The Beatitudes (Blessed 3&4)

In review, we concluded from the first two verses that Jesus has disciples that follow Him no matter where He goes, and that He takes the time to teach those who seek after Him.

And Jesus begins His earthly ministry by teaching His disciples about what God is looking for in people – people He wants to recruit for the Kingdom of Heaven.  He wants the disciples to clearly understand that this Kingdom is the antithesis of any earthly kingdom they had ever heard of or experienced.

Where the kingdoms of earth used their authority and power to oppress, steal from, and abuse those subject to them, the Kingdom of Heaven would be made up of a King who would not force His subjects to submit to Him.  In fact the King wants people to willingly choose to be part of His Kingdom.  And in order to choose, a person has to realize that his sins against the King are enough to keep him out of the Kingdom.  In order to enter the Kingdom, he has to humbly confess his sins to the King, and in doing so, the King grants him a pardon.

Jesus says in the 1^st two beatitudes that the Kingdom will be made up of people who humbly mourn – who humbly regret having sinned against the King.  And in their humility, they choose to admit this to Him.  He makes it clear that the Kingdom of Heaven will be made up of people who are sorry for hurting the King.

Now let's look at Beatitudes 3 & 4.

Verse 5 says, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."

We often hear people say that to be meek means you are weak – a doormat for people to step on.  Yet Jesus says it is blessed to be meek, and then He goes on and says that those who are will inherit the earth.

To us that seems completely contradictory.  We know what we see.  We know what we have felt.  The bully always seems to win out.  

I remember in 6^th grade picking up some coins that some other kids had thrown down while waiting for the bus.  There was a thug nearby that grabbed me by the collar and told me to handover the coins I had collected.  That day I was a doormat and I handed over the coins.  I certainly didn’t inherit the earth in my meekness and innocence at that time, nor have I since.

I think all of us can say through our experience that it’s not the meek in this world, on this earth, that assumes authority here.  In fact, it seems, and is for certain, that the proud, the arrogant, the greedy, the bully, are often the ones who have control of the things of this earth.

So what is Jesus talking about – the meek shall inherit the earth?  Again, if we look at His words literally, we miss the point.  And His point is not that the meek shall inherit the earth of today.  Instead they shall inherit an earth of the future.

In Revelation 21:1 the apostle John shares what God shows him will take place at the judgment of Satan and humankind – “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away ….”

Jesus was giving His disciples this Big Idea:  Seek to be meek; there’s a new earth awaiting you.

Jesus was telling His disciples in His sermon that God is looking for those who are humble, who mourn over their sin against God, and who are meek.  These, not the all-powerful bully who uses his authority to rule and dominate over those who are weaker, shall see the new Heaven and the new Earth.  It is these who will one day experience true peace and eternity with God.

You see; if people knew and understood what Jesus taught about the Kingdom of Heaven in the 30’s and 40’s, they wouldn’t have followed a nut, an antichrist, called Adolf Hitler.  Hitler claimed to be Christian, and was purging the earth of those he felt were a detriment to Christian Dom, yet his actions were completely the opposite of what Jesus taught.  Hitler, though he believed he was fulfilling God’s call to rid the earth of evil, was the antithesis of Jesus and will not see the new heaven or the new earth.  

In fact, everything Hitler ever wanted to accomplish was fulfilled here on this earth, and now his final eternal destination is Hell – certainly not very appealing.  His heaven, while alive, was here on earth.  Whereas, those in Christ know that their only taste of hell will be here on this earth, and heaven awaits them.  Hitler’s situation went from not very good to God-awful bad.  The Christian’s situation, those who truly are followers of Christ, goes from not very good to God-inspiring great. 

So why does humankind play with fire?

In verse 6 Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

What do you do when you get hungry, or thirsty?  If like me, you go looking for something to eat or drink.  After all, food and water are staples needed for survival.  But, if you get the urge and decide to stay where you are, the food and drink don’t come to you (unless you have a servant).  If you want it, you have to go find it.

The same is true of righteousness.  You want righteousness, you can have it – you can have all you want.  Jesus will spiritually fill everyone that wants what He has to give.

