One of the things that I've come to truly believe, is that what we believe influences how we behave. Another way of putting it is that our being precedes our doing. James Boice said that he was once speaking to one of his friends about the relationship between Christian teaching and Christian conduct. And he said that the conversation began when his friend told him that he was hoping to write an article on "Doctrine and Devotion" showing the relationship between the two. Boice said that he whole-heartedly agreed with his friend's belief that the two were inseparably related. I concur. Not only do I believe that what people believe influences how they behave, but I know that that's exactly what Scripture teaches.

From our morning study of the Book of Romans, we've learned that it's probably the most explicitly doctrinal book in the whole Bible. But, it's also important for us to remember that as doctrinal as it is, Paul's call isn't for us to just admire doctrine itself, but instead, to live a holy life through the power of the living and sovereign Lord, Jesus Christ. That's why Paul concludes his doctrinal section in Romans, and then turns around in chapter 12 and says:

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Or, in Philippians 2:5-11 Paul discusses in great detail part of the doctrine of Christ. But he says he goes into all that doctrinal detail so that we might show the "mind of Christ" in our conduct. And in the great passage on Christ's resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul concludes by saying:

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

Scripture is clear, Christian doctrine must always express itself in a new outlook on life and in changed behavior. In other words, what you believe must always affect your conduct.

Well, that's also the way it is in the Sermon on the Mount. Last week, we saw how the first part of the Beatitudes dealt with our relationship to God. It seems to just make sense that if those first beatitudes show us how we have to stand in our relationship to God, that is, spiritually bankrupt, sorry for our sin, humble before God and others and always hunger and thirsting for righteousness, then it's logical to expect that the remaining beatitudes will show us that our transformed character is also being progressively remade in the image of Christ. And that's exactly what we do find.

The 5th, 6th, and 7th Beatitudes are part of a turning point, where we move from our relationship to God to our relationship with others. Matthew 5:7-9 says:

"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 sons of God."

Thus, according to Jesus the person who has tasted God's righteousness, must therefore, show mercy, be pure of heart, and be a peacemaker. The basic ideas related to this are:

First of all, all three qualities are essentially divine qualities. Secondly, we can understand them only because we have first seen them in Christ; and thirdly, because we've experienced them in Christ, we're called to show these characteristics to others in our own lives.

Now, the first one is mercy toward others, which is the evidence of our repentance. Matthew 5:7 says:

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."

Let me first mention what Scripture is talking about when it speaks of mercy. In some ways mercy can be compared with grace. That is, it's undeserved. But it's not actually grace itself. So, what makes mercy different from grace? Basically, it's the quality of helplessness on the part of the one who receive the mercy. Grace is love when love is undeserved. Mercy is grace in action. Mercy is love reaching out to help those who are helpless and who desperately need salvation. Mercy identifies with the miserable in their misery. And obviously, we can't talk about mercy without thinking immediately of the cross of Jesus Christ. It was on the cross that God acted out of grace in mercy to fallen and sinful men and women.

Thus, the idea here is that we're to show mercy because we have received it and are confident that we will continue to receive it. Jesus doesn't tell us here who we're supposed to be merciful to; whether it's the hungry, the outcasts, the persecuted, the oppressed, the sick, or the lonely. But there's no need for Him to have to do that because since God is a merciful God, he certainly expects his children to be merciful too. And if we show mercy, we will receive mercy - just as if we forgive others, we will be forgiven. But don't misunderstand this. This isn't teaching salvation by good works.

Instead, what's it's saying is that we can't receive the mercy of God or the forgiveness of God, unless we repent. And we can't claim to have repented of our sins if we're unmerciful toward the sins of others. In other words, we if we don't show mercy to others, we're showing that we either understand very little of what mercy is by which we ourselves have been saved, or else we've never actually received it.

Next we come to purity in heart, or a sincerity and transparency in Matthew 5:8 which says:

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."

