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The Ladder Of
Success (Part 2)
Matthew 5:1-10
As a kid I loved pretending to be a hero. I had a variety to choose from
in the early 70’s. My first major hero was Underdog. By day he was the
mild-mannered Shoeshine Boy, but at the call of Sweet Polly Purebred he
would instantly transform into a superhero. I then moved on to Steve
Austin, “The Six Million Dollar Man.” Starsky and Hutch, and even Bo and
Luke Duke.
Trafton has this same desire; every night it’s either Superman, or
Spiderman, or Larry Boy in our home.
I think that kids act out a desire that never really leaves the human
heart. We all have this need to be great. We want to be appreciated and
important. As adults we may never say it, but at the core of our being
we want to be heroes. I’m convinced that this is a God-given desire. I’m
equally convinced that He wants us to live heroically.
Jesus Christ, offered a sure path to all-star success. You don’t have to
take an energy pill or be bitten by a radioactive spider to be a hero
for God. It all comes down to the way we treat regular old people.
Let me briefly remind you where we left off this morning. We’re
examining the Beatitudes. The first thing Jesus taught was how to be
passionate about God and his purposes. Here’s how he said it:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the
meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:3-6
In order to be a fired-up, bungee-jumping, meat-eating follower of Jesus
Christ you’ve got to have the be able to confess these statements before
God and mean them from the depth of your being.
“I was wrong!
“I’m so sorry!
“I will submit to God.
“I want to do what’s right.”
Passion is great. But a tremendous passion will become frustration if it
is not acted upon. There must be a tangible outlet to express our hunger
and thirst for God’s righteousness. If you want to achieve genuine
all-star status in the eyes of God and, in the lives of other people,
your passion must be channeled into the following steps.
Let’s pick back up where we left off today Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the
merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
“Let me help you.”
That’s quite a reversal in a world where the majority say, “Let me help
myself.” For as Christian to say “Let me help you,” shows that they are
seeking after God’s success.
The Hebrew word mercy means to get inside someone’s skin, to look at
where they view life and feel what they are experiencing. Mercy has also
been defined as compassionate treatment, having the disposition to be
kind and forgiving.
When you think of a merciful person, someone like the late Mother Teresa
may immediately pop into your head and rightly so. She gave her life to
meet the needs of the dying social outcasts of India.
We hear about people like Mother Teresa and throw up our hands. We
figure that they are the exceptions. But we must realize that God calls
us to a lifestyle of mercy in our own little world. If you pay attention
you’ll see that you run into people with needs everyday – at school, at
work, on the playing field, in the church, in your home.
A young boy was sent to the corner store by his mother to buy a loaf of
bread. He was gone much longer than it should have taken him. When he
finally returned, his mother asked, “Where have you been? I’ve been
worried sick about you.”
“Well,” he answered, “there was a little boy with a broken bike who was
crying. So I stopped to help him.”
“I didn’t know you knew anything about fixing bikes,” his mother said.
“I don’t,” he replied. “I just stayed there and cried with him.”
That’s real mercy. We can become merciful by opening our eyes and then
our hearts to the everyday needs all around us.
Next Jesus said:
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8
This one sounds good and religious, but what does it mean in a practical
sense? Jesus’ original hearers immediately understood what he was
saying. All faithful Jews knew their scriptures and their minds must
have instantly leapt to Psalm 24, the place where the term “pure in
heart” came from. It asks the question:
Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy
place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his
soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully. Psalm 24:3-4
“Pure in heart” denotes honesty and integrity. What you see is what you
get. You’re the same person in private as you are in public.
The pure live in glass houses, inviting and welcoming the inspection of
others. The pure have nothing to hide – or rather, hide nothing. The
pure have the courage to go naked before the world, testifying to God’s
goodness by giving glimpses in their own lives of his transforming power
and forgiving grace. With the pure, what you see is what you get – the
unvarnished person, the unedited version, the genuine article.
The pure in heart consistently relates to other people with the
commitment …
“I’ll tell you the truth.”
This kind of person is a rare breed. Not only do they tell the truth
about themselves, but they speak the truth in love to the other person.
They’ll tell the hard truth when necessary, not out of anger or spite,
but out of love and to see the other person grow beyond their habits and
character flaws.
Most of us are not pure in heart because we’d rather be nice than love
others enough to tell the truth. Truth tellers are heroes and they’re a
dying breed.
What’s in your heart determines the way you view life. If you’re a thief
you’ll suspect other people of being thieves. If you’re a hypocrite,
you’ll accuse others of the very thing you’re guilty of. The person who
is impure in heart also cannot see God as he really is. They’ll have
difficulty trusting him because they’re untrustworthy. Only the pure in
heart can see God for who he really is: good and generous and merciful.
