Will you please turn to the Gospel according to Matthew, Chapter 5? We will read from verse 1 through verse 12.
And seeing the multitudes, He went up into the mountain: and when He had sat down, His disciples came unto Him:
and He opened His mouth and taught them, saying,
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you.
—Matthew 5:1-12
As we mentioned last night, when we gather together at this time, we are looking to our Lord, our Master, to train us, to disciple us, and to discipline us in this area of leadership.
The way that our Lord Jesus works is to reach the many through the few. He will take hold of a few, train them intensely and thoroughly, and then use these few to reach the many upon whom He has set His heart.
This is really what leadership means. Leadership is not an end in itself; leadership is a means to an end. What the Lord really desires is that wonderful Body, composed of all those who believe in Him, to be fully matured, full-grown, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
In order to arrive at that, He raises up leaders. He works in their lives first, and then through them He reaches all the members of the Body of Christ.
So, dear brothers and sisters, as we gather here, we do have the sense that we are here to be trained, to be taught—not by man, but by the Lord Himself.
Because in Matthew 23:10 the Lord said:
Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even the Christ.
—Matthew 23:10
We have only one Master. We are all discipled to Him. He is the only One able to reproduce His image in us, and He is the only One able to get things done through us. He may use human beings as channels and instruments to help, but, dear brothers and sisters, we must remember that we have only one Master.
He is the only One able to train us in the way that He wants us to be.
Last night, we mentioned that when the Lord chose the twelve apostles, He did not choose the wise, the powerful, or the noble. On the contrary, He purposely chose those who were foolish in man’s eyes, weak, ignoble, and nothing.
His choosing of us does not depend upon what we have. His choosing of us depends upon what He is able to do.
But there is one thing that He requires of us if we are chosen: we must be fully committed to Him. He requires utter devotedness to Himself.
If, when we hear His call, we truly yield ourselves to Him in full commitment, then He will begin His work in us: to transform us, to conform us to His own image, and to equip us so that we may be fit for the Master’s use.
As we commit ourselves to Him, He will lose no time in training us.
When we read the Gospels, we find that our Lord Jesus trained the twelve in many areas. In other words, He did not hold the twelve to Himself merely so that they might learn the skill of service. It is true that this was part of what they had to learn, but may I suggest that it was only a very small part.
We find in the Gospels how our Lord Jesus trained them in many things. But above all, the one thing upon which He spent more time than anything else was this area of character.
So this evening, we would like to consider together how the Lord trains us in this matter of character. In other words, He must reproduce Himself in us. Unless His character begins to characterize us, He will not be able to use us in the way that He desires.
Why? Because service is not merely doing something for God.
Whether you are serving in the local assembly or in the work of God, true service is the impartation of Christ.
Whether you are teaching the Word, ministering the Word, serving at tables, working in administration, or doing various things—even the smallest things in human eyes, such as cleaning the house or setting up the chairs—true service is not merely getting these things done.
If we simply want to have things done, then an executive in a large corporation could be a very good elder in the church. Whoever is naturally talented and experienced in the world could be transferred into the service of God and get things done, seemingly well.
But, dear brothers and sisters, service in the work of God is on a different plane, a different level. God is more interested in seeing Christ imparted through your service than in merely seeing something done outwardly.
Because of this, in the Lord’s training of His own people, the most essential thing—the thing upon which He worked incessantly with His disciples—was this area of character.
When we believe in the Lord Jesus, not only are our sins forgiven, but we receive a new life. Thank God for this new life. With this new life comes a new nature.
As Peter said, we are made partakers of His divine nature. But unless that life is developed according to this new nature, a new character will not be formed.
Character is not natural or spontaneous. Character has to be built; it has to be developed.
Before we believed in the Lord Jesus, we had the life of Adam. With that life, we had that nature. Through the years, that Adamic nature was developed until there was a definite character in our lives.
Now, do not think that Adam is altogether bad. In Adam, there are many things that are good in the eyes of men. But whether they are good or bad, they are Adam.
If it is Adam, if it is Adamic character, it is completely rejected by God. Not only is it rejected by God; it is in enmity with God. It opposes God. It is something unacceptable to God.
Now we have a new life, the life of Christ, and with this new life, a new nature. The old nature loves darkness rather than light, but this new nature is pure, is light, is transparent, and is true.
But, dear brothers and sisters, for this new nature to be developed into a new character takes discipline. It takes exercise. It takes training.
In the school of discipleship, the main lesson is to unlearn Adam and to learn Christ.
