Matthew 5:1-6 – The Sermon on the Mount - Beatitudes

We are beginning maybe my favorite three chapters of the Bible today – Matthew 5-7 is where we find what is known as the Sermon on the Mount, arguably Jesus’ greatest sermon – As we are in an election year, we have politicians who are laying out their agenda, their vision for the country – In this sermon, Jesus is doing just that – As we saw earlier in Matthew, Jesus had a simple message: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” – I love what Lo said about the Kingdom last week, that this Kingdom is not a location or destination, but a condition of the heart – So the goal is not to get into the Kingdom of heaven, but to get the Kingdom of Heaven into you .

Over these 3 chapters, Jesus is going to describe what it looks like to be a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven – In the first section, we will look at the Beatitudes – this word in the Greek means SUPREMELY BLESSED – But here is something important: this is not a “do A and you get B” scenario – Jesus is simply describing the attributes of one who has surrendered his life to a Kingdom agenda, similar to the Fruit of the Spirit – There are 8 statements, and we will cover 4 today and 4 next week – Let’s jump in – Matthew 5:1-6

V1-2 – End of chapter 4, Jesus is bouncing around Galilee, healing the sick, and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom – He is gaining popularity, and large crowds have begun to follow him – now, he gathers them together on a mountainside to lay out his Kingdom agenda

Remember, Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience, connecting Jesus to the broader story of the Israelites – and here Jesus is again looking like Moses, up on a mountain laying out God’s law to his people – and these first statements are incredibly counter-cultural, a stinging indictment on the current religious climate

V3 – “Poor in Spirit…” – this is not simply those in poverty, which would play well to the crowd, but those with an impoverished spirit – speaks to spiritual bankruptcy – nothing to offer apart from God – Not just one who is a sinner – that is given – but the one who admits he is completely at the end of self – So important to realize what Jesus was saying – He didn’t come to make good men a little better; He came to bring dead and broken people back to life

Lo talked about this last night – spiritual bankruptcy is when you realize that you have absolutely NOTHING to bring to the table – Isaiah 6, the prophet has an encounter with God – and when he is in the presence of God, he begins to see himself in light of who God is – Isaiah 6:5 – “Woe to me, I am ruined – I am a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips” –  This is an indictment on the pharisees, who saw themselves as righteous through their works – Jesus is saying, “Nope, your righteousness will get you nowhere”

This is an indictment on the American church – Houses of worship will be filled today with people who are, at best, neutral about sin – Is it wrong? Sure, but most people believe that the good outweighs the bad, that there is something that I bring to the table that makes me worthy of God

Psalm 51:17 – “a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”

Why start off this way? The way of Jesus begins with extreme humility – two phrases come to mind : First: “It’s not about me.” If it is in any way about me or my ability to work my way to God, then the gospel isn’t really good news at all – it diminishes my need for the life and death of Jesus-

Second: “I am not the hero of the story.” Why impt? We will see Jesus take shots at Pharisees doing “acts of righteousness before men – exalting themselves – kingdom building

Unfortunately, defines most of us – we want to be the hero, or at least get some credit – directly opposes what Jesus is saying – John Stott said it this way:  “The kingdom is given to the poor, not the rich; the feeble, not the mighty; to little children humble enough to accept it, not to soldiers who boast they can obtain it by their own prowess. In our Lord’s own day, it was not the Pharisees who entered the kingdom, who thought they were rich, so rich in merit that they thanked God for their attainments; nor the Zealots who dreamed of establishing the kingdom by blood and sword; but publicans and prostitutes, the rejects of society, who knew they were so poor they could offer nothing and achieve nothing. All they could do is cry to God for mercy, and he heard their cry.” 

Kingdom of Heaven is filled with normal, everyday people who are destined for failure without intervention from the Creator – this is biggest roadblock for people, especially in US – don’t want to be considered poor, week, feeble – goes against American way – never fully experience Jesus until you come to the end of you

V4 – “Those who mourn…” – “happy are the unhappy” – paradox – not primarily loss of a loved one, but loss of innocence, righteousness, self-respect – this is called repentance – misunderstood – not simply saying, “I’m sorry”, but thinking in a new way – see progression? First, recognizing spiritual poverty, but second, mourning over it – When was the last time you truly mourned sin? Friday night, had a moment at MA when men came to the altar to release their shame to God, to no longer be held captive to failure and patterns of sin in their lives – Lots of tears – But here is the point: again back to Isaiah – He was not NEUTRAL about sin – he cried out in his unworthiness!

Twofold – mourning over the sin of our culture – when your eyes are opened, you see not only see your brokenness, but the brokenness of the world – Are you sad over sin of our culture? 

But, more importantly, mourning over the state of your heart – easier to externalize the mourning, “those people”, because don’t want to deal with your own sin – until you see your utter destitution apart from God, you will rationalize and nominalize your sin, and just try hard to do better – I have been there for sure - 

What is effect? COMFORT – freedom from guilt, shame and fear – peace – no more hiding – comfort that comes from transformation

V5 – “Meek…” – meek is not weak – it is gentle, humble, exercising self-control –  Just because you CAN doesn’t mean you SHOULD - it is a quiet strength that comes from recognition that God is the hero – this is in direct opposition to the American way – The bold, brash, loudest person in the room gets the reward – But not in the Kingdom of God – the one that stands down, exercises quiet strength of resolve, lives in peace and contentment inherits the Earth – I long to be that guy – and frustrated that I’m not… I am too opinionated, too impatient, too quick to take authority and control – I am too often a bull in a China shop – and I may be inheriting a Kingdom, but it’s not the Kingdom of God - 

V6 – “Hunger and thirst for righteousness…” – what does this mean? Righteousness, or right standing with regard to God, right standing with regard to our character, right standing with regard to others in the world – It is literally, “How close can I get to Jesus?” If you want to gauge your hunger and thirst, you can quantify by time spent in the Secret Place – How much do you long to become more like Jesus? Challenge is that the reason you don’t hunger for more of Jesus is because you have already gotten full consuming other things – 

Illus – commoner at King’s table

Result – Filled – we have two newborn grandchildren –  tension between hunger and satisfaction - hungry, fed, satisfied – but get hungry again – 

So, see progression:

Poor in spirit – completely spiritual bankrupt – not hero

Mourning – over your sin – a new way of thinking

Meekness – comes as we let our spiritual poverty and new way of thinking govern who we are in this world

Hunger and thirst  - once you taste that the Lord is good, you long for it  - meaning, if you aren’t hungry for God, something is wrong back up the list

These are a part of having a Kingdom identity – You don’t naturally possess these traits, meaning you can’t do this without Jesus, nor were you meant to – Jesus is telling the crowds, and you and me, that the life he is offering is a counter-cultural life, a counter-intuitive life, but a life that brings peace, comfort, fullness and a rich inheritance – It’s the life you were meant to live – A LIFE OF BLESSING