Be Still And Know

Matthew 5:10 “God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” The life to which Jesus calls us is one of blessing. This is life at its very best. But Jesus never tried to disguise the fact that his followers would face rejection and persecution just as he did. Jesus assures his followers in every age that it is inevitable that, if they stand up for the truth, there will be many people who have a vested interest in bringing them down. Persecution is normally subtle. For the majority of Christians in Eastern Europe during the communist era the challenge was not the likelihood of imprisonment or martyrdom. That happened from time to time for a few, but the ever-present challenge was in education and employment. I recall talking this through at the time with parents in Romania who wanted to know how to help their children at school when they had to sit through atheism classes. Christian children would find it very hard to enter university and because they w

Matthew 5:9 “God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.” In this beatitude Jesus isn’t talking about being peace-lovers but peace-makers, which is very different. A peace-lover will often do anything to avoid conflict, and will even allow bad behaviour to continue because of the desire to ‘keep the peace’. Sadly, that kind of attitude does nothing to bring healing and can easily lead to a situation becoming far worse. Peace-making is the tough task of not turning away from conflict but, in the name of Christ, deliberately facing it and seeking to bring God’s miraculous gift of peace. Robert V Taylor, the President of the Desmond Tutu Foundation, wrote: “If you want peace, don’t talk to your friends, talk to your enemies.” I suspect we all dislike conflict. We hate it when voices are raised, people storm out of meetings or there are broken relationships. It’s exhausting, discouraging and sad. But it’s also very common, and always has been. That’s precisely

Matthew 5:8 “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.” If you have any gold or silver you will know that it is vital that it is as pure as possible. Any impurity will hugely diminish its value. Jesus was saying that the same rule applies to our spiritual lives. We need to be single-minded, keeping our eyes fixed on his kingdom and not allowing ourselves to be distracted by any lesser objective. This reminds me of Psalm 24, where we learn that the people who were welcomed to worship God in the temple were “those whose hands and hearts are pure” (v4). This makes uncomfortable reading. We can easily understand the desirability of having pure hearts, but we know that our lives are a long way away from that. Even our best efforts can very easily be spoilt by unhelpful motives. When we give generously to help others, we will often feel personal pleasure and pride at what we have given. In fulfilling our roles in our churches, it is easy to focus far too much attention on the love

Matthew 5:7 “God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Jesus told many stories that make us sit up. One of the most powerful was the story of the king who was owed an enormous amount of money by one of his servants (Matthew 18:21–35). The man couldn’t possibly pay his debt. The servant fell on his knees and begged the king to be patient. The king took pity on him and cancelled the debt. The relief must have been incredible. The servant then went out and met a friend who owed him a trivial amount - but the servant demanded that he be paid back in full and threw the friend into prison until he recovered all his money. When the king heard this, he was incensed and ordered that the servant who had been let off the most enormous debt be thrown into prison and tortured until he paid back every last penny. Ouch. Jesus concluded by saying that that was exactly how his heavenly Father would treat anyone who failed to show forgiveness to others. God wants to show us his mercy and f

Matthew 5:6 “God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.” I wonder when you last felt painfully hungry or thirsty. I suspect for most of us that, if it has ever happened, it is a distant memory. However, it is likely that Jesus’ hearers would have been very familiar with both. Harvests could be good or bad, and it was impossible to achieve a reliable supply of food. Additionally in a hot country people would often have felt desperately thirsty, and finding a good supply of clean water would never have been easy. Jesus wanted his followers to have the same craving and passion for his kingdom to be established as a hungry and thirsty person has for food and drink. Christianity suffers desperately from those who give it merely polite agreement. They live respectable and kind lives and consider that Christian faith is generally a very good thing. Jesus is looking for something completely different. He wants our lives to be dominated by the longing to see God’s wil

Matthew 5:5 “God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.” Mother Teresa taught the world a great deal about humility. She gave us a wonderful example of what it looks like to be humble through her costly service to the most rejected and unloved members of society. But she also offered us many wise words on the subject. In her famous ‘humility list’ she said: “Learn to be humble by doing all the humble work and doing it for Jesus. You cannot learn humility from books; you learn it by accepting humiliations. Humiliations are not meant to torture us; they are gifts from God. These little humiliations—if we accept them with joy—will help us to be holy, to have a meek and humble heart like Jesus.” Humility lies at the heart of the kingdom of God. Jesus once told his disciples that the only way to enter the kingdom was to become as humble as a child (Matthew 18:4). They were still looking for power and influence, but Jesus wanted to turn their thinking upside down. We only

Matthew 5:4 “God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” The word that is used for mourn here is also used in the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, to describe Jacob’s grief when he was led to believe that Joseph, his treasured son, was dead (Genesis 37:34). He was grief stricken. God’s promise is that those who are overwhelmed with sorrow now will find his comfort and strength. So who are the people that are mourning so profoundly today? Jesus probably had in mind, among others, those who knew the agony of losing a loved one. Most of us know the pain of friends and family members dying, and some of us have had the awful experience of people dying suddenly or even violently. None of us would want to make light of these terrible experiences, but Jesus reminds us that death doesn’t have the last word. Even in the midst of our loss, God is there with us offering his peace, strength and love. When someone has died, most people feel numb at first and it can be hard to h

