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The Real Life
Psalm 15; Micah 6: 1-8; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Mathew 5: 1-12

January 30, 2005

Presented by Jon Blake

David said that the only people that can “dwell” with the Lord, are those who are blameless, righteous, who speak truth from the heart, does not slander, who despised vile men, keeps his promises, and is generous.  Micah said that offerings and sacrifices are not what the Lord wants.  He said that the Lord requires us “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Paul said most of the Corinthian brothers, like us, were not much to speak of when we were called, but that God uses the lowly, the foolish to thwart/shame the wise of the world.  He preached Christ crucified and that is the source of our power, which appears as foolishness to this world. 

Jesus said in Mathew that the poor in spirit are happy (or those that realize their true brokenness and know that Christ is the only answer), those that mourn will be comforted, those who submit (meek) will inherit the kingdom of heaven, those who want righteousness will be filled, those who are pure in heart or have repented from secret concealed sin, the peacemakers will be blessed.     

I spent a lot of time praying and thinking on these scriptures and honestly I’ve had a difficult time connecting them.  In general, all the text readings for this week deal with the way God’s people should live.  All of them appear to be loosely connected to a standard of living in this life that all too often seems unattainable.  Let’s face it on most days it’s practically unreachable. But the hope is in this, You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.  The truth of the matter is that you are not seeing things for what they really are.  The truth is that many of the perceptions you hold are the very things keeping you down. 

Scriptures like these often make us feel that there’s simply no way that I can live like that, and since it’s so difficult, or undesirable, God must understand why I opt to let myself indulge; he must understand that I simply can’t help myself, besides he’s forgiven me right?? Or, He made me this way so He must understand.  

Why is it that life is so hard sometimes??  You try to lose weight, but it never seems to happen.  You’re thinking of changing careers or even taking up a larger role in the church, but it never seems to happen.  You volunteer to do things that are presumably good events for the people (service for the church), but inevitably, someone develops a problem and relationships are strained.  Why is it that even with the best of intentions things get messed up, people don’t live up to our expectations, and people get hurt.  (Funny, that’s what God was angry about in Micah, the same could be said when he admonished Job, or when he admonished David through Nathan)  Even simple things like taking the family to dinner, or going on a family vacation,  or getting ready to go to church become tiresome ordeals.  At worst, relationships are damaged or destroyed and you end up feeling abandoned.   Where is this life in abundance??  Where is the “joy” ?

So the perception is that life is this way in general because of sin – you know – because of original sin, this is what we have to deal with.  So suck it up and do the best you can.  But it just doesn’t marry up to Life to the full and life in abundance, does it?  In this church alone, there’s hardly a family that I know that isn’t going through a hard time which is either the result of poor choices, or just the way life is in general:  there are folks who’s marriages are strained beyond belief, there are parent/child relationships that are on the brink of destruction, there are deployments, there’s serious illness, there are attitudinal problems, there are financial problems, and there are personal friendships that have been damaged.  Honestly, it leads us to question why is this life so hard some times?    Realistically, it naturally leads us to question our Faith. 

We ask the question well what’s causing the inconsistency?  Either I’m blowing it somehow by not living up to the standard or working hard enough or something…or God is holding out on me.  Either way, it makes for people who aren’t happy and are pretty clueless about this “joyful obedience” thing we proclaim weekly here.  The obedience part we understand, it’s finding the joy that sometimes is hard.   

So you continue running the rat race of life; you continue to try harder, read another book on Christian Living, volunteer in another way, try to be more considerate or kind, put on the appearance that everything is ok, that you’re the upstanding Christian you ought to be.  You’ve even convinced yourself of that, but then you get tired again and you choose back slide into your old ways because it’s just too much.  You choose to deal with it as best you can and once again you’ve made the same mistake, you’ve chosen (insert your preference here “my anger, my unforgiveness, my rejection, my mistreatment of others, my condescension, my selfishness, my greed, my stubborn obstinance, my lack of compassion, my insensitivity, my bent to hurt others through words, my dependence on whatever, my lack of faith in him).  Immediately afterward what happens?? You grieve at the horrible choice you’ve made, the same one you’ve made time and time again.  The choice that makes you hate yourself, the choice that causes so much shame. It causes shame because you know you’re fake.  So you go back to our Lord and you confess for the millionth time, wondering “Oh God, how you must tire of this weakness” and you sit and dwell in your own world of self-loathing incapable of love, forgiveness, courage.   It’s really a very exhausting if not incapacitating cycle.  In fact, that’s exactly what it is and it’s exactly what Satan wants.

