The Sermon on the Mount 5

The Beatitudes as a Portrait of Kingdom Citizens

Well, as it is Father's Day, I do want to take a moment and say a few words to the fathers. Do better. There we go. As we continue to walk in our time together in Matthew chapter 5, as we have worked through the opening of our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, and specifically have been dealing over the last few weeks with the Beatitudes, we have seen Christ describing for us the citizens of the kingdom of God, demonstrating for us the effect of grace on a regenerated heart, what occurs in an individual when the Spirit of God moves.

We've seen how the poor in spirit are emptied of self and become those who mourn over the sin in their lives, which leads to meekness in the eyes of God. Not weakness, but submission to Him. They bow their hands.

They bow their self beneath the hand of God. The transformation continues as those same kingdom citizens become those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They have been made restless by the work of the Holy Spirit and will not rest until they find satisfaction in Him.

Of course, again, this describes the people of God, those of us who are by grace, through faith, saved to the uttermost. Those people have been made pure of heart, cleansed by grace, and desire an undivided devotion to God.

As that devotion grows, these believers, each of us here today who fit this description, become peacemakers. We desire peace, true, real peace. Sons and daughters who bear the likeness of their father.

Those same people are people that the world does not applaud, but rather persecutes. And the reason is, is because as much as the world may admire the vague idea of a kindness, they admire it as long as it never confronts sin.

They admire peace, as long as that peace never requires truth. They even are okay with religion, as long as that religion is private, harmless, easily managed, and never transformative. However, when righteousness embodies the people of God, those of us who belong to Christ, the world finds that righteousness unbearable.

And so in verses 8 and, or 9 and 10, we saw last week that Christ did not hide from us this result, but rather that he elevates this truth. He doesn't recruit with promises that things will be rosy and peaceful.

In fact, he tells believers and followers specifically that they will be persecuted. But then in verse 11 and 12, he makes it even more personal when he drives it home using the words, blessed are you.

If you've noticed, as we've worked through the remainder of the Beatitudes, each of them is addressed in these preceding verses in the third person. However, when we get to verse 11, there is a transformation that takes place where our Lord moves from the third person and begins specifically addressing the disciples, and he uses the words, blessed are you.

Christ knows that persecution is not merely this idea that we just need to affirm. He understands that it's not just merely this thing that will happen and that we see from afar. What it truly is, is a providence of Almighty God that believers will endure.

And that endurance, that trial, that situation will come with faces, with names, with voices, with accusations, with losses, and with wounds. So Christ here does not merely speak about persecuted saints somewhere else.

He speaks directly to his disciples and through his disciples directly to every believer who will ever live, because they will all bear reproach for his name's sake. So our text for today demonstrates a couple of things for us.

It first of all shows that the believers are blessed when we are insulted and persecuted for Christ's sake. But the result of that is that the suffering that we go through identifies us with the fateful who have gone before us.

It shows that our hope is on heaven, and it draws us nearer to the rejected and reigning King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Christ Jesus. Which brings us to our text for today. And so if you will, take your copy of God's Word, make your way to Matthew's Gospel, the fifth chapter, as we read once again verses 1 through 12.

Our focus this morning will be in 11 and 12, and I ask that as you find your place, you please stand out of reverence for the reading of God's holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative, sufficient, complete, and certain Word.

The Word of God reads, beginning in the fifth chapter of Matthew, the first verse down through the twelfth. Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.

He opened his mouth and he began teaching them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the lowly, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Father, as we come before you, having heard your word, we ask that you humble us beneath it, that we are strengthened by it, that more and more we are conformed to Christ Jesus.

Father, teach us not only to hear the truth of this word, but to believe it, to walk in it. Father, where we fear the reproach of men, give us courage for the times where we love the praise of the world.

Turn our eyes heavenward. Father, when we are weak, uphold us by your Spirit. May Christ be precious to us in all times. Father, teach us to rejoice in you above all things. We ask all of these things in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen. You may be seated. Our Lord opens this passage this morning, blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you. It's interesting to note here that as Christ opens this particular verse, as he opens this last teaching here in this particular section of the text, he doesn't begin with the things of persecution that we typically would think of.

