Discover 10 simple, practical ways to stay faithful to God every day — strengthen your walk and deepen your trust in Him. #FaithfulLiving #WalkWithGod #DailyFaith #SpiritualGrowth #ChristianLife #FaithJourney

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Breaking Down Arrogance, Pride & Fear Before God – How Can We Truly Surrender?

3,572 words, 19 minutes read time.

The God revealed in The Holy Bible is not insecure, not diminished, and not strengthened by human applause. He does not wake up hoping we validate Him. He is eternally self-existent, self-sufficient, and surrounded by glory that never flickers. The real issue is not whether God receives praise. The issue is whether we understand who we are before Him.

Scripture makes it clear that if humanity refused to open its mouth, creation itself would erupt. Jesus declared that stones would cry out if people were silent. Heaven is not short on worship. According to Isaiah’s vision, the seraphim cry “Holy, holy, holy” without rest. Day and night. No fatigue. No boredom. No ego. Just perpetual awe before infinite holiness. God is not pacing heaven hoping we sing louder. He is enthroned in glory whether we participate or not. So the question shifts. If He does not need our praise, why does He command it?

Because we need it. And more specifically, we need His grace.

Why Pride and Fear Make Real Surrender Impossible

Pride is not loud confidence. Pride is self-exaltation in the presence of a holy God. It is the internal posture that says, consciously or not, “I deserve to be here. I deserve grace. I deserve mercy. I deserve blessing.” That posture collapses under biblical scrutiny. Romans makes it clear that all have sinned. Jeremiah declares that the heart is deceitful. James states plainly that God opposes the proud. Not ignores them. Opposes them. The Creator of galaxies sets Himself against arrogance. That should sober anyone breathing.

But pride rarely walks alone. It is usually armored with fear.

Fear of looking foolish. Fear of losing control. Fear of surrendering image. Fear of being exposed. Pride and fear operate like twins protecting the same throne — self. When a person stands rigid before God, unwilling to bow internally or externally, it is rarely about personality. It is about control. It is about maintaining dignity before others. It is about preserving identity that has not yet been crucified. Scripture never treats this lightly. In the Psalms, commands are not suggestions. Clap your hands. Lift your hands. Shout to God. Bless the Lord. These are imperatives rooted in divine authority, not denominational preference.

Here is the uncomfortable truth: folded arms before a holy God often reveal a guarded heart. Not always, but often. And Scripture does not allow us to hide behind temperament when it comes to obedience. If the Word commands visible expressions of worship, then obedience is not optional. The issue is not volume or personality. The issue is submission.

The arrogance of thinking we can stand unmoved before the One who spoke light into existence is breathtaking. He formed humanity from dust. He sustains every breath. Acts declares that in Him we live and move and have our being. If breath is in our lungs, it is borrowed. And borrowed breath was never meant for silent self-preservation. It was meant to glorify the Giver.

God Is Surrounded by Praise — We Are Surrounded by Need

One of the most humbling realities in Scripture is that heaven does not pause when we disengage. Isaiah saw seraphim covering their faces before God’s holiness. John, in Revelation, witnessed living creatures declaring holiness without rest. Hebrews speaks of innumerable angels in festal gathering. The throne room is not short on worship. God is not waiting on human affirmation to feel exalted. He is already exalted above the heavens.

This dismantles religious ego instantly. If a church service lacks passion, heaven does not dim. If a leader feels too dignified to lift their hands, the angels do not skip a beat. Holiness continues. Glory continues. Worship continues. The Lord remains enthroned. His majesty is untouched by human indifference.

So why command praise at all?

Because praise is not for God’s ego. It is for our transformation.

You cannot genuinely magnify God and magnify yourself at the same time. One diminishes as the other increases. You cannot stand in awe of His holiness and remain inflated with self-importance. True praise crushes arrogance because it forces perspective. It reminds the soul who is Creator and who is created. It exposes how small we are and how dependent we remain. And that is where grace becomes visible.

Grace is never owed. That must be said without softening it. God owes humanity nothing. Not mercy. Not breath. Not another sunrise. The cross was not a payment of obligation. It was an act of sovereign mercy. When pride creeps in, we subtly shift from gratitude to entitlement. We begin to act as if forgiveness is expected. As if blessing is guaranteed. As if access to God is casual. Scripture never supports that tone.

