanted that His followers would be carriers and dispenser of peace. It was God that searched for the lost man, and Christ’s disciple is a “son of God,” in the sense of “partaker of God’s nature,” just as a son reflects the nature and the character of the father. But being a peacemaker does not refer only to the sharing the Gospel’s message of peace; it also refers to being an agent of calmness, of lessoning tensions among others, and seeking solutions that lead to peace. What a wonderful promise this beatitude offers: to be called a son or a daughter of the Almighty God!

Eight Beatitude: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (5:10).  We must observe in this beatitude that the source of persecution is not Christian’s objection to the evils of this world, nor the fanaticism of those who pursue religious or political reforms; the blessing is guaranteed to those who suffer because of their righteousness, because of their desire to live as Jesus lived! This Christian may have overheard her colleagues saying behind her back, “Well, she’s a Christian, you know, one of those ‘Jesus freaks’ that won’t even smile to a good joke! I offered her the other day a beautiful and sturdy company binder that I knew she needed for her schoolwork, but she refused it saying that that would be stealing! Can you imagine what a loser she is!”

The reward for being persecuted because of righteousness is the kingdom of heaven. This beatitude really is the one binding up the rest and becomes the test for the previous ones! Think about this: If Christ’s disciple never experiences any persecution, a fair question would be, “Is there any righteousness displayed in his or her life?” The Christian lives in a sinful world and his righteousness is rejected by many. Apostle Paul declared, “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for Him”(Phil. 1:29), and “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted”(2 Tim 3:12).

Jesus expands and explains in the next two verses that persecution can take the form of insults and evil description of the Christian’s character, and all of these “because of Me” (5:11). This remark points to the fact that true righteousness has to do with the imitation of Jesus’ character. Jesus commands His disciples to “rejoice and be glad” when suffering for righteousness, just as the apostles rejoiced “because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (Acts 5:41). Peter saw trials as a means to prove the genuineness of their faith and to increase their purity (1 Pet.1:6-7).

Far from being something depressive, the disciples’ suffering and being persecuted because of their righteousness, becomes the greatest assurance that the Kingdom of God belongs to them!

Introduction

We are beginning our study of the Sermon on the Mount, probably one of the most famous texts of the New Testament in the Bible, surpassed only by John 3:16. Its importance can hardly be overstated.

• Augustine described the Sermon on the Mount as a perfect standard of the Christian life.
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote “The Cost of Discipleship” on an exposition of the Sermon on the Mount.
• Even unbelievers like Mahatma Gandhi were greatly impressed and impacted by the message of the Sermon on the Mount.
• R. Kent Hughes, in his commentary (The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom, p. 16) says that the Sermon on the Mount is the greatest sermon ever preached:

“The Sermon on the Mount is the compacted, congealed theology of Christ and as such is perhaps the most profound section of the entire New Testament and the whole Bible. Every phrase can bare exhaustive exposition and yet never be completely plumbed… . It shows us exactly where we stand in relation to the kingdom and eternal life. As we expose ourselves to the X-rays of Christ’s words, we see whether we truly are believers; and if believers, the degree of the authenticity of our lives. No other section of Scripture makes us face ourselves like the Sermon on the Mount. ^“

One of the finest books written about this Sermon, entitled “Christ of the Mount,” was titled as such because E. Stanley Jones realized that the words spoken in the Sermon are rooted in the “Being of the One who speaks.” Jesus claimed to be “one with the Father”; however, the incarnation of the Son of God had the purpose of revealing the Father, as Hebrews 1:3 clearly teaches, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.” In the Gospel of John Jesus declares that no one has seen the Father at any time and He alone has manifested the Father to us (John 6:46; 10:30; 14:9-10).

The great theme of the Sermon is the “Kingdom of heaven.” Most other New Testament writers prefer the expression “Kingdom of God,” but Matthew, as a good Jew (who wrote the most “Jewish” Gospel) intentionally avoided using the word “God,” as Jews of those days felt it was too holy and too exalted. However, in meaning “Kingdom of heaven” is identical to “Kingdom of God” (see Matt 19:23; Mark 10:23).

Observations on the “Kingdom”:

1. The idea of “Kingdom” in both the Old and the New Testaments is primarily dynamic rather than spatial. It is not necessarily a kingdom with geographical borders as it is a “kingdominion” or “reign.”

