050. Which Rung Are You On?

A preacher by the name of Mike Breaux shared with me his personal Creed or Statement for Living.  Now it’s becoming mine too.

I’ll read it to you at the end of this message and give you a printed copy.  I hope and pray that you too will keep a copy of it in your Bible and read it regularly as a statement for living your life too.

The title of our message today is …

Pp      Which Rung Are You On ?    

(ladder background to be added to)

A kitchen hand came out into the restaurant with a big container of Thousand Island dressing.  Her plan was to top up the salad bar. But she caught her foot somehow and launched the container of salad dressing all over a customer. He had Thousand Island dressing from the top of his head to the bottom of his shoes; dripping off his forehead, off his chin, on the lapels of his suit, all over his tie, all over his pants, all over his shoes. He was a mess and he went ballistic.  He was so angry!

He started calling this poor girl every foul name he could think up.  And he said, “I can’t believe how stupid you are. Look at this! This is the first chance I’ve had to wear this suit. It cost me $500 and you’ve completely ruined it.” -- She apologized and started to try cleaning it up.  “Get away from me! You caused enough damage already.”  ----  His wife chimes in. “That’s right. It's a $500 suit….”  And she got started too!

Everybody in the whole restaurant is watching this, and he says, “I want to see the manager.” The manager comes out and says, “Is there a problem?” What a dumb question. “Yes there’s a problem. This stupid girl has ruined my suit. It’s the first chance I’ve had to wear it…$500.”

“Sir, we’ll clean your suit for you. No problem. We’ll take care of that.”  ----The man says, “I don’t want my suit cleaned. It’s completely ruined. I want a new suit. I want a cheque right now for $500.” ----  The manager disappeared, and the irate customer with him. I imagine he wrote him a cheque,  and justice was served.  ---------

The interesting part of the story is that this happened on a Sunday afternoon. Now why in the world would a guy be in a suit on a Sunday afternoon?   I don’t know.  Maybe he just came out of church from hearing a great sermon on loving your neighbor as yourself.  -----  Maybe, maybe not.  ----  Some people who work in food service will tell you that the very worst people to wait on are the people who just got out of church on a Sunday morning. That’s tragic, because, friends, we’re called - to be - different.

We’re called to be different in restaurants. We are called to be different at the sporting event. We are called to be different at the golf course. We’re called to be different in the classroom.  We’re called to be different in our office.   We’re called to be different on Bribie.  ----  In the very first sermon Jesus ever preached he said some countercultural things, certainly not in line with our traditional thinking  ---  things about being different and how being different brings true satisfaction and fulfillment and happiness into your life.   Matthew 5 is a text commonly referred to as The Beatitudes. This is countercultural teaching.

Let’s open our Bibles and read it.  Matthew chapter 5 on page 1114.  ----- Page 1114, Matthew chapter 5 and we’re going to read the first 12 verses.  Chapter 5 and we’re starting at verse 1.  

V1  “and seeing the multitudes, He (that’s Jesus) He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated, His disciples came to Him.

V2  Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:   

V3   ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’

V4   Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

V5   Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 

V6   Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

V7   Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

V8   Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

V9   Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

V10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

V11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 

V12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  ---------

Jesus laid out each of these like steps, like rungs on a ladder, in terms of living this countercultural life and walking with God through all of our days.

The first rung tells us this …  the spiritually bankrupt are happy.  

Jesus says, if you want to be happy, if you want to be fulfilled, here’s a countercultural thing – something that goes against our cultural thinking.   So on the very first rung of the ladder comes verse 3…

Pp      "Blessed are the poor in spirit."      (on ladder with no. 1)

How’s that for starters? You want to be happy? You want to feel fortunate? You want to feel blessed? Want to be satisfied? Want to feel fulfilled?  You need to become poor in spirit.

What Jesus is saying here is --- happy are you, fortunate are you, blessed are you when you discover that you are spiritually broken.   Isaiah the prophet felt like that in chapter 6 of his book when he said, “Woe is me. I’m coming undone like a cheap sweater here in the presence of God.” ---   Jesus says blessed are you when you get to the point in your life where you know you are spiritually bankrupt. When you reach into your spiritual pockets and you turn them inside out and all you’ve got are little lint balls. You will never, ever be happy in life until you recognize you’re spiritually broken and you need God in your life.

This is Jesus saying: Listen, the pride’s got to drop. You’ve got to say I need God. -----      ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit.’      That’s rung number 1 on the ladder.

Now, we find in verse 4 that …   those who weep over their sin are blessed.

