Epiphany Week 4

Psalm: Psalm 15 

Old Testament: Micah 6:1-8 

Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12    

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

This week the question we have to ask ourselves comes from the first line of the Psalm, “O Lord, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill?”  how do we please God and live in obedience to him? (of course this question presumes in fact that we do want to please God) The Psalmist goes on to answer that question, describing the ways a righteous person walks.  He or she walks with integrity, speaks the truth, does no evil, and they do not take interest on loans or bribes.  The Lord calls his followers to a higher standard.

This theme is picked up in our next two passages as well from Micah and Matthew.  In Micah we have the answer a little bit  as to why we follow the Lord.  He he has shown his faithfulness to his people Israel, into whom we have been grafted.  But Micah also asks a similar question as Psalm 15, and provides a succinct answer.  “And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love  kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”  Each of these can be unpacked, but I think Micah is talking about a righteousness based on justice and love.  It is a lifestyle that is selfless rather than self-serving.

Matthew chapter 5:1-12 is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount and is the Beatitudes.  Again the question is how do we live obediently to the Lord, or living under the kingdom of heaven as Jesus speaks.  My pastor made the point this week that these verses are not commands; they are statement-of-facts about the kingdom of heaven.  People with these traits are blessed, so thus we should aspire to them, but they are not commands.  We shouldn’t seek something sad so we can mourn.  The time will come for us to mourn and we will be blessed not because we mourn and hurt, but because we will be comforted.

Each one of these passages presents what we can call Kingdom Ethics.  Answering the question how we live under the Lordship of Christ.  To get back to that why question, we want to do so because of what Jesus has done to redeem and restore us into a right relationship with the Father.  But another question we must ask is how.  How are to follow these guidelines, and as Jesus later says in Matthew 5, to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect? (5:48) The answer is in part found in our Epistle reading from 1 Corinthians.  In this passage Paul is discussing how the Gospel and cross make no logical sense to the Jews or the Gentiles.  However, God has chosen the foolish and the week to shame wise and strong of the world.  But in the last two verses he writes this, “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1:30-31) Paul writes that Jesus Christ has become our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.  It all starts and ends because of and through the work of Jesus.  Without him none of this would be possible.  We on our own cannot live holy and righteous lives, let alone somehow redeem ourselves from our sins and restore the broken relationship with God.  Paul makes it abundantly clear that it is all because of God, so let no one boast that they have done it themselves.

The Kingdom of God calls us to live a life worthy of the Gospel.  We are to be different than the world because we are a part of a different kingdom.  We get our ethics and instruction from an entirely different point.  But praise be to God that we are not alone in our endeavors.  It is Christ, though his Spirit, who calls and enables us to live faithful to his commandments.  And of course we have the help and support of the Body of Christ found in his Church.  We must cultivate and nurture our relationship with Christ and the Church so we can know where we are still lacking in our faith and where and even how we need to grow.  It is also only through these relationships that we can actually see growth.  Let us tend to these relationships this week.

Grace and Peace.