So Jesus’ Big Idea from this verse is this:  The Righteous Food Bell has been rung; Come and get it!

If we want to eat, we have to make the choice to get out of our seats and prepare something to eat.  If we want to know Christ and His righteousness, we have to make a choice to pursue Him.

How do we pursue Him?  Go to Common Unity Groups, read or listen to the Bible daily, hang with mentors who are more spiritually mature, ask questions about faith, listen to Christian music and teaching, meditate and pray over the things Jesus tells you are righteous, be faithful in worship, serve Him and others, and most importantly, apply what you learn.

Jesus says we can have anything RIGHTEOUS we want.  With no questions asked, He will give it to us.  Seeking righteousness will be 100% return on your investment.  God may say “no” to some things we ask for because they are not part of His will.  But righteousness is His will so you can be guaranteed that when you ask for patience He will give it to you – when you ask God to teach you to be merciful and forgiving, He will – when you ask God for self-control, and compassion, and faithfulness, and goodness, and humility, and ……., He will give them to you.

In conclusion, the new earth awaits those who are meek.  It will be a struggle while we are here on this earth because there will always be those who will try to lord their strengths and powers over us.  Yet if we want meekness, if we want humility, if we want to be like Christ, all we have to do is desire this kind of food and it will be given to us.

Faith in Christ doesn’t come while we sit in our easy chairs asking everyone else around us to bring us food or to bring us drink.   Faith in Christ comes when we get up out of our chairs to seek and to serve Him.  As always, the choice is up to you.

The Beatitudes (Blessed 1&2)

Today we’re going to begin a series called Blessed – taking us into the Easter season.  We’ll be looking at Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5: 1-12, called the Beatitudes.  And this word is derived from a Latin word which means blessed or happy.

Before we look specifically at the first two statements of Jesus, we need to put into context what was happening.  Jesus has recently come back from his 40 days of fasting and prayer in the wilderness and has begun His earthly ministry.  He’s performing miracles – healing the sick – and crowds are beginning to gather bringing their friends and family members who were in need of healing.

Now, when He notices the magnitude of the crowd coming for His healing services, He heads up onto a mountainside to get away.

Notice who came to Him – who went searching for Him - His disciples.   And to pull a Big Idea from the narrative alone is this:  Disciples follow Jesus no matter where He goes.

Also, notice who He taught – His disciples.  And so another Big Idea to pull from this is:  Jesus teaches those who seek after Him.

Those in the crowd only coming for the show – coming only for Jesus to perform a miracle – were not going to spiritually hear what Jesus was teaching.  A Band-aide healing was not going to give them what they needed to know about the Kingdom of God.   A Band-aide healing would only provide them with temporary relief from the pain they were suffering now, only to lead to the pain of death in their future.  And death without knowledge of the Kingdom of Heaven only leads to eternal torment and pain.

If they wanted to know about the Kingdom, they needed to seek Jesus to find out more about the Kingdom.   An interesting fact that you see in Jesus’ ministry is that He taught those who sought out Him - Remember Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7: 7)

Now, there’s a parallel here between the mountainside in these verses and the mountainside experience Moses had.  In fact, it has always interested me to see the parallels of the Israelite nation in the OT and the facts recorded about Jesus in the NT.  For example, Egypt was the saving place for both the Israelite nation and the baby Jesus.  The Israelite nation prospered and was saved from starvation and ruin by escaping to Egypt during the 7 years of famine.  Jesus as a babe was taken to Egypt by Mary and Joseph to be saved from Herod’s decree that all male boys 2 and younger were to be killed.  Another example was the wandering in the desert.  Israel, after being delivered from slavery in Egypt, wandered in the desert for 40 years before being permitted to enter into the Promised Land.  Jesus, after being baptized by John the Baptist, began His earthly ministry by wandering in the desert for 40 days of fasting and prayer.  And the initial example of the mountainside was the beginning of God’s word being declared.  Moses came down from being in the presence of God on Mount Sinai to present to the Israelites the Law (the 10 commandments) given to them by God to guide them in their faith journey.  Jesus goes on the side of a mountain to begin His teachings on the Kingdom of God.