If you want to continue to be successful make a commitment to tell and
live out the truth.
Jesus gave another step in being successful, He said …
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”
Matthew 5:9
Don’t imagine that this Beatitude is limited to powerful political
players like Jimmy Carter, or Colin Powell. Negotiated peace treaties
between nations in conflict don’t get at the meaning of this verse.
Neither is Jesus calling us to take it upon ourselves to intervene in
the personal conflicts of other people. In fact, the Bible cautions
against promoting ourselves as a go between. The Proverbs give this
warning:
He who meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing
dog by the ears. Proverbs 26:17
If you don’t understand the implication here, go find a stray dog grab
its ears and pull. Then try to let go. I can guarantee you won’t repeat
that action again.
The gist of what he’s teaching is peace interpersonally. There are
certain relationships in our lives where we must be absolutely committed
to peace.
Now we must ask the question was Jesus at peace with all people?
Absolutely not! Jesus didn’t seek peace with everyone, everywhere, but
there was a group of people he remained absolutely committed to, his
followers. Jesus remained absolutely committed to them even when they
didn’t get it, messed up and eventually abandoned him.
You can see this in his relationship with the disciple, Peter. Peter
dropped the ball on more than one occasion. Sometimes he’d exhibit great
understanding and faith, while at other times he was faithless.
Peter declared loyalty to Jesus to the death, but it only took the
questions of a little servant girl to motivate Peter to deny that he
even knew the Lord. Despite it all, Jesus remained committed and never
gave up on this man. After his resurrection, Peter was the first person
Jesus asked for. Jesus eventually restored Peter to leadership of his
fledgling church.
That’s the kind of attitude and commitment that will get you to be
successful. We have got to be able to say…
“I won’t let you go.”
This is a commitment to reconcile the broken relationships in your life.
What many of us don’t seem to get is that our spiritual growth and the
healing of certain areas of our lives are dependant on a commitment not
to let go of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Unfortunately, churches and church people are notorious for letting
petty differences cause division. Churches will split over major moral
issues like furniture and preaching style. We seem unable to resolve
differences and hurts. The usual response is silence or we pack up and
go down the street to the next church where the people will fail us and
we’ll get hurt and drop out again.
If you want to be a genuine success, go after reconciliation at all
costs. Don’t pretend that issues and hurts aren’t there make the
commitment “I won’t let you go.”
The last blessing doesn’t’ seem like much of a blessing. It’s really
more of a sign that you’re on the right track.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you,
persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of
me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in
the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew
5:10-12
If you practice the steps we just talked about you can look for this
indicator. It’s no fun at all to be persecuted for doing the right
thing, but Jesus says, “Rejoice and be glad!” Why? All of God’s heroes
experienced the same thing. When you get passionate and get serious
about going after God some people will hate you for it. The persecution
will come from a source that you don’t expect.
Think about Jesus’ life. Who persecuted him? Was it the unbelieving,
pagan world of his day? No. Sure, the Romans crucified him, but they
were only doing the dirty work for the religious people. How did they
capture him? One of Jesus own followers sold him out. When you go after
god heroically, the mayor of Guin won’t send in the police to drag you
from your house and burn you at the stake. Most of us will never face
persecution on that level, but it would be easier to handle. What makes
persecution difficult to endure is that it generally comes from those
who love us the most or those who call themselves brothers and sisters
in Christ.
When you get serious and go after all-star status for God it will
provoke a reaction from others. The people who are close to you, who’ve
seen you at your worst and best, will be the first to scoff. “So, you’ve
got religion now, huh?” You’ll begin to make changes, they’ll feel
guilty that they’re so uncommitted and they’ll take it out on you.
You’ll be labeled a holy roller, or a religious fanatic. They will scorn
your attempts to live righteously. They’ll despise your devotional life.
They’ll charge that you’re judgmental and that you think you’re better
than they are. If that fails to work they call you names behind your
back. Sometimes your heroic stand for God will evoke an outright attack.
Passionate people who act on their faith must be prepared for a
backlash. If you want to achieve all-star status for God, that great,
but make up your mind and say …
“I will follow Jesus – regardless.”
Do you want to be a hero? Do you want to make a positive impact on the
lives of other people? Do you want to make a splash for God that will
follow you into eternity? Follow the Highway of the Heroes: Let me help
you; I will speak the truth to you; I won’t let you go; I will follow
Jesus –regardless.
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