Post by Cindy on May 9, 2019 8:22:32 GMT -5
“When [Jesus] saw the multitudes, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. And opening His mouth He began to teach them” (Matt. 5:1–2).
✧✧✧
Only Christians know true happiness because they know Christ, who is its source.
Jesus’ earthly ministry included teaching, preaching, and healing. Wherever He went, He generated great excitement and controversy. Usually great multitudes of people followed Him as He moved throughout the regions of Judea and Galilee. Thousands came for healing, many came to mock and scorn, and some came in search of truth.
On one such occasion Jesus delivered His first recorded message—the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7). In it He proclaimed a standard of living diametrically opposed to the standards of His day—and ours. Boldly denouncing the ritualistic, hypocritical practices of the Jewish religious leaders, He taught that true religion is a matter of the heart or mind. People will behave as their hearts dictate (Luke 6:45); so the key to transformed behavior is transformed thinking.
At the beginning of His sermon Jesus presented the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3–12), a list of the godly attitudes that mark a true believer and ensure true happiness. The Greek word translated “blessed” in those verses speaks of happiness and contentment. The rest of the sermon discusses the lifestyle that produces it.
Jesus taught that happiness is much more than favorable circumstances and pleasant emotions. In fact, it doesn’t depend on circumstances at all. It is built on the indwelling character of God Himself. As your life manifests the virtues of humility, sorrow over sin, gentleness, righteousness, mercy, purity of heart, and peace, you will experience happiness that even severe persecution can’t destroy.
As we study the Beatitudes, I pray you will be more and more conformed to the attitudes they portray and that you will experience true happiness in Christ.
✧✧✧
Suggestions for Prayer: Ask the Holy Spirit to minister to you through our daily studies. Be prepared to make any attitude changes that He might prompt.
For Further Study: Read the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7). ✧ What issues did Christ address? ✧ How did His hearers react to His teaching? How do you?
Drawing Near—Daily Readings for a Deeper Faith
I'd like to add here that the key to transformed thinking is being in God's Word daily and spending time with Him. It's through His Word that our minds are renewed and we are changed from within.
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)
THINKING BIBLICALLY
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8).
✧✧✧
The way you think determines the way you behave.
God is concerned about the way you think. That’s why Paul said, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2). In Philippians 4:8 he instructs us to think about that which is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent, and praiseworthy.
When Jesus spoke of a pure heart in Matthew 5:8, He was talking about sanctified thinking. The Greek word translated “heart” is kardia, from which we get the word cardiac. While we often relate heart to the emotions (e.g., “He has a broken heart”), the Bible relates it primarily to the intellect (e.g., “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders,” Matt. 15:19). That’s why you must “watch over your heart with all diligence” (Prov. 4:23). (a command!)
In a secondary way, however, heart relates to the will and emotions because they are influenced by the intellect. If you are committed to something, it will affect your will, which in turn will affect your emotions.
The Greek word translated “pure” in Matthew 5:8 means “to cleanse.” In the moral sense it speaks of being free from the filth of sin. It also refers to something that is unmixed, unalloyed, or unadulterated. Spiritual integrity and sincere motives are appropriate applications of its meaning to the Christian life.
Jesus was saying the Kingdom citizen is blessed because he or she has pure thoughts and pure motives that together produce holy living. Someone might claim to be religious and have pure motives, but if his behavior isn’t righteous, his heart isn’t fixed on God. Similarly, you can go to church, carry a Bible, and recite verses, but if your heart isn’t clean, you haven’t met God’s standard.
You must do the will of God from a pure heart (Eph. 6:6). Toward that end, make David’s prayer yours as well: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10).
✧✧✧
Suggestions for Prayer: Memorize Psalm 19:14 and make it a part of your daily prayers. “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)
For Further Study: Read the following verses, noting the characteristics of a pure heart: Psalm 9:1; Psalm 26:2; Psalm 27:8; Psalm 28:7; Psalm 57:7.