When Isaiah encountered God’s holiness, he did not negotiate. He said, “Woe is me.” When Peter recognized the divine power of Christ, he said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” Real encounters produce collapse, not coolness. They produce humility, not management.

And this is where the heart of the issue lies. Familiarity breeds arrogance. The longer someone handles sacred things without trembling, the easier it becomes to treat holiness as common. Leaders are not immune. Length of service does not reduce the requirement of reverence. If anything, it increases accountability. To grow accustomed to holy ground is spiritually dangerous. Scripture shows repeatedly that God resists those who grow comfortable in pride.

True surrender begins when we understand this: God does not need our praise to be God. We need His grace to survive being sinners before Him.

And surrender is not emotional hype. It is alignment. It is yielding control. It is acknowledging that every breath, every gift, every opportunity flows from mercy we did not earn. It is dropping the illusion of self-sufficiency. It is laying down the image we protect and admitting that without Christ we are lost.

Praise, when commanded in Scripture, becomes the training ground for humility. It forces the body to align with the soul. It forces the will to bow. It declares through action that God is worthy whether we feel dignified or not. That is not emotionalism. That is obedience.

And obedience dismantles pride.

How Scripture Shows That God Does Not Need Our Praise — But Commands It for Our Good

When considering God’s worthiness, we must start with a clear biblical foundation: the Almighty never needed anything from His creation in order to be God. His glory, power, and holiness are intrinsic and eternal. From eternity past to eternity future, God is self-existent, self-sufficient, and unchanging. Scripture explicitly declares that He does not require affirmation to be glorified. The psalmist says, “But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel” (Psalm 22:3). This verse does not suggest that human praise sustains God. Rather, it depicts how God chooses to dwell — in the worship of His people, not because He is insecure but because He sovereignly delights in drawing humanity toward Himself.

Theologians and Bible teachers have long acknowledged this truth clearly. As one Christian commentary explains, phrases like “God is enthroned in the praises of His people” do not mean God lacks praise without us, but that praise reveals the posture of the human heart before God and draws believers into fellowship with Him.

This aligns perfectly with what the Apostle James wrote: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). If God truly depended on human worship, Scripture would not describe Him as opposing the proud. But Jesus Himself taught that what matters to God is not showy worship or spiritual confidence without humility — it is a heart that recognizes its own need.

Here is where the modern message must pierce through religious comfort and confront spiritual arrogance. The God of Scripture is not diminished when humans refuse to praise Him. He is surrounded by worship that never ceases. Isaiah’s vision of seraphim crying out “Holy, holy, holy” without rest (Isaiah 6:1-3) prefigures Revelation’s throne room where countless beings continually declare God’s holiness (Revelation 4:8). Angels are not insecure. They do not hesitate. They know God in His fullness and respond with unending awe.

Scholars note that this heavenly praise, depicted in Scripture, emphasizes God’s transcendence. Human praise does not add anything to God. Rather, God commands praise because He created humanity with a soul that exists in relationship to Him — not as a cosmic cheer squad, but as beings formed to know Him, to depend on Him, and to be transformed by Him. This is why Scripture includes concrete commands to praise Him — not optional suggestions rooted in cultural preference — but spiritual directives that reflect how God designed us.

The Real Reason God Commands Praise: It Breaks Arrogance and Draws Us to Humility

The command to praise God seems counterintuitive in a world that values autonomy, pride, and self-direction. But God’s commands are not arbitrary. They are not about performance. They are about heart transformation. When Scripture tells us to “shout for joy to God” and “lift up your hands” (Psalm 47; Psalm 134), it is not advocating emotionalism for its own sake. It is confronting spiritual pride.

When Charles Spurgeon expounded on Psalm 51, he said that true worship begins with a heart that has been broken by awareness of its own sin. Worship that refuses humility is not worship at all; it is a display of self-assertion disguised as devotion. Spurgeon’s point echoes the ancient biblical pattern: every true encounter with God in Scripture evokes awe, confession, and surrender. Isaiah says, “Woe is me! For I am undone!” (Isaiah 6:5). Peter falls at Christ’s feet, saying, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). These narratives exhibit an internal collapse before the divine — not a polished performance.

Modern Christian writers have reinforced this biblical truth: arrogance in worship is not spiritual strength. It is self-deception. One pastoral reflection challenges believers to examine why they withhold praise from God: it is often out of fear of vulnerability, fear of losing control, or fear of exposing the self they have worked hard to protect.