Jesus uses the words… 

Pp   Blessed are those who mourn    (no 2)

So that’s the second rung on the ladder.

 "Blessed are those who mourn.”  Jesus seems to be laying these out in a logical order of progression.  What’s He talking about here? It seems to me that Jesus is saying, Blessed are they that mourn over the fact that they’re poor in spirit. Blessed are you when you recognize you need God and it starts to do something on the inside of you. It breaks your heart, as David said: “God, what you really cherish is a broken and contrite heart.”  ---- When you get to that point where it isn't just head knowledge of ‘Yeah, I think I need God , but it moves deeper into your heart and your heart starts to get softer and you weep over your sin.

I love the Scripture in Matthew 26 after Peter denies Jesus. It says that Peter went out and he wept bitterly. He just lost it over his sin. Ever done that? Sometimes it just feels great to say, God, here’s who I really am and I feel so bad. -----   Jesus said: Blessed are you when you mourn over the fact that you’ve discovered you’re poor in spirit, for you’ll be comforted. -----------

---  Now the third rung is in verse 5 and it seems to be saying that …

those who turn over the controls to God are happy.

Yes, the third rung is…

Pp     “Blessed are the meek.”    (no. 3)

When you hear the word meek in the English language, don’t you think of a weak, wimpy kind of person? That’s not what meek means at all. Meek in the original Greek, referred to bridling wild horses, to put strength and power under control. Jesus is saying that once you discover you’re poor in spirit and it does something in your heart, then it’s time to come to God and say, "God, I need You to control my life."

What we do in our culture when we realize something’s not quite right spiritually, is dig down a little deeper inside ourselves. As a culture we tend to run to self-help. And haven’t you discovered by now that self-help is an oxymoron? Self-help can’t help. And because self can’t help, that’s why we get so frustrated with self-help. ---- Because when you turn to self and ask self to help, self may offer some suggestions, but at the end of the day self cannot 

help. And if you ask self to help, and let self help, you’re going to be in a big dilemma.

You’re going to have to start asking somebody else to help because all self has done is to help you dig a great big hole that you can’t get out of. ----  Self is unreliable. Self is not dependable. Self cannot be trusted. Self cannot accomplish anything eternal. Self cannot muster up the transformational power needed to live the kind of countercultural life that Jesus wants us to live. -----  If self-help could really help, then Jesus would have just given us all a gift card to the local bookstore and said, "Go get a self-help book. Get a coffee. Have a nice life." ------   But self-help cannot help, so Jesus said: Blessed are you when you recognize that self can’t help. And you say, "Okay, God, I’m going to become meek. And I’m going to turn the controls over to You. I surrender my life into Your hands.  You are the potter, and I am the clay.  Take me. Mold me. Fill me. Use me. I yield my life to you."

You will never be happy in your life, you’ll never have that internal and eternal blessed feeling until you take those first three steps on that ladder. Recognize that you are really poor in spirit and that you need God, that spiritually you’re broken,  you mourn over it and you are humbled. It’s not till it does something on the inside of you that the Bible calls confession and repentance and humility, that you will say, "Okay, I want to surrender to You God." When we take those first three steps, what a great day that is. When the old me is gone and the new me takes over and Jesus Christ has forgiven us for all of our sins, then we sense this wonderful freedom in our lives.

So that third rung we need is … “Blessed are the meek.”  

Then we find in verse 5 that …  those who hunger after God are satisfied.

So now we’re forgiven by the amazing love of Jesus.  But we’re not automatically new people in the way we behave because we’ve still got some old baggage we’re carrying around.   So on rung number 4, Jesus says…

Pp    “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled."     (no 4)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after the ways of God. Your appetite starts to change. You’re no longer really, really hungry over stuff like popularity. You’re not really hungry anymore over prestige or power or materialism. You’re not hungry for achievement and worldly success.  Now you start to get hungry for the things of God.  ------What else does it say in verse 6?     “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they-shall-be -filled."     

As you hunger for the things of God you’re going to get filled because you’ve discovered that those other things leave you unsatisfied, but the things of God don’t. They fill you up. As you hunger and thirst after God’s right ways, as you renew your mind daily through the Word of God, the Bible, as you let the Word of God dwell in you richly, your life begins to change.   Jesus said in…

Pp    Matthew 6:33   “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all the things we need will be added to us.”  

We won’t be empty anymore – we will be filled, with a better and more satisfying life.