He doesn't begin with imprisonment, he doesn't begin with beatings, he doesn't begin even with martyrdom, even though those things absolutely are part of the persecution that we have witnessed in the church over a millennia.

And quite honestly, we know that these are some of the most severe forms of persecution that exist. What we see here instead is that he begins with insult, with reproach, verbal abuse, public slander, dishonor, malicious speech.

As a child of the 80s we grew up with the saying, sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me. The reality of that is words do hurt. The truth is that as we examine the Christian life, most Christians, at least in theory, are very prepared to make the grand stand.

In other words, they are willing to suffer dramatically for Christ. It's the small times where we get challenged. Often we are more deeply shaken by the words that are spoken in reproach or we are undone when someone misrepresents us or we're mocked or excluded or maybe they even speak evil against us.

How often have you been incensed, angered when someone has spoken what you knew to be false against you? You're ready to take a stand. You're ready to battle back. Christ knows and names this particular kind of suffering here.

If you think about the life of Christ, if you think about the things that occur in the life of Christ, you quickly see he understands the sting of words. He knows what it means to be called a glutton, a drunkard, a friend of sinners.

He knows what it is to have his works attributed even to Satan. To have these untruths spoken about him. To be despised of men. To be forsaken by men. In his deepest hour of need, he is forsaken by every man.

Here the text gives three specific forms of opposition that we face. First it says people insult you. Personal reproach. The contempt of others directed at the follower of Christ. Insults. Then we see this persecution which is active hostility.

So as we elevate this thing they move from a point of just insults to this level of persecution that takes different forms at different times but in all places at all times is direct opposition against allegiance to Christ.

That's what persecution is at the root. Thirdly this statement of falsely saying all kinds of evil against you. Slander. You see it's not enough for the world to just reject the Christian. Oftentimes they feel it necessary to redefine us as the problem.

And if you don't realize that then you don't watch the news, you don't read anything, and you've not been paying attention for a while now. Because to the world you and I are the problem. This is a direct result of what Christ is talking about in this particular passage.

It is a weapon of the enemy. It is an attempt when they cannot silence truth to discredit the messenger of the truth. Think about Moses posed by the very people he was sent to lead. Elijah painted as the troublemaker when in fact that the troublemaker was Ahab and his rebellion.

Jeremiah delivering the Word of God was mocked and imprisoned. Daniel was targeted simply because he would not cease praying to God. Time and again the prophets were persecuted not because they were cruel men, not because they were doing anything wrong, but because they were speaking on behalf of God among a people who did not want to hear God speak.

They didn't want the truth. The moment you speak the truth the rejection comes. But we also must be careful here because oftentimes we are tempted to apply this as kind of a salve on a wound and say okay well you know this is just about you not being liked.

This is Jesus saying blessed are you if somebody's upset with you. This blessing has nothing to do with you being obnoxious. You can be obnoxious and people cannot like you and it have nothing to do with Christ.

You can just be obnoxious. You can actually be obnoxiously for Christ in such a way that it is not appropriate. How about foolish? Harshness masquerading as courage. You see it's not the consequences that come because we have been impatient, unwise, rude, or needlessly offensive that Christ is talking about.

Charles Spurgeon rightly observed that it must be said falsely and it must be for Christ's sake. If you and I have sinned there is no persecution in someone opposing our sin. If you and I have sinned that there is no persecution in someone opposing our sin.

To give you a modern-day example of that we can look around and we can see fallen leaders men and women or men who have been disqualified from leadership within a church. Women who were never qualified to be leaders within a church and when people are outspoken against that sin that's not persecution.

You're like well preacher that's kind of harsh. First Peter chapter 2 verse 20. For what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated you endure it with patience? There is no credit because you've sinned.

Peter also goes on to say that if we suffer for doing good and endure it this finds favor with the Lord. Here in verse 11 Christ gives us two qualifications, two very specific qualifications regarding this persecution.

First of all the persecution has to be false meaning untrue. Secondly it must be because of him. That phrase more than any other phrase is at the heart of this verse. It's because you're standing for Christ.