This fear masquerades as dignity. The thought goes something like this: “If I show too much emotion, or raise my hands, or shout, I’ll look foolish.” Yet Scripture shatters this illusion. It is not behavior God demands for His benefit — He commands praise because it reveals the posture of the heart. Praise bends the soul from self-reliance toward dependence on God. It dismantles arrogance and replaces it with awe.

Furthermore, Christian teaching sites remind believers that praise is not about mood but alignment. When you praise God according to His Word, you are not trying to manipulate emotion or perform for audience approval. You are acknowledging truth. The world tells us to prioritize dignity, self-control, and autonomy. Yet the God of Scripture tells us — in the commands of praise — that human dignity before Him is rooted in surrender, not self-protection.

The Dangerous Illusion of “I Deserve God’s Grace”

One of the most subtle forms of spiritual arrogance is the assumption that we somehow deserve God’s grace. Let’s be blunt: we never have. Grace, by definition, is unearned favor. Scripture declares that we have broken God’s law. That every human heart is deceitful above all else. That no one is righteous on their own. We approach God not by right, but by mercy.

Christian commentary explains this plainly: when believers speak as if grace is owed, they are stepping into territory Scripture reserves only for God. Grace is not a human right. It is a divine gift extended through Christ’s atoning work on the cross, not through religious activity, not through moral achievement, and not through spiritual performance.

This is why the Bible continually juxtaposes grace with humility. Paul exhorts believers to adopt Christ’s mindset — one of self-emptying humility that counts others as more important than self. He who humbled Himself unto death on a cross is the Savior who extends grace to those who recognize their need. To approach God with anything less than spiritual poverty is to misunderstand grace entirely.

Your own writings have touched this theme powerfully: grace shows up when we fail because grace does not belong to the proud.

The Crushing Weight of God’s Holiness and the Collapse of Human Ego

If arrogance survives in the human heart, it is because holiness has been domesticated. The God revealed in The Holy Bible is not a motivational accessory. He is not a background presence validating our personal brand of spirituality. He is a consuming fire. Hebrews declares it plainly. Isaiah did not stroll into the throne room with folded arms and casual familiarity. He saw the Lord high and lifted up, the train of His robe filling the temple, seraphim covering their faces, and the foundations shaking at the sound of “Holy.” That encounter did not inflate him. It dismantled him. “Woe is me,” he said. Not, “I feel affirmed.” Not, “This is powerful leadership energy.” He pronounced judgment on himself because holiness exposes everything.

This is where pride dies if we allow Scripture to speak honestly. Pride cannot survive a clear vision of God. It thrives only in comparison to other people. It feeds off status, recognition, platform, influence, theological precision, and years of ministry. But when confronted with divine holiness, those metrics evaporate. The angels are not impressed with resumes. They cry holy because they see reality clearly. The more clearly God is seen, the smaller self becomes. That is not humiliation for humiliation’s sake. That is alignment with truth.

Fear enters the picture here as well. When holiness is encountered, one of two things happens. Either the heart bows in reverence, or it retreats behind defensiveness. Pride often masks fear of exposure. If I remain controlled, if I remain composed, if I remain dignified, then I do not have to confront how unworthy I truly am apart from grace. But Scripture does not allow that defense to stand. Peter’s reaction to Jesus’ divine power was not posturing. It was collapse. “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” That is what happens when holiness pierces ego.

The throne room of Revelation reinforces this truth with overwhelming imagery. Living creatures do not moderate their response. They do not ration worship. They respond proportionally to what they see. Day and night they declare holiness because the object of their vision is inexhaustibly glorious. God is not enhanced by their praise. He is revealed by it. And that revelation crushes self-exaltation. If the church grows comfortable in the presence of holy truth without trembling, it has drifted from biblical posture.

Surrender Begins Where Entitlement Ends

True surrender does not start with emotional intensity. It starts with the death of entitlement. As long as a person believes they deserve access, deserve grace, deserve blessing, or deserve recognition before God, surrender remains partial. The gospel dismantles that illusion at the cross. Christ did not die because humanity earned rescue. He died because mercy triumphed over judgment. The cross is not dignified. It is brutal. It is humiliating. It is sacrificial. It exposes the severity of sin and the magnitude of grace in one act.