This purity of heart refers to our relationships. In his translation of the New Testament, J.B. Phillips says: "The utterly sincere" instead of: "pure in heart." But "pure in heart" is a good translation. It points out to us the importance of the human heart. This verse tells us that we're to be pure in heart, but this gets quickly to the "heart" of the problem, because the human heart is impure.

What do I mean when I say "heart?" Well, in the Bible, the heart is the center of the personality; it involves the mind, the will, and the emotions. Three verses from Romans make this clear. In Romans 1:21, Paul speaks of people who are without God. He says:

"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened."

Here Paul is thinking basically about the clouding of people's minds by sin. In Romans 2:5 Paul says:

"But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed."

Here, his emphasis falls mainly on our merciless will. Finally, in Romans 5:5 Paul writes:

"And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

In this verse the heart is the seat of the emotions. And so, a reference to a person's heart, is therefore a reference to the center of person's personality.

Thus, Jesus is teaching us that our whole life, our whole person, is to be pure and transparent before God and others. That is, our very heart, which includes our inner thoughts and motives is to be pure - it's to be unmixed with anything devious or anything hidden. You can think of having all of your thoughts being filmed by a 24 hour thought camera. At any given moment, your thoughts could be projected onto a screen for all to see. But because you live your life honestly before others, hypocrisy and deceit are therefore detested by you.

But haven't you found that this is a rare virtue, even among Christians? There are so few Christians who live just one life and live it out in the open. Most of us tend to wear masks. We put on a different mask depending upon whom we're with. We play different parts according to the occasion. But Jesus was pure in heart and he calls us to be the same. And it's only the pure in heart who will see God.

Lastly, we come to peacemaking, or that which involves reconciliation, and not appeasement. Matthew 5:9 says:

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God."

The sequence from pure of heart to peacemaker is natural because openness and sincerity are essential conditions of peacemaking. Furthermore, every Christian is called to be a peacemaker in the church and in the community. Have you ever noticed that many churches have too many trouble-makers, and not enough peacemakers? But peacemaking is a divine work. And of course, the greatest peacemaker there has ever been is God himself, because peacemaking means reconciliation. And our God is the God of reconciliation and the God of peace.

We read in Colossians 1:20:

"and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."

God is a peacemaker. So, it's not surprising then, that God said blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called Sons of God. I believe he said this because peacemakers are seeking to do what their Father has done.

An important note here is to also understand and remember that the words "peace" and "appeasement" are not synonyms. The peace that God has made through Jesus Christ is not peace at any price. Jeremiah 6:14 reminds us that to proclaim peace, peace when there is no peace, is the message of the false-prophet and not of the Christian witness. When God made peace, he did it at infinite cost; at the price of the life-blood of his only Son. So why should we expect peacemaking to be easy? Peacemaking is a very costly activity.

Sometimes there is the pain of apologizing to somebody we've injured. Sometimes it's the pain of rebuking somebody who has sinned against us - when we would much rather be silent. One of the hardest things I've ever had to do is rebuke my best friend for treating his wife poorly one evening. He was in a very bad mood, and took it out on his wife. So I called him outside and confronted him with it, and he apologized to his wife and made peace with her. It's not easy. That's just one victory amongst many failures. But we're still called to be peacemakers.

Scripture freely admits that there is pain in rebuking someone and not forgiving them until they repent. But Scripture insists that we must not cheapen forgiveness. Luke 17 says IF he repents, forgive him. IF he repents. So much of our forgiveness is cheap forgiveness. But that is not peacemaking, it's appeasement.

And so those are our three areas of concern tonight. And, like last week, I want you to search your heart to see where you are. Do you show mercy toward others, or are you quick to condemn? Do you strive to be pure of heart, or is your heart mired in sin and filth? Are you a peacemaker, or do you stir up trouble or just seek to appease others? Again, Christ shows us where we should be, but you'll have to ask yourself where you are. For the person who's been touched by the mercy, purity and peace of God, we ought strive every day be like our Savior.