Paul Washer:
Paul continued to teach through the Beatitudes. At this rate, I estimate we will need to extend our stay for another 10 days. He made it through Matthew 5:3 this morning :)
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
He defined holiness as this: "To be holy as God is holy is to esteem God as He esteems himself and love God as He loves Himself."That's perhaps different than we are traditionally taught to think of holiness. Usually we think of it as what WE DO.....our behavior (good or bad).....but that makes it about us rather than about God. A change in our thinking and our focus away from self and onto the magnification of God will result and the changes in behavior that we traditionally think of as holiness. Considering everything we do in terms of the effect it has on the kingdom and in esteeming and loving God is the proper attitude.
He also reiterated something he said last night: that when listening to the words that Jesus spoke, we can't avoid that the Sermon on the Mount was a priority for Jesus. Washer called it the "Christian Manifesto."
So, back to the Beatitudes.....
He compared the world's views to Jesus' views of the Beatitudes:
Blessed are the poor in spirit...
World: Be self-confident and independent
Jesus: Absolute need of God
Blessed are those who mourn...
World: Have a healthy self-esteem
Jesus: Mourn over their fallenness and the fallenness of the world (which places eyes on Christ)
Blessed are the meek.....
World: Be driven and a go-getter
Jesus: Seek the glory of God and submit to his will
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness....
World: Seek the treasures of this world and be satisfied
Jesus: Recognize this world is temporal and seek to conform to Christ because this is not our home. Blessed are the misfits.
Blessed are the merciful...
World: Demand the best from people and distribute rewards/benefits based on merit
Jesus: Reflect God's mercy to others because of the mercy we have been given.
Blessed are the peacemakers....
Arggg......missed this somehow
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness...
World: Devotion to self and compromise all other loyalties. Self-preservation is the goal. One of the greatest sins of pastors - fear of preaching the truth. Moderately religious and don't make waves.
Jesus: Pure in heart who have undivided loyalty to God and His kingdom. Persecuted because they are radically Christian.
As I'm writing this, I'm watching Fox News and hearing a story about a girl who entered a contest to win Hannah Montana tickets. She made up a story about her father being killed in the Iraq war!! The mother is making excuses and saying they thought it would be OK to make up a fictional story. The way of the world and the way of Jesus are indeed indeed in conflict.
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Poor In Spirit:
Poor = Destitute in merit - helpless and powerless to bring anything to God. Fall upon the mercy of God and call out to Jesus Christ. Can't say it much more clearly than that!!
He said that he gets criticized for preaching on sin too much but says, "We make much of sin so you will make much of Christ."
He gave examples from scripture of Poverty of Spirit:
""Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Isaiah 6:5
The story of the prodigal son: "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son." Luke 15:21
The tax collector: "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' Luke 18:13
Paul: "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" Romans 7:24
He said that in many churches today, if you come with this attitude, you will be told that you are taking this too far, that you shouldn't be so negative.
[I will add that this message is EVERYWHERE....God loves you just the way you are...you are God's image-bearer, you shouldn't put down what God has created. These are not necessarily untrue statements, we are made in the image of God and if we are in Christ our sins are forviven and as far as east if from west, so far has he removed our sins from us Psalm 103:12 . However, that is just half of the story. ]
Washer continued: Poverty in spirit will increase through the life of the believer. In other words, it is one of the signs of true regeneration. God said to Isaiah, ""This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word. " Isaiah 66:2.
He then spoke to the young people in attendance, the young men in particular: "Young people, you have so limited your usefulness to God because you don't listen to anyone because you think you know everything and you surround yourself with people your own age who are as dumb as you are." At that point there was an eruption of "Amens" throughout the crowd :)
He spoke about the importance of prayer: Jesus is rarely seen walking to somebody. He is seen walking by somebody and they come to him. He wants to be called.
He than started letting everyone know that the most important point was coming up so that if anyone was daydreaming they had better start paying attention.
GREATEST OFFENSE AGAINST GOD BY TEENAGERS:
It shows pride, ignorance and railing against God.......God has given you authorities in your life to protect you: The government and your parents - you are not poor in spirit unless you honor your parents. Even if your parents are not Godly or wise, unless they are asking you do something that directly contradicts scripture or are breaking the laws of the state, you should honor them (and let God deal with their issues). God will bless you for it, even when your parents are wrong. He said this in a much more powerful way than I can convey with a lousy computer. I was choked up when he said it (and resisted the urge to elbow the boys on either side of me). It also makes me think of my own parents who are not Christians and whom I must still honor, though it is not always easy.
He mentioned a sermon someone did on the life of Princess Diana and how she would still be alive if she would have obeyed and honored her parents and the government authorities. Hmmm....I wonder about the sovereignty of God in that, but that would certainly be an intersting sermon!
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How can we create poverty of spirit??
One way is through fellowship with other Godly people. He told the kids there to memorize Proverbs 13:20: " He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm."
He stressed again that young men, especially, need to be with older Godly men. Fathers: is there any difference between you and the younger men?
15-17 year olds: Stop being boys and act like men - The world cannot wait until you're 35 for you to be men!
Finally.......although this seems to be a contradiction [and it certainly does....this was a VERY unusual conclusion!] Don't worry about it... "he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Phil. 1:6. For HIM it will be easy to accomplish.
Maybe later I'll have time to go through Jeff Noblit's talk....I'm out of time for now. We had a fun afternoon exploring Chattanooga. What a charming city! We went to the arts district for lunch and stumbled upon a great deli in the basement of a travel agency. Next door was "The Groovy Shop" which gave me flashbacks of "The Odyssey Shop" in my hometown of Bedford, OH.....lots of incense if you need to clear your sinuses!! After lunch we drove up to Lookout Mountain and saw the incredible view. Of course, being nerdy homeschoolers we had to read all the educational signs about the history of the incline and went down to the basement to see the mechanical workings and discuss grease points and, gears, electricity and such : )
Off to the evening session...
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