When someone approaches worship with an entitled mindset, praise becomes transactional. It becomes performance. It becomes a subtle exchange: I give You this, You give me that. But biblical praise is not negotiation. It is surrender. It is the acknowledgment that without Christ, there is no standing. When David danced before the Lord, he did not calculate optics. He responded to the presence of God with abandon because he understood covenant mercy. When confronted for his undignified expression, he doubled down. He would become even more undignified. Why? Because preserving image was irrelevant compared to honoring God.

This is the dividing line between pride and humility. Pride protects reputation. Humility protects reverence. Pride worries about perception. Humility worries about obedience. Scripture commands clapping, lifting hands, shouting, blessing the Lord. Those commands are not cultural artifacts frozen in ancient poetry. They are divine imperatives aimed at the human will. They force the question: will I obey even when obedience costs me comfort?

Surrender becomes visible when the soul stops managing how it appears before others and starts aligning with what God has spoken. That does not mean emotional exhibitionism. It means obedience that flows from reverence. It means acknowledging that breath itself is borrowed. If every inhale is sustained by God, then every exhale belongs to Him. “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” is not poetic fluff. It is a logical conclusion.

Why Praise Reorders the Heart and Dismantles Fear

Fear loses ground in the presence of rightly directed praise because fear thrives on self-focus. Anxiety fixates on what might happen to me. Pride fixates on how I am perceived. Depression narrows the lens to internal darkness. Praise lifts the gaze outward and upward. It does not deny hardship. It re-centers perspective. When the Psalms command believers to magnify the Lord, they are not implying that God grows larger. They are instructing the worshiper to enlarge their vision of Him.

You cannot meaningfully declare God’s sovereignty and remain consumed by self-importance at the same time. One vision displaces the other. This is why Scripture repeatedly ties humility to grace. When a person bows internally before God, they position themselves to receive what they cannot manufacture. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” is not a poetic suggestion. It is a spiritual law. Opposition from God is not a light matter. But grace from God is life itself.

Praise, therefore, becomes an act of warfare against arrogance. It is not about volume. It is about submission. It is about acknowledging that God is God whether I feel inspired or not. It is about declaring His worth independent of my mood. When that declaration becomes habitual, the soul is trained away from entitlement and toward gratitude. Gratitude erodes pride because it recognizes that everything good is gift.

This is the heart of surrender. Not hype. Not personality preference. Not stylistic expression. Surrender is the recognition that I am not the center. That God does not orbit me. That He does not need my validation. I need His mercy. I need His grace. I need His forgiveness. And when that truth grips the heart, folded arms begin to feel out of place.

The Only Safe Posture Before a Holy God

At the end of the matter, the issue is not whether someone lifts their hands higher than another. The issue is whether the heart bows. But Scripture makes something clear: inward humility eventually manifests outwardly. The body follows the conviction of the soul. Knees bend. Hands lift. Voices rise. Not because God’s ego requires it, but because truth compels it.

God can raise up stones to cry out. He is surrounded by worship that never ceases. Heaven is not quiet. The throne room is not bored. The Lord is not diminished by human restraint. The tragedy is not that God loses something when we withhold praise. The tragedy is that we forfeit alignment with reality when we cling to pride.

We do not deserve grace. That statement cuts against cultural instinct, but it aligns perfectly with Scripture. Grace is astonishing precisely because it is undeserved. The cross stands as eternal proof. Christ stretched out His arms, not folded, bearing sin that was not His. That is the model of surrender. That is the foundation of worship. That is the death of arrogance.

True surrender begins when we admit that we bring nothing to the table except need. And that need is met not by our dignity, not by our status, not by our restraint, but by mercy.

When that sinks in, praise is no longer awkward. It becomes inevitable.

Call to Action

If this study encouraged you, don’t just scroll on. Subscribe for more bible studies, share a comment about what God is teaching you, or reach out and tell me what you’re reflecting on today. Let’s grow in faith together.

