Blessed are the Who?

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

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Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

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And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, chapter 5, verses 1 -12.

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Now when He, Jesus, saw the crowds, He went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to Him and He began to teach them, saying,

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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

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Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

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Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see

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God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. And blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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And blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you falsely, say all kinds of things and evil against you because of me.

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Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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In the name of Jesus. So you'll notice there's a turn here as we approach the end of the church year.

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Christians historically have a different way of keeping time. And so as we get close to the end of the church year,

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New Year's Day, by the way, for us Christians, is the first Sunday of Advent. So that's when the new church year begins.

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So as the old church year starts to wind down and wear out, we start to get into the season where we consider the dead departed in Christ and the soon appearing of our great

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God and Savior, Jesus Christ in glory to judge the living and the dead. So once a year we get to spend about three, four weeks talking about the end of the world.

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So it's a fun topic. But let's turn back to our text and we'll kind of let the season unfold here.

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How many of you have had this fascination with the magazines at the

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Walmart checkout line? I mean, it tells us something about society.

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And worse, it tells me something terrible about myself. Magazine racks at the checkout lines, they actually play a vital role in teaching and reinforcing the values of this world, if you think about it.

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Notice that the magazines that are featured there have carefully choreographed and Photoshopped advertisements and photo layouts and articles which all feature celebrities and gorgeous supermodels carefully there to demonstrate to us how this world defines what it means to be blessed.

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The world has its own beatitudes, if you would. Blessed are the beautiful. Blessed are the ambitious.

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Blessed are the wealthy. Blessed are the powerful. Those who have these blessings will further be blessed with all that this world has to offer.

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Well, things like fame, the most expensive cars, the most impressive houses.

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They will feast on the best foods prepared by the greatest chefs and the food will be paired with the greatest wines and enjoyed with others who are equally beautiful, wealthy, ambitious, and powerful.

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And they will all be dressed in the most amazing designer clothes and decked with gold and diamonds and Swiss watches and designer shoes.

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And they will all hop on their private jets to vacation at the most expensive and exotic locations.

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This is what it means to be blessed, according to the world. And what do we do? We buy those magazines and we imagine ourselves as the people in those magazines and dream about what it would be like to be so blessed.

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Is there anybody here who's not guilty of doing this? Yet this is exactly what

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Scripture commands us not to do, to covet. When we do such a thing, we covet.

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But the worst part is that we're coveting the world's values. We're coveting the blessings of this world.

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And the economy of the world is diametrically opposed to God's economy. So Jesus, in our

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Gospel text this morning, reveals what it truly means to be blessed. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with beauty, ambition, wealth, or power.

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In fact, those who are truly blessed, we define by Jesus' words, they're despised and they're insulted by the world and those who've bought the world's lies regarding what it means to truly be blessed.

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And so with that, let us return to this morning's Gospel text. And let's take a closer look at it.

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So Jesus saw the crowds. He went up on a mountainside and he sat down. Ah, mountainsides.

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Lots of important things happen on mountains in Scripture. It was on the mountain that Moses received the

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Ten Commandments. So here Jesus, as one with authority on a mountainside, sits down to teach.

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And this is how they taught back then. Rabbis didn't stand up behind pulpits and things like that. They sat down.

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And when the rabbi was teaching, everybody listened. So he sat down and his disciples came to him and he began to teach them.

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Notice this isn't for the big masses. This is for his disciples. So he says to his disciples, get this,

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Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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Now if you're not sure what Jesus is talking about here, the wrong way to read the Beatitudes is to say,

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Well, the Beatitudes tell me that if I do these particular things, I will be blessed.

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Jesus says, blessed are. Not blessed will be. Blessed are.

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So blessed are the poor in spirit. What does this mean? Well, I think a good cross reference here would be

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Isaiah chapter 66. Let me read this, verses 1 and 2. Thus says

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Yahweh, What is the house that you would build for me?

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And what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the

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Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look. This is the

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Lord speaking. Who is the one he's going to look to? He who is humble. Or the Hebrew here actually can be translated, the one who is poor and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

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This is the exact opposite of ambition, especially spiritual ambition. Spiritual ambition says, if I do this and I'm good, then

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God owes me that. Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit.

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A good way to translate that would be, blessed are the spiritually bankrupt. You think you have something to offer

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God? Really? Jesus says, blessed are those who have nothing. Nothing.

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The one who comes before God empty -handed and says, Lord, I've blown it. I've got nothing to offer you.

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I'm bankrupt. I'm penniless. Jesus doesn't say to that person, away from me.

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He says, blessed are you. Blessed. Or as the psalmist said,

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Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom

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Yahweh counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. We are truly blessed, those of us who are spiritual beggars, because God forgives us, covers our sins, and will not count our transgressions against us.

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Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Now, I've got to be careful here. This is kind of a tough one just because of how recently my best friend died.

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It's very tempting for me to read this passage and say the type of mourning that's discussed here is somehow exclusive to this idea that I mourn because I've lost a friend or a loved one.

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Although that is in some senses what's being discussed here. It's a little bit more than that. Let me read to you some cross -references from the

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Psalms that I think will help us understand what this mourning that Jesus is talking about here.

