Stewarding the Beatitudes
January 12, 2024
Since Thanksgiving, my devotional time has featured reading through the book of Matthew. That was a wonderful choice that had me relishing the story of the wise men around Christmas, John the Baptist preparing the way and Jesus withstanding temptation at the start of the new year, followed by Jesus calling his first disciples, healing the sick, and starting his preaching ministry. All great themes as we move into 2024.
But now I find myself confronted with Matthew chapter 5 and the Beatitudes. I say confronted because I’m somewhat ill at ease with these first twelve verses of chapter five. They may be among the most famous verses in the scriptures, but I find them troubling, even enigmatic. Here they are:
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
But here they are, and this time I am disciplining myself to embrace them head-on. I will do so by looking at the beatitudes through the lens of our steward theology. I believe we will find there some clues to help us consider in a fresh way these very carefully chosen words by our Savior. So, for the next six weeks, we will look at the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 from a steward’s perspective.
Our premise is that the blessed or happy life Jesus is announcing comes through the fully surrendered life of the steward. Each Beatitude depicts an aspect of this stewarded life. To help us, let’s consider the correlates to the Beatitudes – what we might call the Bad-Attitudes. I struggled to find the right word that is the antonym of Blessed or Happy. I considered Troubled, Afflicted, or Anguished, but I’ve settled on Miserable. Using that word, here are my Bad-Attitudes.
The Bad-Attitudes
Miserable are the self-sufficient in spirit,
for they have lost the kingdom of God.
Miserable are those who have no compassion
for no one will show them compassion.
Miserable are those who seek to dominate and control,
for the earth will slip through their fingers.
Miserable are those who hunger and thirst for self-advancement,
for they will be left empty.
Miserable are those who judge and condemn,
for they will be shown no mercy.
Miserable are the indecent and unchaste,
for God will leave them to themselves.
Miserable are those who create division out of pride,
for they will be called children of the enemy.
Miserable are those who compromise the Gospel to escape being persecuted,
for they have forfeited their place in the kingdom.
Week #1
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
For that reason, I have juxtaposed it with the bad attitude idea of self-sufficiency.
Miserable are the self-sufficient in spirit,
for they have lost the kingdom of God.
Imagine being invited to a friend’s house and he tells you that he has procured the most amazing bottle of wine you will ever taste. All you need do is come with an empty glass, let him pour the wine into it, and enjoy it. Instead, you show up with a glass and a very cheap bottle of wine. You fill your glass halfway with your inferior spirit and then come to him with a smile on your face telling him how excited you are to taste his wine. You lift your glass to him expecting that somehow you can still taste and fully appreciate what he has offered. Anyone who knows wine knows that if you pour good wine into bad wine the outcome is worse wine. Everything that was offered by the host is lost. And how can the host not take offense when such a lavish gift was met with carelessness and disregard for the sincerity and grace with which it was offered?
Jesus starts his seminal teaching with the most simple and foundational tenet. If you will come to Him, if you seek the kingdom He offers, you must come as an empty vessel. In other words, you must come as a fully surrendered steward acknowledging that everything, including the amazing wine he desires to pour into us, belongs to him.
Can we put aside our self-sufficiency and come to Jesus with true poverty of spirit? If so, nothing less than the kingdom of God is poured out for us.
Dr. Scott Rodin
Dr. Rodin is the Founder and Content Expert of the Center for Steward Leader Studies. He also serves as President of Kingdom Life Publishing and Rodin Consulting Inc.