The persecution cannot be because you're fighting for morality, political opinions, personal preferences, personality conflicts, even religious traditions. If you're in a church and the conversation is about the color of the carpet you want it red because that represents the blood of the Christ and somebody else wants it blue and y 'all get into an argument and they're putting you down that's not persecution for Christ's namesake that's persecution for your personal preference about the color of the carpet.

That's not what we're talking about. It has to be because of him, because there is true visible allegiance to Christ. True visible allegiance to Christ, to his truth, to his gospel, to righteousness, to Christ's lordship, to the kingdom itself.

At the end of the day what this issue really means what this statement really says is it it's not just that the world dislikes you it's that the world hates Christ and as a representative of Christ then they therefore hate you.

John said in John 15 verses 18 through 19 if the world hates Jesus said in John 15 18 through 19 if the world hates you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you are of the world the world would love its own but because you were not of the world but I chose you out of the world because of this the world hates you.

Of course there's always the other doctrine that we see in there the doctrine of election but that's another topic for another day but the reality that the world hates you if Christ was slandered was rejected was crucified then how can we ever be surprised when that same reproach spills over to us and yet we have so softened this truth within the church as to literally have called it an anathema.

We many quote-unquote churches if you face persecution for the sake of Christ if it is for his name if it is true then they will look at you and say it's because you didn't believe enough because you didn't have enough faith because Christ would never allow that to happen to one of his beautiful children.

Might I remind you that the words of Christ here say blessed are you when people insult you persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you. Now this is not a call for us to go out and seek persecution okay this is not for you to go stand on a street corner and do everything in your power to make people throw rotten tomatoes at you so that you can say look what I did for the sake of Christ look what I accomplished for the kingdom.

What this is is a calling to you and I and every other believer that when the persecution comes not if when the persecution comes that we remain faithful. And I want to add when we think about verse 11 here we seriously need to understand that this doesn't just come from people that we consider to be the world.

This will come from people who truly are the world which means that there's a very good chance it comes from within the very church that's supposed to be standing on behalf of Christ. Do not be surprised when the persecution comes from within because the moment you begin to take a true stand for the Word of God the world will stand up and so reproach will come.

It will not come though because we have a quarrelsome spirit. It will not come just because we have a love of controversy or controversy say we've already been through the characteristics that are outlined very clearly regarding the kingdom citizens.

We've seen right here that we are to be poor in spirit mourning over sin meek merciful pure in heart peaceable. And so the persecution doesn't come because of those things. It comes because we belong to Christ.

And because we belong to Christ. We cannot make peace with lies. We cannot call what is evil good that we cannot deny him. We cannot edit the gospel to make it socially acceptable. We cannot soft pedal the truth so that people feel comfortable.

And so the reproach may come loudly. Or it may come softly. It may come in the form of people rising up against you or the turning away of someone whom you have called friend and family simply because of your faith simply because of Christ.

And that's what makes it hard. That's what makes it challenging when we deal with this type of persecution. And so even when we feel those things even when we are experiencing them at within our family within workplace within the general public remember Christ statement blessed are you.

Rejoicing in Heaven's Reward

But what's amazing here is that Christ doesn't just say blessed are you. When these things happen he also gives you a command and how to respond. Verse 12. Verse 12 is one of those things that I'll be honest flips the world on its ear.

If you really think about it nobody likes to be called names. Nobody likes to be picked on. Nobody likes to be insulted. Nobody rejoices in these things. Yet the command we see here is not to survive it endure it suck it up.

It is rejoice and be glad in it. Rejoice and be glad in it. Be thankful. Listen. If all we had was this world if all we had was the present this would be impossible. There would be no way to rejoice and be glad.

But the command is possible because we see with eyes opened by Christ by the Spirit. The Word illuminates to us. We see truth. We see realities. Notice what he says. He says rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great.

He doesn't say rejoice and be glad because you can go to church and find people who still love you. He doesn't say rejoice and be glad and go back home where your family will welcome you in and they'll.