2. Although the “Kingdom of God” can refer to the totality of God’s sovereignty, this is not what is in view in the Sermon of the Mountain. Indeed, in the universal sense, God’s kingdom – His reign – is eternal and all-embracing, and no one and nothing can escape from it. But in the Sermon of the Mount Jesus refers to the Kingdom of heaven from a different perspective. For instance, only the “poor in the spirit” (5:3) and the “obedient” (7:21) enter the Kingdom of heaven. John declares in his Gospel that only those “born from above” can see or enter the Kingdom of God (3:3, 5). It is clear that the kingdom Jesus speaks in the Sermon is not universal; there are certain conditions to be met before entrance is possible.

Further, when we compare Mark 9:45 and 9:47 we get another dimension to our understanding. The first verse reads, “It is better for you to enter life crippled…”; the second one says, “It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye…” To enter the Kingdom of God, clearly, is to enter life. Thus, the Kingdom of heaven as presented in the Sermon of the Mountain is “the exercise of God’s sovereignty which bears directly on His savings purposes.  All who are in the kingdom have life; all who are not in the kingdom do not have life.”

3. “Kingdom of God” applies to both present and future. On one hand, the New Testament teaches that the Kingdom of God has already arrived. By faith anyone may enter the Kingdom and receive life now, life “to the full” (John 10:10). Jesus explained to his opponents that if He drives out demons by the Spirit of God than the Kingdom of God has come (Matt. 12:28). On the other hand, the New Testament also teaches that the Kingdom will be inherited only in the future when Christ comes again. Eternal life, though experienced now, is going to be fulfilled and consummated at Jesus’ Second Coming that’ll bring “a new heaven and a new earth.” There is an “already” and a “not yet” aspect of the Kingdom: the Kingdom has already come, but it has not yet arrived.

4. The very idea of “Kingdom” strongly suggests the elements of “authority” and “submission.” The Kingdom of God speaks of God’s authority, mediated through Christ, and demands our whole-heartedly allegiance to that authority. In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus underlines the idea of obedience: “Not everybody who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your Name, and in your Name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from Me, you evil-doers’!”

The more one reads Matthew Chapters 5, 6, and 7 the more one will be both drawn to them and shamed by them! The brilliant light of the Sermon of the Mountain draws us like a moth to the fire, but its flame is so bright that it sears and burns. Perfection, and nothing less, is demanded. Jesus says, “Be perfect … as your heavenly Father is perfect” (5:48). Jesus is the Incarnated-God and when He call us He proclaims a discipleship that seems like a burdening yoke – but is hard only for those who try to resist; but for those who willingly submit, the yoke is easy and the burden is light (1 John 5:3).  Bonhoeffer says, “Jesus asks nothing of us without giving us the strength to perform it.” (The Cost of Discipleship, p.38).

The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

http://www.amazon.com/Cost-Discipleship-Dietrich-Bonhoeffer/dp/0684815001

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

http://www.amazon.com/Studies-Sermon-Mount-Martyn-Lloyd-Jones/dp/080280036X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284124840&sr=1-2

Is God Still Guiding His People Today?

Why is it that when we speak to God we are said to be praying but when God speaks to us we are said to be schizophrenic?
Lily Tomlin, comedian

God Desires to Guide Us

The Bible says that our God desires to guide us. The Scriptures describe God as a Guide. He came to Abraham, “The Lord said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people, and your father’s household, and go to the land I will show you’.” (Genesis 12:1) – God guided Abraham.  Later, God guided Moses and the People of Israel: “By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night”(Ex.13:21). In Proverbs 3:5-6 we are promised, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.”

The most famous psalm talks about this. Psalm 23: “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul.” He knows just what I need. Our God is a Guide: He doesn’t leave His children, nor does He forsake them.  James 1:5 puts it like this: “Whoever among you lacks wisdom …. “  Anybody here ever make a bad decision? You ever needed any wisdom? Anybody need any right now? “Whoever among you lacks wisdom, ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault.” Our God is a guiding God. But of all the facets of the greatness of God, the guidance of God can be the most confusing to people. How do we actually experience it?

Let’s look at a story in the Old Testament about a little boy named Samuel, a story that sheds light on our subject. The Lord called the young Samuel and he answered, “Here I am.” Twice Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up, and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening’”(1 Samuel 3). This is the beginning of his relationship with God. God was speaking to Samuel in this story. Samuel knew he was being addressed. He did not know it was God. He actually had to learn how to recognize God was speaking to him. In other words, it’s possible for God to speak to someone and for that person to know something is going on, but they don’t know it’s God. All believers must undergo a process a learning to discern the voice of God.

What Is Communication?

