Message for THE LORD S DAY MORNING, January 13, 2013 MESSAGE 2 in Series: Living The Salt Life (A Study of Jesus Sermon on The Mount) Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister The Beatitudes (Part I ) Message 2 in Living The Salt Life Sermon Series (A Study of Jesus Sermon on The Mount) Matthew 5:1-12 (NKJV) As we continue with our series of messages from Jesus SERMON ON THE MOUNT on How To Live The Salt Life, let s turn in our Bibles once again to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter five. Matthew 5:1-10 (NKJV) 1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: 3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, h for they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. P R A Y E R I N T R O D U C T I O N The Beatitudes are one of the most familiar portions of The Sermon on The Mount. In fact, I would dare say many of ushave read The Beatitudes dozens, perhaps even hundreds of times. But the question is, Do we really understand what Jesus meant in these verses? Last week we learned THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT is all about How to live the kingdom life in a fallen world. THE BEATITUDES deal specifically with our ATTITUDES as citizens of the kingdom of heaven living in this fallen world. THE BEATITUDES allow us to see how our lives here on earth look from God s perspective. An Overview of The Beatitudes Before we go any farther, I would like to give you a general overview of The Beatitudes as a whole. And then we will spend the remainder of the message looking at the first two Beatitudes. (1) There are EIGHT beatitudes in all. The fact that the word blessed appears nine times in verses 3-11 has led some to believe there are nine beatitudes. But most Bible scholars agree that verses 11, 12 are an extended commentary by JESUS on the 8 th Beatitude in verse 10. So there are 10 Commandments..9 Fruit of The Spirit and 8 Beatitudes.
(2) THE BEATITUDES reveal just how contrary the VALUES and PERSPECTIVES of the Church and the world really are. In THE BEATITUDES we see *The way down is up. *Hunger and thirst leads to satisfaction. *Spiritual poverty leads to spiritual wealth. *Mourning is the way to laughter. *Having nothing is the way to having everything. (3) In THE BEATITUDES, Jesus is describing THE MOST BLESSED PEOPLE ON EARTH. Noticeably absent from this list are THE RICH THE POWERFUL..THE MOST SUCCESSFUL..THE MOST BEAUTIFUL..THE MOST POPULAR..and THE MOST FAMOUS. But rather it is THE COMMON PEOPLE, those whom earthly success has largely passed by: THE POOR, THE MEEK, THE PERSECUTED, THE PEACEMAKERS and so on and so forth. (4) Each of the eight Beatitudes has three specific parts: the BLESSING..the DESCRIPTION and the REWARD. a. Notice Jesus begins each of the Beatitudes with the word BLESSED. Now what does the word blessed mean? Most of us have been taught that the word blessed means happy. In fact several years ago Robert Schuller wrote a book on the Beatitudes entitled: The Be HAPPY Attitudes. But actually the meaning of the Greek word Matthew used for blessed goes much deeper than happiness. First, it refers to a life which is enriched by the GIFTS of GOD rather than human achievement.
Secondly, the word blessed refers to a life of WELL-BEING that is not based on outward circumstances, but rather an inward relationship with God. In other words the person who is blessed isn t necessarily bubbling over with warm, fuzzy feelings, but rather an inward peace and satisfaction. So the first part of each of the Beatitudes is the blessing. (b) The second part of each of the Beatitudes is, the DESCRIPTION. Blessed are the poor in spirit. those who mourn. the meek. those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. the merciful. the pure in heart. the peacemakers those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. So you have THE BLESSING and THE DESCRIPTION (c) And the third part of each BEATITUDE is the REWARD. The poor in spirit will be rewarded with the kingdom of heaven. Those who mourn will be rewarded with God s comfort. The meek will be rewarded with an inheritance of the earth. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, will be rewarded with spiritual fulfillment. And so on and so forth
(5) But here is the most important key to understanding THE BEATITUDES, so listen very carefully. If you are like most, when you have read the Beatitudes, you have tried to figure out which Beatitude describes you. Am I poor in spirit? Am I meek. Well I think of myself as merciful. Or, I see myself as a peacemaker. Now listen carefully, because this is going to give you a clearer understanding of the Beatitudes than you have probably ever had before. What Jesus is giving us in the Beatitudes is a portrait of a truly SAVED person. This is a PROFILE of every CITIZEN who truly belongs to the kingdom of heaven. You and I are not some of these things, we are ALL OF THESE THINGS! A truly saved person, a true citizen of the kingdom of heaven is: POOR IN SPIRIT MOURNFUL MEEK HUNGRY AND THIRSTY FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. MERCIFUL.PURE IN HEART..A PEACEMAKER. and PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS SAKE. The Beatitudes are NOT eight separate kinds of life, they are EIGHT CHARACTERISTICS of ONE LIFE THE SAVED LIFE..THE KINGDOM LIFE THE SALT LIFE. Now that we have a better understanding of THE BEATITUDES as a whole, let s look closely at the first two beatitudes. I. Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit (v. 3) Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 1. The world sees THE POOR as those who are poverty stricken those who are lacking in money and material things..those who are homeless and begging on the street. 2. But notice, Jesus doesn t say, Blessed are the poor. He says, Blessed are the poor in spirit.
