Post by Ryan Thames on Mar 17, 2005 17:26:52 GMT -5
Characteristics of a Christian According to the Beatitudes.
According to the Beatitudes that Jesus taught as recorded in Matthew 5:3 -11 a Christian should be poor in spirit. When a Christian is poor in spirit they will be blessed or happy spiritually. Poor in the sense of humility. Realizing that we are nothing and have nothing to offer Christ, as he gave His everything for us. All we, as a fallen race, have to offer Christ is our sin and our lives. And we bring them to Christ humbly because they are disgusting and worthless. As a gracious God sends his son to the earth in an effort to save us from ourselves. He offers us new life when we are undeserving of it. The Kingdom of Heaven is theirs, through faith by the grace of God.
Those who mourn in realization of their sin or inability to meet God’s standard will be comforted. Until we mourn in this realization rather than our selfishness of just simply not getting what we want, we won’t come to that place of poverty in our spirit, where we realize the horror of our sin, and that it sentences and condemns us to a devils hell. Not only should one realize their own sin but we should come to a place of mourning on the behalf of Christ and the punishment he endured for our sake, we are guilty of his death on the cross, as he so willingly took our place as a substitute. If this is not the realization we come to then we will continue in our selfishness and pride and will not learn to fully trust God for His Salvation. When we reach this humble state of our walk with Christ, then we will be comforted by the Holy Spirit. We will then experience a very special degree of his love and grace. Realizing that in a mess like our lives he is faithful and just, even in his intrinsic holiness and absolute moral perfection through the accessible Grace in Christ Jesus, that He would be so gracious to even intervene in our lives. A Christian should also mourn on behalf of others who don’t know Christ and who are going through trials and tribulations. The bible says we should bare one another’s burdens. So in mourning for each other we grow in compassion for each other and bare each others burdens.
Those who are meek in Christ are not supposed to be weak but strong and powerful yet humble. They are not to be so humble that they are walked upon. Jesus was meek he was humble and gentle in spirit although because He is God has every right to be as arrogant as he wants to be. One preacher said once that “if your God and you know you’re God. who then are you going to be full of but yourself?“ But Jesus earthly minister he came humbly as a servant of God and as a servant of man. Jesus during his trial refused to be silent when being accused but never responded in retaliation, I think because he knew what was happening and that he had to go to the cross or there would be no man saved, and man would be lost and separated from God forever. If he had chose to retaliate he could very well have chosen to do so. He knew he had the power to call upon the angels at anytime. Yet in his meekness he would show them grace thus resulting in our salvation two-thousand years later. The meekness of a Christian should be that we know who we are in Christ being crucified buried and resurrected in Christ we are at the right hand of the father with Christ. And That we have access to the throne room of God We should understand that through the blood of Christ and the power of the spirit of God we have authority over Satan. We should not fear Satan and his tactics because we are the sons and daughters of God and He is faithful to bring us out of it. He makes sure that he provides away out of temptation and that he wont put on us more than we can handle. When know our place in Christ we should be able to walk with our heads high not so high because we must keep in mind that we are not worthy of that position in Christ apart from the grace and mercy of God. If we are faithful in this we will inherit the Kingdom of God. We will come back to earth after the rapture and the tribulation to reign and rule the earth for a thousand years.
A sign of one who is truly seeking the face of God is his/her passionate desire for truth and righteousness. The hunger and thirst to know God more intimately should be very evident in a persons life and will increase with time and persistence. When someone is passionate about their hunger and thirst its like a man stranded in a desert with nothing to drink they should be as passionate and striving to truth. Praise God we have Christ who is the living well as he gives us the living water that is ever sustaining and fully satisfying. Sin leaves us with an unsatisfying desire and leaves us wanting, where as Christ fulfills that satisfaction. Yet at the same time it is so satisfying that we should want and desire more and more of him every day. God is faithful. He is a good God. He is the father that does not give his children a stone instead of bread. He gives us what we need and sufficiently he does so. When evil people can give their children good gifts how much more would God give us when we so diligently hunger and thirst after his righteousness. A Christian should hunger and thirst to live a holy life which is only possible through faith the finished work at Calvary. Holiness is a part righteousness that is required in the walk of the individual Christian. God is a holy God and it is our sin and disobedience that separates us from the father. So in our hunger we should live our lives as lives of repentance, otherwise we separate ourselves from God. The fulfillment of righteousness in our lives should be evident, being separate from the world and as God fills us with his righteousness which is imputed in us at the cross.