D. Bryan King

Sources

• Facing the Sin I Pretend I Don’t See – Bryan King
• I Saw a Boy Feed Thousands with Five Loaves and Two Fish – Bryan King
• When You Fail, Grace Shows Up Again – Bryan King
• What Does it Mean That God Opposes the Proud but Gives Grace to the Humble? – GotQuestions.org
• What Does it Mean That God Resists the Proud? – GotQuestions.org
• Pride, Humility, and Fasting – Christian Church of God Sermon
• From Pride to Praise – New Covenant Baptist Church
• Fear and Trembling (Biblical Phrase) – Wikipedia
• Psalm 131 Talk — Humble Yourselves Before the Lord
• Scripture references (Psalm 138; Proverbs 16; James 4; 1 Peter 5; etc.) – BibleGateway
• I Came to Jesus at Midnight — Because Pride Doesn’t Travel in Daylight – Bryan King
• The Rich Young Ruler: The Cost of Discipleship – Bryan King

Disclaimer:

The views and opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the author. The information provided is based on personal research, experience, and understanding of the subject matter at the time of writing. Readers should consult relevant experts or authorities for specific guidance related to their unique situations.

God doesn’t need your praise. He’s surrounded by angels crying “Holy” 24/7.
You need His grace. Pride collapses in the presence of holiness. Surrender begins where entitlement ends. 🔥🙏

#ChristianLife #BiblicalTruth #Surrender

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How should we live?

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
Romans 6:1-4

#christianlife #faith #jesus #Messiah #salvation #SignsOfTheTimes

https://lightforthelastdays.co.uk/articles/christians-issues/how-should-we-live/

A Disciple or One of the Crowd?

https://youtu.be/c7Flx5Qopn0

“‘Dear Lord God, I wish to preach in your honor. I wish to speak about you, glorify you, praise your name. Although I can’t do this well of myself, I pray that you may make it good.’”[i]

Matthew 5:1-12

Matthew begins by telling us that Jesus after seeing crowd went up/ascended up the mountain; after he sat down his disciples came to him. And after opening his mouth he was teaching them saying… (v1-2). Jesus pulls back a bit. Matthew doesn’t tell us why he creates distance between himself and the crowd, but only that he does. Most likely, Jesus aims to teach something (pointed and specific) to his disciples about what is expected of them. So, Jesus ascends a mountain to give himself (and thus his disciples) some distance from the crowd. What follows is primarily for the disciples of Christ (his own who came to him) and only then, secondarily, for the overhearing crowd who followed the disciples and overheard the teaching.[ii] Thus, what Jesus teaches his disciples must be understood as an expected characteristic of their life in the world; Matthew is intentionally drawing Jesus and the disciples up and out to focus the narrative spotlight on them. This teaching isn’t for the average passerby or casually interested; it’s for those who are called to be disciples, the ones empowered by faith and the Holy Spirit to be Christ’s representatives in the world to the glory of God and well-being of the neighbor.

So, what does Jesus teach his disciples that the crowd overhears?

Who are the “beggarly poor in spirit”? Matthew is not setting up a dichotomy between those who have materially naught and those who have spiritually naught. Matthew has in mind the very same people Luke does, the poor. These are the “‘anawim’”; translated from the Hebrew, these are “‘the poor of Yahweh,’” those who find themselves captive to sin (in themselves) and the sin of the kingdom of humanity holding them hostage (in other words these are the “oppressed”; there is no Greek word that neatly translates the Hebrew).[iii] The blessed here are the ones who cry out to God for liberation and long for the kingdom of heaven, exhausted and fatigued by dehumanizing rules and demands of the kingdom of humanity. The “beggarly poor in spirit” are the ones who Jesus then mentions in the following “blessed” statements: the mourners, the gentle, the hungry and thirsty for righteousness, the merciful, the clear of heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted, and his representatives who will live in the world as he did and who will suffer like he did.[iv] To these “beggarly poor in spirit” will be given the kingdom of heaven, the reign of God that will liberate them from death, indifference, and captivity. Jesus exhorts his disciples to see that around them are those who do not fit into the status quo, those who are rejected and pushed out, those who are scapegoated by the powerful and mighty, those who are exiled and deported; it is these, Jesus tells his disciples, who will be heard and answered by God through Christ’s representatives inspired by the power of the Holy Spirit.

• Blessed [are] the ones who mourn, because they, they will be comforted (v4).

This one is straight forward: those who mourn for loss and in grief and sorrow will be comforted. The mourners are the widows who find themselves afraid and scared, thrust into a situation of precarious dependency on agencies and institutions for their well-being. They are the children who do not know what has happened to their parents. They are the ones who carry the burden of remembering a life cut short too soon and too early, life lost in the wake of impulsive and deadly actions of the kingdom of humanity. Those who lose in the game of health and wealth; their deaths are mourned for. Jesus promises that these who mourn will be comforted; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, that which is to come, that which is being born through Christ’s disciples and representatives, those who are eager to see life, love, and liberation reign.[v]

• Blessed [are] the gentle/humble, because they, they will inherit the earth (v5).