That’s the only way your and my life is ever going to change. You can take those first three steps and be completely forgiven and still live in the old way -  until you come to the point where you’re hungry for God. You are thirsty for God. You renew your mind daily. You meditate on the laws of God. You just let it saturate your heart. You sing songs and you worship, and He starts to transform you from the inside out. ---------

Pp   (Ladder with 4 rungs and texts)

Do you notice that those first four steps are all inward things? They are all things that happen on the inside of you. I would categorize those as the preparation phase of the Christ-follower's life. But you don’t stay there.  ----There’s got to be an outward expression, an outward presentation of your life. What some Christ followers have a tendency to do is to kind of skip these first four and just jump over to the next four into what some authors call Christian behaviouralism. I act like a Christian but I don’t have much of a foundation. I really don’t know God. I know about Him, but I’ll just fake living like Him.

We can’t sit on the fence!  We’re either fully on the side of Jesus, (on His side of the fence), or we’re on Satan’s side of the fence.  That sounds strong but we can’t walk the fence into God’s kingdom.  -------

You can’t skip the first four if you want to be an authentic Christ follower. And you can’t skip the next four if you want to do what Jesus says and let your life so shine before men that they’ll see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Preparation is essential, but then presentation  or outward expression is essential too, so that people will see that you are living this radical countercultural life and you are so happy and fulfilled and satisfied in life that they-want-what-you’ve-got.  ------

So next, mercy comes out of those who have received mercy.

What’s the first thing that comes out of your life in this presentation part? 

----  Fifth rung on the ladder … Mercy !

So what does it say in verse 7?   

Pp    “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.”    (no 5)

Isn’t it cool that one of the first things that comes out of your life after all this inside stuff’s been going on is the very thing that you just received from Christ? –- Mercy!   ---  Mercy starts to come out of you.

At one of the schools they held a talent show.  A boy wanted to sing, but he was a little mentally and physically challenged.  He wanted to sing a song by Michael W. Smith called Friends Are Friends Forever. He had his tape with him, one of the karaoke-type tapes. He put it in the boom box and he hit play and the music starts playing. Then he started to sing.  It was just awful.  He was way off key, all over the place vocally. Rhythmically he wasn’t with it. And most of the other kids started snickering.

Jessica, this eighth-grade girl, jumps up from the very back row. She runs down the aisle. She jumps up on the stage. She throws her arm around Jonathan, shares the microphone and starts singing with him. “Friends are friends forever, cause the Lord’s the Lord of them. And a friend will not say never, and the welcome…" She sang the whole song with him. And when they got done, there wasn’t a dry eye in that school that night.  --------

v Because God has shown His love to me, now I love you because of what’s going on in the inside of me. I want to love you. It’s got to flow into my hands and my feet and my wallet and my actions.   And then Jesus says about Jessica who ran down and helped him sing, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." ----------

OK, now we’ll see that the ones who are honest with God are happy.

That’s the next rung, number 6…

Pp      "Blessed are the pure in heart."    (no. 6)

Now we’re moving toward maturity here. Does ‘pure in heart’ mean you never ever have an impure thought again in your life?   The word purity here is about sincerity, being honest with God. You’re not covering up anything. You’re always honest with God. You’re honest with other people. You’re authentic.  Your heart is right!

When I was at school and even for years after that, I lived with one side of my head in the light and the other side of my head in the darkness. ----- I could be whoever I needed to be with whoever I was running with. If I was with the church gang, I could look really good. If I was with my other friends, I could be really bad. After a while you start thinking Who did I lie to? And what story did I tell when I was with them? ---- When you’re living that kind of life it’s pretty exhausting.  Friends, it’s so much better just to put both sides of your head, in the light.

Jesus is saying: Blessed are you when you’re real, because you can’t see God when you’re wearing a mask. Blessed are you when you take the mask off. Then you’re a pure heart. ---- You say, "God, what You see is what You get. I’m trying my best to walk with You. You know everything about me.  God, I’m not going to cover up anything."       What God desires, as King David said, is truth in our innermost parts.  ---------------

Now listen to this next one ---  blessed ones change the temperature around them.

This is what Jesus is saying on the 7th rung …

Pp        "Blessed are the peacemakers."     (no. 7)

Why do you think ‘peacemakers’ is so far up the list?   ------  Well, it requires a lot of spiritual maturity doesn’t it?   He’s talking about the person who is slow to speak and quick to listen, and with a gentle spirit. They exemplify the fruit of the Spirit in their life. They have wisdom. They have discernment. They can walk into a room and the tone changes.

