Beware of thinking of our Lord as only a teacher. If Jesus Christ
is only a teacher, then all He can do is frustrate me by setting a
standard before me I cannot attain. What is the point of presenting me
with such a lofty ideal if I cannot possibly come close to reaching it? I
would be happier if I never knew it. What good is there in telling me
to be what I can never be— to be “pure in heart” (Matthew 5:8),
to do more than my duty, or to be completely devoted to God? I must
know Jesus Christ as my Savior before His teaching has any meaning for
me other than that of a lofty ideal which only leads to despair. But
when I am born again by the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did
not come only to teach— He came to make me what He teaches I should be.
The redemption means that Jesus Christ can place within anyone the same
nature that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives us are
based on that nature.
The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces a sense of despair
in the natural man— exactly what Jesus means for it to do. As long as we
have some self-righteous idea that we can carry out our Lord’s
teaching, God will allow us to continue until we expose our own
ignorance by stumbling over some obstacle in our way. Only then are we
willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. “Blessed are the
poor in spirit . . . .” This is the first principle in the kingdom of
God. The underlying foundation of Jesus Christ’s kingdom is poverty, not
possessions; not making decisions for Jesus, but having such a sense of
absolute futility that we finally admit, “Lord, I cannot even begin to
do it.” Then Jesus says, “Blessed are you . . .” (Matthew 5:11).
This is the doorway to the kingdom, and yet it takes us so long to
believe that we are actually poor! The knowledge of our own poverty is
what brings us to the proper place where Jesus Christ accomplishes His
work.
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