3. Now what does it mean to be poor in spirit? The poor in spirit are those who are HUMBLE before God. There is no pride no arrogance no self-righteousness.no self-sufficiency in those who are poor in spirit. Those who are poor in spirit realize that without God they have nothing. The poor in spirit are those who have realized their righteousness is nothing more than filthy rags and have brought their miserable, wretched sins to the foot of the cross, and trusted in God s grace for salvation. 4. And what is the REWARD for those who are poor in spirit? Jesus said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What Jesus is saying is that everyone who wishes to enter into the kingdom of heaven must become spiritually poor and repent of his or her sins and trust in God for salvation. You see this is good news to those who are financially and materially poor in this world. This means the poor person is not excluded from the kingdom of heaven because of his poverty; and the rich man is not accepted in the kingdom of heaven because of his wealth. It means, everyone is on an equal playing field. It means regardless of whether one is financially poor or financially rich in this world, one must become spiritually poor in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven.
ILLUSTRATION: Years ago a man ran an ad in his local newspaper that went like this: LOST DOG. BLIND IN BOTH EYES. DEAF IN BOTH EARS. CRIPPLED IN HIND LEGS, COVERED IN MANGE. ANSWERS TO THE NAME LUCKY. REWARD OFFERED FOR SAFE RETURN. That was one lucky dog wasn t it? Despite all his gross imperfections Lucky had someone who loved him enough to pay a price for his safe return. 4. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost, but now I m found, was blind, but now I see. 5. Oh brothers and sisters, are you poor in spirit? Do you understand God doesn t love you because you are valuable, you are valuable because GOD loves you! Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Let s move on to the second Beatitude. II. Blessed Are Those Who Mourn (v. 4) v. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 1. From a worldly point of view it also most sounds cold and insensitive of Jesus to say, Blessed are those who mourn, doesn t it? 2. We associate mourning with death and funerals and tragedies. We associate mourning with intense grief and crushed spirits and broken hearts, don t we? 3. So how can Jesus say, Blessed are those who mourn or Happy are those who mourn?
4. We must remember the Sermon On The Mount is about kingdom living in a fallen world. The type of mourning Jesus is talking about in this Beatitude goes much deeper than the sad experiences we suffer in this life. He is talking about mourning over the sinfulness that causes all our sorrow and sadness in this life. 5. Why would some crazed lunatic go into that Colorado theater and take the lives of those innocent people who were there just to enjoy a movie? BECAUSE THERE IS SIN IN THE WORLD! Why would a deranged gunman walk into the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT and mow down twenty precious first graders, six staff members and slay the mother who brought him into this world? BECAUSE THERE IS SIN IN THE WORLD! 6. Every time we hear of another tragedy on the news.. Every time we meet a funeral procession on the highway.every time we read an obituary in the newspaper Every time we read of another murder..another rape..another robbery.another act of terrorism.may we mourn for the sinfulness that caused it all. 7. But the mourning that Jesus blesses in this Beatitude hits much closer to home as well. When was the last time you mourned over your own personal sins? When was the last time you wept for dishonoring your Savior by something you said or did or failed to do?
8. When was the last time you shed tears in a Church service because the Holy Spirit brought you under conviction about a particular sin in your life? 9. As citizens of the kingdom of heaven living in this fallen world, we should carefully guard our hearts so as NOT to become SO desensitized, calloused and indifferent towards SIN that we are seldom if ever are moved to tears. 10. And what is the promised reward in this Beatitude? Jesus says, Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Jesus is promising us that all of our grieving and mourning in this life is NOT WITHOUT HOPE. The world mourns..the world grieves..but where does the world find comfort and hope in their time of mourning? We are comforted by the Holy Spirit. We are comforted by the hope and assurance that death doesn t have the final victory over our Christian loved ones or us. We are comforted by the hope of our resurrection. We are comforted by the hope of Christ s return. We are comforted by the hope of eternal life in heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
C O N C L U S I O N The kind of life JESUS is describing in THE BEATITUDES is not one that you or I could ever manufacture by human effort or will. It is a life that can only be lived by JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF dwelling within us. THE BEATITUDES present us with a portrait of CHRIST HIMSELF. This is the kind of life He lived while on earth. This is the way He viewed the world. And as you and I abide in CHRIST and CHRIST in us, these Beatitudes become more and more evident in our lives.