My wife is a peacemaker.  Delphine has been keeping the peace from day to day in our work and family for nearly 50 years, and that takes a good peacemaker!  She’s a bridge-builder, a calming influence, a believer in the saying ‘never let the sun go down on your anger’.  We need ‘peacemakers’ in our lives don’t we?  If a situation arises which is negative and biting and sarcastic, she’s able to calm things down.  Blessed are you when you’re like that.  -------------

There are two kinds of people. There are thermometer  people and  thermostat  people . ----  Now what does a thermometer do?   It adjusts itself to the climate of the room. ----- What does a thermostat do? It sets the climate of the room. Jesus is saying,  blessed are the thermostats. Blessed are the ones who can walk into any situation and just change that climate because they’re so full of God’s goodness and love. -----

----   All right, what about number 8?  It tells us something we don’t want to hear.  It tells us that persecution comes to those who are like Jesus.    So what does it say at the very top of the ladder? …

Pp     "Blessed are the persecuted."     (no. 8)

-------   When you’re on top, people want to knock you off. Sometimes when people see Christ in you, they don’t know how to handle you. Especially if you show up on the job and you have integrity and real honesty and great work ethic.  You’re an odd one.  You bring excellence to the job and you make others look bad. Sometimes you even get persecuted because people don’t know what to do with you. They didn’t know what to do with Jesus.   Even the church people found Him to be too much.   So they nailed Him to a cross.

In 2 Timothy 2:3 it says that in the last days, that’s where we are now, the last days just before Jesus comes back again – it says that people will be “ …

despisers of those who are good, …”    To state that in simple English, this is what it means, …

pp     2 Timothy 3:3  “The bad people hate the good people because the good in the good shows up the bad in the bad.” 

-------  A few verses after that in 2 Timothy 3:12, Paul says this, ---

Pp       2 Timothy 3:12  “All who desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”  

Friends, if you and I genuinely desire to live Godly lives in our families and our communities, we will experience some persecution.

So what did Jesus say in our Bibles in Matthew 5 and verses 10-12?     Let’s look at it on page 1115.   It’s interesting that all the other points on the rungs of the ladder were only one verse long, but Jesus decided to devote three verses to this one.

Verses 10, 11 and 12.  

 V10    “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.  For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

V11      Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.

V12     Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

------ So friends, don’t get upset if your friends put you down for wanting to follow Jesus.  It’s a very good sign that you are genuinely ‘living Godly in Christ Jesus’.  The Bible says, ‘Rejoice and be exceedingly glad.’ 

Now I promised at the beginning that I’d read Mike Breaux’s Creed, his Statement for Living, that’s starting to become My Creed too.  I pray that you’ll take this Creed and make it yours.  Keep a copy in your Bible and read it regularly.  I’ve titled it: 

            My Creed 

  (My Statement for Living)

I am part of a fellowship of the unashamed. 

I have Holy Spirit power. 

The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. 

I’m a disciple of Jesus, and I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still. 

My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. 

I’m finished and done with low-living, side-walking, small-playing, smooth unpraying knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. 

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotion or popularity. 

I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. 

I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, live by prayer and labour by power. 

My faith is set. My step is fast. My goal is heaven. My road is narrow. My way is rough. My companions are few. 

But my God is reliable and my mission is clear. 

I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. 

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity or meander in the maze of mediocrity. 

I won’t give up, shut up or let up till I’ve stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up and preached up for the cause - of - Christ. 

I’m a disciple of Jesus. 

I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all people know, and work till He stops me. 

And when He comes for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me, because the statement of my life will be clear.

-------  Friends, my prayer is that this Creed will become your Statement for Living too, where you say, “God, I recognize I need You. It’s broken my heart. My life is in Your hands. God, I’m hungering for You. I’m thirsting for You. Turn me into a loving machine where I’m loving people all day long. God, turn me into a person who’s real all the time, not trying to live a phony kind of life. God, turn me into the kind of person who’s a thermostat. And, God, if persecution comes my way, then so be it because I’m starting to look like Jesus.” --------

The man stood there with Thousand Island dressing dripping off his forehead, off his chin, and all over his suit that had been ruined by what we might say was someone’s stupid mistake.  ------   Someone’s stupid mistake.   ----- Another man stood there one day with blood running down His forehead, and off His chin, all over His robe. It wasn’t ruined by accident.  It was on purpose. And HHHH  e paid the price for our stupid mistakes.   Why?

Because Jesus was different. And He calls you and me to be different too.------

-------  Please stand with me while we pray.

Thank you for coming.     

Please stay for our meal.    

I wish you a great week ahead. 

And I’d like to hand out to you a copy of the Statement for Living ---- 

and God will bless you richly as you step out with Him.

‍