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It's not just generic mourning. Psalms chapter 6. Let me read. Verses 1 through 10.

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O Lord, rebuke me not in Your anger, nor discipline me in Your wrath.

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Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing. Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled, my soul is greatly troubled.

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But You, O Lord, how long? Turn, O Lord, and deliver my life, and save me for the sake of Your steadfast love.

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For in death there is no remembrance of You. And Sheol, who will give You praise? I am weary with my groaning.

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Every night I flood my bed with tears. I drench my couch with weeping. My eye wastes away because of grief.

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It grows weak because of all of my foes. Depart from me, all You workers of evil, for the

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Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea. The Lord accepts my prayer.

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And all my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled. They shall turn back and be put to shame.

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What is this mourning that Jesus says is so blessed? Those who mourn, they will be comforted.

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Do you mourn over your sin? Do you mourn that you do not come up to the standard that God has revealed for you?

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Do you have idols that you worship rather than the true God? Do you honor those in authority over you?

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Or do you slander and lie and resist authority? Do you covet what other people have?

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Are you sexually immoral? And don't think that just has to do with physical acts.

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All that stuff begins in the heart. Right? Do you mourn your sin?

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This is what Jesus is referring to. The one who's poor in spirit, spiritually bankrupt, mourning over his sin and his shortcoming.

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Who knows that he has nothing and turns to the Lord for forgiveness, for mercy.

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Blessed are the meek, Jesus says. They will inherit the earth. The meek?

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When was the last time you heard of the meek gathering an army together to take over the world? This seems counterintuitive.

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The meek do not do such things. You know, there's the meekest army in the whole world and they're about ready to conquer everybody.

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This is not how the world operates. But Jesus says the meek are the ones who will inherit the earth.

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Psalm 25 verses 1 through 9. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my

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Lord, in you I trust. Let me not be put to shame. Let not my enemies exalt over me.

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Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame. They shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

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What a meek prayer. So rather than going and attacking his enemies and triumphing over them, this meek psalmist says,

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O Lord, you conquer them. I trust in you. Make me to know your ways, O Lord.

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Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation.

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And for you I wait all the day long. Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been of old.

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Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgression according to your steadfast love. Remember me.

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For the sake of your goodness, O Lord, remember me. Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore, he instructs sinners in the way.

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He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his way. Or Psalm 147.

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Praise the Lord, for it is good to sing praises to our God. For it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

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The Lord builds up Jerusalem. He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted.

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He binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars. He gives to all of them their names.

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Great is our Lord and abundant in power. His understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the humble, and he casts the wicked to the ground.

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He lifts up the humble. The one who exalts himself, Jesus said, will be humbled.

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The one who humbles himself, God will exalt. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

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They will be satisfied. Now, as you can tell by my great physique,

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I don't suffer from hunger. I don't even think I understand what it is.

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But you travel outside of this country, and you see the distended bellies of those poor people living in third world nations, and you begin to realize something's terribly wrong in this world, and I'm participating in it.

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When was the last time you went two days without a meal? A week?

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I don't think I've ever. Not even by accident. And yet, when you're hungry and you're thirsty, the experience is overwhelming.

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It's overwhelming. As the deer pants for the flowing streams, so my soul longs for you,

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O God. Hunger and thirst point us to the hungering and thirsting of righteousness that Christ here is discussing.

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My soul thirsts for God, the psalmist says in Psalm 42, for the living

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God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night while they say to me all the day long, where is your

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God? These things I remember as I pour out my soul, how I would go to the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping a festival.

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Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my

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God. Do I really, truly hunger and thirst for the

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Lord and his righteousness in that way? And yet,

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Jesus says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. You see, the one who is spiritually poor and bankrupt, the one who mourns his sins, the one who humbly says,

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Lord, I have nothing, forgive me, that's the one who also can and does hunger and thirst for righteousness, for God.

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And then Jesus goes on to say, blessed are the merciful, they will be shown mercy.

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We pray in the Lord's Prayer, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Always constantly reminded, as Jesus said, as I have loved you, love one another.

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And how has Christ loved us? Christ has loved us by bleeding and dying for our sins.

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Christ has loved us by taking our sin upon himself, and rather than judging us and sending us all to hell as we all deserve, he bleeds and dies and propitiates the wrath of God and gives us salvation as a free gift, not anything that we have to earn as a wage.

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And so now, as we live out here in this temporary world, still sinner and saint at the same time, knowing that we're going to fall short ourselves, and others are going to fall short in how they treat us.

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And rather than seeking vengeance and making sure that person pays for what they've done to us,

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Jesus says, blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the merciful.

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Why? Because they first have been shown mercy by God, and they can't help but be merciful to others.

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And blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Now this is a tricky one, a little bit tricky, because when you look inside and you look at that heart of yours, does it look all that pure?

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Mine doesn't. And if you're honest with yourself, you'll realize yours isn't too. So we need something objective here.

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How can I have a pure heart? Well, let's look outside of ourselves and see if God promises us such a thing.

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And oddly enough, he does, in kind of the most unexpected place. I'm going to give you two passages,

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Romans chapter 2, verses 28 through 29. Now we all know about circumcision, right?

