What kind of people are citizens of the Kingdom? Those who are disciples… and how does one become a disciple? They begin at the beginning. They recognize their spiritual poverty and they mourn over their sinful condition… and this leads naturally to Humility. “Blessed are the gentle (humble) for they shall inherit the earth.” Usually, those who rule the world are those who through pride and striving take it by force, but this is not so in God’s Kingdom. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” There should be no such thing as a strutting disciple because we know who we are and where we came from, and we have nothing to boast in save the Cross. Our understanding of our spiritual condition, and the humility that is birthed out of shame, is what drives us to cry out in repentance and beg for mercy.
Yet genuine humility is often one of the things that are in short supply these days. In the Christian West, especially, choice is what dominates our thinking and we choose churches like we choose restaurants; based on our personalized tastes. We want our missions and mission programs to be tailor-made to our needs, and we want absolute control of everything. We focus on self, we promote our self through any number of social media outlets, and we are obsessed with “selfies.” Of course, if we are really spiritual we try to get a selfie with a village in the background from our latest church-funded mission trip/vacation. Am I ranting? Sorry, let me get back on track.
God gives grace to the humble because humility is what leads us away from “self” and leads us to our Lord. Jesus goes on to say that those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied.” The righteousness that satisfies is not our own righteousness; birthed in pride, and leading to legalism. Instead, it is the righteousness of Christ. I believe this verse is the fulcrum of the Beatitudes. Jesus has been describing disciples in their Pre-Jesus state… spiritually impoverished, mourning over their sin, and humbled by their inadequacy and depravity, but these things are a necessary work of the Holy Spirit. God in His grace works these things in our lives. He opens our eyes so we see ourselves destitute as He sees us. He births in us deep mourning over our condition and we are driven to our knees by the revelation that I can do absolutely nothing apart from Christ.
This fuels a hunger and a thirst for His righteousness… and God has promised that those who hunger and thirst for His righteousness will be satisfied. What does that say about our missionary task? It tells me that the right motive for being a Disciple is to be like Him, and not for the benefit package that comes with the job. {Basically the opposite of the Neo-Pentecostal, health and wealth message, and at some level, the opposite of our popular “pray these words you might not understand or even mean so you can get to Heaven” message.} It tells me that it is not about ME and that starting with “self” is always the wrong place to start. It is not about me as a missionary and doing what I want, how I want, when I want… and it is not all about them. In the end, it is all about Jesus; His righteousness, and His glory. It is about me doing God’s work in God’s way and for God’s glory. May He grant you grace today as you join Him in that work.
