INTRODUCTION
As I mentioned last week, I’m preaching through some of the “hard sayings” of Jesus between Easter and Pentecost. Last Sunday we focused on the Lord’s command for us to gouge out our eyes and cut off our hands if they were causing us to sin. That’s how horrible sin is and how seriously He wants us to set ourselves against it!
This week I want to look together at the Beatitudes, because our Master – the Son of God – says that these traits or times in our lives are all blessed by God! And yet, I think many of you will agree with me that, not one of them seems to have any degree of wonderfulness or goodness about them in any way at all!
MATTHEW 5:1-12 [NLTse]
One day as He saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around Him, and He began to teach them.
“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for Him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
“God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are My
followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in Heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.”
SERMON
The Lord Jesus preaches the Beatitudes fairly early in His ministry. (“Beatitude” is an old Latin word that means blessing.) Matthew, Mark, and Luke all make clear that the central message of Jesus’ preaching and teaching was, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! Repent!” (That is, ‘turn from all God doesn’t want you to be doing and start living the way God wants you to live’.) And Jesus rounded-out that proclamation with, “And believe the good news!”
So, as the Lord began His ministry, we can imagine everyone – from wealthy Jews to poor Jews, alike – wondering, “Do I get to be a part of this, Jesus? Our religious leaders have made it clear we have to be as righteous as they are to be a part of God’s Kingdom. What do You say the qualificatiins are?” And, as we’ve read, without directly answering the question, the Lord responds, “Blessed are you when…” And the rest of the Sermon on the Mount that follows the Beatitudes is largely a comparison of what the religious leaders were telling the people was required to get into God’s Kingdom and what Jesus was saying was required.
So, let’s look at this list of “blessings” to see what the Lord was telling those first century Jews was required of them to enter the Kingdom of God, what they would soon come to realize was His Kingdom – the Kingdom of the last Son of David – Jesus’ Kingdom!
The King says, “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for Him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” So, the Lord was saying to those Jews, Your religious leaders like to strut around and lord their knowledge and accomplishments and spiritual-maturity over you. But God blesses you when you’ve got nothing; when your tank is empty; when you come to the Father holding out empty
hands (spiritually-speaking): Needy, needy, needy, but you come to Him; the Kingdom of Heaven is yours.
The King says, “God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” The Lord Jesus was saying to all those who were hurting, “Your spiritual leaders tell you that having hurts and pains means that you’ve got sin in your life and you’re not living victoriously. But there is lots to mourn in this world, and nobody knows rejoicing and mourning like your Father in Heaven! So, mourn. But do so knowing that comfort is coming: New life and resurrection – where death and sorrow and crying and pain will be no more – is just around the corner!
The King said, “God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.”
Now, I’ve lumped all these blessed-traits together because, you’ll notice that Jesus isn’t promising that the blessings will be received during this life. The meek and humble will inherit the earth, but your lives may be full of getting stepped on and being treated badly. “Don’t get me wrong,” Jesus says, “it will be worth it! So, keep being humble and meek and modest, but, remember, you’re not doing so for blessings that you will necessarily gain from being meek and humble in this life. I am your reward, here,” Jesus says. “These other blessings will come leaving you filled with awe and wonder! But they won’t come until later.”
Likewise, Jesus says, “There is unimaginable blessing beyond your wildest dreams in store for all of you who are hungering and thirsting for justice, but the world doesn’t value justice, not true justice, Jesus says. And it will be a hard road. There are
wonders in store for you who are being merciful, but the world will take advantage of your mercy… You who are keeping your hearts pure have such glory in store! but the world hates purity, and you will have to sacrifice much for the blessing! And all you who are working for peace, ahh, what peace you have coming to you! but know that it’s a violent world out there and you will suffer much as you work for it. And who have committed yourselves to doing the right thing: Blessed are you, unimaginably blessed! but the world hates righteousness and doesn’t understand it. Gird yourself. You are in for the fight of your life!
Even so, blessed are you! I am your blessing, Jesus says, here and now through all the troubles and trials these traits, these strivings, will bring. Don’t misunderstand! I am worth it! And these rich, glorious blessings that I have promised you will be worth it! But know that the blessings won’t be coming to you – can’t be coming to you, not in their fullness – in this sinful, fallen world. These are the promises, the blessings, of My Kingdom, Jesus says. Blessings I will bring with Me when I make all things new!
Why I think this is such an important teaching – and such a hard one – my brothers and sisters and friends, is because lives of success, prominence, wealth, peaceful-rich relationships, health, growth, adventure, purpose are not necessarily the marks of a faithful Christian life. You and I and others can love the Lord well and have rich prayer and Bible-reading, sharing our faith with others, tithing, serving in meaningful ways and still get sick, and still struggle with our spouses, and still have kids who are rebelling, and still have trouble finding work, and still [insert your particular trials, if you’d like].
There are many selfish, wicked, apostate, evil people in the world who are successful, who hold positions of prominence, are wealthy, enjoy relatively peaceful and rich relationships around themselves, are healthy, growing, enjoying adventures, and who have a strong sense of
purpose… About such ones the prophet Jeremiah complained to the Lord, “Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why are evil people so happy?”
And the truth is, being meek and wanting justice and being merciful and working for peace and working to keep a pure heart and striving to always do what’s right it is all often frustrating, an uphill battle, going against the tide – the flow. And so not being set on doing those things can make life pretty easy. As we’ve said, our reward – yours and mine – our blessing, is not always success in such things. All these things are worth being! They are all worth doing! And, by God’s grace, sometimes we do enjoy great successes, or, at least, great-enough. But even so, time will, eventually, tear any and all of our accomplishments down.
So, our drive, our reward, our blessing – at least, here and now – must be focused upon the Lord: Communion, friendship, intimacy with Him; the wonder of His grace; the wonder of His presence; the wonder of His making us His Own. He is our reward!
We are a peculiar people, us Christians. We do not live for this life. Our ultimate rewards, our ultimate blessings, are not found here. God promises us relative happiness here, but the unspeakable happiness He promises is in the life to come. It is when we begin to think that God has health and wealth and perfect relationships, etc…, etc… for us in this life that we miss the message of the gospel, lose that forward-leaning hope that the new Heaven and the new Earth provide, and lose the resurrection-power of the cross in our lives.
And “God blesses you, my brothers and sisters by faith, when people make fun of you and treat you badly and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because of your trust in Christ. Be happy about it all! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you. And remember, the faithful across history have been treated the same way.”