We have learned so much of Adam that it has become second nature; actually, it is the old nature. It has become so natural that we do not need to think. It is almost like a reflex.
To unlearn Adam is a long and painful process. To learn Christ is also new to us. We are not used to that way, and because of this, it takes spiritual exercise.
If you turn to Ephesians 4, verse 20:
But ye did not so learn Christ;
if so be that ye heard Him, and were taught in Him, even as truth is in Jesus:
that ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, that waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit;
and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
—Ephesians 4:20-24
Dear brothers and sisters, as we come to Christ and follow after Him, we begin to learn of Him. If we have heard Him and have been instructed in Him according to the truth that is in Jesus, what is it that we have heard? What is it that we have been instructed by Him?
We have been taught to put off the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts; to be renewed in the spirit of our mind; and to put on the new man, which, according to God, is created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
This is what we have heard. This is what we have been instructed according to the truth.
Now, what is truth? Truth is fact. Truth is accomplished fact. Truth is reality.
What is the truth? The truth is that our old man was crucified with Christ.
The truth is that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. That is the truth.
Now, have we heard? Have we been instructed in the truth? If we have heard and have been instructed in the truth, then on our part we will have put off the old man with his former manner of life—his old conduct, behavior, and ways.
We put off the old man because we know that it is corrupt. The spirit of the mind is being renewed, and we put on the new man, which is created according to God in righteousness and holiness of truth.
Brothers and sisters, have we put off the old man? Have we put on the new man?
The truth is that our old man was crucified. You do not do anything to crucify the old man. Christ did it. God did it.
You are not able to transform yourself into a new creation. God took you in Christ, and by putting you in Christ, you are a new creation. That is the truth.
In other words, you have done nothing. He has done it all. It is finished. It is done. You cannot add anything to it, nor can you take anything away from it.
If you have truly been taught and have learned this, then on your part, actively by faith and on the basis of the truth you have been taught, you would have put off the old man with his former manner of life.
It is like taking off old clothes. Since the old man is dead, take off those dead clothes. You have put on the new man, like putting on new clothes.
Now, brothers and sisters, this relates to character. By faith, we stand in the truth that Christ has accomplished for us, and with our will we put off the old and put on the new.
If you look at Colossians 3, you will find the same thought. Colossians 3, verses 9 and 10:
Lie not one to another; seeing that ye have put off the old man with his doings,
and have put on the new man, that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of Him that created him.
—Colossians 3:9-10
First of all, in our will and in the spirit of our mind, we need a mental attitude. We need a new, renewed mind.
The renewed mind recognizes that the old man was crucified. Why should I hold on to those old clothes? I have put them off. I do not want to live as I once lived. I do not want the old character to continue with me. I will put it off like old clothes, and I will put on Christ, the new man, with a new character.
This should be our mental attitude. The problem today with many Christians is that we do not have that mind. This is the mind of Christ. This is the renewed mind.
A renewed mind rejects that which is of the old because we have nothing to do with it, and it puts on—that is, acts upon—all that is of Christ because this is ours.
With such a mind, you find both in Ephesians and Colossians: put on this, put off that, put to death this, and put on compassion and love and such things. Why? Because first in your mind you have accepted what you have been instructed concerning the truth.
As you accept it, there is a renewing in your mind, and the Holy Spirit is able to work it out in your life.
The Lord calls us to Himself. Remember, the Lord does not call us merely to do a work. Work will follow.
He said:
Come ye after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
—Mark 1:17
He did not say, “Come and be fishers of men.” No. He said, “Come after Me. Come to Me.”
It is only after we come to Him and learn of Him—and that is, learn of His character and allow His character to be wrought into us as our character—that He says, “I will make you fishers of men.”
Transformation is going on today. We who have been regenerated are being transformed. What the Holy Spirit is doing today—what our Master is working in us and with us today—is in this area of transformation.
We were like ugly caterpillars, but He is going to transform us into beautiful butterflies. But in order to do that, we have to go through the process of death and resurrection.
The ugly caterpillar enters into the cocoon, into death, and then out of it comes resurrection—a beautiful butterfly. It is a metamorphosis.
This process is the most essential work that our Master is doing in us today. Unless He is able to do that work in us, dear brothers and sisters, we are useless and unfit for the Master’s use.
This does not mean that He transforms your flesh into spirit. He that is born of the flesh is flesh, and he that is born of the Spirit is spirit. In other words, the old man will never change. The old nature will never change. The flesh will never change.
