Dove Creek Bible Church's Podcast

Now this beatitude is unlike all the others for all the others are fairly straightforward and self-explanatory…this one seems vague and subject to interpretation. I, generally speaking, know when I have behaved meekly or have shown mercy, but what does Jesus mean by a “pure heart”? Note, Jesus did not say “Blessed are those who purify their hearts”, but “Blessed are the pure in heart”. The “pure in heart” is something a person is…how does one get to be one of those folks? What does it mean to be pure in heart and if my heart is pure in what sense will I “see God”?

Our topic today is mercy…what is it exactly…and how do we decide when to render it. Most of us live by the motto “Justice for you; mercy for me.” Interestingly this beatitude dealing with mercy immediately follows the beatitude dealing with righteousness (and the word for righteousness is also the word for justice). So why should I be interested in any mercy for you?

We have a saying, “You are what you eat.” What you choose to eat actually becomes a part of your physical makeup. Nutritionists tell us our appetite determines our diet, our diet determines what we ingest, and what we ingest determines our health. This relationship between what we eat and our physical health is why we often find this analogy of eating and drinking used to describe spiritual realities.

So what makes a person truly meek? What does Jesus mean here by “meek”? Now, “meek” is one of those words that needs a better press agent. People more typically associate negative connotations with the word. If you use a thesaurus to figure out another way to refer to someone as meek suggestions include “docile”, “timid” and “spineless”. As examples of meekness, the thesaurus suggests the following phrases as illustrative: “to eat dirt,” “to lick the dust,” “to cringe like a dog,” “to take it on the chin.” Now seriously, who wants to be that guy? Since Jesus referred to Himself as meek it quite obviously cannot mean any such thing.

Every superhero has an origin story. Judges 13 is Samson's and he was born with a purpose and a destiny.

In The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is creating Cognitive Dissonance. Cognitive Dissonance occurs when current beliefs are challenged with new information. He tells His listeners the kingdom they were anticipating and how to enter that kingdom is different from what they have been told and always believed. One of the benefits of cognitive dissonance or thinking disharmony is it makes us more receptive to learning. To put it another way…sometimes before you can teach someone something new you have to first challenge what it is they think they already know or believe to be true. If they are satisfied with what they already believe and know then they will not be motivated to reevaluate, but if their current belief or knowledge is shaken then they are more likely to rethink what they believe.

The word “beatitude” is derived from the Latin term “beatus” which means “blessed”. The Sermon on the Mount context is to be blessed is to experience what follows. As children of God, we are meant to experience and express all that is said here. Each beatitude is meant to characterize every follower of Jesus. Jesus is not dividing us up into eight different kinds of disciples as though some of us are poor while others are meek and so on and so forth. The follower of Jesus is all eight of these things (i.e. the follower of Jesus is meek and poor and pure of heart, etc.). The first set of four Beatitudes focuses on our vertical relationship to God; the second set of four on our horizontal relationship to people. Each of the eight builds upon the other so that there is this wonderful natural progression. Today we focus on the one that is the most foundational to all the others…blessed are the poor in spirit.

One of Bob Dylan’s most often-covered songs is “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”. Over 150 artists have covered the song. The song was initially written in 1973 to be used in Sam Peckinpah’s western Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. In that movie, there is a shootout that results in the Sheriff being shot multiple times. As he stands in shock and disbelief…knowing he is about to die he looks over at his wife who has tears in her eyes and this is when “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” starts playing in the background with the opening lyric: “Mama take this badge off of me, I can’t use it anymore,” “It’s getting dark, too dark to see. Feels like I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door.“ Well, Elisha didn’t have a prophet’s badge but he did have a prophet’s cloak given to him by Elijah. Like the badge in the song, this cloak was about to be of no further use to Elisha for after 60 years of ministry Elisha is knocking on heaven’s door.

In chapter 4 we read of a Shunammite woman who without any ulterior motive decided to provide the prophet of God, Elisha, with room and board. She never anticipated the impact her simple act of kindness would have on her life. Because of her kindness to God’s prophet she, by God’s grace, went from barrenness to giving birth to a son. Then later, by that same grace, had her son’s life restored by the prophet after her son had died in her arms as a young child. Today we learn…God’s grace is not finished with her yet…she is still reaping the benefits of her association with God’s prophet.

Frederick Nietzsche studied theology and he was the son of a Lutheran minister…nonetheless, he abandoned any belief in God, and yet he found himself somewhat worried about what would happen if mankind ever truly accepted the premise that God is dead for he knew, at least at some level, that a belief in God kept the evil in man reined in, but what if that evil were unleashed? What hell would that be? Our text today reminds us of what happens when the evil in man is unleashed.

In today's text, Elisha opens the eyes of the spiritually blind and blinds the eyes of the physically sighted. In the process he teaches Israel how to get rid of her enemies.

At first glance, this passage appears to be somewhat pointless. All that happens is the prophets are building an extension to their prophetic guild facilities when one of the prophets drops an axe head into the muddy waters of the Jordan and then Elisha miraculously makes the iron axe head float so the guy can have the axe head back and get back to work. If all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable...then what are we supposed to get out of this story?

Naaman was a foreign commander who came to the prophet Elisha to be cleansed of his leprosy. Naaman came bearing gifts to pay for his miracle, after all, he is no charity case. Nonetheless, Elisha treats him as a charity case much to his chagrin. Finally, Naaman swallows his pride and accepts his miracle as a free gift. Gehazi, Elisha's servant, then decides maybe free shouldn't be free.

The last sermon dealt with two very different women with a common problem. This week we will compare and contrast two meals. One meal contains poison and the other meal concerns those times when you have a lot of hungry mouths to feed and not enough to feed them. The first story is called “Death in the Pot” and the second story is called “The Feeding of a Hundred.”

It is not easy to accept a new leader. Especially when the leadership style of the new leader is very different from the old leader. Elisha is now the new head prophet. His ministry style focuses more on healing and restoration. Elijah is gone. His ministry style focused on condemnation and repentance. In this text, we see how people are adjusting to the new prophet and the consequences of acceptance and rejection.

Elijah passes the baton of leadership over to Elisha. What things are important for a ministry handoff to go well?

Studies show that fathers are more influential with their children than mothers when it comes to their decisions later in life as to whether they will remain in the faith or not. Many children, for better or worse, are destined to follow in the faith of their fathers. King Ahab's faith in Baal has been passed on to his son, King Ahaziah and Ahaziah follows the faith of his father to the same bitter end.

One of the hardest things to accept about grace...especially when it comes to others...is that grace is only for the undeserving. In our carnality, we imagine there must be some limit to grace...a place it stops and goes no further. The question is...do we think God has more grace than the vilest sinner has sin or do we think some sinners have sin that cannot be reached by God's grace?