In our understanding of the world (the ideologies that are resonant with the kingdom of humanity) it is the powerful and mighty who take ownership of the land, those who initiate and win wars dedicated to taking lands and nations unto themselves, causing their empire to grow in presence and stature. But Jesus says something different: it is not the powerful and mighty who inherit the earth, but the gentle, the humble, or we could say “the beggarly poor in spirit.”[vi] Why? Why does Jesus flip the expectation? Because it is not the powerful and mighty who are the trustworthy, but those who put themselves aside to take up the cause of the earth—flora, fauna, humanity, and creation.

• Blessed [are] the ones who hunger and thirst for justice; [vii] because they, they will be filled (v6).

Jesus then promises that the ones who hunger and thirst for justice will be filled. God is on the side of the hungry and thirsty, for those who are hungry and thirsty desire and call out for justice which is God’s justice.[viii] It is also those who advocate (in word and deed) on behalf of the hungry and thirsty and strive for justice to be done in the world who find God on their side. The disciples of Christ are to be driven by a hermeneutic of hunger for God and God’s justice to be done on earth as it is in heaven for the well-being of the neighbor.

• Blessed [are] the merciful/compassionate, because they, they will be shown mercy/will have mercy by God’s grace (v7).

A trademark characteristic of the disciples of Christ is connected to the pursuit of justice: mercy, compassion. It is not a blind reverence and obedience to the law, executing harsh judgment and deadly punishment for noncompliance. Those who dare to wear the name of Christ, those who have faith, those who are participants in the grace of God are those so called to be patient, discerning, calm, and (most of all) merciful. Just like justice, mercy does not set out to harm but to cause to flourish. For in showing mercy they receive mercy from God.

• Blessed [are] the clear of heart, because they, they will see God (v8).

One may expect this to come first. But it doesn’t. For only the clear of heart are those who do not carry internal burdens of dissonance, shame, and guilt; these ones are aligned—inner to the outer and with God and God’s will. Thus, why they will (and do) see God. Only those who attempt to find a compromise or live according to the tenets of the kingdom of humanity while claiming Christ are considered the “unclear of heart” who, then, cannot see God.

• Blessed [are] the peacemakers/peaceable, because they, they will be called [children] of God (v9).

To be a maker of peace is to be one who causes peace to happen amid conflict and tension. It is not done by threat or condemnation, it is not obtaining security by means of might and power, it is not done by being the biggest and the strongest. It is done through humility seeking justice; it is done through mercy and patience; it is done through vulnerability and risk. No military of the kingdom of humanity will ever be able to bring peace; security maybe—but only temporarily—but not peace and real safety. It is the ones who strive for peace and unity by means of love, mercy, humility, and justice that can expect to be the children of God.[ix] Like children do, they carry with them (inside and out) the genetic traits of their parents. And in this instance that parent is Abba God and to make peace is to bring divine justice into the world.

• Blessed [are] the ones who have been persecuted on account of justice, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven (v10).

To pursue the justice of the reign of God as children of God will pit the disciples of Christ against the forces of the kingdom of humanity. [x] This is not persecution because one sides with traditional ideologies or the status-quo of the kingdom of humanity; this is persecution because you dare to be a midwife for the divine reign of God being born into the world. These ones who are so persecuted are already in the kingdom of heaven.[xi]

• Blessed are you when they might insult you and they might persecute [you] and they might say all evil against you, lying on account of me. Be glad and exult, because much is your reward in the heavens; for in this way they persecuted the prophets those before you (v11-12).

This statement targets the disciples directly (moving it to a direct address with “you”). If they weren’t paying attention before, they are now. Jesus prophesies that they will be persecuted as they pursue God’s justice in the world in the name of Christ and just as Christ will be persecuted for the very same thing.[xii] Those who are persecuted for pursuing justice, for thirsting and hungering after God’s justice are those who follow Christ and will be persecuted because of his name and this pursuit. They are, by default, guilty of bearing into the world the collision of the reign of God with the kingdom of humanity in the name of Jesus and will be treated like he was treated and as the prophets before were treated. Jesus is linking—through himself—those who follow Christ in Christ’s name are the same as the prophets who came before. It is these prophets (past, present, and future) who declare the reign of God comes and who denounce the present controlled by the kingdom of humanity.[xiii] They will be persecuted. But they are to take heart, their reward is the kingdom of heaven because the kingdom of heaven is for the “beggarly poor of spirit.”