You see, that whole mess is caused by a misperception, rather a combination of well-crafted lies, that the Evil one has used for centuries.  It goes something like this: 

“God really doesn’t have your best interests at heart”

“you’ll never measure up, so you might as well give up.” 

“Since you’ll never measure up to God’s standard, you’ll never know him, he won’t really want you.  Therefore, go ahead and keep those hidden sins, they won’t hurt anyone since no one knows about them. Besides God won’t come through for you.”

And if you start to dig your way out, he’ll come back at you:

“You are being the chump if you think by trusting in Him that he will come through for you.  You and I both know that in the “Real” world you have to take care of yourself.”

Why does Satan do this? Because we are at war and we are his enemy.  His overall goal is to do anything to destroy God’s creation or damage His glory.  We were created for God’s  glory, …we had original glory…Psalm 8 3-5 states “You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.”

We were created in a perfect relationship with our Father.

I’ll bet that many of you simply believed that all your failings encountered in your life, were solely the result of your poor choices.  That’s not the truth.  In many cases you were seduced, tricked or betrayed.  I’m not dismissing our choosing to disobey, but just as Scripture clearly points to the fact that the Enemy staged our downfall, so the enemy is still setting us up for failure.   Though this doesn’t absolve you of your poor choices, it does offer some needed perspective – it’s not all your fault. 

Satan doesn’t want you to remember your history.  He doesn’t want you to believe that this spiritual war is real.  He wants you to continue in an ignorant fog, thinking that continuing in whatever your indulgence is, is the only way to true satisfaction.  He doesn’t want you to believe that there really is life in abundance waiting for those who obey our Fathers commands, which stem from our appropriate response to His love.  This is what God says about that:

2 Co 9: 8-11

States “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work…Now he who supplies the seed to the sower and the bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.  You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

But so many of us buy into these lies and they turn into convictions in your heart, and your heart becomes dark and calloused.  The end result is ruined relationship with your Father, and an inability to know or do His will. 

So why is that important, why is your proverbial heart important, because without it you can have no relationship with our Father, and that means you will never know the life in abundance he really has for us. 

In Ezekiel: 26-27, God said “  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you our heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you  and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 

That new heart is what we receive when we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Saviour and it is that heart that enables us to know Him and the Father and to know His Will.  That’s why it’s so important.  The enemy knows that all he has to do is ruin the belief about your heart to thwart God’s will. 

It’s what we call in the Army a HPT, the high payoff target. 

Every single one of us here has been created with a hunger and thirst which can only be filled by Jesus.  We were created with a huge void, a void that longs to be filled with the knowledge that we do measure up, that we are loved. Too often people try to fill that void with other people, food, work, or other indulgences.  The fact is that people are fallible, and pleasure from food, work or other indulgences is only temporary.  Solomon called it vaporous, like a mist, meaningless.  It will never compare with the fullness of knowing that despite the loss of all things here on this Earth, you are still loved as God’s child.   Friends, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past, Jesus died for your sin.  The father sent him to save you.  He knows about the sin you’ve been holding back all these years, but he still saved you; he knows about the way you treat other people, but he still chose you; he knows about your hypocrisy and condescension, but he still loves you; He hurts every time you turn from Him, but he still loves you.

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Psalms 15

15:1 A psalm of David.

LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?

2 He whose walk is blameless
and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart
3 and has no slander on his tongue,
who does his neighbor no wrong
and casts no slur on his fellowman,
4 who despises a vile man
but honors those who fear the LORD,
who keeps his oath
even when it hurts,
5 who lends his money without usury
and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things
will never be shaken.
NIV

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Micah 6:1-8

6:1 Listen to what the LORD says:
"Stand up, plead your case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say. 2 Hear, O mountains, the LORD's accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the LORD has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel.
3 "My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. 4 I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. 5 My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember [ your journey] from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD."
6 With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
NIV

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1 Corinthians 1:18-31

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."

20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."
NIV

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Matthew 5:1-12

5:1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them, saying:
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
NIV

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