POST #8 - JESUS' SERMON ON THE MOUNT: POOR IN SPIRIT... IT'S ABOUT THE CROSS... BLESSED... OH, THE JOY!

This life is full of mini and massive crosses to bear.  How do you and I "take up our cross daily and follow HIM"?  What has HE allowed to happen to you or me that HE HIMSELF would not be willing to endure?  

As we are focusing on JESUS' Sermon on the Mount (with special emphasis on the beatitudes), this month I've made connections to:

1. the "kingdom of heaven" throughout the book of Matthew (as discussed in Post #1).
2. various other scriptures that share similar concepts, such as, James and Ephesians.
3. real life happenings and feelings that we experience as we try to follow JESUS.

Today, let's think about a few things that JESUS said:

• In John 10:10, JESUS said that HE came so that, "They may have life, and have it abundantly!" 
• In the first section of HIS Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5), JESUS lays out what that "abundant life looks like".  Here are just a few of the things to expect:  
•  kingdom living starts with being poor in spirit... 
• being blessed... 
• mourning
• showing mercy
• being the peacemaker
• getting insulted... 
• being lied about... 
• suffering persecution... 
• doing a lot of things that might be hard to do... 
• eternal LIFE...

• Luke 23:46 tells us one of the things that JESUS said, as HE hung on the cross.  In fact, those words are the same words that every Jewish mother taught their children to pray, once they began to speak:

"FATHER, into YOUR hands
I commit my spirit." 
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JESUS had been on a 33 year journey of trust.  HE could say that HE daily woke up and made a decision to turn HIS day over to GOD.  Through much training, HE walked the life of the cross.  
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HE articulated what it would look like to be HIS follower:  "Then HE said to them all: “Whoever wants to be MY disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow ME." 
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The whole concept of being "poor in spirit" reminds each of us that "life's not about me"... "life's about GOD".  Once we understand that, then we internalize that life really is a "cross walk".

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At what point do we say this to GOD?

• "I get it!  Life is not about me!  Life is about YOU.  My life needs to become less about me and more about YOU.  I honor YOU today, FATHER, with my feeble efforts to be POOR IN SPIRIT!  Into YOUR hands I commit my spirit.  Do with me as YOU will."

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Difficult?  Yes!
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What happens when trouble comes?  
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Do we then raise our fist to GOD or do we realize who we are in relation to GOD?  It's hard to remain "poor in spirit" in the tough times!  This past month, my hubby has been preaching on "We were not called to be happy, we were called to be HOLY!"

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Is it possible that you and I... each person living... was born to die?  It's a deep concept!  The HOLINESS OF GOD calls us to give ourselves up for HIM.  

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Do remember all 7 of the things that JESUS said on the cross?  It was the culmination of a cross-walking life:

1. Luke 23:34 - HE extended forgiveness to those who had no clue what they were doing:  "FATHER, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."
2. Luke 23:43 - HE chose to bless a stranger, in the midst of HIS suffering:  "Truly I say to you, today you will be with ME in paradise."
3. John 19:26-27: HE chose to bless HIS mother, in the midst of HIS suffering:  "Woman, behold your son.  Son, behold your mother."
4. Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34: HIS intimate relationship with GOD was evident in HIS questioning:  "MY GOD, MY GOD, why have YOU forsaken ME?"
5. John 19:28:  HE simply stated HIS need: "I thirst."
6. John 19:30:  HE knew that HE had accomplished HIS mission of denying HIMSELF and bearing HIS daily cross... and now the final CROSS:  "It is finished."
7. Luke 23:46:  With a childlike heart, HE repeated HIS childhood prayer:  "FATHER, into YOUR hands I commit MY spirit."

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JESUS knew the secrets of living and HE lived them one day at a time.  In HIS Sermon on the Mount, HE reminds us that "...each day has enough trouble of its own."
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For my family and me, we can recall many days of "taking up our cross".  One of "those days" was last year when we heard the unexpected words, "STAGE 4 CANCER!"  We cried... denied... wailed... grieved... Yet, in the midst of the journey, we kept being reminded that it as not about us... it was about the cross... about eternal life... about GOD!  
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GIGATTAATTGIG
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This song shares, in part, what I am trying to say.  The last half of the song goes like this:
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"The beginning of the story is wonderful and great

But it's the ending that can save you 

and that's why we celebrate. 

It's about the cross

It's about my sin.

It's about how JESUS came to be born once,

So that we could be born again.

It's about GOD'S love,

Nailed to a tree.

It's about every drop of blood 

that flowed from HIM,

when it should have been me. 

It's about the stone,

That was rolled away,

So that you and I could have real life someday (today)...

So that you and I could have real life someday (today)...

It's about the cross.  It's about the cross."