The Christian Character

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. MATTHEW 5:3

Of all Lloyd-Jones’s books, the one most widely read is probably his Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, first preached on Sunday mornings at Westminster Chapel in the early 1950s and published in two volumes at the end of that decade. Several of those sermons can be read on Ochorus. It is a good book to start with, because it shows the Doctor at his most practical, and because its subject is one no Christian can avoid: what a Christian actually is.

For whom was the Sermon preached

He began by clearing away misunderstandings. In his day the Sermon on the Mount was often treated as a programme for society — a code of ethics that any decent person could adopt, and which, if only the nations would follow it, would bring peace to the world. Others set it aside altogether, arguing that it described the law of a future kingdom and did not apply directly to Christians now. Lloyd-Jones rejected both views.

The Sermon, he argued, is addressed to disciples. It describes the life of those who belong to the kingdom of heaven now. It is not a way of becoming a Christian; it is a description of what a Christian is. And it is not a counsel of perfection for a later age; it is the standard for every believer today. To offer it to the unconverted world as a programme is to mock them, because no one can live it without a new nature. To put it off to the future is to evade its present claim.

Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. MATTHEW 5:20

Character before conduct

The Beatitudes come first, and Lloyd-Jones insisted that the order matters. Before our Lord says anything about what Christians must do, He describes what they are. Conduct flows from character. The New Testament never asks a man to behave like a Christian before he has become one.

He made several observations about the Beatitudes as a whole. They describe every Christian, not a select few. There is no suggestion that some believers are poor in spirit while others are merciful, as though the qualities were distributed like gifts. All of them belong to every Christian, in some measure. They are not natural temperaments; a man may be naturally easygoing without being meek, or naturally melancholy without mourning for sin. They are the fruit of grace. And they mark the Christian out as essentially different from the man of the world. The world admires the self-confident, the assertive, the strong; our Lord pronounces blessing on the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek.

Poor in spirit

He dwelt longest on the first Beatitude, because he believed it is the key to all the rest. To be poor in spirit is not to be weak, timid or self-deprecating in manner. It is to see oneself truly before God: to have no confidence in one’s own righteousness, gifts, birth or achievements, and to come to God with empty hands.

For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit. ISAIAH 57:15

He believed this was precisely the quality most lacking in the church of his day, which was inclined to advertise its famous converts and to present Christianity as the religion of the successful. Nothing, he held, is further from the spirit of the Sermon. The man who is truly poor in spirit will not be impressed by himself, and will not want others to be impressed by him.

Mourning, meekness, hunger

The Beatitudes that follow grow naturally out of the first. The man who sees his poverty mourns over his sin, and over the sin of the world — and it is to such mourners that comfort is promised. He becomes meek: not weak, but gentle, teachable, not standing on his rights, content to leave his cause with God. Lloyd-Jones thought meekness perhaps the most searching Beatitude of all, because it touches our attitude not only to God but to other people, and to what they say and think of us.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. MATTHEW 11:29

And he hungers and thirsts after righteousness. Lloyd-Jones loved this Beatitude, because it carries its own promise. A man who hungers for righteousness — not for happiness, not for experiences, but for righteousness, to be right with God and like Him — will be filled. He believed that many Christians seek blessings and experiences directly and are disappointed, while those who seek holiness find joy as well.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. MATTHEW 5:6

The merciful, the pure, the peacemakers

The later Beatitudes turn outward. The man who has received mercy becomes merciful. The pure in heart are those whose whole being is directed towards God, without guile or mixed motives; they shall see God. The peacemakers are not those who avoid trouble at any price, but those who, having been reconciled to God, seek to reconcile others to Him and to one another. And the persecuted — those who suffer for righteousness’ sake — are blessed because such suffering proves that they are different from the world.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. MATTHEW 5:10

Lloyd-Jones was careful to note that the persecution in view is for righteousness’ sake. A Christian who suffers because he is tactless, or aggressive, or self-righteous, may not claim the blessing.

Where care is needed

This teaching can be heard as a counsel of despair. Who can be all these things? Lloyd-Jones’s answer was that the Beatitudes are not a ladder to climb in order to be saved, but a description of what God produces in those He saves. They are to be read as a mirror, and then as a promise. It should also be said that his rejection of dispensational readings, though widely shared, is not universal among evangelicals. The reader need not decide that question to feel the Sermon’s searching claim upon his own life now — which was the point Lloyd-Jones cared most about.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. MATTHEW 5:8

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Read Matthew 5:1–12 slowly. Which Beatitude describes you least? Make it the subject of your prayer this week.

2. Ask whether you have been trying to behave like a Christian without first depending on God for a Christian heart.

3. Consider what you are most tempted to be proud of. Bring it to God and confess your poverty of spirit.

4. Notice this week how you respond when you are slighted or misunderstood. Is it meekness, or wounded pride?

5. Ask whether you hunger more for blessings and experiences, or for righteousness. Pray for the second.

A PRAYER

Lord Jesus, You looked upon Your disciples and called them blessed. Make me one of them in truth.

Empty me of self-confidence and make me poor in spirit. Teach me to mourn for my sin and to be meek towards others.

Give me a hunger for righteousness greater than my hunger for comfort or success, and fill me as You have promised.

Make me merciful, pure in heart and a peacemaker, and if I must suffer, let it be for Your sake alone. Amen.