It will remain forever, and God has no intention of changing our flesh into spirit. Transformation does not mean that He transforms your flesh into spirit or turns Adam into Christ. No.
Adam must be put to death so that Christ may be raised in you. That is transformation.
Again, you find that it is a gradual process. It is a painful process. It requires discipline. It requires spiritual exercise on your part.
Just as Paul said to Timothy:
Exercise thyself unto godliness.
—1 Timothy 4:7
To be like Him, to be like God, requires spiritual exercise. It is not for those who are lazy. God has no use for lazy people. I remember D. L. Moody even said, “God does not save a lazy person.”
Dear brothers and sisters, we are in the school of Christ. Our Master is doing the greatest work in the world.
The problem is that our thinking is always on work, work, work. But the greatest work that our Master is doing today is to transform you and conform you to His own image.
But oftentimes we do not allow Him to do that work because we are too busy working for Him.
This evening, we would like to take the so-called Beatitudes and see how our Lord Jesus not only desires, but works, His own character into us.
You know, the so-called Sermon on the Mount is greatly misinterpreted. If we take the Sermon on the Mount as law—a new law—then we are done.
The Sermon on the Mount is not a new law. It is simply a description of what our Master can make us to be.
The Sermon on the Mount is not God’s demand upon us as human beings. If people cannot keep the Ten Commandments, how can they keep the Sermon on the Mount?
The Sermon on the Mount is simply a statement telling us what He can lead us to be if our lives are truly yielded to the Master.
Therefore, in the so-called Beatitudes, He is not dealing with a matter of conduct; He is dealing with a matter of character.
The Lord does not say, “Blessed are you if sometimes you are poor.” He says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” He does not say, “Blessed are you if sometimes you show meekness.” He says, “Blessed are the meek.”
He is not talking about conduct, about how you should behave or how you should change your behavior. He is interested in transforming you and conforming you to His own image.
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
—Matthew 5:3
Someone said that poverty of spirit is the first principle of the kingdom. I think it was Campbell Morgan who said that we often hear people tell us how to be filled, but do we ever hear people tell us how to be emptied?
We often hear messages designed to boost our ego, to make us important. But do we hear messages that bring us to nothing?
Blessed are the poor in spirit. The poor in spirit are not merely the spiritually poor.
Now, the Lord Jesus looked at His disciples and said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Were the disciples poor in spirit?
Look at our Lord Jesus. In Philippians 2, we are told that He was equal with God. He was in the form of God.
The Greek word form does not mean outward appearance; it means inward quality. In other words, in essence, He is God.
This was not something that He had to grasp or seize. It was His right; it was His birthright, because He is in essence equal with God. He is God. Whatever God is, that is what He is—nothing less and nothing more.
In essence, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all equal. There is no need to compete, no need to grasp, and no need to rob.
Yet He emptied Himself. He was so rich that He could make Himself poor for us.
Of course, He could not empty Himself of His deity; that is impossible. But He did empty Himself of the glory, position, splendor, worship, honor, and all the things that go with deity.
He emptied Himself and took the form of a slave. The word form is the same word used when it says He was in the form of God. It was not merely an outward appearance as a slave; it was the inward reality of a slave.
Throughout His life, He was a love-slave to God—willingly and voluntarily. Never at any time did He try to assert Himself.
You find that He always said, “I can do nothing of Myself.” If He did anything, it was because He saw His Father doing it. If He spoke anything, it was because He heard His Father say it. “Your time is always ready, but My time is not yet come.” “Not My will, but Thine, be done.”
Throughout the life of our Lord Jesus, He was a love-slave, in the form of a slave. Yet He took the likeness of men. He became a man just as we are, except that He did not have sin.
Being found in fashion as a man, He took the position of a man before God. He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Dear brothers and sisters, what is the glory of God? The glory of God is to command. What is the glory of man? The glory of man is to obey.
Our Lord Jesus was poor in spirit. He emptied Himself of all self-importance, self-assertiveness, self-seeking, and self-right. He emptied Himself of self.
He was obedient even unto death, the death of the cross. This is the character of Christ, and He is to work His character into us.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are naturally proud. We have very little, yet we feel so rich. The spirit of Laodicea is natural in us.
Our old character, the character of Adam, is so opposite to the character of Christ. How we exert ourselves! How we insist upon our rights! How self-important we are!