Conclusion

We are faced with a question in this moment: are we the disciples of Christ or just the crowd? Are we being addressed by Jesus’s sermon here, or are we overhearing? Discern your answer because how you answer will determine how you walk away from this sermon and what you do with the commands therein and the grace so promised by God and received by faith.[xiv],[xv]

To be a follower of Christ, a disciple and representative, offers not ease and comfort but blessedness. [xvi] The life of faith is not a solitary endeavor, one relegated to isolated mountaintops and singular experiences of worship one hour each Sunday. The life of faith is not meant to take the believer up and out but to push that believer down and in, it is an incarnated faith that is active in love, that is eager to show itself in loving deeds to benefit the neighbor and bring glory to God, it is to be the body broken bearing into the world the reign of God. To be a follower of Christ, a disciple and representative, is to be left without recourse to compromise with this world and it’s fractured and misdirected human rule; to follow Christ out of the Jordan—to be baptized into his baptism (both of water and Spirit)—is to be positioned—forever—at odds with the way things are because they know, by the Word, what should and could be. The disciples and representatives of Christ—not the crowd in general—are called to a higher level of righteousness of the reign of God that is in opposition to the errant righteousness celebrated by the kingdom of humanity.[xvii]

This is both very good news and very hard news.

While our faith does bring us assurance—all who believe are saved and all are the beloved of God—those daring to live out that faith—those “foolish” enough to follow Christ out of the Jordan—will find themselves in the paradox of blessedness and persecution.[xviii] For, “[t]he gospel of the love of God is…good news for sinners, but it is not nice news without any confrontation with human sinfulness for what it really is, a nothing.”[xx] There is absolutely no way for the disciple and representative of Christ to see the pain of the world, to feel the pain of the world and not speak up and not act even if it means being brought to our own end. The life of faith brings discontent and confrontation with the kingdom of humanity; the life of faith—eyes and ears, and hands and heart set on the bringing forth of the reign of God—will cause us to “quarrel” with and “chaff against” the current reality under the rule of the kingdom of humanity.[xix]

But the good, good word, Beloved, is that in all this heaviness of being called to be a disciple of Christ means that God is with us; we labor not alone but with Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. And if God is for us, then who, I ask, can be against us?

[i] LW 54:157-158; Table Talk 1590.

[ii] Anna Case-Winters, Matthew Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible Eds Amy Plantinga Pauw and William C. Placher (Louisville: WJK, 2015), 76.

[iii] Ernesto Cardenal, The Gospel in Solentiname, translated by Donald D. Walsh (Eugene: Wipf&Stock, 2010), 82. “I said that in the Bible the poor are often called anawim, which in Hebrew means ‘the poor of Yahweh.’ They are so called because they are the poor of the liberation of Yahweh, those that God is going to liberate by means of the Messiah. It’s like what we now understand as the ’oppressed,’ but in the Bible those poor people are also considered to be good people, honorable, kindly and holy, while their opposites are the oppressors, the rich, the proud, the impious. This word anawim was probably the one that Jesus used. In Greek there was no word like that, and when the Gospel of Matthew was translated into Greek that word was translated as ‘poor in spirit,’ whereas Luke in his Beatitudes as simply ‘the poor.’ This phrase of Matthew, ‘poor in spirit,’ has created confusion, and many have believed that it deals with spiritual poverty. And I said that I met a priest who said that the ‘poor in spirit’ were the good rich people.”

[iv] Cardenal, Solentiname, 85. “I said: ‘The other Beatitudes seem to be only other ways of saying the same thing. In all of them the same poor people are spoken of by other names, and what they promise is the same thing.’”

[v] Cardenal, Solentiname, 86. “…Felipe…: ‘We can be happy about the news that the Kingdom is coming, but we can’t be satisfied until it comes.’”

[vi] Cardenal, Solentiname, 86. “Rebecca: ‘And he blesses those of humble heart. It seems to me that these are the poor in heart or the humbled. Maybe they were even humbler before (that’s my idea anyway) and yet for God they were the most worthy. People shouldn’t feel sad, then, even though they are poor, poor in spirit or humbled, because God will bring them into the Promised Land, which is the kingdom. But those of proud heart will not enter.’”