Let’s think for a minute: What does it mean to communicate with someone? It’s quite a miraculous thing we’re able to do! We take it for granted. People can communicate. It’s essential to community and to communing. Communication is simply guiding somebody else’s thoughts. In his excellent treatment of this subject, Hearing God,  Dallas Willard explains

“When someone is communicating with you, all they’re doing is causing you to think certain thoughts you would not otherwise be thinking. Those thoughts are going on in your head. They’re your thoughts, but somebody else is prompting them. That’s communication. Because we’re finite creatures, we have to use finite means to guide each other’s thoughts. So we make sounds. I’m doing that right now, and because you’re sitting here for this talk, you are having thoughts you would not otherwise be having, right? Thoughts like, When will this be over? We make sounds, or we write symbols down on a piece of paper (like the handout you have in your hands). When people look at those symbols, they prompt thoughts. That is communication.”

Because we’re finite creatures, we have to use finite means to guide each other’s thoughts. But God is infinite, and among other things, this means God can guide your thoughts directly. He doesn’t have to use sounds. He doesn’t have to use symbols. He can, but He doesn’t have to. He has direct access to your mind. He can simply guide a thought without using any other means at all. But now part of what this means is it’s possible for God to guide a thought in my mind, but I may not know it is God doing that. Something like this is what happened to little Samuel. He didn’t know. Eli helped him with this. This is what some has called the “ministry of Eli” – helping someone to discern when God may be speaking or guiding in their life. Prayer is not just me talking with God. If God wants to, God can also talk back. To commune—to be in community, involves communication. Jesus says about his people: “When he [the Good Shepherd] has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.” To have a personal relationship with God means I must be open to the possibility that the Spirit of God is prompting me, guiding me.

Often the Spirit of God will prompt us with ideas. A thought will come to write somebody a note or encourage somebody who feels alone or serve somebody who is in need or confront somebody who is going down a wrong path. Or, out of a blue sky you might get a prompting to call someone, and you did, only to find out that s/he felt miserable and was contemplating some evil thoughts, even suicide, but now s/he was refreshed by your [divine] intervention as you both went out for a coffee and s/he benefitted from your ministry. When those thoughts come, the main thing is not to say, “Hey, God is speaking to me.” What is important is that you actually do what the prompting is. It may be that you have been obeying those kinds of thoughts and serving God your whole life long, while never identifying that that is God’s voice. The main issue is not that you say it’s God’s voice. The main issue is that you actually respond with obedience.

Prerequisites to Hearing God’s Voice

1. Salvation. In our attempt to understand how God speaks to us and guide us we MUST understand that we are enabled to hearing God’s voice only by partaking into the life of God, a life of loving relationship with the King and the other members of His Kingdom. Jesus left no exception from this condition when He declared, “He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” (John 8:47) In order for us to belong to God we must first be born again, and enabled to walk in the light and the truth of the new life. Answering to Pilate, Jesus said, “I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.” (John 18:37)

2. Receptivity.  Only our communion with God provides the appropriate context for communication between us and Him! It is not enough to be sharing in the life of God; the second fundamental requisite is to be “in tune” with God! The fact that we are not hearing, doesn’t mean that God is not speaking to us! Think of all the Radio or TV waves that are passing through our bodies and brains right, messages that a correctly tuned receiver can transform the waves in images and sounds. God speaks to us all the time, but we are not attuned to the voice of God!

3. Are We Ready Vessels? We all need to do some honest soul-searching: What kind of vessel is my life, my heart, my mind? Paul tells his disciple Timothy, “Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” (2 Tim. 2:21).

4. Are We Ready to Be in Business with God? We pray, “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed by thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done!” Are we devoted to the glory of God and for the advancement of His Kingdom? If our lives are not devoted to the will of God, He might still speak to us, even use us if we are strategically placed. Let’s face it clearly: What are we living for? If we are not living for God and His purposes, His voice will always be an unwelcome intrusion into our plans.

Many of us have grown to love the theme of God’s guidance. Within Christian community, the teaching on the will of God and how to discover it continues to be one of the most popular subjects. Many of us grew up accustomed with the prayer line, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” At many Christian Conferences the workshop that most people stay in line to sign up for is, “Knowing the Will of God.” My wife Rodica, a 5th Grade Sunday School Teacher recently surveyed her class and was surprised to see that even at this young age the theme of hearing God’s voice topped her students’ preferences!
Indeed, there is a deep thirst within that challenges us to desire and seek a personal, intimate relationship with God. The Bible is filled with examples of regular people like ourselves who experienced a close relationship with the Creator, a relationship that resembles more like a friendship or family tie. This is the reality and the beauty of the one-on-one relationship: God has created us for intimate friendship with Himself – both now and for the eternity ahead. God’s desire for intimacy with His children is well attested in the Scriptures:
“Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.” (Exodus 29:45-46). “The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent” (Ex. 33:11). Jesus said to His disciples, “You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:14).  “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God’.” (Revelation 21:3)
Busting Some Myths Regarding God’s Guidance