We think that we can do it—with God’s help. All right, He will allow you to do it until you hit the wall and break your neck. Then you come to Him and say, “I cannot. I am nothing.” Then He will do it.
The twelve surrounded the Master. The spirit of the Master was so humble, and yet look at the spirit of His disciples.
You remember when our Lord Jesus was facing Jerusalem. He was going from Galilee to Judea, and He would pass through villages of Samaria. He sent His disciples ahead of Him to prepare the way.
But the Samaritans, seeing that our Lord was going to Jerusalem, would not receive Him because of their hostility to the Jews—not to the Lord in particular, but to the Jews in general.
Then the two sons of thunder came to the Lord and said, “Lord, these people will not receive You. Do You want us to call fire down from heaven and burn them up?”
They seemed to have great faith. They believed that if they called for fire, fire would come down and burn those people up.
But the Lord said:
Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
—Luke 9:55
The Lord was going to Jerusalem in the spirit of the Lamb, to be sacrificed. But the spirit of the disciples was just the opposite—not to sacrifice themselves, but to sacrifice other people.
Dear brothers and sisters, that is what we are naturally. We need to put off the old man. We need to put on the new man, the character of Christ.
It is through discipline that we are brought to see ourselves in His light. It humiliates us, but it delivers us from ourselves.
Sometimes we sympathize very much with Peter. I think Peter was the kind of person who really stirred you up. He was such an outspoken, outgoing person. He talked without thinking, and his intention seemed always to be very good.
Yet, of all the disciples, he was the one with whom, as far as the record goes, the Lord dealt most. Even the Lord turned to him and said, “Get thee behind Me, Satan.”
We sympathize with him. But, dear brothers and sisters, if you can afford to be disciplined, if you will stick with the Master in spite of always being disciplined, you will be a leader.
On the day of Pentecost, Peter stood up with the eleven.
On another occasion, the disciples found someone casting out demons in the Lord’s name, but he was not following them. They asked, “Shall we forbid him?”
What kind of spirit is this? The Lord said:
Forbid him not: for he that is not against you is for you.
—Luke 9:50
The first lesson in the area of character that we must learn is this poverty of spirit. If we still feel that we are important, if we still feel that we can do it, if we still feel that we are someone, if we feel that we are rich, dear brothers and sisters, we have not learned the first lesson of the kingdom.
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
—Matthew 5:3
It is only with poverty of spirit that you will have power and authority. With that poverty of spirit, you are able to impart Christ to other people.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
—Matthew 5:4
Our Lord Jesus was not a moody, pessimistic, melancholy, unsociable type of person. As a matter of fact, He was criticized as a friend of sinners, eating and drinking. Our Lord Jesus was very approachable.
Yet you do not find in Scripture, in the Gospels, that He ever laughed. Now, I do not say that He never laughed. On the contrary, I believe He did, because God has a sense of humor. But the Scripture never records it.
That does not mean that He was a sad person. No, He was full of joy. His joy was so full that on the night when He was to be betrayed, He said that His joy might be in His disciples.
Yet the Bible records that He wept. “Jesus wept.” He was a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.
He was in such full sympathy with God and compassion for men. When He saw people like sheep without a shepherd, His heart went out to them. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!”
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
—Matthew 5:4
This is the character of our Lord Jesus. What is it that He wants to work in us? Surely He does not want us to be the kind of people who go around with long faces. No, He wants us to be cheerful.
But what He truly wants to work in us is a broken and contrite spirit.
But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My word.
—Isaiah 66:2
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:
a broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
—Psalm 51:17
What He wants to work in us is an afflicted and contrite spirit, one that trembles at His word. The sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite spirit, and such a heart He will not despise.
Dear brothers and sisters, are we in a repentant spirit? Repentance is more than an act that we do once in a while. Repentance is a spirit.
Are we always in a spirit of repentance, a repentant and contrite spirit, broken before God? Or are we so hard, so self-righteous?
Because we are so self-righteous and hard, we become so critical. We see the mote in our brother’s eye, but we cannot see the beam in our own eye.
We are not compassionate, not sympathetic. Are we mourning for our own sins? Are we mindful of the sins of this world?
Does it break our heart when we see how God is being offended? Does it break our heart when we see how corrupted the world is? Do we have the sympathy of God toward the world?
Dear brothers and sisters, the one who can really minister Christ is the one with a broken spirit. If your spirit is not broken, you are like a vessel that has never been cracked, and the treasure within you—the radiance of that treasure—will never be able to shine forth.
