Fruit of the Beatitudes

Have you ever noticed a connection between the fruit of the Spirit (Galations 5:22-24) and the beatitudes (Matthew 5:2-11)? There are nine beatitudes and nine specific fruits. I had not noticed a conjunction between them either until recently. We were discussing the life that God rewards and the study led us to some things that are not rewarded. Jesus moves from the blessings of following Him, (chapter 5) to the non-rewards for faking it in Chapter 6. Matthew 6:1 gives the overview.
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
In fact, He says that any reward we get from public practice of piety is all that will be awarded.

Our consideration here is not that, however. But we want to turn back to the blessings in chapter 5. We will take them one at a time and compare them with the individual fruits of the Spirit. (Yes I know that they are all one fruit, but we will take each one at a time, like a bunch of grapes.)

As Julie Andrews says, “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.”
Number one.
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
A poor person knows that he cannot meet the requirements to live in the most expensive house in town, unless a rich uncle buys it for him and pays the upkeep. A “poor in spirit” person similarly recognizes his inability to meet the requirements to live in heaven. His debt of sin disqualifies him for any opportunity or ability to get there. But, better than a rich uncle, God, Himself, paid the price, erasing the certificate of debt. That person is now has free and complete access to  heaven forever. (That is me, and you if you have accepted Him.)

The first fruit is love. And how could we not love the God who has removed our debt of sin and reserved us a home in heaven? Our family literally had a rich uncle, and he was extremely generous. Now he, and his twin brother were kind and gentle men, in and of themselves, but when they held a family reunion, most of us, me included, made it a point to be there. We were not money-grubbers, by any means. But every one of us was anxious to show our appreciation and even love for these two men. When God has His homecoming, I plan to be there, too.

The Second beatitude is
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Joy is the second fruit. How can joy and mourning be related? The second beatitude looks back to the first. A person who is aware that he is unable to “afford” heaven should be filled with grief. And if they are, and recognize their need, they are on the way to the comfort of knowing forgiveness. And that leads directly to joy. Joy inexpressible is what Peter said as if he read my mind. 1 Peter 1:8
...and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory....

A poor person loves the Lord and it fills him with joy. Me too. And I trust that is true for you.

Third beatitude:
5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
And how do poor, but promised a kingdom, mourners treat other people? We have been comforted and can pass that along. Providing comfort is what a mother does for a distraught child. She is gentle. And what does Paul say? Check 2 Corinthians 1:3, 4.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Beatitude 2 promises comfort and Paul tells us the source and the purpose of that comfort. We are comforted and in turn can comfort others. Be gentle, Number three. Gentleness is a later fruit, but we may find another application.

The third fruit is peace. Have you ever seen a gentle person who was not peaceful? When others’ needs and even desires are foremost in the attention and focus of anyone, it is hard to “pick a fight” with them. They are at peace with themselves and can be with others. And how can we be more “at peace” than knowing that our sins are gone and that one’s inheritance includes the earth. (And as a side note, that inheritance is not this crumbling old world, but the one Jesus will establish during His 1000 year reign on the earth. Glory.)

Beatitude number four is:
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
The hunger and thirsting for righteousness led to recognizing our poor condition and our mourning because of it. Now we get the promise that we will be “filled.” (KJV) Completely full of righteousness spiritually and “gentle” in our interactions with those around us. This is almost too easy to see, isn’t it. It just flows together.

Patience, the fourth fruit, just flows from gentle, righteous interactions. It meshes together like the gears on a Swiss watch. (Are there any such things anymore?)

Beatitude five:
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy”
When our patience is “tried” and offended, the first three gifts and beatitudes make it possible to react in mercy. It is not necessarily easy, but it is possible. And Kindness, number five fruit, fits here as well as with number 2. Jesus said that if we forgive men their trespasses, ours will be forgiven as well. And we can forgive because our trespasses have been forgiven in the first place. Just a nice little circle there. Merciful people are kind. Go on.

Beatitude six says:
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
And this purity of heart is not self generated. Had it been first, we would all be disqualified. Back in Deuteronomy 5, I just read the story abut the Children of Israel asking Moses not to let them hear God’s voice again. (Deuteronomy 5:25) They said that they were afraid that if they continued to hear God’s voice that they would die.

I have heard that it was the hardness of their hearts that caused them not to want to listen to God. But as I read it again, it occurred to me, in light of this study specifically, that they recognized how impossible it was to keep even these ten, and hearing any more from God would condemn them irredeemably. So they recognized that they were not pure in heart and were acknowledging it and beginning to take steps to avoid further condemnation. Just a thought.

Going back to the thought, of being pure in heart, we see that this beatitude comes after the first five have cleared the path. The sixth fruit is goodness. Pure hearted people are good. How can a pure heart treat anyone else but “good?”

B. Seven.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Notice the connection between six and seven. The “pure in heart” see God, and peacemakers are God’s children. And who can see their father more than children? We can “see God,” because we are his children. Being pure in heart helps to bring peace, not only to our acquaintances, but to the whole world. Good connection.

With the previous six blessings, how can we be anything but peace makers. A revolver back in the old west was called a Peacemaker, because if people did not respect it and calm down, it would literally calm them down, permanently. This is not that kind of peace. This is real peace, the kind that we can have with God. (Romans 5:1) And this peace in our hearts leads us to want to share that with others. We “make peace” between everyone and God. And when we are at peace with God, being at peace with others is a natural consequence. It is “unavoidable.”

Our fruit list included peace at number three. Number seven is faithful. We are peacemakers in that we are faithful to what we say and in how we interact with others. And more importantly, we are faithful to share the good news that everyone can have peace with God. This may be stretching it a little, but it certainly fits.

And of course we can find the result of faith: (Romans 5:1 again)
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ....

Galatians 2:16; 3:11, 24 repeat this. How did I get on faith? Oh yes, teaching “faith” brings peace to all who respond. So the best peace maker, is the one who brings people to faith. And, by making them children of God.

Beatitude number eight: v. 10
“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
And how better to respond to criticism or worse, persecution, than with kindness. In practical terms, nothing drives a bully more crazy than to treat him with kindness. They expect hostility or even retaliation and when they do not elicit that, they cannot handle the resulting emotion. But our goal is not to just infuriate them, but to show them Jesus.

How did Jesus react to those who were crucifying Him? He responded evenly, and in the end, prayed forgiveness for them. Notice the result on the centurion. (Matthew 27:54; Mark 15:39) He certainly did not intend to meet God, face to face, when he got up that morning. The kindness of God led him to salvation. (Romans 2:4) How better to achieve the peace of God in peoples’ hearts than show them God’s kindness.

Beatitude nine. It almost duplicates number eight. V. 11, 12
“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Persecution, again is the theme, but this time is it more verbal attack. But again instead of responding “in kind,” we exercise self control, the final fruit in the cluster.  Not only does it lead people to believe the message we are preaching, but it is a verification that we are on track.

I am not implying that false cults are exempt from criticism and abuse. But true faith seems to elicit a lot more verbal and physical persecution than the false ones do. But that is not the point. Notice that Jesus said following the “truth path” puts us in the company of the prophets. But more important, going back to our initial thought, this produces rewards. “Great reward” is the term He used.

Looking for ways to live a life God rewards? Follow the beatitudes and let the fruit of the spirit flow out of your life. And Paul summarized it for us in Galatians 5.
...against such things there is no law.

Not that people will accept it without objection, but that they cannot effectively “get under your skin.” What a promise. I want to be fruitful, blessed, and assured of a home in heaven.

That is the promise He offers. Have you accepted your new home? Do it today.