[vii] Case-Winters, Matthew, 76. “The righteousness to which the Sermon on the mount calls people is not a sinless perfection but a calling to do justice and love mercy (tsedaqah). Matthew is the only synoptic Gospel that uses the word dikaiosynē, or justice. Five of his seven uses are here in the Sermon on the mount. Clearly it is an important theme for him tin understanding Jesus’ central message. To ‘know God’ is to do Justice (Jer. 22:15-16).”

[viii] Cardenal, Solentiname, 86. “Marcelino: ‘He blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice. Hunger and injustice amount to the same thing. Anyone who hungers for good also hungers for justice. They are the ones who are going to make social change, not the satisfied ones. And then they’ll be filled with bread and social justice.’”

[ix] Cardenal, Solentiname, 88. “Oscar: ‘If I’m trying to have one person not exploit the other, I am one who is looking for peace. He says that people who look for peace will be the children of God, because they look for unity, that we should all be brothers and sisters. It’s clear that the kingdom of God belongs only to the children of God.’”

[x] Cardenal, Solentiname, 88. “Alejandro: ‘And he says that they are going to be persecuted because they seek justice, and for that also he blesses them.’”

[xi] Case-Winters, Matthew, 77. “The blessings are directed toward those who have certain disposition and inclination to act in ways consistent with God’s will rather than toward those who have a particular circumstance or status. Matthew is taking an ethical perspective.”

[xii] Cardenal, Solentiname, 89. “Olivia: ‘Before he talked of people persecuted for looking for justice and now he says ‘because of me.’ He wants to point out that it’s the same thing. Everyone who is persecuted in the cause of justice is persecuted in his cause.’”

[xiii] Cardenal, Solentiname, 89. William: ‘And Jesus compares us with the prophets. The prophets in the Bible were not so much people who predicted the future as people who denounced the present.’”

[xiv] Case-Winters, Matthew, 74. “Perhaps the Sermon on the mount strikes a better balance between God’s grace and human action than this question suggests. It is true that it is full of commands to do God’s will and ‘bear fruit,’ but right alongside these are promise of divine mercy and blessing along the way. These are intertwined throughout.”

[xv] Case-Winters, Matthew, 75-76. “In the Sermon on the Mount, this twofold grace is exemplified. Grace and calling to obedience intertwine. They are not a before and after. The law is not primarily a judge that convicts us of sin; it is primarily a guide for life in relation to God and neighbor. It is already an expression of God’s grace to us. … The law is a good gift of God in its role as a guide for living. To live in this way is to already experience the hoped for reign of God. The new relationship with God that Jesus exemplifies is open now for all who would follow him.”

[xvi] Case-Winters, Matthew, 77-78. “Those who have ‘crossed over’ to radical commitment do not find a life of ease and luxury; they find a life of blessedness instead.”

[xvii] Case-Winters, Matthew, 78. “The phrases of the beatitudes may well have reference not only to discipleship attitudes but to minority social position (those who are meek, poor in spirit, hungering and thirsting for righteousness/justice). That would be consistent with the warnings elsewhere in Matthew (6:19-21) concerning the danger that wealth and power present to the higher righteousness which the disciples are called.”

[xviii] Case-Winters, Matthew, 76-77. “The first four beatitudes declare blessing for those who were traditionally understood as being defended by God: the poor, those who mourn, the meek, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness/justice. The second set blesses those who do what is right by being merciful and pure in heart, making peace and enduring the persecution that attends following in the way of Jesus Christ. When one’s life is characterized by the attributes highlighted in the beatitudes, two things are assured: blessedness on the one hand and persecution on the other.”

[xix] Case-Winters, Matthew, 78. “If we would—even now—live under the reign of God, there are implications. The alternative reality will chaff against the present reality. To love as God loves is to be discontented with the present reality…In our discontent, we may pray with William Sloane Coffin, ‘Because we love the world…we pray now…for grace to quarrel with it, O Thou Whose lover’s quarrel with the world is the history of the world…’”

[xx] Paul Hinlicky, “A Synopsis of Theodor Dieter, Der june Luther und Aristotle: Eine historisch-systematische Untersuchung zum Verhältnis von Theologie und Philosophie (Berlin & NY: Walter de Gruyter, 2001), 19. online article; page number based on printout.

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