Unless we are broken, we cannot minister as we ought. A broken spirit brings a sweet spirit, a sympathetic spirit. With that spirit, we can serve; with that spirit, we can minister Christ.
The disciples did not have this kind of spirit before. Remember Peter? He came to the Lord and said, “My brother sins against me seven times, and I forgive him. Is that enough, Lord?”
He was so self-righteous. But the Lord said, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven.”
Dear brothers and sisters:
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
—Matthew 5:4
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
—Matthew 5:5
What is meekness? In the Scriptures, meekness seems always to be linked with lowliness or gentleness.
In Matthew 11, the Lord said:
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.
—Matthew 11:29
In 2 Corinthians, Paul says:
Now I Paul myself entreat you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.
—2 Corinthians 10:1
So meekness seems always to be linked with lowliness or gentleness. What does it mean?
As one brother put it, it means no resistance toward God and no self-will toward men.
In other words, toward God there is no resistance, no argument; there is complete surrender. Whatever the Father’s will is, that is it.
And toward men there is no self-will. That is meekness.
We are not naturally meek. Meekness is not weakness. Some people try to confuse the two things. Some people think that if you are meek, then you are weak. Not so.
Moses is called the meekest of all men. How can you think of Moses as the meekest of all men? No artist would draw a picture of Moses as a weakling.
The pictures and statues of Moses, the lawgiver, portray him as masculine and strong, almost able to crush everyone. Yet God says that he was the meekest of all men.
He was not weak in any sense, but he was meek. In what sense? Before God, there was no resistance. Toward men, there was no self-will.
When the people rebelled against him, he prostrated himself before God for the people. He did not talk back. He simply brought the people to God. That is meekness.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the character of Christ, of our Master, and He wants to reproduce this character in you and me.
It takes so much death and resurrection to accomplish this. Are we willing to pay the price?
The world will not admire the meek, but it is the meek who inherit the earth.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
—Matthew 5:6
Surely this is true of our Lord Jesus. Psalm 45 prophesies of our Lord Jesus:
Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness:
therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee
with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.
—Psalm 45:7
To our Lord Jesus, doing right was not merely an action. To our Lord Jesus, righteousness was character. He always did the right thing. He always did what was right in the sight of His Father.
Therefore, He could say that His Father had never left Him, because He always did the things that pleased Him. He is the Righteous One.
Dear brothers and sisters, are we hungry and thirsty after righteousness?
The Bible says:
Seek ye first His kingdom, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
—Matthew 6:33
The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
How the Spirit of God has to purify our conscience in order that we may develop a character of righteousness.
Our conscience is very important. It is true that, in an unsaved person, the conscience can be unreliable because there is no true standard. God is not the standard of that person’s conscience; custom, condition, and knowledge become the standard.
But after we are saved, the conscience of our heart is purified by the precious blood. We have a conscience void of offence, a clean conscience.
Dear brothers and sisters, we have to live before God with a clear conscience. If we lose our conscience, it is like shipwreck.
You know, many believers do not pay attention to their conscience. The Holy Spirit touches our conscience to show us something that seems right but is wrong in the eyes of God.
Do we follow our conscience? Do we walk according to God? Are we right—not merely doing things right sometimes, but living rightly?
Are we hungry and thirsty after righteousness?
Oftentimes, we do things that we think are right, but they are not right in the eyes of God. How we need the precious blood.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
—1 John 1:9
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
—Matthew 5:7
Our God is a merciful God. You remember in Exodus 34, after the children of Israel sinned against God, Moses went up to the mountain, and God declared His name.
The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.
—Exodus 34:6
This is our God. When our Lord Jesus was on earth, He said that God desires mercy, not sacrifice. How He showed mercy to people.
That woman caught in adultery was brought before Him by the Pharisees, those self-righteous people. They said, “According to the law of Moses, she must be stoned. What do You say?”
Our Lord Jesus would not even look at that sinful woman to shame her. He bowed His head and wrote on the ground. What a merciful God.
Dear brothers and sisters, oftentimes we forget that He has shown such mercy to us.
Just as in the parable that the Lord told, Peter came and said, “My brother sins against me seven times. Is that enough?” The Lord used a parable to teach him: “You who have received much mercy must forgive. You must learn to be merciful.”
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
—Matthew 5:7
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
—Matthew 5:8
You remember David in Psalm 51, how he prayed, “O God, purge me. Give me a clean heart.”
But here you find not merely a clean heart, but a pure heart. A clean heart is a heart cleansed from all sins and defilement. But a pure heart is an undivided heart, a single heart.
