Franz Kafka wrote a story entitled “The Hunger Artist.” Professional fasting was a respected, lucrative, and celebrated art. The Hunger Artist was the main attraction. He sat in a cage for forty days without eating or drinking. When the fast ended, his manager made a speech. The band played. A woman led the weakened but triumphant hunger artist out of the cage. But the day came when fasting was no longer understood or appreciated. The hunger artist lost everything and joined the circus to survive. His cage was placed with the animals. He became depressed. No one paid him any attention. One fast went past forty days because his attendants neglected to count the days....

There is a sense in which the first three beatitudes are about humility.  Poverty in spirit is humility toward God.  Mourning is humility toward self.  Meekness is humility toward others.  These opening beatitudes present the foundational aspects of the humility that characterize the blessed. Yet these beatitudes build on one another. To be poor in spirit is to mourn. To mourn is to be meek. These beatitudes also build on one another in the opposite direction. Meekness comes naturally to those who are poor in spirit and mourn their sin. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “The man who is truly meek is the man who is amazed that God and man can think of him as well as they do and treat him as well as...

There was a time when churches held weeklong revival services. An evangelist preached sermons to save the lost and sanctify the church. Church members invited the unsaved, unchurched, and unrepentant to the revival. They even had special seating: The Mourners’ Bench. The mourner’s bench was created by John Wesley, the father of Methodism. There are biblical reasons to reject Wesley’s theology and methodology. But his premise was right: contrition is the key to conversion.  The second beatitude clarifies two misunderstandings about the Christian life.  Being a Christian is not about being sad. Matthew 6:16 says, “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.” The hypocrite looked gloomy, assuming this is what it meant...

The public ministry of Jesus was in its early stages. Large crowds gathered to hear his teachings and see his miracles. But Jesus was not caught up in his fast-growing popularity. He would not let the multitudes distract him from his Father’s business. And he did not want his new disciples to be seduced by the crowds. Matthew 5:1-2 reports: “Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.” What follows is the greatest sermon ever preached. It is the first recorded discourse of Jesus – the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5-7, Jesus explains the righteous standard for citizenship in the...