They'll console you and pat you on the back and and make you feel better. He doesn't say rejoice and be glad and deny that any of this stuff hurts you. What he says is that even when you're hurting even when you're suffering even when you're being persecuted even when people are insulting you and falsely saying all kinds of things about you.

Rejoice and be glad because your reward in heaven is great. This is why when we get to Acts chapter 5 that the Apostles were able to leave the council and and rejoice that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for the name they counted it all as joy for the sake of Christ that they could proclaim his truth.

Their joy was real. Why. Because the suffering that they endured for the sake of Christ was evidence that they belonged to Christ. John Calvin wrote that when believers raised their minds to heaven they behold vast grounds of joy which dispel sadness when we are able to see with eyes unveiled.

When we're truly able to behold the truth of what we see in Scripture this reality these joyful feelings and overwhelming life you can find satisfaction in him. You rest in him. Your truth is in him. Your joy is in him.

It's not in the fleeting things that happen every day. This is exactly why he doesn't say you know hey when when you feel insulted him and we you know look find find your inner peace. He didn't say go go go be yourself.

He did. He didn't say find emotional strength. He says look upward look to heaven. This heaven mindedness allows us to rejoice in the moment of reproach. Paul wrote in Romans 8 verse 18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

You notice he didn't put down his suffering. He didn't minimize his suffering. He didn't say I'm not hurting. What he says is when I look at the pain and agony and despair and all of the things that I have to deal with because I'm a believer I realize that in the light of eternal weight of glory that this is nothing that is zippity-doo-dah.

In 2nd Corinthians 4 17 he calls that same affliction momentary and light. Now you should recall to yourself. If you don't remember all of the things that Paul has been through most of us would have quit and gone home.

We'd have been like I'm just taking my ball in my bat and I'm going back to the house because I can't deal with this. And here he is saying it's momentary. It's light. With regards to this eternal weight of glory this is nothing again rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great.

The call is not because pain is pleasant. It's because heaven is real. It's because the father sees. It's because the verdict of the father outweighs the verdict of men. Absolutely. You can seek temporary pleasure in the verdict of men.

And you can please people left and right. And you can make them happy. And you can get along with everyone. But to do so means that you're going to have to compromise on truth. To do so means you're not going to stand for Christ.

To do so means that you will deny him. Now we also need to understand again that there is this truth regarding this reward. Here we must be careful. Every time we see the word reward we've got to be very cautious because the human mind sees the word reward or a word similar to the war reward.

And we think that it is something we earn by merit. We are tempted to think that it is something that we can accomplish on our own. But the truth is this promise of reward here is free. Calvin writes.

There is not a mutual relation between the reward and merit. The promise of the reward is free. He doesn't say that if you will rejoice in these sufferings that your reward in heaven will be great. He says rejoice because your reward is great.

The reward is already established. The reward already exists. Salvation is by grace through faith alone in Christ alone even when we endure. This is probably one of the most difficult concepts for many people to comprehend in all of Christianity.

Even when we endure even when we are faithful even when we are willing to suffer it is by grace. It is by the spirit. It is by the upholding hand of Almighty God. It's by his preserving mercy that you do any of it.

It's not you. And so when Christ speaks of reward he's not talking about reward based on our merit. He's talking about reward based on the mercy of the father. He's talking about reward based on the generosity of the father.

Hebrews 11 verse 6 says that God is a rewarder of those who seek him. Moses considered the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. For he was looking to the reward. Hebrews 11 verse 26.

This is not legalism. It's faith. Legalism would say that that in order to be saved I must do XYZ faith is when we demonstrate this belief of what cannot be seen. It's when we see the world out here and we see all that the world seems to offer and we go.

But I know that the eternal rewards are greater that I know that the reward of God is greater. The other thing that having this heavenward vision does is protect us from bitterness. You see when people tempt us when people insult us when they persecute us when they falsely say all kinds of evil against us our hackles get raised very quickly and we're very very very apt to defend ourselves.

We may be led to anger. We may be at a point where we want to manipulate things to make them look in a bad light. Maybe we even despair. But what we what we've got to understand and what a heavenward view any and any understanding of the truth of the future is that Christ will judge righteously.