Myth 1: God only speaks to and guides the spiritual mature believers

Some Christians think God’s guidance is just for prophets or missionaries or pastors. A story that shows how false this myth is comes from the Old Testament Book of Numbers. There was a prophet named Balaam who was hired by the enemy of Israel, Midian, to curse Israel. Balaam is riding a donkey to go to Midian but God sends an angel to turn Balaam back to Israel. On the road, the donkey sees the angel of God blocking their path. Balaam doesn’t see it. So the donkey turns aside. Balaam beats the donkey to get her back on the road. This happens three times. This is in the Bible, Numbers 22. The donkey is reasoning with Balaam, not just speaking to him. God is speaking through a donkey. God can speak through anybody He chooses. He can speak through a donkey if He wants to. It’s not about spiritual greatness and maturity. God can speak to a little boy, like He did in the case of the young Samuel (1 Samuel 3). It is important to observe that it was a process for Samuel to learn to distinguish God’s voice!

Myth 2: If I’m always obedient to God’s Word, He will guide all my decisions, and I won’t have to make any decisions on my own.

As a parent, would it be a good thing if you would make every decision for a child’s whole life? Would you like it if for your whole child’s life you would say, “Wear these clothes. Take this class. Choose this major. Buy this house. Enter this job. Marry this person.” The normal answer would be NO! Because that would paralyze their development! As a parent, my main goal for my child is that he or she becomes a good and godly person, a person of wisdom and courage and grace and mercy and love and truth. Becoming a good person requires you to think things out, exercise judgment, sometimes make difficult choices in the face of uncertainty, and then take accountability and learn. That process is indispensable for the formation of a human being, and that means that many times in your life when you pray and ask for guidance, God’s response is going to be: “You choose.”  Because you’ll never grow if you don’t do that!
Sometimes, the reality is, I don’t really want guidance. What I want is to be spared the anxiety that goes with freedom and choosing and being responsible. Part of God’s will for your life is that you grow into responsible, mature adults. There is no other way to learn except by choosing. When you choose, there is risk involved. With risk, sometimes you’ll experience failure. With failure you’ll feel pain. God does not offer guidance as a method of risk avoidance. God’s guidance is not about you reducing your anxiety in the face of choice. It’s about you becoming the person God intended you to be. That means very often God will say to you: “You choose: be wise, get good counsel, and I’ll be with you guiding through the process.”

Myth 3: God’s will is an inner and subjective card I can use to get my way

Most of us probably heard a story when somebody – could be a guy or a gal – would say to somebody of the opposite gender: “God told me you’re the person I’m meant to marry.” The best response to this is, “You tell God to tell me, and as soon as I hear from Him, I’ll get back to you.” Or you hear that a pastor at a church will leave to go to a larger church with more prestige and a higher salary. But he will never say, “I’m leaving to go to a bigger church with more prestige and a higher salary.” What he’ll say is, “I got … called.  I don’t want to go to that bigger church with more prestige and a higher salary. Personally, I’d rather stay here with you, but God called me, so what can I do?”
Some Christians can become hypocritical by using this “spiritual” language as they try to make themselves look more spiritual by adding to the normal course of decision-making phrases like, “The Lord called me to … “; “God spoke to me about going there;” “God put this burden on my heart” ; “God showed me this…” This kind of language can impress and often intimidate “regular” Christians. Our God is a guiding God. But of all the facets of the greatness of God, the guidance of God can be the most confusing to people.

Myth 4: There is nothing we can do to be guided by God

The Prophet Elijah was discouraged and needed guidance at one time in his life. The Lord led him to a place alone for 40 days. He was on a mountain, and some spectacular things happened. A great and powerful wind came down, but the text says the Lord was not in the wind. Then a strong earthquake occurred. The Bible says the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then a fire came. The text says the Lord was not in the fire. Elijah had to wait and wait and wait, and finally after the fire was a still, small voice.  There was the Lord. Not the big, spectacular, dramatic special effects, but a still small voice.
What is my role in finding God’s guidance? Listening. Of course reading Scripture is a primary way we listen to God. The Holy Spirit never leads us in a direction contrary to the teachings of Scripture. When you wonder, “How do I know if a prompting is of God?”,  part of what to recognize is that God’s guidance will never be in contradiction to the teaching of Scripture. The promptings of the Spirit are generally in line with the gifts the Spirit gives. If somebody says, “I want to sing in the choir,” but they have a terrible voice, that is probably not the Spirit leading them. The Spirit generally leads people in a direction of servanthood. If you find an idea, and it’s really all about your fulfillment and not about serving, there is good reason to question.