Our topic is intimacy with God ~ so it may interest you to know Jesus Himself addressed the topic. He addressed it very specifically. He addressed it very practically & one of the markers of Spiritual maturity is how well you are able to actually walk His instructions out.
In Matthew 5 we find what is commonly referred to as The Sermon on the Mount , or The Beatitudes, & it is probably the version we are most familiar with though you can also find it in Luke 6.
Now Matthew was a Jew, so what I find interesting about this passage is how very concise it is ~ & herein lies our first difficulty. Matthew, being Jewish, thinks in a very Jewish way. Here we have a very Jewish principle that we first looked @ when we were studying the Lord's prayer. Just like the Lord's Prayer, each line of this teaching is a condensation, a memory prompt, of a much fuller teaching & it is our job to search the scriptures diligently for understanding with revelation from the Holy Spirit.
The 8 principles of this *sermon* are, so to speak, the foundation of Jesus teaching on the Kingdom of God, which He then proceeds to enlarge upon in the following chapters. This is how the Father, the Son, & the Holy Spirit envision the Kingdom of God working. This is how they envision relationship. If you want to know how to develop greater intimacy with God, this is your blueprint. If you want to know how God envisions for His people to live, you will find it here. If you want to know how to please God, you will find it here. If you want to know how to be happy, you will find it here.
Before we look @ any of this in detail I want to give a quick overview. There is no doubt breaking the scriptures up into chapters & verses has had lots of benefits ~ but it also has drawbacks. It breaks scripture up into what often appears to be random monologues that bear no relation to each other when that is not true. In Matthew we find Jesus @ the very beginning of His ministry. The Beatitudes are amongst the very first of Jesus' teachings given shortly after Jesus temptation in the wilderness & shortly after He has named the 12 men designated to be most closely involved in His ministry.
Although He began His ministry in Galilee, Jesus establishes His base in Capernaum & singles out the 12 men who will spend the next 2 1/2 ~ 3 years in close fellowship with Him, learning from God's own son how to have a relationship with God. Chapter 4 closes with Matthew remarking on the great crowds following Jesus about to be healed, freed from possession, taught & learning about God's Kingdom. Chapter 5 opens with Matthew remarking: When Jesus saw the crowd, he went up the mountain; & after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then He began to speak, & taught them...
The first thing that struck me as I read this, is that this was not a general teaching. There may have been a crowd, but it was the disciples who came to Him; the disciples He began to teach. That may indeed have been more than the twelve but it is teaching directed very specifically to those who counted themselves as His followers.
Why now? Why this teaching? The answer lies in the previous chapter. Matthew tells us Jesus had been ministering all over & now He sees this crowd. He sees their need, the cry of their hearts, the sheep of His pasture who have not only gone astray but been left without a shepherd & the need is more than one man, even the man of God, can meet & so He begins to instruct those who will be entrusted with this ministry on how it is meant to look.
Most people, thinking about this passage, end at verse 12 but Jesus doesn't. There is no break in His thinking. He proceeds to elaborate. The living out of the Beatitudes creates people who are both salt & light & it is then Jesus proceeds to establish He has not come to abolish the Law & the Prophets, but to fulfill them. There is an interconnectedness. When Jesus is asked about the Torah He sums it up neatly by saying Loving God first, loving God with everything we have, is the greatest command but the second is to love people: On these two commandments hangeth the whole law, and the prophets [Matthew 22:40]
For the next several chapters Jesus continues to elaborate upon the 8 principles he lays out @ the beginning of chapter 5. We are still on the Mountainside. Jesus is still instructing His disciples. In context we are still discussing the original subject.
So we have a discussion concerning anger, & one on immorality, one about marriage, another about integrity, one on retaliation & loving our enemies. These are all things that affect our ability to walk out the instructions Jesus opened with. We then find Jesus discussing 5 spiritual disciplines: Prayer, fasting, giving, serving & forgiveness ~the things that will aide us in our spiritual growth & the things that will hinder us. It is also where we find that much maligned verse about not judging. In context we are still on the mountainside discussing the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God ~ & we are being told not to judge how others are walking out these instructions ~ which makes way more sense considering all the other scriptures wherein we are told to judge with righteous judgement.
This is not, as some may think, legality. Jesus is showing us how to position ourselves so that the Grace of God & the fellowship of the Holy Spirit can not only impact our lives but the lives around us. These are Jesus words, the very heart of God Himself, the cry of the Holy Spirit, & so we can't just dismiss them. Instead we need to see how the Grace of God works itself out through our obedience & produces the fruit God desires in our lives. The Holy Spirit leads, but already, in Scripture, He has given us the first principles. Want to know the will of God for your life? Start here! We cannot expect greater revelation if we can't even be bothered to heed & hold as precious that which Jesus & the Holy Spirit has already given.
Now what is interesting is the parallel with the Torah as it was given to Moses on Mt Sinai. The 1st 4 commands are all to do with our relationship with God:
- I am the LORD thy God.
- No other gods before me.
- No graven images or likenesses.
- Don't take the LORD's name in vain.
We know that these instructions are impossible to keep. They were impossible for the Jews [just think golden calf]; they are just as impossible for us.
Now look @ how Jesus interprets this because He shows us how this is meant to look. We are to recognize our own poverty without God. When we truly see ourselves as we are it will produce in us a deep mourning. We have all the promises of God available, all this authority in Christ, heirship, sonship, salvation, Jesus has done all the hard work on our behalf & still we lack! We are achingly aware of how much more there is available to us & will press in to God. We won't vaunt ourselves ~ meekness is the opposite of pride but I want to show you something because our English word meek is not @ all what Jesus meant.
The Greek word is praus. It was a military term. Wild stallions were brought down from the mountains to be trained. Some pulled ploughs, some carts, some trained to race but the finest stallions of all were trained for war. They were calm under the fire of arrows, spears & torches. They did not panic @ the smell of blood. Their spirit, courage & power were all needed for battle so their spirit was never broken for then they would be useless but they were so highly trained they responded immediately to the slightest pressure or nudge of their riders leg. When they were that well trained they were said to be *meeked* ~ praus. That is where we should desire to be ~ so highly trained we respond with spirit & courage immediately to the slightest nudge from the Holy Spirit! That is what it means to love God with everything in us. That is what Jesus was teaching. He was showing us how! It is also how the *meeked* will inherit the earth. It is not a passive position!
God does not treat us as imbeciles or babies. He trusts us to co~operate with the Holy Spirit & work with Him, just as He trusted Adam in the garden. It is a partnership. Grace does not do for us what we are meant to do for ourselves because that would produce a people without a moral backbone or spiritual muscle. Rather He partners with us to accomplish God's will & purpose in us & through us.
This pursuing of God will produce in us a hunger to see Kingdom principles established. This is a pivotal instruction for it affects our relationships with others. We will be merciful because our Father is merciful. We will be pure~ hearted as our Father is. We will act as peacemakers ~ & we will be persecuted.
Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. [John 15:20] And then we are told how to respond to this persecution!
The end result of intimacy with God is a Christ~like nature. We will reflect the son in the same way the son reflects the father. The consistent practice of the Beatitudes as a way of life will help us achieve this end.
The end result of intimacy with God is a Christ~like nature. We will reflect the son in the same way the son reflects the father. The consistent practice of the Beatitudes as a way of life will help us achieve this end.
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