According to the Beatitudes that Jesus taught as recorded in Matthew 5:3 -11 a Christian should be poor in spirit. When a Christian is poor in spirit they will be blessed or happy spiritually. Poor in the sense of humility. Realizing that we are nothing and have nothing to offer Christ, as he gave His everything for us. All we, as a fallen race, have to offer Christ is our sin and our lives. And we bring them to Christ humbly because they are disgusting and worthless. As a gracious God sends his son to the earth in an effort to save us from ourselves. He offers us new life when we are undeserving of it. The Kingdom of Heaven is theirs, through faith by the grace of God.
Those who mourn in realization of their sin or inability to meet God’s standard will be comforted. Until we mourn in this realization rather than our selfishness of just simply not getting what we want, we won’t come to that place of poverty in our spirit, where we realize the horror of our sin, and that it sentences and condemns us to a devils hell. Not only should one realize their own sin but we should come to a place of mourning on the behalf of Christ and the punishment he endured for our sake, we are guilty of his death on the cross, as he so willingly took our place as a substitute. If this is not the realization we come to then we will continue in our selfishness and pride and will not learn to fully trust God for His Salvation. When we reach this humble state of our walk with Christ, then we will be comforted by the Holy Spirit. We will then experience a very special degree of his love and grace. Realizing that in a mess like our lives he is faithful and just, even in his intrinsic holiness and absolute moral perfection through the accessible Grace in Christ Jesus, that He would be so gracious to even intervene in our lives. A Christian should also mourn on behalf of others who don’t know Christ and who are going through trials and tribulations. The bible says we should bare one another’s burdens. So in mourning for each other we grow in compassion for each other and bare each others burdens.
Those who are meek in Christ are not supposed to be weak but strong and powerful yet humble. They are not to be so humble that they are walked upon. Jesus was meek he was humble and gentle in spirit although because He is God has every right to be as arrogant as he wants to be. One preacher said once that “if your God and you know you’re God. who then are you going to be full of but yourself?“ But Jesus earthly minister he came humbly as a servant of God and as a servant of man. Jesus during his trial refused to be silent when being accused but never responded in retaliation, I think because he knew what was happening and that he had to go to the cross or there would be no man saved, and man would be lost and separated from God forever. If he had chose to retaliate he could very well have chosen to do so. He knew he had the power to call upon the angels at anytime. Yet in his meekness he would show them grace thus resulting in our salvation two-thousand years later. The meekness of a Christian should be that we know who we are in Christ being crucified buried and resurrected in Christ we are at the right hand of the father with Christ. And That we have access to the throne room of God We should understand that through the blood of Christ and the power of the spirit of God we have authority over Satan. We should not fear Satan and his tactics because we are the sons and daughters of God and He is faithful to bring us out of it. He makes sure that he provides away out of temptation and that he wont put on us more than we can handle. When know our place in Christ we should be able to walk with our heads high not so high because we must keep in mind that we are not worthy of that position in Christ apart from the grace and mercy of God. If we are faithful in this we will inherit the Kingdom of God. We will come back to earth after the rapture and the tribulation to reign and rule the earth for a thousand years.
A sign of one who is truly seeking the face of God is his/her passionate desire for truth and righteousness. The hunger and thirst to know God more intimately should be very evident in a persons life and will increase with time and persistence. When someone is passionate about their hunger and thirst its like a man stranded in a desert with nothing to drink they should be as passionate and striving to truth. Praise God we have Christ who is the living well as he gives us the living water that is ever sustaining and fully satisfying. Sin leaves us with an unsatisfying desire and leaves us wanting, where as Christ fulfills that satisfaction. Yet at the same time it is so satisfying that we should want and desire more and more of him every day. God is faithful. He is a good God. He is the father that does not give his children a stone instead of bread. He gives us what we need and sufficiently he does so. When evil people can give their children good gifts how much more would God give us when we so diligently hunger and thirst after his righteousness. A Christian should hunger and thirst to live a holy life which is only possible through faith the finished work at Calvary. Holiness is a part righteousness that is required in the walk of the individual Christian. God is a holy God and it is our sin and disobedience that separates us from the father. So in our hunger we should live our lives as lives of repentance, otherwise we separate ourselves from God. The fulfillment of righteousness in our lives should be evident, being separate from the world and as God fills us with his righteousness which is imputed in us at the cross.
....j/k