Jesus begins His teachings with the Blessed teachings because they exemplified who He was and what God desires of those He will invite to be with Him in His Kingdom.  Where the Law exposed man’s need for a Savior due to man’s shortcomings, the Beatitudes reveal the Spirit that can and should be within those who call upon the name of the Savior.  Versus providing a bunch of do’s and don’ts, Jesus provides those listening to His sermon a glimpse of how He would carry Himself here on earth and a picture of who His disciples should become.

We’re going to look at the first two today – “Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven,” and “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."

So who is Jesus referring to?  Understand it’s not those who already have these characteristics.  Rather it is those who will take on these characteristics due to their understanding of Jesus.

Jesus was speaking of Heavenly traits that He desires to see in all who call upon His name as Savior.  When it comes down to it, these Beatitudes will be the criteria God uses to judge a person’s soul. 

If you notice, just like the 10 Commandments show the boundaries we are to have with God and with others, the Beatitudes go deeper in showing us that the boundaries are nice, but not needed, if we will take to heart what God desire to see in our hearts.  

Now getting back to the 1^st Beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…”  

What is Jesus talking about here?  He’s talking about those who have humility.  He could have said, “Blessed are the humble, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Humility is realizing that all you are and all you have is a gift from God.  To be poor in spirit means that a person is completely empty of self and open to the Word of God.

For example, “You should not steal” (Deut 5: 19), is a rule, a boundary, that keeps me from harming you by taking from you what is not mine, but “Blessed are the poor in spirit….”is an attitude within my heart, soul, and mind that reminds me that I should place you above myself, which allows me the freedom to respect you and your property. If “Blessed are the poor in spirit….”is within me, then no one need fear that I steal.

God is looking to find in us what David shared in his Psalm – Psalm 51 verses 10 & 17.
Verse 10 – “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast (a right) spirit within me.”

Verse 17 – “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

God wants humility – not false humility – but a genuine expression of gratitude for what He has done in our lives and for whom He is.  Humility bows to the King when in His presence.  Jesus says that those who are sincerely humble toward God and others are the ones who God wants in His Kingdom.  Basically, if He were recruiting for His team, these are the players He would seek – not those who are most talented, or the best looking, or have the most to offer, but those who are coachable.

Now the 2^nd Beatitude, “Blessed are those who mourn…” 

What does He mean by mourn?  He is speaking spiritually here.  Everyone mourns over loss, loss of possessions, loss of loved ones.  But what He wants us to see is that, in a state of humility, we mourn that we have let God down because of our sin.  We are mourning because we realize that our sin is a wall that separates us from God.

When The Passion of Christ came out there was all kind of debate of who director Mel Gibson was portraying as the ones who crucified Jesus – Was it the Jews?  Was it the Romans?  So when I saw it for the first time in the theatres, the Holy Spirit clearly showed me that the blame for Christ’s death fell squarely on my shoulders.  And I cried tears of mourning, realizing it was for my sin that He was beaten and crucified on a cross.

We mourn because we are sorry.  And Jesus says, “Because you realize that you deserve punishment for your sins committed against God, God will reach out to you and comfort you.”  God reaches out to those who are truly sorry.

Jesus could have used these words for the 2^nd Beatitude, “Blessed are those who regret their mistakes against God because they will be comforted.”

Isaiah 59: 1-2, “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.  But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear.” 

God is there.  He wants to save.  He longs to hear.  But a lack of repentance holds Him at bay.  Sin is what separates people from experiencing God.

God comforts those who recognize and mourn over the grief they have caused Him through their blatant acts of disobedience.  

In conclusion, “Blessed are the poor in spirit (the humble), for they shall inherit the Kingdom of God,” and “Blessed are those who mourn (regret their sin), for they will be comforted.”

It takes humility to acknowledge that you are a sinner before God.  But for those who do humbly admit, God will reach down to them to pick them up and bring them into His Kingdom forever.  What a great promise for those who can believe.