Drawing Near—Daily Readings for a Deeper Faith
“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)
✧✧✧
Only Christians know true happiness because they know Christ, who is its source.
Jesus’ earthly ministry included teaching, preaching, and healing. Wherever He went, He generated great excitement and controversy. Usually great multitudes of people followed Him as He moved throughout the regions of Judea and Galilee. Thousands came for healing, many came to mock and scorn, and some came in search of truth.
On one such occasion Jesus delivered His first recorded message—the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7). In it He proclaimed a standard of living diametrically opposed to the standards of His day—and ours. Boldly denouncing the ritualistic, hypocritical practices of the Jewish religious leaders, He taught that true religion is a matter of the heart or mind. People will behave as their hearts dictate (Luke 6:45); so the key to transformed behavior is transformed thinking.
At the beginning of His sermon Jesus presented the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3–12), a list of the godly attitudes that mark a true believer and ensure true happiness. The Greek word translated “blessed” in those verses speaks of happiness and contentment. The rest of the sermon discusses the lifestyle that produces it.
Jesus taught that happiness is much more than favorable circumstances and pleasant emotions. In fact, it doesn’t depend on circumstances at all. It is built on the indwelling character of God Himself. As your life manifests the virtues of humility, sorrow over sin, gentleness, righteousness, mercy, purity of heart, and peace, you will experience happiness that even severe persecution can’t destroy.
As we study the Beatitudes, I pray you will be more and more conformed to the attitudes they portray and that you will experience true happiness in Christ.
✧✧✧
Suggestions for Prayer: Ask the Holy Spirit to minister to you through our daily studies. Be prepared to make any attitude changes that He might prompt.
For Further Study: Read the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7). ✧ What issues did Christ address? ✧ How did His hearers react to His teaching? How do you?
Drawing Near—Daily Readings for a Deeper Faith
I'd like to add here that the key to transformed thinking is being in God's Word daily and spending time with Him. It's through His Word that our minds are renewed and we are changed from within.
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)
THINKING BIBLICALLY
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8).
✧✧✧
The way you think determines the way you behave.
God is concerned about the way you think. That’s why Paul said, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2). In Philippians 4:8 he instructs us to think about that which is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good repute, excellent, and praiseworthy.
When Jesus spoke of a pure heart in Matthew 5:8, He was talking about sanctified thinking. The Greek word translated “heart” is kardia, from which we get the word cardiac. While we often relate heart to the emotions (e.g., “He has a broken heart”), the Bible relates it primarily to the intellect (e.g., “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders,” Matt. 15:19). That’s why you must “watch over your heart with all diligence” (Prov. 4:23). (a command!)
In a secondary way, however, heart relates to the will and emotions because they are influenced by the intellect. If you are committed to something, it will affect your will, which in turn will affect your emotions.
The Greek word translated “pure” in Matthew 5:8 means “to cleanse.” In the moral sense it speaks of being free from the filth of sin. It also refers to something that is unmixed, unalloyed, or unadulterated. Spiritual integrity and sincere motives are appropriate applications of its meaning to the Christian life.
Jesus was saying the Kingdom citizen is blessed because he or she has pure thoughts and pure motives that together produce holy living. Someone might claim to be religious and have pure motives, but if his behavior isn’t righteous, his heart isn’t fixed on God. Similarly, you can go to church, carry a Bible, and recite verses, but if your heart isn’t clean, you haven’t met God’s standard.
You must do the will of God from a pure heart (Eph. 6:6). Toward that end, make David’s prayer yours as well: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10).
✧✧✧
Suggestions for Prayer: Memorize Psalm 19:14 and make it a part of your daily prayers. “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)
For Further Study: Read the following verses, noting the characteristics of a pure heart: Psalm 9:1; Psalm 26:2; Psalm 27:8; Psalm 28:7; Psalm 57:7.
Drawing Near—Daily Readings for a Deeper Faith
“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)