Heaven holds our reward not this place not today. And so even when they insult you even when they persecute you even when these things happen you and I can entrust ourselves to Christ. We can entrust ourselves to his righteous judgment.

We don't have any need to return insult for insult slander for slander. We don't need to one-up the other person. We simply acknowledge that the king knows his own people. And so there's an encouragement here.

The encouragement here is for in the same way that they persecuted the prophets before you. What this does is it places the suffering of the believer in a biblical line. It ensures that you and I understand that we are not alone.

One of the greatest tricks of the enemy one of his greatest deceptions is to make you think that you're the only one. And and that goes way beyond just this moment. In this particular discussion he makes you think you're the only one who's ever dealt with that problem.

He makes you think you're the only one even in a even in a group our size. He makes us think oh you're the only one that's dealing with this issue. You're the only one that's having this problem. You see what happens is that isolates you and makes you more susceptible to further despair to further discomfort to further issues.

It shows us that a believer reviled for Christ's sake. Is that not an outlier. There's a rich history. If you've never done it. Read books like Fox's Book of Martyrs. Find stories. You don't even have to.

You find them within the pages of Scripture but then find ones since then because you won't be the first and you won't be the last. And in any given moment you're not by yourself. Now. For the Jewish hearers in that day this thing would have been deeply significant.

One of the things you've got to remember is that in their culture in that time the prophets were honored. However if you go back in history they weren't. They were rejected in their own generation. Even as they had died and they were celebrated later their tombs were decorated.

Micaiah was hated because he could not prophesy good concerning Ahab. He couldn't do what they wanted him to. Jeremiah was mocked beaten in prison and then thrown into a cistern. He had nothing good to say that they wanted to hear.

Amos was told to stop preaching at Bethel. Zachariah was murdered. The history of the prophets demonstrate a truth. That truth is resisted by those who have no desire to know God's Word. Truly they don't want the truth.

Never think that your suffering is outside the purposes of God if your suffering is being done falsely and for the sake of Christ. Spurgeon wrote that you are a the true. You are in the true prophetic succession.

Now be careful. That doesn't mean the same thing to us today as it did when Spurgeon wrote it. Because today people hear that and go ha see told you I was a prophet. You just proved I'm a I'm an apostle.

No you're not. You're not even a prophet. What this means is is that in the line of succession for people dying for the truth of Christ. You're right there. This is succession of faithfulness. It's the succession of men and women who live and speak the truth of God under the authority of God's Word.

It demonstrates the true nature of our Christian witness. It is entirely possible it is entirely possible to be identified as a Christian to walk through this life with those around you thinking and believing that you are a Christian and never once share the gospel.

Truly. It's even possible for you to do quote-unquote evangelism and not share the gospel. And I put it in quotes for a reason. True evangelism will always share the gospel. But there is plenty of things masquerading as true evangelism that do not truly present the gospel.

The prophets were bold men. They were bold men who were not vague who spoke truth exposed idolatry warned of judgment named the sins of their generation. They didn't compromise. They weren't innovators.

They didn't decide that. This is how we need to attract people. What they did was stand firm on the promises of God. They received the message and they delivered the message. They didn't change the message or create the message.

The church. The church is not persecuted when we invent new doctrines. The church is not persecuted when it compromises with the world. The church is not persecuted when it backs up and supports absolute sin.

The church is persecuted when we faithfully hold to the truth of the Word of God. When we make statements like the Bible is inerrant infallible authoritative sufficient complete and certain. And people with inside churches look at you like you've got 12 heads and you're nuts.

And they'll tell you quickly. There's no way that the Bible is authoritative in all things in life. It doesn't cover every circumstance. Yes it does. Absolutely it does. It contains all things all things that are necessary for life and godliness all things unlike other times in Scripture where all means simply a full accounting of a subset of something.

This literally means all things as a church. If you confess the holiness of God if you confess the sinfulness of men if you confess the exclusivity of Christ if you confess repentance and faith if you confess the authority of Scripture you're doing so.