It is a heart that does not serve two masters, a heart that seeks God with a single eye. That is a pure heart.
This is the character of our Lord. He is pure in heart. He never sees two things; He sees only one—His Father. That is all He sees.
Brothers and sisters, is our heart pure? How we desire to serve two masters! But the Lord said that we cannot do that.
Why is it that we often find ourselves double-minded, or, in the original, double-souled? In other words, we like this, and we like that too. Sometimes it is very difficult for us to know where to go.
James said, “If you are double-minded, purify your heart.” The problem is not in your mind; the problem is in your heart. If your heart is pure, your mind will be single.
But the Lord said, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” Why? Because they have only one object at which to look.
This is to be character. You see God; that is all you see.
Our Lord Jesus saw God. He saw God in the lilies of the valley. He saw the heavenly Father in the birds. He saw God everywhere, in everything.
Oh, how we need to have that character built up in us.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God.
—Matthew 5:9
Of course, our Lord Jesus is the Peacemaker. He is our peace. He made peace for us with God, and He made peace between Jews and Gentiles. He took away the enmity and the dividing wall and put us into one Body.
He paid a great price for that. He wants us to be peacemakers.
We cannot be peacemakers if we do not have peace with God and if we are not at peace with our brothers and sisters.
Oftentimes, we are problem-makers, not peacemakers.
One thing is very evident when you read Galatians 5. We often quote the passage, beginning with verse 19:
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like.
—Galatians 5:19-21
When you go through the list, what do you find? Most of these things pertain to making trouble: hatred, strife, jealousy, anger, contentions, disputes, and divisions.
Naturally, we are troublemakers. But thank God, He is able to transform us to be peacemakers.
The twelve disciples did not have peace among themselves. Time and again, our Lord had to try to make peace among them. Even to the very end, they were still striving against one another over who was the greatest, maneuvering to outdo the other person.
But thank God, He is able to transform us and make us peacemakers, and they shall be called sons of God.
Finally:
Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
—Matthew 5:10
Our Lord Jesus, while He was on earth, was so otherworldly because He was not of the world. Therefore, the world hated Him.
The Lord said that because we are not of the world, the world will hate us. We will be persecuted.
Dear brothers and sisters, if we compromise, we will not be persecuted. But if we follow the Lord faithfully, we cannot avoid persecution. We must through many tribulations enter into the kingdom of God.
Oftentimes, we try to avoid sufferings and persecutions by compromising with the world, befriending the world, and trying to be conformed to the world.
The Lord Jesus did not have a persecution complex. He was persecuted, but He never developed a persecution complex.
I am afraid that some Christians today are not persecuted, but they have a persecution complex.
How we need the Lord to transform us in this area. Dear brothers and sisters, in the so-called Beatitudes, you find that all these are various facets of character.
This is what the Master is, and He says:
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
—Matthew 11:29
Then you will find rest in your soul. Then you will be happy. “Blessed,” in the original, means happy.
The reason why we are not happy is that we are not like Him. If we are like Him, we will truly be happy. This is the real secret of happiness.
Dear brothers and sisters, once again we want to emphasize this: all these things are not natural to us.
All these things need to be developed by the working of the Holy Spirit.
As we turn our hearts to the Lord with unveiled face and behold the glory of the Lord, then we are transformed from glory to glory according to His image, by the Lord the Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters, we cannot do it, but He is doing it—if only we let Him.
This is the foundation of leadership. Unless Christ is formed in us, we are not fit to be leaders. Why? Because we cannot impart Christ.
Shall we pray?
Our heavenly Father, how we do praise and thank Thee that Thou art doing such a marvelous work, a work that is beyond even our thinking.
We think that Thou hast saved us, and this is marvelous. This is already beyond our comprehension. Yet, Lord, Thou art perfecting the good work that Thou hast already begun in us.
O Thou art transforming us, conforming us to Thine own image, that Thou Thyself may be manifested even in us.
O our Father, how we praise and thank Thee for this glorious work that Thou art doing.
Lord, we want to yield ourselves to Thy hands and say, “Go on. Do whatever Thou deemest necessary with us.”
Lord, sometimes we may cry out to Thee and say, “Lord, stop.” But do not stop. Thou knowest that we want Thee to go on until Thy image is reflected in our lives.
O Lord, we do praise and thank Thee because we know that this is Thy work. Thou art well able to do it, and we want Thee to do it.
In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.