Just Asking

Please take 5 seconds to give me your feedback about the “Life’s Healing Choices” study that our church just completed. Of course, I would ask that you only register your opinion if you were a part of FBC Benbrook during the last three months.

Why are the Righteous Persecuted? Aren’t They the Good Guys?

Jesus wants us to believe that those who are insulted, persecuted, and slandered for righteous living are blessed (see Matthew 5.10-12). Saving the question of blessing for another day, I still wonder why the righteous would be persecuted. After all, don’t we want the people who share our space to be merciful, pure, and peaceable? One would think that the people who dispense mercy, work for justice, love selflessly, and give generously would be the heroes of any community. But Jesus warns us that, sooner or later, righteous living will bring persecution. Why will “they” hate “us” so much?

Just Asking…

The Present Day Persecuted Church

Since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago, 43,000,000 Christians have become martyrs.

Over 50% of these were in the last century alone.

More than 200 million Christians face persecution each day. 60% are children.

Every day over 300 are killed for their faith in Jesus Christ.

Blessed are the Persecuted…Really?

In the eighth and final beatitude, Jesus shares these shocking words:

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5.10-12).

Peacemakers: Sustaining and Creating Harmony

Matthew 5.9 – November 8, 2009

MP3 File

Building Bridges Over Troubled Waters (Active Peacemaking)

Blessed are the peacemakers, those who work to sustain and create harmony in their personal relationships. Peacemaking is not only avoiding the attitudes and behaviors that cause disharmony, but it is also taking the positive steps towards restoring harmony when it is lost. Turning to the Scriptures, I offer to you today a few biblical principles about the action steps that peacemakers take in restoring harmony.

First Do No Harm (Passive Peacemaking)

Quoting from the modern source of all knowledge (tongue firmly in cheek), the collaborative encyclopedia “wikipedia” writes,

Primum non nocere is a Latin phrase that means “First, do no harm.” The phrase is sometimes recorded as primum nil nocere. Nonmaleficence, which derives from the maxim, is one of the principal precepts that all medical students are taught in medical school and is a fundamental principle for emergency medical services around the world. Another way to state it is that “given an existing problem, it may be better to do nothing than to do something that risks causing more harm than good.

The art of being a peacemaker is the art of putting mercy into action. It is one thing to decide to dispense compassion instead of justice to one who has wronged us, but it is another to take actions steps towards brokering peace with those to whom we are at odds.

Mercy: Compassion in a Context

November 1, 2009
Matthew 5.7

MP3 File

Blessed are the Peacemakers (Matthew 5.9)

The text for Sunday morning’s sermon is the 7th beatitude:

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God (Matthew 5.9)