In an age that trivializes sin worships self calls exclusivity hatred where we want affirmation without transformation. And in an age where every man wants to be his own lawgiver. And so when you do that you're persecuted.

But you see the the the line doesn't just run from the prophets to us. It runs from the prophets to Christ and then from Christ to all who are united to him. You see they paid a price and we pay a price.

But Christ paid the ultimate price true the final prophet the Word made flesh the eternal word made to suffer. He revealed the father. And when he came he came to a people who were his own but didn't receive him as their own.

He was reviled falsely accused called demon-possessed mocked scorned spit on a crown of thorns pressed upon his head and finally nails driven through his hands and feet as he was hung on a cross to die for the sins of his people.

And J .C. Ryle reminds us that the servant is not greater than his master. If they called the master of the house Beelzebub no wonder if they give evil names to his disciples that this is not a truth that's meant to crush us.

It's meant to steady us. It's meant to remind us that even when we go through those situations and circumstances Christ did it first. And they are doing it because they hate him. They hate you too but primarily they hate him.

And since you reflect him they hate you as well. However our suffering is not atoning. The suffering that we experience is not adding to the work of Christ. We're not earning anything. The work is finished.

Christ's blood is sufficient. His righteousness is perfect. Our suffering is evidence of our conforming. Peter wrote in first. Peter 413 says to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ. Keep on rejoicing.

Paul wrote in Philippians 310. Speaking of the fellowship of the suffering of Christ we rejoice. But we don't pretend that the suffering is painless. Instead we rest in our union with Christ. And so what does this text do.

This text calls you and I to some honest examination. The question is not have you been criticized. Okay. This is not about you being criticized. This is not about you being look that funny. This is about have you so belong to Christ that the reproach of you has become you have become reproached because of Christ.

Are you so impacted by the transformation that has occurred. That people hate you because of him. Is your name so so mixed with Christ that people see you belonging to him. And you cannot be fully at home here.

Listen. We can go through this world in a false peace. And it can be a false peace that troubles if you're walking through this world and there's no tension no conflict no cost. Maybe you need to see where your light is.

Maybe you need to evaluate your standing with Christ. But if you look at your life and you say okay well I don't have all of this persecution. This is not a call to go out and make it happen. Okay it'll come.

We simply live according to this. Or are you willing to suffer and or assure that when you suffer it is truly for him. So as we bring this section of the text to a close we see that Christ lifts his eyes the eyes of his people.

He has shown us the character of the citizens of the kingdom. And then he shows us the world's response to that character. We see that when we are those people the people of God those who are poor in spirit that mourn that are meek that are hunger hungry and thirsting for righteousness that are merciful that are peacemakers.

That we will not always be celebrated. But know this we will always be blessed. Blessed when you're insulted blessed when you're opposed blessed when you're lied about when you deal with the suffering not because it is pleasant but because Christ is precious.

And the comfort of this is that Christ who pronounces all of these blessings has already walked this path ahead of you. This is not calling you to live something he didn't live he's been there. The question that we have to deal with should be very simple to us but at the same time should be very searching.

Is Christ so precious to you and I that even when we experience the persecution the reproach the rejection not just of men and women who we don't know but those that are closest to us. Are we still able to remain faithful we still able to rejoice.

Or we still able to look heavenward and understand that no matter how great it seems at the moment that the truth is that it this affliction is momentary and light. And so is Christ that precious to you.

So precious that you are faithful even when it costs you the praise of those who are closest to you let us pray most gracious. Heavenly Father Lord as we are confronted with a truth that does not flatter us a truth that does not promise us a life of ease but rather one that demonstrates that grace is sufficient.

May we repent of those times where we have loved comfort more than we have loved Christ where we have desired the praise of men more than being faithful where we have sought safety rather than obedience or grant us the strength to rejoice and be glad even in the midst of those afflictions the persecutions the reproach strengthen us.

Lord father help us to walk as those united to Christ. That our eyes would be fixed upon you. That we would be steadfast in all things. Father that our life would be lived for the sake of Christ and Christ alone.

Father we love you. Thank you. Praise you. And we ask all of these things in the blessed name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.