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Well, did you know that the Old Testament circumcision is actually a type in shadow? But the reality points us to baptism.

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Here's what it says, Romans chapter 2. Some would beg to differ.

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So here Paul is talking about a circumcision that is a circumcision of the heart, not done by humans, but done by the

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Spirit, and not according to the letter of the law. Well, what is this circumcision of the heart?

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Because Jesus says, blessed are those who are pure in heart. I'm interested in this now. So what is this circumcision?

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Well, Colossians chapter 2 tells us. Colossians chapter 2, 8 through 14.

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Paul writes, Here's the important part.

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Yes, even you ladies have been circumcised. I know it seems kind of awkward, but keep in mind,

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Old Testament circumcision points us to the reality. The reality is something else. And what's this reality? If we're all circumcised, here's what it says.

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Ah, are you in Christ? Christ has circumcised you. Yes, men and women.

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Where? Having been buried with Him in baptism, and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised

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Him from the dead. All of you who've made this trip over to this font, or another font, and you've had the water poured over you, and you've heard these words,

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I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Scripture says, on that day, your heart was circumcised.

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Your heart was circumcised. Not with the hands of men, the pastors just there, kind of filling in for Jesus.

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Right? But Jesus is doing the work, and He circumcised our hearts. So having been buried with Christ in baptism, and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised

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Him from the dead. See, when you were dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,

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God made you alive with Christ. And He forgave us all of our sins, having canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us, that stood opposed to us.

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He took it away, nailing it to the cross. So, I'm here to tell you,

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Jesus says, you have a pure heart. Because He has done a surgery on your heart in the waters of your baptism.

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He has circumcised your heart. He has made you clean. He has washed away your sins.

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Trust and believe what Jesus says. His verdict can't be overthrown, because He's the guy on the last day who puts the gavel down and makes the judgment.

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Right? So who's going to overturn the verdict of Jesus? He has declared that you have a clean heart, and He says this because He's done this in the waters of your baptism.

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Blessed are the peacemakers, they will be called sons of God. What does this mean? Well, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 tells us, starting at verse 16, so from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.

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How appropriate. So then if we don't view people from a worldly point of view, blessed are the powerful, the beautiful, the wealthy, the ambitious, how do we regard everybody?

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Well, though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

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The old is gone, the new has come, and all of this is from God. Not from you, it's from Him. Listen to this.

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God is the one who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

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You want to be a peacemaker? You preach this gospel. The ministry of reconciliation, announcing to the world that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting men's sins against them, and He has commanded and committed us the message of reconciliation.

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We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. So we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled, have peace with God.

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God made Him, Jesus, to be sin who knew no sin, so that we might be the righteousness of God.

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This is what it means to be a peacemaker, to proclaim the gospel of peace to your neighbors and your loved ones.

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But when you do that, you're going to find yourself in trouble, because Jesus also says this,

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Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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You notice that the economy of heaven, the economy of the kingdom of Jesus, is completely backwards and upside down compared to the economy of the world.

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What the world thinks is important, Jesus says, is damnable. What the world despises,

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Jesus says, is blessed. They are opposed to each other, so when you preach the gospel and you tell sinners that they've got nothing, but Christ has done it all for them, they will seethe with anger towards you.

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Blessed are you, Jesus says, when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

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And when that happens, Jesus doesn't say go and crawl into bed and roll up into the fetal position and go into a depression, right?

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He doesn't say to do that. When this happens to you, Jesus says rejoice, rejoice, and be glad because great is your reward in heaven.

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For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Now these are not the world's values.

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And the world which is filled with men and women who despise God, they'll despise you in the same way they despise

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Jesus. But the world is passing away. Even now the birth pains that signal its certain demise and the return of Jesus, those birth pains are getting stronger by the day.

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It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see this. Just watch the news. So on that great and glorious day when

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Jesus returns to judge both the living and the dead, the world will not be deciding our eternal fate.

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Thank God. Because I'm sure if the world were in charge, they'd set something up like a panel on American Idol, right?

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And Simon Cowell would be the one determining whether or not you're going to make it to the next round. That's awful because I've got no skills whatsoever, right?

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But see, it's not the world who's going to be judging. It's Christ. So the world who today says that the beautiful, the wealthy, and the strong, and the ambitious, that the world says those are the ones who are blessed, they're going to be dismayed to learn that the

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King of Kings says of us who've been crushed by God's law and made to see that we are bankrupt and poor sinners who mourn and lament our sin, but who have received mercy and forgiveness and peace with God, all as a gift and have been clothed with Christ's righteousness and whose hearts have been made pure in the waters of our baptisms.

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The world will learn that we, rather than being cursed, we're all along those who are truly blessed.

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For you see, on that day when the dead are raised and every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is

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Lord of the glory of God the Father, on that day Christ will humble those who've exalted themselves and he will cast them into the lake of fire.

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But to the poor spiritual beggars whom the world despised, insulted, persecuted, and set all kinds of evil against, the

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King of Kings will say to them, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

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In the name of Jesus, Amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax -free donation to And again, that address is

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We thank you for your support. All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message.