Matthew 5:3 “God blesses those who are poor and realise their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” Robert Powell acted the part of Jesus in Franco Zeffirelli’s film Jesus of Nazareth. He claims that his life was changed by the experience and recalls the day when he was filming the Sermon on the Mount. Powell had no time for Christianity but, as he preached the sermon as an actor, he said that he was so affected by its beauty that he began to cry. The tears were not in the script, but Zeffirelli wisely kept them in the movie. It is easy to see why he was so affected by these words because they take us to the heart of what it means to be alive. They stand before us as a challenge and encouragement as we seek to understand what it means to live the Christian life. Today’s verse is the first of the so-called Beatitudes. Before we start looking at them we need to be clear what Jesus meant by the ‘kingdom of heaven’, which was an expression he often used. The kingdom of heaven comes wher

Psalm 34:9–10 Fear the LORD, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need. Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the LORD will lack no good thing. As a teenager I chose a profession that is famous for paying well. I was a Christian and I wanted to serve God but was keen to ensure that I had a good income. When God called me at the age of 19 to become a minister I felt nervous about my financial future. This wasn’t helped by the fact that I went to visit my bank manager who gently but clearly informed me that he considered that I was making an unwise financial move. It was at that time that I first met these verses. God was clearly telling me that I wouldn’t miss out, and I haven’t. Undoubtedly, I would have made more money if I had continued with my original career plan. But God has been absolutely faithful and I have missed out on no good thing. It’s hard to imagine a lion growing weak and hungry. They are famous for their predatory skills.

Psalm 34:1-4 I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises…I prayed to the LORD and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears. This is one of 14 psalms that has a title which identifies when David wrote it. The background to this particular psalm is found in 1 Samuel 21 and 22. To summarise, David had run away from King Saul who was trying to kill him. He escaped to the King of Gath for safety. However, David felt far from safe and so he decided that it would be best for him to pretend to be mad. This worked well and he successfully escaped from the King of Gath to his next hiding place in the cave of Adullum. So the context of this psalm is one of threat and insecurity. And yet David is full of praise and worship. Indeed, he encourages us to praise the Lord at all times and says that praise will always be on his lips. The truth is that it is easy to praise the Lord when everything is going well. But David, in common with the apostle Paul, was convinced that praisin

Acts 28:30–31 For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense. He welcomed all who visited him, boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him. Paul’s journey to Rome was an amazing adventure. It was a long and difficult journey during which he and his companions survived a shipwreck. We would love to know far more details but now, in these final verses of the Acts of the Apostles, we find Paul settled into a house in Rome. We are informed that he was guarded by a soldier and so he was being kept under what we would normally call house arrest (v16). However, he was clearly given considerable freedom and, wonderfully, he was able to continue with his ministry. There was no keeping Paul down! The book of Acts began with a small, frightened and confused group of Jesus followers waiting in Jerusalem. Jesus gave them instructions to take the good news to the ends of the earth but that seemed impossible at the time. The 28 chap

Acts 24:24–25 Sending for Paul, [Felix and his wife Drusilla] listened as he told them about faith in Christ Jesus. As he reasoned with them about righteousness and self-control and the coming day of judgment, Felix became frightened. “Go away for now,” he replied. “When it is more convenient, I’ll call for you again.” Paul was now on the Mediterranean coast in Caesarea, the regional centre of Roman authority. The city had only recently been built and it became the largest settlement in Judaea. It was here that Pilate had been based. Governor Felix was in charge by this stage and Paul was brought before him. What I love about our verses today is that they are such a beautiful illustration of the fact that, whatever circumstances Paul was in, he just kept witnessing. At one moment he was happy to share his testimony with a crowd who, he knew, were hating every word he said and the next we find him sitting down with the most powerful man in the land and his wife, telling them the good news. Felix

Acts 23:11 That night the Lord appeared to Paul and said, “Be encouraged, Paul. Just as you have been a witness to me here in Jerusalem, you must preach the Good News in Rome as well.” Paul was going through an incredibly difficult time. His arrival in Jerusalem had sparked a riot and the Roman authorities struggled to know what to do with him. They didn’t know how to handle religious disputes and so they tried to hand the matter over to the Jewish council. However, when Paul appeared before them the meeting soon descended into chaos. The Roman commander who was watching the proceedings thought that Paul was in danger of being torn apart and so he ordered his soldiers to rescue him and take him back into protective custody. By this time, they had discovered that he was a Roman citizen and so knew they had to be very careful with Paul (see vv1–10). In the midst of this confusing and dangerous situation, God spoke to Paul confirming the fact that his witness would continue and would even take him

