​In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus not only prepares us for ministry, but He also tells us how to be really, really happy. To be genuinely content, we must not be self-serving, but self-sacrificing. We must be gentle, merciful, pure in heart, yearn for righteousness, and seek to make peace on God’s terms.

This is what we endeavor to do—even if these attitudes cause persecution and suffering. Jesus gives us full disclosure as we serve others and lets us know that as we love and care for people in this way, we can anticipate and expect persecution. 

​The heart of God is that all men and women would turn from their sins and find peace in Him. When this becomes our heart, we find ourselves as sons and daughters about our Father’s business, wanting to be found faithful to the task He has given us—testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. 

We have the ministry of reconciliation from God, who has committed to us this message of reconciliation: God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).

This is the message we bring as ambassadors to as many as possible—that they might hear the good news and receive the gift of grace found in Christ Jesus, experiencing peace with God and the very peace of God. 

​We were once enemies of God, but Jesus took the penalty for our sins and our rebellion. Now that we have peace with God, we want others to know Jesus so they can have peace with God also. 

We receive this ministry of reconciliation to bring the message of reconciliation to as many as possible. As we continue to work through the Sermon on the Mount, we consider what it means to be a maker of peace in our study of Matthew 5:9.

​The Lord is our shepherd. He cares for us. He guides us. He provides for us. He serves us. He restores us. He protects us. And because He, as the Good Shepherd, laid down His life for us, we also have eternal life awaiting us!

When you are tempted to wander from His care, wonder how good our Good Shepherd truly is! Each of us has two lists at any given time—one list is of the things that we don’t have, and the other is a list of the things we do have. Unfortunately, our enemy is a master of tempting us to focus and to obsess on things we don’t have so we fall for his trap and ignore what we do have. 

But if we take a moment to honestly and thoroughly work through those lists, we will quickly find out that the list of what we have far exceeds the list of the things we don’t. David put it this way in Psalm 23: “My cup runs over.” Our cup is not half empty. It isn’t even half full. It’s more than full—it runs over! Why? Because goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of this life and we will dwell in the house of the Lord with Him forever!

Is the Lord your shepherd? Can you make these claims about Him in your life? Maybe you’ve wandered from His care. Return to Him—He is looking for you! Cry out to the Good Shepherd—confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead. The Bible says that if you do this, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). Ask God for forgiveness. Believe that Jesus died for your sins and that God raised Him to life. Trust Him as your Savior and follow Him as the Lord and Shepherd of your life.

​Psalm 23 is usually read at somber and solemn occasions in an effort to bring comfort to those who are mourning or grieving. While this isn’t inappropriate, there is certainly more to this psalm that we can appreciate. Within its lines, we see a celebration and declaration concerning the many blessings of having the Lord as our Shepherd.

We paused our study in Matthew this past Sunday to turned our attention to Psalm 23 and appreciated all that our Good Shepherd does for us!

​There is no separate class of believers who are in “ministry.” We are all in ministry if we continue to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him. And if we continue to be His followers, He will continue to purify us—then we will continue to see God at work in us. 

Consider this about all we have studied so far in the Sermon on the Mount. When we recognize our spiritual poverty, we get to see God’s power through our weakness. When we mourn over our sins, we get to see His grace. When we lean into meekness, we see Him as He defends us. When we let go of caring about what benefits or advances us and hunger for what’s right, we see God at work in us. When we find ourselves being genuinely kind to the unthankful and the evil without even a hint of the desire to defend ourselves without any bitterness, Jesus is purifying us and we get to see God at work in us and through us. 

As we continue to follow Him and as He continues to purify us, we get to see God! “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)