Aftertaste: Beatitudes, Grace, and Discipleship

This past week we heard a sermon on the beatitudes presented in Matthew 5:1-12.  I had a deep feeling and sense of weightiness after the sermon that perhaps I was setting people up for failure, that perhaps I did not emphasize enough the transformation element that is a core element of Christian discipleship.  The tension between transformation and obedience is a difficult one to balance properly.  I think Paul works out this tension concerning following Jesus throughout Romans as he works out the tension between receiving grace in Jesus (Romans 5:6, 8, 11; 12-21) and living out our faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:2-4, 11, 12, 20; Romans 7:14-26; Romans 8:1-11). 

There is a lot of heavy lifting theology happening in many of these verses, but the summary of these chapters can be summed up (perhaps poorly) in the following statement: it is through the grace of God in Jesus Christ through his death and resurrection that we are made right with and before God, forgiven of our sins; yet this grace cannot be abused, so we set our minds upon Jesus and act like him, knowing that we will mess up and make mistakes, yet strive ahead. 

It is with fear and trembling that we work out our salvation, that we seek to follow Jesus.  We are to be "transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2).  Paul does not lay out every situation about how we are to act, but gives us characteristics that our actions should line up with: "Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection...Do not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:9-21). 

We see throughout these Roman passages that Paul's audience is struggling with the tension between God's grace about sin and our responsibility to act in the new life Jesus provides for us - Kingdom of Heaven life.  This is the tension that we experience when we come before the beatitudes and see a description of those who are fully living out the Kingdom of God and think to ourselves, "How do I get there?!"  Perhaps we see in the 'marks of a Christian' Paul's reflection on Jesus' teaching of the beatitudes, and more broadly the entire sermon on the mount: "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them"  is, perhaps, how we can live out "Blessed are the peacemakers" (Romans 12:14 (also 12:17-21); Mt 5: 9). Taking on the burdens of another (rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep) is perhaps how we can live out "Blessed are those who mourn" (Romans 12:14; Matthew 5:4). 

Ultimately, Paul reflects on this as the way for transformation: "Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." Yet Paul immediately elaborates on how we should not judge one another (Romans 13:14-14:12). This is our ultimate task, our struggle, abiding in the tension that exists between God's grace and our part in following Jesus; the tension between being transformed by Jesus and obeying right now. Our key task to fulfilling the beatitudes is ultimately prayer - to be and dwell with Jesus in order to become more like him.