Acts 22:1–2 “Brothers and esteemed fathers,” Paul said, “listen to me as I offer my defence.” When they heard him speaking in their own language, the silence was even greater. Paul faced intense hostility when he reached Jerusalem. People had heard reports of his ministry among the Gentiles, and he was accused of telling people to disobey the Jewish laws. A riot broke out and the crowd cried out for Paul to be killed. The commander of the Roman regiment was informed that the city was in uproar and so he sent his troops to get hold of Paul. The soldiers were clearly unsure what to do with Paul and indeed at first the commander had confused him with an Egyptian who had led a major rebellion. Paul clarified that he was a Jew from Tarsus and asked for the opportunity to speak to the crowd. Interestingly, the commander agreed. This was an incredibly sensitive moment. Many in the crowd were going to hate what Paul had to say, and he knew it. He needed to tread with extreme care, and we can learn a lot

Acts 21:13 [Paul] said, “Why all this weeping? You are breaking my heart! I am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus.” There was no stopping Paul. He was absolutely determined to go to Jerusalem and no one was able to stand in his way. That’s not to say that they didn’t try! When he arrived in Tyre in Syria, he spent a week with the believers there and they prophesied through the Holy Spirit that he shouldn’t go to Jerusalem (v4). Some days later he went down the coast to the important city of Caesarea where he met a man named Agabus who had the gift of prophecy. He dramatically took hold of Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands with it, and then declared that the owner of the belt would be bound by the Jews in Jerusalem and then turned over to the Gentiles. Upon hearing this, everyone begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem (vv10–12). But he wouldn’t be stopped. He announced that he was ready to be jailed and even to die for the sake of his Lor

Acts 20:36–38 When [Paul] had finished speaking, he knelt and prayed with them. They all cried as they embraced and kissed him good-bye. They were sad most of all because he had said that they would never see him again. There was clearly a very strong bond between Paul and the Ephesian elders and so this moment of parting was painful. Paul, of all people, had an absolute conviction in the wonderful future that God had for him. He often spoke with great confidence about the afterlife. In Philippians he reflected on the life to come and summarised the situation by saying: “I long to go and be with Christ, which would be far better for me” (Philippians 1:23). I am sure that Paul had no doubt that the elders would also have been looking forward to the same future. But, even so, this moment of departure was sad and painful, and the tears flowed. We shouldn’t be afraid of our emotions. At the funeral of a Christian we always have much to celebrate. We believe that Jesus came to bring us eternal life an

Acts 20:28 So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—his church, purchased with his own blood—over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders. I suspect that most people would choose not to be compared with sheep! It would hardly be seen as a flattering description! Sheep are rarely viewed as the brightest of animals and are generally understood to be easily led. However, God’s people are frequently described as being like sheep in both the Old and New Testaments. It isn’t surprising therefore that, as Paul addressed the Ephesian elders in his final talk with them, he spoke of their responsibilities for caring for the flock. Paul knew that the church, like any flock of sheep, needed to be protected, fed and cared for. The responsibility for caring for the church was so great that the person had to be appointed by the Holy Spirit. That is still the case today. If an individual feels an inner conviction that this is something that they should do, while that should

Paul said: “My life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” What’s the purpose of your life? We all have to agree that this is an excellent question, but most of the time we may be busy with our work, family, church, hobbies, sport and a thousand other things so put off asking it. The apostle Paul recognised that his life was under threat and he might not have much time left. Paul was clear that his life’s work was to communicate the good news about the wonderful grace of God revealed in Jesus. What an amazing ministry he had! His leadership, teaching and example were of incalculable importance and we are still deeply conscious of our debt to him. In all honesty our roles are unlikely to have the same world-shaking significance as his. However, each of our lives is important and we need to make sure that we use our time well. This life isn’t a rehearsal for anything. It’

“You know that from the day I set foot in the province of Asia until now I have done the Lord’s work humbly and with many tears. I have endured the trials that came to me from the plots of the Jews. I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear, either publicly or in your homes.” My son works for a well-known food retailer. When he leaves for work, I wish him well and he always responds in exactly the same way: “I’ll do my best, Dad.” And I know that he will. That’s exactly what we are reading in this passage today. We are meeting Paul as he addressed the leaders of the church in Ephesus and he wanted them to know that he did his best. He didn’t hold anything back. He suffered with them and told them everything they needed to know, even if they weren’t keen to hear it. He had done his best. Paul had spent three years with the church in Ephesus, which was a very long ministry for him. On this particular occasion, he was eager to get to Jerusalem in time for Pentecost. So he decided

Acts 19:11–12 God gave Paul the power to perform unusual miracles. When handkerchiefs or aprons that had merely touched his skin were placed on sick people, they were healed of their diseases, and evil spirits were expelled. Isn’t this wonderful? I have no personal experience of my own handkerchiefs or aprons being a blessing to anyone else, but that’s not the point. God will work in the way that he chooses and in this wonderful period of Paul’s ministry that was exactly what he chose to do. The reference to the handkerchiefs here is probably to the sweat bands that Paul used in his daily tent making work. I am reminded of an earlier account in Acts when people were healed by Peter’s shadow falling across them as he walked by. God was blessing his ministry in such an amazing way that sick people were brought out onto the street on their beds and mats to be healed (Acts 5:15). When we hear about God working in wonderful and miraculous ways we are, naturally, very keen to see him do exactly the sa